Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 57 (Part 3)
Translated by Pure
Edited by tingting
Chapter 57.3 In order to meet this legendary future sister-in-law who was able to capture his Brother Xiao, Hu Shaofeng groomed himself in reverence.
After Lin Jingzhe arrived at his company, he still didn’t feel reassured, so he called Xiao Chi and told him to prepare some burnt ointment for Hu Shaofeng.
The bowl of hot porridge in the morning was still boiling hot, but Hu Shaofeng finished his portion in three gulps. When the latter left, he still looked dazed. Lin Jingzhe was a little worried that something was wrong with him.
Xiao Chi kept complaining to him on the phone, "Hu Shaofeng didn't even show up to work! He called early in the morning to wake him up, and I’m still unsure what to make of these documents he sent..."
Deng Mai had listened to their conversation since he was in the room. After seeing Lin Jingzhe hang up the phone, he couldn't help asking curiously, "Burn ointment? Mr. Hu got burned? How could he be so careless?"
Lin Jingzhe didn't know how to explain it. In fact, he never thought that Xiao Chi would announce their relationship to a close friend like Hu Shaofeng so unscrupulously.
The moment Xiao Chi kissed him at the dining table, Lin Jingzhe’s heart was filled with astonishment and sweetness at the same time. This signal of being allowed to enter his lover's private social circle seemed to have brought another sublimation to their relationship. Their fearless act however, seemed to have caught Hu Shaofeng completely off guard; poor Hu Shaofeng was obviously frightened by their behavior.
Lin Jingzhe sat quietly for a while, Hu Shaofeng's reaction was actually pretty mild. The whole time, except for blankness and bewilderment, Hu Shaofeng did not show any extreme emotions.
It was completely unlike Qi Kai, who had called him disgusting and perverted...
Lin Jingzhe felt somewhat helpless. At the same time, he was curious since he hadn't heard any rumors after returning to Yan City. After thinking about it, Lin Jingzhe no longer dwelled on these troubles that were destined to come.
He shook his head and said to Deng Mai, "It’s a minor burn, I’m sure he’ll be fine."
Without any reason to doubt him, Deng Mai piled a large stack of documents from his hands onto Lin Jingzhe's desk. Once everything was set down, Deng Mai explained, "This is the current report of the Triangular Plot’s Mixed-Use Building; the foundation is almost completed. The monthly summary of Best Partner IT is below. Oh, by the way–."
Deng Mai took out a palm-sized straight-sided glass jar from the pocket of his coat and gently placed it on the table. "Brother Lin, this was sent by Mr. Wang this morning. The first batch of bean paste from Haitang Food Factory has passed quality inspection."
This small glass jar was very delicately made, the surface was covered with a layer of asymmetrical patterns. Oh the top of the lid was a paper label. The label was professionally designed, with a hand-painted HaiTang apple flower blooming in the lower right corner. The brand name - Haitang Bean Paste was simply and straightforwardly printed on the center of the label in an easy-to-understand font.
Although the factory area had not yet been fully built, it was enough to support basic production. Lin Jingzhe was already given a prior report, but he had already forgotten about it. When he saw the small glass jar, which was filled to the brim, Lin Jingzhe immediately took it, twisted off the lid, and smelled it.
The rich aroma of bean paste assaulted his olfactory. Deng Mai handed over a small spoon as he continued to say, "Aunt Zhou said since this was their first attempt at a large-scale production, the ratio of pepper wasn’t adjusted correctly, so the taste of bean paste is a little bit different than usual. She said that next time, she’ll do her best to adjust the flavor."
Lin Jingzhe scooped a small amount and held it on the tip of his tongue. The salty, savory, and spicy smell immediately spread through his taste buds. He frowned, but didn't actually taste any big difference from the bean pastes Mother Zhou had given him before. Obviously, his layman's sense of taste was far from the precision of Mother Zhou's.
Lin Jingzhe nodded and said, "Tell them not to be too psychologically stressed, it’s ok to take their time. Has this paste been sent to Sun Street?"
Deng Mai nodded. "The truck was loaded in the early morning, but we were lacking in manpower. Zhou Haitang didn't attend class because he was dragged to watch the shipments."
Lin Jingzhe was surprised. "Wasn’t this only a small batch? Why is it so busy?"
"Yes!" Deng Mai was equally perplexed at this matter. A few days ago, he had thought about the different sales channels to sell the factory's sauces. When he went to Sun Street at 7:30 this morning to help unload the goods, he never expected that there would be such a considerable crowd of people when the store just opened. Some people even heard the news a few days ago. They were holding bamboo baskets that were used to buy vegetables and waited in line at the door of the store to buy Mother Zhou’s complex condiments. People were purchasing ten or twenty bottles at a time, and not at all reluctant at giving away their money.
Before this first batch, Lin Jingzhe had a meeting with the other two shareholders of this factory. They had only just established the factory, in their early stages and still unsure of their current market, so they were prepared for the shipment volume during this period not to be so optimistic. With this thought in mind, the sales channel was temporarily locked in Sun Street for two main reasons:
One– the snack bar already had a fixed source of customers.
Two– using these early customers, they could see their reactions to their mass produced products and also have them help promote the Haitang brand.
In the later stages, when the factory area is fully constructed and sales increase, it will be necessary then to seek out a broader market.
For this reason, Lin Jingzhe recruited Gao Sheng, who was busy marketing Best Partner Search, into ‘Team Factory’. That rascal Gao Sheng had been faring quite well lately. According to Zhou Haitang, he had set up a new club in school, with 30 students recruited. Their research topic was how to best promote Best Partner Search. This group of students had bright minds and were bold and imaginative. They spent every day pondering together. With the extra few thousand dollars that Lin Jingzhe gave them, they really did many extraordinary things.
Nowadays, you can see the advertisements of Best Partner Search on the subway passages, bus stations, and taxis traveling in and out of Yan City. He still didn’t know how they did this all with so little money.
The promotion and sales of bean paste and Best Partner Search didn’t seem too different. Anyway, the factory still needed some time before reaching its end goal, so Lin Jingzhe was not in a hurry. He directly gave Gao Sheng and the members of his club a commission of 3,000 yuan and asked them to ponder about it slowly.
Although Lin Jingzhe needed Gao Sheng to help him keep an eye on Wu Wangfei and Liang Pi's movements, in his heart, Lin Jingzhe didn't really want his buddies to work for others for the rest of their lives.
*******
Hu Shaofeng's mouth was burned so badly that his throat was hurt, he felt pain whenever he swallowed. When he went to see a doctor, the irritable doctor kept admonishing him, "Why are young people so anxious? You only had to wait for one minute! How were you able to burn yourself like this by drinking porridge? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?!"
With grievances, but unable to express them, Hu Shaofeng just silently took his prescribed medicine, covered his mouth, and went downstairs. His mind was still disoriented, unable to wake up from the shocking truth of that scene.
On the way out of Dongtai Community, he had even driven into a concrete pier. He was fine and so was the concrete pier, but the front of his car was completely totaled.
It was only after blankly watching his car being towed away, did he feel a sharp pain in his mouth. When he went to the hospital, it turned out to be quite a serious burn.
And as the saying goes: misery loves company.
In a trance, Hu Shaofeng bumped into a person when he went downstairs, directly knocking him to the ground.
"F*ck! Do you have eyes? I *&%*"
This man was very aggressive. Before he got up, a spree of curses came out of his mouth, there was a cuss in every other sentence. Hearing this, Hu Shaofeng also burst into anger, he frowned and asked, "Hey, what's the matter with you, bro?"
The other party got up with a hostile face. His whole body was filled with the unhappiness of wanting to take revenge on society, he looked as if he still wanted to make trouble. However, when his sharp gaze looked over, he immediately shut his mouth.
"..." Perplexed, Hu Shaofeng spoke, completely forgetting his burned mouth, "...Brother Qi?"
"..." Qi Kai leaned on his crutch with an ugly expression, "It's you."
Hu Shaofeng looked down at the thick bandage wrapped around Qi Kai's knee in astonishment. He went up to help him. "How did you get hurt like this?"
Treatment was delayed for a while after his fall in Hawaii. Moreover, after Qi Kai returned to China, he was not able to rest well because of Lin Jingzhe's affairs. And because of his poor daily living habits, the wound had yet to heal. Some time ago, it became inflamed, because it was getting worse, Qi Kai even had some trouble walking straight.
Qi Kai was in so much pain, but he just twitched the corner of his mouth in a calm and pretending manner, "I accidentally fell down."
He was afraid that Hu Shaofeng would continue to ask, so he hurriedly changed the subject. Staring at Hu Shaofeng’s red and swollen mouth, Qi Kai asked, "What's wrong with your mouth? You went to the hospital for that? Is it serious?"
Hu Shaofeng was embarrassed. Of course, it was impossible to tell him the real cause of the burn, so he just forced a smile, "It’s a minor, small injury. I just burn myself when drinking tea."
"How careless." Qi Kai warned him, "You must drink tea more slowly in the future."
"I got it, I got it." Hu Shaofeng bid farewell to him as he politely suggested, "Brother Qi, you should be careful when you walk in the future. It’s not worth being in so much pain."
The two sides said goodbye peacefully and left. When they passed by each other, both looked back at the other's back, and sneered.
Hu Shaofeng thought to himself: What a dumb*ss. How did he fall while on a walk, is he retarded?
Qi Kai’s mouth twitched. What a retard. Must be a dumb*ss if he can burn his mouth to that degree from drinking tea.
Translated by pure, hosted on puretl.com / do not repost!