Chapter 243: Echoes of the Hometown

These past few days, Xu Chen has been completely free, driving that somewhat outdated Nissan Teana all over town without a care.

This car was originally assigned to the former acting factory manager, Jin Guiyuan, and it’s clear it had been modified.

Nissan’s Teana is known as the ‘Emperor’s Ride,’ focusing on comfort with a suspension tuned for a soft, cushy feel.

Yet, driving this Teana felt more powerful than the Magotan or Camry Xu Chen had tried recently—probably due to some tweaks.

Though Tiancheng isn’t large, cruising around in the car revealed how little he’d actually explored it in his past life.

In his previous life, he spent his first eighteen years studying, then moved away, only returning once or twice a year after that.

The word ‘hometown’ mostly lingered in his filtered memories.

Now, revisiting it in 2006, he felt a fresh wave of emotions.

…

The South City Highway wasn’t open yet, so Xu Chen looped around, ‘inspecting’ the Xu family’s nursery projects.

Many workers still recognized ‘the boss’s son,’ so he stayed in the car to avoid disrupting the construction.

The nursery base in West of the City had expanded, and that day Xu Chen loaded the trunk with fresh fruits and delivered them to his Maternal Uncle, Zhang Yongqing.

These past two months, Zhang Yongqing had been living mainly at the West of the City base, content with his days tending to plants and flowers.

Xu Zhiquan kept trying to set Zhang Yongqing up with a wife, but he panicked and refused, as if marriage would ruin his time with the greenery.

Fourth Uncle Xu Zhilin and Fourth Aunt were busy managing the various projects, always on the go.

The troubles at Beishan had long been resolved, and later Xu Zhiquan even turned the two families that caused issues into suppliers for Chenxin Nurseries.

Now, when Fourth Uncle Xu Zhilin visits, they roll out the welcome mat.

Xu Chen bought a box of fine cigarettes and a box of premium tea, delivering them to Fourth Uncle at the town’s factory grounds; he was grinning ear to ear and insisted on sharing a dinner.

Xu Zhiquan is a generous boss, and once Chenxin Nurseries took off, he quickly increased the salaries for Xu Zhilin and Zhang Yongqing.

…

Xu Chen sneaked back to the small village where he was born and checked out the old mud-brick house from his childhood.

The house was unlivable now, but Xu Zhiquan still came back yearly to clear the weeds.

The stone mill at the old house’s entrance still sat there, and according to Xu Zhiquan, it had been around since his own childhood.

The village was mostly left with elders; the young had moved to the town or city, or gone out to work.

The primary school Xu Chen attended was abandoned; he glanced from afar and saw it had become a scrap yard.

That evening, Xu Chen brought some preserved fruits and snacks, sat by his mother’s grave, and shared stories about starting university.

He even mentioned Xie Bingran.

His mother passed away very early, so Xu Chen’s memories of her were hazy, pieced together mostly from his father’s scattered tales.

In his past life, when he left home at eighteen, he hadn’t properly said goodbye.

This time, after wandering around, he felt like he’d finally made that farewell.

…

Xu Zhiquan was away on a business trip.

So that night, Xu Chen didn’t go home and instead drove to South River Village.

In the darkness, he crouched down, removed the loose brick at the corner, and quietly opened the door to the Xie family old house.

It felt like he was sneaking around…

Xie Bingran was preparing for a competition, and Xu Chen didn’t want to disturb her focus, so he kept his distance.

She wasn’t in Beijing; she had gone with her team to the Qinhuangdao training base for intensive preparation.

…

The night was bathed in moonlight, just like the night they first held each other.

Xu Chen set up a mosquito net on the south room’s roof, laid out a mat, and stretched out comfortably.

Rolling over to his side, he realized his hands and arms felt empty.

He tried different positions for his arms but couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep.

It hit him then why Xie Bingran used to hug that backpack to sleep.

Unfortunately, tonight he hadn’t brought the big wolf dog plush toy.

He really missed her…

…

…

That morning, Xu Chen was in his office at Jinfeng Business Tower.

The whole office was mostly used by Xu Chen and Fang Jun, with Xu Zhiquan dropping by occasionally for meetings.

Xu Chen sat at the computer, browsing his work email.

Black Duke Marketing had assigned a new project director to handle the Fuyan Jie ad video, and they sent over the first rough cut.

Xu Chen reviewed it quickly; there were no major issues, just some minor shot adjustments, which he emailed back.

The new creative director, Liu Zheng, was someone Xu Chen knew from his past life.

Back then, when Xu Chen joined Black Duke, Liu Zheng was already a group director, and he still held that title now.

Regarding Li Fengfeng’s situation, Black Duke Marketing provided an official update.

They re-evaluated the ongoing projects with Renhe and offered a substantial compensation package.

Xu Chen glanced at the amount; it basically wiped out profits from those projects and even required extra payouts.

To keep Renhe as a long-term client and protect their industry reputation, Black Duke made some sacrifices.

Gu Xinxi also mentioned that Black Duke’s executives flew to Shanghai to personally apologize to Lu Wenhua and Zhao Nan.

Li Fengfeng was fired, and his misconduct was reported to the 4A Advertising Association, making it tough for him to return to the ad world.

Any illegal aspects would need time for official investigation.

Black Duke’s general manager, Wang Longchao, faced consequences; he kept his job but lost all year-end bonuses and stock incentives.

Xu Chen checked his emails and found that Lu Wenhua and Zhao Nan had each sent him thank-you notes a couple of days ago.

They praised East Morning Star Advertising’s professionalism and specifically thanked Xu Chen for his dedication on the ad project, which prevented budget losses and ensured quality.

Xu Chen thought for a moment and replied to both, humbly stating it was just part of the job.

…

Sun Aimi’s project was moving along nicely.

The logos for ‘Chenfeng Technology’ and ‘Chenfeng Ice Power’ were nearly done.

She presented a few creative options for Xu Chen to choose from, and he went with the sleek, high-tech one.

He was genuinely impressed; Sun Aimi had a great sense for creativity and design.

The ‘Chenfeng Technology’ logo used the first letters of ‘Chenfeng’ to form a stylized graphic, evoking ideas of ‘dawn’ and ‘fresh breeze’—truly clever.

For the electric vehicle category, which uses clean energy, it naturally tied in with those dawn and breeze themes.

The design was simple and flat, making it easy to adapt for various uses.

The ‘Chenfeng Ice Power’ logo, based on the first model’s name, featured stylized text.

It had a dynamic feel, suggesting sharpness, speed, and agility.

It matched Xie Bingran’s image perfectly…

Xu Chen was thrilled with both logos and showered ‘Teacher Aimi’ with praise.

As a recent graduate, Sun Aimi beamed at the compliments, gaining a big boost in confidence.

Once the logos were set, the core of the design plan was locked in.

The rest involved extending the visuals and building the full VI system—it was mostly grunt work.

Sun Aimi breathed a sigh of relief.

…

…

Around noon, Xu Zhiquan and Yang Congxin returned from their trip and called a meeting at the park, specifically inviting Xu Chen.

Xu Chen grabbed a quick bite downstairs and drove over to Chenfeng Technology Park.

Stepping into the main conference room of the Comprehensive Building, he saw Xu Zhiquan happily handing out some northern pastries he’d brought from Beijing.

The room wasn’t crowded—just the key people.

Yang Congxin, along with two product tech managers, Fang Jun, and Guo Liang.

Guo Liang had accepted the invitation from Chenfeng Technology, leaving his career in the pharmaceutical industry to dive into tech.

A couple of days ago, Xu Zhiquan hosted a welcome event for him.

In his first few days, Guo Liang reorganized the former Bright Factory sales team, assigning new roles and tasks.

The challenges were significant, but Guo Liang was clearly excited.

Xu Zhiquan might seem easygoing and sturdy, but he’s a boss with strong charisma and focus, always enthusiastic about his work.

Anyone spending time with him gets caught up in his ‘personal magnetism.’

This is probably one of Xu Zhiquan’s natural strengths.

In a way, he has a born ‘leader’ ability.

Plus, Xu Chen had noticed that since acquiring Bright Factory, his father Xu Zhiquan’s business vision and skills had grown immensely.

He was no longer just the ‘village rich guy’ running a factory in town.

‘Success’ truly nourishes people.

…

‘Come try this—supposedly only the old empress dowager could get her hands on it!’

What Xu Zhiquan brought back from Beijing were some exquisite traditional northern pastries.

Black sesame peach crisps, date paste sesame cakes, golden sugar cubes, scholar biscuits, shaqima…

Xu Chen popped a few into his mouth—they were sweet, soft, and delicious.

He couldn’t help thinking of Xie Bingran and wished he could feed some to that soft-lipped foodie.

…

Xu Zhiquan brought good news: the Brushless DC Hub Motor from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Physics Institute was officially bought out.

The price dropped from eight million to four million after negotiations and help from Wu Yongming.

The first payment was two million, with the rest payable in a year.

Financially, it didn’t put much strain on Chenfeng Technology.