The rent was three months paid in advance plus a one-month security deposit, totaling 1,200 yuan. Just as Wu Jun was about to pay the landlord, Wu Guangkun, bristling, insisted on paying it himself.
Yesterday, Wu Jun had given him a wad of cash. While bored at the hospital, he had counted it several times. It was 3,852 yuan in total—more than enough to cover this small rent payment.
"I was planning to save this money for you to buy an apartment in the city and get married soon. And just like that, so much of it is gone," Wu Guangkun said with a pained expression after they signed the contract, got the keys, and saw the landlord off.
Getting married these days required a bride price of over a hundred thousand yuan, not to mention a house and a car. With his older brother’s hospitalization costing so much, he, as the uncle, couldn’t help but worry for his nephew.
The Wu family already had one old bachelor in him. If his nephew followed in his footsteps, they would never be able to hold their heads high in the village again and would become a complete laughingstock.
Wu Jun smiled and said, "Second Uncle, you don’t need to save this money for me. Feel free to spend it. As for the money to get married, I can earn that in just a few days."
Wu Guangkun thought his nephew was just trying to comfort him and didn’t take it seriously.
The two of them locked the door and went downstairs. Wu Jun took his uncle to a small commercial street and bought bedding, sheets, and pillows.
The weather was getting hotter, so they also bought an electric fan and a cooling mat.
By the time they were settled in, it was already past 9:00 in the morning. Wu Guangkun said he would wander around the neighborhood on his own and told Wu Jun to go do whatever he needed to do.
His uncle was no fool; on the contrary, he was quite sharp. Wu Jun wasn’t worried about a grown man like him getting lost.
After saying goodbye to his uncle and leaving the urban village, he called Luo Weimin and asked if it was a convenient time to meet.
Hearing the serious tone in Wu Jun’s voice, Luo Weimin told him not to bother coming over and said he would drive directly to the supermarket.
After hanging up, Wu Jun took a bus back to the supermarket to wait for Luo Weimin.
The morning rush had passed. Xu Fei was stocking the shelves with a few delivery workers.
The popular rice was driving up sales of other goods in the supermarket. Wu Jun’s little store had now become a key account for several small wholesale companies.
When Xu Fei saw Wu Jun walk in, she said a few words to the delivery workers, then turned to him and asked, "You’re back! Have you eaten? I can make something for you."
"No need, I’ve already eaten. You carry on," Wu Jun replied, then headed into the bedroom.
Around 10:10 AM, Luo Weimin entered the supermarket. Wu Jun heard him talking to Xu Fei and came out to lead him into the bedroom where he slept.
"Wu Jun, what could you possibly have to tell me that you couldn’t say over the phone? So mysterious," Luo Weimin asked with a puzzled look after entering the room. "What’s this all about? This isn’t like you, being so cagey."
"Who’s being cagey?" Wu Jun laughed. "I’ll cut to the chase, Luo. I have a business deal on my hands and need some capital for cash flow. I called you over today because I was hoping to borrow some funds from you. I’ll pay it all back, principal and interest, within a month."
Luo Weimin waved his hand dismissively. "Don’t give me all that nonsense. Do I look like I need your interest? Just tell me how much you need."
Wu Jun said bluntly, "1.5 million."
"Do you need it urgently?" Luo Weimin didn’t even ask what he needed the money for. "I only have about 800,000 in cash on hand. The rest is all in stocks, funds, and the like. It would probably take four or five days to liquidate."
"No, don’t touch your stocks and funds. Save those for retirement," Wu Jun said quickly. "Just give me what you have in cash. Keep some for your own spending, and give me the rest. I’ll pay you back as soon as I can."
Wu Jun didn’t know much about stocks and funds, but he’d heard of them.
Stocks and funds were long-term investments. If he sold them now, he might not find another good opportunity to get back in.
Wu Jun didn’t want Luo Weimin to become one of those people kicking themselves for selling too early, all because of him.
Besides, liquidation took time. By then, his opportunity would have long passed.
Wu Jun insisted on only taking cash, so Luo Weimin had no choice but to transfer the 870,000 he had on hand to Wu Jun.
"I’ll write you an IOU. It’ll give you some peace of mind." After receiving the transfer, Wu Jun picked up the pen and paper he had prepared earlier and started writing.
"Wu Jun, are you trying to insult me?!" Luo Weimin snatched the pen and paper, tossed them into the trash can, and said angrily, "Don’t write me any IOU. If you want me to have peace of mind, you can give me the money back right now. Here, give it back. I’m not lending it to you anymore."
Seeing that Luo Weimin was genuinely angry, Wu Jun quickly said, "No, Uncle, don’t be like that! I won’t write it, okay? I won’t write the IOU."
As soon as Luo Weimin heard Wu Jun call him "Uncle," all his anger vanished. He shot him a smiling glare and said, "You clever kid."
’Wu Jun had him figured out. One "Uncle" was all it took to handle Luo Weimin. If that didn’t work, two would do the trick.’
Luo Weimin mentioned he had plans to have lunch with an old friend, so Wu Jun didn’t insist on him staying and walked him out of the supermarket.
He had borrowed 870,000 from Luo Weimin, and with the 30,000 from Ma Siyu the previous night, he was just 100,000 yuan short of what he needed to repair the main city in the game.
Adding in the money for setting up farmland and recruiting Farmers, he still needed to borrow a total of 600,000 today.
If he couldn’t borrow that 600,000 today, he would need to borrow an extra 100,000 tomorrow for the in-game production capacity to meet the deadline for that Industrial and Commercial Bank order.
’Oh, right, there’s something else. All these chaotic matters have my head completely scrambled.’ Standing in front of the building, watching Luo Weimin walk away, Wu Jun slapped his forehead as he remembered something else.
The 5,000 packaging bags stored in the game’s warehouse had also disappeared, so he’d have to have them remade. That was another expense.
Wu Jun掏出手机,打电话给陈星阳:"哥,再帮我做5千个包装袋儿,货款你先垫着,过几天才能给你."
"Another 5,000? Sure, no problem! Don’t worry about the money. My wife and I were just wondering what to do today, and now we’ve got work," Chen Xingyang then asked. "Jun, did you land another big order? Congratulations!"
Wu Jun replied, "Thanks, thanks..."
After ending the call with Chen Xingyang, Wu Jun turned and went back into the supermarket.
It was now 11:10 AM, and customers were starting to come into the small supermarket, but he was in no mood to stay.
Today’s rice had already sold out in the morning. Without that bestseller, the work in the store wasn’t actually that busy—just standing behind the counter, scanning barcodes, taking payments, and giving customers change.
"Xu Fei, I’ll have to trouble you to manage things on your own today. I have to go out again, so don’t wait for me for lunch. I’m meeting someone," Wu Jun said as he walked in, speaking to Xu Fei, who was scanning items and taking payments.
While helping a customer bag their items, Xu Fei said, "Go take care of your business, Wu Jun. I can handle things here on my own."
"Look at that, look at that," a customer, Auntie Lu, said with a teasing smile. "With Wu Jun never around these days, a lot of people are starting to think Xu Fei is the lady of the house."
Xu Fei stole a glance at Wu Jun and said with a blush, "Of course not. Auntie Lu, please don’t joke like that."
"Auntie Lu still loves to joke around," Wu Jun said with a laugh, brushing it off as he turned and went into the back room.
After going into the room, he pulled out a bottle of Feitian Maotai from under the bed, one that Luo Weimin had brought over last time.
Wu Jun dialed Huang Zili’s number. "Huang, let’s grab lunch. I have something to discuss with you."