Chapter 020

Chapter 020

"Get lost." Shan Yu said into his phone while lying face down on the table.

"Huh?" Liu Wu was confused on the other end. "Is my brother there?"

"No, he's just passing by and yelling at the security guards," Chen Jian quickly picked up his phone, turned off the speaker, and walked out of the office. "Tell me in detail what's going on..."

Shan Yu tried to chase after him, but the store manager, who was clearly all about the money, didn't want to be disturbed. With long strides, he disappeared up the stairs in just a few seconds, too fast for Shan Yu to catch up to even with his wheelchair.

Shan Yu sighed and sat back in his chair.

Forget it, let them handle it.

Liu Wu was determined to help his brother no matter what.

And the store manager was equally determined to get business for the boss no matter what.

Nothing could stop them.

About ten minutes later, Chen Jian returned to the office. Shan Yu was still sitting behind his desk. Chen Jian knocked on the open door.

"Face to face now, are you a delivery robot to knock on the door?" Shan Yu said.

"Is there a reason you're unwilling to accept Liu Wu's surprise?" Chen Jian walked into the office.

"You're asking now?" Shan Yu said.

"I was just overwhelmed by a big order just now," Chen Jian said.

"Did you agree?" Shan Yu asked.

"Nothing final," Chen Jian said. "I said the renovation is quite a mess, and there was just a brawl with some nearby homestays... it depends on the situation."

"You're really bold," Shan Yu looked at him with admiration.

"The key is that Liu Wu believed it." Chen Jian said.

Shan Yu was about to speak when Chen Jian added, "I'm asking you, did you cross the line?"

"Such a strong sense of revenge." Shan Yu clicked his tongue.

Chen Jian remained silent.

"His mom doesn't want him to hang out with me," Shan Yu said. "My parents also don't want me to lead this honest kid astray, so I don't want him coming here."

"...I see." Chen Jian didn't know what else to say. "Then I'll talk to him again, and say..."

"That his brother got arrested after another brawl." Shan Yu said.

"Won't he want to request a meeting the next second?" Chen Jian said.

"Being a store manager does make a difference," Shan Yu smiled. "Whether he can meet him depends on how serious the fight was. If it's a criminal case, he won't be able to see him, only the lawyer."

Chen Jian paused for a long time before saying, "I don't know how to respond to that."

"Is he bringing his classmates over?" Shan Yu asked.

"Yes," Chen Jian said.

"He's probably already talked to them. Just starting school, we have to give him some face. Did he say if they were classmates or someone else?"

"It's a club activity," Chen Jian said. "Hiking club, something like that. He's very excited but didn't explain clearly, just said they're still counting the numbers."

"That's a whole bunch of college students." Shan Yu frowned.

A high school student shouldn't always look down on college students.

This is a level of education that our homestay should collectively look up to.

"Yes." Chen Jian nodded.

"Let Hu Pan work out the details with him. I'll pretend I don't know," Shan Yu said. "Tell him not to tell anyone about our relationship."

"Why?" Chen Jian asked.

"So that the real reception capacity isn't revealed," Shan Yu said. "After all, we've only ever received four guests."

"Hu Pan will definitely ask where the business came from," Chen Jian said.

"Let the college students make it up," Shan Yu said.

As long as the store manager was willing to put in the effort, the homestay renovation went quickly. For two or three days, Chen Jian oversaw the work—exterior wall renovation, roof waterproofing, courtyard wall repairs, and replacing some of the flowers and plants in the yard.

From the window of the fourth-floor office, Shan Yu could see the homestay gradually regain its vitality from the faint desolation of the past few days.

Today, the signboard was delivered. Huge letters that workers had to hang from the roof with safety ropes.

The last batch of flowers for the yard arrived today too.

Chen Jian was a pretty smart store manager.

The yard was quite large, with several small flower borders in different areas, some ground-planted and some potted. If all were replaced as before, it would be troublesome to manage and quite expensive.

So this time, Store Manager Chen only kept the ground-planted parts. Except for some decorative potted plants near the yard gate and windowsills, everything else was removed and replaced with various chairs and small tables. He even scoured online stores for a bunch of quirky little gadgets—various unusual ground lights, many aged pottery jars, and even some old stone slabs and tree roots from the old village...

Now, the yard no longer had the elegant and high-end retro courtyard feel that Qian Yu wanted. Instead, it had a more...primitive vitality, both luxurious and primitive, rustic yet full of energy.

During this whole process, Chen Jian didn't consult him too many times, often making decisions on his own within a reasonable scope. He was a very reliable store manager, and his capabilities exceeded Shan Yu's expectations.

Not going to college is really a pity, and it's also a pity to always stay here.

A voice came through the walkie-talkie, it was Chen Jian. "Boss, the sign is in position. Come down and take a look. If there's no problem, we'll secure it."

Honestly, there were a lot of people in the yard. Sometimes villagers from nearby would come over to check out the haunted house renovation when they had nothing else to do. Shan Yu really didn't want to go down.

But in the end, he went downstairs in a wheelchair.

The two characters "Da Yin" were basically in the original position of "Zhen Xi", a bit larger. The simple characters on the slightly gray-toned wall were eye-catching and steady, looking very comfortable.

It's just that these characters... Shan Yu clicked his tongue. He should have asked someone to scan and adjust them first. The calligraphy level was indeed a bit lacking, but compared to the guesthouse that was going to squeeze its name onto the sign, "Da Yin" already looked very high-end at first glance.

"Why are you clicking your tongue?" Chen Jian was waiting for his opinion, but after the click, Shan Yu went silent, so he had to bend down and ask.

"I'm clicking my tongue at this character." Shan Yu said.

"Take a look at the position first, okay?" Chen Jian asked.

Shan Yu laughed. "It's good, no need to click."

"Master, secure it!" Chen Jian shouted, "This position is fine."

After completing the task, the boss went back inside in his wheelchair.

Chen Jian turned to look outside the yard. Several villagers were either standing or squatting by the roadside, pointing inside.

That's right, that's our mysterious paralyzed boss.

"Is everything finished today?" Hu Pan asked nearby.

"Yes," Chen Jian exhaled, "Finally, it's done..."

"When will it open?" Hu Pan asked, "Should we check an auspicious date online?"

"No need to check," Shan Yu leaned back on the sofa, starting to calculate with his fingers, "Let me figure it out."

Chen Jian looked at him in shock with his phone. "You can do that?"

"I can't." Shan Yu answered very directly.

"Then what are you figuring out?" Chen Jian was even more shocked.

"I'm figuring out what kind of boss I am." Shan Yu said.

"I..." Chen Jian looked at him.

"Is it okay to have the yard and the outside road cleaned today?" Shan Yu continued calculating on his fingers.

"Yes." Chen Jian responded.

"Is it still possible to buy firecrackers and those flower-shaped fireworks?" Shan Yu asked again.

"Boss Chen has already gone to buy them and will be back before dinner." Chen Jian said.

"Then we'll open tomorrow." Shan Yu snapped his fingers.

"No need to choose an auspicious date?" Chen Jian confirmed again, feeling that many business people cared about these things and would even go to the old town to have someone figure it out.

"The date I choose is auspicious." Shan Yu said.

"What about the auspicious time? Should we also figure out when to set off the fireworks?" Chen Jian asked.

"When everyone is ready and prepared, just set them off." Shan Yu said.

"Okay." Chen Jian looked at Shan Yu, feeling oddly both unreliable and very reassured by his calm demeanor.

"Don't forget to invite Xiao Dou'er's grandparents, your brother Rui and his wife for dinner tomorrow night." Shan Yu said.

"Yes," Chen Jian was a little surprised, "Thank you, boss."

"That's awkward," Shan Yu glanced at him, "I don't know how to respond."

Chen Jian smiled.

On the night before the opening, the staff stayed up quite late. Sister Zhao was still planning the menu for the dinner everyone would have together the next night. The security team was doing cleaning and checks on large items in the yard. Hu Pan was fiddling with the various platforms "Zhen Xi" had been on at the front desk...

Everyone was busy and excited.

Chen Jian used a cotton swab to disinfect the brace on Shan Yu's leg bit by bit.

"It feels like the recovery is pretty fast," his movements were already very skilled, "The external wounds aren't red anymore."

"Yes, it used to hurt sometimes before, but not these past two days," Shan Yu leaned back on the headboard, swiping through videos on his phone, "Probably won't take two months before it can be removed."

"Maybe not," Chen Jian said, changing a cotton swab, "External wounds healing doesn't mean the bones are fine."

"Don't curse me." Shan Yu said.

"It's stating facts," Chen Jian said, "You have to face the facts. It took me two months to heal from a fractured arm."

"How did you fall?" Shan Yu asked.

"Missed my footing while climbing over a wall." Chen Jian said.

"Climbing over a wall from where?" Shan Yu asked again.

"School, of course," Chen Jian smiled, "Skipping class."

"You skipped class?" Shan Yu stared at him for a moment, "I thought you were a good student."

"No," Chen Jian said, "Someone like Liu Wu can be considered a good student. I was just messing around at school and had no interest in studying. If it weren't for my dad constantly pressuring me, I wouldn't have even wanted to finish high school. I would've gone to work instead."

"Short-sighted, shopkeeper," Shan Yu said.

"In this environment, it's hard to think long-term," Chen Jian said.

Shan Yu raised his hand. Chen Jian looked up at him. Shan Yu's hand hovered in the air for a moment before it swept across his forehead, and his fingertips flicked the lock of curly hair that hung down.

Chen Jian was startled and remained still.

"Continue," Shan Yu nodded his chin.

Chen Jian lowered his head and replaced the cotton swab to continue disinfecting.

"Why don't you like people calling you 'Curly Hair'?" Shan Yu asked.

"It's not that I don't like it," Chen Jian sighed, "It's just... no one else has curly hair around me. It's rare, and I got tired of hearing it since I was a kid."

"Little curly hair," Shan Yu said.

Chen Jian gave him a look.

"Curly Hair," Shan Yu said again.

"What, cripple?" Chen Jian said.

Shan Yu laughed out loud, "You're something."

The next morning, all the employees got up early and started preparing for the opening ceremony after breakfast.

In fact, the ceremony was quite simple. Besides themselves, they hadn't notified anyone else, and they couldn't have even if they tried. The program consisted of hanging up colored lights, setting off firecrackers, and twisting a few firework tubes, and that was it.

"Don't you think our boss is pretty cool?" Hu Pan whispered to Chen Jian.

"Huh? In what way?" Chen Jian said.

"It's like... nothing matters to him," Hu Pan said, "He only does what he wants. His style is very cool."

"I suppose," Chen Jian thought for a moment, "Yes."

"Should we just lay it out on the road in front of the door?" Chen Erhu, holding a huge roll of firecrackers, asked as he stood outside the gate.

"Yes," Chen Jian nodded.

As Chen Erhu directed San Bing and the others to lay out the firecrackers on the road, his gaze suddenly shifted towards the pavilion, "What the hell, what do they think they're doing?"

"What's going on?" Chen Jian immediately walked out and took a look inside.

A group of people were approaching them with several flower baskets. A few bosses were following behind the crowd.

"We didn't invite them, right?" San Bing was very wary, "What does it say on the flower baskets? Isn't it some kind of provocation?"

"They all say 'Grand Opening' and such," Hu Pan squinted as she stared over, "The flower baskets are normal."

"Uninvited?" Chen Erhu was also on guard.

"...We did invite them," Chen Jian turned to look at Shan Yu, who was sitting in a wheelchair, "Boss Shan had told He Liang before, 'Welcome to come and guide us.'"

Unexpectedly, these people actually came, bringing a large group of employees with them.

Without the flower baskets, it would have looked like they were here for a confrontation.

Even with the flower baskets, it didn't look much better.

"What should we do?" Chen Erhu asked.

"Receive them," Chen Jian walked over to greet them, "Don't light the firecrackers until they're inside."

"Okay," Chen Erhu responded. He had called all his brothers to join in today, just in case. If a fight broke out, they wouldn't be at a disadvantage.

"Boss He," Chen Jian greeted with a smile. He had met these bosses before, and it was only in the past few days of conflict that he had remembered all their names, "Boss Yang, Boss Liu... thank you for coming."

"It's our pleasure," He Liang said with a smile, "Don't call us bosses, just call us 'brother.'"

"Bosses, please go inside," Chen Jian led them towards the courtyard, "Our Boss Shan can't walk well, so he didn't come out..."

"Boss Shan didn't tell us the exact date," He Liang said, "We were already prepared. As soon as we saw you preparing over here this morning, we rushed over..."

"Thank you, bosses. We were not thoughtful enough," Chen Jian said.

"Bosses, this way please," Hu Pan took over from Chen Jian at the door, "Please sit in the courtyard for a while. The ceremony will start soon."

Chen Jian glanced at Shan Yu. Shan Yu had a faint smile on his face and greeted the bosses briefly. Although he usually moved quickly with his crutch and could get anywhere without much trouble, he remained seated in the wheelchair this time.

Polite, yet arrogant.

The employees from both sides weren't as subtle as the bosses. They had argued and cursed before, but there hadn't been any clear conflicts. Except for the openly confronted Bald Man, the others greeted each other more sincerely and warmly.

"Sit inside for a while," San Bing said, "We'll set off the firecrackers as soon as we're ready."

"Need any help?" someone asked.

"No need, it'll be done soon," Lao Si waved his hand.

Chen Jian arranged the flower baskets neatly by the door. There were six in total, with two from each of the three guesthouses. The narrow path in front of the door was immediately filled with these baskets, making it look lively.

"Light it!" Chen Erhu shouted at the door, "Boss Shan, come and light the fire!"

"The shopkeeper should go light it," Shan Yu said.

"Hey! It's better if Boss Shan chooses this himself," said Boss Yang.

"Let the person in charge decide," Shan Yu replied simply.

"Generous," Boss Yang could only laugh and give a thumbs up.

Chen Jian was really worried about Shan Yu's mouth. To stop everyone from continuing this topic, he quickly went over and took the lighter from San Bing's hand, then went to light the firecrackers.

With the loud bang of the firecrackers, a group of people opened their confetti tubes, and bright colors rose from the smoke, accompanied by everyone's shouts.

"Grand opening!"

Since there were no other performances, after the firecrackers were set off, Chen Jian ushered the bosses into the guesthouse.

"Let's take the bosses on a tour," Shan Yu said.

"Then let's take a tour!" He Liang said with a smile.

"Panpan, you and the shop manager go together," Shan Yu said and then gave an apologetic smile to the other bosses, "My leg is not convenient, so..."

"You're just too lazy to deal with people."

"Boss Shan, you rest. We'll take a look around ourselves. No need to bother," said Boss Liu, "We'll be friends from now on, no need to be so polite."

Chen Jian and Hu Pan led the bosses up the stairs to the second floor. Their employees had already spread out in the courtyard, looking quite relaxed and happy.

Fortunately, although Hu Pan was still dressed unconventionally, she was talkative and enthusiastic, so Chen Jian just needed to follow and occasionally help out with a few words.

But in his heart, he wasn't relaxed. How should these people be entertained? Should they be treated to a meal?

Eat at the store or go out to eat?

If eating at the store, were the dishes prepared by Sister Zhao enough?

If they didn't eat, should they pretend to persuade them to stay…

When they led everyone to the third floor, Chen Jian took out his phone, wanting to send a message to confirm with Shan Yu. Just as he was typing, Chen Erhu's call came in.

"Hello?" he answered the phone.

"Chen Jian, I... I don't know how it happened," Chen Erhu's voice was somewhat panicked, "I didn't tell him... I didn't know he..."

"Who?" Chen Jian quickly found the key point from his confused expression and asked, "Who are you talking about?"

"My brother," Chen Erhu said, "My brother is here."

"Is Shan Yu there?" Chen Jian asked in a low voice.

"He is," Chen Erhu also said in a low voice, "I really didn't know..."

"I'm coming down," Chen Jian said and hung up the phone.