Chapter 15: The Opportunity Emerges

Arriving at Room 306, Lu Fan took a deep breath, straightened his clothes, and knocked on the door.

Han Xuyang opened the door, smiled, and said, "You came in the blink of an eye. Come in and talk."

After entering, Lu Fan sat properly on the sofa.

Han Xuyang poured him a glass of water and asked, "Tell me, why do you want to enter the system? If you developed in the construction industry, your pockets might be even fuller."

Lu Fan spoke bluntly: "Most people believe that people are divided into different ranks, and that being an official means being of a superior class. It brings a relatively prominent social status, allows one to fully enjoy the worship of power, and even allows one to do as they please. The greatest happiness in life, they say, is to become an official, seal one's wife and shade one's children, and bring honor to one's ancestors."

"And what about you? Is this your original intention for wanting to enter the system?"

Lu Fan poured everything out, saying sorrowfully: "Good people have their families destroyed, while bad people remain at large and climb higher step by step. Where is the justice in heaven? If I cannot avenge this great hatred, I am unworthy of being a son! Since the law cannot uphold justice, I can only punish the wicked with my own hands. This is my lifelong belief, and it is the meaning of my existence!"

Han Xuyang sighed and said: "You are still young, and the road ahead is long. If you are blinded by hatred and carry heavy shackles, you will live a very tired and bitter life. You have no family to rely on and are proud and arrogant. If you enter the system with such motives, you will act recklessly and unscrupulously, likely bringing disaster to a region. Sooner or later, you will cause a great catastrophe and reap what you sow. I do not approve."

Lu Fan was anxious and hurriedly said: "County Chief Han, I am a man from the countryside; I know the suffering of the common people. I promise you that regardless of whether I achieve my wishes, I will do my best to do good deeds within my capabilities. Right now, you are the only one who can help me. As long as I can enter the system, I am willing to pay any price. I will be grateful for your kindness for the rest of my life!"

He had to desperately grasp this only straw of hope. Lu Fan had made up his mind: if he didn't achieve his goal tonight, he would not give up!

Han Xuyang fell into deep thought. After a long while, he said: "Xiaofan, if you only remember hatred, life will be full of pain. What meaning would that have? Think more about beautiful things, and think more about your sister. Enough, I will help you with this. I hope you won't make me regret it in the future!"

Hearing this, Lu Fan almost jumped up with excitement. He looked at Han Xuyang with immense anticipation, his eyes brimming with tears, his hands and feet trembling slightly.

"Don't be happy too soon. It's not that easy to enter the system." Han Xuyang poured cold water on him first, then added: "There is an opportunity in the near future. The county is going to recruit a batch of career unit personnel at the end of the year, but do your age and education meet the requirements?"

Regarding this, Lu Fan had some say. He reported: "County Chief Han, I have already turned 18, and I have obtained my high school diploma. I know about the county's recruitment. This was the last task Uncle Yang completed before he passed away. He told me personally that he had reached a verbal agreement with Secretary Guo and County Chief Li to handle the matter as a special case, either by giving me the qualification to take the exam or by arranging a job through the 'trapeze artist' method. But Uncle Yang unfortunately had an accident, and with the person gone, the tea went cold; the matter was left unsettled."

Han Xuyang felt a bit embarrassed. He knew about this matter, just not that the person involved was Lu Fan. However, this was also a breakthrough. The two main leaders had indeed promised it. If he brought it up again, they surely wouldn't be able to renege, though it would certainly be annoying.

Forget it. Since he owed this kid a big favor, he would just play the "villain" once!

For some reason, Han Xuyang had a feeling that there was a destiny in the dark, and that this greenhorn before him would achieve great things in the future. He also wanted to give him a push to see if he could turn into a dragon or a tiger.

"Xiaofan, I will keep this matter in mind, but it cannot be rushed. It requires the right time, place, and people. You must know that everything in the county requires the Secretary's nod, and the County Chief can only nod halfway. We deputies have to act according to the Secretary's mood. We must find a suitable opportunity to bring it up, otherwise, it will be counterproductive."

Lu Fan said: "County Chief Han, I don't understand the ins and outs of this, but I know that getting things done requires human favors. I came in a hurry today; I will prepare tomorrow. No matter how much money is needed, it won't be a problem."

Han Xuyang said earnestly: "Xiaofan, sometimes money isn't that important, especially for a matter like yours. Unless absolutely necessary, the Secretary and County Chief won't handle such things. Even if I thicken my skin to ask, I can't guarantee it will be done."

He was young after all; a look of worry appeared on Lu Fan's face.

Helping someone to the end, sending the Buddha to the west, Han Xuyang smiled: "When facing major events, one must have a calm spirit. Only after being calm can one be secure, only after being secure can one think, and only after thinking can one gain. Do not show joy or anger on your face; only then can you make something of yourself. Don't worry, all roads lead to Rome. Even if this path is blocked, there are other ways. It is easier to enter county-owned enterprises, and there are opportunities to transfer from enterprise to career unit. Human effort can achieve anything!"

Lu Fan was truly a bit confused, lamenting that the water here was too deep. Whoever held the power of speech held the power of interpretation and could manipulate the rules at will. This only strengthened his determination to climb upward.

Seeing that it was getting late, Han Xuyang said: "Keep your mouth shut. Even if this is done, don't tell anyone. There are few people in the world worth baring your heart to! Go back and rest, get a good night's sleep, completely forget the experiences of these past two days, and always look forward!"

Returning to the construction site, Lu Fan's thoughts were in turmoil. He hid in a deserted corner, squatting quietly, lamenting the unfairness of fate and the hardships of life, while at the same time feeling happy for himself for desperately grabbing an opportunity to change his destiny!

The next day, Lu Fan began to study the details of plastering the exterior walls of the affordable housing. He could not let down Manager Wu's good intentions; since he was doing it, he had to do it well.

Others had to calculate profits item by item, but Lu Fan only needed to look at the financial statements to know the specific details.

Manager Wu generally gave the odd jobs to insiders. The price for plastering the exterior walls, including labor and materials, was 25 yuan per square meter. The profit margin wasn't particularly high, but making money was certain.

Lu Fan knew the construction site like the back of his hand. The labor cost was about 12 yuan, and the material cost was about 7 yuan. Calculating it, the profit per square meter was 6 yuan, but there was also about 3% tax. If he did it himself, he could make a total profit of about 200,000 yuan. However, his brothers were all unskilled laborers and lacked experience in this area, so he had to find people to cooperate with. Moreover, the material costs had to be bought on credit, and the wages had to be owed, because he had no capital at all right now.

After figuring out the ins and outs, Lu Fan called his brothers to the finance office after lunch to discuss how to "eat meat."

Hearing that their big brother had secured the entire exterior plastering project for the affordable housing, the brothers were exceptionally happy, offering suggestions with great excitement.

They hadn't eaten pork, but hadn't they seen pigs run? They were all unskilled laborers who had served many plasterers, so they could understand the general direction; they only needed to pay attention to the details.

Xia Li suggested that they do the work themselves and earn the money themselves, but Lu Fan rejected it outright, demanding that they must find professional people to cooperate with, ensure the work was done well, and keep their eyes on the long term.

Thus, everyone began to discuss who to cooperate with and how much profit to give up.

After a noon of discussion, they decided to distribute the project profit in a 4:4:2 ratio: Lu Fan would take 40%, the brothers would take 40%, and the remaining 20% would be used to let others in, though there would inevitably be some haggling.

Now, Lu Fan had more important things to do. He planned to devote himself to preparing for the county's career unit recruitment exam, so the exterior plastering project would be handled by his brothers, while he controlled the general direction.

After reaching an agreement, the brothers went off in high spirits to scout for plasterers and prepare for the project.

After work, Lu Fan went to a bookstore in the city to buy reference books for his exam preparation.

Asking the owner, he learned that everyone was buying "Public Basic Knowledge." Lu Fan picked up a copy and flipped through it.

"Lu Fan?" Suddenly, someone patted him on the back. Turning around, he saw it was his desk mate, Chen Liqiong.

Lu Fan smiled: "What a coincidence, beautiful!"

"Lu Fan, are you buying books too? Let me see what you're buying?"

"Just bored, reading randomly."

"Eh? You're buying this book? What's the use of it?"

Lu Fan smiled: "You know me, I read everything."

Chen Liqiong smiled sweetly: "You've started making money, aren't you going to treat your desk mate, who once shared hardships with you, to a meal?"

"I'm just afraid the beauty won't have time or won't give me the honor!"

"There's still an hour before evening self-study. Let's just eat a bowl of noodles nearby."

As soon as the two left the bookstore, they were seen by the PE teacher on duty at the school gate, Le Xuezhi. He quickly crossed the road and said to Chen Liqiong, who was wearing a school uniform: "Which class are you in? If you don't study hard, why are you hanging out with people from society?"

Chen Liqiong defended: "He's my classmate!"

Le Xuezhi said disdainfully: "What kind of good person can a hoodlum like this be? Go back to school immediately! Lu Fan, I'm warning you, don't mess with the female students of our school, or I'll beat you to death!"

A fire of humiliation burned in his body. Lu Fan clenched his fists and stared angrily at Le Xuezhi, while Le Xuezhi's contemptuous gaze seemed to be mocking Lu Fan for overestimating his own strength.

He definitely couldn't win a fight. This son of a bitch was a graduate of a sports school and majored in Sanda. All the students knew he was ruthless and had a lot of influence outside the school, so they would take a detour whenever they saw him.

Lu Fan did not act with brute courage, because that would be asking for humiliation.

A wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him. Lu Fan didn't stop for a second, didn't say a word, and turned to leave. But this humiliation and hatred were deeply branded in his heart. ===== CHAPTER 16 =====