Electronic Nezha

Chapter 91 Serial

In the afternoon, an unexpected guest arrived at the fruit market: Chen Feng, with a relaxed gait and a smile on his face, approached Li Ping's stall. In his hand, he was carrying a large bouquet of roses.

Old Wang stood in our shop, commenting through the glass: "That's over the top. It gets boring after using the same trick twice."

I nodded in agreement. Although Chen Feng hadn't even managed to get Li Ping's phone number that morning, people had a complicated experience—a mix of sweetness and bitterness, a mix of expectation and disappointment, ultimately leaving them feeling quite melancholy. His flight was in the afternoon, and coming back one last time before leaving would only make him seem like a desperate, futile attempt to get what he wanted.

Li Ping paused at the door, waiting for Chen Feng to speak.

Chen Feng smiled and said, "I canceled the flight."

Old Wang and I exchanged a glance.

Chen Feng said, "You don't need to feel pressured. It's not just for you. I have business to discuss locally. I just come to see you in my spare time. You won't kick me out, will you?"

I gave him a thumbs up and said, "Awesome!" The big boss really doesn't play by the rules. You thought he was going to play the sentimental farewell game again, but he canceled his plane ticket. You thought he was going to deliver some domineering CEO declaration, but he just said something gentle and mild to avoid putting pressure on you, like that there's still business in the local area. Nobody believes that!

Just as Li Ping was about to place the apples under the eaves, Chen Feng rushed over. He handed her the flowers he was carrying, placed his dirty knitted gloves on either side of the plastic box, picked it up, and carried it outside. He then arranged the red apples facing the customers, creating a pile of fruit of similar size. It looked fresh, festive, and very attractive.

Old Wang commented again: "He's done the work!"

Indeed, the hard plastic crates used for storing fruit can easily hurt your hands. Knowing to put something under them as a safety net shows a lot of experience in handling such tasks. In our eyes, this action is much more commendable than blindly picking them up and carrying them away.

"Thank you." Li Ping said, placing the bouquet on the fruit box again. The bouquet from that morning had been taken by people, leaving only three or five stems. Chen Feng's business card lay untouched inside.

The fruit stall owners and their wives nearby caught wind of the commotion and gathered around us in twos and threes. Sister Zhao even went to the stall selling roasted nuts and seeds at the entrance of the cold storage to buy a bag of melon seeds and then rushed over to our stall to watch the excitement.

Thus, a new protagonist has emerged in the fruit market (it was me this morning).

Li Ping looked very unhappy. She wasn't some kind of ice queen; she was just very afraid of these kinds of rumors.

"You're welcome to visit occasionally, but my place is small, so I won't keep you here." Li Ping's words were rather blunt.

"It's alright, I'll watch your stall from the doorway." Chen Feng indeed stood in front of the stall, looked around at the people, and greeted them solicitously yet awkwardly, "Aren't you going to buy some fruit?"

The people all shook their heads with their hands in their sleeves: "We're not buying, that's what we do."

Chen Feng was even more embarrassed.

Sister Zhao handed a handful of sunflower seeds to Lao Wang and me, saying, "Do you know how much money this Chen family has?"

Old Wang said, "It's probably over 100 million."

I didn't say it aloud, but I had a lot of guesses in my mind. The Chen brothers' previous generation were businessmen, and their business covered real estate, shoes, hats and small commodities. They had a monopoly in several places. It's hard to say about the family business, but they probably had more than 100 million yuan in cash on hand.

Sister Zhao said, "Why bother with all that? Just throw money at her! Hire a truck and buy up all the fruit in her shop, then treat her to a meal. How could she refuse?"

I said, "So, you're going to go out and have dinner with someone after I've given you this whole set of instructions?"

Sister Zhao said, "Who do you think you are? I'll go if you buy 10 boxes of fruit!"

Old Wang scoffed, "It's not like you're saying you won't go if you don't buy anything or eat anything."

Sister Zhao said, "That's now! Everyone has a youthful past. Back when I was the 'Apple Beauty' at the fruit market—"

Old Wang said, "What? You were once 'Xi Shi'?"

"See, you didn't know, so I'm talking about when I was young."

"Sister, I've been in this market for almost 10 years, and I haven't even lived as long as you were when you were young. How old are you this year?"

Sister Zhao laughed and threw the sunflower seed shells at Old Wang's face.

Old Wang is still relatively inexperienced. I grew up in this market, and I caught up with Sister Zhao when she was young—it really wasn't that great...

We were chatting idly when Chen Feng couldn't stand still for long. He was wearing a casual suit with an overcoat. You could say that people from Wenzhou are unfamiliar with northern winters, but I don't think so. Rich people dress formally regardless of the season, not because they're immune to heat or cold, but because they have air conditioning everywhere. It's late December now, and nothing is more effective than a military overcoat when you're outdoors!

Chen Feng quickly noticed this. As far as he could see, everyone was wearing a military overcoat. He looked back at Li Ping in the room, then at me, and finally spoke up after assessing the situation: "Brother Feng, do you have any extra military overcoats?"

Old Wang pulled a crumpled military overcoat from the makeshift cot and said, "I do have one. Do you want to rent or buy it? If you want to buy it, I'll give you 1000. Renting it for a day is 100, plus a storage fee of 20."

"Uh, renting and buying are easy to understand, but what about the storage fee?"

Old Wang said, "After you're done wearing it, leave it with me and I'll keep it safe for you. You're such a big boss, you can't go back to the hotel wearing a military overcoat, can you?" It can be said that he thought of everything very carefully.

Chen Feng said, "Then I'll buy it. As for the storage fee, I'll do it the way you said."

Old Wang tossed his military overcoat at Chen Feng and said, "Just kidding. Looks like you're planning to stay here permanently?" Tsk tsk, I have to say Old Wang's mind is sometimes pretty sharp. If Chen Feng said he'd rent it, it means he won't be staying for more than 10 days...

I waved to Chen Feng: "Mr. Chen, come inside and warm up."

Chen Feng was so cold he couldn't stand it anymore, so he came into my room. Old Wang brought the small stove to him and said, "Warm your hands up. This time it's really not free."

Chen Feng quickly got into character: "Okay, just collect by the minute."

Sister Zhao smiled and handed him a handful of sunflower seeds, saying, "Here, these are free."

I went into Li Ping's room and asked her, "What are you planning to do?"

Li Ping calmly replied, "It's a game for the rich, lasting at most three days."

"What if he doesn't leave for three days?"

Li Ping said helplessly, "Old Liu, I think I've made myself quite clear. Can you help me recall what I did wrong yesterday that made him think I wanted to find a 'boyfriend'?"

“I can vouch for that. Those two sentences you said made men feel utterly hopeless. Your only mistake was that you just admitted it when he asked if you had a ‘girlfriend.’”

Li Ping sighed and asked me, "What is he doing in your room?"

"I'm talking business with Lao Wang."

Li Ping knew I was talking nonsense, glanced at me and said, "Don't take him in next time."

"This isn't a solution. What if he blocks your door with his RV tomorrow?" Some CEOs like Mr. Chen can only rent a taxi to escape, but this Mr. Chen can afford an RV.

"Then let's just wait it out. If three days isn't enough, then a week, and if that doesn't work, then a month. He'll leave eventually, won't he?"

When I returned to my room, Chen Feng was already chatting happily with Sister Zhao and Lao Wang, demonstrating the basic qualities of a businessman—quickly becoming friends with strangers.

While cracking sunflower seeds, Sister Zhao said, "If I were ten years younger... uh, twenty years younger, I would volunteer myself. It wouldn't be Li Ping's turn."

Chen Feng said, "Sister Zhao is very charming now."

Sister Zhao laughed and asked Chen Feng, "Are you coming again tomorrow?"

Chen Feng asked, puzzled, "Is there something you need?"

"If you come, I'll come too."

Old Wang said speechlessly, "You're really going to do it?"

Sister Zhao glared at him, then said with a grin, "I just want to wait and see the results. This is much more interesting than a TV series."

Chen Feng gritted his teeth and said, "Come on!"

"See you tomorrow then." Sister Zhao threw all the sunflower seed shells into the small stove and left, still feeling unsatisfied.

(End of this chapter)