Chapter 144: The Reason, Changing Relationships"":

When Gu Pei saw Gu Xu, his first instinct—he didn’t even know why—was to let go of Bian Changxi’s hand.

Bian Changxi, for her part, felt a little guilty the moment she saw Gu Xu.

Hauling five truckloads of supplies to the Bian family had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. At the time, she hadn’t really considered what kind of impact it might have on Gu Xu. It was only after everything settled down, once she returned, that she started to feel a bit sorry for him. Honestly, she’d been too reckless and arrogant, and anyone paying attention could easily interpret her actions as being directed by Gu Xu—as if he was using her to slap the Bian family in the face.

On top of that, giving so many supplies to a rival faction—who knew what Gu Xu and his people would think?

Gu Xu hadn’t let his assistants into the villa either. He came in alone, and Aunt Zhao hurried to take his coat and briefcase, putting them away. “Captain Gu, would you like to wash up first? Dinner will be ready soon.”

Gu Xu waved her off. “No rush.” He seemed to be in a good mood. He pulled up a chair and sat by the little vegetable patch, then turned to Gu Pei. “I heard you got your hands on a new piece of equipment today?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Gu Pei replied, a bit surprised that Gu Xu already knew about it—news really did travel fast around here.

“Tell me what you were thinking. For record-keeping and investigation, there’s no need to haul the thing back here, is there?”

Gu Pei stood up from his crouch. “Well, first, I was just personally curious about what exactly that machine is. Second, I think Qu Yi is a real genius—he keeps coming up with new inventions, churning out research papers every few days. It’s hard not to suspect he’s…” He searched for the right word, and Bian Changxi interjected, “cheating with some kind of hack.”

“Yeah, exactly, it feels like he’s got some kind of cheat code.”

“Maybe it’s literally a cheating device,” Bian Changxi muttered under her breath. When she noticed Gu Xu’s gaze, she just raised her eyebrows and went back to fiddling with the soil.

Gu Pei nodded vigorously. “Exactly. You know what they say: know yourself and know your enemy. Right now, Qu Yi doesn’t have any clear factional ties. If he really is that talented, we should try to recruit him. But if there’s something else going on, we need to get to the bottom of it. Don’t you think new technology could become a driving force for humanity’s development? We should set up our own research base, and these machines would be perfect first-hand materials.”

Gu Xu agreed. “You don’t need to worry about that for now. We’re not fully established yet, so this will have to wait. But it’s good that you’re thinking about it—go ahead and do what you need to do. Don’t hold back if you need to use resources. If you run short, just let me know.”

Gu Xu paused, glancing at the little milk cow that was pretending to be invisible while actually poking around at his feet. He finally shooed the pitiful little thing away, and then watched as Bian Changxi made a show of going after it. He held back a laugh. “Just this afternoon, so many people came to flatter me for being so rich and generous—even to our rivals. I may not be that magnanimous, but I have more than enough to support my brother’s projects.”

Gu Pei was a bit puzzled by the sudden change in topic, but Bian Changxi understood—Gu Xu was indirectly talking about her.

She hesitated for a moment, then said, a bit aggrieved, “Sorry for causing you trouble.”

Seeing her willing to admit it, Gu Xu didn’t beat around the bush. “Technically, your personal affairs aren’t my business, but you were really reckless today. Showing off like that in public might have felt good, but do you realize how many jealous eyes you’ve attracted? People are gossiping everywhere, and who knows when someone might try to rob you when you’re alone.”

Bian Changxi stuck out her tongue.

So, in the end, he took the blame, and it became a story about Gu Xu being rich and generous, while Bian Changxi was just a willful warehouse manager misappropriating public resources.

“Do you blame me for meddling?”

Bian Changxi shook her head. “It’s just that those people were so annoying, I wanted to shut them up. I wasn’t trying to show off.” She recalled their reactions and couldn’t help but smile—okay, maybe she had wanted to show off a little.

Jealousy is a tormenting emotion. She’d strutted around, flaunting her abundance of supplies, and even tossed out a line like, “This little bit of stuff isn’t even worth my attention—you guys just take it.” That must have made them furious. Besides, as a former outcast of the Bian family, her sudden rise was a classic underdog comeback. Even if she did nothing else, those people probably wouldn’t sleep well tonight.

Actually, as a giant in the food industry, the Bian family had brought plenty of supplies with them—especially since they’d taken a certain “shortcut” this time, so their reserves should have been quite substantial. But as soon as they entered the base, they lost a third of it to various fees. Then came the difficulties of finding housing, getting registered, making a living, and getting medical care—each one another drain. On top of that, they always put on a charitable front, sponsoring this and donating to that, all to build connections. No wonder they were running out of money. Bian Changxi’s five truckloads of supplies would be both a blessing and a curse for them.

Of course, that wasn’t her only goal.

After holding back for a while, she finally couldn’t resist defending herself. “Actually, I had another reason. I specifically asked Qiu Yun to gather some troublemakers and people who secretly compete with the Bian family. I gave out the supplies in front of them, and even handed over a few crates of firearms—well, only the top layer had guns, the rest was just straw. And most of those guns didn’t even have ammo. So I figure things are going to get pretty lively over there soon.”

Security at the base wasn’t great. There were always people looking for an easy score, some too cowardly to face zombies and instead scheming against their own kind, and others with strength but terrible character—basically, lots of unstable elements. Robberies and thefts were common.

With the Bian family suddenly coming into so many valuable goods, would anyone be able to resist the temptation?

In today’s climate of widespread resentment toward the rich, with these “wealthy” folks acting arrogant and self-important, and the Bian family playing the big brother role while gathering a circle of “suffering compatriots” around them—when everyone’s struggling but they suddenly strike it rich overnight, you can imagine how that’ll go.

What’s more, Bian Changxi knew all too well who the most troublesome, brazen, and ruthless people in the base were. Although it looked like she’d only gathered a bunch of thugs after consulting Qiu Yun, in reality, she’d handpicked those who might not commit major crimes but were more than capable of endless petty mischief. Even if they couldn’t ruin the Bian family, they’d certainly make life miserable for them.

Add in their so-called allies and partners—even if they didn’t do anything openly, their relationship with the Bian family would definitely sour. Once the Bian family lost public support, how far could they really go?

Why did she give away five truckloads of supplies? Bian Kuang had only brought a two-ton box truck, but she’d sent over five eight-ton medium trucks—so many supplies that the Bian family’s yard couldn’t even hold them all. Her own reserves were now seriously depleted. She wasn’t crazy—she’d done it all for a reason.

Gu Xu understood her intentions and shook his head. Making things hard for the Bian family wasn’t difficult, but her approach—hurting herself before hurting the enemy—wasn’t exactly wise. Still, it was their family business, so he didn’t say much.

“If you need help, let me know.”

Bian Changxi knew the matter was settled, so she grinned. “I’m broke now, so I’ll be relying on you from here on out, Captain Gu.”

After dinner, Bian Kuang rushed over. He’d been out of the base all day and only heard about what happened when he got back. After much pleading, he finally got the villa guards to pass along a message. Bian Changxi went out to talk with him for a long time before sending him away, his face clouded with worry.

When she came back, Bian Changxi was in a bad mood. It was unexpected—she’d hinted that Bian Kuang should distance himself from those people, but he’d only said, “Blood ties can’t just be cast aside.”

Blood ties, my ass!

Then he added, “I’m relieved that you have Captain Gu looking after you, but as for them…”

It was like a thunderclap in Bian Changxi’s mind. She was stunned. Thinking back on all his apologies and the way he kept shifting the blame onto himself, something just didn’t sit right.

It felt like something was changing, slowly but surely, with those words.

Over the next few days, Bian Changxi shuttled between the hospital and the villa. The first twenty patients had already recovered and been discharged, and she was now treating the next batch. The whole thing caused a sensation—people were practically wearing out the villa’s doorstep. Some came to snoop, others wanted to meet Bian Changxi, and some hoped she’d treat their own sick subordinates. There were even some brazen enough to try poaching her right in front of Gu Xu.

Bian Changxi had expected her healing abilities to attract trouble, but she hadn’t thought it would be this overwhelming. Her schedule was completely thrown off. She started sneaking into the hospital at odd hours, never at the same time twice, and spent the rest of her time hiding in the villa. If anyone came by, she’d just pretend not to be home—out of sight, out of mind.

The two critical patients in the villa were improving every day thanks to daily “medicinal baths.” Wu Dalang’s health had also improved dramatically. One evening, with everyone present, Su Chensi was called in to handle some formalities, and then the real treatment began.

What troubled Bian Changxi most was that she’d hit a plateau at the peak of the second stage, unable to break through to the third.

After dragging it out for over ten days, she finally decided: time to leave the base and make some money.

Early the next morning, she went to the hospital and treated ten new patients, estimating their recovery dates and noting it all in their medical records—these would be valuable data for future research.

Then she headed straight for the west gate of the base. This time, her destination was a steel wholesale center to the west. With new survivors arriving every day and construction projects constantly underway, the demand for building materials was enormous. Relevant departments, organizations, and even the management had all issued missions for steel. But the steel market was far away, and steel was bulky and heavy—a regular spatial ability user couldn’t carry much, and those without spatial abilities could forget about it. Most importantly, steel wasn’t as valuable as daily necessities, so the rewards weren’t great. As a result, few people took on these missions.

ps:

Thanks to li016 for a pink ticket!

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