Chapter 66 – Extra: Drone Bees Xiang Jin & Lian Qiao
Lu Xiao’s face was dark. On his side were two lawyers and the Lu Group’s chief secretary—people who could sit down at any moment to negotiate hundred-billion–level projects. He was seriously here to drum up business, not to play matchmaker.
These were his wife’s clansmen—would he dare?
He really shouldn’t have brought single people along. He should have brought married ones. Married people were steadier, like him.
But Lu Xiao was only twenty-four. Most of the friends he hung out with weren’t married yet.
Lu Xiao said, “You’re done looking. Next location.”
The water’s surface suddenly trembled, disturbing someone’s once-still heart.
A fish slapped the water, bit the hook, and thrashed hard.
“A fish took the bait!” Xiang Jin jumped up at once, lifted the fishing rod stuck in the grass, and tried to drag the fish in.
But these wild, free-growing fish were astonishingly strong, pulling the rod into an extreme arc, stretched to its limit.
Normally, Xiang Jin would have been too lazy to struggle—if he couldn’t pull it up, forget it, he’d wait for the next willing fish. But today was different. Lu Xiao had already come over to urge them on—clearly the Queen Bee wanted to eat fish.
If the Queen Bee wanted fish, even the laziest drone had to try hard and make some tiny contribution.
“Must be a big one.” Lian Qiao, about to help, suddenly felt his own rod twitch. The float was dragged under. He vaguely saw a dark greenish-black big fish swim past—oh, he had one too.
Xiang Jin said, “Hurry and pull yours up. Two fish will be enough to eat.” Once they got them, they could go home today.
For a moment, Lu Xiao didn’t know whether they were talking about the fish in the water or the two fish on shore—either way, they were both stubborn.
The two beauties used all their strength, tugging on their rods, barefoot at the water’s edge, wobbling as they got closer and closer to the shore—until one foot stepped onto the edge of the water weeds.
Anyone with fishing experience knew there was an eighty-percent chance these two would be dragged into the water by the fish.
Fu Jin was exactly that experienced fisherman. “Careful!”
Gu Yunlang: “Let go!”
The two of them paled and rushed over like righteous heroes, helping to grab the rods—but it was too late. With a splash, the rods flew out of their hands, and Xiang Jin plunged into the fish pond.
The clear green surface burst into a white splash.
Fu Jin leapt in to rescue him.
Only a meter away, Lian Qiao still didn’t want to let go. He felt he was about to pull his up. Unlike Xiang Jin, whose fish was in the middle of the pond with the rod parallel to the water and slipping farther away, Lian Qiao’s rod was almost vertical, and the fish was already at the shore.
Today, no matter what, he had to catch a fish for the Queen Bee.
The next second, he—and the well-meaning helper with him—smashed into the water together, the splash even bigger than Xiang Jin’s.
And the true triathlon champion, Lu Xiao, stood on the shore—there was no room here for him to play the hero.
Not to mention that drones were very likely able to swim. These two weren’t panicking in the water at all, too lazy even to struggle. The scariest thing in a rescue is the person thrashing desperately and entangling the rescuer; with such cooperative rescuees, one rescuer was more than enough.
Fu Jin and Gu Yunlang each pulled one drone back to shore, half-kneeling at the water’s edge, brushing back their dripping wet hair.
Xiang Jin came to his senses. His rod had been dragged far away. He turned to go retrieve it.
Although they were good at catching fish by hand and fished occasionally, the Queen Bee had bought them professional rods—super expensive, far more valuable than the labor they were currently producing.
Fu Jin pressed his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
Xiang Jin’s whole face was wet, his lashes clumped together with water, looking very well-behaved. “Saving the fishing rod.”
Fu Jin glanced at where the rod was—not ideal. That meant competing with the fish for it. He took a deep breath. “Wait here.”
Fu Jin took off his suit jacket, tossed the soggy lump onto the shore, and turned to swim out.
Before Lian Qiao could say anything, Gu Yunlang felt himself controlled by some mysterious force. In silence, he released the hand around the other’s waist and dove into the water.
Lian Qiao: “?”
Lu Xiao closed his eyes to avoid being splashed. The two investors hadn’t come alone; they’d brought a driver.
The driver stared wide-eyed. Th-this… Even if the boss was anxious, he could’ve sent him into the water!
“So people outside the clan are mostly good people too.” Said Lian Qiao, the couch-potato who didn’t like going out into the world.
Xiang Jin nodded vigorously in agreement. There were indeed many good people.
Battling big fish plus falling into the water amounted to a short burst of intense exercise for drones.
The two sat by the water, panting. When they were rescued, they looked exactly the same as before—thin fabrics plastered to their bodies, expensive, looking like rags, yet actually precious runway pieces.
Many of Meng Xueyuan’s clothes had been given to clan members, but the treatment differed completely. Lin Xilan and Bai He’s would definitely be hand-washed or dry-cleaned; Xiang Jin and Lian Qiao’s all went straight into the washing machine together.
Custom suits were only for worker bees. Some clothes were only meant to be worn once at events—completely unsuitable for daily wear, extremely fragile. Giving such clothes to drones to wear casually only made them even more fragile in their hands.
A hole here, a hole there—drones weren’t picky anyway: fashionable and tattered at the same time.
After all this, who could still say it wasn’t a honey trap?
Lu Xiao had a hundred mouths and no way to explain. He felt like a safety supervisor.
While chaos reigned at the pond, Lu Xiao coldly picked up the landing net nearby and scooped up a fish that had swum to the shore—effortless. Much better than four people dumping themselves in like dumplings.
When Meng Xueyuan came looking, this was the indescribable scene he saw.
“Is it too hot, so you’re soaking in a bath?” Meng Xueyuan asked.
The next second, the two investors climbed ashore, dripping wet, dragging broken fishing lines. From the waist down they were still in suit pants, wrapping long legs—disheveled but handsome, like they’d just come up from a multi-million private pool. Cultured and polite, they said to the two drones, “Sorry, the big fish got away.”
Xiang Jin and Lian Qiao: N-no need to apologize.
Meng Xueyuan: “……”
In a low voice, Meng Xueyuan asked Lu Xiao, “Are these the investors you brought?”
Lu Xiao really didn’t want to admit it. “Yes.”
Meng Xueyuan: “They don’t look like it.”
Lu Xiao: “……”
He was building bridges and connections, not setting up blind dates. How was he supposed to explain this to his wife? This was a project his grandfather had approved. Lu Xiao had a lot of autonomy—except at the step involving his wife.
The resort would be right next to the Bee Clan’s village. As generations went by and bloodlines diluted, descendants might no longer like farming and want to pursue other livelihoods—but not want to leave their homeland. Having a uniquely advantaged tourist resort at their back would always be more conducive to getting rich.
The resort needed to control visitor numbers, target high-net-worth clients, and anchor a long-term reputation. It sounded like a money-losing project. Meng Xueyuan felt Lu Xiao was making a losing investment—unless there were two other investors who also believed in it.
Even more quietly, afraid of being overheard, Meng Xueyuan said, “I said I wanted clear-headed investors.”
He glanced at the investors wringing out their suit jackets. “I don’t think they’re very clear-headed.”
Lu Xiao felt stifled. Where could he go to argue this? He’d already brought the clearest-headed friends he had! His wife was smart; he didn’t dare fool him.
Who knew they’d suddenly become unclear-headed? The world of CEOs was just one big slapdash troupe!
Meng Xueyuan said, “Hurry back and change clothes. The water may be clear, but it’s not for bathing.”
Lu Xiao lifted the fish he’d caught and said to Meng Xueyuan, “I’ll make you pickled-cabbage fish for lunch. Mom pickled the cabbage herself—it’ll definitely taste good.”
Meng Xueyuan: “Okay.”
Xiang Jin and Lian Qiao scratched their cheeks in embarrassment. They hadn’t caught a single fish.
Meng Xueyuan escorted the two drones home, supervising so they wouldn’t dawdle.
The investors had brought spare clothes and followed Lu Xiao back to the Meng house to shower and change.
Lu Xiao waited at the door. After the two of them had drained the water from their heads, he spoke coldly: “Sorry you fell into the water. You’re incompatible with this place. The inspection is over.”
Incompatible?
Fu Jin wiped water from his hair and asked casually, “Did you calculate our compatibility?”
Our?
You and who? Whose compatibility are you trying to calculate?
Lu Xiao: “……”
Gu Yunlang said, “The mountains and waters here are special. We could inspect it a bit more.”
Fu Jin went further, nodding directly. “I’m investing in this project.”
Lu Xiao: “……” What you invest doesn’t count with my wife.
“Forget it. Let’s go eat first.”
On the second day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, workers were still off at home—but not idle. They volunteered to prep food in the cafeteria, like a workplace canteen, each person opening a small window.
The forensic doctor helped process Lu Xiao’s fish, slicing it thin and removing all the bones.
Lu Xiao gratefully took over, added the side ingredients, and boiled it. Soon, the pickled-cabbage fish was done.
He set a big basin of it on the table and used a small bowl to serve Meng Xueyuan some fish and soup.
Worker bees who loved Lu Xiao’s cooking gathered around to share the food. Drones didn’t eat fish—too lazy to pick out bones—unless it was fish prepared by the forensic doctor.
So the basin of fish was quickly finished.
President Fu took rice and two dishes and sat across from the beauty.
Xiang Jin lazily lifted his eyes. “Are you trying to hit on me?”
He and Lian Qiao had discussed it. They always felt these two weren’t just acting out of simple heroism—they both could swim, so why the rush?
Given that they couldn’t even fish properly, they felt it might be time to switch who they lived off of. Always relying on the Queen Bee wasn’t good. In the future, when the Queen Bee had a baby, as the only two drone uncles, they wouldn’t even have money to buy a one-month gift.
It was time to earn some money for a pair of gold bracelets.
“You buy gold bracelets, I’ll buy a gold lock.” The two lazybones put their heads together and happily decided on the spot. The other party was good-looking too.
Xiang Jin: “If you don’t answer, I’m leaving.”
Fu Jin: “!”
Beside them, Lian Qiao said, “Xiang Jin, you said it wrong. It’s keeping.”
Xiang Jin: “Oh, sorry. Keeping.”
Lian Qiao: “You don’t have partners, right?”
Gu Yunlang blurted out, “No…”
Lian Qiao: “Then are you interested?”
Gu Yunlang felt something was off. “I…”
The two of them played off each other so smoothly that both CEOs were left bewildered.
Fu Jin frowned. This wasn’t what he had in mind, but… the other party looked short on patience and about to bolt. And honestly, he wasn’t especially close with Gu Yunlang. This kind of thing couldn’t really be discussed together. If he was a step slower, what he fancied might be snapped up first.
Fu Jin: “…I am.”
Xiang Jin broke into a pure smile and waved. “Xilan! Come draft the contract.”
Lian Qiao’s abacus beads were practically showing on his face. “It’s an unconditional gift contract.”
Lin Xilan: “…Th-this, I need to ask your mom.”
Xiang Jin: “My mom will definitely agree.”
Lin Xilan felt complicated. How to put it—drones willing to leave the village and venture out into the world had good intentions and should be encouraged. They could settle the money with President Fu and President Gu to encourage the drones’ first desire to earn money.
Xiang Jin: “We went to university. We should cost more.”
Fu Jin: “……”
Xiang Jin asked Lian Qiao, “What’s the monthly salary for college students now?”
Lian Qiao tested the CEOs’ bottom line. “Two thousand a month, with food and lodging?”
Gu Yunlang: “……”
Lian Qiao thought, after all, they had no work experience—front-desk wages seemed appropriate.
The Queen Bee’s baby hadn’t even been conceived yet. They had at least ten months. They could save up twenty thousand before the baby was born.
That was about right. Let’s set the term at ten months.
Under Xiang Jin and Lian Qiao’s guidance, Lin Xilan drafted a contract for a ten-month term at a monthly salary of two thousand. If they were fired midway, they’d get N+1—obviously, just one extra month’s two thousand.
Fu Jin and Gu Yunlang signed with complicated expressions.
Wait—were they being scammed out of money?
Lu Xiao: “……”
Is that how contracts are signed? Is that how lawyers are used? He felt like he was watching two CEOs at a regular barbershop, being coaxed by two beautiful salon directors working in tandem to buy a membership card—while pig-teammates nearby also wanted to compete for the card. At that moment, no one would blink paying whatever it cost. What could a ten-month card even do? A few business trips and it’d be expired.
Lu Xiao swore to his wife, “Honey, this has nothing to do with me at all! I didn’t profit from this!”
Meng Xueyuan: “….”
I know.
