One Hundred and Twenty-Seven Mortal Worlds
This violent crisis deeply affected Li Wei. Thinking about her small frame, which she had stopped exercising since the third year of junior high school, she realized that even escaping was a problem because she wasn't as tall or had longer legs as others, let alone bullying others. So, she specially found her sportswear that night and planned to start exercising more regularly.
Another reason that made Li Wei uncomfortable was probably because she had been eating too much pig's trotters, chicken skin, and Chinese herbal soup in the past, which had overdone it. Although the areas she wanted to develop were developing better than the average girl, she also gained weight in the areas she didn't want to gain weight in, such as her face and waist.
Her face, which used to be a delicate oval shape when she was in elementary school, is now trending towards an apple-shaped face. If Li Wei looked in the mirror and only looked at her head without considering her figure, she could clearly compare to the little kids in the kindergarten next to her neighborhood.
As for her waistline, although it's not quite a "spare tire" yet, and she doesn't have a belly, it's definitely a bit chubby. Given the current food standards at home, her waistline is bound to increase soon.
All of this went against Li Wei's childhood ambition—to become a beautiful woman—making her feel very insecure.
So, starting the night after Li Wei was threatened, she would go to the large sports field on the campus of the high school every evening after dinner and jog with a group of teachers or students who were exercising.
As for food, she doesn't eat much anyway, so there's no need to diet. She just needs to eat less high-fat food. After all, she needs nutrition, especially brain-boosting nutrients, since she studies for long periods every day.
On Friday night, Li Wei and her two siblings didn't go home because they were going to Luo Da's newly opened martial arts school the next day. When their aunt found out, she asked Ding Anping to pick them all up that evening for dinner.
Li Wei and Li Lin were very happy to see Dingding again. The two of them surrounded Dingding and played with her. The little one was in a good mood today and laughed non-stop, unlike the other day when she cried and screamed.
The company is about to move to a new factory site, and Cheng Fei is exhausted. Li Wei can clearly see that her aunt has some dark circles under her eyes, which makes her feel very sorry for her.
After dinner, while Aunt Zhang was pushing Dingding downstairs for a walk, Li Wei said to her aunt while they were cutting fruit in the kitchen, "Auntie, you should still take a share of the company. Otherwise, seeing you working so hard makes me really uncomfortable."
Li Wei had brought this up before, but her aunt just smiled noncommittally and let it go.
Hearing Li Wei say these things again, Cheng Fei stopped cutting the melon with her fruit knife and said seriously, "This is the last time I'm telling you this. Don't mention this again. There are three reasons why I won't take any shares. First, you know that I only recently decided to stay in the company. If you hadn't been scheming to get me into business, I'd probably be a bank employee now. Second, I've seen too many people and things over the years. Adults and children alike, you're one of the few who makes your aunt feel happy. Money isn't the most important thing, although it's important, and you know I'm not short of money. Third, and most importantly, if I might have wanted some shares before, it's even less likely after marriage. There are many things involved. I won't go into detail. You'll understand in the future. Also, you understand some things better than your aunt. Your aunt is impatient. Just remember to treat Dingding well, like you treat Li Lin and the others. Those things aren't that important to your aunt. Don't mention it again."
Back home, Li Wei lay in bed, still thinking about her aunt's words. Although she didn't care about money right now, seeing her aunt's state, she really didn't know how to make it up to her. It seemed she really had to take good care of Dingding as much as possible in the future, otherwise she would truly be letting her aunt down.
Today, Li Wei and her aunt's company is one of the largest in the city, and it's growing healthily and rapidly. Li Wei and her aunt's strategy is to focus on building several clothing brands, but keep the company's overall brand awareness low-key. They haven't engaged in deliberate advertising, even though industry insiders have a general idea of what's going on.
The reasons for being low-key in personal life but high-profile in work are too numerous to explain in a few words.
This is also a principle that Li's father, Li Zhaoxing, has always adhered to. Li Wei has always felt that her father has a great strategic vision.
This summer, my aunt, who was already a key technical worker at the food factory, and my uncle, who was in charge of delivery, both proposed to go out and start their own businesses. My father agreed at the time. He had already seen that they had developed ambitions and that taking this step was inevitable. There was no way to stop them, nor was there any need to.
Furthermore, they provided each of the two companies with a portion of funds as operating capital, but on one condition: they could not use their existing food factory brand.
Both families only saw the potential to make money selling products and naturally didn't realize the value of a brand. Even if they had, they had no reason to use Li Zhaoxing's land, so they were extremely grateful to their brother-in-law.
Although Cheng Min felt uncomfortable, there was nothing she could do. Not to mention her own brothers, even some of the workers who used to do the work were tempted to go home and make pastries.
She was anxious and would often grumble to her husband, wondering how they were going to manage the business in the future, with more and more competitors emerging! And most of them were children they had raised; weren't they ungrateful wretches?
Li Zhaoxing smiled, comforting his wife while reading: "You only give them so much room to develop here, and besides, the technology isn't that advanced. It's inevitable that they'll fall behind in the long run. Everyone has ambition and drive. You can't blame them; blame yourselves. We haven't developed fast enough or on a large enough scale, and we haven't given them a stage to showcase their talents. Don't worry, I've known this for a long time. We've fallen behind Li Wei and your sister. If you fall behind, you'll be eliminated. We need to have some ambition and move forward."
As for how it happened, Li Wei didn't know, and it had nothing to do with her. However, the next day, she and her two siblings were pleasantly surprised to see their parents at the martial arts school that their father, Luo Da, had arranged.
Li Wei was initially skeptical. Was it really necessary for Uncle Luo to organize a martial arts class for over a month?
But when she arrived at the study class she had imagined today, she found that it was completely different from what she had imagined.
This is the top two floors of a more than ten-story building in a bustling downtown area, including the rooftop terrace. Each floor is conservatively estimated to be nearly a thousand square meters. Both floors have the same decoration, exuding a sense of grandeur and luxury, clearly designed by professionals.
Moreover, it has been divided into many areas and functional rooms, including several large training grounds, offices, shower rooms, dormitory rest rooms, etc. Judging from the various facilities, it is clear that Uncle Luo has invested a lot.
At the coach's place, Li Wei met the legendary sixth senior brother, a middle-aged man of medium build and ordinary appearance who rarely smiled. He was wearing a white satin martial arts uniform with a front opening, and his steps were calm and his manners were proper, giving him a somewhat otherworldly air.
There were also two young coaches, who seemed to be a generation below Sixth Senior Brother, and they respectfully called Sixth Senior Brother Sixth Uncle.
Li Wei and Li Lin volunteered to help and were arranged by Uncle Luo to work at a reception area near the entrance, where two rows of flower baskets and a long red velvet table were set up. They registered the guests and distributed souvenirs and brochures for the "Zhengdao Martial Arts School". Two women in uniforms were also working with them, presumably staff members. The other woman was Luo Er's cousin, Zhong Xin, whom Li Wei and Li Lin had met at the movie theater.
The girl seemed to have some issues with Li Wei and her sister. She glanced at them and then turned away to write something without even saying hello.
To Li Wei's relief, she didn't see Aunt Luo's figure. She secretly asked Luo Xiaosan, who was running around, and Xiaosan said, "My dad didn't let my mom come. Hehe, you can rest assured."
Li Wei: "Tch, what am I worried about? I just miss my third aunt a little. Life without my third aunt is really tasteless, hehe."
The mistress left with the words, "Pretending to be innocent," and ran away.
As more and more people arrived, Li Wei grew increasingly impressed with Uncle Luo. Just look at the kind of people he had invited: leaders from the XX Education Bureau, principals of XXX private schools, managers of XX companies, factory directors of XX factories, vice principals of XX high schools, and representatives from various bureaus, departments, institutes, and departments...
It really involves all aspects of society, and many of them brought their children. Li Wei even noticed that their school's physical education teacher, Mr. Pan, also came, along with a little boy. She wondered if he was his son.
This Uncle Luo seems determined to sweep up all the prominent figures in the city. I wonder if he's hosting a martial arts school opening ceremony or a social expo for local celebrities.
What surprised Li Wei and Li Lin the most was that their parents were also dressed very formally.
The two sisters looked at each other, and after confirming that it was true, they ran up at the same time, making Li Zhaoxing and his wife very happy.
When the ribbon-cutting ceremony finally began, only Li Wei and the two staff members were left busy. Li Lin and her cousin Zhong had already run inside to watch the excitement.
Finally, when Li Wei saw her uncle-in-law Ding Anping rushing in, she wasn't surprised at all.
Li Wei and the others were busy at the entrance and didn't see the specific procedures inside. According to Li Lianhui later, there were ribbon-cutting speeches by leaders and martial arts performances, which were very interesting.
Li Wei wasn't particularly eager for it. She'd never found it amusing for leaders to squander red silk, and their speeches even more boring. As for the martial arts performance, she wasn't sure if she shared Li Lianhui's enthusiasm. So, she felt no regret whatsoever.
The last activity was for the guests to have lunch at a hotel on the eighth floor. This time, Li Wei didn't stand on ceremony and went down to eat with Li Lin and the others, which allowed her to witness the true charm of Uncle Luo.
In Li Wei's memory, Uncle Luo had always been a seasoned gangster with some thuggish traits.
Watching him mingle among a group of important people today, I suddenly realized that perhaps everyone in Yangliu Town had underestimated Uncle Luo. It seems he really is someone important.
Or, as the saying goes, "a person's temperament changes with their environment and body," and that having money alters a person's character.
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