Chapter 180: Wen Leyu

When Li Ye saw Wen Guohua, he always felt that his gaze today was different from usual—smiling, with a profound meaning behind it.

"Got a moment? I have a few questions I'd like to chat with you about. Let's find a place to sit for a while!"

"Wait a moment, I've made plans to eat with Xiao Yu. Let's pick her up and go together."

Li Ye turned to go call Wen Leyu, but Wen Guohua said from behind, "No need to pick up my sister; I just want to chat with you."

Li Ye turned a deaf ear and dashed off to Building 17. By the time Wen Guohua caught up, he had already called Wen Leyu down.

Wen Guohua was extremely surprised by the speed at which his sister had come downstairs—it had taken her only a minute or so.

He really wanted to ask this sister of his right now: during the summer break, when she slept in at home, Mom would have to call her three or five times before she'd get up to eat. How was she so nimble today?

Seeing Wen Guohua, Wen Leyu was quite happy: "Brother, how do you have time to come see me today?"

Wen Guohua said, "There are some business matters I need to understand. Didn't you tell Mom last time that Li Ye is acting as an economic consultant for the Pengcheng Seventh Factory? So, I've come to ask him for help."

Wen Leyu immediately said, "The Pengcheng Seventh Factory? Li Ye is just a consultant. If you have any questions, go ask that Jin Peng!"

"I'd like to! But they said the specific business plans were all drafted by this Consultant Li. If I don't ask him, who do I ask?"

Wen Leyu's large eyes blinked a few times as she looked at Li Ye, and Wen Guohua also looked over. The siblings' gazes were both fixed on Li Ye.

Li Ye's expression was calm, neither dodging nor avoiding. He smiled indifferently: "Big Brother, please don't use the word 'beg.' If you have any questions, just ask. I might not know everything, but I do understand the Pengcheng Seventh Factory."

"Then let's go! I'll take you two to try something delicious today."

Wen Guohua led the way, taking Wen Leyu and Li Ye into his 212 Jeep, and drove all the way to a small restaurant south of Chaoyang.

The restaurant wasn't large, with only a few tables, but the food they made was unexpectedly good.

Li Ye dared to say that in both his lifetimes combined, he hadn't eaten food of this level very many times.

"The head chef of this restaurant retired from the Haizi. You can taste state-banquet level food for just a few coins. Not bad, right?"

"Not bad. Later, Big Brother, you should say a word to the chef. Whenever I have time in the future, I'll bring Wen Leyu here for a meal."

"Mm-hmm, Big Brother, go tell the chef."

Wen Leyu arranged things for her own brother while eating quickly.

Wen Guohua was almost so angry he laughed. His own sister wasn't even married yet, and she was already singing in harmony with her husband?

However, looking at Wen Leyu's little gaze, Wen Guohua still went to the back kitchen to give instructions; otherwise, for a small client like Li Ye, they might not even receive him.

Once Wen Guohua left, Wen Leyu immediately whispered to Li Ye: "You don't need to be afraid of anything. There are some things only my mother can ask you; my brother won't ask you."

Li Ye looked into Wen Leyu's eyes and said with some emotion: "I didn't intend to hide anything either. I'm not violating regulations or breaking the law. If you want to ask, just ask!"

Wen Leyu waved her little hand: "No need, we trust you."

"."

After Wen Guohua returned, he just watched Li Ye and Wen Leyu eat patiently. He was even happy and praised his sister a couple of times for her increased appetite.

Once both of them had eaten their fill, Wen Guohua finally started talking about serious business.

He first spoke of the bold words Jin Peng had said at the negotiation meeting today, then asked Li Ye: "I don't know if he was just talking big or if he really has such great ambition. Can you analyze for me just how feasible it is?"

Li Ye didn't think much before saying frankly: "The long-term goal of the Pengcheng Seventh Factory is indeed to go abroad and earn foreign exchange. Jin Peng wasn't wrong to say that, and I also think the prospects for Xiushuijie are excellent."

"It's just that within the next two years, the Pengcheng Seventh Factory still needs to develop vigorously in the domestic market to accumulate its own strength. Otherwise, where would they get the capital to go out?"

Wen Guohua said: "So, all the business moves of the Pengcheng Seventh Factory are your handiwork?"

Li Ye nodded: "Yes. I actually treat the Pengcheng Seventh Factory as my social practice project to verify some knowledge and ideas in economics and business. Looking at it now, the results are not bad."

"Your 'not bad' results are too humble," Wen Guohua laughed: "You weren't at the negotiation site today. That Jin Peng suddenly launched a satellite and handed over a million-yuan deposit."

"And he didn't put forward any requirements. Doing it this way, aren't you afraid of making wedding clothes for others?"

Li Ye looked at Wen Guohua strangely and said: "Big Brother, I only felt reassured enough to come up with this idea because I saw your name on the list of the renovation group. You shouldn't let us suffer a loss, right?"

"Alright! I thought you were selfless and willing to contribute to the capital!"

Wen Guohua finally straightened up and said with a smile: "I've looked into the Pengcheng Seventh Factory; it can simply be called a model enterprise."

"Standardized operations, paying taxes according to regulations, first-class employee benefits, responding to the call from above... It's hard for me to imagine, if all units were like you, what would we have to worry about?"

"Today I asked that Jin Peng what difficulties and requirements they had, and he told me to ask you directly."

"I was thinking, if you didn't speak up, even if I wanted to help you fight for some preferential treatment or resolve some hidden troubles, I wouldn't know which direction to exert effort. If it were really like that, we wouldn't dare take your money!"

When things are abnormal, there must be demons. The performance of the Pengcheng Seventh Factory today was a bit abnormal. Not everyone can see the prospects of individual operations, so Wen Guohua coming to ask Li Ye also carried a bit of the meaning from above.

Li Ye blinked his eyes and said: "Big Brother, if we could be allocated more storefronts and stalls after the renovation, that would of course be the best."

"Additionally, I think the Xiushuijie market should take on the responsibility of radiating wholesale for the entire northern light industry. When there are good things like exchange meetings in the future, you can't forget the contributions of the Pengcheng Seventh Factory today!"

"."

Wen Guohua looked at Li Ye twice with a smile and said: "Your appetite isn't small. Now I'm relieved; otherwise, I would have thought you were a fool. Hehehehe."

Wen Guohua laughed wantonly, but stopped halfway because a hint of anger had already appeared on Wen Leyu's little face.

Who are you calling a fool?

"Alright, this is the plan for our Xiushuijie renovation this time. Originally, when I proposed the idea, I wanted to discuss it with you, but the unit found someone else."

"However, this person's ideas are similar to yours—very bold and radical. Take a look and see which piece of the benefits you fancy..."

Wen Guohua took out a stack of materials for Li Ye to look over.

Li Ye flipped through them slightly and was also somewhat surprised, because this plan indeed had "a lot of vision."

When he flipped to the end, he was shocked to find the name of his Senior Sister, Yu Xiufen, on it.

Li Ye couldn't help but ponder: if he hadn't talked to Wen Guohua about the idea of renovating Xiushuijie back then, would this plan still exist?

Would Xiushuijie have followed its original historical trajectory and become an open-air commercial street without even electricity?

Li Ye picked up Wen Guohua's fountain pen and, hardening his heart, drew a small area on the renovation plan map, essentially carving a large chicken leg off the golden goose.

"Why are you so stingy?"

Wen Guohua said with disdain, took the pen, and redrew a circle for Li Ye, including both chicken wings in it.

Li Ye almost couldn't help but laugh.

He suddenly remembered an incident from his previous life.

That was the first and last time he was dragged to play cards.

He won over three hundred in two hours, and he couldn't stop the smile on his lips.

He knew in his heart that it was only a small sum of three hundred, and showing his joy would only make people laugh at him, but his lips just wouldn't close—he was just uncontrollably laughing.

The situation now was about the same: unexpected wealth, taken by those with virtue.

Li Ye calmly accepted Wen Guohua's "good intentions," feeling that his "Daoist practice" had reached a new realm—he could now remain calm even when large amounts of money fell into his pocket.

The place where the three of them ate was not far from the Wen family home, so after eating, Wen Guohua drove to the Zhongliang compound and then gave the car directly to Li Ye, telling him to come pick up Wen Leyu for school tomorrow morning.

Li Ye didn't mind; Beijing in '82 wasn't congested, and going back and forth tomorrow would just be a matter of a few taps on the gas pedal.

Once Li Ye drove the car away, Wen Leyu asked Wen Guohua: "Brother, did you have something to ask Li Ye today?"

Wen Guohua glanced at his sister and said: "I originally wanted to ask Li Ye if they could completely control that Pengcheng Seventh Factory, but I saw that Li Ye didn't seem to care much, so in the end, I didn't ask."

Since Wen Guohua had looked into the Pengcheng Seventh Factory and knew that Li Ye, Jin Peng, and Hao Jian were all "unemployed drifters" in Qingshui County a year ago, it was easy to infer that it was a relationship of affiliation.

Jin Peng was doing so well in Beijing and now had his hands in the Xiushuijie commercial street. Wealth moves people's hearts; Wen Guohua could naturally see the hidden worries in that.

But today, Wen Guohua had offered to help resolve those hidden worries, yet Li Ye hadn't spoken up. He couldn't just push himself on them, could he?

Wen Leyu tilted her little head, staring fixedly at Wen Guohua, her expression deep and silent.

Wen Guohua understood in a second, chuckled, and said: "Alright, alright, no matter what, I guarantee your dowry won't be snatched away by anyone, okay?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Wen Leyu raised her little foot and kicked Wen Guohua hard, causing him to burst into laughter.

Jin Peng stood outside the Xiushuijie storefront, smoking a cigarette while watching several retired soldiers from his hometown perform "breaking bricks with one hand."

A stack of three red bricks was placed on a stool, and with a shout, they were smashed into six pieces, drawing cheers from the surrounding vendors.

The Pengcheng Seventh Factory had risen quickly in Xiushuijie; it wasn't that no one was jealous or envious. How many days had it been since the blood in the alley next door was washed away? That was why Li Ye was in such a hurry to have his grandfather send people over.

When Uncle Hong brought people over, he first had them guard the storefront day and night, and later they would occasionally show off their skills at the entrance, just to bluff people first.

Hard Qigong in the eighties was still quite bluffing; smashing wine bottles could even get you on the TV gala, so it definitely had some deterrent effect.

Wang Laohan, who sold sweet potatoes, came over and traded a small piece of sweet potato for one of Jin Peng's good cigarettes.

"Manager Jin, is this commercial renovation off the table? How come there was only one meeting and then no movement?"

"How would I know? Maybe it's off the table!"

Jin Peng smiled and played dumb with Wang Laohan.

That day's fundraising negotiation meeting appeared to be very unsuccessful on the surface. Apart from the Pengcheng Seventh Factory launching a satellite of unknown truth, no one else supported it.

Then the neighborhood office seemed to have given up, no longer mentioning that matter.

But the reality was that the Pengcheng Seventh Factory had provided all the funds alone, and even the loans were in place. After this winter, construction would start next spring.

These past few days, Boss Hou and his group also seemed to have recovered, starting to sell clothes again and collectively launching a price war, wanting to clash with the Pengcheng Seventh Factory once more.

Jin Peng couldn't be bothered to pay attention to them. After this year, half of Xiushuijie would be under his control. What right did a bunch of smugglers have to compete with him?

Thinking back to half a year ago, when that Master Duo said, "I call the shots in this part of Xiushui," Jin Peng couldn't help but want to laugh.

The person who truly calls the shots wouldn't say they call the shots!

"Manager Jin, there's a phone call for you, from Yangcheng."

Someone suddenly came out of the storefront to call Jin Peng. Now that the Pengcheng Seventh Factory was thriving, the Xiushui storefront already had a phone installed.

Jin Peng swallowed the sweet potato in one bite and trotted over to answer the phone.

"Hello, Old Hao! What's wrong? Something up?"

"."

"What did you say?"

In an instant, Jin Peng, who had been beaming just a moment ago, turned terrifyingly gloomy.

Updated late, sorry, sorry.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 181 =====