Chapter 611: Plans
Bai Jianbei stayed up all night in the study. Early the next morning, he showed up at Bai Suihe’s courtyard bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, blocking the entrance.
Seeing his brother-in-law in such a state, Gu Kaiyuan felt a fleeting moment of sympathy before quickly finding an excuse to flee the scene.
He knew exactly what kind of schemes this sister-brother duo was concocting, and he was terrified of being drafted for free labor. He still had to keep an eye on the shipyard.
All his energy and enthusiasm were currently poured into the shipyard. As for the matters at home, he was more than happy to let Bai Suihe handle them. With the Bai family’s intelligence and natural talent, he was confident nothing would go wrong.
Even though they had already recruited a large number of shipwrights, it was still far from enough. After checking on the shipyard, he planned to head to the nearby fishing villages to recruit more hands.
“Sis, this is the business plan I wrote up based on what you said,” Bai Jianbei said, eagerly slapping a thick stack of paper onto the table in front of Bai Suihe.
Bai Suihe was stunned. “You wrote all this in one night? Did you even sleep?”
“I just got into the flow of it. It was actually pretty interesting, so I ended up staying up without realizing it.” Bai Jianbei didn’t think it was a big deal. His eldest brother frequently pulled all-nighters, after all.
“Hurry up and go to sleep. We can discuss the details after I’ve read through it,” she urged.
“Make sure you read it carefully and point out any shortcomings. I think this method is actually quite brilliant. Having everything documented in writing is great. I’ll have to mention it to Eldest Brother later.
“In the future, we can delegate tasks like this to our subordinates so we don’t have to exhaust ourselves…”
Seeing that he was going to keep rambling on, Bai Suihe had no choice but to have Nanny Pang step in and drag him away. She also made sure to light some soothing incense in his room; what he needed most right now was sleep.
“Mom, Uncle Jianbei is so pitiful,” Gu Xingyang chimed in. “I can totally see the shadow of a corporate wage slave in him…”
Bai Suihe nodded in agreement. “I’m his older sister; it’s not like I’d ever harm him. But naturally, he has to experience the same hardships I did…”
Gu Xingyang paused speechlessly before asking, “…Mom, you’re such a good sister. I want to be a good older sister in the future, too.
“By the way, Mom, when are you going to give me a few little brothers to play with?”
Little brothers were wonderful things. If she had a few of them, couldn’t she just coast through life and delegate all the hard work to them?
Bai Suihe was amused. “Little brothers are meant to be doted on, not treated like beasts of burden.”
“Does your conscience not hurt when you say that, Mom? How about we call Uncle Jianbei back and have a serious discussion about this?”
Bai Suihe tapped her daughter’s little nose. “Mom didn’t have a choice. Who told me to have such a thin foundation? I had no option but to sponge off your two uncles.
“But you’re different. With your intelligence and all those grand declarations you made before, your father and I are still waiting to enjoy a life of luxury because of you. In the future, your little brothers can just ride your coattails to the top…”
Completely oblivious to the fact that she had just jumped straight into her daughter’s trap, Bai Suihe watched as Gu Xingyang happily clapped her hands. “Mom, you just promised to give me a little brother!”
“…” Bai Suihe paused. “When did I ever promise that?”
“Mom, just think back on what we were just talking about…”
Bai Suihe’s expression shifted unpredictably before she finally forced an explanation. “I was just caught up in the flow of the conversation. Having you is already enough for me.”
She never expected that the first person to pressure her into having another child would be her own daughter. It was both exasperating and hilarious.
Gu Xingyang said, “But Mom, don’t you think it’s too lonely with just me?
“Look at you—you have little brothers to bully. Who am I going to bully when the time comes?”
Bai Suihe was dumbfounded. “So you want brothers just so you can bully them?”
Gu Xingyang quickly clarified, afraid of scaring her mother. “Of course not. I’m just worried about being lonely. If something happens in the future, I won’t even have anyone to discuss it with.
“Besides, this is ancient times. People here believe that more children bring more blessings, and brothers are a girl’s greatest support after she gets married. Look, even in modern society, there are still plenty of families with no male heirs being preyed upon…”
“Stop right there. You’re going too far. Is there anyone in this world who would actually dare to bully you?” Bai Suihe found the very idea unacceptable. Honestly, having another child wasn’t completely off the table. “At worst, I’ll just raise a few child-grooms for you when the time comes. You can just keep the child and ditch the father.”
This highly unorthodox and rebellious idea made Gu Xingyang giggle uncontrollably. “Mom, are you going to tell Dad you said that?”
Having lived in the modern era for so long in her previous life, this kind of talk was nothing to Gu Xingyang. She didn’t find anything wrong with it. However, she was afraid that Gu Kaiyuan, a genuine ancient traditionalist, wouldn’t be able to handle it.
“Uh…”
No matter how much Gu Kaiyuan doted on his daughter, he probably wouldn’t dare entertain such thoughts. If he found out, who knew how he would react?
Gu Xingyang quickly stopped her. “Mom, that’s a very dangerous thought. You need to reel that in right now. My dad is in the prime of his life; we can’t scare him into an early grave.
“Even though he hasn’t read many books, he was still raised on ancient etiquette and laws. These ideas would be completely shocking to him. We have to take things one step at a time.”
Bai Suihe replied, “I was only thinking out loud. It’s not like I’m actually going to do it. But don’t worry, your dad loves you very much. He’s already having people specially trained for you so you’ll never be bullied in the future.
“If all else fails, we’ll just find a few large islands. When the time is right, you can just claim an island and declare yourself queen.”
Gu Xingyang giggled happily. “Mom, if I become queen one day, I’ll definitely confer the title of Supreme Emperor upon you.”
“…How about you go say that to your dad?” Bai Suihe suggested dryly.
The mother and daughter finished chatting and collapsed onto the bed, holding each other as they laughed. Little did they know that their wild flights of fancy today might actually become a reality in the future.
Transporting fresh seafood required ice—and a massive amount of it at that. The supply they had brought with them was no longer going to cut it, so they needed to start taking action in the mountains behind Tian Village.
This required the most loyal of workers. Just as they were fretting over how to cultivate a group of devoted subordinates, Yun Ni arrived with several hundred people.
Looking at the large crowd of men, women, and children of all ages, Bai Suihe found it incredible. In less than a year, Yun Ni had managed to train all these people for them?
Gu Kaiyuan didn’t offer much of an explanation, simply leading the group away to settle them in.
However, with so many people, they could only temporarily camp out in the village’s open clearings as a transitional measure.
Gu Kaiyuan returned after settling the newcomers and explained to Bai Suihe, “I’m planning to send some of them to the island first.
“I originally thought about just expanding this small fishing village, but now it seems there’s no need for that.”
“That works too,” Bai Suihe said. “The island is a decent size and has fresh water. But the weather at sea is unpredictable, so we need to be fully prepared.”
The last time they went out to sea, they had encountered the tail end of a minor typhoon. Even then, the massive waves it whipped up had been absolutely terrifying.
If they wanted to settle down safely on the island, they would have to live in the caves like the previous Japanese pirates had. Otherwise, there would be no way to survive the relentless onslaught of typhoon weather.