Arrogance Followed by Humility

"Price is no object?" Wang Haifeng was startled by Feng Jun's tone. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Opening a mine," Feng Jun replied with a straight face. "But you know how it is—where there are mines, there are grudges. It's only natural to get some firearms to protect myself, right?"

Wang Haifeng looked him up and down again, as if he didn't recognize him, before letting out a soft sigh. "Little Feng, you've changed."

"Stop being so sentimental. Who doesn't change when they're out in the world?" Feng Jun grinned, picked up his glass, and downed it in one gulp. "If you can help me find them, great. If you can't, I won't blame you."

Wang Haifeng was silent for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "Right, you could ask Xia Xiaoyu. That girl has family in the military; she might be able to help you figure something out. Do you have any idea how much ammunition the military destroys every year?"

"Is that possible?" Feng Jun's eyes brightened. He hadn't considered getting ammunition from the military; after all, in the web novels he read, if you wanted hot weapons, you had to look abroad.

Wang Haifeng gave a cryptic smile. "You'll have to discuss that with her. I don't know if she can pull it off."

Feng Jun fell silent. After a long while, he smacked his lips. "Forget it. Just help me get some detonators first."

In truth, he wasn't sure if bullets would be effective against apes or hedgehogs. If that place really was the immortal cultivation plane he imagined, the utility of machine guns would be limited. If he could bring a nuclear weapon over, that might count as a weapon of mass destruction.

Regardless, he didn't intend to go head-to-head with the apes or hedgehogs. If he could avoid direct conflict, using detonators well should be enough; there wasn't much point in getting firearms.

Of course, not having firearms for self-defense was definitely not safe enough, but Feng Jun wasn't the type to be a shut-in who only dared to take risks once everything was prepared. He had an adventurous gene in his bones; as long as he could execute the measures he had planned, that was enough.

Wang Haifeng looked at him again, thinking, This is the Feng Jun I know. Trying to get hot weapons? That's a joke. He nodded with a smile. "Alright... By the way, isn't your home in the county seat? It seems easier to get those things in the county, doesn't it?"

Feng Jun glared at him upon hearing this. "If my family found out, how worried would they be?"

Wang Haifeng was so annoyed his nose almost went crooked. "You have a family, and I'm what, an orphan? Do you even know how to talk?"

"Are you stupid?" Feng Jun looked at him like he was an idiot. "How big is the county seat? How big is Yang City?"

After finishing the meal, Feng Jun went to a luxury brand store and spent eighteen thousand big ones to buy a handbag for Wang Furen. Then, he went to the freight yard by the train station, hired a light truck, loaded up the goods from Heping Street, and hauled them to his villa.

By the time he returned, it wasn't even five o'clock yet. He went to the supermarket and ordered a batch of food and water.

Wang Furen's birthday banquet was held at Qionglin Pavilion, a very high-end hotel. Twenty-nine wasn't exactly a milestone age to throw a massive party, so they just booked a large private room with three tables, filled with relatives and very close friends.

Feng Jun was on the husband's side. Today, three of Wang Haifeng's friends came, and the other two were his classmates, with names so plain it was outrageous: one was called Li Qiang, and the other was Zhang Wei.

However, despite their plain names, these two had excellent personal conditions—both were handsome and well-built. Combined with Feng Jun's own decent appearance, the three of them sitting there formed a line of handsome men that was quite eye-catching.

Many female guests glanced over intentionally or unintentionally.

Through Wang Haifeng's introduction, Feng Jun learned that Li Qiang's family was in business, and he worked at the Yang City TV station. Zhang Wei's family were county government officials, and he himself worked at a securities firm.

When Li Qiang and Zhang Wei met Feng Jun, they were somewhat arrogant—if nothing else, you weren't a local from Yang City, but an outsider trying to make a living, which naturally made you a notch below the locals.

Furthermore, he had once worked at the Hongjie Club, which made it impossible for them to feel any respect for him.

Li Qiang was a bit better; after all, coming from a merchant family and working at a TV station, he had seen all sorts of people. Even if he didn't think much of Feng Jun, he would occasionally invite him to eat or chat.

After all, this guy was Wang Haifeng's friend, and he didn't know anyone else here, so he had to show some courtesy.

In contrast, Zhang Wei treated Feng Jun as if he were transparent, instead talking incessantly to Wang Furen's best friends, occasionally showing off his knowledge with witty remarks that made the women giggle.

Feng Jun didn't care about any of this. He was here for Wang Haifeng and his wife; as for the others... heh.

However, half an hour into the banquet, the situation changed dramatically.

Wang Furen came to their table to toast, thanking her friends for coming to celebrate her birthday. When she reached Feng Jun, she said with a smile, "Thank you so much for the handbag. I love it. When I went to Hai City last time, only the display model was left, and I didn't expect to find it in Yang City now."

Look at that—what does it mean to be articulate? This is it. She didn't say the bag Feng Jun bought in Yang City wasn't fashionable; instead, she said she had wanted to buy it but couldn't, and he had fulfilled her wish.

Aside from being a bit plain-looking and prone to jealousy, Wang Furen was truly impeccable in every other way.

Feng Jun naturally exchanged pleasantries, saying he didn't have such a great eye and just bought it on a whim.

After Wang Furen left, Zhang Wei couldn't stay calm. His family background was slightly inferior to Wang Furen's, but he was well aware of her spending habits—she was someone who rarely bought bags locally.

For her to specifically thank him, that bag definitely couldn't be cheap.

He had also prepared a gift for the birthday girl: an automatic hair-washing and massaging device, a domestic product worth over a thousand Xia coins. That was decent enough—after all, it wasn't a major birthday, and it was the thought that counted.

So, he was very curious. "Little Feng, what kind of bag did you get for sister-in-law?"

Feng Jun looked at him and replied nonchalantly, "Xiangkeer."

Well, if nothing else, just based on those three words, Zhang Wei guessed the value of the gift—it definitely wouldn't be less than a certain amount!

He picked up his glass and clinked it with Feng Jun for the first time, saying with a smile, "Come on, we haven't had a drink yet today... Nice to meet you, let's have one."

Seeing his shift from arrogance to obsequiousness, Feng Jun didn't hold it against him and downed the wine in one go.

Once they left this restaurant, they were destined to have no further interaction, so why bother being petty?

However, with Zhang Wei's perspective, how could he change his attitude just because of a ten-thousand-dollar bag?

He wanted to know what business Feng Jun was doing after leaving the Hongjie Club—you don't look like someone without money now.

Feng Jun certainly didn't forget what he had told Wang Haifeng, so he replied vaguely, "I went to open a mine."

Zhang Wei's eyes lit up. "What kind of mine?"

"Heh," Feng Jun gave a dry laugh and didn't answer—do we have that kind of relationship?

However, Zhang Wei didn't mind, because he knew that private mining was often illegal and high-risk. It was perfectly normal for someone not to want to talk about it.

Besides, his goal wasn't to understand what business the other party was doing; he just wanted to know if he had spare cash.

After all, he worked at a securities firm and had a quota to develop new clients.

His family held some power, so completing his quotas wasn't difficult—in fact, it wouldn't matter even if he failed; who could really do anything to him?

However, as long as one was human, one had vanity. If he could complete a few more tasks through his own ability, wouldn't that be even better?

Moreover, he also knew that for private mining operations, as long as they struck a deposit, there would generally be a large amount of cash income on hand.

That was why he had changed his attitude and was greeting Feng Jun so enthusiastically.

In truth, Feng Jun was starting to find it a bit much. I mean, we aren't that close, are we?

So, he seized an opportunity and asked straight to the point, "Are you... looking for something?"

His question was a bit blunt, but Zhang Wei wasn't one for pretense either. "Buddy, I'm still a few hundred short of my quota this month. If you have some spare cash you aren't using, could you open an account with me?"

Feng Jun had never traded stocks, but he had seen plenty of high-interest deposit solicitation, so he immediately understood the other man's intentions.

If it were just opening an account and putting some money in, it really wouldn't matter.

However, he wasn't about to reveal his net worth, so he pondered for a moment before stating, "A few hundred? I really don't have that much, but since you've asked, I'll open an account with you and put in fifty."

"Fifty is plenty," Zhang Wei said, beaming as he cupped his hands in a salute. "Many thanks, I appreciate the trouble."

Was five hundred thousand a lot? Given his status, it really wasn't much, but having something was better than having nothing.

Furthermore, he deeply suspected that this guy was playing dumb.

There was no helping it; these days, the stock market was heavily demonized. People went in with luxury cars and came out with handcarts; big sharks went in and came out as lizards. Of course, the stock market had risks, but those risks had been infinitely magnified by word of mouth.

If it were an old client, developing business would be easier, but expanding into new business was truly difficult.

Zhang Wei felt that if he had never been exposed to the stock market, he wouldn't dump all his money into it either.

Throwing in a little bit to help a friend finish a quota was not out of the question.

In any case, he definitely couldn't throw in too much—in case the other guy pestered him to buy stocks and he couldn't refuse, that would be the limit.

Therefore, Zhang Wei's attitude remained quite enthusiastic.

Actually, if it had been an ordinary employee from a securities firm, five hundred thousand in new business would not have been considered a small amount.

Feng Jun, seeing this, felt a slight stir in his heart. This guy is easily satisfied, he thought.

So, he probed further, "I'm short on detonators for the mine lately. If you can help me resolve that, I could persuade my partners to put some money in too... they're all wealthier than I am."

"Detonators?" Zhang Wei's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile, "This... I haven't dealt with that before, but I'll ask around for you."

Although he said he would just ask around, judging by his expression, he seemed completely confident.