Chapter 165: Planning

Bai Zimu asked him: “You went to Shifang Town, right? No wonder when I asked Grandpa, he said you rode out on your bike.”

Lei Dongchuan gave a vague sound of agreement. He didn’t dare say much for fear of giving himself away. He carefully observed Bai Zimu, who didn’t seem to have noticed anything, and only then slowly put his mind at ease:

“Why did you come back?”

Bai Zimu said: “You didn’t come back yesterday, I was worried about you, so I came over to see.”

Lei Dongchuan walked over, wanting to reach out and feel the temperature of his forehead:

“I just happened to be busy with something yesterday and didn’t have time to come back. Are you feeling better?”

Bai Zimu dodged slightly.

Lei Dongchuan asked: “What’s wrong?”

Bai Zimu: “Covered in stinky sweat, so dirty.”

Lei Dongchuan pulled his hand back and let out a laugh:

“Only you love being so clean. Wait a bit, I’ll go wash up.”

Lei Dongchuan went to the bathroom to take a shower. Bai Zimu brought him clothes and chatted with him through the door:

“Brother, why aren’t Sun Xiaojiu and the others here either?”

“Probably went to the fish pond.”

“When I came back today, I ran into Fang Qi over by the fish pond.”

“…How did Old Fang come back?”

“Why don’t you think about it again, see how to explain?”

……

Lei Dongchuan stayed in the bathroom for half an hour, stubbornly not daring to go out.

When he finally mustered up the courage to go out, Bai Zimu didn’t argue with him. Instead, he was sitting by the wooden table flipping through a book, with two steaming dishes and a soup on the table.

Bai Zimu called him over to sit, served him a bowl of rice, and urged him to eat.

The bit of courage Lei Dongchuan had just drummed up dissipated cleanly again. He sat there eating carefully.

Although afraid in his heart, he ate quite a bit.

He finished a small basin of rice completely, and not much of the dishes were left either. Just as he was holding the bowl to drink soup, he suddenly heard a noise outside, followed by Sun Xiaojiu running in, starting to shout “Boss” while still in the outer hall. Lei Dongchuan instinctively wanted to stand up, glanced at Bai Zimu’s side, and seeing his brother’s expression was indifferent, he forced himself to sit back down again.

Sun Xiaojiu ran in excitedly. Before he could speak, he saw Bai Zimu, and his mouth hung open for a long time without daring to utter a single word.

Bai Zimu put down his book and asked with a calm expression:

“What’s the matter?”

Sun Xiaojiu looked at Bai Zimu, then looked at Lei Dongchuan sitting beside him. Their boss was winking at him so hard the corner of his eye was almost twitching. Sun Xiaojiu probed:

“It’s just, over at the fish pond… Right, there’s something at the fish pond. I have some figures that don’t add up, looking for the boss to ask about it! Hahaha!”

Bai Zimu said amicably: “Where doesn’t it add up? Bring it over, let me hear it.”

Sun Xiaojiu said drily: “On the ledger, it’s just the records from the past few months are a bit messy. I can’t find it all at the moment either, how about…”

He just wanted to say ‘how about we forget it this time and look at it later’, but before he could finish, Bai Zimu nodded and said:

“How about you go to the fish pond now and bring the ledger back. I can just help you calculate it clearly. Once it’s organized, it won’t be messy anymore.”

Sun Xiaojiu was dumbfounded and looked at Lei Dongchuan eagerly.

Lei Dongchuan, holding the soup bowl, glared at him:

“What are you looking at me for? He told you to go get it, why aren’t you hurrying up!”

Sun Xiaojiu could only agree and ran down the mountain again.

Fetching a ledger didn’t take much time. Sun Xiaojiu dawdled, and when he finally came back, it was just getting dark.

Bai Zimu turned on the light and sat by the wooden table to check the ledger.

It was an excuse Sun Xiaojiu made up randomly. Asked to point it out on the spot, he hemmed and hawed, unable to explain clearly. Bai Zimu had a good temper; he simply took everything he brought and recalculated it from beginning to end, checking for omissions and making up for deficiencies.

No matter how fast Bai Zimu calculated, with these few thick ledgers placed here, plus the handwriting was sometimes scribbled, he still calculated a bit slower under the light. Turning the pages slowly one by one, with every page turned, Lei Dongchuan’s face grew a bit uglier. To say he didn’t feel heartache watching Bai Zimu was false; he had already lost some weight these past few days due to illness, how could he bear this fatigue?

Lei Dongchuan sat there with his brows furrowed. After watching for a while, he pressed his hand on the ledger and asked:

“Stop looking, right? With so much, when will you finish calculating? You just got a bit better, don’t tire yourself out again…”

“Move your hand away.”

“Small Bowl, listen to Brother…”

“Brother, you don’t let me do this, and you don’t let me do that, you have to let me look at something.”

……

Lei Dongchuan sat on the chair beside the wooden table, watching helplessly as Bai Zimu finished calculating all the ledgers. Unable to find any problems in the ledger, Bai Zimu looked up at Sun Xiaojiu, looking as if he wanted him to continue explaining.

Sun Xiaojiu’s heart trembled. He didn’t dare look at their boss’s face now; it was simply as black as the bottom of a pot. He could only brace himself and say:

“This, maybe there are no problems in these few books… No, no, I mean there are no problems in any of them, there are no more ledgers, they are all here!”

He looked at Lei Dongchuan’s face, and seeing the other party’s expression ease slightly, he let out a sigh of relief.

Bai Zimu laughed in spite of himself:

“Xiaojiu, I’m asking you a question, where are you looking? You were with my brother for a day and a night, what have you been busy with?”

Sun Xiaojiu stammered:

“This, actually, we also went to Shifang Town to discuss matters about the warehouse. It’s about the new industrial shelves over there. The fire department people came a while ago, saying the new shelves took up too much space, and the fire safety evacuation needed to be replanned from the warehouse to the supermarket. Everyone hadn’t had much contact with this before, and didn’t really understand…”

Hearing this, Bai Zimu brought over paper and a pen, telling him to write down the data.

Sun Xiaojiu had genuinely been busy with this matter, so he remembered all the data for the warehouse. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] After writing it down, he saw Bai Zimu draw up charts to analyze it for him.

Bai Zimu was very meticulous. Not only did he draw the floor plans of the warehouse and supermarket, but he also circled all the places that needed marking. He explained it once, and seeing Sun Xiaojiu didn’t quite understand, he simply skipped the steps and directly told him:

“Like this, I’ll write it down on paper. Take it to show the fire department people. According to their requirements, our planning like this is the most reasonable—”

After writing one page, he not only wrote the data well, but also calculated with Sun Xiaojiu approximately how many workers were needed, calculating the required costs and man-hours for him.

Sun Xiaojiu was apprehensive at first, but quickly became engrossed listening. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] He had been getting a headache over these for a week, and an hour or so after Bai Zimu came, he clearly listed and wrote everything down for him. Looking at that piece of paper full of numbers, his eyes lit up!

Sun Xiaojiu leaned in and asked:

“Zimu, if we calculate it your way, does that mean we can make the north safety exit general-purpose, just right for vehicles to enter?”

Bai Zimu said: “In principle, yes. This way the weighbridge doesn’t need to be moved, and the width will be based on the vehicles entering and exiting, calculated at 2.5 meters.”

When he raised his hand to grab another blank piece of paper, he was stopped by Lei Dongchuan. He looked up:

“Brother, you’re blocking me.”

Lei Dongchuan’s heart ached terribly:

“That’s about enough, stop calculating, you’ve been busy enough today.”

Bai Zimu said: “Haven’t finished calculating yet, just a little bit more.”

Lei Dongchuan didn’t dare speak to Bai Zimu, so he darkened his face and looked at Sun Xiaojiu:

“He can do it himself. Sun Xiaojiu, you can calculate it clearly yourself, right?”

Sun Xiaojiu wasn’t stupid either, immediately sobering up when asked. He quickly rolled up those few pieces of paper and laughed:

“I can, I can, I’ve learned all of this. I’ll slowly work on the remaining part. Boss, you guys go back to your business… No, Zimu, hurry up and rest.”

Lei Dongchuan then let Sun Xiaojiu sit there and calculate by himself, while he first helped Bai Zimu back to the room to rest. Halfway there, he touched the other’s forehead; sure enough, he was starting to feel hot again.

Bai Zimu slightly avoided him, furrowing his brows and saying:

“I can finish looking at the last bit, let me finish calculating that last formula.”

Lei Dongchuan didn’t listen, directly picking him up horizontally and carrying him into the room to let him sleep.

Bai Zimu lay there without moving.

When Lei Dongchuan brought a wet towel and placed it on his forehead, he merely kept his eyes closed, as if resting. After quite a while, he suddenly opened his mouth and spoke a number.

Lei Dongchuan was stunned for a moment: “What?”

Bai Zimu said: “Adding the stairwell, all the safety exits total 15, leaving 7 for the warehouse, the number of strands is 4…”

He had a photographic memory. After looking at the data just now, he calculated that last bit in his mind, ultimately not leaving this task for tomorrow.

Lei Dongchuan looked at him, veins throbbing on his forehead. Gritting his teeth, he shouted outside:

“Sun Xiaojiu, roll in here!”

After Sun Xiaojiu came in, Lei Dongchuan held the notebook in his hand and let Bai Zimu finish writing. After he put down the pen, he stared and asked:

“Can you sleep now?”

“I can.”

Bai Zimu said very calmly.

Sun Xiaojiu took the piece of paper. He wasn’t afraid of the boss’s dark face at all now, thanking him repeatedly. After finishing, he hugged those scratch papers and ran off, as if holding some great treasure.

Lei Dongchuan had been tormented all night, completely losing his temper.

His brother hadn’t spoken a single harsh word, but everything he did stabbed knives right into his heart. How could he endure this?

In the middle of the night, Bai Zimu coughed, and Lei Dongchuan got up to feed him medicine once.

Bai Zimu didn’t like the bitter taste of the potion, but when drinking it, he merely frowned slightly and didn’t say anything. Lei Dongchuan sat on the side watching, raised his hand to touch his cheek, and couldn’t help but lower his head first:

“I was wrong, okay? Stop making a fuss with me, I was just afraid you would worry.”

Bai Zimu looked up at him.

Lei Dongchuan admitted defeat and recounted everything about going to Shifang Town.

His brother had poor health and always loved to worry. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] If he didn’t tell him tonight, he’d probably get up the next day and look for either Sun Xiaojiu or Fang Qi. If he tossed about like this for another day, his brother’s body might be able to hold up, but his own heart wouldn’t be able to bear it.

After Lei Dongchuan spoke the words, Bai Zimu wasn’t that angry anymore, sitting there and analyzing for him:

“Brother, do you know in your heart which side is playing tricks?”

Lei Dongchuan said: “I haven’t provoked anyone recently. At most, I purchased a batch of vegetables a while ago, and then built a warehouse… The warehouse was just built, it shouldn’t have much to do with it. At most, it was when purchasing vegetables that I signed contracts and snatched others’ rice bowls.”

“I remember besides the vegetable market collecting vegetables in the city, another supermarket also opened, right? What was it called, He Jiale Hypermarket?”

“Right, one from the provincial capital, the boss’s surname is He, his business is quite big.”

“Then that’s it, the same goods, two sides snatching.”

Lei Dongchuan didn’t understand: “What’s the difference?”

Making such a big fuss just for a batch of vegetables, no matter how you listen to it, it doesn’t seem worth it.

Bai Zimu gave a small smile and said:

“There are too many differences. If it’s the vegetable market, they are snatching ‘goods’; if it’s He Jiale Hypermarket, they are snatching ‘people’.”

“Are you saying, He Jiale Hypermarket might also be involved in this matter?”

“Nine times out of ten it was them.”

The Lei family opened chain supermarkets with the intention of balancing market prices. Only by opening more supermarkets and making the links finer and more complete, could everyone get a piece of the cake and let the pool of water flow and become alive again; although the purpose was different, He Jiale Hypermarket’s approach was the same. They also wanted to open more, annex the market, and control the right to speak on brands and prices.

The Lei family grew from the townships, and their reputation was very good locally. Meanwhile, the hypermarket from the provincial capital, with its deep pockets, evidently also resorted to some not-so-moral underhanded tactics.

Listening to his analysis for a while, Lei Dongchuan furrowed his brows and said:

“Now that you mention it, it seems that hypermarket also brought in a batch of small household appliances recently. No wonder he wanted to touch this warehouse… Then even if our side doesn’t work out, is surnamed He so confident he can guarantee everyone will go to his place to buy things?”

Bai Zimu said: “What’s hard about this? With only one left, if people don’t come, where else can they go to buy things?”

Lei Dongchuan said: “No wonder when surnamed He previously looked for someone to come talk about that batch of vegetables, his words inside and out weren’t quite right.”

“What did he say?”

“Chatted with me about household appliances. Didn’t mention the big ones, just said he brought in a batch of small electric fans for household use, asking if I was interested… I didn’t give him a good look back then. Surnamed He opens his shop in the city, his prices can be expensive. Buying things in the countryside is already not easy, if prices keep going up every few days, who can stand it?”

Bai Zimu habitually played with a string of beads in his hand, calmly calculating in his heart, instead feeling that surnamed He’s layout strategy had no mistakes. If it were him, he might do the same.

Lei Dongchuan cursed, “Surnamed He is not a good thing. The people collecting vegetables under him have no conscience. When spring vegetables were so expensive, not to mention other things, for radishes alone they only offered a price of 2 jiao.”

Bai Zimu: “Mn? That low?”

Lei Dongchuan said angrily:

“Isn’t it? Nowadays, eating two skewers of spicy hot pot outside costs 5 jiao, it’s a wonder they could offer this price. Those collecting people even stood at the edge of the fields and let out words that if they didn’t relent, no one else would dare come collect. They also said if these two hundred mu of land weren’t sold to them, they would let the vegetables rot in the fields and have tractors crush them on the spot as fertilizer… I got unhappy right then, went up and signed the contracts for those 200 mu of land.”

Bai Zimu couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud.

Lei Dongchuan scratched his head: “Did I say something wrong?”

Bai Zimu shook his head. He looked down at the string of beads in his hand, as if looking at chess pieces held in his hand. Because they had been held in the palm of his hand for a long time, the “chess pieces” all regained their warmth. If it were him alone, he might treat all of this as cold, hard data to calculate, but his brother was different.

His brother was truly good.

Bai Zimu cupped his chin and looked at him, his eyes sparkling:

“Brother, I’ll help you.”

Winning this contest wasn’t the goal; he wanted to win beautifully.