Chapter 24: Dividends of the Era

"Put-put-put..."

Inside the engine, the pistons struck with a gentle rhythm. The pitch-black road was illuminated by the headlight. Lu Fan easily steered around the larger potholes, and for the ones he couldn't avoid, the motorcycle’s suspension and the soft cushion made the ride feel quite comfortable.

Bai Lu had never ridden a motorcycle before and didn't know how to shift her weight to compensate. Her body remained rigid, bouncing up and down with the jolts of the road. She had no choice but to hold onto Lu Fan tightly to keep from falling off.

On the way back, neither of them spoke.

It wasn't until they entered the alley and the motorcycle pulled up in front of the Bai family home that Lu Fan gave his instruction: "Don't tell your mother about what happened tonight."

"Oh, are you talking about the thugs we ran into, or the clothes selling?"

"The thugs, of course. There’s no need to hide the business side."

"Got it!"

"There's one more thing I need to make clear. We are partners in this business. Once we deduct the costs, the profit will be split equally between us. However, for now, we need to keep the earnings as capital to keep the snowball rolling. Don't think about using it to subsidize your family just because things are difficult at home."

Bai Lu quickly waved her hands and whispered, "I wouldn't, I wouldn't. Since I’ve chosen to be with you, you should be the one to make the decisions. I don't want the money; do whatever you think is best."

Lu Fan shook his head. "If I don't give you a share, how can I reflect your worth?"

"It's not like that. First, this is money you earned; you provided the capital for the clothes and the ideas. I’m just tagging along to help. Second, since I am your woman, I will follow your lead in everything. Even if my family is struggling, I won't just hand over the money you’ve earned."

Lu Fan smiled. "It's not as dramatic as you make it sound. I'm not a cold-hearted person; when the time comes and it's within your means, you should help where you can."

"Hmm, thank you."

"Aren't you my person? Why are you being so polite with me?"

Lu Fan wanted to reach out and pat her head, but halfway there, he pulled his hand back. Looking at her face now, he still felt a bit of psychological burden when performing such intimate gestures.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw Liu Yue'e standing by the door, holding a fire poker and peering out.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Oh, it's you two. I heard a motorcycle stop at the gate and thought the Zhang family was here to cause trouble again!"

Lu Fan parked the motorcycle in the middle of the yard and asked, "Auntie, is your injury feeling better?"

"Yes, much better! Did you buy a motorcycle?"

"Yes, I was thinking about how I'll be attending school in Jiangcheng later. It's dozens of kilometers away, so having a motorcycle will be more convenient."

"Drive slowly then; there are too many cars on the road."

"It's alright, I'll be careful."

"You two haven't eaten yet, have you? I left some in the pot. Let me go heat it up for you."

Although Lu Fan had already eaten, the fight on the road had made him hungry again, so he nodded.

"Thank you, Auntie!"

"Da Ni, what are you holding?"

Bai Lu said, "Mom, I went to the city with Lu Fan to sell clothes today. You go heat up the food first, and I’ll tell you all about it later."

Once inside, Bai Lu poured a cup of water for Lu Fan, adding a pinch of jasmine tea, then sat down in the living room. She untied the bundle and began folding the discarded packaging bags one by one, setting them aside. The clothes Lu Fan had bought for the mother and her two daughters hung on the back of a chair. Finally, she opened the T-shirt she had used as a makeshift bag and poured the money out.

There was about ten thousand yuan, all in hundred-yuan bills, so it didn't take up much space. If it had been smaller denominations, it would have been a different story.

"Lu Fan, I’ve lived this long and never imagined that earning money could be so easy."

"Well, in this day and age, earning money isn't actually that hard. The key is mindset and determination—taking that first step is all it takes."

Bai Lu shook her head. "It's because you're capable."

"What's so capable about it? This is just a 'bonus' gifted by the era." He silently added that it was also the courage and strategies brought by his rebirth.

Bai Lu continued working with her hands as she said, "The era doesn't gift this to everyone; it only gives it to those who are prepared and capable. There are so many stalls at the night market, and while some people manage to make a living, no one has been able to earn as much as you did in just half an hour."

Lu Fan sipped his tea, listening to Bai Lu’s subtle flattery, feeling a touch of self-satisfaction. After being reborn, earning money was easy—anyone with hands could do it!

"Should we take more stock tomorrow? Maybe another 200 pieces?"

"This business won't last long. Once others learn the trick, they'll copy it, and it will quickly become oversaturated. It will be impossible to earn this much then. Tomorrow, we’ll put all this money into new stock, sell for one more day, and then call it quits."

"Ah!" Bai Lu looked surprised and a bit disappointed. "Is it okay to earn a little less?"

"No point. At that stage, it would be no different from any other street stall."

Just then, Liu Yue'e walked in with two plates and two steamed buns. When she saw the pile of money on the floor, she nearly dropped the plates.

"What did you two do today? Where did all this money come from?"

As Lu Fan ate, he listened to Bai Lu recount the day's events. Liu Yue'e’s face was filled with shock; it felt as if she were listening to a story.

"That stock from the textile factory at the east end of the village? That man surnamed Ding is not a good person. When I went to pick up or deliver clothes, he would say inappropriate things. I only dared to go when there were other people around."

"Hmm?" Lu Fan asked.

Liu Yue'e suddenly realized what she had said, her face flushing bright red. She spat on the ground before continuing.

"For the past two years, your uncle has been bedridden and unable to work. Many people have had designs on me. Looking after the two girls, I’ve often lived in fear."

"But it's better now that you're here. And since your parents are police, no one will dare to have bad intentions anymore."

Lu Fan smiled. "What kind of bad intentions did they have?"

Seeing Lu Fan’s smile and considering their current situation, Liu Yue'e seemed to relax a bit. "There were some idlers who egged on certain women to come to my house and persuade me. They said that my daughter's father wouldn't last another two years, and that I should make plans while I was still young—either divorce or find someone to take in as a live-in partner to help me raise the children and hold the house together."

Lu Fan glanced at Bai Lu and asked casually, "So, in the end, you decided to target Bai Lu?"

Liu Yue'e opened her mouth, and after a long moment, she said with a hint of grievance, "I’m already at my age. Even if I remarried, I wouldn't get a dowry worth this much money. This family is truly at its wit's end."

"Auntie, I don't mean to rub salt in your wounds, but you were wrong from start to finish. My uncle surely didn't know. If he did, he would have jumped off the roof."

"Sigh, it's fortunate that you showed up."

Lu Fan steered the conversation away from the heavy topic. "That little garment factory—wasn't that the village elementary school? Did they buy that land?"

"I'm not really sure about that. Bai Lu went to that school when she was little, but by the time Bai Shuang started school, she went to one three kilometers away. It was because they were consolidating teaching resources and merging schools from several villages. That's when the old school became vacant. However, it should have been classified as state-owned land. I remember when they were requisitioning land, there was a policy that the state would buy out village collective land, and the village committee distributed quite a lot of things to every household."

"Has the state finished requisitioning all the land in your village?"

"They did two rounds. Some households still have a bit of vegetable garden, but we are outsiders and our residency isn't registered here, so we have no land at all."

"And the property deed for this house hasn't been processed either?"

"No!"

"You should get on that as soon as possible. The longer you put it off, the more troublesome it will become."

That night, as he lay in bed, Lu Fan was still thinking about the small garment factory. That piece of land was quite large—probably twenty or thirty acres! From the tone of the man earlier, it sounded like he couldn't even pay for the raw materials. If Lu Fan stopped selling clothes for him to recoup his funds, how long could that factory hold out?

And that old man had even tried to harass his mother-in-law—he had a grudge against him! And it wasn't a small one.