Chapter 26, "Brother".
Chapter 26
Lin Siyuan opened the drawer and pulled out a project proposal.
"Don't bother checking the documents after the New Year, how about you take care of this for me?"
Shen Yanzhou took the document titled "Integration and Renovation Plan for the Old Warehouse Area in Southwest Lanzhou," flipped through a few pages, and found that it involved a great deal of coordination, planning, and budget control work, which was far more complex and difficult than the clerical work he was currently doing.
Lin Siyuan stared at his expression and added, "This job has been dragging on for almost half a year. The people we sent before couldn't handle it. There are a lot of people with connections and a bunch of old hands over there, and the budget is way over."
"How about it? Dare to give it a try? If you can crack this tough nut, your salary will increase several times over."
Shen Yanzhou didn't answer immediately. He quickly looked at the key points of the project, already thinking about what he would do if he were in charge.
Shen Yanzhou always believed that if you do something, you have to do it well, so since he came to this position, he has seen and learned a lot.
The thin stack of papers in his hand was almost brand new to him.
A few seconds later, he closed the plan, looked up at Lin Siyuan, and said without fear, "Okay, I'll give you a detailed plan after the New Year."
There was no unnecessary chatter or boastful promises; he simply accepted the challenge decisively.
Lin Siyuan looked at him, paused for a moment, then smiled with excitement and appreciation, "Alright! I've been waiting for you to say that!"
Shen Yanzhou nodded before turning and leaving the office.
In the small office, Yu Pan was sitting quietly in a chair reading a book. When she saw him return, she smiled at him.
Shen Yanzhou's cold and hard features softened instantly. He walked over, squatted down, looked into Yu Pan's eyes, and said gently, "Panpan, I might be busy for a while after the New Year."
Yu Pan nodded, thinking that she was finally going to be busy, which meant that this job wasn't some random, aimless job.
Shen Yanzhou took his hand and kissed it. He hadn't been thinking much while looking at the plan.
Besides what they needed to do, what they were most concerned about was the night Yu Pan secretly cried because of the high cost of the medical examination when they first arrived in Lanzhou City.
Afraid of worrying herself, she didn't even dare to cry in front of him.
Because of this, he decided to continue; he had to seize every opportunity to move up.
It's just tough on his Panpan; she'll have to stay home alone again.
-
After work, Shen Yanzhou took Yu Pan to Xinhua Bookstore. When they came out, the books they were carrying were stacked up to Yu Pan's waist.
In addition to the professional books he needed to read, Shen Yanzhou also bought Yu Pan several thick collections of essays and novels.
Shen Yanzhou spent the entire New Year reading and studying until late at night.
Yu Pan woke up from a nap. The light in the room was still on. He crawled out of bed and, like a cat, lay on the back of Shen Yanzhou, who was reading a book. He wrapped his arms around Shen Yanzhou's neck, rested his chin on Shen Yanzhou's shoulder, and looked at Shen Yanzhou's focused profile.
This reminded him of when Shen Yanzhou was taking the high school entrance exam, and he also studied until late at night every day. Back then, he was afraid of the dark and dared not sleep alone. Shen Yanzhou would always coax him to sleep first, and then do his exercises by the light of a kerosene lamp.
Sometimes, when he was half-asleep and realized no one was around, he would turn over, snuggle up to the desk, and rest his head on Chen Yanzhou's lap to continue sleeping.
From the moment Yu Pan was taken in, from strangers to acquaintances, he grew up next to Shen Yanzhou. Thinking of this, Yu Pan snuggled under Shen Yanzhou's arm into his embrace, finding a comfortable position to settle down.
"Bored?" Shen Yanzhou put down his pen, his arm naturally wrapped around Yu Pan's waist, his palm pressed against Yu Pan's back.
“I wasn’t bored.” Yu Pan nestled for a while, then changed her position, straddling Shen Yanzhou’s lap, gesturing face to face, “I was just thinking about when you were taking the high school entrance exam.”
“Hmm,” Shen Yanzhou chuckled, clearly remembering as well, “clingy.”
“You like being clung to by me.” Yu Pan straightened up, a hint of smugness in her eyes, her lips brushing against Shen Yanzhou’s nose.
The distance was too close; close enough to feel the other person's warm breath.
Shen Yanzhou's eyes darkened, and he raised his hand to stroke the back of Yu Pan's neck, kissing her gently but irresistibly.
The kiss started lightly, like a tentative touch, and slowly grew heavier.
Yu Pan gave a soft hum, gripping Shen Yanzhou's clothes tightly as she endured the kiss; their breaths mingled, their sounds exceptionally clear in the quiet room.
"Panpan, catch your breath." Shen Yanzhou stepped back slightly, stroking his flushed face with his thumb, his voice low and hoarse.
Yu Pan snapped out of her daze, and with a hint of reproach, leaned over and nibbled on Shen Yanzhou's lower lip, as if she were retaliating against him.
They had kissed like this countless times; Yu Pan was no longer the person who would forget to breathe during a kiss.
So it's all Shen Yanzhou's fault. He kissed him too fiercely and too hard, and Shen Yanzhou couldn't breathe properly!
It's not his fault!
After they had been affectionate enough, Yu Pan leaned softly against Shen Yanzhou's shoulder to calm his breathing. Shen Yanzhou patted his back with one hand and picked up a pen with the other, but couldn't write a single word.
-
The eighth day of the first lunar month marks the end of the Spring Festival holiday and the official start of work for Chen Yanzhou.
Shen Yanzhou was indeed so busy that he didn't even have time to make breakfast. He could only rush downstairs to buy porridge and steamed buns, eat a few bites with Yu Pan, and then leave.
He goes out early and doesn't return until late at night, carrying a chilly aura. He even spends his only day off each week on the construction site.
Even with such a busy schedule, Shen Yanzhou still managed to arrange Yu Pan's life perfectly.
He specifically went to the landlord, who was also the owner of the restaurant they used to frequent, and arranged for meals to be delivered on time every noon and evening.
He accompanied Yu Pan to her twice-weekly medical appointments without fail, which was a rare time for him to rest and relax. However, after the appointments were over and he took Yu Pan home, he would rush back to the construction site.
The situation at the construction site was more complicated than expected. When Shen Yanzhou arrived, he found that the site, which had been under construction for six months, was still in a mess, and there were hardly any workers to be seen.
The supervisor in charge of the project was a middle-aged man in his forties surnamed Zhao. He was very slick and said with a forced smile, "It's just after the New Year, let everyone take a break."
Then he handed over a stack of documents that had been prepared in advance, and asked Shen Yanzhou to take his time to look at them.
Shen Yanzhou accepted the offer without batting an eye, and then took the keys to all the warehouses. He spent nearly two weeks personally measuring the area of each warehouse that needed repair, climbing up and down to check the structural condition, and taking stock of the stacked building materials.
Manager Zhao did a good job of putting on a show. After dealing with the previous matters, Shen Yanzhou, who had been circling the construction site for so many days, went directly to the scrap yard after finishing his previous tasks.
Sure enough, beneath what appeared to be a pile of scrap, lay a large quantity of steel, planks, and cement, some still in their original packaging.
In addition to taking measurements and counting, Shen Yanzhou also took advantage of the lunch break to chat with the workers and slowly extract information from them.
These workers had no choice but to suffer in silence. They had hoped that they would have more work in the big city, but who knew that they would end up on this construction site and have to help the boss swindle money from them? They were actually scared...
As Shen Yanzhou had expected, Manager Zhao colluded with the purchasing, warehouse management, and foreman to falsely report projects to receive kickbacks, deliberately delay the construction period, and continuously apply for additional budgets.
After understanding the situation, Shen Yanzhou did not immediately react. He first went back and gave Lin Siyuan a full report, submitting a detailed report and data comparisons that he had compiled.
Lin Siyuan flipped through it and simply said, "Do it your way."
The next day, Shen Yanzhou held a meeting with all workers and posted the recalculated budget and new schedule on the wall.
Seeing the "two-month construction period" on the sign, Manager Zhao was the first to jump out, "You think you can finish such a big place with such a small budget? You're simply reckless!"
Shen Yanzhou looked at him coldly and slammed the evidence of the inflated budget and substandard materials onto the table.
"Why can't it be completed? Is it because the falsely reported area is too large? Or is it because you can't complete it without using those expensive and inferior materials? Manager Zhao, do you want to explain what those steel and cement materials under the scrap area are for?"
Manager Zhao's face turned deathly pale, and he opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word.
"From today onwards, Manager Zhao will cooperate with me, and I will be directly responsible for the specific execution of the project."
After finishing his speech, Shen Yanzhou immediately announced a new reward and punishment system: "Those who complete the project ahead of schedule and with guaranteed quality will receive a bonus; those who delay the project or cause quality problems will be held strictly accountable!"
In the days that followed, Shen Yanzhou practically lived on the construction site. He was wherever the work was most tiring, not just giving orders, but actually getting his hands dirty and doing the work himself.
He would always be there when the workers worked overtime, buying them late-night snacks out of his own pocket, personally going to the market to find suppliers, negotiating prices, and ensuring quality while minimizing costs.
The efficiency of the construction site has also increased rapidly.
After the construction site officially started, Shen Yanzhou's work hours became relatively stable, and he was able to get home before 11 a.m. every day.
That evening, Shen Yanzhou returned home unusually early, around 10 p.m., carrying a black radio.
When he was out in the market today, he saw a supplier using this. It's a small box that can both broadcast news and tell stories. At that moment, he thought of Yu Pan, who was alone at home.
He's been so busy lately that every day when he gets home from work, Yu Pan just curls up in bed and falls asleep. Whether he was driving a truck in Baixi or now, Yu Pan never complains about his busy schedule.
He always stayed obediently at home, never running around, so as not to worry Shen Yanzhou. But Shen Yanzhou knew he would get bored.
Yu Pan loves reading, so he can only buy more books for him to read. Now there's a little thing that makes a sound, and when Shen Yanzhou saw it, he was sure Yu Pan would like it.
At this time, Yu Pan was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, but when she saw Shen Yanzhou return, she immediately became wide awake and looked curiously at the black box in Shen Yanzhou's hand.
As soon as the radio was turned on, Yu Pan's eyes lit up. He curiously fiddled with the tuning knob, listening to the sounds coming from it. He lay on the bed playing with it for a long time. Even after Shen Yanzhou came back from his shower, he was reluctant to part with the radio.
Time flew by and it was already the end of March. The warehouse renovation project was officially completed. Shen Yanzhou took his coworkers out to a restaurant. When they returned, it was about 11 o'clock, similar to their usual overtime work time.
As soon as he reached the front door, Shen Yanzhou could faintly hear the sound of storytelling inside. He opened the door and went in. The lights were on, and Yu Pan, as usual, was asleep on the bed. A black radio on top of a small bookcase was playing a storytelling program.
Ever since she got a radio, Yu Pan has been using this method to lull herself to sleep every day.
The kettle on the honeycomb briquette stove was warming the bathwater that Yu Pan had boiled for him before going to bed. Shen Yanzhou took a bath quietly amidst the sound of storytelling.
Perhaps because the grueling project was finally over, Shen Yanzhou was happy tonight and drank some wine. He felt a little dizzy after taking a shower.
He turned off the radio and moved Yu Pan, who was lying on his pillow, closer to him.
Perhaps because there was no sound around her, Yu Pan frowned and opened her eyes. Seeing that it was Shen Yanzhou, she turned over, her hand naturally climbing up his neck, and mumbled, "Brother."
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