CHAPTER 95: CHAPTER 94 ARE YOU HAPPY

"Supervisor Bai."

Bai Yulan looked up and saw a clerk push the door open and come in, placing a black ring down. "They’re back."

The ring was rusted and chipped, with a faint recognizable pattern of a four-leaf clover, seemingly made of cheap wrought iron. Yet after Bai Yulan examined it seriously for a moment, he carefully wore it on his right ring finger, and said, "I understand."

The clerk left after hearing this, and Bai Yulan took out his pocket watch to check the time. It was only 4 PM, so he continued working at his desk.

Just by the name, many would think he’s a woman or a delicate man, and they’re not far off: he is indeed a handsome man with quite an androgynous look. Back when he was hired by Jing Zhengwei, he skipped the preliminary stages of hard labor and went straight to handling business affairs, not because he was good at arithmetic or writing, but because he was good-looking.

Jing Zhengwei wouldn’t do anything to him, just sending him to negotiate business with other commerce leaders. Good-looking people are always given preferential treatment, especially attractive men, although some may think a handsome man is useless to other men, and might even arouse their jealousy. These words aren’t wrong, but it depends on the context.

If the handsome guy is your roommate, your superior, his status is close to yours, and he surpasses you in looks, of course you will be jealous and dissatisfied; but if the handsome guy seeks your help, his status is lower than yours, your mindset will change—you’ll develop a liking for him, even want to conquer him.

Why do men want to control power, become governors, emperors, patriarchs? It’s actually an expression of the desire to conquer—conquering other men can also bring pleasure. The logic is the same: beautiful women attract covetousness, and beautiful men naturally attract conquest.

All in all, Bai Yulan earned a lot of money for Jing Zhengwei, collaborating externally for mutual benefit and internally managing properly. His position as the supervisor of "Wei Ling" sea trade is well-deserved, and no one can dispute it.

When the pocket watch chimed at 6 PM, Bai Yulan packed his documents, pushed the door open, and left. Along the way, clerks greeted him enthusiastically: "Hello, Supervisor Bai."

"Uncle Liu, hurry home for dinner, your chubby boy is waiting for you."

"Hello, Supervisor Bai!"

"Brother Feng, this month don’t go to the Red Lantern with your money, save some to get a wife!"

"Hello, Supervisor Bai!"

"Little Chen, thank you for guarding the night tonight."

...

Bai Yulan smiled and greeted them one by one, urging them to finish work early and leave. Passing by the boss’s office, he glanced inside and found the lights still on, respectfully knocking: "Young Master."

"Come in."

Bai Yulan opened the door and entered, seeing the Young Master reading a novel, while the woman he bought from the Xiangxue Sea sat in the boss’s chair wearing glasses, seemingly looking at orders, he smiled: "Young Master, Miss Qing Lan, I’m headed home for dinner; the two of you shouldn’t work too hard."

Bai Yulan paused and said tactfully: "Seeing the two of you holding high positions yet working hard makes us feel ashamed and want to work more, contributing more to Wei Ling."

"Hmm, indeed," the Young Master closed the book and said, "if we don’t leave they dare not leave... how much work is left?"

"Just a bit more, I’ll wait a while..."

"Forget it, let’s go, dinner is important," the Young Master stood up and said, "Dinner and the bath should be ready at home... take the car keys."

Bai Yulan respectfully locked the office door for them, watched them get in the ’Silver Blood Citroen’ parked in the yard, and slowly drive onto the street and leave, his smile becoming increasingly genuine.

He already thought Jing Zhengwei was a good boss, but didn’t expect he could be even better.

Having women manage accounts and affairs for him... where could one find a better boss?

Bai Yulan did not look down on Qing Lan, after all, everyone is in a similar situation, who looks down on each other? He just didn’t expect that the Jing Family’s daunting young master was ultimately just a ’nothing special’ carnivore.

In good spirits today, Bai Yulan went to a noodle shop outside to eat a bowl of beef brisket fried sauce lo mein, then went home to change clothes and headed to the port.

Meanwhile, three merchant ships slowly approached the port under the cover of night.

...

...

"Don’t go home straight away, take a detour to Dameshi Street."

Qing Lan’s eyes brightened, "Going to buy coconut milk?"

"No." Le Yu glanced at Qing Lan and then at the tea flask she had placed beside her—when Le Yu went to buy coconut milk, he found that the store’s bottles were small, so he bought a large capacity tea flask nearby to fill it, one bottle was like three.

He initially planned to buy it for everyone to share, but Qing Lan took it and drank straight from it. This was just fine, she drank all day without getting tired, and when she couldn’t finish during the day she took it home to continue, much more obsessed than Le Yu with his honeyed Five-Flower Tea.

"You’ve been drinking so much coconut milk for two days straight, won’t you gain weight?"

"I don’t think so?" Qing Lan was shocked, instinctively touched her belly, causing the steering wheel to swerve, Le Yu shouted immediately, "Watch the road! Don’t hit anyone!"

Qing Lan flustered for a moment, but thankfully nothing went wrong. Le Yu admonished, "Focus when driving, driving slow isn’t bad, and don’t take off your glasses when driving, look more and talk less..."

Qing Lan was irked by hearing this but couldn’t help retorting, "Why don’t you drive, Young Master?"

"If I drive, wouldn’t I become your driver?" Le Yu countered, "Besides, isn’t driving fun? Girls should drive more, appreciate the chance to drive, enjoy the process..."

In truth, Le Yu was just lazy.

Initially, it was Chen Fu who drove him, now Qing Lan was his driver. Although Qing Lan hadn’t driven before, this world doesn’t require licenses nor have traffic lights, basically knowing how to use the gas and brake was enough, Qing Lan practiced for a morning and became a professional.

Qing Lan said nothing, clearly not convinced by Le Yu’s nonsense, but under the circumstances, she couldn’t refuse or risk being kicked out of bed at night, so she quietly drove.

"Does coconut milk really make you fat?" she suddenly asked.

"Don’t know, but not drinking won’t make you fat," Le Yu replied.

Dameshi Street wasn’t on the same route as the Battle Card venue, Le Yu wasn’t eager to go buy coconut milk. But Qing Lan working for him without even having a cup of coconut milk for a reward felt problematic for his conscience but if Qing Lan didn’t want it, that was different.

"Well, Young Master, do you prefer slim or plump types?"

"I like big ones."

Qing Lan blinked, her gaze fixed ahead, her face slightly red.

She awkwardly changed the subject, "Why are you going to Dameshi Street?"

"If we estimate the time, the fleet should be back. On the night the fleet returns, Supervisor Bai would secretly meet them to tidy things up, I plan to catch them in the act."

"What?" Qing Lan exclaimed, "You plan to catch them when Supervisor Bai meets the fleet members?"

"Yeah."

"That’s not good!" Qing Lan braked and stopped, looked at Le Yu, said, "Supervisor Bai has already colluded with the fleet, those daring to sail are mostly desperadoes, going there would just cause both parties to be deadlocked. To catch Supervisor Bai, wouldn’t it be better to have just done it earlier? Why specifically wait until his meeting with the fleet? You didn’t care about evidence!"

"Why so tense?" Le Yu gave her a glance.

"I just think it’s unnecessary..."

"It’s necessary," Le Yu said as he pushed open the car door, "Besides, I won’t go alone, aside from the guards at home, I’ll find an ally... you stopped perfectly, that’s the place."

Le Yu walked to a small courtyard and loudly knocked on the door handle’s brass ring.

"Who?" A woman’s voice seemed to echo from inside.

Le Yu adjusted his voice to deliberately make it indistinct, "Someone you’d be happy to see."

Moments later, hurried footsteps sounded behind the door, with a clatter, it swung open, revealing a man and a woman. The man wore twin blades at his waist, the woman was young and lively, dressed tightly for agility, hair braided with decorations, likely a Martial Artist fond of beauty and skilled in close combat.

Le Yu glanced at the girl, then elegantly and affably looked at the man, and gently asked:

"Second Master, seeing me, are you happy?"