Chapter 345: Chapter 341: 341 A Sense of Loss

Hearing that Feng Jun was not in, Sister Hong nodded her head, and uttered an indifferent “oh.”

Then, she glanced at Zhang Caixin… Why not ask Feng Jun’s whereabouts?

Seeing her sister’s bewildered look, not knowing what she was thinking, Sister Hong withdrew her gaze, sighing inwardly and asked indifferently, “Did President Feng mention the approximate valuation?”

As she asked, she walked into the room.

Xu Leigang had already received Feng Jun’s instructions and answered with a smile, “The valuation… definitely a few billion. I’m not clear on the specifics. President Feng said to just let Sister Hong handle it, as everything in this room, Assistant Li has already tagged.”

“Oh,” Sister Hong nodded indifferently again, pushed open a few rooms to take a look, and then waved her hand, “You guys register these.”

While she spoke carelessly, a woman and three men busied themselves seriously—one filming, another taking notes with pen and paper, and someone else identifying the jade stones.

Sister Hong walked around the house and sat down on the sofa, “These jade stones… don’t need to be moved?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“They can be moved,” Xu Leigang replied with a smile, “or they can stay here, but you’ll need to assign someone to guard them. After all, it’s my house. Sister Hong, you can stay however you like… hehe, just don’t dismantle it.”

“Oh,” Sister Hong nodded again and then spoke casually, “Well, President Feng will need to move out then, otherwise it’s not very convenient.”

“He’s already moved out,” someone spoke up from the side.

The speaker was none other than Zhang Caixin, her gaze lost, not knowing what she was thinking.

Sister Hong turned her head, looking at her with surprise, “Caixin, whether President Feng moves or not… it’s not our place to decide.”

Zhang Caixin’s brow furrowed slightly, her delicate nostrils twitched, and she spoke calmly, “He’s moved out, this place… it’s no longer the same.”

Sister Hong looked away, her heart filled with annoyance. What kind of folly is this girl committing? But her face remained calm, “Let’s see what Lei Gang has to say.”

“Master… has indeed moved out,” Xu Leigang spread his hands, giving a wry smile, “He said he might come back to stay temporarily in the future, but if it’s inconvenient for you, he won’t return.”

These were indeed Feng Jun’s words. He planned to live in Baixing Town’s desolate hills from now on, but he liked to leave some leeway. He had planned multiple hideouts before; while Baixing Town will be his main base, he also needed to keep his options open.

But no matter what, the villa in Peach Blossom Valley had to be more reliable than the factory on the street.

He might come back to stay temporarily? Sister Hong blinked, pondering this question…

Zhang Caixin spoke coldly, her gaze full of fury, “Where did he move to?”

What the heck? Xu Leigang clearly saw her anger and couldn’t help but gossip internally: What did Master Feng do?

In fact, he also felt that the villa today was somehow different from yesterday, but he simply blamed it on everyone leaving and a sense of nostalgia for the past liveliness.

So he was slightly stunned before replying with a smile, “Where Master goes, how could I know? Why don’t you… give him a call?”

Zhang Caixin was taken aback, the fury in her eyes gradually fading, replaced by an indescribable loneliness. Then, she spoke faintly, “Never mind, since he didn’t tell, why should we bother to ask?”

Sister Hong looked at her strangely, thinking, What’s with this girl today?

However, she agreed with Caixin’s words, so she, too, spoke lightly, “Mm, as long as President Feng prepares the jade stones in time and doesn’t hinder our collaboration, that is what’s most important.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Zhang Caixin stood up, “Sister, it feels a bit stuffy in here; I’m going out for some air.”

Sister Hong knew that her sister was definitely having some troubles today, but the details could wait until later to discuss.

But Xu Leigang looked at Zhang Caixin’s retreating figure in surprise: Why do I remember her saying she liked the air inside?

Zhang Caixin walked out the front door, feeling an unbearable emptiness in her heart. She could be completely sure that Feng Jun had tampered with the house, and the exceptionally comfortable feeling had disappeared.

Having seen Feng Jun’s “Aerial Absorption” and “Flying Leaf Injuries,” he had become someone who could be called extraordinary in her mind.

But his departure without informing her of his whereabouts, what did that mean?

Recently, she had been subtly hinting to her sister that the scenery of Peach Blossom Valley was quite nice.

Have I been abandoned? Zhang Caixin’s heart felt bewildered once again.

She remembered a certain winter day not long ago, his hand gripping hers, fingers interlocked…

The warmth of his large hand, she remembered as if it were yesterday…

Her eyes swept to the coat rack, her gaze gradually focusing, and subconsciously, she looked up for that clever crow.

That peculiarly elusive bird, it must have been taken by him… Eh, it didn’t leave?

The crows were still circling overhead in the yard, occasionally landing on trees, hopping around in a restless and uneasy manner.

A bitter smile tugged at the corners of Zhang Caixin’s mouth, “Little thing, are you like me, abandoned by him too?”

Sister Hong had a talk with Xu Leigang and tentatively decided to move five pieces of Jade, as for whether she would send someone to watch over them, she would need to discuss it back at the company and give a response within a week.

At the same time, she said, “I know that President Feng might be a little tight on funds after the New Year, so I’ll transfer ten million to him in the next couple of days.”

Xu Leigang, for his part, expressed, “You all take your time to discuss. I’m not in a hurry, with a few soldiers here to watch, there won’t be any problems… There are some old men and women who block the gate all day long to dance; Master Feng moved away because he couldn’t stand the harassment.”

Upon learning why Feng Jun had left, Zhang Caixin felt somewhat relieved, so it was for that reason, not that he intentionally abandoned me.

But her mood only improved slightly; on the way back, Sister Hong posed a question, “What’s with you today, Caixin? You seem out of sorts.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Zhang Caixin answered haphazardly, “it’s just that Feng Jun left like this, without even telling us where… it feels a bit unfair.”

Sister Hong glanced at her casually and commented indifferently, “You have his phone number; you could have called him directly, why act all precious like a literary woman?”

I’m being precious? Zhang Caixin rolled her eyes helplessly. If you two weren’t an item, I would have called him right away. What’s so rare about a woman chasing a man?

But chasing the man my sister is after, that’s not appropriate.

However, she still replied, “Sister, if anyone should call him, it should be you. Without any title or status, what does that make me?”

Is it about having no status? Sister Hong’s lips curled up slightly, her own sister seemed to have some ideas after all.

She didn’t look at Zhang Caixin but spoke as if it were a matter of course, “Status is something you have to fight for yourself. Just go for it confidently, and I support you.”

Zhang Caixin fell silent for a moment before speaking, “Sister, what are you thinking? I meant fighting for you.”

Sister Hong glanced at her sideways, a smile that wasn’t quite a smile playing on her lips, “You should think carefully about what you just said. Are you really not going to compete?”

Zhang Caixin was silent for a while before answering finally, “I definitely won’t compete with you…”

Feng Jun and the others arrived at the barren hill and began their intense cleanup.

The two small hills covered an area of more than six thousand mu, more than four square kilometers, with a river in front and plains behind, only just over a kilometer away from the national highway, and the villa was situated against the hill facing the river.

This so-called barren hill had actually been planted with a lot of trees and flowers in recent years. The former owner, planning to emigrate to Merrick, had tidied the place up quite nicely, and all kinds of infrastructure were available. Aside from the young flora, the place already bore some resemblance to Peach Blossom Valley.

Feng Jun had newly built a mountain road about nine meters wide. At present, only the base of the road was laid, and it could be worked on from both sides without impeding the access of vehicles.

The previous owner’s villa occupied more than sixty mu, and impressively, dozens of large trees had been transplanted into the yard, which after several years of growth, had become lush and green.

In addition to the villa’s yard, the owner had also built a simple workshop that could accommodate people.

On the roadside, Feng Jun had cleared three plots of land, each about twenty mu in size, with roads connecting them.

Walls had been built around the plots, and in two of them, a row of modular houses had been constructed first, while the rest were brick houses still under construction.

The third plot was covered with a steel frame greenhouse, obviously intended for the storage of some larger equipment in the future.

The first order of business for Feng Jun and the others was to settle into the villa. Since the villa sold at a high price, not much had been moved out. However, Feng Jun found most of the items unsuitable and gave them away to distant relatives, who in exchanged cleaned the villa thoroughly.

Of course, the two rooms that Feng Jun had previously occupied, along with their contents, were not to be touched.

Compared to Xu Leigang’s villa, this place was truly simple and crude. Although Feng Jun had ordered plenty of furniture and appliances before and after the new year, the house, from inside to out, inevitably imparted a rich, rustic aura.

After moving in, they got the place organized in a day. The next step was to staff the estate.

Gazi suggested recruiting from Chaoyang, believing that people from big cities were unreliable and that it was better to trust fellow townsmen when away from home.

Before Feng Jun could rebut, Li Xiaotong contemptuously voiced her opinion, “Sure, you think townspeople are reliable, and they think you’re reliable… they won’t quit on you easily.”

Feng Jun was inclined to hire some retired soldiers—just as the web novels described.

Before he could discuss with Xu Leigang, Wang Haifeng advised against it, describing these options as unreliable and suggesting his most heartfelt recommendation: with enough money to spare, outsourcing is the best choice.

“Don’t you see that bank tellers, train conductors, and the like have all been outsourced? The reason is simple: instead of paying lots of people the same money, it’s better to give it to one person with management skills who will go out of their way to handle all sorts of issues for you.”

Feng Jun immediately understood and took the idea a step further: that wasn’t enough, they had to introduce a competitive mechanism as well.

In short, with the arrival in a new environment, they had to design the necessary plans well.