Seeing the girl wrapped in a zongzi blanket with a burning gaze, her face practically screaming "I'm here to help you," he unconsciously relaxed his brow and chuckled softly.
He told me the story out of nowhere.
Bai Lu thought of his usual style and her lips twitched slightly: "You're not thinking of taking some men to beat Li Chengbin into submission before buying sand, are you?"
Xiao Cheng stubbed out his cigarette and remained silent.
Bai Lu couldn't let silence become acquiescence, so she immediately frowned and disagreed: "Li Chengbin is too cunning and treacherous. You will suffer if you go. Since he can monopolize the sand and gravel market, he must have some kind of connection with some kind of protector. Today's incident may be a trap he deliberately set, waiting for you to fall into it and take the fall for his huge debt."
Xiao Cheng was somewhat surprised that Bai Lu could think so far ahead. Not only was her analysis logical and reasonable, but her final conclusion was also roughly the same as his.
But... "What is a protective umbrella?"
Bai Lu emerged from the rice dumpling, leaned close to his ear, and whispered something.
A soft, gentle voice accompanied by warm breath brushed past his ear. Xiao Cheng's fingertips twitched slightly, and the cigarette fell to the ground.
He picked it up casually, calmly raised his eyebrows and nodded, indicating his approval of the new code name.
"So, don't go and give Li Chengbin your lives for nothing. A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years. Anyway, he didn't have a good ending in the end." Realizing that she had said something she shouldn't have, Bai Lu immediately shut up.
Li Chengbin's father-in-law has connections in both the legitimate and underworld circles, and also has his own influence at the docks, essentially dividing the country with Xiao Cheng and his group.
If Xiao Cheng and his group were to confront Li Chengbin head-on, they would not fare well. However, if their big boss intervened, they could fight him to the death.
But after so many years, the two sides have remained at peace, clearly knowing each other's secrets and strategies.
The fact that the big boss took on the debt of his arch-rival this time is clearly a long-planned act of greed that he is now beginning to unleash.
They want to expand their territory and become the dominant power in their own right.
Xiao Cheng, Luo Shiliu, and others, who were used as pawns, had fought Li Chengbin to the bitter end in their previous lives, only to end up in prison.
In this life, I must not repeat the same mistakes.
Xiao Cheng seemed oblivious to the oddity in Bai Lu's words. He simply looked at her belly, his gaze drifting away before gradually moving up to her face, as if he were making a decision.
Bai Lu felt a chill run down her spine, and decisively burrowed back into the zongzi-covered blanket. Her eyes darted around as she said, "It's not like sand is only available at the sand field. We don't necessarily have to buy it there."
"oh?"
Xiao Cheng snapped out of his thoughts and waited with interest for her to continue, "If we don't buy sand from the sand quarry, where else can we buy it?"
The small building needs to be three stories high, which requires a considerable amount of sand.
Bai Lu asked, "Do you know the boat owner?"
Xiao Cheng nodded slightly: "I know a few."
Bai Lu blinked: "Don't boat owners often transport goods to other places?"
Some things don't need to be said directly; a smart person will understand them immediately.
"Doing business with the ship owner?"
Xiao Cheng's tone was almost certain. An idea rose in his mind and gradually took shape. He looked at Bai Lu with disbelief, as if waiting for her tacit understanding.
Bai Lu smiled and nodded: "That's right!"
Xiao Cheng knew the ship owners; she knew them at the time, and even had a good relationship with one of them. In her memory, last year when Xiao Cheng went to the dock to collect debts, a cargo ship that had been in disrepair for many years was accidentally hit by a large ship returning from the sea, and the ship broke apart and sank on the spot.
The boat owner was injured by a heavy object and would have been drowned at the bottom of the river if Xiao Cheng hadn't been there to save him.
Later, the boat owner named Jiang Zhengang always treated Xiao Cheng like a brother and was extremely grateful.
Jiang Zhengang's cargo ships have a carrying capacity of up to 2,000 tons and are privately owned. They are not affiliated with any sand pits and are used to resell sand to other provinces.
The dozens of cubic meters of sand that Xiao Cheng wanted to buy were nothing to him, just a drop in the ocean.
Just as Bai Lu had expected, the next day, Xiao Cheng went to buy sand from Jiang Zhengang.
The other party not only greeted them with a smile, but also loaded the car into the vehicle without saying a word, and didn't ask for a single penny.
He said he would treat Xiao Cheng to a meal at a restaurant.
Sand costs 5 yuan per cubic meter, so 35 cubic meters would cost 175 yuan. This meal is quite extravagant.
Of course, Xiao Cheng still paid in the end, since it was a house built for someone else, and the matter had to be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
He also purchased the steel bars, cement, quicklime, stones, etc., and nothing unexpected happened.
A group of people quickly finished laying the foundation, their clothes and shoes covered in cement slurry.
Xiao Cheng returned home, took off his clothes and shoes as soon as he entered the room, intending to wash them, as the cement slurry would dry and be difficult to remove. He had just put on his pants and picked up clean clothes to put them on when Bai Lu suddenly walked in.
The air was quiet for a moment.
Bai Lu was cooking in the kitchen when she ran out of salt. She remembered getting some from Li Shuixian's shop last time, but forgot to bring it to the kitchen and left it in her room.
So she went in.
Then you see the man standing to the side of the wooden wardrobe. His strong, lean upper body has well-defined muscles, healthy and sexy bronze skin, broad and thick shoulders, an old knife scar on his chest, and several scars on his back. Far from ruining his overall appearance, these scars add to his masculine and powerful aura, exuding a sense of oppressive power and dominance.
Bai Lu blushed, much to her dismay.
Do not look at what is improper!
Do not look at what is improper!
Do not look at what is improper!
She glanced at it several times before covering her face and turning away, saying, "Um, there's no salt in the kitchen, I've come to get a bag."
I didn't mean to peek at you changing clothes...
A soft chuckle came from behind me, followed by the rustling of clothes being put on and the subtle sound of buttons being fastened.
Then, a bag of salt appeared before Bai Lu's eyes, shattering the breathtaking scenery that was still shimmering in her vision.
She grabbed the salt and fled in panic.
Xiao Cheng touched his nose, his smile widening. The girl's face lingered in his mind, from being caught off guard and stunned, to openly admiring her, and finally to her flustered eyes and blushing, evasive expression.
So she can be shy too.
When Xiao Wei returned, he saw Xiao Cheng washing clothes by the well. He felt a little strange but didn't dare to think too much about it. He silently put his schoolbag back in his room and went to the kitchen to start a fire.
After finishing my meal, I went back to my room to do my homework.
Bai Lu went to the vegetable garden to tend to the vegetables.
After the foundation was laid, there was still some finishing work to be done. Xiao Cheng rested for a while and then went next door.
Li Shuixian took advantage of this time to wander through the streets and alleys, making many twists and turns, and taking a long detour to reach the backyard.
"Lulu."
The vegetable garden was surrounded by a fence, and behind it was a small river nearly a meter wide. Bai Lu heard the sound and looked up with her small hoe.
Then they saw Li Shuixian, wearing a new cotton coat and looking quite plump, gritting her teeth and jumping across the river.
He landed with his right foot and stepped on the riverbank with his left, crushing a section of the mud and causing half of his foot to fall into the water.
Thankfully she pulled her foot back in time; otherwise, if she had fallen into the river, the entire river would have been engulfed in raging waves.
The vegetable garden will suffer.
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