Chapter 143: Borrowing Money, The Prototype of a Chief Advisor:

“I heard you really made a splash today—led five big trucks and blocked their front door, huh?”

After dinner, Qiu Feng asked Qiu Yun offhandedly, sipping water flavored with powdered juice.

Ah, in these times, fruit is worth more than gold. All we can do is drink fruit-flavored water to curb our cravings.

Qiu Yun thought gloomily. Actually, it’s not like fruit is impossible to get, but no one sits down to share it anymore. Eating it alone just feels pointless.

He grinned at his brother’s words. “You don’t know, bro, those people were awful—acting like we took some huge advantage of them. Of course I had to push back!”

“If it were you, you’d have driven those five trucks straight into their house,” Wu Dalang chimed in from the side. He’d just taken his medicine and had some of Bian Changxi’s wood-type healing, so he was feeling much better—his face was glowing and his voice was strong.

“Exactly!” Qiu Yun said regretfully. “If it were up to me, I’d have stormed right in and taught those idiots a lesson. But Miss Bian wouldn’t allow it. We just handed over five truckloads of supplies for nothing. My poor heart still aches.”

He chuckled. “But it was satisfying, you know? You guys didn’t see the looks on the Bian family’s faces—jealous, shocked, overjoyed, totally in disbelief. If we didn’t have the numbers on our side, they might’ve torn Miss Bian apart right there.”

Just a truckload of supplies, packed full of good stuff—who wouldn’t be jealous?

Qiu Feng scolded him, “Stop talking nonsense!”

Qiu Yun just shrugged.

Still, Bian Changxi having so many supplies was beyond Qiu Feng’s expectations. He’d known from her first day that she had some kind of space ability—well, “something like it,” since no one else had ever shown dual abilities. Bian Changxi was mysterious, knowledgeable, and it wouldn’t be surprising if she had some rare magical artifacts.

Gu Xu had said not to ask or be curious about it. Just act normal, so that’s what they did.

But for Bian Changxi to have so much stuff—either she’d prepared before the apocalypse, or she’d gathered it all herself after. Either way, it was impressive.

Sigh. He really couldn’t let his guard down around her.

Meanwhile, Aunt Zhao watched Bian Changxi with some concern as she crouched, sat, knelt, and squatted in her little vegetable patch, studying something with total focus—sometimes frowning, sometimes delighted, but mostly expressionless. She’d been like this since coming back. She hadn’t said anything, but Aunt Zhao couldn’t shake the feeling that she was in a bad mood.

At that moment, a car pulled up outside. Gu Pei got out, carrying a bag, while his personal assistant, Guo Yi, unloaded a large machine from the other side. Gu Pei told him, “Just leave it in the yard, thanks for your help.”

Guo Yi nodded, smiled, and strode in confidently.

Actually, Gu Xu and the others had all found personal assistants by now. They each had their own work to do, and couldn’t handle everything alone—so drivers, assistants, and deputies were essential. These people had been selected from their internal team after several rounds of screening, each with their own skills. Besides Bian Changxi’s seven-person core squad, these were the most important and trustworthy people. But even they weren’t allowed to linger in the villa.

Liang Ziyin didn’t count—he was only around because of his wood-type ability, which was sometimes necessary.

Guo Yi was a young man, mature, steady, and quick-witted—a successful businessman before. For Gu Pei, a college student with no real-world experience, having someone like Guo Yi around gave everyone peace of mind.

Guo Yi nodded and smiled at Bian Changxi, parked the car in the garage, and left without coming into the villa to greet anyone.

Gu Pei was very protective of that machine. He called Ah Nan to help carry it to his little workshop, then happily walked over to Bian Changxi. “Working on this again? What is it, and when will it be ready to eat?”

Bian Changxi glanced at the machine and asked instead, “What’s that for?”

“That’s for detecting spatial abilities at the base entrance. It broke down today—kept giving huge errors. Wasn’t this thing invented by Qu Yi? He happened to be there, and there were several more in his car waiting to be used. He got mad and just left the whole car behind. I happened to be passing by, so I thought I’d bring one back to check it out.”

Bian Changxi stood up, circled the machine, and looked up. “Qu Yi let you have it?”

“He needs funding for his research. Apparently, he’s been short on money for a while. I paid him a bit and got one.”

Nowadays, “funding” meant either crystal cores or supplies. If you talked about “money,” you meant crystal cores.

Bian Changxi nodded. Gu Pei was into research—she’d only realized today just how much. He was always out and about, learning about the world, studying new tech, doing market research. His focus was all over the place, but sometimes the data he gathered was so good even Gu Xu would use it.

“So, you’re going to take it apart and study how it works?”

“No way,” Gu Pei laughed, having Ah Nan carry it upstairs. “I’m not cut out for technical research. I just do paperwork and data. I want to document everything about the base’s development—the changes in technology, the evolving management rules, how survivors’ lives change. All of this is worth learning from.”

Bian Changxi was startled. Learn from it? For what—so you can build your own base someday?

Sure, your brother probably will set up his own base in the future, but isn’t this a bit early to be preparing?

Gu Pei’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “My brother supports this, too. He wants me to write a weekly report—anything noteworthy, valuable, or meaningful that happened, with some analysis. But, well, I spent all my funding this week on this machine, so now I’m flat broke.”

You have a budget?

That brother is really something—so official, so supportive.

Bian Changxi drooped her eyelids. She was broke now, too. Sigh, just thinking about it made her a little depressed.

After wallowing for a bit, she came back to her senses and eyed Gu Pei suspiciously. “You’re not here to borrow money from me, are you?”

“Heh, well, my brother said if I run out of funds, I have to find my own way. Unless my report has something really outstanding, I won’t get more. Even if I do, it’ll have to wait till next week. So I was thinking…”

Gu Pei lowered his voice. For some reason, he felt more comfortable asking Bian Changxi for help. If he went to Qiu Feng, he could get as much as he wanted, but it just felt awkward.

Maybe because, in the end, Qiu Feng and Gu Xu were basically the same—everyone’s resources were pooled together.

“Uh, if you don’t have any, that’s fine.”

“How much do you need?” Bian Changxi asked.

Gu Pei held up a hand.

“Five? Five what?”

“Five hundred first-tier white cores.”

“You’re really asking a lot,” Bian Changxi said in surprise. “Aren’t there only two days left in the week? Five hundred in two days—how much does Gu Xu give you for your budget?”

Gu Pei looked embarrassed. “I can only do so much alone, so I hired some people to help gather information. Like with this machine—someone heard about it and ran all over town to find me. I was so happy, I promised double the reward and even said I’d treat them to a meal tomorrow.”

Bian Changxi nodded. She could spare five hundred first-tier white cores. She’d spent five truckloads of supplies today, but hadn’t touched her crystal core stash. She’d saved up quite a bit—she even had several third-tier rainbow cores. Just two of those would be more than enough.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “If you’re doing this, does that mean you have a lot of information? You’re well-connected?” Seeing him nod, she asked excitedly, “So, do you know where outside the base has the most supplies and the lowest risk?”

“Well, are you going out yourself? I’d better go back and organize my info. I can’t say off the top of my head.”

“No rush. I’ll be at the hospital for a while anyway, so I won’t have time to go out. Just give me a few locations when you can.” As she spoke, Bian Changxi painfully took out two third-tier white cores and one third-tier red core. “This should be worth five hundred, right? Consider it payment for your intel, and the extra is my sponsorship. By the way, since your work burns through so much money, have you thought about ways to make some yourself?”

Gu Pei was embarrassed, but her words made him perk up. “Changxi, do you have any ideas…?” He really did want to earn his own money, but he had no abilities and no experience. Going out to fight wasn’t an option, at least not now. There weren’t any other paths. Gu Xu and the others needed crystal cores for all sorts of things, but income was scarce. Always asking for more made him feel guilty, which was why he was so hesitant to ask Bian Changxi for a loan.

If he could have his own income, then…

He looked into Bian Changxi’s eyes and suddenly had a revelation. “By selling information.”

“That’s just one idea. Making money is all about trading your resources for others. Some people do hard labor, trading time and effort. Some open shops, trading rent and goods. Researchers use their brains and energy. Hunters use their strength and skills. What do you have?”

“Information. But, well, I don’t know that much yet. If I really want to do this, I’ll need to get organized—gather all kinds of intel, hire runners, data sorters, set up a workspace, establish rules and order…” Gu Pei quickly got into the idea, muttering to himself.

Seeing him like this, Bian Changxi couldn’t help but marvel. Was there anyone around Gu Xu who was simple? Even this seemingly weakest little brother had brains and insight. When they built their own base in the future, if he wasn’t the chief architect, he’d be the chief advisor.

After thinking for a while, Gu Pei clapped his hands. “It’s worth a try. But this is a big move—I’d better check with my brother first.” He grabbed Bian Changxi’s hand and shook it hard, excited. “Changxi, you really helped me out of a jam!”

Before he could finish, he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. Bian Changxi looked over in confusion—oh, the big boss was back.

ps:

That’s three chapters for today! Writing went smoother than yesterday, so I finished earlier. Hope you all enjoy it—good night, everyone! Same schedule tomorrow, three more chapters~"