Chapter 172: Walkman

Bai Zimu only ate a few bites, moving around quite a bit, but not much actually went into his mouth.

The place where they sat was a separate dining area with ten long tables. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] On the small table lay torn boneless braised chicken, some side dishes, and shredded chicken cold noodles Lei Dongchuan had bought back. A bit of chili vinegar was added to the cold noodles, making Bai Zimu’s lips turn red as he ate. Although Lei Dongchuan disliked how little he ate and kept nagging him, he also knew in his heart that this was already much better than the previous two days.

Just at the beginning of summer, the weather was hot and humid, and it hadn’t rained for a long time.

Bai Zimu didn’t really like to eat, just enjoying a bit of melon and fruit, relying entirely on eating grapes to get through two days.

Now he could actually eat a few more bites.

Lei Dongchuan noticed that Bai Zimu truly couldn’t eat anymore, so he ate all the leftover cold noodles his brother had left. He had already gotten used to doing such things.

Fang Qi looked straight ahead; he had gotten used to seeing this over the past few days.

He previously thought that when they were in Lei Family Village, the brothers had a good relationship and didn’t care about the countryside folks watching, so they acted like this. Only after being in contact for this period in the city did he realize he had thought too much.

Lei Dongchuan was actually somewhat restrained back in the countryside. Upon returning to the city to their familiar environment, such intimate actions were done extremely naturally, and everyone around them was not the least bit surprised. Fang Qi had also transformed from slightly surprised at the beginning to calm and collected now.

In Du Wei’s words, it was normal; after all, Bai Zimu was carried and raised on his boss’s back.

After over a decade of adjusting to each other, taking care of Bai Zimu had become a daily habit for Lei Dongchuan.

After they finished eating, Lei Dongchuan wiped his mouth with a napkin and said in a low voice to Fang Qi:

“Go upstairs to the office and tell my mom. Just say that surnamed He from next door came over.”

Fang Qi nodded, got up and left.

Lei Dongchuan gave Bai Zimu a red apricot as a reward.

Such a tiny apricot, Bai Zimu took three bites before finishing it.

Lei Dongchuan waited patiently. When he finished eating, seeing Bai Zimu continuously looking toward the tofu stall, he simply got up and took him over.

The two parties saw each other from afar. Once their eyes met, they pretended to have just seen each other, looking extremely enthusiastic. Lei Dongchuan walked over with a smile, extending his hand from afar and saying:

“Boss He, long time no see. How come you have free time to come over?”

Boss He also looked surprised, piling on a benevolent smile and saying:

“Dongchuan, you are also here today? No wonder, I saw a table sitting there just now that looked like you, but I didn’t dare to go over and recognize you. What a coincidence.”

“Next time you come, give me a heads-up in advance. I don’t have any preparations here either, hehe.”

“Just came over to take a casual look, no need to prepare anything.”

……

The two talked about hypermarket matters. Boss He put his hands behind his back, looked around, raised his chin toward the tofu stall over there and asked:

“Dongchuan, why aren’t your promotional gifts given away for free? You still collected a little money.”

Lei Dongchuan smiled and said: “If it’s given for free, everyone won’t think it’s good. Adding to the purchase makes it even more appealing.”

Boss He smiled and shook his head: “I’m old, I don’t understand you young people’s things. But seeing the tofu is good and the free gifts are also substantial, look, I also had my secretary buy some to take back and add a dish.”

Lei Dongchuan immediately had someone bring over two cups of soy milk and gave them to him together:

“Iced soy milk, can also be considered a major specialty of ours here. Just right for relieving the summer heat.”

Boss He laughed cheerfully, his short and chubby figure like a Maitreya Buddha. Meeting anyone, his face carried a smile. He took the cold drinks and thanked him:

“How embarrassing, I just dropped by on my way and even received from you…”

Before Boss He finished speaking, he heard that brat open his mouth and make a request.

Lei Dongchuan: “What are you saying? We’ve just started and are not like the He family with years of experience. We don’t understand many things. Heard you have a professional team of lecturers over there? Could you let me go listen another day? If the venue is inconvenient, then come to our place. Let our two families share what we have and exchange ideas.”

Boss He: “…”

You want to exchange two cups of soy milk for my people to come over and give free lectures? You’re thinking too beautifully!

Lei Dongchuan gave away 2 yuan worth of soy milk in total, and standing there he didn’t make few requests.

The two of them combined spoke fewer than ten sentences, but between them they must have had eight hundred schemes. Their words, inside and out, were like fighting, going back and forth, and the meaning of every sentence wasn’t simple.

Mother Lei came down very quickly. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] She was very polite to Boss He and even invited him upstairs to sit.

Boss He had only brought his secretary and originally just wanted to look around casually. He didn’t expect to run into the Lei family mother and son, feeling quite awkward, so he found an excuse and declined.

Mother Lei said: “That’s truly a pity. Next time you come, I will prepare good tea to entertain you.”

Boss He laughed cheerfully and praised: “Have to admit I’m getting old. It’s still you guys who know how to do business.” He pointed to some small stalls over there and said, “I’ve never seen these things one by one. Where did you invite such an expert from? Also help introduce them to me. I only realized after coming to Dongchang that there’s still a lot to learn here.”

Mother Lei laughed and said: “Not at all, you are a senior predecessor, it is we who learn from you.”

Lei Dongchuan also chimed in agreeing.

Boss He saw Fang Jin here, looking much more decent than her son, and intentionally wanted to suppress the Lei boy’s arrogance. He said deliberately:

“Since Dongchuan also said so, then calculating it, I am indeed a few years older than the adults in your family. By right, you should call me ‘Uncle’…”

Lei Dongchuan went with the flow, immediately calling out: “Uncle He.”

Boss He intentionally used his status as an elder to press down on Lei Dongchuan. Although business hadn’t been pleasant these past few days, seeing the brat opposite him a head shorter made him feel a lot better in his heart.

Lei Dongchuan didn’t feel anything. The other party was older to begin with, calling him that was no harm:

“Uncle He, the Changhong color TVs on your side are really not bad. The styles are new, the sizes are also big enough, heard they were transported from Xichuan? Do you have any friends, help introduce them to us too.”

“This…”

“I’ve even called you that, you can’t ignore a junior, right?”

He felt extremely awkward in his heart, wishing he could go back a few minutes and not take this advantage. He hadn’t even asked them where they found the channels for the Gemini brand electrical appliances, and the brat in front of him still wanted to poach his?

Bai Zimu standing next to them raised his head, looked at Boss He for a moment, then lowered his eyes again, and whispered a sentence.

Lei Dongchuan asked: “What?”

“I said TVs are boring. Brother, I want a Walkman—”

Boss He’s eyelids twitched.

He suspected this boy in front of him was saying it for him to hear. When he looked up, sure enough, he met the other’s gaze.

Bai Zimu didn’t look away a single bit, just looked at him and said slowly:

“Recently there’s a Sony Walkman that’s very good, the size of a palm. It’s just I don’t know whether choosing silver is better, or black is better. Uncle He, do you have this Walkman in your store?”

Boss He’s mouth twitched, and he couldn’t hold back from asking: “Where did you hear this news from?”

This was a major batch of goods he was just preparing to stock in his store, transported tightly guarded all the way from the south, and the colors were exactly the two Bai Zimu mentioned.

Bai Zimu thought for a moment, seeming to recall. After a while, he shook his head and smiled somewhat apologetically:

“Uncle He, I’m sorry, I can’t remember clearly. Seems like a friend over in the provincial capital mentioned it to me. He said a lot, and I just remembered a Walkman.”

Boss He was full of suspicion and wanted to ask more, but Lei Dongchuan blocked him and said:

“Uncle He, I’m young and don’t know things. If there’s anything I didn’t handle well, don’t be angry.”

Boss He: “This is your younger brother? I have a few words I want to ask him…”

“Hey, my brother was spoiled by the family since childhood. Whenever he wants something, he keeps making a fuss and doesn’t listen to anyone. Alright, hurry and go back.”

He put one arm around Bai Zimu, tidied his collar for him, gave him a pat on the butt, “The driver must be waiting for you at the door, hurry home to do your homework.”

Bai Zimu: “…Okay, Brother.”

Boss He still wanted to look for Bai Zimu, but with Lei Dongchuan blocking, he couldn’t get a single word in and could only give up.

Once Bai Zimu said that sentence, the seed of suspicion in his heart took root and was planted. He couldn’t continue strolling here either, brushed them off with a few words, and hurried back.