A life of success begins with being a landlord.

I nodded. "I understand. But... what if Chunyan asks?"

"Chunyan is fine, just tell her the truth." Chunyan's mother smiled.

Bang bang bang!

There was a knock on the door outside.

Chunyan's mother said in a low voice, "It must be that drunkard Lao Xia who's back. Go and see."

I nodded and went out to open the door.

Sure enough, it was Old Xia, reeking of alcohol, and he was carrying a half-empty bottle of baijiu in his hand.

I was surprised: "Uncle, you drank almost half a jin of liquor all by yourself?"

I gave him a bottle of wine earlier, and now there are about four ounces left.

"I can drink... a pound!" Old Xia swayed and collapsed against the door.

"Why!"

I grabbed Old Xia and helped him up, both amused and exasperated. "Uncle, let me help you back to your room to sleep."

Chunyan's mother walked over and kicked Lao Xia: "You'll get drunk to death sooner or later, you bastard."

Old Xia glanced at his wife sideways, laughing and cursing, "You stinking woman, you're the real bastard. I... I'll leave you sooner or later, I won't want you anymore, you can go find some random man to support you..."

I grabbed Lao Xia by the armpits, dragged him back to the room, and threw him onto the big bed.

Old Xia muttered a couple more curses under his breath, then closed his eyes and fell asleep, snoring loudly.

Chunyan's mother sighed and shook her head in silence.

Just as I was about to say a few words of comfort to Chunyan's mother, the phone rang. It was Manager Fei from Wuhu Printing Factory.

"Mr. Fei, it's so late, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Brother Wang, I hope I haven't bothered you so late? I just had dinner with Director Hong and got back." President Fei was very polite, apologizing profusely.

"It's my fault today; I really neglected you. If you don't mind, I'll treat you to a meal another day..."

I was flattered: "Mr. Fei, I am already very grateful that you entrusted us with the disposal of the waste materials from Wuhu Printing Factory."

Chunyan's mother listened from the side, looking at me with a half-smile.

After exchanging a few polite words with Mr. Fei, I remembered the other printing factories and asked, "Mr. Fei, there are three other printing factories around here that I can't secure. Do you have any connections and could you introduce me to one?"

After asking about the three specific factories, Mr. Fei pondered for a moment and said, "I can introduce you to Liangpin Printing Factory, but I'm not familiar with the other two."

I thanked him and agreed to wait for Mr. Fei's message.

The two largest printing factories here are Longteng and Fengju, but unfortunately, Wu Guoxiang and General Manager Fei are not familiar with them.

It seems we have no choice but to ask Daozaixiong for a solution.

"Yaozu, are you doing some kind of business?" Chunyan's mother asked me.

"Yes, I do some small business." I nodded, lowering my voice:

"Auntie, don't tell anyone about this. I stole Kuai Dafa's business by collecting wastewater from the printing factory. I can earn two or three thousand yuan a month from now on."

"Can you really earn that much?"

Chunyan's mother was pleasantly surprised. She took my hand and led me to the balcony, asking in a low voice, "Do you know how to do this business?"

"When I partner with others, my only responsibility is to act as a go-between, and I'll take a cut every month. As for contributing money, effort, or technology, that's all for the partners."

"That's good." Chunyan's mother didn't ask any further questions.

"Save up your money, and you and Chunyan can buy a small house here and settle down here."

I nodded: "Yes, I will save money."

The phone rang again; it was Chunyan calling.

I was furious: "Chunyan, where were you just now? I called your cell phone but you didn't answer, and I called the landline at 302 but you didn't answer either."

"Old Wang, I'm in 508. Liu Haomei is back, she's using my phone to make calls, I didn't know you were calling..." Chunyan said, sounding quite aggrieved.

"Why is it taking so long to take my mom home? What are you doing?"

"What do you think we can do?"

I said irritably, "The auntie went upstairs to collect the laundry, tripped, and got cut by a piece of broken glass... once."

If a shard of glass gets stuck in your butt, I can't really say anything.

Chunyan's mother blushed again and said into the phone, "I'm fine, don't worry, girl."

"Mom, are you hurt? I'll go downstairs right away and come back up to check on you."

"Chunyan!" I reminded her, "If you go up to the roof from 508 and then down to 604, it won't be tiring, and it'll be quick!"

That girl is a bit slow; if I hadn't told her, she wouldn't have thought of this shortcut.

Chunyan's mother smiled and said, "Yes, I can take the rooftop route to 508 next time; it's faster and closer!"

I nodded and went upstairs to pick up Chunyan.

Soon, Chunyan followed me back to 604 to check on her mother's injuries.

I'll go to the balcony to avoid this.

"Thank goodness, I was terrified just now." Chunyan checked herself over, breathed a sigh of relief, and went out onto the balcony. "Thank you, Lao Wang."

"What are you thanking me for? She's my mother-in-law, it's only right."

"Pfft, that's a really affectionate way of addressing my mother-in-law."

Chunyan turned around and laughed at her mother: "Mom, Lao Wang calls you mother-in-law."

"Of course it's my mother-in-law. What else could it be but my mother-in-law?" Chunyan's mother smiled and waved her hand.

"You guys should go back to sleep, it's getting late."

Chunyan nodded and pulled me out the door.

After we left 604, Chunyan pulled me up to the rooftop to go see Liu Haomei in 508.

Liu Haomei was very happy and bowed to thank them as soon as they met:

"Brother Wang, thank you so much. This is the job I've always dreamed of, I love it!"

I was quite happy and asked Liu Haomei about her specific job duties.

According to Liu Haomei, some small clients' manuscripts need to be reformatted and proofread, and Liu Haomei is responsible for this.

The specific work involves operating a computer, performing simple formatting, and checking for typos and punctuation errors, which is equivalent to a text editing job.

At that time, computers were very high-end devices.

People who can use computers for work are high-level white-collar workers, the cream of the crop!

Liu Haomei only completed one year of high school, so finding such a job is incredibly lucky!

Moreover, this job is indeed a learning opportunity and has good prospects.

It's only right that she thanked me; even offering myself in gratitude wouldn't be enough to repay her immense kindness!

"Good job, sis. If you make a fortune in the future, don't forget your friend."

I congratulated Liu Haomei, chatted for a few more minutes, then took my leave with Chunyan and went back to room 302 from the rooftop.

Passing by room 402, I heard Huang Aijun and others having a meeting, with applause, stomping, and shouting all jarringly loud.

I checked the time; it was 10:30 PM.

I couldn't take it anymore and banged on the door.

Huang Aijun opened the door and smiled apologetically at me: "Landlord, our meeting is about to end, we have half an hour left..."

"Half an hour left? Do you even know what time it is?"

I pointed at Huang Aijun's face: "If you keep causing trouble like this, you can move out. I've told you so many times, don't think I can't handle you. Mr. Huang, you wear a suit and tie, you're a respectable person, don't push me."

Huang Aijun's expression changed slightly: "Brother, we're all just trying to make a living, why are you doing this?"

I was furious and raised my voice: "If you keep making this noise, all the tenants in this building will have to move out. Who will compensate me for my losses then?"

You can freeload, but that doesn't mean you can interfere with my meals!

My fellow villager, Gao Jianfeng, a master of grappling, stepped forward to apologize: "Fellow villager, go back now, we'll end this right away, I promise, it'll be over, okay?"

I showed no mercy to Gao Jianfeng, sneering, "I'll wait here. I'll leave whenever you're done!"

Gao Jianfeng dared not speak, rubbing his hands and sighing.

But then two burly men came out of the house, arms crossed, glaring at me and putting pressure on me.

Here we go again?

I ripped off my shirt and handed it to Chunyan, revealing the gauze on my shoulder. Pointing at Huang Aijun and the others, I said, "Mr. Huang, don't play these games. If you've got the guts, grab a knife and try slashing me a couple of times!"