“Why are there so many people?”
The trip back from her hometown had gone smoothly all the way, but Tian Tian hadn’t expected to run into a traffic jam on the road into the village. A traffic jam! In this era, that was really rare, okay?
Zhou Haoting, who was driving, looked at the blocked road ahead and frowned deeply. “There wasn’t one when I left this morning.”
He’d been too busy lately, so today was the only day Zhou Haoting had free to pick up Tian Tian. She’d gone back home to rest for nearly a week before returning. Honestly, Zhou Haoting had missed her a lot.
So he really didn’t know about the traffic jam ahead. But Zhou Haoting narrowed his eyes slightly. This traffic jam clearly wasn’t normal at all.
“You stay in the car. I’ll go take a look.”
Tian Tian looked carefully at the situation ahead. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Then be careful.”
The road ahead was the only highway leading to the nearby villages. If cars didn’t take this road, they’d have to go through the wasteland on either side. Much of the wasteland used to be paddy fields. Tires would easily sink in if they drove over it.
As for the vehicles blocking the road, they turned out to be three dump trucks. These days, dump trucks were highly sought after. Yet they were just sitting there blocking the road, not moving. If there wasn’t a problem, that would be strange.
By then, Zhou Haoting had already walked into the crowd gathered around the dump trucks.
The people gathered here were all from nearby villages. Most of them knew Zhou Haoting. Seeing him approach, they greeted him and made way.
“Uncle, when did these trucks get stuck here?”
Zhou Haoting saw a village official from the neighboring village in the crowd and asked directly.
“Oh… ah, Boss Zhou!”
Zhou Haoting said, “Uncle, just call me Little Zhou. Do you know when these trucks got stuck here? Has anyone tried talking to the drivers?”
The village official sighed. “They showed up around nine this morning. By past ten, they still hadn’t moved. But there’s no driver in the trucks. We’ve already sent someone to contact them.”
All three dump trucks had license plates, so the owners could be found by phone.
Just then, a young man came running over. “Uncle, we got in touch with the drivers. They said the trucks broke down and they’ll send someone to fix them.”
Hearing this explanation, the village official turned and told the watching villagers to go around through the wasteland.
Between the wasteland and the main road, there was still a dirt path about half a meter wide. People could walk through one by one.
And so, the crowd slowly dispersed.
Seeing Zhou Haoting come back, Tian Tian looked at him with concern.
Zhou Haoting shook his head. “They said the trucks broke down and they’re finding someone to fix them.”
Heh. All three broke down at once. What a coincidence! “Things don’t happen more than three times” wasn’t just a saying.
“Can you find out what company is behind the truck owners?”
Zhou Haoting was more familiar with this kind of thing than Tian Tian. Hearing this, he nodded. “Let me turn the car around and park up ahead first. We’ll just have to walk back.”
Tian Tian said, “It’s fine. Just treat it as exercise.”
In the end, it took Zhou Haoting two trips to carry everything in. This time Tian Tian had brought back a lot of things. Local specialties from home, plus snacks her parents had made.
“Finally done moving everything. Come eat something good.”
Seeing Zhou Haoting come in loaded with bags, Tian Tian hurried over to help take the things and set them down. Then she pushed him to wash his hands and sit down to eat.
“My parents made these. I don’t know if you like them?”
Zhou Haoting looked at the exquisitely made crystal cakes in his hand and nodded happily. “I’ll definitely like them.”
Seeing him so supportive, Tian Tian grinned. “The yellow filling is unsweetened. The red filling is sweet.”
Zhou Haoting didn’t like sweets. At first, Tian Tian had only brought the unsweetened ones. But after thinking about it, she decided to bring two sweet ones for him too. Because when Zhou Haoting ate sweet things, his expression was absolutely hilarious.
Sure enough, when Tian Tian said they were sweet, Zhou Haoting didn’t refuse. He picked up a bamboo skewer, stabbed a red-filled one, and took a bite. His handsome face scrunched into a frown. But his hand didn’t slow down at all. That contrast made Tian Tian burst out laughing again.
Seeing this, Zhou Haoting suddenly speared an unsweetened one and stuffed it into Tian Tian’s mouth.
Tian Tian instantly stopped laughing. She glared at him, not really wanting to eat it.
Opposite from Zhou Haoting, she loved sweet things. She didn’t like the plain, unsweetened ones.
Seeing her reaction, Zhou Haoting immediately moved his hand away. On the skewer was still the crystal cake with a small bite taken out of it by Tian Tian. He didn’t even glance at it, just popped it into his own mouth in one bite.
“That…” has my saliva on it…
Tian Tian felt like she’d been taken advantage of. But she was too embarrassed to say it out loud. Ears burning, she glared at him.
What she saw was Zhou Haoting with an expression of forced calm, seriously lowering his head and eating the crystal cake.
Tian Tian: … A few days away, and this Zhou Haoting seems even more smooth.
She cleared her throat twice and changed the subject, talking about what had happened during her days back home. Especially the matter Meng Ge had mentioned about He Cheng buying land. After she’d told Zhou Haoting on the phone, he hadn’t updated her on what happened after.
Zhou Haoting finished the last few crystal cakes and drank some water. Only then did he say slowly, “These crystal cakes are especially delicious.”
The pointed remark made Tian Tian’s ears burn again. “I’m talking about serious business with you.”
Zhou Haoting said, “I’m also talking about serious business.”
“You…”
Seeing that Tian Tian was about to hit him, Zhou Haoting finally straightened his expression. “I’ve already had someone talk to He Cheng’s people. They’ve stopped sending people to block the factory. So, seeing those three dump trucks today—I figure they’re behind it.”
Tian Tian thought so too.
But the next day, Zhou Haoting said he’d traced the company behind the truck owners to a local one. But he didn’t believe it at all.
Because the trucks hadn’t completely blocked the road, people could still get through via a small dirt path. So while some villagers complained, nothing major had happened.
But this made things hard for those with small workshops at home or factories in the village. Especially Ye Lifeng and the people from his garment-making village.
So in less than twenty-four hours, the people from that village discussed finding someone to just tow the dump trucks away. In the end, for some reason, they came to Zhou Haoting.
Only then did they learn the truck owners had people guarding the trucks. They said they were finding someone to fix them and would absolutely leave once repaired.
This was off. Smart people quickly found out what had happened. Then they came to Zhou Haoting.
“I’m not selling the land.”
These people had come as mediators. Seeing Zhou Haoting so resolute, they could only go to Zhou Haoting’s uncle.
Zhou Haoting’s uncle naturally refused too. Then he came over that evening. “If this isn’t resolved, I’m afraid quite a few people will hold it against you over time.”
They were blocking people’s path to wealth. Those people didn’t dare say anything to the underworld. But they would dare complain to Zhou Haoting.
He had money, but the people running factories in the village had money too.
Zhou Haoting said, “Uncle, I’ve already found someone.”
Uncle Cai patted his nephew’s shoulder. “If you can’t handle it, call me.”
After seeing Uncle Cai off, Tian Tian asked directly, “Can you really find someone to handle it?”
Zhou Haoting let out a cold laugh, rarely showing a sharp, cold expression. “I won’t let these people off so easily.”
Tian Tian was delighted. “Exactly! I say they keep stepping on our doorstep again and again. If we don’t show them some color, they’ll think we’re easy to bully. Perfect—I have a good idea. Let’s discuss it.”
Zhou Haoting nodded. Then, after hearing Tian Tian’s idea, he suddenly broke into a delighted smile.
Then he shared his own plan. Tian Tian’s eyes went wide.
Wait, no. How was it that every time, the two of them were so in sync, thinking of the same thing?
This feeling was really damn wonderful!
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