A Child's Play Transaction

When Bai Yang was woken by the alarm, because of the time difference, it was still pitch-black night here, with the moon already tilted in the sky, making the darkness seem even thicker.

He picked up his phone and saw that it was already eight in the morning on the other side of Earth.

Turning off the alarm, Bai Yang noticed some faint noise outside the door. He knew it was the girl outside stirred awake by the alarm, but he didn't plan to explain anything—even if he did, she wouldn't understand. Rubbing his face hard with his hands, he vanished from this place.

It was a strange feeling. One second he was in the pitch-black otherworld, the next he was already on Earth under the bright morning sun. Life's twists and turns were truly this wondrous.

He plugged in the key and started the heavy truck, heading toward his father's furniture factory according to the phone's navigation.

In Bai Yang's memory, his father's furniture factory seemed to have a few single-story houses, with twenty or thirty workers busy day and night. But that was a memory from ten years ago; since starting middle school, he had almost never been to his father's furniture factory...

When he drove the heavy truck to the outside of his father's factory, his expression was dumbfounded.

The chaotic, bustling scene he remembered never appeared. What first caught his eye was a stretch of enclosing wall. Through the ten-meter-wide sliding gate, he could vaguely make out a row of factory buildings, the roar of various machinery drifting through. There was even a security guard at the entrance.

"Whoa, not bad, Old Man Bai. You've quietly built up such a big operation, no wonder you always act like money's no object..." Bai Yang curled his lips as he looked at the factory area ahead.

Something felt off. He had been thinking about giving his dad a hand, but it seemed like he might actually end up being a parasite 'scraping business' from his father here?

"Bullshit. With this truckload of precious wood, it's enough for Dad to craft a bunch of high-end furniture and become a top player in the furniture industry."

Muttering to himself, he started the truck and drove toward the gate, only to be stopped by the security guard as expected.

It was predictable. He didn't have the time to act like an idiot and show off to the security guard, so he directly called his father.

"Dad, remember what I told you last night? I've brought the stuff right to your door. Do you want it or not? If not, I'll haul it away."

"Oh? Kid, you're really going all out with this act. Let me see what trick you're playing. Wait there..."

Click...

Looking at the hung-up phone, Bai Yang curled his lip, tossed it aside, and leaned half his body out the truck window to shoot the breeze with the security guard. Through his smooth talk, he managed to pry quite a bit of information about the furniture factory from the guard.

According to the guy, the furniture factory was pretty big, with over a thousand employees and more than a dozen factory buildings alone. It was divided into raw material processing workshops, rough processing workshops, fine processing workshops, then production workshops, assembly workshops, sanding workshops, polishing workshops, painting workshops, and so on. There was even a dedicated design department, followed by sales, finance, and other departments—pretty comprehensive and professional. Bai Yang's head spun just listening.

He only got the gist of it. He had no intention of joining this industry and competing with his own dad for business, so he didn't dig deeper.

Before long, a middle-aged man on an electric bike arrived at the gate. He exchanged a few words with the security guard, the gate opened, and the man waved for Bai Yang to follow. He gave Bai Yang a strange look, wondering why the boss had called him—the director of the raw material workshop—to come pick up a young guy driving a truck.

They wound through the factory area and arrived at a noisy environment. Everywhere was piled with all kinds of wood. Workers in hard hats moved back and forth, the piercing screech of wood-cutting machines roared, and forklifts carried timber all around...

The first thing Bai Yang saw was Bai Jianjun surrounded by a few people. Bai Yang parked, killed the engine, and hopped out, waving at his dad.

"Kid, you've got some nerve, huh? Pulling a stunt like this and even driving a heavy truck over. Just for that, even if you brought sawdust, I'd take it as trash."

Bai Jianjun walked over and looked at Bai Yang with amused surprise. He figured his son had really gone all out to fool him, or maybe the 'boss' behind Bai Yang was just a weirdo.

Without another word, Bai Yang waved his hand and said, "See for yourself. Take it or leave it. If you don't want it, I'll turn around and haul it away."

Bai Jianjun smiled dismissively and waved for the few workers who had been gathered around him to go check the truck.

The heavy truck's cargo door opened, and a few workers climbed in. In less than ten seconds, exclamations came from inside, followed by shouts of "Boss, come quick!"...

Bai Jianjun's expression shifted. He glanced at Bai Yang and hurried over, speaking in low, serious tones with the workers.

Bai Yang swaggered over, catching only fragments like "something really good," "too precious," "the best Red Sandalwood I've ever seen," "no doubt about it."

Then Bai Jianjun appeared in front of Bai Yang, pointing at his nose and saying, "You little brat, where did you get this?"

"I told you, I'm in the trading business. Hey, I'm busy. Do you want it or not?" Bai Yang said smugly.

"I want it! Why wouldn't I? Even if I have to sell everything I own, I want it! Kid, tell me, what's the name of your damn company? Who's the boss?" Bai Jianjun gritted his teeth.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

"I want to go kill your boss!"

Bai Yang's eyes went wide. What was going on?

"What a crime! Such good timber, you couldn't find it with a lantern, and they just hacked it into planks like that. How much waste is that? The scrap alone is a huge fortune! Wastrel! Idiot!" Bai Jianjun ranted, pointing at the sky and stomping the ground.

That idiot is standing right in front of you...!

Bai Yang thought it was nothing. That stuff was plentiful over there—as much as you wanted. The scraps were only fit for firewood.

"Since you want it, just pay up," Bai Yang said casually.

Bai Jianjun was taken aback. He looked Bai Yang up and down and spat out two words in confusion:

"Pay you?"

"What else? If you don't pay me... ahem, here's the thing. The company entrusted me to handle these new timber shipments. The boss is switching to the jewelry and jade business, and the finance department is swamped. You can wire the payment to me, and I'll report it to the company," Bai Yang rambled, not even believing his own nonsense.

This was no way to do business. They hadn't even discussed the price, had they?

"I'm in awe of you, kid. You just keep messing around. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up bringing you meals in jail one day," Bai Jianjun said, looking at Bai Yang like he was beyond hope.

Then he turned and shouted, "Get people to unload and weigh it!"

Only then did he look at Bai Yang and ask, "How do we settle the price?"

"Didn't I say? Market price at the lowest, and I can even give you a discount," Bai Yang said with a raised eyebrow.

"This year, the price for top-grade imported Red Sandalwood ranges from eight hundred thousand to a million per ton, depending on transport and origin. I'm not going to cheat you—the timber you brought is even better than top-grade. People would fight to buy it at over a million. What do you say?"

"Since you're my dad, I'll give you the lowest price: eight hundred thousand a ton. Then a discount—charge you five hundred thousand a ton. Am I a good son or what?"

Since when did a discount work like that?

"..." Bai Jianjun looked at Bai Yang like he was an idiot.

Then a worker came over and said, "Boss, the tally's done. All the timber is top-shelf stuff, thirty-one tons and three hundred fifty jin total."

Bai Yang looked at Bai Jianjun and said, "What can I say? You're my dad. I'll knock off the odd weight, call it thirty tons. Three times five is fifteen... that's fifteen million total. Pay up."

"You're definitely my own flesh and blood, but what I'm saying is I don't have that much cash on me, and now that this stuff's in my hands, nobody's taking it away!" Bai Jianjun stared at Bai Yang with red-rimmed eyes.

"Well, you can do installments. Three payments, five million each, can't go lower. Otherwise I won't be able to explain it to the 'company'," he said way too casually, with zero credibility.

Bai Jianjun was even more direct. He pulled out his phone and called finance: "Manager Liu, transfer five million to the XXX Account. I'll come by later to sign off."

Less than a minute later, Bai Yang's phone pinged with a five-million deposit. Staring at the string of numbers, he grinned. Wasn't this basically winning a five-million lottery tax-free?

"Dad, you take care. I'm out," Bai Yang said, waving a hand. He fired up the heavy truck and roared away...

"..."

Bai Jianjun stood there in the wind, dazed. Even long after Bai Yang had left, his head was still spinning. He worked with solid wood furniture, so he knew exactly how precious this batch of timber was. Processed, its value would multiply ten or even dozens of times. With the right hype, a hundredfold increase wasn't out of the question. Yet here it was, dropped into his lap like a joke...

What installments, what discounts—this was basically a giveaway. With that quality of timber, people would be fighting to buy it at two million a ton. He got thirty-one tons for five million, practically stealing it. Sure, there was still ten million in debt, but if he didn't pay, who could say anything? Where was the contract? The IOU?

"That kid..."

Finally, Bai Jianjun smiled. A father knows his son. Since Bai Yang dared to act so recklessly, he must have his reasons. Why should parents dig into every detail? Who doesn't have a couple of secrets? Whether this timber was smuggled or illegally harvested, once it entered his factory, it would be transformed beyond recognition. No one would find a thing!

Bai Yang had no idea how conflicted Bai Jianjun was inside. Right now, he was nearly losing his mind with joy. Today, the common man finally had money! Five million in hand, right? A solid millionaire, right?

"Dad, just keep mulling it over on your own. This is practically a gift from me to you. Do you really think people don't know the value of that timber with the all-powerful internet around? Nobody's an idiot. If it were anyone else, I'd make them bleed before I changed my surname. Since when does the world have such good deals? If there really was a boss who let his employees mess around like I did, I'd be the first to kill him..."

(This chapter was revised for hours, scrapping tens of thousands of words, and the final version still didn't capture the feeling I wanted... Frustrating... Finally, begging for recommendation tickets and favorites.)