Rebirth: Seven Years in a Great Dream

Chapter 35: Aunt Su Arrives

Mu Dong decided to turn up the heat a bit more. He smiled at Xiao Liu and said, “Bro, after I checked out the car last time, I asked a friend for some inside info. The price I’m offering is spot on. My friend recommended another dealership, and I was actually planning to pick up the car there in a couple of days. But since you called, we decided to stop by and take a look. If the price is the same, we’ll buy it from you. Their bonus package is exactly the same as yours—I guess the manufacturer provides them uniformly, right?” After a brief pause, Mu Dong pulled out a bank card, placed it on the table, and continued, “There’s enough money on this card to buy this car. If it works, I’ll swipe it right now; if not, I’ll leave immediately.” Xiao Liu really believed him and felt that Mu Dong might actually walk away and head to another dealership. He said hurriedly, “I’ll go check again,” and rushed off. He returned shortly afterward and said, “Brother Mu, the boss has agreed—140,000 yuan, plus a gift package. But the boss has one small request: you’ll need to purchase two years of insurance through our store. What do you think?” The manager was at a loss, but figured he might as well take whatever he could get—after all, he’d still earn some commission on the insurance. Mu Dong said, “No problem. We’re going to buy insurance anyway, so let’s seal the deal! Your dealership will handle the registration, right? I’ll pick out a car right now, and you’ll take us to complete the paperwork this afternoon—is that okay?” Of course, no problem. Xiao Liu hurried off to make the arrangements. They paid and picked up the car. They chose black—Xiao Xiao insisted on the same color as Mu Dong’s car. Next, they paid the purchase tax, bought insurance, picked up the temporary license plate, and applied for the permanent license plate. Even with staff from the dealership guiding them, the group was still swamped with work. They had a quick lunch at the dealership—a simple boxed meal. Fortunately, the Vehicle Management Office has a service center right in the auto mall, so we could handle all the paperwork on the spot. Finally, just before closing time, all the paperwork was completed, the window tinting was done, and all that was left was to go to the DMV service hall next week to pick up the license plates. It was also fortunate that sales were slow at the dealership and everyone had time to spare; otherwise, it would have been nearly impossible to finish all this in a single afternoon—it would have taken at least two or three days. It was time to head home, but we ran into a problem: there were two of us and two cars, yet Xiao Xiao didn’t have a driver’s license. After Xiao Liu understood the situation, he volunteered to help by driving the Lavida. The two cars entered the Telecom residential complex one behind the other and parked at the base of the building. Mu Dong quickly got out of the car, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, shoved it into Xiao Liu’s hand, and said, “Bro, don’t think it’s too little—take this to get a cab home. I really can’t thank you enough.” Xiao Liu declined a few times but eventually accepted it, thanked him, and left. Mu Dong then parked Xiao Xiao’s car in the garage. The 4. 6-meter-long Lavida looked much larger in the cramped garage. Xiao Xiao gazed at the glossy black Lavida under the garage lights and felt as if she were dreaming. She didn’t even have a driver’s license yet—and now she owned a car this big? The two found a place nearby to have dinner—there wasn’t a single dish in the house. After dinner, they hopped into the new car and headed to the supermarket to stock up. Mu Dong was returning to Southern Shandong the next day, so he needed to restock some supplies for Xiao Xiao. After returning from their shopping trip, they filled the fridge. Xiao Xiao, who had long been as tender as water, threw herself at Mu Dong… In an instant, the room was filled with the warmth of spring… After a long while, the storm passed. Xiao Xiao curled up in Mu Dong’s arms and asked timidly, “Honey, can we go for a drive?” Mu Dong asked in surprise, “Right now?” Xiao Xiao opened her big eyes, nodded, and said, “You’re going back tomorrow, and I don’t have a driver’s license…” Mu Dong realized he’d underestimated Xiao Xiao’s passion for driving, so he got up and got dressed. “Let’s go, honey.” Xiao Xiao jumped up with joy and quickly got dressed. Mu Dong got behind the wheel, drove onto the elevated highway, and weaved through the city’s glittering streets. Xiao Xiao sat quietly in the passenger seat, taking in the night view outside the window—the scenery tonight was exceptionally beautiful. After exiting the elevated highway, Mu Dong headed to the Ludong Provincial Stadium. A wide road circled the stadium, appearing even more serene in the night. Mu Dong got out of the car and switched seats with Xiao Xiao. Xiao Xiao skillfully maneuvered her beloved car, happily driving lap after lap around the road, seemingly tireless… It wasn’t until late at night that the two finally went home to rest. Xiao Xiao smiled sweetly, wrapped her arm around Mu Dong’s, and drifted off to sleep. Early the next morning, Mu Dong got up to cook breakfast. He waited for Xiao Xiao to wake up, and the two ate breakfast together. After finishing breakfast and cleaning up, Mu Dong pulled Xiao Xiao over to the sofa and said earnestly, “Honey, the car’s in the garage. I have one request—you have to promise me.” Xiao Xiao replied, “I promise. Go ahead.” Mu Dong said, “Your driver’s license won’t be ready until the beginning of next month. During that time, when I’m not by your side, you absolutely must not drive on the road. Can you promise me that?” Xiao Xiao also replied earnestly, “I promise, honey.” Mu Dong felt relieved—once Xiao Xiao promised something, she never went back on her word. The two shared a gentle hug and headed out together. As they went downstairs, Mu Dong picked up the two bottles of Maotai. Mu Dong drove Xiao Xiao to work in his Audi; today was the first day of school. He dropped Xiao Xiao off at the school gate, and the two said their goodbyes, reluctant to part. Then Mu Dong drove straight onto the highway and headed back to his hometown. When Mu Dong returned to the elementary school, the road leading up to the entrance had been completely repaired. Paved with cinder and sand, it was straight and smooth; the Audi rolled over it steadily, its tires making a soft rustling sound. Mu Dong was very satisfied with Tan Jiaming’s work. In the courtyard, several customers had come to sell willow branches. Old Su and Mu Xiaoxia were busy weighing the cargo and processing payments, while a few workers stood nearby helping to unload the trucks and store the goods. Seeing Mu Dong return, everyone greeted him warmly. Mu Dong asked his sister about the situation: over the past couple of days, the daily purchase volume had been around 70,000 to 80,000 jin. They’d run out of cell phones long ago and had to restock them again. Currently, more people were receiving cell phones as incentives than rice cookers. Many were going to great lengths to reach the 1,000 jin threshold, all for the sake of that one cell phone. Mu Dong decided to keep giving away cell phones until the purchasing campaign ended. He was determined to buy as much willow as possible before any signs of a reduced harvest appeared. The claim that there were “only 50 cell phones” was merely a ploy to create a sense of urgency in the early stages and get the operation off the ground. The price Mu Dong is currently offering is one mao per jin higher than the market rate; when you factor in the cost of the free cell phones and rice cookers, that adds another 1. 5 fen per jin. As a result, Mu Dong’s overall labor costs were about two mao and five fen higher than the market rate. The advantage is that he’s purchasing the willow branches right in his own yard and storing them directly in his warehouse, eliminating transportation costs and extra labor expenses. Therefore, Mu Dong feels that the extra 2. 5 fen per jin is well worth it. The apartment building has been completely cleaned out, and the painting and renovations on the first floor are now complete. As per Mu Dong’s instructions, all the desks and chairs from the yard office had been moved to the current office, and the yard’s landline had been transferred there as well. A bed was still set up in the inner part of the office for Mu Dong to use when resting, though Mu’s father took the initiative to buy a new, larger bed. The dormitory had also been tidied up, and a new TV had been installed. Several bunk beds were moved over from the yard and cleaned spotlessly. Old Man Su had already moved into the newly furnished dormitory. Now that Old Man Su was eating and living on campus, Mu’s father stayed with him and moved into the dormitory as well. The air conditioners from the yard office and break room were moved to the office and dormitory here, while the air conditioner in the yard dormitory was left in place. The exterior walls of the building have been completely repainted. Now the entire small building looks as if it’s been given a new lease on life—clean and bright. All that’s left now is the perimeter wall, which is still under construction, but it shouldn’t take more than a few days to finish. Mu Dong thought of two matters concerning security. First, surveillance cameras need to be installed. This will have to wait until the perimeter wall is finished, as some cameras need to be mounted on it. However, the equipment can be ordered now, and workers can install it later. Mu Dong recalled the company that had installed surveillance at the storage yard last time, so he immediately called them to ask them to come inspect the site and discuss the camera layout. Second was the fire safety equipment. Willow branches are highly flammable, so extra caution is required; otherwise, a small building filled with them could turn into a massive torch. The town has a fire department, so they can be called upon as needed. Mu Dong’s tasks are twofold: prevention and extinguishing fires in their early stages. Prevention means enforcing a no-smoking policy. To handle early-stage fires, he needed to purchase some dry powder fire extinguishers. Acting on his ideas as soon as they occur to him has always been Mr. Mu’s style. That same afternoon, after discussing the surveillance layout with the technicians, Mu Dong drove to the county seat and found a large fire equipment store. After some consultation and haggling, the store sent a small truck loaded with dry powder fire extinguishers, which Mu Dong helped deliver to the school. Mu Dong equipped each classroom with two 10-kilogram portable pressurized dry powder fire extinguishers—one at the front door and one at the back door. He also provided one 100-kilogram wheeled dry powder fire extinguisher for each floor. Additionally, he set aside some extra fire extinguishers as spares. This alone cost Mu Dong over 10,000 yuan. Better safe than sorry—Mu Dong hoped these fire extinguishers would never have to be used. That evening, before leaving work, Mu Dong held a meeting with all the staff at the elementary schools and announced a smoking ban. Anyone caught smoking on the premises for the first time would be fined 100 yuan. A second offense would result in immediate dismissal. Many of the workers had been with Boss Mu for some time and knew that, although he was generous, he was absolutely firm in his decisions. Plus, since they were all aware of how flammable willow branches are, they all agreed to the rules without objection. Seeing Mu Dong purchase fire extinguishers and announce the smoking ban, Old Man Su thought Mu Dong was thoughtful and a man of action. He had originally just wanted to get out and clear his head, working for as long as he felt like it, but now that he thought about it, Young Mu was indeed a good guy. Maybe he should stick it out a little longer? Grandpa Su told his wife and son that he was going on a trip, then called home every day. After each call, he’d turn off his phone—he didn’t know how long he could keep this up. That evening, Mu Dong made a special trip home to hand his father two bottles of Maotai. As soon as Mu’s father saw the labels on the bottles, he knew they were vintage and quickly put them away carefully. Over the next few days, Mu Dong shuttled back and forth between the storage yard and the school—earning money on one end and spending it on the other—neither of which he could afford to neglect. Business at the school remained steady. By now, the surrounding townships had all heard that a new willow-weaving factory had opened in Tanzhuang Town, buying willow branches at high prices and even giving away cell phones as a bonus. Customers came knocking on the door in a steady stream every day. Gradually, merchants from other counties also began showing up to sell their willow branches. Mu Xiaoxia was getting a bit overwhelmed, so Mu Dong reassigned Xie Donglin to help her with the purchasing, along with a few workers. Grandpa Su inspected the willow branches and ensured quality control, while Xie Donglin led a team to weigh and store the goods, and Mu Xiaoxia handled the payments. Once this process ran smoothly, the purchasing operations went much more efficiently. Over at the storage yard, Mu Dong noticed a significant increase in the number of out-of-town vehicles coming to load up over the past few days. Boss Mu drove over to investigate and, sure enough, found that prices had gone up again. Sand pits around the city were now charging out-of-town vehicles 62 yuan per cubic meter. Mu Dong thought it over and decided to adjust the price for shipments from his own yard to 55 yuan per cubic meter. He needed to maintain a certain price advantage to sustain his current sales momentum. On February 14, Valentine’s Day, Mu Dong hurried to Quancheng at noon and rushed back first thing the next morning. He had been so busy that he hadn’t even had time to prepare a gift for Xiao Xiao. The two enjoyed a dinner at home that Xiao Xiao had carefully prepared, then took a nighttime drive around Quancheng in Xiao Xiao’s car, stopping by the stadium once again so Xiao Xiao could enjoy the thrill of driving. On February 15, the Mu Family Yard announced a new price of 55 yuan per cubic meter. Although the price had risen by 5 yuan, the number of customers remained steady, and the yard was still bustling with activity. That day, they sold 3,000 cubic meters of sand, generating 165,000 yuan in revenue. On February 16, a Saturday, all construction work at the school was completed. The electric gate had also been installed and tested. Mu Dong notified the security camera installation team and asked them to come and set up the system. Mu Dong made a significant investment in the surveillance system this time. Unlike the storage yard—which is located on a riverbank in a desolate, uninhabited area where just three or five cameras would suffice—the school’s situation is much more complex. The situation at the school is more complex: it is surrounded by residential areas, located next to a major road, and stores flammable materials, so a larger number of cameras is required. A panoramic dome camera was installed at the main entrance; a bullet camera was installed at each of the four corners of the perimeter wall; bullet cameras were also installed at the four corners of the building’s roof; indoor dome cameras were installed in the building’s lobby and offices; and bullet cameras were installed in the hallways on the second and third floors. In total, more than a dozen cameras of various sizes were installed. Including the main computer and monitor set up in the office, Mr. Mu spent 30,000 yuan. Mr. Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since the day he began purchasing willow branches, he had been worried about security. Now, with the comprehensive surveillance system and fire safety equipment in place, he could finally rest a little easier. That afternoon, a sedan pulled up at the school. A man in his thirties and an elderly woman got out of the car. Just as Mu Dong was wondering who they were, he saw Uncle Su hurry over to greet them, asking, “How did you find this place?” The visitors were Uncle Su’s wife and son. After Uncle Su left home, he said he was going on a trip. At first, his family didn’t think much of it—he’d often go out like that before and would be back in two or three days. But this time, it was taking a bit longer—a week had passed and he still hadn’t returned. Uncle Su did call home every day, though—he’d just say a few perfunctory words and hang up. When his family called back, the phone kept saying it was turned off. His family began to worry. The next day, when Uncle Su called again, they pressed him for answers, but the old man just hemmed and hawed and couldn’t explain himself clearly. His family began to wonder: Could he have been kidnapped? But that didn’t make sense—no one had come asking for a ransom or anything like that. They went to the police station to file a report, but the police refused to open a case. “He just calls every day—how can that count as a missing person?” they said. “We’re too busy with real cases.” With no other options, the family started asking around, scouring Old Man Su’s social media circle thoroughly—and they actually found someone who knew what was going on. “Old Su is collecting willow branches at a factory in Tanzhuang Town. He looks to be doing just fine.” This person was an acquaintance of Old Man Su from his days as a willow-branch dealer. He’d actually come to the school a few days earlier to sell willow branches, and the two of them had reminisced about their glory days, so the memory stuck with him. Once she got the address, Mrs. Su took her son and headed straight there. “You old fool, you’ve driven me crazy! Why did you just run off like that? Who’s going to eat you at home anyway…” Mrs. Su launched right into a tirade. Old Man Su couldn’t argue—he’d definitely acted out of line this time, and he knew he was in the wrong. Rubbing his hands together and grinning, he said, “I’m doing just fine here. You don’t need to worry. Haven’t I been calling every day?” The old lady took a closer look and realized he was right—the old man looked full of energy, with a rosy complexion and clean clothes. He looked a thousand times better than when he was cooped up at home, frowning and sighing all day long. Old Man Su’s son chimed in, “Dad, you just need to explain it clearly to us. You have no idea how worried Mom has been about you.” He never lost his temper with his wife, but he was fiercely short-tempered with his son. Grandpa Su raised his eyebrows and glared: “Explain my ass! How could I explain? You guys wouldn’t even let me go out. You watched me like I was a thief every single day—where could I possibly run off to? I’ll tell you this, Little Maodan: I’m working right here now, and I’m not going anywhere. You and your mom should head home right away.” Old Man Su’s son was named Su Renjie, but his nickname was Maodan. In his frustration, Old Man Su blurted out his son’s nickname. Hearing his father call him that in public, Su Renjie looked quite embarrassed. His wife wasn’t happy: “Why are you yelling at your son? If you’ve got the guts, yell at me…” Old Man Su quickly put on a friendly face and kept smiling apologetically: “I’m doing just fine here. I really don’t want to go back…” What a mess—it was a total shambles. Mu Dong couldn’t bear to watch any longer, so he hurried over: “Auntie, Brother Su, let’s not stand here. Let’s go to the office, have some tea, and warm up a bit…” The group entered the office. Mu Dong brewed some tea and served a cup to each of them. He began, “Auntie, Brother Su, this whole thing is actually my fault. My factory just opened, and I needed someone knowledgeable to keep an eye on things, so I turned to Uncle Su for help. It’s my fault for causing your family such worry.” He paused to let everyone take a sip of tea, then continued, “Over the past few days, Uncle Su has been here helping me with a lot of things, and I’m very grateful. If you want to take him with you, I won’t stand in your way. But if you feel comfortable letting Uncle Su stay and continue helping me, I’ll take good care of him.” Old Man Su immediately protested: “Little Dong, you can’t let me down now. I’m not leaving. If you don’t want me, I’ll just stick around here and refuse to go.” Seeing that her husband was safe and sound, Mrs. Su’s anger had already subsided by half, and now, hearing Mu Dong’s words, she calmed down as well. She knew exactly what her husband was like at home and what he was like here—it didn’t take much thought to realize that he had truly grown fond of this place. With that in mind, Mrs. Su asked, “If you stay here, where will you live? How will you eat?” Mu Dong saw an opening and quickly replied, “Auntie, let me take you to see the dorm.”