My sister broke off her engagement to marry someone richer? My older sister married me and became in

The engines of the Jiefang trucks emitted a deep roar, like a wild beast that had just eaten its fill.

Three vehicles, lined up in a straight line, kicked up the yellow dust on the official road as they headed towards the county town.

Lu Qingshan gripped the steering wheel, his gaze fixed straight ahead.

Lin Xiulan sat beside him, holding a heavy leather suitcase in her arms. The suitcase contained the first cornerstone of their future.

"Boss, once you pass that three-way intersection ahead, you'll enter the county town area."

Scarface Liu, sitting in the passenger seat, leaned forward slightly and pointed into the distance.

"That area to the east is Tiebei District, the old industrial area. Now it's full of thugs, and the boss is called Li the Cripple."

"To the south is a newly developed residential area, mostly inhabited by cadres; there's not much to gain there."

As he spoke, the scar on his face appeared somewhat ferocious as his muscles twitched, but his tone was full of respect.

"The place we're going to is in the western suburbs. It's a chaotic place, full of all sorts of people. But I know it well. I've had drinks with some of the leaders there before, so no one dares to disrespect us."

Lu Qingshan glanced at him in the rearview mirror but didn't say anything.

Scarface Liu has fully embraced the role of "security captain".

He was no longer the reckless man who only knew how to fight and kill, but began to use his brain to unravel the intricate network of relationships in the county town for Lu Qingshan.

The convoy did not stop at the busiest crossroads in the county town, but instead turned a corner and headed straight for the western suburbs.

The road gradually became bumpy, and the red brick buildings on both sides became fewer and fewer, replaced by low bungalows and barren land.

A faint smell of coal smoke and rust began to fill the air.

"Boss, it's just ahead," Scarface Liu said.

Lu Qingshan slowed down the car.

The truck eventually stopped in front of a rusty iron gate.

Beside the iron gate, a wooden sign hung crookedly, its red paint long since peeled off so that the original color was no longer visible, and only the words "Hongshan County Second Coal Smelting Workshop" could be vaguely discerned.

Lin Xiulan followed Lu Qingshan's gaze.

The sight before her made her unconsciously tighten her grip on the suitcase in her arms.

A section of the courtyard wall had collapsed, revealing the dark ground underneath.

Several tall and thick coking ovens, like silent giants, stood there quietly, their bodies covered with reddish-brown rust.

There wasn't a single person in the entire factory area.

Only when the wind blows will it stir up the black coal dust on the ground, swirling it in the air before it falls helplessly back down.

This place is like a forgotten graveyard.

Scarface Liu jumped out of the car and walked to the door of the gatehouse, a lonely little brick building, the only building in the entire factory area that still looked somewhat human.

He raised his hand and banged on the door twice.

"Is anyone there? Someone come out and catch their breath!"

After a long while, the door creaked open from the inside.

An elderly man with gray hair peeked out.

He was wearing old blue overalls stained with black oil, his face was deeply lined, and his eyes were cloudy and numb.

He first glanced at Scarface Liu, who looked menacing at the door, and then saw the three tall Liberation trucks parked behind him. His shoulders tensed up instinctively.

Lu Qingshan pushed open the car door and jumped out.

He walked up to the old man, took a cigarette out of his pocket, and handed it to him.

"Excuse me, sir, can I ask for directions?"

The old man looked at the cigarette offered to him, paused for a moment, took it, and tucked it behind his ear, but his tense body did not relax.

"Where to?"

"Our convoy is looking for a place to pave the road. We heard you have a lot of coal ash here. Come and see if you'd like to sell it?" Lu Qingshan's voice was very calm.

Upon hearing that they had come to buy coal ash, the old man's tense shoulders finally relaxed.

He sighed, a bitter look appearing in his cloudy eyes.

"What are you buying? Just take it all, it's free."

He pointed to the empty courtyard, "The factory has been shut down for more than a month. All the workers have gone home, and I'm the only old guy left here guarding the gate."

He is Sun Dahai, the factory manager of this workshop.

"How can such a big factory just shut down like that?" Lu Qingshan asked, following his words.

"Sigh," Sun Dahai sighed again, as if he wanted to sigh out all the grievances he had accumulated over the past month, "The technology can't keep up. The coal we burn produces a lot of smoke and is black. City people don't like to use it."

"A while ago, the county issued a document saying they were going to do something about... environmental protection. Our chimneys that emit black smoke were the first ones they wouldn't be allowed to operate."

"The production license has been revoked. This factory, along with all this equipment, is now just a pile of unwanted scrap metal."

Lu Qingshan listened quietly; every word Sun Dahai said was exactly the same as what he remembered.

"Let's go in and see how much we can take," Lu Qingshan said.

Sun Dahai waved his hand, turned around and walked into the courtyard first, which was taken as tacit consent.

Lu Qingshan turned around and gave Scarface Liu a look, telling him and his brothers to wait at the door.

Then, he took Lin Xiulan's hand and walked into the dilapidated factory.

He didn't look at the mountains of coal slag, but instead led Lin Xiulan on a slow walk through the deserted factory area.

"Xiulan, look over there," he said, pointing to the tallest coking oven. "Once we take over the project, we can dismantle this oven and sell it for scrap metal; we can make a good amount of money from it."

"This foundation is solid, so let's build a cold storage here. Then we won't have to worry about our mountain products not keeping well."

He then pointed to a large open space next to him.

"This place is enough for our convoy to park. We can build a few more rows of bungalows for Scarface Liu and his men to live in, and then build a repair shop next to it."

"And over there..."

He walked along, speaking in a low voice.

His eyes did not see decay and desolation, but rather a completely new blueprint.

Lin Xiulan listened quietly.

Looking at her husband's profile, at the light in his eyes that seemed to turn this ruin into gold, her worries vanished without her even realizing it.

If her man says it's okay here, then it definitely will be okay.

The two walked around the factory area for a long time before returning to the main gate.

Sun Dahai was squatting under the eaves of the gatehouse, smoking the cigarette Lu Qingshan had given him, his face full of worry.

Lu Qingshan walked up to him.

"Director Sun."

Sun Dahai looked up, his face blank.

"Name your price for this factory, including the equipment."

Lu Qingshan's voice wasn't loud, but it was like a stone that struck Sun Dahai's stagnant heart.

"I bought it."

Sun Dahai was so shocked that his mouth opened wide, and the cigarette he was holding between his fingers fell to the ground, but he didn't even notice.

He looked at the excessively young man in front of him, then at his unbelievably beautiful wife beside him, and at the menacing, burly men behind him.

He thought he must have misheard.

Or perhaps, they encountered a madman.

"What...what did you say?" he stammered.

"I said, I want to buy your factory," Lu Qingshan repeated.

Sun Dahai's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard.

He had imagined countless possible outcomes for the factory: the equipment being sold as scrap metal, and the place just sitting there rotting.

He never imagined that anyone would want to buy it.

Why buy this pile of scrap metal?

His mind was a mess, and his lips trembled for a long time before he finally managed to squeeze out a number that even he found laughable.

"Forty...forty thousand."