"Tongtong, what are you doing?" Liu Yifeng stood in the yard, performing a horse stance like an obedient soldier.
"Dad, squat a bit lower, use your waist, and hold it for fifteen minutes," Tongtong instructed without answering Liu Yifeng's question.
Liu Yifeng only managed to squat for two minutes before feeling tired. Just as he was about to sneak a rest, Tongtong immediately caught his thought and stopped him, "Dad, no standing up. You only need to hold it for eight minutes."
"Tongtong, why are you suddenly making me do horse stances?" Liu Yifeng, still full of questions, couldn't understand.
Tongtong hadn't mentioned anything to him on the way, so he was caught off guard by the horse stance.
Tongtong then replied, "I want to teach Dad some self-defense skills. The horse stance is the fundamental exercise, the entry-level. Only when you master the horse stance can you control and absorb the subsequent moves. Otherwise, it's just for show, looks good but is useless."
This made Liu Yifeng a bit confused, "Tongtong, why did you suddenly decide to teach Dad kung fu?"
"I have my reasons for teaching Dad. Would I harm Dad?"
"Dad doesn't mean that. It's just too sudden, and we don't have any enemies. We don't need to learn kung fu," Liu Yifeng had completely forgotten what happened at kindergarten and with Li Dongmei. If he knew some kung fu, he would have been the one to intervene, not Huang Yao.
Liu Chunsheng, walking out from the living room, said, "Yifeng, just do as Tongtong says and do the horse stance. Why so much nonsense? Isn't it good to learn kung fu? You can protect yourself in case of any emergencies. I think you're just lazy."
"No, I was just asking. I'm doing the horse stance obediently," Liu Yifeng no longer had any thought of backing down. He felt his father's words were quite reasonable; if something happened in the future, he wouldn't be like a lamb to the slaughter. He couldn't always rely on Tongtong to save him; what kind of father would he be then? Fortunately, he had been taking the compound he developed lately, which had improved his stamina, otherwise, he really couldn't endure this. It had only been five minutes, and his legs were already trembling, but he persisted.
Tongtong, like a drill instructor, kept an eye on him, correcting his movements from time to time. He also trained Da Bai and Da Hei nearby. The two dogs were full of energy and could keep up with his every command, no matter how he pushed them. They would lie down, stand up, jump in place, or run in circles around the yard. It wasn't surprising that Da Bai could understand Tongtong's instructions, having been together for such a long time. But Da Hei's ability to understand also surprised Liu Yifeng. Da Hei had only been with them for about a week, yet it could understand Tongtong's commands and was so obedient.
Unknowingly, fifteen minutes had passed. Liu Yifeng's arms were sore, and his legs felt like they no longer belonged to him. Only when Tongtong said they could stop did he collapse onto the ground, exhausted. He wondered who invented such a torturous exercise. It looked easy, but in practice, few people could sustain it for ten minutes. He was fortunate to have been taking the compound for a while; otherwise, he would have given up after seven or eight minutes.
"Look how weak you are, you can't even last ten minutes!" Liu Chunsheng scoffed at his son lying on the ground.
Liu Yifeng smiled wryly, "Dad, it's easy for you to say. You try it yourself and see how tiring it is."
"Dad, I'll train your basic skills first. Once you've mastered the horse stance, I'll teach you moves. I can't guarantee you'll be able to fight ten people, but you should be able to handle three or five," Tongtong said from the side.
Liu Yifeng stood up, "Tongtong, once Dad learns kung fu, I can protect you."
His father immediately chimed in again, "Your son is teaching you kung fu, who knows who will be protecting whom." This left Liu Yifeng speechless, as it seemed to be the truth. Tongtong, upon hearing this, burst into laughter.
The next morning, Liu Yifeng drove out. He planned to do some major shopping today and buy everything needed for the vegetable greenhouses. He specifically called Lu Fei to ask him to accompany him. Coincidentally, Lu Fei was on vacation and readily agreed. However, Lu Fei wasn't at home but at the hotel that Liu Yifeng had helped him secure previously. He had gone to the county town the day before and had been looking for a job for a day. Unexpectedly, the job market was much harder than he had imagined. For the same work and the same position, the salary was thirty percent less than at his previous company, and sometimes even half. Although he had guessed that it was a small city and not comparable to a big city, the difference was too great, making it difficult for him to accept. It was like someone earning three to four thousand yuan a month suddenly switching to a job with only about two thousand yuan; few people could accept such a disparity. Therefore, he planned to keep looking. If he couldn't find anything suitable, he would have no choice but to work with Yifeng.
After confirming with Liu Yifeng, he drove directly to the hotel to pick up Lu Fei. On the way to Hongcheng Grand Market, he also asked Lu Fei about his job search. Lu Fei couldn't help but wipe his face with his hand, "Don't even mention it. Finding a job is much harder than I expected. As you know, I only have a junior college degree, which isn't very high. Many better companies prioritize academic qualifications, and I've been rejected by quite a few companies based on this alone."
"But work experience is the most important, isn't it? With your strong work experience, finding a high-paying job shouldn't be difficult," Liu Yifeng thought that with Lu Fei's capabilities, finding a job with comparable pay shouldn't be an issue. However, judging by Lu Fei's demeanor, it seemed he had faced many rejections.
Lu Fei smiled helplessly, "Work experience is indeed important, but academic qualifications are the stepping stone. Without this stepping stone, people don't recognize your true abilities. Besides, my abilities aren't that outstanding; at most, I can help the company increase its performance a bit."
"Since that's the case, then don't waste your time looking. Just come and work with me. My vegetable greenhouses are about to start planting. I've developed a new technology that allows any vegetable to be harvested in about a month, and the yield is astonishing. With over sixty mu of land, we can produce at least several million catties of vegetables. Selling these vegetables in a short period will also be a problem. I plan to have you help me find markets, preferably to open up channels in other provinces and make our greenhouse vegetables famous. This way, no matter how many vegetables we grow in the future, we can sell them and won't have to worry about overstocking."
"You're quite something, kid. A harvest in a month? That's incredibly efficient. Since you need people so badly, I'll join you. Just give me a reasonable salary," Lu Fei genuinely wanted to help Liu Yifeng expand his channels to other provinces.
Liu Yifeng had been waiting for Lu Fei to say this. He immediately smiled and said, "You're a true brother. Don't worry, I won't treat you unfairly regarding salary. I'll treat you as a sales manager, with a base salary of eight thousand yuan per month, plus sales commissions. I'll give you a 0.5% commission, and for the performance you achieve, I'll give you a 1% equity bonus from my personal shares. I know 0.5% commission might seem small, but if you sell a lot, the commission will be an astonishing amount." Liu Yifeng had already calculated this. For example, if Lu Fei sold two million yuan worth of goods in a month, at a 0.5% commission, it would be ten thousand yuan. Moreover, to be honest, his vegetables tasted so good that selling them wouldn't be a problem. He was already selling sixty to seventy thousand yuan worth of vegetables to Longteng Hotel every day.