Chapter 180 The person who stole the relief food was caught.

“No, brother, how many people in your family would it take to spare these hundreds of kilograms of grain? But I can eat it all. It’s just that I wonder if you could lower the price a bit…” When Lu Zhining heard that it was several hundred kilograms, he already knew that it definitely wasn’t from his own mouth.

The attempt to bargain must have involved public officials; otherwise, it's impossible that so much grain wouldn't be available for sale. Moreover, this person must have more than a few hundred kilograms in hand. Judging from his appearance and eyes, he doesn't seem worried about having enough to eat at all.

"Then don't worry about it. Anyway, there's grain, buy it or not, the minimum is 1.8 yuan, I won't sell it to you for less..." The man got anxious when he saw that he was suspicious.

Seeing his guilty look, Lu Zhining turned around and prepared to leave.

Seeing that he was about to leave, the guilty man quickly followed him out.

He couldn't let go of a customer who could buy several hundred kilograms at once, and their target price was between 1.2 and 1.5 yuan. He initially offered 2 yuan, mainly because he felt he needed to leave some room for negotiation.

However, he became a little guilty when he talked about where the things came from.

His brother-in-law worked in the grain bureau, and his father-in-law was a minister in the county government. All of this grain was embezzled by his father-in-law, and he was just someone who got a piece of the pie.

His father-in-law told his brother-in-law that if the price was 1.2 yuan, it could be sold for a higher price, and they would only charge 1.2 yuan; any higher price would be his.

As they left the black market, Lu Zhining and his companion were stopped by him at the entrance of the post office.

"1.6 yuan, that's the lowest I can go. I can sell 1,000 jin. If you want more, I'll have more in a few days..." The man was afraid that Lu Zhining wouldn't buy, so he reluctantly lowered the price by another 2 mao.

"Didn't you just say a few hundred catties? How come it's 1000 catties now? How much exactly? You have to tell me clearly so I can go back and prepare enough money for the transaction..." Lu Zhining was extremely impatient, after all, there was a huge difference between a few hundred catties and 1000 catties.

What idiot would carry thousands of dollars around? Don't they know that the largest denomination for winnings these days is only 10 yuan? A thousand or two thousand yuan is a very thick wad of cash.

"The first time I can transport 1,000 jin, and then I'll get hard again in a few days. It can't be too frequent. In total, there will be more than 2,000 to 3,000 jin. I'll transport as much as you can eat..." When the man heard that he needed to raise money to prepare for the transaction, he revealed his hand to him.

Lu Zhining was shocked when he heard this. Just how many people's food had they embezzled to be able to spare so much food to sell?

"I need to see the sample before I can decide whether to buy it or not. Money is not a problem, but I must inspect the goods before I decide," Lu Zhining insisted on seeing the goods.

"No problem, then come with me, brother." The man led the two of them, turning left and right, making countless turns. If it weren't for the silver ring marking the way, they wouldn't have known they were going around in circles.

After taking a half-hour detour, we finally drove them to the first bend in the road. We stopped at the courtyard, knocked on the door three times, waited about 30 seconds, and then knocked three more times.

After waiting for about 30 seconds, the door responded three times. The person at the door knocked three more times, and after another 30 seconds, the door finally opened.

Lu Zhining: Good heavens, who came up with this brainless idea?

Silver Ring: Are they taking us for idiots?

Before the two could finish exchanging glances, the door opened, and a boy of about 10 years old poked his head out. He saw the man who had just made the deal with them, nodded, and opened the door to let them in.

After Lu Zhining led Yin Huan into the courtyard, they found that there were no signs of life in the courtyard, which meant that it had only been used as a warehouse.

Opening the first room, which was filled with bags, Lu Zhining pretended to open the bags to check their quality, but actually went to look at the words inside.

All his bags have the character "陆" inside, but it's in a very inconspicuous place and you usually can't see it unless you look closely.

Upon seeing the character "Lu," he knew that these people hadn't even changed the grain bags; they had simply hauled the goods directly from the grain bureau.

To get such a large quantity of grain out of the grain bureau, whether openly or secretly, required very strong connections and control over the grain bureau's warehouses.

Lu Zhining didn't immediately try to find out who it was. After seeing the grain, he nodded slightly, turned around, and followed them out.

We need to discuss the price, but not here.

"1.5 yuan, I'll take it all, as many as you have. But I need to go to the village to get the money, which will take at least a day or two. I have 50 yuan in cash here. Use this 50 yuan as a deposit for the city, and deduct it from the payment when it's due." Lu Zhining bargained a bit more and took out five 10-yuan bills from his pocket.

"Okay, prepare enough money for about 3,000 catties of grain. I'll give you two days. Once you have the money, put a piece of white paper on the pillar at the post office entrance. I'll have someone pick you up from there." The man was still quite cautious, but since such a large quantity was being sold all at once, he figured he might as well earn a little less.

By selling all the grain at once, the risk to the father-in-law and son-in-law was reduced. It's okay to earn a little less.

Actually, Sanmao already has quite a bit of money; he could get at least 1,000 yuan if he sold this grain.

If this were based on the previous salary of thirty-odd yuan a month, it would have taken at least two or three years' salary.

After negotiating the price, Lu Zhi handed him 50 yuan directly. Then he had to go back to the village to raise money. When they turned the corner and were out of sight, Yin Huan stayed behind.

Lu Zhining found a place to hide and planned to make a call after dawn. He had to arrest these people as quickly as possible. Many people were waiting for relief food to survive, but they ignored the lives of those people and directly withheld several thousand kilograms of relief food.

He left Silver Ring here mainly so that she could follow the man who came to make the deal and find out who he got the grain from.

He has to expose the person behind this, otherwise it's pointless.

The person who dared to withhold so much grain is definitely not simple.

He wants to play the long game and not make any rash moves that might let the big fish get away.

Lu Zhining didn't sleep all night. He was the first to enter the post office and make a phone call as soon as it opened.

After we informed them of the situation, they immediately dispatched people to help.

He didn't dare tell the higher-ups that things were like this until he caught the person.

Yin Huan returned as soon as he hung up the phone.

Lu Zhining was quite surprised. How could it be so fast?

“That man couldn’t hold back. He ran away not long after you left. He went to the family compound of the Grain Bureau, entered Building 2, and two minutes later, the light in the first room on the left on the third floor of Building 2 came on. He didn’t come downstairs for more than ten minutes, carrying something in his hand. As soon as he got downstairs, the light on the upstairs went out.” Yin Huan was very certain that the man went to that room.