CH 155

After Chuzi left for two minutes, Lu Junming came to the firm. Mo Feng started making fun of the obese woman’s appeared in front of him.

Lu Junming half-heartedly watched him make a fool of himself, as he asked Mo Yan, “Yan’er, what was the name of that obese girl?”

Mo Yan frowned and thought about it, “Cao Zhang called her Miss Lu, and his mum called her Jiao’er. Why does she look familiar to me? It’s like I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

Lu Junming covered her mouth with his hand, “I’m going to accompany my mother in Jiaolan Courtyard for the next two days, please visit the workshop more often.” After saying that, he went out.

Mo Yan stood there in a daze, why did he look so flustered?

Thinking about the morbidly obese Miss Lu, those two chubby figures on the streets of the Upper Valley came to Mo Yan’s mind. Could this be Lu Junming’s half-sister? Her mother was also Lu Hong’s wife, no wonder he ran back to accompany his mother in a panic.

Neither Cao Zhang nor Chuzi were in the firm, but Mu Feng was, so Mo Yan didn’t dare to leave in fear that the employees wouldn’t be able to deal with him and the firm would be emptied.

After Chuzi came back, she went to the workshop after giving some instructions.

She asked Chi Jie, and found out Lu Junming’s half-sister was indeed called Lu Jiao. She was fifteen years old, same as Cao Zhang. As for their relation with Mrs. Cao, he didn’t know.

Mo Yan asked about Xiuying, and Chi Jie replied, “She works well and gets along well with others.” As long as she didn’t make trouble like Mo Feng, Mo Yan was content.

While Ms. Hua and Zhao’er were at the firm, she wanted to discuss building a new house.

Naturally, Ms. Hua couldn’t bear to part with her courtyard, especially the well in it. Zhao’er also said that he wanted to stay and open a clinic there in the future.

“Well, you have the final say. Unfortunately, I don’t think the house we build can be too large due to technicalities within the contract.”

“What’s the problem? It’s just the two of us, after all.”

Mo Yan took out the title deed of the courtyard and returned it to Ms. Hua, “Godmother, since the matter is over, I’ll return this title deed to you!”

Ms. Hua shook her head, “Keep it for now! My Zhao’er’s still young and can’t support the family. Liu Fengchun will cause trouble if he finds out that my yard hasn’t actually been sold.”

“Then, I’ll keep this title deed for you and return it to Zhao’er when he grows up. However, we will pay the rent of the yard on time, and tenfold the initially agreed-upon amount.”

Ms. Hua shook her head tightly, “That won’t work. You built the house, so I can’t accept your rent. The courtyard won’t earn any money in my hands, but you can maximise the profits you get from it.”

“We signed a 30-year lease with Liu Fengchun. After we build a house for you, we’ll extend the duration of the lease.”

Ms. Hua was unskilled, but she wasn’t greedy, and she always repaid kindness and taught her son well. She was a blessed person.

When Zhou Liangsheng returned home, Zhao’er went to the kitchen to help his mother out. Only Chi Jie and Mo Yan were left in the office, and the two of them discussed how to best rebuild the courtyard.

Chi Jie said, “It depends on what you want to use that yard for in the future.”

“What else, open a shop! In the future, the goods we sell can be divided into more precise categories, and even be separated by region.”

“It’s such a small city, how much profit can you make? If you want to do big things, you should go to a metropolis, the Upper Valley, or even the capital.”

“I like it here. Besides, who said big things can’t be done in small towns? You come from the modern era, have you forgotten that Shenzhen was just a small fishing village before it was developed?”

Chi Jie didn’t know how to respond, so he picked up the charcoal pencil and roughly sketched out Ms. Hua’s courtyard, the clinic and the pottery shop.

Mo Yan looked at his sketches and said, “Don’t you think they’re too close to the main road?”

Chi Jie raised his eyebrows, “A little bit, maybe it’s to attract passersby!”

“People who are in a hurry won’t notice these shops anyways. But if someone is looking for food or resting, they will naturally slow down and pay attention. Therefore, it is necessary to be patient to succeed in doing business.”

Chi Jie kept turning the charcoal pencil in his hand, drawing Mu Yan’s attention: “Where did you get this?”

He handed it over, “I made it myself.”

Seeing her staring at the charcoal pencil with a smile slowly appearing on her face, Chi Jie asked, “Do you want to start producing charcoal pencils?”

“Why not? Although none of us are professionals, we have the knowledge of the modern era. Even if we don’t become kings here, we can still become pioneers.”

Chi Jie smiled slyly at her, “Then use the modern ideas in your mind, and see how to lay out the courtyard to maximise the benefits.”

“Move the gate back, and leave some space for carriages. The gate design should also be distinctive. Finally, the courtyard wall in the alley should be demolished for a storefront.”

Chi Jie raised his eyebrows and nodded, “Not bad. If you move the gate back, you will be building it along Ms. Hua’s courtyard’s foundations, and throwing out Liu Fengchun’s previous land boundaries. Even if the 30-year lease expires in the future, he won’t be able to get that piece of land ever again.”

Thirty years later, even if Liu Fengchun hadn’t passed away due to old age yet, the citizens would be used to the shop already. Even if someone else said they wanted the place, they could just buy them off. How much could such a small place be worth? Even if they really couldn’t reach an agreement, they could just reopen on the other side.

If the shop is built on the courtyard’s foundations, even if someone wanted the property back, they’d probably give up because it’d be too hard to demolish the shop.

According to the width of the other storefronts along the main road, at least three shops can be created from the courtyard, but Mo Yan wanted to build one big shop and rent the remaining area to someone else. After all, she couldn’t use it all

“Chi Jie, how’s the current political situation? Is it convenient to buy goods from the south?”

“You want to sell southern goods?”

“Exotic goods are the most sought-after.”

“At the moment, the north and the south are two countries. Our country is called Beiyan, and goes from Qingzhou to Qinzhou as the boundary, while the south country is called Nanyong. There’s also a third, minor country, called the Kingdom of Ba.” [1]

Mo Yan closed her eyes, as she tried hard to recall the ancient maps in the history books, and probably had an idea in her mind.

“Then are these countries getting along harmoniously right now?”

“What do you think? Don’t the countries just constantly fight back and forth. In the end, neither of them will annex the other.”

The two chatted speculatively, and before they knew it, the workshop had closed. Mo Ling came to ask her to go home together. Mo Yan thought it was rare for Lu Junming to not be around, so she could chat happily with Chi Jie, so she replied, “I won’t go home today, I’ll stay with my godmother.”

Post-translation note: Lu Junming written off for the next few chapters, and there are mentions of geopolitics. Do you think they’ll come into play? As always, thank you for reading!

[1] I think these countries are fake, but I’m not completely certain.