This Move Worked Well

At seven o'clock in the morning, an elderly man in his seventies, completely naked, ran wildly in front of the gate of Carefree Dock.

Li Banfeng ran alongside the old man, while a projector filmed the scene simultaneously.

"Isn't this Xie Juncong, the head of the Ghost Hand Gate?" Li Banfeng introduced the sect comprehensively in a loud voice.

Xie Juncong chuckled twice and said, "Seventh Master, it's unexpected that we'll meet here."

"Sect Leader Xie Juncong, why are you leaving in such a hurry? Is there something important?"

"Nothing important, just came out to stretch my muscles."

"Sect Leader Xie Juncong, are you dressed so lightly because of the hot weather?"

"You know what, it's really hot today!"

"Sect Leader Xie Juncong, are you heading home? Shall I hire a car and give you a ride?"

"No need to be so polite, I'll just walk back!"

Li Banfeng really wanted to see him off, to take him straight back to his hometown.

This is the second time; this Old Thief has stolen from Li Banfeng.

But the gloves kept pleading with Li Banfeng: "Master, this man can't be killed yet. I still have some things I want to get out of him."

Moreover, his cultivation level is not low; the head of the household might not gain the upper hand in a direct fight with him.

Li Banfeng smiled and said, "With you here, how can we be afraid of not being able to beat him?"

The glove said with a hint of shame, "Master, I'm just a magical artifact. This body of mine is really too useless. In terms of skill, he's not as good as me, and in terms of fighting to the death, I'm really not as good as him."

That old bastard will definitely never dare to come to Carefree Dock again. Please consider this a favor to me and don't hold it against him for now.

Li Banfeng agreed to the gloves' request, released Xie Juncong for the time being, and took photos from the footage, sending them directly to the newspaper office.

In the evening, Li Banfeng prepared some gifts and went to Hibiscus Studio with Ma Wu.

Hibiscus Studio is a mountain villa built on Linglong Mountain in the east of Green Water City. From the halfway point to the top of the mountain, most of the hillside is Hibiscus Studio's territory. There are more than a hundred buildings of various styles, including Western-Style House, pavilions, and towers. Li Haoyun's wealth is evident.

Li Banfeng was a little confused about Li Haoyun's identity. Was he a businessman or a gang leader?

Ma Wu couldn't answer either.

In Pro State, the line between the two was not so clear to begin with; all the gangs had businesses, and the businessmen were all involved with the gangs in some way.

Li Haoyun greeted them at the foot of the mountain. When they were still some distance apart, Ma Junyang saw two women standing next to Li Haoyun and turned to Li Banfeng, saying, "Seventh Brother, these two women are Li Haoyun's wives. Don't ask about them when we eat later."

Li Banfeng frowned and said, "Why would I be asking about someone else's wife?"

Ma Wu said, "There's something going on here. Li Haoyun's wife doesn't come from a very good family. Some people are joking about it with Li Haoyun, and he can be quite frightening when he gets angry."

As they spoke, the two sides approached each other, exchanged a few pleasantries, and Li Haoyun led the group up the mountain path to the Lychee Garden.

The Lychee Garden is a large garden, but the roads are really difficult to walk on. It is a relatively secluded place in the entire Hibiscus Studio.

There was a large house in the garden, and the rest of the area was planted with lychee trees, but unfortunately it was not the season for eating lychees.

The guests and hosts were seated in the hall and chatting when a subordinate approached Li Haoyun to discuss something. Li Haoyun excused himself for a moment.

Taking the opportunity, Ma Wu said to Li Banfeng, "Inviting us to the Lychee Garden proves that Li Haoyun treats us as the most honored guests. Don't ask about the origin of the Lychee Garden; there's something going on here."

Li Banfeng naturally wouldn't ask about the origin of a garden, but according to Ma Wu's description, Li Yunhao had too many rules, which made Li Banfeng somewhat disgusted.

If Li Haoyun were truly a pretentious person, Li Banfeng would have gotten up and left. But when Li Haoyun returned and they continued chatting, Li Banfeng discovered that he was a rather easygoing person, not someone with so many quirks.

He might be hiding his true intentions well now, but he could explode at any moment.

Shortly afterward, the wine and dishes were served, a very sumptuous meal.

Li Haoyun summoned several women to cook wine and serve food to the two of them, providing them with excellent service.

Ma Wu had seen this kind of scene many times, but his cultivation couldn't be delayed. After drinking two cups of wine, he had already started to get started.

Li Banfeng showed little interest in the woman beside him and didn't want to talk much with Li Haoyun.

Seeing that Li Banfeng wasn't very enthusiastic, Li Haoyun laughed and said, "Seventh Master, do you look down on me because you think my business is shady?"

Li Banfeng smiled slightly and said, "That depends on what kind of business you're in."

Li Haoyun looked at the girl beside him and said, "The girls of Hibiscus Studio are free to come and go. If they want to make money here, I'll take them in. If they want to find another way out, I won't stop them. I'll even give them travel expenses. I think my business is quite clean."

Li Banfeng nodded slightly. If business were done this way, there would indeed be no problem.

Li Haoyun continued, "To be honest, my parents did this kind of work. They passed away early and handed the family business over to me. I really disliked the business at that time, so I changed careers."

Ma Wu was taken aback. Li Haoyun took the initiative to bring up his past, showing that he truly didn't treat Li Qi as an outsider.

Li Banfeng asked, "Which industry did you switch to?"

Li Haoyun laughed and said, "To do business, I sold all my parents' businesses and opened a new shop selling antiques and calligraphy. I lost money."

Selling fabrics and dyes again resulted in a loss.

Even after selling rice, flour, and cooking oil, the company still lost money.

With the last bit of money I had left, I ran to this mountain to plant lychees. To this day, I still keep the Lychee Garden in this very place.

Is that why he doesn't want others to ask about the Lychee Garden?

"Selling lychees isn't shameful, is it?"

"It's not shameful, but I lost money selling lychees. All I had left were lychees; I didn't even have money for food."

My name is Li Haoyun, but back then, people who knew me called me "Lychee Yun." Calling me that once or twice was fine, but constantly mocking me like that really made me angry.

That's why he didn't like people asking about the Lychee Garden.

Li Banfeng smiled and asked, "After losing money selling lychees, did you try other trades?"

Li Haoyun shook his head and said, "I wanted to transfer, but I can't. I've lost all my money. I still have two maids who have served me since they were little. I gave them my last savings and told them to go back to their hometown, but they wouldn't listen."

They sold their bodies to save money for me. I couldn't afford to squander that money; I couldn't afford to lose it all. So I had to go back to my old business.

Once I've turned my life around, the first thing I'll do is marry these two maids. Some people say they come from bad families, and I don't care what they say behind my back, but if they say it to my face, I'll definitely get angry.

You can look down on me, but you can't look down on my wife. That's my only flaw.

As he spoke, Li Haoyun smiled and raised his glass.

Li Banfeng then raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp.

This was the first glass of wine Li Banfeng had ever drunk.

The atmosphere eased instantly, and Li Banfeng continued, "Manager Li, since you're so good at this business, why did you switch careers in the first place?"

Li Haoyun sighed, "Seventh Master, you don't know this, but my parents' business is quite different from mine. Their business isn't clean; the girls they handle are all bought from human traffickers."

A girl is bought for life; she's used to make money while she's useful, and resold to someone else when she's no longer needed.

Obedient girls were persuaded, disobedient girls were beaten into submission; twelve whips hung in the house, each stained with blood.

There was a girl who was incredibly strong-willed; even after being beaten half to death, she still refused to submit. But my mother had a solution: she had wound medicine, top-quality wound medicine.

She first applied medicine to the girl, then served her food and drink, bringing her soup and water every day, and even taking care of her when she went to the toilet.

After a few days, the girl recovered, and guess what?

This girl considers my mother her benefactor; she listens to everything my mother says and tells everyone that my mother saved her.

But how could she forget who beat her up like this in the first place?

"Seventh Master, this trick works, it works incredibly well. So many people have been fooled this way, willingly, isn't it infuriating?"

Ma Wu was taken aback, realizing that Li Haoyun's words had a hidden meaning.

Li Banfeng picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.

The following evening, Liao Zihui arrived at Carefree Dock, leaving his driver and bodyguards downstairs, and went to the private room alone for the banquet.

After they were both seated, Liao Zihui spread his hands and said, "I came in a hurry and didn't prepare any gifts. Please don't mind."

Ma Wu smiled and said, "No need to be so polite."

Li Qi nodded. "I do mind it."

Liao Zihui was taken aback. "Is this because I was impolite?"

Li Qi countered, "Don't you think it's impolite?"

Liao Zihui laughed and said, "If that's the case, then I really did bring a gift for you two."

"Then let me take a look?"

Liao Zihui pulled out a document. "From today onwards, the travel expenses for your two subordinates' business will be reduced back to the original price."

Ma Wu was delighted to hear this, as the biggest obstacle in his business had been resolved.

He was about to raise his glass in a toast when Li Banfeng stopped him.

"General Envoy Liao, what kind of gift is this?"

Liao Zihui was stunned for a long time.

He wanted to change his strategy towards Li Qi and took the initiative to make concessions, but he did not expect Li Qi to have this attitude.

"The fare has been reduced back to the original price, are you still not satisfied?" Liao Zihui's smile vanished.

Li Banfeng laughed, "Original price, it's still the same price. Did we get a bargain?"

Liao Zihui frowned and said, "The price we gave you before wasn't the original price."

Li Banfeng said calmly, "That proves that what you did before was wrong."

"Do you want to recount every single thing that happened before?"

"Let's count. I'm pretty good at math, so I should be able to count correctly."

Liao Zihui's cheeks twitched a few times. "I don't want to bring up what happened before. I came here with sincerity, and I really want to calm things down."

Li Banfeng remained calm. "If you feel that calming this down will make you suffer a loss, then we can choose not to calm it down."

Ma Wu dared not utter a word; the atmosphere before him made him feel suffocated.

Liao Zihui took a deep breath and asked, "What do you want?"

Li Banfeng said, "The shipping cost has been reduced by half."

Liao Zihui laughed and said, "Do you think this is even possible?"

Li Banfeng also laughed, "I think it's very possible."

Liao Zihui remained silent for a long time, then shook his head and said, "You're making things difficult for me. I can't do this."

Li Banfeng earnestly said, "When faced with difficulties, you can't back down. You have to take initiative. How will you know you can't do it if you don't try?"

Liao Zihui gritted his teeth, got up, and left.

The sound of a steam engine starting up came from outside the window; Liao Zihui was gone.

Ma Wu knew he couldn't dissuade Li Banfeng, but he still couldn't help but say, "Seventh Brother, this might really be difficult for him. He definitely can't make the decision to cut the shipping fee in half."

Li Banfeng shook his head and said, "If you ask him to cut the shipping costs in Pro State by half, he really can't do it. But he should be able to cut the cost by half for our company."

Ma Wu sighed and said, "How am I going to get along with them from now on?"

Li Banfeng laughed and said, "He needs to learn to get used to it; this is just the beginning."