Chapter 228: Old Wounds

Langka was very generous. The dishes served were extremely rich; apart from the ones commonly eaten locally, there were actually two stir-fried dishes, which was a rare sight. One of them was stir-fried beef with yellow chili, the flavor very rich. However, compared to eating meat, Bai Zimu favored that dish of stir-fried green vegetables much more. Throughout the entire meal, besides drinking soup, he only ate green vegetables, consuming very little rice.

Langka very quickly noticed this picky little friend.

He took a glance at Bai Zimu, saying disapprovingly:

“You need to eat a bit more. Only by eating meat will you grow strong.”

Bai Zimu said: “I did eat.”

Langka: “Where did you eat? I’ve been watching you the whole time. You just picked up one piece of stewed meat and placed it in your bowl, without taking a single bite.”

Bai Zimu: “…”

Bai Zimu raised his head; the other party was actually waiting as a matter of course, staring at him to eat meat—this scene was far too familiar. Bai Zimu subconsciously thought he had returned to the family courtyard. Growing up, every time he was picky with food, the elders of both families and his several older brothers would stare at him like this. Especially Lei Dongchuan, who was the one in the family who stared the fiercest.

Bai Zimu picked up that piece of meat, slowly eating it.

Because he thought of Lei Dongchuan, he actually wasn’t as resistant to Langka as before either.

If his brother were here, he would probably stare at him eating food like this too, right?

Langka treated him as a junior. After speaking that sentence, he stopped there, no longer forcing Bai Zimu to eat things. Instead, he had the back kitchen boil a serving of sweet porridge and deliver it to him. Here, sweet porridge was a snack used to coax children. Bai Zimu didn’t know, eating it very calmly. Duojie, sitting to the side, scratched his cheek, wanting to open his mouth, but very quickly he felt his bare cheeks and resentfully closed his mouth.

After eating the sweet porridge, Bai Zimu looked to be in a much better mood.

Langka asked him: “Still suits your appetite?”

Bai Zimu said: “Quite good, making you spend money.”

Langka: “Doesn’t count for anything. You seem to like eating matsutake very much, I’ll have someone deliver some over to you. However, being picky with food won’t do, next time you still have to pay attention. Your age is still small; during the time of growing your body you cannot relax, you won’t grow tall.”

Bai Zimu: “…”

It had been a very long time since Bai Zimu heard someone speak this sentence so straightforwardly. He had cared about this since he was little, and because of this, his brother had always protected him; among the circle of people around him, no one dared to speak this sentence openly. Especially since he had already grown a bit taller these past few years; a height of 177, which was actually considered passable. Tiptoeing a bit, it was 180 centimeters.

It was just that in this room, surrounded by a group of people like Duojie and Langka, he appeared fair and weak.

Bai Zimu made no sound, and Langka didn’t speak either. The entire room suddenly quieted down.

The Tibetan-robed strapping fellows who had originally been eating meat and drinking wine also inexplicably felt the air somewhat stagnate.

It was still Langka who broke the silence, opening his mouth to say:

“In a moment, I’ll take you guys to stroll around and take a look together. Since you brought a contract, I can’t let you go back empty-handed. Signing at least one copy to bring back will also let you complete your task.”

Bai Zimu took the opportunity to nod, saying politely:

“Alright, then I’ll trouble you.”

Bai Zimu still needed to discuss business with the other party, so he didn’t say anything. He raised his eyes to take a look at Langka. The other party sitting there looked tall with long legs. Recalling Langka’s height when he walked in just now, he seemed about the same as his brother—no, his brother must definitely be taller.

After the meal, Langka personally accompanied them to go take a look together.

He had several pastures here, with fully tens of thousands of cattle and sheep. Looking from afar, it was extremely spectacular, and this was only a very small portion of Langka’s industries. As for items like cordyceps, what Duojie and the rest gathered was nothing more than a day or two’s worth of acquisition volume here for Langka.

After Bai Zimu saw it, he harbored a few fractions of doubt regarding Duojie’s previous words.

Looking at it this way, Langka was this wealthy, yet he still let Duojie and the rest enter his own residence and even provided food. This was truly already extremely polite and approachable.

Langka didn’t walk fast along the way. If one looked carefully, they could discover that his right leg was also somewhat unnatural.

After Bai Zimu noticed it, his gaze fell on his right leg, somewhat hesitating whether he should ask or not. He felt he hadn’t yet become familiar enough with Langka to this extent; only, just as he was about to shift his gaze away, he was noticed by Langka.

Langka said calmly: “Looking at what?”

Bai Zimu gathered his gaze, lowering his eyes and saying:

“Nothing. You have many cattle and sheep here, and the goats here are also quite different from the mainland. I raised one before, its horns were only a tiny bit big, without the Tibetan goat’s coiled and curved…”

Langka said: “Your goat, did it also not properly eat food?”

Bai Zimu raised his head puzzledly, suspecting he was laughing at him. However, he caught sight of Langka pulling a slightly stiff smile on his face. After their lines of sight collided, the smile on Langka’s face slowly withdrew. Furrowing his brows, he said:

“I am joking with you.”

Bai Zimu cursed him in his heart, but smiled on the surface, saying: “Boss Langka is quite humorous.”

Langka took it as the truth, looking quite happy.

Bai Zimu accompanied him walking a stretch of road. The majority of the time, it was Langka speaking, and he listened. Because they used Chinese the whole time, the translator closely following beside Bai Zimu actually didn’t serve any purpose. The translator had received instructions from above to protect Bai Zimu, following him without leaving a single step.

Langka told two dry jokes. Bai Zimu didn’t quite understand them, but fortunately, the accompanying translator’s sense of humor was very low, laughing happily there every time. The moment the translator laughed, Bai Zimu also knew how to react, following along with a smile.

Langka: “I heard your arithmetic is very good? [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] The account books of Duojie and the rest must definitely be a complete mess right. I heard people speak of a story about a sign looking at a quadrant…”

Bai Zimu interrupted him, saying:

“I have a brother. If he were here, he would definitely get along very well with you.”

Langka was slightly surprised: “You still have a brother?”

Bai Zimu said: “Mn, not only does he eat a lot of meat, his strength is great, and he grows very tall, but he also has a lot of research into mathematics.”

He had heard all the dry jokes regarding mathematics, and almost all of them were told by his brother. Every time, his brother would do the problems wrong in all sorts of strange ways, yet even like this, his self-confidence could burst to the point of coming to teach him.

Langka carried a few fractions of interest, asking: “Where is he?”

Bai Zimu said: “My brother just entered the grassland a few days ago, estimating he’ll be able to arrive in a few days.”

Langka nodded and said: “Wait until he arrives, bring him over, I will treat him to eat roast whole lamb.”

Bai Zimu agreed with a sound: “Alright.”

After finishing speaking, he sighed a breath in his heart again. His brother should be able to arrive in a few days, not knowing if his brother had eaten well or not these past few days, and how he had been doing.

Bai Zimu was not proficient in dry jokes, but he was extremely sensitive to numbers.

Later, when Langka discussed the matters of cooperation with him, Bai Zimu answered briefly, but his logic was clear, reasonable, and well-founded.

Langka was somewhat surprised: “Looking at your face, how do you know this much?”

Bai Zimu didn’t want to say he had just seen it and calculated it mentally on the spot, only replying:

“Holding such a large business transaction in my hands, being unfamiliar with the people and the place, with no one to help, of course I have to work hard to figure these out clearly.”

Langka nodded slightly, saying: “You’ve done very well. Are you interested in coming to my side?”

He was poaching someone publicly. Duojie and the few people to the side dared to be angry but didn’t dare to speak, looking eagerly at Bai Zimu.

Bai Zimu said: “No, I am Baichuan’s person, and besides, I signed a contract with Duojie and the rest beforehand. It would be better for our three parties to cooperate.”

Langka took a glance at Duojie, laughing lightly:

“Your luck is not bad, making a very good friend.”

After finishing speaking, he called out a sound again: “Lei Xiaochuan.”

Bai Zimu raised his head almost subconsciously, without exposing a flaw.

Langka said: “Your methods are still a bit tender, but they are also considered interesting. You coming here in the very beginning was to find me to cooperate right?”

Bai Zimu: “…Right.”

Langka nodded his head, saying: “Go get the contract, I will sign with you.”

Bai Zimu brought the drafted contract. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] After showing it to Langka, a few places were revised, and only then was it signed and settled. Langka agreed to transport a portion of the specialty products to Baichuan Supermarket.

After the negotiation was finished, Langka even personally led a car, sending them back together.

That car of Bai Zimu and the rest was surrounded in the middle, guarded very well in a protective posture.

Duojie was somewhat uneasy. He furrowed his brows for a while, muttering: “Even my mother never managed me this strictly. I previously thought Langka was as formidable as a man-eater, how come seeing him today it’s different from the rumors…”

It was late in the day, and Bai Zimu was somewhat cold. Wrapping his outer robe tightly and bundling the collar up to his chin, he said in a muffled voice:

“You also know they are rumors. Rumors cannot be believed, don’t listen to them anymore in the future.”

Duojie took a glance at him, suddenly grinning and laughing:

“You like this, only exposing your eyes and nose, actually look somewhat similar to Langka.”

Bai Zimu said unhappily: “Where do I look like him?”

Duojie pondered bitterly for a long time, unable to say exactly where they looked alike for a time. After holding it in for a long time, he praised him a sentence:

“You are both very smart, brains truly good!”

The off-road vehicle in front suddenly stopped.

Duojie didn’t know what the other party was going to do, but sandwiched in the middle, he could only stop as well.

Langka got down from the car, going to the place by the roadside where prayer flags hung.

It was a very small cluster of prayer flags, but due to the high terrain, it looked as if connecting heaven and earth.

Langka was worshipping the mountain, his movements and expression both extremely pious.

Bai Zimu got down from the car, also following over. Entering a village and following its customs, he also worshipped a bit.

Langka saw him come over. His gaze fell on his foot, saying to him:

“I know a doctor who can help you treat your right foot. Your age is small, do not easily give up.”

Bai Zimu explained in a low voice:

“Sorry, I spoke with a bit of emotion previously. It’s actually just a sprain, it’ll heal fully in a few days.”

Langka paused for a while before nodding and saying: “If it’s fine then good.”

Langka’s right leg moved somewhat unnaturally. Bai Zimu asked: “Your leg, was it injured?”

Langka said frankly: “Mn, when I was young I suffered a very severe injury. This leg is fake, you can’t tell right? I practiced for a long time.”

Bai Zimu hadn’t expected it to be like this.

Langka leaned closer a bit. When his eyes blinked, the other one was obviously slower by a beat, reflecting the luster of inorganic matter under the setting sun’s afterglow, icy cold and carrying a glassy texture:

“And also the eye, this one is fake too, you discovered it during the day, right?”

Bai Zimu had noticed his forehead during the day, but at this moment he hadn’t expected his eye was also reconstructed. For a time, he stood there stunned: “I, I only saw that your forehead had an injury…”

Langka said: “Skull collapsed, injured somewhat heavily.”

He had an accident in his early years, losing his right leg and one eye. His entire person’s face was beyond recognition; being able to survive was simply a miracle.

Langka walked back to the car. Bai Zimu followed behind, asking in a low voice:

“Was it because of being injured, that you believe in these?”

Langka rested his hand on the car door, saying: “That isn’t so. It’s because there is something I beg for in my heart.”

Just as Bai Zimu was about to ask again, he heard the translator run over holding a mobile phone, saying excitedly:

“Found them, Lei… Little Lei, that convoy of your brother and the others, our people found them!”

Bai Zimu immediately turned around and walked towards the translator, pursuing the question:

“Where?”

The translator said in a difficult position:

“This, our people didn’t keep up. Their convoy drove too fast, and has already split into two teams. Among them, a few cars rushed in front and have already run very far away… But don’t worry, we’ve already caught up with them. At the latest by tomorrow or the day after, we’ll be able to regroup!”