Chapter 152: Chapter 103: The Little Wolf Is Going to Eat the Big White Sheep

「Evening.」

「Outside the East City Gate.」

Gu Gaoxu fumed:

"Insolent peasants!!

They’re all insolent peasants!!

Refusing to sell for two hundred taels!! What’s there to be so damn smug about!!"

The whole afternoon had nearly made Gu Gaoxu sick with rage.

Earlier, around noon, Gu Gaoxu had spotted the bicycle and wanted to buy one to try it out.

The Shopkeeper said they were priced at two taels and two.

’Is that even considered money?’

Gu Gaoxu immediately took out the money, intending to buy one on the spot.

But no matter what, the Shopkeeper wouldn’t sell, insisting he had to wait until the sales began on the second day of the second month.

Gu Gaoxu kept raising his offer, but the man wouldn’t sell even for two hundred taels.

It made Gu Gaoxu want to punch someone.

However, when he saw the clerks standing beside the Shopkeeper, he thought better of it and let it go.

"Damn it, all of you just wait!

The day I return, I’ll be sure to tear that shop to the ground!!"

Gu Gaoxu muttered curses as he rode his horse.

The two Attendants beside him could only offer wry smiles.

The group then passed through the East City Gate and continued heading east.

After traveling a short distance, a behemoth of a structure suddenly loomed before the three of them.

A nearby sign pointed toward the massive structure, bearing the words "Qiaoyan Manufacturing Factory."

Of course, "Qiaoyan" was a brand name. The word was enclosed within a circle that had the character for "Qin" in its upper-right corner.

The three of them were no strangers to this logo.

They had seen it on everything from the tricycles and bicycles to the logo of the shop itself.

Staring at the behemoth in the distance, they were all dumbfounded.

’It’s this big??’

They had imagined a large workshop before.

But they never expected that, from this distance, it would look like a small city.

"This place is huge..."

Gu Gaoxu stared in awe at the distant, lit-up behemoth.

The two Attendants beside him were equally stunned.

After a few seconds of shock, Gu Gaoxu’s expression turned resolute as he declared:

"I’ve figured it out!!

The Mortars must be connected to this place!!

I said it just now, but you two didn’t believe me!!"

The thought had crossed Gu Gaoxu’s mind the moment he saw those vehicles.

’Could the Mortars be related to all this?’

After asking for directions, Gu Gaoxu had come searching for it. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Seeing a workshop of this scale, even a fool would understand that the Mortars had to have come from here!

"When the hell did Luxi... get something like this...?"

Gu Gaoxu stared at the colossus before him, his face a mask of shock.

Even the largest workshops run by the Ministry of Industry near the Imperial City couldn’t compare to this scale.

Snapping out of his daze, Gu Gaoxu cracked his whip and spurred his horse toward the distant factory.

... ... ... ...

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan and Song Meiqin were getting ready to head home.

"You rascal~

You really wore me out~

I didn’t get anything done this whole afternoon because of you~"

Just before they left, Aunt Song pressed against Lu Yuan, whining playfully.

Lu Yuan hadn’t left the entire afternoon.

And with Lu Yuan not leaving, who was the one left to suffer?

Song Meiqin, of course.

She had been pinned down and teased by Lu Yuan in the office all afternoon.

But was Song Meiqin satisfied? Not really.

After all, they couldn’t do *that*, so it was like scratching an itch through a boot.

’This whole afternoon, that little rascal just toyed with me, turning me this way and that.’

’He played me for a fool all afternoon~’

’Such a tease~’

After Aunt Song finished, Lu Yuan wrapped his arm around her slender waist, pulled her into his embrace, and chuckled wickedly.

"Auntie~

How can you be so sweet? Even the juices flowing from you are sweet~"

The moment Lu Yuan’s words left his mouth, Aunt Song’s already rosy cheeks turned as red as an apple.

She buried her lovely face in Lu Yuan’s neck and whined in protest:

"Aah~~

You little rascal~~ Don’t say things like that~~"

Lu Yuan held Aunt Song and couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

After fooling around by the door for a bit, the two finally stepped outside and started for home.

Once they were outside, Lu Yuan let go of Song Meiqin. He neither put his arm around her nor held her hand.

’For one thing, however he and his woman wanted to fool around, they did it in the privacy of their own home.’

’No matter how wild or playful they got, it was fine.’

’But the outside world was different. This was still an ancient era.’

’If they were seen hugging and kissing and whatnot...’

’Lu Yuan himself didn’t care, but if others saw them, they would gossip about the woman being indecent.’

’Besides, the main reason was that Aunt Song was also Director Song.’

’To others, she was dignified and stern, never one for idle smiles.’

’How could he tarnish that image?’

...

The two of them left the office and walked side by side. It happened to be the time when the day shift was ending.

The factory now ran on both day and night shifts.

It was a factory, after all. Once the machines were running, stopping them meant losing money.

Of course, those on the night shift received extra pay, and their midnight meal was more lavish.

Aunt Song had arranged all of this; Lu Yuan hadn’t meddled in the slightest.

On their way to the main gate, the workers getting off shift would see Song Meiqin and call out respectfully:

"Director."

The Song Meiqin in this moment was a far cry from the playful, coquettish woman she was when alone with Lu Yuan.

Instead, she was prim and proper, her expression serious.

In response to their greetings, Song Meiqin would offer a faint smile and a nod.

Occasionally, upon seeing a familiar face, Song Meiqin would even be the first to offer a greeting.

She might chide someone for not wearing enough in the dead of winter or warn another to take their night shift more seriously, threatening a fine if they were caught slacking off again.

Lu Yuan watched quietly from the side.

’Aunt Song really took to her role as Director with great enthusiasm.’

’Seeing her enjoy it so much made Lu Yuan happy, too.’

Soon, the two of them reached the main gate.