Chapter 106: Don

Li Ye strolled down the side street, bought plenty of good things, and Wang Qiang, his little sidekick, reaped plenty of benefits too.

When Li Ye slipped the earphones of a portable cassette player onto Wang Qiang’s ears, the expression on this simple-minded brother’s face was priceless.

【So the outside world is this amazing? Following Brother here brings this many advantages.】

Wang Qiang secretly rejoiced that Jin Peng and the others had scattered right from the start—giving him the chance to be Li Ye’s sidekick; the benefits along the way? Overflowing!

【Still, my little Ye Brother is the richest.】

After more than half an hour, Jin Peng and the others finally walked back toward them.

Seeing the bulging sack on Wang Qiang’s back, they asked in surprise: “Xiao Ye, did you buy all this?”

“Not that much,” Li Ye chuckled at them. “What’s with you guys? All of you acting like tightwads?”

Jin Peng, Hao Jian, and the rest had bought almost nothing, as if they were all model frugal husbands.

Ma Qianshan, who had been so enthusiastic earlier, said: “Don’t even mention it. Over there, nobody speaks Mandarin—just Cantonese babbling. We couldn’t make heads or tails of it.”

Li Ye sighed: “So even you, Jin Peng and Hao Jian, didn’t understand?”

“Heh~~”

Jin Peng awkwardly scratched his scalp, offering a forced smile in response.

Over the past six months, he and Jin Peng had been shuttling between Yangcheng and Dongshan; as for Cantonese—harder than English Level 8—they’d barely scraped the surface.

When locals cooperated and tried to guess their meaning, it was fine; if they didn’t? They just stared blankly.

Li Ye glanced behind the group and asked: “What about San Shui? He should be fine with Cantonese.”

Mu Weimin and Ma Qianshan exchanged glances at Jin Peng, then said nothing, looking around at the scenery.

Hao Jian smiled: “We’re used to Yangcheng—lots of people speak Mandarin there. Didn’t expect it to be like this here. When San Shui shows up, let him lead the guys shopping.”

Jin Peng chimed in, grinning: “Xiao Ye, when did you learn Cantonese? Can you translate for us? I saw a store selling high heels—I want to buy a few more pairs for my wife.”

“I don’t speak Cantonese.”

Li Ye smiled, reached over, took the backpack from Wang Qiang’s back, and pulled out a simple calculator.

“Here, take one each. When you enter a store, don’t say a word—just point at what you want, then punch in the number on the calculator.

Remember: keep your expression cool. We’re here to spend money. If they don’t treat us right? We’d rather walk away.”

“Ah, this works. Let’s give it a try.”

Jin Peng grabbed several calculators and led Ma Qianshan and the others off.

Hao Jian, catching Li Ye’s glance, hung back.

“Is San Shui with Zhang Boss and his crew?”

“Probably. He told us earlier he was checking out the market here.”

“Getting ambitious, huh? Checking out the market now?”

Li Ye smiled: “Tonight we’re holding a shareholders’ meeting. Some rules need sorting out.”

Hao Jian nodded: “Alright, I’ll tell Jin Peng.”

Hao Jian was the second-largest shareholder after Li Ye, but when they first opened the Yangcheng business route, Jin Peng brought along San Shui and Ergou as his own men—giving him an edge over Hao Jian in the founding team.

Li Ye had been busy with the college entrance exam and writing, so he never had time to sort out the tensions. Besides, Jin Peng was genuinely open-minded, and Hao Jian never felt wronged.

But now Li Ye had added three new people—even brought Wang Qiang along—and Hao Jian understood: the shadowy mastermind behind all this was clearly about to make a move.

Li Ye’s plan worked well—soon Jin Peng and the others returned with purchases, and they even brought San Shui back with them.

“Oh come on, I just popped into a watch shop over there—you guys couldn’t wait? We’re out for a whole day! No rush, no rush.”

Seeing Li Ye’s half-smile, San Shui’s heart skipped a beat—he quickly laughed it off.

“Of course I’m not in a rush,” Li Ye said. “You take a few guys, I take a few—we split up to shop. We need everyone to leave satisfied.”

“Right, right. I’ve already checked: watches, jewelry, and electronics are the most popular here.

Socks are the hottest item—but that shop’s business is crazy, and the staff are impossible to deal with. I was planning to ask Zhang Boss to buy them for us.”

Before San Shui finished, Li Ye said: “Want socks? I can buy them. How many do you need?”

“.”

“Xiao Ye, buy me twelve or twenty pairs—I need them for my wife and my sister-in-law.”

“I want five.”

“Little Brother Ye, here’s the money—just buy what you think’s best!”

The group followed Li Ye to the opposite side of the Hong Kong sock shop, then watched as he slipped inside, muttering away.

Jin Peng frowned: “Is Xiao Ye speaking Cantonese?”

Hao Jian and the others were baffled—but they saw the shop owner immediately abandon other customers to attend to Li Ye.

When Li Ye returned with a big bag of goods, Jin Peng finally voiced his question.

Li Ye shrugged: “Oh, I didn’t want the hassle—I just spoke English to them.”

“.”

Everyone fell silent, awestruck. Looking at Li Ye’s unimposing frame, they suddenly felt he’d grown taller.

Li Ye actually knew a bit of Cantonese—but it was nothing like a local’s.

Even many years later, not speaking Cantonese made dealing with some Hong Kongers a nightmare.

So when Li Ye entered a Hong Kong shop, he opened with “number pool,” “oh-teh-mao.”

After being tortured by English for over a decade in the future, his short, sharp English phrases came out with startlingly pure accent.

Add to that his cool, “I-don’t-care-about-money” expression—and they’d serve him instantly, transactions smooth.

But to Jin Peng and the others, this sounded unsettling.

【A guy who speaks English is doing our shopping for us? What rank of cadre are you?】

That night, Li Ye and the others couldn’t return to Yangcheng, so they checked into a guesthouse in Pengcheng.

At this time, Pengcheng hadn’t yet unleashed the world-shocking “Pengcheng Speed”—everywhere were newly built foreign trade enterprises and residential zones, resembling future urban villages.

After dinner, San Shui chatted cheerfully with the group.

“Let me take you to see dancing! I know there’s a square over there where people dance every night—high heels, flower skirts, so beautiful.”

Ma Qianshan and the others stirred; Jin Peng gave a few instructions, and they went off.

Hao Jian had already told him: tonight’s shareholders’ meeting—better to get San Shui out of the way.

Otherwise, even Wang Qiang was invited, but “hardworking” San Shui wasn’t—resentment might brew among the brothers.

After San Shui and the others left, Li Ye had Hao Jian borrow the guesthouse phone to call Ergou, still in Yangcheng, to confirm nothing urgent was happening, then began the meeting.

He shut the door and asked Hao Jian and Jin Peng: “Did you see everything on Zhongyingjie today? What did you think?”

Hao Jian and Jin Peng were confused—they didn’t understand Li Ye’s point.

Li Ye sighed: “I brought you to Zhongyingjie not just to shop—I wanted you to see the gap between us and Hong Kong, between us and the world.”

Hao Jian asked: “We know the gap—Western goods are better, but we’re just individual traders—we can’t do imports or exports.”

Li Ye patiently said: “Times are changing. Pengcheng will grow ever closer to Hong Kong. We must seize the initiative.”

Jin Peng asked in surprise: “How do we seize it? Xiao Ye, didn’t you say… we won’t touch smuggling?”

Li Ye felt Jin Peng and the others couldn’t keep up—he said directly: “You’re afraid money will burn your hands? Tomorrow, go back and talk to Guo Donglun—get him to find us a registered unit.

Then pour the profits from the clothing business into Pengcheng—buy land, build factories, train workers, train managers, stockpile talent. When the tide turns, we’ll have a seat on the train.”

Jin Peng and Hao Jian stared at each other—they thought Li Ye’s steps were too big.

Their little group totaled barely a dozen people—all “crooked melons and cracked melons” from Qingshui County.

Now suddenly building factories, training workers… storing management talent…

Xiao Ye, why not just bring your grandpa over as factory manager? He’s truly a talent.

Your dad’s barely qualified, okay?

Seeing their hesitation, Li Ye insisted: “While we still have time, taking losses and paying tuition is nothing—we can learn! Fall down, get back up!”

“When policies open up and private businesses are allowed, if we’re still stuck with San Shui and Ergou as our best, will you just wait to be squeezed out and shut down?”

Li Ye was also helpless.

It’s 1982. By 1984, when Guo Jia’s reforms allow private enterprises to register, giants like Vanke, Lenovo, and Jianlibao will launch.

But they didn’t start from scratch—they already had full corporate systems, just changed their status.

Shenzhou is full of business talent—people like Chen Jianghe are everywhere.

Our current founding team? Compared to them, we’re nothing—on the same stage, we’d be KO’d in one round.

So we must explore early, screen early, prepare early, poach talent—two years to build a team? That’s enough to barely grab the head start Li Ye offers. He’d be overjoyed.

Any fighting enterprise needs a pyramid-like, complete, unified management structure—from top to bottom.

Don’t think a time-traveler can do everything. Even with a “time-travel dictionary,” without experienced executors, every dream is a castle in the air.

Can a time-traveler, bare-handed, beat someone like Ma Yun or Wang Jianlin?

Brother, forget college—go cultivate your Dao instead!

Shout “Sword, come!” and spirits and demons flee—this world is yours to command.

Everyone kneels before you.

In his past life, Li Ye had met a few overseas-returning wealthy second-generation individuals.

They had all these management theories—came back and tried to overhaul the workplace, talking about Haier’s iron discipline, Alibaba’s closed-loop processes.

What happened? Panic, chaos, total mess—finally, the old man had to step in and save the day.

Why?

You’re a small or medium enterprise with a hundred people—what the hell are you learning from Haier or Alibaba for?

Do you have that kind of talent reserve?

Do you have that kind of upward platform?

Do you expect a bunch of slackers earning three or five thousand a month to suddenly unleash a cosmic explosion of effort?

Why don’t you just pay ten thousand a month and hire Cai Chongxin to work for you?

“Little Ye, tell me what to do—I’m Hao Jian, I’ve got no objections. But if we let Guo Donglun handle our qualifications, what if he swallows us whole?”

Hao Jian voiced his opinion, and Jin Peng nodded, expressing his own concerns.

“Forget whether he’s that kind of person—even if he is, what could he possibly swallow? Money? Land? Factories?”

Li Ye smiled and said: “We just need experienced people, an experienced team.”

“Alright, when I get back, I’ll approach Guo Donglun. We might not have much cash surplus this year, but next year we’ll have plenty.”

Jin Peng and Hao Jian still didn’t fully understand, but both agreed.

Li Ye said: “Of course, if Guo Donglun refuses to cooperate, we’ll find someone else.”

After returning to Jingcheng, Wen Qingsheng took an official post at Zhongliang Enterprise and surely has import-export branches in Pengcheng; if all else fails, Li Ye plans to leverage his connections.

“Let’s settle the next phase of development first. Now I’ll talk about discipline.”

Li Ye grew serious and looked directly at Jin Peng: “I’ve been in Yangcheng for over ten days—I’ve got a good sense of our current business. I won’t dwell on the details, but I must warn you.”

“Absolutely no deals that don’t benefit Guo Jia.”

Li Ye pulled out a sheet of paper and began sketching for Jin Peng and Hao Jian.

“Our main product—clothing—is manufactured in factories. This creates jobs for Guo Jia and generates tax revenue—that’s beneficial to Guo Jia.”

“But what about the water smugglers? Do they create jobs for Guo Jia? Do they pay taxes to Guo Jia?”

If all the profits go to individuals, do you think Guo Jia is stupid enough to let you keep operating safely?”

Li Ye tossed the pen down decisively: “If anything’s unclear, draw it out, analyze it—is it enriching an individual at Guo Jia’s expense? Don’t court death and drag your brothers down with you.”

“If our business benefits Guo Jia, then taking a little soup is fine—but if you try to eat it all alone, you’ll end up selling your pants to pay the price!”

Jin Peng was drenched in sweat.

He’d heard San Shui’s rambling for days—water smuggling made money so damn fast, far quicker than struggling with clothing, scraping off a few jiao per item.

But now he realized—he’d been completely foolish.

A single Xuchu Office could crush him, yet he’d thought of undermining Guo Jia?

“Little Ye, San Shui’s too young—I’ll deal with him properly tomorrow. We’re all brothers, don’t take it too hard.”

Li Ye waved his hand: “Whether you deal with him or not is your business—I only care about results. Also, get Ma Qianshan and the others familiar with Yangcheng’s business quickly.”

“After a while, rotate everyone—San Shui can’t stay in Yangcheng any longer.”

“Alright, Little Ye, you know best—hit hard, kill if needed—I’ve got no objections.”

Jin Peng quickly assured Li Ye—he was sharp enough to sense San Shui’s oddness, and knew his younger brother could turn ruthless in an instant.

Besides, Li Ye had Li Zhongfa, that weathered old veteran, behind him!

Li Ye had already given him face!

They discussed more details and went over the several “rules” Li Ye had written down, when the hostel staff called out for them to take a call.

Hao Jian went first, then rushed back to call Li Ye: “It’s Grandpa Li—he called straight from Qingshui County.”

Li Ye didn’t know what had happened—he hurried over to answer.

“What’s wrong, Grandpa?”

“What’s wrong? If you don’t come back soon, the whole house will turn upside down!”

“How could that be? With your Five Fingers Mountain holding things down, no one could flip things!”

Li Ye didn’t believe Li Zhongfa’s words for a second.

He’d received several calls from Li Zhongfa these past days—each one pushing him to return home.

Report meetings, press interviews—just thinking about them gave him a headache.

He was the model positive example now—let Principal Chang and Grandpa Li, those old hands, take the heat!

Li Zhongfa was furious, but held his temper: “The provincial newspaper reporter insisted they must interview you.”

“By now, your admission letter should be arriving soon—you need to show up and make a good impression.”

Li Ye was about to joke and dodge again, but the other side said the most important thing.

“Beijing sent a telegram and a letter for you—aren’t you going to come back and see?”

“Alright, Grandpa, I’ll return as soon as possible.”

Heaven and earth may be vast, but Xiao Yu is the greatest.

Back then, there was no WeChat—you couldn’t ignore her!

Sorry for the late update today, Old Feng apologizes to everyone!

Also, if you have any votes, please consider supporting me—thank you, thank you.

Thank you to reader “Da Dao Tong You” for the 400-coin tip, thank you to reader for the 500-coin tip, thank you to reader “Feng Zhi Zi 23” for the tip, thank you to reader for the 500-coin tip, thank you to reader “Fat Calf” for the 500-coin tip, thank you to reader “I Plow” for the 500-coin tip, thank you to reader for the tip, thank you to reader “Fish Sister’s Little Fan” for the 500-coin tip, thank you to reader for the 500-coin tip, thank you to reader “Key God Doesn’t Use Sword” for the 500-coin tip.

Thank you, everyone—thank you!

(End of Chapter)