Chapter 40 Threatening Gu Zhiyuan
Lu Shuangcai hadn't considered this issue, but Gu Zhiyuan immediately understood Ji Wei's concerns and nodded in agreement: "Let's ask Brother Wang and the others later. If they're willing to take over the shop and start a business, they have many advantages compared to others. It would be best to choose a shop near their factory, as the factory workers are willing to patronize the business. Moreover, with us around, it's convenient for them to get goods from anywhere."
“Okay, let the couple discuss it themselves later.” Lü Shuangcai quickly agreed with their suggestion.
Seeing this, Qiao Xiaoxue breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her voice to say to Ji Wei, "As expected, you still have a way."
Ji Wei chuckled and then asked, "Sister-in-law, you've been running this stall for so long, how's the profit? Maybe you can have a good talk with Brother Wang and the others about it later."
Ji Wei felt that Wang Haifeng and his wife might not refuse the suggestion to open a shop this time, since they had missed out on joining the freight business last time. Moreover, as Gu Zhiyuan said, they had many advantages over others.
This delay took up most of the day, giving the children more opportunities to meet and become more familiar with each other. In just one afternoon, Lü Song had already taught Gu Chen'an how to play ping-pong, and the two even made a promise to play together next time. Meanwhile, Wang Haifeng and his wife decided to accept their suggestion. They had always been well-liked at the factory, and if the shop opened near the factory, they believed that people would support them if needed.
Seeing that they had agreed, Qiao Xiaoxue finally breathed a sigh of relief. Originally, everyone was on the same starting line. If they had really asked the couple to work under Lao Lü, it would definitely affect the relationship between the two families in the long run. She didn't want the friendship between the two families over the years to be affected by this. Fortunately, they chose to open a shop.
“The hours at the shop are more flexible than when you’re working, and you can take care of your kids. Kids these days don’t go to school like they did back then,” Qiao Xiaoxue said, sighing.
When talking about children, everyone had endless topics to discuss, and it wasn't until it was completely dark that Ji Wei realized they should go home.
The news of Gu Zhiyuan's resignation to drive freight trucks finally spread in Wu'an in mid-August. Everyone disagreed with his choice. Why give up such a good job to go and suffer like this? While others felt sorry for him, Ji Shengzhou saw hope. He discussed with his parents: "The factory's performance is getting worse and worse. Why don't I take a leave of absence without pay and have my brother-in-law teach me to drive?"
"Your sister would be happy?" Li Shuhui scoffed.
Ji Shengzhou ignored her and looked at his parents. Running a freight truck was great; he could go to many places and bring back things for the people around him every time he came back. The money was his own. The more Ji Shengzhou thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. No wonder Gu Zhiyuan chose to quit his job; this earned him much more than his previous job.
“Running a freight truck is much harder than working a regular job. Now that trading is allowed, things are different from before,” Ji Dahai reminded him.
“That’s still better than now. Some factories have already started laying off workers, and I think it’s only a matter of time before our factory does too. I’m doing this for Xiao Cong’s sake.” Ji Shengzhou said with a sigh.
“I think it’s a good idea. Ji Wei is hard-hearted now. Let’s go directly to Gu Zhiyuan. He definitely won’t be able to refuse.” Zhou Xiuzhen felt more and more that it was feasible.
"Mom and I thought of the same thing. If we go directly to my sister about this, she definitely won't be happy. But if we go directly to my brother-in-law, he definitely won't be able to refuse." Ji Shengzhou's tone was somewhat smug at the end.
"What if he refuses?" Li Shuhui wasn't as optimistic as them. Ji Wei didn't care about her family, so why would Gu Zhiyuan?
“He wouldn’t dare. When he married Ji Wei, we didn’t even ask for a dowry. If he doesn’t agree, I’ll make him lose face here.” Zhou Xiuzhen said without thinking.
"I knew you'd have the best ideas, Mom. Shall we go find him tomorrow?" Ji Shengzhou's eyes were full of anticipation.
"Okay, we'll go tomorrow," Ji Dahai finally decided.
*
Unfortunately, their wish was beautiful, but reality was cruel. The mother and son waited for two days without seeing Gu Zhiyuan. Instead, Ji Wei discovered their actions. The three of them stood on opposite sides. Ji Wei just looked at them without saying a word. Finally, Zhou Xiuzhen couldn't hold back and said, "Ji Wei, why are you looking at us like that?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You've been loitering around here for the past two days, what are you up to?" Ji Wei said, glancing at Ji Shengzhou. Had he been laid off early this time?
"What, did you buy this road? Can't we walk on it?" Ji Shengzhou felt that Ji Wei's gaze made him afraid to look directly at her.
"What, you've been laid off?" Ji Wei asked back.
"How could that be? I'm on unpaid leave, not laid off!" The word "laid off" had recently made Ji Shengzhou a bit stressed, so he blurted it out.
"Leave him without pay, are you trying to take advantage of Gu Zhiyuan again?" Ji Wei quickly understood their intentions.
"Sister, you're being really mean. You weren't like this before." Ji Shengzhou's last words were filled with grievance; she definitely wasn't like this before.
"Is this bad enough? The worst is yet to come. This is hopeless. Don't even think about it anymore." Ji Wei knew Ji Shengzhou all too well. He looked down on small money, couldn't make big money, and couldn't endure hardship. She must be crazy to let him drive a sports car with Gu Zhiyuan.
"Ji Wei, how can you be so heartless? This is your own brother!" Zhou Xiuzhen said angrily.
Before Ji Wei could refute, the two walked enthusiastically toward the person behind her: "Little Gu is back?"
Gu Zhiyuan nodded to the two of them: "Mom, Shengzhou, what brings you here?"
“Shengzhou and I came here specifically to see you, but Jiwei wouldn’t let us in. What kind of situation is this?” Zhou Xiuzhen said, increasingly regretting that she had agreed to let the two of them get married.
Gu Zhiyuan glanced at Ji Wei and saw the disgust in her eyes, so he didn't say anything more. His silence made the mother and son feel a little awkward. Finally, Ji Wei slowly said, "Let's go back and talk about it."
The mother and son followed the couple into the courtyard. Lulu, who was initially happy, immediately ran back to the main room to watch TV after seeing the newcomers. She didn't like her grandmother and uncle.
Before they could speak, Gu Zhiyuan looked at Ji Shengzhou and said with a smile, "Shengzhou, are you here because of Ji Cong bullying Lulu at school?"
"When did this happen? How come I didn't know?" Ji Wei immediately bristled, but Gu Zhiyuan gently placed his hand on her shoulder to soothe her emotions.
Ji Shengzhou said somewhat awkwardly, "Brother-in-law, are you mistaken? Lulu is Xiao Cong's sister. How could he bully Lulu?"
"How could this be a mistake? Actually, even if you hadn't come to see me today, I would have come to see you before school started. No matter how they got along before, Lulu is my daughter now, and I won't allow anyone to bully her. If you can't discipline her, I don't mind helping you discipline her." By the end, Gu Zhiyuan's tone had turned cold.
"It seems the lesson I taught him last time wasn't enough. If I hear him bullying Lulu again, I won't be polite." Ji Wei didn't expect Ji Cong to dare to bully Lulu again.
“Brother-in-law, there must be some misunderstanding. I’ll talk to Xiao Cong about it. I came to you today to ask you for a favor.” Seeing that they kept bringing up the two children, Ji Shengzhou simply stated his purpose directly.
"You want my help? What can I do for you right now?" Gu Zhiyuan asked, somewhat puzzled.
“I heard from them that you’ve started doing freight transport now. I’d like to learn how to drive a truck from you. What do you think?” Ji Shengzhou thought to himself that he had never spoken to anyone so humbly in his life except for the factory leaders.
"I'm afraid that won't work. Our boss isn't hiring apprentices right now, and I can't drive the truck back during holidays." Gu Zhiyuan shook his head and refused directly.
“Then I can go out with you,” Ji Shengzhou quickly said.
“That’s even more impossible. We always go out in pairs, there’s no extra room. If you want to learn to drive, there are places where you can go to learn,” Gu Zhiyuan kindly suggested.
Ji Shengzhou cursed inwardly. He only came to him because he wanted to avoid spending money. What was he pretending for? He and Ji Wei were indeed a couple, both so cold-hearted.
“Gu Zhiyuan, we didn’t ask for any dowry when you married Ji Wei. Now you’re not even willing to help us with this little bit of work?” Zhou Xiuzhen looked at Gu Zhiyuan with displeasure.
"What, you still want to use me to get benefits? It seems that what I said about severing ties last time wasn't clear enough. Ji Shengzhou, if you're still trying to take advantage of us, believe me, I'll go to your factory and tell them what you did two years ago." Ji Wei had almost forgotten about this. Two years ago, their factory had a batch of defective products, which Ji Shengzhou concealed and secretly disposed of. He made a lot of money from that shipment.
The mother and son were both stunned, clearly not expecting Ji Wei to use this matter to threaten them, especially since she had never said anything like this when they had argued so fiercely before.
“Originally, we kept to ourselves, but since you insisted on causing trouble, don’t blame me for being impolite. I suppose you haven’t forgotten what you did back then, have you?” This was thanks to his boastful nature. After this incident, his family knew everything from his initial fear to his later boasting.
"Ji Wei, how dare you!" Zhou Xiuzhen glared at Ji Wei with hatred; she actually wanted to ruin Sheng Zhou.
"To be honest, I had completely forgotten about this, but you guys insisted on coming to me to get your attention, which reminded me of it. As for whether you dare to do it or not, you're welcome to try." Ji Wei finished speaking and gave Ji Shengzhou a look of disgust.
Ji Shengzhou's clenched fists betrayed his feelings. He pulled Zhou Xiuzhen, who was about to argue, and said, "Mom, let's go back first."
"Ji Wei, if you dare to tell anyone about this, I'll never forgive you." Zhou Xiuzhen's eyes were filled with hatred as she looked at her. This reminded her of the same look she received when she broke off all ties with them in her past life. She was simply unwilling to continue to unconditionally indulge the Ji Shengzhou family. In her eyes, it was as if she had committed a terrible crime.
"As long as you don't bother me, I don't want to have anything to do with you." Ji Wei said calmly, her request was very simple.
Ji Shengzhou glanced at her and finally said, "Fine, Ji Wei, you're ruthless. I hope you keep your word."
After the mother and son left, Gu Zhiyuan looked at the person next to him and asked softly, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just think we should move up our plans to go to the city." This leverage can only threaten Ji Shengzhou's factory into bankruptcy, and judging by the timeline, it won't be long.
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