Mei Jiasheng smacked his lips on his wine, ate a piece of fish, and then said, "I know you, but A-Yao, we hit it off immediately. Let me make this clear: the Construction Industry General Union these days is full of starving ghosts. They're only thinking about making exorbitant demands. If you want them to do something for you, you have to feed them first."
Song Tianyao raised his glass and clinked it against Mei Jiasheng's. "What I like most is to make sure the workers are well-fed, so they have the energy to work."
Chapter 379 Under the Night
"Stop talking behind my back about how stingy I am, and how I don't take care of you like my older brother does." Lu Rongfang, as if joking, took out a stack of Red packet and handed them out to the family's servants, drivers, and other workers, saying smugly, "Everyone gets one."
"Thank you, Second Young Master."
The servants who received the Red packet all thanked Lu Rongfang, but they looked at each other with considerable confusion.
The brothers Lu Rongkang and Lu Rongfang were known for treating their servants exceptionally well. They never shortchanged their servants on their wages and benefits. If a worker had an emergency and needed money, they were always generous, often giving them an advance on their wages and a bonus to help them through the crisis. Unlike some stingy families who would only put one or two yuan in their Red packet for holidays, they would always put at least twenty yuan, enough for the workers to buy meat for the family during the holidays.
But today is neither a holiday nor a festival, so why did this second young master suddenly decide to send them Red packet?
After thanking the servants profusely for the tips, Lu Rongfang returned to the restaurant with his close friend and lackey Pan Guoyang, brimming with pride. Lu Rongkang and his wife were chatting with Lu Yuanchun at the table when they saw Lu Rongfang walk in, chest puffed out and head held high, his face practically screaming "I'm rich!" Lu Rongkang frowned and said calmly:
"Ah Fang, you're not young anymore, can't you learn to be a little more mature?"
Pan Guoyang, who was standing behind Lu Rongfang, was carrying a large briefcase. When Lu Rongfang winked at him, Pan Guoyang stepped forward and placed the briefcase on the dining table.
"And you, Ah Yang, if you're working in the government, just focus on your job. Instead, you and Ah Fang are always messing around. If you keep going crazy with him, I'll tell your Dad to deal with you." Lu Rongkang knew his younger brother's best friend, Pan Guoyang, all too well. Since Pan Guoyang was like Lu Rongfang to him, he didn't hold back in reprimanding him.
Lu Rongfang opened his briefcase triumphantly, slowed down, and took out stacks of banknotes, placing them on the table in front of his seat. There were fifteen stacks in total, all of them new five-hundred-yuan notes, totaling a full seven hundred and fifty thousand yuan.
The sight of this enormous sum of money on the table silenced the three people at the table.
Lu Rongfang first divided out five stacks of paper money and pushed them in front of Lu Yuanchun, who was smiling, "This is what Chunmei lent me. I'll pay Chunmei back with interest first."
He then took out five more stacks of paper and pushed them in front of his stunned sister-in-law. "These are for flattering my elder brother and sister-in-law."
Five stacks remained in front of her. Lu Rongfang picked up one stack, brought it to her nose, inhaled the smell of ink, closed her eyes, and said with a blissful expression, "The rest..."
Before he could finish his boastful revelry, the sound of loud chewing coming from beside him shattered his facade of wealth. Lu Rongfang opened her eyes to find Pan Guoyang already seated next to her, devouring a plate of braised beef tongue with his chopsticks, his mouth full. He even managed a smile at Auntie Hong, the old servant of the Lu Family, and mumbled, "Auntie Hong, so delicious..."
"We've known each other for almost twenty years, and we've never had any chemistry... Didn't you see I was about to put on airs?" Lu Rongfang glared at Pan Guoyang and said with dissatisfaction.
"Where did you get so much money? Did you rob someone?" Lu Rongkang looked at the stack of banknotes in front of Lu Yuanchun, then at the two stacks of banknotes in front of his wife and brother, his face darkening as he asked.
He knew the amount of money in his younger brother's pocket; it was probably around one or two hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars. He was impulsive and didn't want to do business in a conventional way, so he didn't have much need for money. And most importantly, Lu Rongfang didn't explain to him why he needed money, so Lu Rongkang wouldn't give him any financial support.
"Of course it wasn't robbery. Although we only made a small amount, we only earned 700,000 in four days."
"What the hell? Seven hundred thousand?" Lu Rongkang's eyes widened. "You said you weren't going to rob someone? Those thieves couldn't even steal seven hundred thousand in four days!"
"If we have to call it robbery, then Miss Fong could be considered to have robbed money, except she legally robbed Hong Kong dollars 700,000 in the stock market. She made money by buying stocks, Kang-ge. I can vouch for you, Miss Fong really just made that money by speculating in stocks. There's a stock called Prosperity Rubber that's been rising really fast lately." Pan Guoyang swallowed his food, wiped his mouth, and explained to Lu Rongkang.
Upon hearing that Lu Rongfang had earned the money in the stock market, Lu Rongkang's expression calmed slightly, but he still pointed at his self-willed younger brother with exasperation. "You're always idle, speculating, and loafing around. Can't you settle down and learn how to do legitimate business? Also, don't bother Yuanchun next time you need money. Do you think I won't give it to you?"
"Wow, you're scolding me again. If you like scolding people, why don't you have more children with your sister-in-law and then teach them a lesson? I even tried to flatter you and your sister-in-law after making money, and all I got in return was a lecture. Enough with the flattery, give me my money back." Lu Rongfang pretended to get up to grab the banknotes in front of her sister-in-law.
Lu Rongkang gently tapped his younger brother's outstretched hand with his chopsticks, his face stern but his eyes smiling as he said, "You'd better remember what I'm telling you: the stock market is unreliable, and doing business still requires hard work. Also, your sister-in-law just told me she's planning to go to the department store tomorrow to buy a diamond bracelet. Since you're paying, I won't have to pay myself. How about this? I'll gladly accept your flattery, but the money is not being returned."
Everyone at the table laughed. Lu Yuanchun looked at Lu Rongkang and Lu Rongfang, and there was a hint of envy in their eyes. These two brothers were the first to leave the Lu family and now had no connection with the Lu family in Malaysia. The two brothers started from scratch in Hong Kong. Although they may not be as wealthy as other members of the Lu family, the deep brotherly affection they shared was something that Lu Yuanchun could not experience in his current family.