Chapter 746: Jiaojiao 26

Chen Jiao chuckled. "I was perfectly fine on my own when you weren’t here before. Go take care of your business."

Zong Qi sighed. He gathered the stacked lunchboxes and was about to toss them in the trash when Li Shun stopped him. "Brother Qi, let me, let me."

Zong Qi pushed his hand away. "Just eat your food. It’s nothing."

’I’m Chen Jiao’s assistant. If I let Li Shun do this, is he trying to steal my job?’

Although Li Shun didn’t understand Zong Qi’s reasoning, his animal-like instincts told him not to try and curry favor with Chen Jiao. He immediately lowered his head and started shoveling down his food. ’Nothing is more important than eating right now!’

After Li Shun finished eating, Zong Qi tidied up the area around Chen Jiao one more time before taking the hand-copied proposal from her and leading Li Shun off the film set.

The underlings who had come with Li Shun were all squatting outside the film set, hands tucked in their sleeves, anxiously craning their necks like a litter of groundhogs.

"I wonder what plan the Boss Lady has..."

"If we could live a decent life, who’d want to spend it fighting and killing?"

"Ashun’s been in there a long time. He’s probably having a meal, right?"

"I’m starving. All I had this morning was a bowl of porridge..."

As the seven men whispered amongst themselves, they saw Zong Qi and Li Shun emerge. The seven of them shot to their feet, their faces breaking into smiles when they saw Zong Qi. "Brother Qi!"

Zong Qi looked at their gaunt faces and grunted in acknowledgment. "Let’s go. First, we’ll find a quiet place to eat. Then, I’ll tell you about your work assignments."

At the mention of work, everyone’s eyes lit up. A burly, honest-looking man rubbed his hands together. "Brother Qi, what kind of work can we do?"

Zong Qi’s lips twitched into a slight smile. "There’s no rush. Let’s eat first. We can talk about it over the meal."

He was silent and gentle in Chen Jiao’s presence, but when facing Li Shun and his men, Zong Qi radiated an intense, intimidating aura. And for good reason. Even if these men had only been low-level grunts, their past experiences meant that to command their respect, Zong Qi needed to be formidable in his own right.

They found a restaurant outside the film set. It was past the usual mealtime, so the place was empty. Zong Qi chose a corner table. Seeing Li Shun staring at him with undisguised eagerness, he handed him Chen Jiao’s proposal.

"Read it yourself first. If there’s anything you really don’t understand, you can ask me." Zong Qi could see that Li Shun was sharp and was consciously grooming him for a bigger role. His own focus was entirely on Chen Jiao, so this charitable enterprise needed someone capable to take the lead.

For now, Li Shun seemed like a good candidate, but whether he would ultimately succeed depended on his actual abilities.

Li Shun accepted the few thin sheets of paper with the utmost reverence, as if he were receiving the hope for the rest of his life. He was completely engrossed in less than five minutes.

Seeing this, a flicker of a smile crossed Zong Qi’s eyes. He took a sip of tea. He noticed the other men kept stealing glances at him and Li Shun, even as they shoveled food into their mouths. He tapped the table. "Focus on your food."

SLURP... The seven men quickly ducked their heads and devoured their food like rabbits cornered by a starving wolf, wishing they could shrink themselves out of sight.

"Brother Qi, I’ve finished," Li Shun said after a quick skim, looking up at Zong Qi. "But to do this, we need money. Without it... we can’t do anything."

Zong Qi took another sip of tea. "Don’t worry about the money. Miss Chen is providing four million as start-up capital for the project."

Four million. Everyone’s ears perked up. That number was... delicate.

The burliest, most honest-looking man stammered, "Is that... the money for Brother Rong and the others’ lives?"

Li Shun smacked him. "Even if you know, don’t say it out loud! Big Guy, how can you be so dense?"

Zong Qi smiled. "That’s the one. Miss Chen has no intention of getting involved in the criminal world. But since you all came to her for help, and she’s a soft touch, she figured it would be better to use the money for something practical."

Li Shun nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, of course. Miss Chen is incredibly kind."

’Inwardly, he was terrified of Chen Jiao. After all, he never wanted to experience that kind of gut-twisting, flesh-rotting agony again.’

Zong Qi continued, "For now, this money is only enough to acquire a small factory. Miss Chen has already found a suitable one and has settled things with the owner..."

This "settling things," of course, had been handled by Tan You. Even though the internet wasn’t widespread at the time, many factories still conducted business via email.

So, Tan You had handled all the correspondence with the other party by email, making it unnecessary for Chen Jiao to get involved personally. In fact, Chen Jiao herself didn’t know the specific details; she only needed to know the outcome.

Everyone fell silent, listening as Zong Qi laid out the arrangements point by point. Li Shun even borrowed a few sheets of paper from the restaurant to jot down everything Zong Qi said.

’How could he not see that Zong Qi was willing to delegate authority? If I do a good job, could I build a real career for myself?’ For the first time, a spark of ambition lit up in Li Shun’s eyes.

After Zong Qi finished explaining, Li Shun quickly refilled his tea. "That’s the general process," Zong Qi concluded. "Go back and get your things in order today. Tomorrow, I’ll go with you to make the payment. Your work will be centered at the factory from now on."

Li Shun put down his pen. "Brother Qi, what about the factory’s original workers? What if they won’t listen to us..."

Zong Qi just shot him a cool glance. "You want to be in charge. If you can’t even keep your own subordinates in line, what good are you?"

"Miss Chen said your only job is to handle production. She’ll figure out sales. You must guarantee both quality and quantity."

Li Shun’s shoulders squared with determination. "I understand, Brother Qi. I’ll give it my all."

Zong Qi grunted in assent. "We’re in legitimate business now, not the underworld. Don’t bring any of that old gangster crap into the factory. That said, if someone really tries to stir up trouble, you don’t need to be afraid. We can’t let ourselves get pushed around on our own turf."

As he spoke, he smiled and pulled two small vials from his pocket. Li Shun and his men recoiled in unison, their eyes fixed on the two small containers with extreme apprehension.

Zong Qi said, "If anyone really comes looking for trouble, you don’t have to show any mercy. There’s only one rule: you are not to proactively harm anyone."

Li Shun immediately broke into a smile. "Got it, Brother Qi. Big Guy, you hold on to these. Big Guy’s the most simple-hearted among us, and he’s great at keeping things safe. It’s not right for the rest of us to be in charge of them."

Zong Qi didn’t interfere. "That’s for your little group to decide internally. Discuss things among yourselves. Solve what you can on your own. If you really can’t handle something, then come find me."

"Try not to bother Miss Chen. And another thing—since we’re all in business together, there will be no infighting. Handle your problems openly and honorably. No dirty tricks behind anyone’s back."

The men nodded like bobbleheads. "We get it, Brother Qi. We’re brothers, and brothers are for life."

Zong Qi nodded. "That’s settled, then. Tomorrow at ten-thirty, everyone meet me outside the factory."