Fated Love With the Billionaire-Chapter 167: I Have a Wife

The time was August, the sun blazing hot. The dry, heated wind wrapped around people like a furnace, quickening the steps of pedestrians, hastening them from one shady spot to another.

In the shade by the street, an old lady was selling iced porridge, which Lin Hanrui particularly enjoyed. Cheng Qiaobei parked his car by the roadside and went over to buy a bowl.

When he arrived at Lin Hanrui’s company, Lin was lounging on the sofa near the entrance, playing a game on his phone. After hearing the word "defeat," Lin quickly said to Cheng Qiaobei, "A bunch of idiots, the base was raided and they didn’t even know to return, damn it."

Cheng Qiaobei handed him the iced porridge, and Lin Hanrui sighed in relief, "Good thing for the iced porridge, or I’d have to drink the fire extinguisher in the corner."

"Haha... Look at you, can’t even take a loss," Cheng Qiaobei pulled up a chair and sat beside him, his long legs crossed. "I came all the way here, what are you treating me to for lunch?"

Lin Hanrui slurped some ice-cold porridge, "What do you want to eat? Anything on this street."

He acted like he owned the whole street.

"I don’t come here often, I don’t know what’s good, you pick."

Lin Hanrui asked, "What do you feel like eating, barbecue, hotpot, or stir-fry?"

Lately, with so much on his mind, Cheng Qiaobei hadn’t had much of an appetite and wanted something refreshing.

"Who has good cold noodles?"

"You want cold noodles?" Lin Hanrui said, "Seven, eight doors down there’s a Jindalai. Their Korean-style cold noodles are pretty good, and the side of pickled vegetables is nice too."

Cheng Qiaobei put his car keys in his pocket, "Let’s go."

Lin Hanrui carried the iced porridge as he walked out, turning back to instruct the new employee at the company, "Tingting, there’s an express delivery service coming, sign it for me later."

Cao Ting: "Got it."

Once outside, Cheng Qiaobei asked, "A new hire?"

Lin Hanrui responded with a hum, focusing on his iced porridge.

Cheng Qiaobei noticed that three spots on the once-crowded office desks were now empty. The company didn’t have many employees to begin with; now, there were even fewer.

"What happened to the last ones?"

Lin Hanrui tilted his head back and poured the rest into his mouth, tossing the empty container and spoon into the trash.

"They left."

Cheng Qiaobei asked again, "How many left?"

Lin Hanrui lazily stepped up the stairs and pushed open the door, "Including the odd jobs, four."

Cheng Qiaobei paused slightly, realizing that a company of just a few people lost four. He couldn’t bear to make Lin buy lunch.

A waiter brought over the menu, and Cheng Qiaobei said, "We’ll have two plates of barbecue, with mixed lean and fat, one plate of cold cilantro salad, one plate each of meat and vegetable pickles, and one bowl of cold noodles." He asked Lin Hanrui, "Light beer or dry beer?"

Lin Hanrui replied, "Are you drinking?"

Cheng Qiaobei said, "Buddy, I drove here."

"If you don’t drink, it’s no fun for me to drink alone." Lin Hanrui was about to order a large jug, but Cheng Qiaobei stopped him, "Let’s get the light beer then, hearing you say it made me thirsty too."

Lin Hanrui asked, "Didn’t you drive here?"

Cheng Qiaobei said, "I have a wife, you know."

He meant that even if he drank too much, his wife could pick him up.

Lin Hanrui nodded, "You’re impressive." He handed the menu to the waiter, "Bring us a stack of light beers first."

After the waiter left, Cheng Qiaobei asked, "Why did those people leave?"

Lin Hanrui didn’t hide anything, "It’s the money. If they earned more, they wouldn’t have left."

"No way, it was going pretty well at the beginning."

Cheng Qiaobei recalled that Lin Hanrui had boasted to him, pointing at his face and saying it was his business card, that he wouldn’t starve anywhere.

Lin Hanrui said, "It was good at the start, but later the work just didn’t come through. You know, I mainly rely on big projects from developers in Danjiang, but someone’s stirring up trouble. They probably have connections with the developers, so the work was handed off to another company."

As they conversed, the waiter brought two plates of pickles, interrupting their chat.

Once the waiter left again, Cheng Qiaobei asked, "Do you know which company it is?"

"This company has quite the background." Lin Hanrui opened a beer and poured one for Cheng Qiaobei first, "Southern Universe, over thirty architectural design branches nationwide, a leader in the industry. Apart from the state-designated institutes, they’re the top."

To become an industry leader, aside from strength, their background couldn’t be simple.

Lin Hanrui raised his glass to him, Cheng Qiaobei did the same, took a sip, then said, "That’s a tough one."

"Yeah, no kidding." Lin Hanrui downed his glass, refilling it as he talked, "Recently, the land Taihe Real Estate acquired went directly to their company."

Cheng Qiaobei wasn’t familiar with Danjiang’s developers, but perhaps in this industry, competition wasn’t all that mattered, and personal connections might play a role.

"They don’t bid for design companies?"

"That’s something you can’t handle easily." Lin Hanrui smiled indifferently, "To be honest, looking for me, I could handle it too, get a couple of companies to stage a show for me, and the bid would still end up in my hands."

Cheng Qiaobei asked, "Does the company have enough operating capital?"

At this mention, Lin Hanrui frowned, "If it weren’t for their interference, the company could still afford to support eight idle people."

The implication was that funds were currently tight.

Cheng Qiaobei said, "Try to figure something out. If not, maybe shift your focus, don’t just do projects in the Danjiang area, see if there’s a market in nearby cities." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"I am already looking, contacted a few," he pursed his lips and shook his head, "no news. People need to eat, feed their horses, every day I open my eyes, I see the cash flow, money is everywhere. If this continues, maybe I won’t wait for them to resign; I’ll let them go first."

Cheng Qiaobei asked, "How much are the monthly expenses?"

Lin Hanrui held his beer glass, eyes looking to the left as he recalled, "Right now the company has three architectural designers, one for engineering consulting, one for construction cost estimation, two supervisors, plus accounting, and odd jobs. Including me, that’s ten people, just paying out wages and social security a month costs at least one hundred and fifty thousand, not counting my salary. Utilities, internet, property management, daily travel, and fuel reimbursements add up to another twenty thousand. So, two hundred thousand."

Cheng Qiaobei nodded, raised his glass, and clinked it with Lin Hanrui before downing it.

Lunch took until past 3 p.m., and they drank three cases of beer.

Cheng Qiaobei went to the counter to pay, came back, and pulled him up, "Let’s go."

Lin Hanrui’s face was flushed and he breathed out a thick breath, "I said I’d pay, and you insisted."

"This one’s on me, next time’s on you."

They stepped out of the restaurant, and the wind blew a strong scent of alcohol.

Cheng Qiaobei checked his watch, "My wife still has two hours left at work, I’ll wait at your place and have tea."

"Perfect, Liang Lei just brought me some tea yesterday." Lin Hanrui entered and took the package handed by Cao Ting, "Rui, your package."

He walked inside, tearing open the easy-tear strip on the envelope, finding a contract receipt inside.

He placed it on his desk, where Cheng Qiaobei saw it was a construction design contract for a bath center.

In the past, he wouldn’t have taken such small jobs.

They drank tea and sobered up, with Cheng Qiaobei stepping out midway, saying he was out of cigarettes and was going to buy some. When he returned, he had an extra paper bag, which he placed on Lin Hanrui’s desk.

"There happened to be a hundred thousand in cash in the car, and I transferred you a hundred thousand via Alipay, use it for now. If it’s not enough, let me know."

Lin Hanrui opened his phone and saw two fifty-thousand transactions in the Alipay account.

"Holy shit," Lin Hanrui was practically sober now, looking at Cheng Qiaobei and patting his chest, speechless for a moment, eyes reddened, "...Holy shit."

Cheng Qiaobei lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile, sat on the sofa, "Come on, don’t act dead."

At this moment, Lin Hanrui felt truly touched, almost to tears.

"I can’t, I should bow to you."

Cheng Qiaobei said, "Come on, everyone’s got their tough times."

"No, you really touched me." Lin Hanrui walked around the desk, the alcohol getting to his head, clasped Cheng Qiaobei’s hand, "In a critical moment, it’s got to be my brother who comes through. I really want to bow to you, or maybe offer myself to you."

"Get lost," Cheng Qiaobei laughed, "If you bow to me, call me dad."

Lin Hanrui hugged Cheng Qiaobei, "If I call you dad, won’t I have to return the money?"

"Jesus, get away from me." Cheng Qiaobei pushed him aside with disgust, "Call me dad and you won’t have to pay it back, go ahead."

"I won’t do it." Lin Hanrui stopped fooling around, stood up straight, and sincerely looked at Cheng Qiaobei, gratefully saying, "Buddy, I’ll remember today’s favor for a lifetime."