“Mm, why didn’t he pick up? It is already past twelve. It should be lunch time. My dad and the others doing renovation usually rest at noon. He should have answered.”
Luo Feng frowned and tapped on the phone screen, opening the location tracking function. The map of Yangzhou City quickly appeared. A red dot showed Luo Feng’s current position, while a green dot showed his father’s phone location.
“It is not too far from here.”
Luo Feng immediately understood where his father was and could not help smiling. “I will go to Dad and tell him in person that I have become a quasi martial artist.”
Without hesitation, he quickly headed out according to the map.
……
Yi An District, Tiandu Garden Community.
“Faster, move those things quickly so you can go rest and eat lunch. We also need to eat,” Zhang Haobai frowned and urged in the private courtyard of a townhouse villa in the community. He was wearing a white T shirt and white trousers, with three cold faced bodyguards standing beside him.
“Sir, do not rush. These are valuable furniture pieces, we cannot be careless. Guys, put in more effort,” one of the workers said from the road outside the courtyard, where a truck was parked carrying carefully packed wooden furniture.
In this era, wooden furniture is extremely expensive and considered a luxury only the wealthy can afford.
This is because humans mainly live inside base cities, where trees are extremely scarce and mostly planted for greening. Outside the base cities there are indeed many trees, but there are also monsters. The cost of cutting and transporting wood while fighting monsters is extremely high.
Most households now use plastic furniture, or at best glass products.
Wooden furniture is not something ordinary families can afford.
“Careful,” the workers from the decoration company carefully moved the heavy furniture from the truck to the ground, then carried it into the private courtyard.
“Be careful,” Zhang Haobai reminded again. “This is solid wood furniture made from high grade materials. If you damage it, your boss will not let you off.”
“Huff, huff.”
The three workers were struggling slightly. The furniture weighed over a thousand jin, and it was difficult even for three people to carry.
“Guys, take a short break, then we will carry it in one go,” one worker said. “Put it down here gently.”
The three carefully placed the furniture on the ground and finally straightened up, breathing heavily.
“Old Luo, I am starving,” one tall worker said, stretching.
“After this set, there are two more. Once we finish, we all go eat together,” Luo Hongguo said with a smile, wiping sweat from his forehead. It was July, almost one in the afternoon, the hottest time of day.
Carrying over a thousand jin of expensive furniture with three people was exhausting work.
“Hurry up!” Zhang Haobai urged impatiently.
“Alright,” Luo Hongguo bent down and grabbed the furniture. “Guys, one, two, three, lift.”
The three of them lifted it together and carefully carried it up the steps into the house. After a while, they came out again. As they passed Zhang Haobai and the others, the smell of sweat drifted over, making him frown.
“Poor people are just poor people. Doing this kind of hard labour, destined to do it for life,” Zhang Haobai thought coldly.
His father was wealthy, and he naturally looked down on people at the bottom of society doing manual labour. In his view, these people lacked ambition and deserved their hard life.
“Careful, do not hit the gate,” Luo Hongguo and the others continued carefully.
Their clothes were completely soaked with sweat. Beads of sweat rolled down their foreheads and into their collars.
“Rest outside for a moment,” Luo Hongguo said, setting the furniture down again.
“One, two, three, lift.”
Although tired, they were experienced workers of over twenty or thirty years. They knew their limits and rarely made mistakes.
Soon they moved on to the last set of furniture.
“So hot today,” Zhang Haobai looked up. “Brother Wang, let us go to the restaurant nearby later.”
“Thank you, young master,” the bodyguards replied with smiles.
Zhang Haobai glanced at the workers again and snorted. Then his eyes landed on a cracked marble tile in the courtyard. It had been damaged during sparring with his bodyguards a few days ago.
“Hm?” His eyes lit up. “Low on pocket money recently. This is a good opportunity.”
At that moment, Luo Hongguo and the others were carrying the third set of furniture.
Suddenly, a ringtone sounded.
Luo Hongguo’s face lit up. “It should be Xiao Feng calling.” But he could not answer while carrying the furniture, so he waited until they set it down.
“Rest here for a moment,” he said.
He took out his phone and saw that the caller was indeed his son. He smiled and prepared to call back.
“What are you doing?”
“Did I not tell you to be careful?”
A sharp shout suddenly rang out.
The three workers froze and turned around. Zhang Haobai had a dark expression and pointed angrily at the marble under the furniture.
“Look at this. You damaged my floor. This is Nan Shan marble, only obtainable from outside the base city. One piece costs over a hundred thousand. Can you afford that?”
The three men looked down and saw a crack on one of the marble tiles.
“This crack was already here,” the tall worker immediately said.
“Still arguing?” Zhang Haobai sneered.
Luo Hongguo frowned. He knew these disputes were troublesome. Without evidence, companies usually ended up paying compensation, and workers would have their wages deducted.
“Let us finish moving the furniture first,” Luo Hongguo said.
“Move it?” Zhang Haobai stepped forward and shoved him. “Do not play tricks. This is evidence. You want to move it in and deny everything? I have seen this kind of trick many times. Wait for your boss.”
“Old Luo!”
The other two workers quickly helped him up after he fell.
“I am fine,” Luo Hongguo said, rubbing his shoulder.
“Why did you push him?”
“Whether we broke it is not even clear yet!”
The two workers shouted angrily. They were rough men and would fight if provoked.
“Do not act tough!” Zhang Haobai suddenly kicked them both in the stomach.
Bang, bang.
The two men were kicked backwards and fell to the ground.
“Know your place,” Zhang Haobai said coldly. His family had influence in Yi An District. Beating a few workers meant nothing to him.
“Old Tian, Da Hou, are you alright?” Luo Hongguo panicked.
“You young man, how can you behave like this?” he shouted.
Zhang Haobai frowned at the smell of sweat and waved his hand. “Brother Wang, teach them a lesson. Make them quiet.”
“Sir, the decoration company is calling,” the bodyguard said, handing him the phone.
“Mm.” Zhang Haobai took it.
At that moment, Luo Hongguo and the others were being forced into a corner of the courtyard, covered in footprints.
Suddenly, a furious voice came from outside.
“Stop!”
A figure rushed into the courtyard.
Zhang Haobai immediately recognised him and shouted, “Luo Feng, you dare come here? Beat him!”
Luo Feng saw his father bent over in the corner, drenched in sweat, holding his stomach, covered in footprints.
His eyes turned red.
“You are asking for death!”
He shot forward and kicked one of the bodyguards heavily. The man tried to block with his arm, but was sent flying several metres and crashed to the ground.
Zhang Haobai stared. “Luo Feng, you dare hit my people in my house. You are courting death!”
“You are the one courting death,” Luo Feng roared, eyes filled with killing intent.