Mo Fei had a hard time connecting the towering man in front of her, nearly 1.9 meters tall, tanned to a deep bronze, and covered in lean muscle, with the fair-skinned, delicate junior she remembered from the original owner’s memories.
“Luo Chao?” Mo Fei had to tilt her head back just to speak to the tall, burly man in front of her.
Luo Chao nodded, his eyes fixed firmly on Mo Fei. There were all sorts of indescribable emotions swirling in his gaze.
“Hey, you’re not about to cry, are you?” Mo Fei noticed his eyes beginning to redden and instinctively took a startled step backwards.
After not seeing each other for eight years, did this junior still have such deep feelings for the original owner? After all, her current identity was that of an unmarried mother with two children, while Luo Chao was still a fine twenty-eight-year-old bachelor.
The longing Luo Chao had carried for eight years was abruptly shoved back down by Mo Fei’s remark.
He tipped his head back and took a deep breath before casually taking the bag from Mo Fei’s hand. “Senior, come with me. Let me show you the empire I’ve built for you over the years.”
“…”
Mo Fei had assumed Luo Chao would be the lively, talkative type, but after leaving the airport and getting into an off-road vehicle, he immediately drove her to a magnificently decorated hotel that practically screamed only tycoons could afford to stay there.
Standing in the hotel lobby, which soared well over ten meters high, Mo Fei’s sharp eyes quickly spotted the room rate board mounted on the wall.
Although it was nowhere near the level of the Yate Hotel where she had once worked, even the cheapest single room here started at a four-digit price. Staying here for just a few days would cost enough money to buy so many more baskets of eggs and sacks of rice and flour…
The thought of spending money made Mo Fei’s heart ache. “I was only planning to stay in a two-hundred-yuan budget hotel…”
Luo Chao looked at her strangely. “Senior, are you looking down on me? You’re on my turf. How could I let you settle for anything less? Go ahead, book a presidential suite. Make it three nights to start.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a bank card.
Relying on a woman’s instincts, Mo Fei’s first reaction was that Luo Chao liked her and wanted something from her, so she instinctively became guarded.
However, after booking her room, Luo Chao left immediately. He only told her to get some proper rest today and that he would take her to the places she wanted to visit tomorrow.
Only then did Mo Fei finally relax, believing that Luo Chao genuinely regarded her as a respected senior and nothing more.
The Wutong Hotel was a famous five-star hotel. Its presidential suite, located on the top floor, measured over three hundred square meters. Even though prices in Hei City were relatively low, one night’s stay still cost more than ¥30,000.
Her room was on the twenty-sixth floor, the highest floor in the hotel. After changing into a bathrobe, Mo Fei sat by the window and looked down.
Beside the hotel stretched a beautiful expanse of blue water, and the view reached far into the distance. No wonder rich people lived well. They stood higher and saw farther. Even the angle from which they admired beautiful scenery was different from everyone else’s.
After admiring the scenery for a while, the poor Mo Fei made a video call home to let her mother know she had arrived safely.
On Song Yi’s screen, Jianian and Jiayue looked delighted as they sat together making dumplings by hand.
Mo Zhicheng refused to appear on camera. From the background, he called out to Song Yi, telling her to remind her daughter to be careful outside and not get tricked by anyone. Fathers were never good at expressing their love. He always had to wrap his concern in gruff, choking words before he could say it.
After telling them she would be back soon and would bring them gifts, Mo Fei ended the call.
She took her tablet and stylus out of her space and began making notes on her digital shopping list. This trip to Hei City was not just about stockpiling grain. Besides being a major grain-producing province, the area was also famous for its snow and ice. If she did not wholesale several hundred cartons of ice cream while she was here, it would be a waste considering how increasingly outrageous the scorching summers were becoming.
At exactly eight o’clock the next morning, Luo Chao arrived punctually outside the entrance of the Wutong Hotel in his off-road vehicle. He looked every bit like a professional tour guide and chauffeur.
“Where are we going today?” Mo Fei asked.
“A grain processing factory,” Luo Chao answered succinctly.
Mo Fei’s eyes lit up.
Back when she had contacted Luo Chao to tell him she was coming to Hei City, she had already told him that she planned to develop her business in Lu City next door by opening a wholesale grain supermarket there. Because of that, she needed to purchase a large quantity of grain.
Luo Chao had believed her completely. He had immediately assured her that he had the right connections and could get her the best quality grain at the lowest possible price for the same market rate.
“Luo Grain and Oil Processing Factory.” After getting out of the car, Mo Fei read the large characters above the factory entrance. “So this place belongs to your family.”
“Senior, why let outsiders profit when you have me? Since you’re buying anyway, you’ve got to let me earn a little too.” Luo Chao removed his sunglasses with a grin. Gone was the youthful, inexperienced junior who had followed behind Mo Fei while covering news stories back then. Every gesture now carried the polished confidence of a seasoned businessman.
Mo Fei immediately understood and felt much more at ease.
Luo Chao was already doing her a favour by playing the gracious host and making everything convenient for her. He had even booked such an expensive hotel for her without asking for anything in return, which had only made her feel more uneasy.
Now things were much better. Supporting Luo Chao’s business eased the burden on her conscience. It was a win-win situation no matter how she looked at it.
From the outside, the grain and oil processing factory did not look particularly large, but once inside, it was another world entirely. There were over a dozen security guards alone, and the introduction board at the entrance stated that the factory covered 11.2 mu, with a total building area of 9,245 square meters. It also had the emergency capacity to process more than one hundred tonnes of rice per day.
“Didn’t you tell me your family only owned a small factory with a few mu of land? You call this a small factory? A rich second generation was right beside me all along?” Mo Fei teased as she listened to Luo Chao introduce the factory.
“Senior, that’s ancient history. After I graduated from university, I got dragged back to take over the family business. I figured if I was going to do it, I might as well do it properly, so I poured all of the family’s money into this place. I never expected it to grow better and better over the years. Even the municipal and district governments value us highly now. They say we’re a conscientious enterprise. Last year I was even named one of Hei City’s Top Ten Outstanding Entrepreneurs.” Luo Chao spoke with undisguised pride.
Thanks to Luo Chao’s connections, Mo Fei’s grain purchasing trip went remarkably smoothly. At the wholesale markets back in Bai City, buying even two hundred sacks of rice and flour would attract attention. Here, she placed orders by the tonne.
At the discounted price of ¥2,500 per tonne, Mo Fei ordered ten tonnes of rice. At the same time, she also ordered corn and wheat at ¥2,800 per tonne, soybeans at ¥5,500 per tonne, along with low-gluten flour, high-gluten flour, soybean oil, olive oil, peanut oil, corn oil, rapeseed oil, and many other products.
When Luo Chao asked Mo Fei to leave a delivery address so he could arrange the logistics, she fell silent for a few seconds.
“The truth is… I haven’t found a warehouse yet. Do you happen to have any vacant warehouses that I could rent?” Mo Fei asked awkwardly.
It really was true that people should avoid telling lies. One lie always required countless more lies to cover it up.
She had lied to Luo Chao about opening a shop in the neighbouring city. She had placed such a large grain order, yet she could not even provide the address of the supposed shop.
Anyone who gave it even a little thought would realize something was suspicious.
But Mo Fei was paying real money for the grain, not trying to swindle anyone. It was a straightforward cash-for-goods transaction. Even if she had not been truthful about certain things, no one could really fault her for it.
Luo Chao blinked, and the corners of his mouth curled into a smile. “If anyone else asked me, I’d say no. But how could I say no to my senior? I just so happen to have two vacant warehouses under my name. Your grain isn’t that much, so I’ll rent you the smaller one. It’s about thirty kilometers from here. Tomorrow I’ll have all the goods transferred there for you.”
“Perfect! Juniors really are the best.” Mo Fei smiled happily, not even asking how much the warehouse rent would cost.
Her budget for stockpiling grain had been ¥200,000. In the end, including one year’s warehouse rent, she only paid ¥210,000, exceeding her budget by just ¥10,000.
After all the grain had been delivered to the warehouse Mo Fei had rented, a brand new lock had already been installed, and the only key had been handed over to her.
Once the logistics trucks had driven away, Mo Fei walked into the warehouse alone.