茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

“Quite the contrary, I’ve brought trouble for Director Liu,” Xiang Kun apologized.

Liu Caifu shook his head and sighed, “Those two boys are my distant nephews, I must admit I failed in educating them. Us elders in the village do share the blame. Those two fools are enthralled by the prospect of quick money and striking it rich, thinking that ‘Pig Head Treasure’ is something valuable.”

Then, sounding somewhat worried Liu Caifu added, “Ah Meng mentioned that you had a minor scrape with someone yesterday afternoon and had settled the matter privately. I didn’t expect it to be with that ‘Pig Head Treasure’. That guy doesn’t have a good reputation in Tongshi Town, always acts high and mighty. Only after someone exposed him, a few years back, did he somewhat tone down his behavior.”

Xiang Kun looked perplexed, “When we got out of the car for a talk yesterday, everything seemed fine. They took full responsibility since they were in hurry, we decided not to involve the police or insurance. Everyone was quite friendly during the discussion.”

He knew that Liu Feibao wouldn’t retaliate and would try to avoid such cases as much as possible. Therefore, he framed the story in a certain way to ease Director Liu’s mind. In his view, the whole issue was instigated by those two simpletons and should be considered resolved without the need to stir up more trouble.

Sure enough, upon hearing Xiang Kun’s explanation, Liu Caifu dropped his concerns and navigated forward on his e-bike.

When Xiang Kun returned to the car, Yang Zhen’er, sitting at the back, leaned forward curiously and asked, “Does your friend know those two scammers? How did he manage to scare them off in just a few words?”

“They’re from the same village, so it’s normal for them to know each other. He’s the Deputy Director of the village with seniority, so of course, he can handle them,” Xiang Kun casually explained.

“I was hoping I’d get to see you single-handedly face both of them!” Yang Zhen’er said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

“Huh? Do you trust my abilities that much? What if I’d been beaten up by them?”

“Not likely. If you didn’t have confidence, you would’ve called the police from inside the car! Since you decided to confront them, you must’ve felt that you could handle them, even two against one!” Yang Zhen’er stated confidently.

Tang Baona also asked, “Did you know beforehand that they were up to no good, so that’s why you called the village Director to come and pick us up?”

Listening to the two of them, Xiang Kun couldn’t help but feel astonished. After more than five months of knowing each other, it wasn’t just he who had a deepened understanding of their characters, habits, and behaviors– they had become quite familiar with his habits and style as well.

Not to mention Old Xia, based on Xiang Kun’s observation, even Zhang Qian didn’t show the slightest worry or unease when he got out of the car, seemingly confident that he could handle it.

Xiang Kun overheard the conversation happening in the Corolla behind him, where the four people were also discussing the incident.

“I was so scared. I thought those two men were out to rob us.” This was Xiao Min’s frightened voice.

“They were probably just trying to stage an accident for money. It seemed like Xiang Kun didn’t give them any, probably because the guy riding the e-bike was acquainted with Xiang Kun and chased those two away.” This was Zi Cheng, sounding a bit relieved.

“No need to worry, whether by words or by fists, Brother Xiang would handle it easily.” Yang Zhuo asserted with confidence, his adulation for Xiang Kun’s abilities was rather unusual.

“If those two had ill intentions and were hiding weapons, then let’s see how easy it would’ve been for him,” Yang Jie replied, thinking her brother’s unwavering faith in Xiang Kun was somewhat blind.

“Don’t worry sis! With Brother Xiang’s observation skills, if they were hiding weapons, he would’ve detected them beforehand. I bet Brother Xiang had noticed those two guys long before. When he stepped out of the car, his calm expression and his special instruction for us not to get off the car show that he had a solution in mind. Perhaps, he had specifically called over that old guy riding the e-bike to assist us.”

“Hey! I jokingly call him ‘Master Xiang’, now you’ve actually begun to see him as a ‘Master’?” Yang Jie retorted, sounding a bit displeased.

“Big sis, I’m just objectively describing what Brother Xiang has done, I’ve never said anything about ‘Master Xiang’, okay!”

“I think you’ve been brainwashed by Xiang Kun.”

“Brother Xiang is indeed very brilliant…” the one whispering this was Xiao Min.

The experience of hearing others discuss himself through his heightened senses and the conversation mostly being filled with praise and bragging gave Xiang Kun a strange feeling.

Though he had to admit that young brother Yang Zhuo hero-worshipped him a bit excessively, the assumptions he made from that premise were mostly correct.

Before long, the two cars Xiang Kun and his group were in followed Liu Caifu’s electric car into the village and stopped outside the courtyard of his three-story self-built house.

As soon as it detected strangers, the big grey dog in Liu Caifu’s yard began barking incessantly.

But after seeing Xiang Kun entering first, it immediately let out a whimper and slunk off to a corner.

Seeing this, Liu Caifu was surprised and said, “Seems like it’s especially scared of you. The last time you and Ah Meng came, it became submissive after barking a few times too.”

Xiang Kun laughed, “It’s because I have a friendly aura. Its reaction is in response to that.” He then stroked the big grey dog’s head. The usually fierce dog now obediently dropped its head, allowing him to mess with it.

In Director Liu’s courtyard, a round table covered with a tablecloth had been set up. A plain-looking middle-aged man and a sturdy woman were bustling about in the kitchen, going in and out, carrying several prepared dishes to the table.

Director Liu said that his wife and child had returned to her Mother’s house. Today, his nephew had provided some excellent ingredients, so he wanted to cook some good dishes with them. The cooked dishes were arranged by him and his wife who were his relatives. They lived next door and happened to be free. It seemed that Xiang Kun and the others came at the right time, he had not prepared anything extra.

However, Xiang Kun saw through this clearly. It was obvious that the middle-aged couple were brought in by Liu Caifu to cook. He was acting as if he was entertaining guests. Apart from their group of nine, he didn’t see any other guests.

Xiang Kun learned from You Meng that before they arrived at Tongshi Town yesterday, Liu Caifu already knew they were coming, so it is apparent that they weren’t invited over because his nephew happened to bring some game. Most likely, he specially prepared these ingredients to prepare a feast to entertain Xiang Kun and the others.

If it had been before, Xiang Kun would avoid bothering Liu Caifu and avoid having too much contact with him and accepting his favours as they could not be returned.

But now, since he already had the plan to develop Chongyun Village, naturally, he doesn’t need to refuse Liu Caifu’s friendly gestures. If they are going to be staying at Chongyun Village in the future, having Liu Caifu’s assistance will make many things easier.

After Xiang Kun introduced Tang Baona, Zhang Qian, Zi Cheng, and the others to Liu Caifu, everyone sat around the table, ready to dine.

After the middle-aged couple who cooked finished serving the dishes, they excused themselves with the reason that they had already eaten lunch and had things to deal with at home.

Liu Caifu brought out the local specialty fruit liquor. Except for Xiang Kun and Zi Cheng who couldn’t drink because they had to drive and Xia Libing who also abstained, everyone else tasted a bit. The liquor contained a low percentage of alcohol and it was easy to drink, so it’s fine for ladies to consume as well.

“Director Liu, we’re sorry for the inconvenience caused by our large group coming over,” Xiang Kun took the initiative to raise a toast with water instead of alcohol to Liu Caifu.

Liu Caifu laughed, “What inconvenience? All these game and ingredients are readily available. My wife and child aren’t home, so I can’t possibly finish them all myself. I just happened to hear from Ah Meng that you were bringing friends over to Tongshi Town, so I thought I’d have some company. And you all don’t have to call me ‘Director Liu’ either. I’m not that much older than you guys. You can call me ‘Brother Cai’ or ‘Brother Fu’ instead.”

Xiang Kun laughed, “Alright, then I won’t be polite with you, Brother Fu.”

Hearing Xiang Kun’s address, Liu Caifu happily encouraged, “That’s right, we’re brothers now, no need for formalities. Come on, let’s eat while the food’s hot.”

In fact, similar words were exchanged when Xiang Kun and You Meng visited the last time. But at that time, they still addressed each other as ‘Director Liu’ and ‘Mr. Xiang’, both sides keeping their distance and maintaining decorum. Now that this has changed, it implies that their relationship is no longer purely business but has transitioned to friendship.

The taste of this midday meal naturally couldn’t compare with the dishes prepared by the ‘chefs’ Xiang Kun and You Meng last night. They also didn’t customize the food to everyone’s tastes as Xiang Kun had done. But they compensated with the quantity and variety of dishes, unique to the mountainous area. Besides, it was past lunchtime and everyone was a bit hungry, so they enjoyed the meal.

As usual, Xiang Kun used his two cobblestones, with which he established his ‘super sensory contact’, to suppress the sensation of nausea in his stomach. He was becoming adept at pretending to eat a lot while only consuming a small amount when dining with a large group.

However, today was somewhat different from the previous occasions of dining with many people, because Old Xia, who always paid attention to him, was also present.

Old Xia would definitely know how much he had eaten.

So not only could he not eat too little, he had to pay attention to his sitting posture and body reactions. He couldn’t show the discomfort in his stomach, otherwise, he’d be asked again, “Do you have a stomachache?”

Liu Caifu kept Luther Xiang Kun’s “grand blueprint” in his mind, and he had been thoroughly pondering it for some time now. He had even started making some preparations. Inviting Xiang Kun over this time was also to discuss this matter. However, at the dinner table, not a single word was mentioned. As he chatted with Zi Cheng, Zhang Qian, Tang Baona, and others, all the topics revolved around the legends of their village, interesting incidents from when he and his father did business in their earlier years, as well as some current affairs.

Hence, Xiang Kun simply took the initiative to ask about the previous farm project. That piece of land, that farm, were now in the hands of Liu Caifu. This naturally led to the story of Xiang Kun blowing his own trumpet in the same courtyard, to Liu Caifu and You Meng.

In fact, Liu Caifu had been thinking about this all along, also pondering over how to bring it up to Xiang Kun in a suitable manner. Now that Xiang Kun initiated the topic, with a bit of alcohol in him, he naturally became excited and passionate, and in the process, he retold the “grand blueprint” that Xiang Kun had painted in this courtyard, to the others at the table who were unaware.

First, Liu Caifu recapped what Xiang Kun initially claimed as “Bull 1.0”.

He did not currently possess Xiang Kun’s skill of “emotional assimilation”, so aside from Xiang Kun, the other eight people were all somewhat confused as they listened to him retell Xiang Kun’s idea of transforming Chongyun Village into a modern internet-powered agriculture and livestock industry base. They watched as he spoke passionately and confidently, his face aglow with excitement.

The most complex feelings were had by Zhang Qian. If she had heard these words before collaborating with Xiang Kun on that project, she would unquestionably think that Xiang was duping Director Liu of Chongyun Village – either trying to scam money or merely boasting needlessly. It was just too unreliable.

But after several interactions with Xiang Kun, especially given the success of their ongoing collaboration, Zhang Qian’s perception of him significantly changed.

Whether it was the unreasonable requests at the start of the partnership or the frequent out-of-the-box behavior during the process, Zhang Qian’s common sense told her that the project was bound to fail. Fortunately, she had foreseen this somewhat.

However, the end result was that Xiang Kun fulfilled all his promises, and did so quickly, cost-effectively, and efficiently.

Based on her communication with Director Lin, the preliminary test results of the beta version showed that what Xiang Kun had developed was highly stable and scalable, completely beyond their initial expectations.

Put simply, with this foundation laid, even if Xiang Kun does nothing further, their project will not fail.

Even disregarding this formal partnership, right from their first meeting at the bar, every time she felt Xiang Kun was boasting or tricking people, he ended up achieving it in the end.

Thus, this formed an impression in Zhang Qian – whenever Xiang Kun makes a promise or lays out a plan, it’s not idle talk or baseless boasting, but truly something that could be realized.

So, was Xiang Kun’s “grand blueprint”, the one where he wanted to turn Chongyun Village into a modern internet-based farming and livestock base, serious?

Before coming to Chongyun village, because they were in the same car, she was aware of the whole process of Xiang Kun calling You Meng to change the itinerary, and contacting Director Liu. Therefore, she originally thought that Xiang Kun brought them to Chongyun Village as a Plan B after a last-minute change of mind.

But upon reflection, perhaps Xiang Kun brought them to Director Liu’s house as guests not just for a casual visit?

While Zhang Qian was guessing Xiang Kun’s true intentions, Liu Caifu had already started to detail the specific plan he had made based on Xiang Kun’s plan, his feasibility analysis, combined with local policies, and possible future national policy directions, expressing his own views and proposals.

Liu Caifu spoke for more than 40 minutes. Xiang Kun did not interrupt him, and everyone else was silently listening while they ate, feeling like they were listening to a “fantasy farming story.”

Only Zhang Qian, while listening, was recalling Xiang Kun’s series of past behaviors: his online video operations, his specialty rabbit meat restaurant, his comedic performance stint, and so on. She felt more and more that she had guessed Xiang Kun’s thoughts. Yet, she also felt that if this was indeed the case, it seemed too much like child’s play and unlikely to succeed.

However, the word “impossible” always seemed to elicit some special reactions when it came to Xiang Kun.

After Liu Caifu finished speaking, Xiang Kun smiled at him and said, “Initially, I oversimplified a lot of things and got carried away to some extent. Looking back, many details were problematic. Brother Fu’s ideas have been very enlightening for me. Hence, I have come up with a new plan. Since everyone’s here, you can all help me to review and consider it.”

While Liu Caifu was telling those related stories earlier, Xiang Kun was silently observing him. He could confirm that Liu Caifu was still affected by the “Emotional Assimilation”. However, the impact was different from the initial real-time influence, it had morphed into another form, allowing him to harbor an inexplicable trust in Xiang Kun’s abilities.

Once this trust is embedded in a specific matter, it makes him believe persistently that “only Xiang Kun can handle this.”

Xiang Kun initially speculated that the lasting impact of “Emotional Assimilation” was because the direction of the influence of “Emotional Assimilation” coincided with the subject’s will and hope. Consequently, the influenced person’s consciousness would continuously reinforce this effect.

It was as if Liu Caifu was a man who wanted to run in place but didn’t know in which direction to set off.

So Xiang Kun gave him a strong push north, and after being involuntarily sent off running, he simply kept running north, faster and further.

At the same time, You Meng, who was also given a push north by Xiang Kun, since he didn’t intend to run, he scratched his head and stood still, or walked back to his original position, or even ran in another direction after the pushing force was gone. Therefore, the influence of Xiang Kun’s push gradually disappeared after that.

While Xiang Kun was visiting Chongyun Village with some friends, Liu Feibao personally drove his A8L and brought Qi Haoguo to Jianzhou City.

Originally, according to the plan, Qi Haoguo was supposed to stay in Tongshi Town for about 3-5 days to determine whether to cooperate with Liu Feibao in this business deal, as well as the specific partnership model.

But after yesterday afternoon’s unexpected “rear-end collision” incident, Qi Haoguo suddenly lost interest in business. After setting a broad direction, he determined the cooperation, gave up substantial benefits, and then asked Liu Feibao to find him a master woodcarver—to order a custom wood carving.

However, after talking to the master woodcarver for more than an hour, the master was not clear about the image Qi Haoguo wanted him to carve. Qi Haoguo had many specific and detailed requirements, leaving little room for the master’s creativity.

So, the master introduced him to one of his former students from the art academy who has set up his own studio specializing in customizing figurines and dolls.

Through this student, he could create the image of what he wanted on the computer, decide whether to directly print it using a 3D printer, or provide the image to the master for carving.

As Qi Haoguo sat next to the student, watching him create the image of an eight-armed monster on the computer according to his description, he nodded with some satisfaction.

After being frightened by the sudden appearance of the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster yesterday afternoon, Qi Haoguo had a realization as if he’d been reborn, changing his perception of himself, life, money, and many other things.

He liked his transformation and was somewhat nostalgic for the feeling at the time. He even wanted to revisit that feeling from time to time, so he wanted to have the monster’s image carved in wood and kept by his side.

It wasn’t that he suddenly developed worship or belief in that monster, but he wanted to remind himself of the fear of personal change when the monster appeared, the feeling of facing one’s inner timidity and reality.

As for why he chose wood carving, he didn’t think much about it.

He just subconsciously felt that wood carving was the best way to establish its image, more suitable than paintings, stone carvings, statues, or pottery figures.

When he described that eight-armed, eight-eyed monster, Qi Haoguo did not avoid Liu Feibao. He didn’t care if people heard him after all, nobody would think that what he was describing was a real monster in reality.

That afternoon, Qi Haoguo booked a flight back to the provincial capital and left Jianzhou City directly.

After sending off Qi Haoguo, Liu Feibao naturally had to drive back to Tongshi Town.

After a long day of driving, a very tired Liu Feibao didn’t even want to eat dinner when he got home, he just wanted to lie down and take a nap. But just as he had lain down, he was awakened by a phone call.