Chapter 50 (Second Update)
She also took her mother's surname.
She disliked her older brother since she was a child. In her parents' words, her older brother was an unapproachable person, even less affectionate towards his family. He was only focused on his work and always put profit first in everything he did.
Ever since she could remember, she had always felt that Qin Lian looked at her with a cold gaze. Regardless of age, whenever she was naughty or did something wrong, she would be severely punished by her older brother first. He forbade her to do this and that. In her older brother's eyes, the Qin family's reputation was more important than family members. She had also personally witnessed Qin Tianrui being beaten until he cried for his parents every time. Although Qin Lian rarely hit her, he always made her watch how Qin Tianrui was beaten.
Qin Lian rarely goes home, and every time he does, he has a big argument with his family. In the end, they just live separately so he can avoid seeing them and getting upset.
He was blinded by wealth and power, and brought his outward ways home with him.
Therefore, she never appeared with Qin Lian, and never liked to participate in activities within the same circle. Instead, she lived freely. Qin Lian disliked her, and so did she.
Occasionally, when she saw reporters interviewing or praising Qin Lian on TV news or online, she felt that the person was so fake.
He can smile so happily in front of the camera, but when he goes home, he never shows any kindness to his family.
Are his family members his enemies?
They're all fake.
She even felt that people familiar with Qin Lian were fake, like Qin Tianrui.
Although she looked down on Qin Tianrui, she often ate at the dinner table with him because of her parents. She heard Qin Tianrui always complain about his dissatisfaction with the Lu family, and she also heard her parents talk about how Lu Jiang, the former president of Lu Corporation, had failed to educate her properly.
None of the Lu brothers are any good.
So when she saw Qiao Wu, she categorized him with everyone else in her memory.
But she didn't expect that Qiao Wu was even more decisive, straightforward, and daring than Qin Lian.
This was the first time in all these years that she had been so directly pinned against the wall as punishment and nearly suffered heatstroke from the sun.
She never expected that Qiao Wu would dare to keep her here to watch over things. She wanted to see what tricks Qiao Wu could come up with.
Cong Yi got up, her clothes sticking to her body with a wet back, making her very uncomfortable. The long exposure to the sun had also caused her some dehydration. She glanced at the water that Qiao Wu had thrown on the ground.
Surely it couldn't be for her to drink, could it?
Slap him and then give him a sweet treat? It's like hitting Qin Tianrui and then pulling him up.
She's not that stupid.
She ignored the bottle of water, walked to the pool, scooped up some water and drank several large mouthfuls, then washed her face before looking back at Qiao Wu defiantly.
Qiao Wu was too lazy to care about these childish actions; if he didn't want to drink, fine.
She picked up the water and threw it to Guo Liyan behind her, saying, "If she asks for water again, don't give it to her."
Guo Liyan: "Okay."
Standing on the embankment, Zhong Min witnessed Qiao Wu's methods of dealing with people for the first time, and secretly rejoiced.
Fortunately, last time at his sister's place, Qiao Wu only sat on the sofa and spoke to him verbally; otherwise, he suspected that if Qiao Wu had wanted to throw him off the building, his sister would have agreed without hesitation.
The group climbed up and left, leaving Cong Yi alone to struggle, and no one looked back.
Cong Yi held his breath, packed his things, and climbed up, closely following the main group.
Worried that they wouldn't be able to get back before noon, everyone went to a nearby hilltop. Looking out, the entire village was spread out before them, appearing so small and fragile.
Lu Yingchi was a little stunned. He put his hands down from his pockets, turned his head and whispered to Qiao Wu, "Is it just my imagination? It doesn't seem as big as my house."
“Young Master.” Cong Yi, who had been following behind Qiao Wu and staring at her, scoffed, “People are different. What do you know about human suffering?”
Before Lu Yingchi could speak, Qiao Wu retorted, "What do you know about human suffering? Did you even grow up in a family like this? Do you know how much a bag of salt costs, how much a pound of corn costs, how much a plot of land can grow in a year, how much the bus fare to town is, or how much rice and meat you can buy with the vegetables in your basket at the market?"
Cong Yi was stumped by the question and it took him a while to retort, "You know?"
"Know."
Everyone couldn't help but turn around, even the village officials were curious: "Chairman Qiao knows about these things?"
Qiao Wu gave a general overview of all the answers, then glanced casually at Cong Yi, whose expression was not pleasant: "Common sense."
“Some people always like to use their self-righteous perspective to criticize others and highlight their own differences.” She raised an eyebrow. “In reality, it only makes them seem pretentious and mediocre.”
Although Lu Yingchi didn't understand these common sense things either, he was happy to see someone like Cong Yi get his comeuppance. He said condescendingly, "Can you shut up in front of Qiao Wu? You'll only make yourself look like you're being clever."
"How dare you say that to me?" Cong Yi retorted.
"Why should I be embarrassed?" Lu Yingchi said frankly. "I didn't know these things, and my house is indeed very big, but I would never use that so-called sense of superiority to mock others. It's disgusting."
"Alright." Qiao Wu looked away. "Don't disturb other people's work. Go do what you're supposed to be doing."
Cong Yi's face turned red from the choking, and she walked to the front with her schoolbag on her back, angrily setting up the equipment with the teachers.
Qiao Wu stood next to Zhong Min and asked softly, "What did the school say?"
Zhong Min came here mainly for the Hope Primary School.
“The population base is too small,” Zhong Min said. “The children here are either not in school, or like the village chief’s daughter, they have been taken by their parents to the town to attend boarding school. It takes a lot of time for those scattered households in the surrounding area to walk here to attend school. The teachers here are mostly volunteer teachers, so the possibility of building a school is not high.”
“I’m considering putting the money directly into a foundation, counting how many children reach school age each year, and sending them all to the town. We’ll be fully responsible for their tuition and living expenses.” He paused, then tentatively asked, “What do you think?”
Qiao Wu smiled and said, "That's feasible."
Building a Hope Primary School in a village is not actually a difficult task.
But building a school without people is not a solution. In the end, the distribution of teachers and resources will be unequal. It would be better to send the children out to study, so that they can integrate into society better.
For no apparent reason, Zhong Min felt a great sense of relief.
It seemed that gaining Qiao Wu's approval was something that made him proud.
“You’re just treating the symptoms, I’ll address the root cause.” Qiao Wu raised his hand, tracing a circle around the village entrance with his fingertip. “Build a road here, and turn the entire village into a comprehensive resort area. The scattered households inside can also move out. You can consider building a kindergarten in the village. I asked the village chief yesterday, and there are quite a few left-behind children aged three to seven in the village. Because they are too young to go to school, they can only stay at home. So, a kindergarten would be more cost-effective than a primary school. Let’s also build an activity room and a library, which can be used by both children and adults.”
She truly put her advice into practice.
In fact, the Lu family could have done all of these things, but Qiao Wu didn't take on all of them; instead, he handed them over to him.
Building a kindergarten and activity room doesn't cost much, but any act of charity, no matter how small, is an act of charity.
Zhong Min took a deep breath: "Okay, I'll talk to the village chief later."
After climbing for most of the day, Qiao Wu was really tired. She sat down on the ground and casually picked some grass, making up stories to talk to the village officials.
"Go and bring water to the teachers," Qiao Wu said to Lu Yingchi. "Don't bring water to Cong Yi."
Lu Yingchi was very happy about this and went off without hesitation.
He even deliberately spoke loudly to the teachers, saying, "Teachers, you've worked hard. Please have some water."
Then he walked up to Cong Yi, circled around her, and then walked back.
It's fair to say he's never been so attentive to any of his previous teachers.
Cong Yi was furious, but she had given up drinking the water herself, and now there was no more water in the pond for her to drink. She could only endure it and resolutely refuse to back down.
The geological experts finished their measurements and came back to talk to Qiao Wu.
Qiao Wu held a blueprint in her hand, which she had drawn along the way today. It clearly marked where construction could take place and what kind of work was suitable.
She listened to the geologists while making marks on the paper.
When it was Cong Yi's turn, she didn't hear a sound for a while, so she looked up.
Cong Yi stood beside her, his expression somewhat complicated, not understanding why Qiao Wu could still talk to him so naturally.
But remembering that Qiao Wu had told her to do her job well, she stated the data she had measured without any expression.
Qiao Wu asked the experts for their opinions, and the teachers nodded: "She has always done a good job in this area."
Qiao Wu then finished writing it down on the paper and casually handed her a bottle of water, saying, "Thank you for your hard work."
Cong Yi's face was contorted with rage. What does it mean to give her water only now?
“I’ll count to three. If you don’t want it, you won’t get any more water until you’ve finished your next task,” Qiao Wu said leisurely. “One, two…”
Before the count of two was finished, the bottle of water was taken away by Cong Yi.
If it were anyone else, they might hesitate, but Qiao Wu would really finish the water in front of her and wouldn't let anyone else give it to her.
If she didn't drink this bottle soon, she couldn't guarantee she would be able to safely make it down the mountain.
The morning's inspection came to an end, and everyone temporarily returned to the village chief's house for lunch.
It was the same table, but this time even Lu Yingchi didn't cause any trouble. He now realized that eating in a dusty, greasy room wouldn't make him miss out on meat, and he could still eat several bowls.
After lunch, everyone went to the homes of the villagers where they had stayed to cool off and rest. Qiao Wu took Lu Yingchi to the village entrance; his flight was in the evening, and the driver had to take him to the airport now.
Lu Yingchi looked exhausted and disheveled these past two days, his head hanging low: "When are you coming home?"
"I'll be back as soon as I'm done." Qiao Wu handed him a small box. "I asked the village chief and the others for some cooling balm. If you get carsick later, you can smell it and see if it helps. When you get to town, go to the pharmacy and buy some motion sickness patches."
Lu Yingchi sensed something was wrong: "Don't treat me like a child."
Qiao Wu did not refute: "Yes."
“That thing from what the hell?” Lu Yingchi said, frowning. “If she acts up again, you tell me, and I’ll definitely kill her when I get back.”
“She’s just a kid too,” Qiao Wu said with a smile. “She’s just a little harder to manage than you guys. You’ve forgotten that you weren’t obedient before either.”
Lu Yingchi felt he had been slandered and retorted angrily, "I'm not as unreasonable as her!"
"Yes." Qiao Wu pushed him into the car. "Hurry up, or we'll be late. Remember to catch up on the classes you missed today."
Lu Yingchi climbed into the passenger seat, looking at the gentle figure standing outside the window, and thought of Qiao Wu comparing himself to Cong Yi.
He had never felt that there was anything wrong with Qiao Wu taking care of him before, but at this moment he felt very unbalanced. Qiao Wu just treated him like a child, a child who needed to be disciplined.
Follow the same path, or be like Lu Ning.
But he refused.
He grabbed the driver's hand that was adjusting the gears, rolled down the window, and called out to her, "Qiao Wu."
"Um?"
"Wait for me." It was rare for Lu Yingchi to be so serious. "I will walk on my own and protect you."
Qiao Wu smiled, but didn't say anything.
After Lu Yingchi's car left, she sat down on a rock by the roadside and found Qin Lian's phone number.
"Mr. Qin, I always seem to run into your family at unexpected times," she said with a smile.
Qin Lian only needed to think for a moment to guess who the Qin family member was who Qiao Wu would encounter in the mountains. To be honest, although he had Qiao Wu help discipline his family members, he was always the one who encountered them first and then notified, which really affected his initiative.
"Did she offend you?"
"That's very impolite of you." Qiao Wu pressed the speakerphone button and said, "Although helping you with this will earn me some extra money, I at least need to know what kind of situation your family is in to raise so many brainless juniors."
At this moment, Qin Lian was scolded but couldn't refute it. He sighed and said, "My parents spoiled them too much."
"What's it to you?" Qiao Wu asked, puzzled. "She seems to dislike you even more than your brother."
Perhaps because she had seen how Qiao Wu disciplined her younger brother last time, Qin Lian now trusted her a lot, so she briefly explained some of the family's situation: "That's why I'm not very close to them."
"I understand." Qiao Wu sighed. "That's how it is to be an older brother."
"Don't take it personally." Qin Lian understood the meaning behind her words and sneered, "Lu Jinzhi is disliked purely because he's a rude person."
"Okay, I understand." Qiao Wu stood up. "President Qin, remember to transfer the money this time too. Your sister is more expensive than your brother. I'm being targeted by her."
Qin Lian: "..."
He laughed in exasperation: "I think you and Lu Jinzhi get along quite well."
"Yes, he and I are good friends."
Qiao Wu hung up the phone, then turned to look at another car parked there: "Have you finished listening? If you have, get off."
Cong Yi, who had been lying behind the door, froze.
How did she find out?!
Before doing anything, Qiao Wu always observes his surroundings, especially in unfamiliar places. So when he arrived, he immediately spotted the head that had shrunk down and the window that had been raised in the other car.
Later, the car window was secretly rolled down a little, clearly to eavesdrop on other people's conversations.
Qiao Wu waved his phone: "Your brother has already transferred the money to my phone. Do you know what I'm going to do?"
Cong Yi immediately leaned out of the car and rolled the window down completely, saying menacingly, "Come and fight if you dare."
"I'd rather not hit you." Qiao Wu walked to the passenger side, opened the car door and got in. He smiled after feeling the temperature of the air conditioning inside.
The laughter was unrestrained, which infuriated Cong Yi: "I came to change my clothes! Can't I even turn on the air conditioning after drying them all morning?!"
She did come to change her clothes; her clothes from the morning were wet and dirty, which made her very uncomfortable.
Besides, it's lunch break now, and it's not illegal for her to enjoy the air conditioning in her car.
"This car seems to cost three million," Qiao Wu said.
"So what? My mom bought it."
"Then why are you driving a three-million-dollar car and talking to me about being rich?" The cool air inside the car made Qiao Wu lean back comfortably. "Spending a lot of money, enjoying privileges that others don't have, and then waving the banner of justice and integrity to criticize the vulgarity of people like us, how can you be so interesting?"
Starting with "Yi Bie": "I am not like you, abusing my power and seeking only profit."
“Businessmen are all driven by profit. Those who aren’t are called bodhisattvas. The three million you own and the three million you wear are all profits from profit-seeking. The money you’re using here today to provide employment opportunities for the villagers and help them leave the mountains is also for that little bit of profit,” Qiao Wu said. “Even if I’m just a figurehead, you have no right to say anything, you know? Because I did it, and you didn’t.”
Cong Yi gasped.
Qiao Wu glanced at the pile of clothes he had changed out of: "If you hadn't pulled that stunt today, you would be respected like your teacher, and people would praise you for being young, promising, and hardworking, instead of feeling ashamed and unable to hold your head up in front of so many people like this morning."
"Now do you know what it means to bully others by abusing your power?" Qiao Wu asked her. "After all these years of schooling, didn't anyone teach you the phrase 'seeing is believing'?"
Cong Yi wanted to say that she didn't treat other people this way.
But she couldn't bring herself to say it to Qiao Wu.
Qiao Wu's phone rang. She looked down and saw that her bank card had been credited to her account. Given the WeChat transfer limit, Qin Lian had specifically asked for her bank card number beforehand.
She showed the notes to Cong Yi: "See? My lesson is worth so much money to your brother."
Cong Yi's eyes widened, and she raised her hand to snatch the phone: "Is he crazy! You're scamming me!"
Qiao Wu slapped her hand away: "Is it possible that you're only worth this much in your brother's heart?"
"he?!"
“Although your brother’s words were vague, anyone with a brain should be able to figure it out: the reason you and Qin Tianrui can live such a carefree and happy life is because your brother used you as his guinea pigs.” Qiao Wu poked her cheek with his phone. “How come you can accept your parents disciplining your brother in this way, but you think he’s hateful when he disciplines you in this way?”
Cong Yi was stunned.
She didn't know how her parents had treated Qin Lian before: "But he is the heir."
“Then you can inherit it.” Qiao Wu shrugged. “Anyway, you think you’re awesome and you’ll definitely be able to manage the company very well. With your second brother, the two of you working together will definitely surpass Lu Jinzhi and become one of the top young entrepreneurs in the country.”
Cong Yi understood the implication in her words: "Are you mocking me?"
"I can tell," Qiao Wu nodded. "That's right. With brains like yours, you wouldn't even need a year before the Qin family is completely finished."
She turned her head and raised an eyebrow: "What, you've been all over the world, but you've never been to your brother's company to see how he works every day?"
Indeed, I have never been there.
She desperately wanted to avoid any connection with Qin Lian, but she had just overheard Qiao Wu talking to Qin Lian on the phone.
Many of her prejudices about Qin Lian came from her parents, and if they were distorted from her parents...
Cong Yi frowned.
Qiao Wu slapped Qin Tianrui for tens of thousands of yuan; that was the price Qin Lian considered for Qin Tianrui's lesson.
These few minutes in the car today, and the hour by the pond, her lesson is worth six figures.
"Why didn't he tell me himself?"
“Little sister,” Qiao Wu laughed, “what good can you expect from people like your parents, like Qin Tianrui and you? You should be grateful if even one of them is even remotely normal.”
This time, Qiao Wu scolded their entire family.
He still cannot refute it.
She retorted, "Uncle Lu didn't raise his sons well either."
"So the Lu family has Lu Jinzhi, and your family has Qin Lian." Qiao Wu did not deny this, after all, it was common knowledge that the Lu brothers were only superficially united. "And you're mistaken. They may have flaws, but they wouldn't let others speak so badly about their own family members, let alone say it themselves."
She asked, "Think about it, did Lu Yingchi do anything wrong this morning?"
Putting aside the original filters, if one didn't know Lu Yingchi, there's no way to say that Lu Yingchi, who ate four large bowls of rice from his host's lunch today, was an arrogant playboy.
Does that mean he ate too much and was being impolite?
Qiao Wu chuckled: "So you're not even as good as Lu Yingchi."
Seeing that it was almost time, she didn't want to waste any more time here, so she sat up straight, opened the car door and got out. As she turned around to close the car door, she put her hand on the door: "Congyi, next time before judging other people's behavior, at least reflect on whether you have done the same thing, otherwise you will be a joke in other people's eyes."
Cong Yi also turned off the engine and got out of the car. After thinking for a moment, he ran to the trunk and took out several bottles of water and put them in his backpack.
Qiao Wu chuckled when he saw her action: "Don't worry, I'm not you. As long as you do well, I'll give you water to drink."
"snort."
Cong Yi thought to herself, "After she goes to her brother's company, she'll come back and give Qiao Wu a good dressing down!"
With the hundreds of thousands of yuan in "tutoring fees" on his mind, Cong Yi, who was usually envious of the rich, didn't cause any trouble in the afternoon. Instead, he obediently followed behind the teacher, helping to measure the data.
Qiao Wu finally understood why Qin Lian and Qin Tianrui looked like fair-skinned rich young masters, while this little girl had a wheatish complexion.
It's all just flaunted. Putting aside her lack of intelligence and low emotional intelligence, she is indeed capable of enduring hardship.
When we returned from the mountain in the afternoon, the village chief cut up a watermelon and shared it with everyone.
Aside from communicating about data, Cong Yi didn't speak to Qiao Wu that afternoon, sitting silently in the courtyard.
Qiao Wu walked over to her, sat on a small stool, and handed her the watermelon: "Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Cong."
Cong Yi trembled and exclaimed in astonishment, "W-what teacher?!"
"You're more professional than me in this area, is it wrong to call you 'teacher'?" Qiao Wu pushed the watermelon forward. "Want some?"
No one can resist taking a bite of juicy watermelon at this time of year.
From also.
She took the watermelon: "I'm still a student."
Her ears turned red.
“You’re better than Qin Tianrui in this respect,” Qiao Wu said, also eating watermelon. “You have a better understanding of your own limitations than he does.”
“He’s always been like that.” After saying that, Cong Yi remembered that Qiao Wu had said not to speak ill of family members outside, so she changed her words, “But he… never mind.”
I really can't find any good points to praise.
She lowered her head.
She couldn't help but steal a glance at Qiao Wu and saw the red marks on her arms, all from being scratched by the grass while walking in the woods.
Even after walking so many miles, Qiao Wu never complained of being tired. He was still able to keep up with everyone, keep good records of all the places he visited, and communicate earnestly with the village secretary and others about the future issue of villagers staying in the village. He also improved the plan little by little.
She had never met anyone like this before, someone who used both soft and hard tactics, yet was truly convincing.
"I'm sorry," Cong Yi said, her mouth still on the watermelon.
"Hmm?" Qiao Wu glanced at her. "If only your apology were as loud as your argument with me."
"..." Cong Yi raised his head and almost shouted, "I'm sorry!"
The people sitting inside eating watermelon glanced outside, and Cong Yi's teacher said in surprise, "Chairman Qiao is really capable. He disciplined her in just one day. That little girl has a very stubborn temper."
Zhong Min smiled and said, "She has always been very good at grasping people's weaknesses."
Are you all very familiar with Chairman Qiao?
“No, not really,” Zhong Min said. “But she’s dealt with me before.”
The rest of the group: "???"
Before Qiao Wu could speak, the village secretary pushed the door open and hurriedly said, "Chairman Qiao, someone is looking for you at the village entrance!"
Looking for me?
Qiao Wu didn't know anyone here. "Lu Yingchi is back?"
"No." The village secretary gestured with his hand. "A young man about his height said he was your friend. I offered to bring him over, but he refused." Friend?
Qiao Wu got up and washed his hands first: "I'll go take a look."
Guo Liyan also stood up: "Would you like me to come with you?"
"Need not."
Qiao Wu had a vague premonition.
She quickly walked out of the courtyard, following the lights shining from each household's yard, until she reached the village entrance.
There were no streetlights in the village, but the interior lights of a car were on, illuminating the silhouette of a tall, straight person standing outside the car door with their head slightly tilted back.
Hearing the sound, he turned around and watched her approach.
"Lu Jinzhi?!" Qiao Wu felt her breath catch in her throat. She stopped in front of Lu Jinzhi and was finally able to see his face clearly.
He was only wearing a black shirt, and his handsome, dark eyes lost their coldness the moment he smiled: "Hmm."
Qiao Wu asked, bewildered, "Why are you here?"
“You said you wouldn’t be able to see anymore, so…”
In the quiet night of the village, Lu Jinzhi's voice was carried by the wind, blowing very softly.
"Let's come see the stars."
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