Absurd

Li Ping had just returned to X City from Zhao Danshi's hometown. Before he even entered the city proper, his older brother, Li Sheng, called to tell him that a major project in Q Country had run into trouble. The team over there could not hold on, the project had already been suspended, and Li Sheng told him to fly over immediately and put out the fire.

"I bought a ticket this afternoon and was about to leave, but your nephew suddenly came down with a high fever. It still hasn't gone down, and he's clutching my clothes and refusing to let me go. Can you make the trip for me?" A large patch of Li Sheng's lips was cracked and raw, red and shiny. "You've handled similar projects before, so you should be fairly familiar with this one."

Li Ping had not yet pulled himself out of the disappointment Zhao Danshi had left him with. Hearing this, he pulled himself together and asked, "Why did he suddenly get such a high fever? Is he okay?"

"That naughty little girl from the Huang family stuffed a bug down his back. She scared him."

"Fine." Li Ping agreed without hesitation. "Brother, stay with Mumu properly. I'll go handle it."

Li Sheng let out a breath of relief. "Thanks."

Their company's cooperation agreement in Q Country was worth as much as 130 million US dollars. Nothing could go wrong no matter what. Li Ping immediately contacted Li Sheng's secretary, went to the company to collect the relevant project information, and had his own secretary prepare to accompany him on the business trip to Q Country.

Their company operated with remarkable efficiency. By the time Li Ping reached the office, they had already booked the earliest flight from X City to Q Country. The hastily assembled elite team moved like the wind, crowding around Li Ping as they rushed to the airport by car.

They held a brief meeting in the car. By the time Li Ping arrived at the airport, rough outlines for Plans One, Two, and Three had already formed in his mind.

His secretary had prepared a work phone and a power bank for him. Li Ping did not notice that his personal phone had been left in the car, parked with his vehicle in the company's underground garage.

The group acted with decisive speed. They did not rest even on the plane, each working overtime for more than ten hours. When they truly could not endure any longer, they leaned against their seats and dozed off for a while.

Li Ping was widely read and quick-witted. Though the work was difficult, it was not enough to stump him. He and his subordinates fought for more than a week, holding meeting after meeting and going back and forth in a tug-of-war. After resolving the issue, they finally managed to placate the partner company in Q Country.

When they flew back home again, the celebration banquet ended, and every team member received three days off. Li Ping also went home and slept like the dead.

When he finally remembered his personal phone, retrieved it, and prepared to contact his many friends, he saw the message Zhao Danshi had sent him.

Li Ping rubbed the phone in his hand, unsure whether he should believe it. Zhao Danshi had always spoken vaguely. Rationally, he knew he should stay away from Zhao Danshi to avoid being deceived again, yet some force within him kept stopping him.

Zhao Danshi's face, bright as spring blossoms, appeared before him again. Whenever those eyes looked at him, they curved slightly, carrying a faint smile.

After hesitating for a long time, Li Ping finally dialed the number. He wanted to hear exactly what Zhao Danshi had to say.

Before Zhao Danshi received Li Ping's call, he was at the market.

The air around him was filled with loud cries of vendors and the sounds of haggling. His phone vibrated in his pocket for quite a while before he noticed it.

He had originally saved over a hundred thousand yuan. He had not earned much recently, but his expenses had not been high either, leaving him with 99,684 yuan in total. He had earned 4,867 yuan selling vegetables that day, and instead of depositing it in the bank, he kept it in his bag.

He continued renting a truck from a local household in town for one hundred yuan a day, fuel not included. He rented it for half a month in one go.

There was no car rental agency in town. The truck belonged to someone who had used it for business. He had originally planned to haul freight, but later discovered that freight transport was not profitable, so he went out to work instead, leaving the truck idle.

People in town would sometimes rent that family's truck to transport vegetables, timber, and the like. The rental fee was cheap, so their business was quite good.

Zhao Danshi drove the truck through small towns and villages under the jurisdiction of nearby cities. He traveled exclusively along provincial highways, approaching vegetable farmers selling produce at markets and asking to purchase large quantities of vegetables at low prices.

Some vegetable farmers even took him directly to their fields to inspect the crops. Cabbages and radishes were cheap at the moment. Buying directly from the fields was even cheaper: four mao per jin for cabbages and three mao per jin for radishes. Zhao Danshi traveled along the provincial highways for six or seven days and collected more than fifty thousand jin of vegetables and radishes in total.

He spent over twenty thousand yuan. After exchanging the vegetables he bought with Watcher for Bio-Energy, he gained more than seven thousand Bio-Energy in just a few days. Zhao Danshi planned to stop for the time being once he had accumulated twelve thousand Bio-Energy.

It was only after Zhao Danshi began selling vegetables that he learned how cheap cabbages and radishes were. If he bought them directly from the fields, they were much cheaper still.

Most vegetable farmers found selling in small batches troublesome and feared they would be unable to sell everything in the end. They were generally easy to negotiate with, and if Zhao Danshi offered a reasonable price, they would sell to him.

There was not much surveillance in such rural areas. Zhao Danshi was extremely careful, and no one found it suspicious when he collected eight or ten thousand jin of vegetables a day. He went through streets and alleys, sometimes even buying a batch of vegetables wholesale from the wholesale market.

He had given himself twenty days. No matter what, he had to earn enough Bio-Energy within those twenty days.

It would be best if Watcher delivered the child and let Ran Yuanyao handle things afterward. Otherwise, it would be too easy to cause him trouble.

That day, Zhao Danshi was at another small market, chatting happily with several older women selling vegetables, each of them talking over the others.

The women had brought out radishes, greens, garlic, and pickled vegetables to sell. Zhao Danshi approached them, and they truly were professional vegetable farmers, with several mu of vegetable fields at home.

A professional vegetable farmer could harvest five or six thousand jin of cabbages from one mu of land. However, to reduce risk, farmers around here rarely planted several mu with the same vegetable all at once.

After the women and Zhao Danshi agreed on a price—three mao per jin for radishes and four mao per jin for cabbages—they planned to return home immediately to harvest the vegetables.

One of the women asked, "Your truck is a bit small. We have over ten thousand jin of vegetables. Can it hold all that?"

"If it can't fit, I'll make a few more trips." Zhao Danshi smiled. "Don't worry. I have channels. I'll take however many vegetables you have, and the money is all here. You've heard of Huaijia Market, right? I collected over ten thousand jin of cabbages there just two days ago."

Rural areas were relatively closed off, and people usually found marriage partners nearby. Huaijia Market was not far from here, and they all knew someone there.

After asking around, the people over there described Zhao Danshi's appearance. Only then did the women here feel reassured. They immediately called their families and told them to hurry and harvest the vegetables. Zhao Danshi said he would take however much they had, and he would also take vegetables from the same village, asking the women to introduce him around.

The women happily helped him, making call after call and drumming up business for Zhao Danshi. It looked like collecting twenty thousand jin of vegetables this time would not be a problem.

Zhao Danshi smiled and cupped his hands toward them. "Thank you, ladies. Once my business is done, I'll have to treat you all to a meal."

One of the more forthright women said, "You said it. Don't you forget when the time comes."

"I definitely won't forget!" Zhao Danshi said with a smile, waving his hand.

After waiting for them to finish their calls, Zhao Danshi bought all the vegetables they had brought to market, called for them to climb into the truck bed, and prepared to drive them back to their village.

Zhao Danshi took out the phone that had been vibrating in his pocket. When he saw that familiar number, he froze slightly.

With a loud bang, he slammed the car door shut and swiped the phone to the green answer button.

"Hello, Senior Brother." Zhao Danshi's voice trembled slightly. He turned to glance at the women chatting in the back of the truck, took a deep breath, and lowered his voice a little. "This is Zhao Danshi."

Li Ping's voice was stern and exhausted. "I know it's you. What did you mean when you said you don't have a girlfriend and no woman is carrying your child?"

"It means exactly what it says." Zhao Danshi gripped the hem of his shirt tightly. "I... I didn't tell Grandpa the truth."

"Where have you been during this time? And who were you taking care of?"

"I went to my childhood friend's place. I wasn't taking care of anyone." Zhao Danshi told him, "Senior Brother, you have a child."

Li Ping: ???!!!

He shot to his feet. "What did you say?! Impossible!"

Zhao Danshi said faintly, "It's true."

Li Ping paced around the room. After calming down slightly, he said, "No, Danshi, believe me. I've never had relations with anyone other than you, much less had a child. You've been deceived."

At the thought that Zhao Danshi might leave him because of this, Li Ping felt an indescribable ache in his chest.

His voice remained calm, but his breathing was somewhat unsteady. "I've always kept myself clean. You know that..."

Zhao Danshi interrupted him. "Senior Brother, do you believe me?"

"I believe you, and I believe myself."

"Then good." Zhao Danshi took a deep breath. "I'm preg... There really is your child with me. Seeing is believing. You'll understand when the time comes."

Li Ping's first reaction was to frown. "Danshi, don't joke around. This isn't funny."

"I'm not joking, Senior Brother. Is your phone secure? It's inconvenient to talk about this over the phone. Can you come here? I'll be going home in a couple of days." Zhao Danshi lowered his voice. "Then I'll tell you the truth."

The women in the back had been chatting for quite a while. Seeing that the truck was still parked in place, they could not help lightly knocking on the partition and calling out, "Young boss, why have we stopped?"

Zhao Danshi covered the receiver. "We'll go in a moment. I'll drive once I finish this call."

Li Ping's thoughts were in chaos, and he was not quite certain he had heard correctly. "I really have a child?"

Zhao Danshi answered firmly, "Absolutely."

"Fine, I'll come find you." Li Ping still found it absurd. "I think there must be some misunderstanding here."

Urged on by the women, Zhao Danshi hurriedly said, "No, Senior Brother, there's no misunderstanding. It's just that the situation is rather strange."

Li Ping said, "...Wait for me!"