Chapter 76: Retreat as Advance—Is Chen Dazhu a Male Coquette?

With Li Junsheng here, Chen Dazhu knew that his chances of succeeding were slim. Li Junsheng was currently hauling scrap for others; if he intercepted the scrap that Li Junsheng was supposed to pick up, then Li Junsheng would be left with nothing to haul, which would be equivalent to cutting off his temporary earning source as a porter.

Therefore, Chen Dazhu had to stay on guard against Li Junsheng sabotaging his plans.

Success comes from secrecy.

Although he was extremely displeased, Chen Dazhu had to suppress his feelings and engage in a hypocritical charade with Li Junsheng.

“Heh… Well, Old Li, I have something to take care of. I’ll be heading back now.”

“Leaving already? Won’t you wait for Section Chief Zhou?” Li Junsheng, fully aware of Chen Dazhu’s intentions, deliberately watched the twitch of the other man’s lips, responding with a forced, insincere smile. “No need. There’s not much to say anyway, and Section Chief Zhou is busy. I’ll catch up with him later.”

“Alright then, take care.”

With a sullen face, Chen Dazhu left the machinery factory and immediately went to find Ma Yulian.

“Yulian, I’ve met Section Chief Zhou, who’s in charge of handling the scrap at the factory. He said he’d consider doing business with us. I think there’s a good chance of making this happen.”

“I had to spend a lot of money and pull quite a few strings to get an audience with Section Chief Zhou, but it was worth it. I’ll make sure to push him to agree to your brother’s deal as soon as possible!”

Hearing these words, Ma Yulian was overjoyed.

“Really? That’s wonderful! I knew there was nothing in this world you couldn’t handle. If it weren’t for you, I could never have spoken to someone like Section Chief Zhou at the machinery factory!”

Her eyes sparkled with admiration.

Chen Dazhu straightened his back, thoroughly enjoying her praise.

But then Ma Yulian changed her tone and started to complain in a theatrical manner.

“Dazhu, let me tell you, you have no idea how enraging Li Junsheng was yesterday! I kept thinking about the thousand-plus yuan you lost. I wanted to arrange a marriage for Fourth Sister and pay the bride price for you in advance.”

“There was a family willing to give six hundred as the bride price. I even invited them to our house and accepted a three-hundred deposit, but Li Junsheng simply refused to agree to it!”

“Fourth Sister hid at the neighbor’s place the whole time. It took me a lot of effort to pacify that brat and his mother and get them to leave. I just want to divorce Li Junsheng as soon as possible. As long as he’s around, nothing I want to do can succeed—he’s determined to make my life difficult.”

Chen Dazhu’s eyes darted slyly; he immediately had an idea.

“Alright, once I secure this job, you can go ahead and divorce him.” Then, in a coaxing tone, he continued, “Yulian, if you have any money, could you lend me a bit? I’ve spent quite a lot while trying to arrange this scrap business for your brother.”

“I really don’t have any left. I still need to grease the wheels with Section Chief Zhou, or else he’ll think we’re being disrespectful. If you don’t have it, I’ll have to think of another way.”

Chen Dazhu feigned retreat while subtly implying that all his expenses were for her brother’s sake.

Ma Yulian, hearing his words, was instantly moved. Not only did she hand over a hundred yuan, she did so with great distress. “You’re helping my brother. How could I let you worry about money? Take this hundred for now. If it’s not enough, just let me know!”

“This should be enough for now, but…” Chen Dazhu put on a worried look and continued, “But your Xiaoyu refuses to marry the man you arranged. If they demand their money back, what will you do?”

“If I had the cash, I’d help you, but all my money has gone to Li Junsheng.”

Upon hearing this, Ma Yulian felt grateful—Chen Dazhu was truly good to her, always thinking of her needs!

Remembering her disobedient daughter and the ever-opposing Li Junsheng, Ma Yulian’s expression immediately turned dark and fierce.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that wretched girl goes through with it. If I can’t handle her, I might as well not exist.”

Chen Dazhu gazed at her meaningfully—so long as she was ruthless enough with her daughter, he would pocket the six hundred yuan without a problem.

“As for this matter, I do have a good solution. The only question is whether you’re willing…”

Ma Yulian was always compliant with Chen Dazhu. Hearing this, her interest was immediately piqued. “Tell me, tell me!”

“Well, it’s like this…”

…

Li Junsheng had no idea what Ma Yulian and Chen Dazhu were plotting.

He was currently standing at the warehouse entrance, watching Qin Yong and several others load goods onto a truck.

These days, there was simply too much going on: Third Sister was still in confinement after childbirth, he had both granddaughters to look after, and there were business matters as well. He barely had any attention left for Ma Yulian’s schemes.

Especially after seeing Chen Dazhu in Section Chief Zhou’s office today, Li Junsheng could no longer ignore the threat.

Chen Dazhu was the sort who never stopped until he got what he wanted. Now that he had his eyes on the scrap business, there would be no peace.

Worse yet, he had gone straight to Section Chief Zhou. If he could offer Zhou better incentives than Li Junsheng, knowing Zhou’s character, he might be thrown overboard at any moment.

The scrap business might not last forever, but as long as the policy remained unchanged, he could not let Chen Dazhu get a share.

He had to come up with a way to ensure Section Chief Zhou sold the scrap only to him, no matter how good a deal Chen Dazhu might offer, so that Zhou would not dare do business with the other man.

From his memories of his previous life, there was something—a secret—that had held Section Chief Zhou in its grip for his entire life!

Taking a deep breath, Li Junsheng flicked his cigarette to the ground and crushed it under his shoe.

It seemed that, before that idiot Chen Dazhu could ruin everything, he would have to make a trip to a certain place and retrieve some evidence.