Chapter 189: Attracting Wealth

The three of them picked out a vehicle, and Lu Chuan went over to negotiate the price.

Fang Yuan stood to the side, watching Lu Chuan bargain. She listened as he picked apart every flaw in the vehicle, making it sound worthless, then offered a price so low even she thought he had no intention of buying it. Fang Yuan almost wanted to help the seller out, thinking, “The car isn’t that bad.”

But to her surprise, the deal went through. They got a big new addition to the household for the price of scrap metal.

Fang Yuan looked at Lu Chuan with nothing but admiration in her eyes. She whispered to him, “It’s not as bad as you said.”

Lu Chuan smiled, leaning in to whisper in her ear, “Yeah, it’s not that bad.”

Fang Yuan’s smile grew even brighter.

So, they got a beat-up car for a dirt-cheap price. The car then spent half a month at the repair shop, with the truck bed patched together from wooden planks.

Fang Yuan did the math: just the labor alone, not counting parts, cost nearly two hundred yuan. That was enough to make her heart ache, but at least the car was finally running.

The upside was, over those two weeks, Fang Yuan learned how to drive. Since it was her own car, she could practice as much as she wanted down by the riverbank.

For the first time, Fang Yuan didn’t worry about the cost of gas—whenever she was in a good mood, she’d just take the car out for a spin.

The old mechanic grumbled that Fang Yuan was wasting tires with her aimless driving.

But Fang Yuan insisted, “This is exactly the kind of driving I’ll be doing with this car. It needs to get used to it.”

The old mechanic was so annoyed he was practically fuming. He went straight to Lu Chuan: “Let me be clear, I fixed this car for you on the condition that you use it properly. I guaranteed it would last a few years, but that doesn’t mean you can just mess around with it.”

Lu Chuan replied, “Don’t be upset. Fang Yuan knows what she’s doing. If nothing else, she’s definitely careful with money.”

Master Liu agreed wholeheartedly: “That’s for sure.” This lady boss would squeeze every penny.

Lu Chuan continued, “See? No need to be angry. At most, it’s just her driving skills that need work. Once Fang Yuan gets the hang of it, we’ll bring the car back for another check-up.”

Master Liu twitched his mouth, realizing Lu Chuan had talked him into calming down. “Are you even a man? I’ve never seen anyone spoil his wife like this. At least have a little backbone.”

It’s his own repair shop—fixing it again wouldn’t cost anything, right? Was he just being played?

Lu Chuan just smiled, “Between husband and wife, what’s the point of taking sides? See, as long as we don’t fight, your job is secure.”

Master Liu really didn’t want to deal with this couple anymore. Not a single one of them was normal. They had money—let them do as they pleased.

Even Wu Hu learned to drive that old clunker. Compared to it, his own motorcycle suddenly seemed unimpressive. Looking back, he wished he’d been bolder when buying a vehicle.

Wu Hu couldn’t believe it: “You’re telling me you got this thing for scrap price? Are you crazy?”

Fang Yuan replied, “It’s not a scrap price anymore. I spent a lot fixing it up. Now it’s a good car.”

Yeah, right. The wooden planks on the truck bed were just leftover scraps from building the house. Who was she trying to fool?

But even with the beat-up car, the three of them happily drove all over the city. They could finally call themselves car owners.

Soon, the car was put to work at the construction site. As Fang Yuan put it, having people earning money for her every day made her feel secure.

Lu Chuan and Wu Hu had really come to understand Fang Yuan’s ambitions. If there was no concrete mixer, there had to be something else.

Lately, Fang Yuan had been spending a lot of time with Zhang Wei. Word was, she wanted to set him up with someone.

Lu Chuan was a bit anxious—wasn’t this just making his wife work for nothing? Zhang Wei might be willing to marry a rural girl, but would his parents agree?

He didn’t dare discuss the details with his wife, so he just said, “Don’t you think we’re getting too involved in this?”

Fang Yuan was very forthright: “You’re being too distant. I have to get involved. I need to get along well with Zhang Wei. I think he’s a good person to work with.”

Lu Chuan felt a little jealous: “You think that highly of him?”

Fang Yuan replied, “Of course. Listen, my truck doesn’t have much work left at this site, but Zhang Wei said that on other sites, trucks like mine are in high demand. If I hire a driver, we could run it day and night in shifts and make good money. They’re short on trucks—however many you have, they’ll use them.”

Lu Chuan started to worry. With Fang Yuan’s personality, she’d definitely go all out: “You know what, you take the day shift, I’ll take the night shift.” At this point, Zhang Wei was the least of his concerns.

Fang Yuan laughed, “You really read my mind. But I can’t let you work yourself to death. Your real value is your brain—you need to take care of it. I’ve decided, if we keep running ourselves ragged, we’ll only make so much. I’ll just hire a driver and pay them to drive.”

Lu Chuan was relieved: “You’ve finally been hit on the head by wisdom. You’re getting smarter.”

Fang Yuan smiled, then upped the ante: “If I get another truck, we’ll be making even more.”

Lu Chuan was starting to feel overwhelmed: “Shouldn’t we be saving up for a crane?”

The truck did make money, but it was a lot of work. Lu Chuan hated to see Fang Yuan working so hard.

Fang Yuan replied, “That’s a long-term goal. For now, as long as this truck has work and makes money, we’ll take it step by step. Don’t worry, honestly, this is a solid investment. You know, as soon as I got the truck fixed, someone offered me this much for it.” She held up five fingers.

Lu Chuan was surprised—who would be so foolish? “Sell it, then. That’s a good deal.”

Fang Yuan didn’t think selling was a good idea: “I can use it for two years and still sell it for that price.”

Lu Chuan realized he couldn’t keep up with Fang Yuan’s way of thinking.

Fang Yuan said, “How much can this truck make us in two years? It’s more profitable than a concrete mixer. If I buy a few more trucks to help us earn, we’ll get closer to that big crane even faster.” Whenever she talked about making money, Fang Yuan’s face lit up with excitement.

She added, “Anyway, when the new driver comes, help me check him out. He needs to be honest, not sneaky.”

Lu Chuan muttered, “You really are decisive.” So she’d already found a driver.

Fang Yuan said, “I told Master Liu to keep an eye out for me. If there are more old trucks like this, we’ll take them.”

Lu Chuan asked, “Do you still have money left?”

Fang Yuan immediately became guarded: “Why, trying to check up on our finances?”

Lu Chuan said, “No, I just don’t want you to run out of money and suffer.”

Fang Yuan replied, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. We’re spending a bit more, but we’re also bringing in plenty. We’re still holding up.”

Of course, that was a bit of an exaggeration. If you didn’t count the income from Lu Chuan and Wu Hu, and just looked at the repair shop, if it wasn’t making money, Fang Yuan would never have tolerated Master Liu for this long.

And according to Fang Yuan, the truck really was making money.

Lu Chuan didn’t even need to ask about their finances—he could tell from Fang Yuan’s reactions that things were going well.

He thought to himself, the only time his wife played coy was when it came to money—and only with him.

As the saying goes, “Don’t flaunt your wealth.” This was a good way to handle things.

Fang Yuan was making money hand over fist, but aside from that, there was no other good news.

Especially the thing Fang Yuan cared about most—her belly. It was still being very reserved, with no news at all.

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