A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 371 Please Quietly Forget Me - Part Two

[The second day of the eighth lunar month]

[Suitable for: cleaning, trading, opening a business, hanging plaques, and offering sacrifices]

[Avoid: Planting, logging, raising livestock, burial, and funeral processions]

Today's luck is neither good nor bad; it's a 50/50 split between what's auspicious and inauspicious.

Xia Yubing sat in the back seat of a Land Rover SUV, repeatedly reading the words on the notebook to memorize them: "Cleaning, trading... As Ning Zhe said, I have to do these things as quietly as possible without attracting attention."

There are also taboos regarding planting and logging, which must be carefully avoided... Xia Yubing pinched the corner of the paper and was about to tear it off when a new line of writing appeared on the paper.

Do you know Bai Fugui?

"Hmm?" Xia Yubing stopped what she was doing, observed for a few seconds to confirm that it was indeed Ning Zhe's handwriting, and then picked up her pen and wrote:
I don't know him, but I saw him interviewed by a TV reporter on the news three months ago.

I was clipping my nails and listening to the TV in the background, so I didn't pay attention to the specifics of the news, but it seemed to be something about attracting investment?

After writing these two sentences, Xia Yubing waited a while, and Ning Zhe's handwriting reappeared:

[Is this a tourism development project in Gubei Town?]

"Now that you mention it, it does seem to be true." Xia Yubing tilted her head, and the news content that had been blurry in her mind became clear again after Ning Zhe's reminder.

"I think so? Why are you suddenly asking this?" Xia Yubing wrote.

Immediately, Ning Zhe's handwriting appeared on the paper, stroke by stroke:
I want to verify something.

Can you be sure that from the day you saw the news until now, you have always remembered Bai Fugui and never forgotten him?

Xia Yubing nodded at the air and wrote:
[I'm sure, because it seems that Bai Fugui's company is in competition with Uncle Zhang's company; my aunt told me that.]

The "Uncle Zhang" she was referring to was naturally Xia Chan's husband, Zhang Yangxu. At that time, Zhang Yangxu and Bai Fugui, representing two major groups, gathered in Gubei Town to bid for the tourism development rights of Gubei Town.

Gubei Town is an obscure little place. Given the capital size of the two major groups, it is hard to imagine that Bai Fugui and Zhang Yangxu, as the heads of the groups, would condescend to come here in person for an on-site visit.

But that's exactly what they did.

The so-called tourism development project was just a cover-up. This small, dilapidated place had no value in developing tourism. What really attracted them to spend a lot of money to take control of the development was the snake god Zhaoyou, who was entrenched in Hejia Village.

"Are you sure you haven't forgotten Bai Fugui?" Ning Zhe asked again.

Xia Yubing replied instantly: "I'm sure."

After a while, Ning Zhe's handwriting reappeared:

【very good. 】

【that's enough.】

Please burn this paper as soon as possible. Thank you for your help, and best of luck.

Xia Yubing smiled and said, "Who else would I help but you if I'm not my husband?"

With a ripping sound, Xia Yubing tore the page full of writing from the notebook, asked the driver for a lighter, crumpled the paper into a ball, put it in the ashtray, lit it, and watched it burn into a ball of white ash. Xia Yubing then poured some mineral water into the ashtray, stirred it with the cigarette butt, and sat back down with satisfaction.

"First, we need to clean up... then there's the transaction, that's easy to handle, but opening the business is a bit troublesome..." Xia Yubing silently recited the auspicious and inauspicious days for the day, as the green mountains outside the car window receded into the distance.

She could more or less guess Ning Zhe's intention in asking her to do these things. He simply wanted to create the illusion that the "summoning" might be on Xia Yubing, to attract Fenwu's attention. If he succeeded, he would make a huge profit; if he failed, he wouldn't lose anything. Husband and wife are of one mind, and if Xia Yubing's luck improved, Ning Zhe would also have everything go smoothly. It was a sure-fire deal, at least for Ning Zhe.

The only drawback is that if Fenwu is really tricked, and that theoretically extremely small possibility actually happens, then she will most likely be in grave danger. Once Fenwu goes berserk, even Taiyi won't be able to save her life. The few lives he bought from the God of Wealth before wouldn't be enough for Fenwu to kill with one hand.

Ning Zhe put Xia Yubing's life on the scales, constantly adding more sacrifices to gain an advantage for himself. This is obviously extremely unfair to Xia Yubing herself, who is the sacrifice. Such indifference is enough to chill anyone's heart... But so what?

Xia Yubing closed her notebook, her eyes reflecting the lush green of the distant mountains, and suddenly laughed: "Who told him to be my husband?"

Meanwhile, in the ancient town of Gubei, the turbulent blue waters flowed swiftly.

An old wooden boat slowly docked at the shore. Ning Zhe went ashore, and his ghostly figure disappeared.

The ancient town of Gubei is now very different from when Ning Zhe left. A quick glance reveals a large number of construction sites under construction. Although the snake god that attracted Bai Fugui and Zhang Yangxu to this place has disappeared, Zhang Yangxu's company is still steadily pushing forward with this tourism development project that has little prospect. They are stuck with it.

Without much effort, Ning Zhe easily found Tian Zai Xu—Tian Cheng Yun's older brother—who was cleaning mortar at the construction site.

Tian Chengyun was one of the few survivors of the Biyuewan Manor incident, and was later killed by Yu Ziqian, who was eager to find Terang—or so Yu Ziqian saw it. But in the memory of Tian Chengyun's older brother, Tian Zaixu, his brother committed suicide.

Two people may have different memories of the same event; either one person's memory is wrong, or both are wrong.

"Boss, you wanted to see me?" Tian Zaixu walked into the office, looked at Zhang Yangxu, 'General Manager Zhang', who was sitting in the boss's chair, and somewhat awkwardly took off his safety helmet.

He was just a farmer with a vocational school diploma, and on a construction site he could only do the most unskilled work of shoveling mortar. But this Mr. Zhang Yangxu was no ordinary man; he was the big boss of a large corporation. Why would someone like him suddenly come looking for him?
"I have a question for you." Ning Zhe placed his hands on the desk, his fingers interlaced.

"Go ahead and ask," Tian Zaixu said with a beaming smile. "Do you want to know about the work? I'll answer everything I know..."

"I guess so." Ning Zhe thought for a moment and said, "Although the development rights here ultimately went to me, we weren't the only companies that participated in the bidding. Do you remember any of the other companies that participated in the bidding?"

Tian Zaixu nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes, although I'm not very educated, my younger brother is a college student! When the news first spread that the town was going to develop a scenic area, my brother said that this was definitely a hot trend, and that as long as you could get on the right track, even a pig could fly!"

“My brother said that when big companies come here to do projects, they will definitely prioritize recruiting local workers to boost local employment. So my brother and I are very concerned about which companies have participated in the bidding, especially the two largest companies… one of them is your ‘New World’ Group, Mr. Zhang.”

Ning Zhe nodded: "What about the other one? Do you remember it?"

"I remember, I remember. The company's name is a bit like your New World Group. It's called New Homeland. It's foreign capital from Yongzhou." Tian Zaixu nodded and said, "I used to watch our local TV station's news reports every day without fail, and I even saw your interview on TV!"

"Hmm." Ning Zhe's eyes were deep as he said quietly, "Did you see the interview with the CEO of New Home Group?"

"Yes, there are some, after all, it's related to job opportunities, so I've been keeping an eye on it," Tian Zaixu replied affirmatively.

"Then... could you tell me who the CEO of New Home Group is?"

Ning Zhe spoke softly and calmly: "What's his name? What does he look like? Is he male or female, and how old is he?"

Tian Zaixu froze, opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Standing there dumbfounded for a long time, Tian Zaixu looked bewildered: "Hmm... That's strange, who's the CEO of New Home Group again?"

He clearly saw it on the news.

(End of this chapter)