small courtyard
Early in the morning, Gu Nan finished the transfer procedures at the real estate agency, got into the car and closed the door, facing the resentful looks from Master Wan's men.
He tapped the document with his bent fingers, thinking he would make Ji Yuanyu happy.
Unexpectedly, the result deviated slightly from what was expected.
Inside the office, Ji Yuanyu raised his voice, his face showing surprise and a subtle despair that Gu Nan couldn't decipher.
Gu Nan didn't understand. It's only right to pay back debts and repay the small courtyard.
He was angry at her lack of self-confidence: "What are you afraid of?"
Ji Yuanyu had no words to say; what was he afraid of?
Master Wan never took his courtyard from beginning to end, but now he's giving him a courtyard as compensation.
They've come to rob Master Wan; how could he not be afraid?
His Adam's apple bobbed, and he swallowed hard, trying to ignore the tremor in his voice: "How...how could Master Wan agree to return it..."
He closed his eyes briefly, and the word "still" was uttered without any confidence.
"Give us back our courtyard."
Gu Nan's anger rose to her throat: "What do you mean he agreed? He stole our things, and we want them back. It's reasonable, legal, and compliant. Don't always be so afraid of everything. If we subdue him once and for all, even if he wants to cause us trouble in the future, he'll have to think twice about the consequences."
Gu Nan is eloquent.
Ji Yuanyu's face turned ashen. He took two steps back and slumped back into his office chair. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.
Master Wan really needs to think this through. First, he was threatened by Lu Yu when he was in Platinum Mansion, and then Gu Nan demanded the courtyard without any explanation. He dares not think about the mental journey Master Wan went through when he was speechless and had no choice but to give it up.
In Master Wan's mind, he probably already died eight hundred times over.
Ji Yuanyu's eyes were lifeless; he had truly formed a grudge against Master Wan.
Some people seek revenge on the spot, like Gu Nan; others are good at lying in wait and are patient enough with their prey, like Master Wan.
He had thought he could remain neutral in the confrontation between Lu Yushi and Master Wan and survive in the cracks, but Gu Nan's several unintentional actions pushed the New Times to the opposite side of Master Wan.
Now……
He stared at Gu Nan, hesitant to speak, but the disappointment on Gu Nan's face was too obvious. He sighed softly. He was the kind of person who never wanted to talk about his worries and cause Gu Nan any trouble, so he just kept everything to himself.
Gu Nan is straightforward and unafraid of offending people when seeking revenge. Even when pushed to the brink, she can still nonchalantly say, "How much worse can things get?" Ji Yuanyu can understand Gu Nan's reckless way of doing things. Gu Nan only has her aunt behind her, so it's a case of two people being fed and the rest of the family not being hungry.
But he couldn't. He had elderly grandparents, parents who were slowly withdrawing from the center of power, and thousands of employees at the huge New Times. He didn't have the right to act impulsively.
Their eyes met, and Gu Nan said listlessly, "I had an appointment this afternoon, so I left."
Ji Yuanyu opened his mouth, knowing he would displease Gu Nan, but ultimately didn't say anything to stop her. He stared blankly as Gu Nan opened and closed the door, a gentle breeze flowing in through the window, dispersing the office's delicate fragrance.
The phone on the table lit up; it was a notification that a friend request had been accepted.
The sunlight spread upwards from the corner of the wall, and soon climbed onto the phone screen, making the three characters "Lu Yushi" appear in a halo of light.
He shifted his gaze slightly, tapping his knuckles on the table. Even in mid-autumn, a thin layer of sweat had appeared on his back.
The sun is much stronger today than it has been in the past few days.
The dockworker took off the towel soaked with sweat from his neck, wrung it out forcefully, and a bright smile appeared on his dark face.
"The frost will arrive in about ten days, but it's still so hot."
"The sun is shining brightly today."
The worker, wearing an orange vest, laughed and replied, "Actually, it's alright. We're just rushing to finish the job."
The foreman adjusted his sun hat and agreed, "The Lu family has been urging us for this batch of goods since last week. The higher-ups have given instructions, so there's no rush."
Before he finished speaking, a pebble hit his sun hat precisely from behind, followed by laughter and curses: "You little brat, you didn't know you should have called a few more people. We've been suffering every day following you."
The foreman was displeased: "Didn't we let you make money? You'll make more if there's one less person. Let me tell you, the Lu family is very generous. The sooner we finish the work, the better their mood will be, and we'll get more no matter what. There are still 12 truckloads left. Everyone, let's work harder and finish before we have lunch."
The responses rose and fell, gradually being replaced by heavy breathing.
The man in the orange vest carried the box to the back of the car, leaning on the box and panting heavily. After counting the number of cigarettes, he took out a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and as he looked down to find a lighter, he was slapped on the back of the head.
Looking up, the man in the sun hat, his face showing displeasure, snapped, "Smoking? Where is this place?"
"I'm too tired, I need to rest for a while."
"Get out of my way." The man in the sun hat swept the man away with his foot, his face serious. "If there's a problem with this shipment, none of us will have an easy time. Don't even mention a whole truckload, just this one box, whether you sell it all or just the pieces, you can't afford to lose money."
Knowing he was in the wrong, the man in the orange vest stopped arguing and changed the subject: "I remember the five major families tacitly agree not to cooperate with Xingzi Tower."
Sun Hat stood at the back of the vehicle, looking up to double-check the number of boxes, muttering the numbers to himself. After confirming there were no problems, he closed the inspection compartment door, and the two walked back one after the other.
"It's all because the owner of Xingzilou is too cunning. I heard that when Xingzilou first rose to prominence, the five major families treated him quite well. Who knew that Xingzilou would later cheat Master Wan out of a batch of software, causing Master Wan to lose seven or eight hundred million. The contract was made flawlessly, but Master Wan is not the kind of person who would suffer in silence. He made it clear that he wanted to make sure that Xingzilou could not survive in Beicheng."
The man in the orange vest scoffed, "I didn't expect Xingzilou to be such a formidable character. Even without Master Wan and the five major families, he's still thriving."
"Didn't the Lu family just say a while ago that if anyone dared to move into the new Xingzilou West District development, the Lu family would never cooperate with them again? And now, not long after, the Lu family has started cooperating with Xingzilou themselves."
He looked at his sun hat from front to back and lowered his voice: "From what I've heard, the Lu family begged Xingzilou for this cooperation, saying they were offering the best possible terms."
"Xingzi Tower is that powerful? It's making the Lu family beg for its services?"
Sun Hat turned around and pointed to the two inspection bays: "This batch of goods is a military order from the Lu family. The Lu family must assemble, put into operation, and test run all the machines before the 20th."
"Today is October 17th!"
The worker, wearing a tank top, closed the door to another inspection compartment, jogged over to the two men, exclaimed "Hey!", and grinned, "What are you chatting about?"
The man in the sun hat nodded in greeting, then gestured with his chin toward the half-closed door of the lounge in the distance: "Hey, I'm here to check things out since I'm working overtime."
The man in the tank top sighed, "They really are the Lu family."
As they walked out, the group chatted. The other workers, having finished their tasks, also gathered around in twos and threes, lighting cigarettes and chatting casually while yawning.
Sun Hat looked back and saw that everyone was almost gathered, then announced the next piece of bad news: "This shipment is urgent, but the wages are high. Everyone, just grab a quick bite at noon and don't go too far. We need to pack it up as soon as we finish the inspection. The truck leaves at 2 p.m., so we can't be late."
Everyone understood, and seeing that it was getting late, they simply sat there and waited. When they got really hungry, they drank a few more sips of water and yawned.
Sun Hat pulled out a few biscuits wrapped in a plastic bag from his bag, broke them into small pieces, and distributed them to everyone.
What can keep everyone alert is nothing more than gossip. Someone casually remarked, "I never thought Young Master Lin was that kind of person. The marriage between the Shen and Lin families is off."
"Those who are poor still dream of having multiple wives, let alone those who are rich. They do things for outsiders, and how many of them can be honest?"
"You can't say for sure. The Lu family's son hasn't had any scandals so far, and the Qiu family's young master is still single. Um... have you heard of the Wan family's young master?"
The group exchanged glances, each seeing a burning desire for gossip in the other's eyes.
The decline of the Wan family can be largely attributed to the young master of the Wan family. Before graduation, he was an outstanding student and a prodigy. However, after graduation, he picked up a woman with amnesia from outside the family. In order to stay with the woman forever, he fought against his family for two years.
"If Mrs. Wan hadn't been in poor health and unable to have a second child, Young Master Wan might have been kicked out of the house."
“I can understand Mr. Wan’s situation. I heard that he went to the hospital for a checkup and it’s highly unlikely that the woman’s memory will be restored.”
"Memory loss is a minor issue. I heard the hospital found out that the woman is at least ten years older than Young Master Wan and has even had a child. Tsk tsk tsk, amnesia, unknown origins, age gap, having had children—any one of these things is enough to give Mr. and Mrs. Wan a headache."
"Two years have passed in the blink of an eye, and now the young master can run around."
"It is said that the young master is very cute and charming."
"Mrs. Wan was a great beauty when she was young. Her son is handsome, and the woman with amnesia is said to be very beautiful as well."
The group exchanged smiles and said in unison, "Otherwise, how could she have captivated Young Master Wan to the point that he wouldn't marry anyone else?"
Laughter drowned out the approaching footsteps. When everyone came to their senses, the woman dressed in black had a gloomy expression. The wide brim of her hat covered most of her face, and the voice coming from below was deep and pleasant, with a hint of undeniable pressure.
"He is not someone you can afford to offend."
They turned around at the same time and nodded in agreement.
The woman was simply dressed, and they couldn't tell the brand of her clothes, but she exuded an air of natural elegance. They knew it wasn't worth getting into a fight over her, so they tacitly changed the subject and watched her stride confidently towards the lounge.
The glass door reflected the woman's slender figure. There were still a few steps between her and the door when someone inside immediately came over to open it, bowing slightly as if extremely respectful.
"You've arrived."
The woman nodded slightly, took off her hat with one hand, and her black clothes made her skin appear even whiter: "Is there a problem with the goods?"
The staff member pointed towards the inspection area and reported, "A total of 50 units were moved out for random inspection, and there are..."
The woman, with a cheerful disposition, frowned slightly, slightly annoyed by the staff member's hesitant manner: "What?"
"17 units have problems."
"Is there something wrong with the machine?" the woman asked strangely. This wasn't a warehouse quality control area, and quality issues were never within her job scope.
The staff member was silent for a moment, then tiptoed close to the woman's ear and whispered something. The two women looked at each other and their faces darkened simultaneously.
"Submit the report and follow the procedures."
He finished speaking and turned to leave. A staff member hurriedly chased after him: "The Lu family... they urged us three times around noon, this..."
The woman turned around, gave her a deep look, her face expressionless, and her tone unreadable: "You want to challenge the law?"
"Of course not!" the staff member whispered, "It's just strange. Everything was fine before, so why is it that this batch of goods, which was in such a hurry, has a problem?"
The woman paused for a moment, then said, "I understand, but..." She changed the subject, "He was careless and someone took advantage of the situation. We don't need to worry about his mistake."
The staff member moved his lips, took small steps over and tugged at her sleeve, whispering, "Sister Tangli, I'm scared."
"What's there to be afraid of?" she said, without finishing her sentence.
The woman naturally understood that there had never been any problems with the previous random inspections. However, after Wan Tangli took over the inspection process, the Lu family's first batch of goods ran into trouble, making it difficult for anyone not to become suspicious.
“If Lu Yushi could be used as a pawn by others, he wouldn’t be Lu Yushi.”
“You believe in Young Master Lu, but others may not think so. Public opinion is a powerful force.”
The woman glanced at her, then looked back at the workers resting in the shade, put on her hat, and strode over.
The man in the sun hat was the first to turn around, his gaze inquiring: "Madam?"
"Did this shipment pass through any other hands after it was transported from the ship?"
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