After leaving the Pai Gow group, the four of them walked out of the main courtyard and wandered around outside.

Xia Jingguo teased, "Fifth Brother, I heard your business is huge. How did you manage to do that?"

After a game of Pai Gow, Xia Jingxing's intelligence was diagnosed as being at the bottom of the Xia family's hierarchy. How did such a simpleton manage to make his business thrive? Xia Jingguo was very curious.

When it comes to doing business, it's like hitting Xia Jingxing's sweet spot; his eyebrows practically danced with excitement.

Xia Jingxing: "Doing business is so much fun. You can bring things from other places here and sell them here, and the price can be several times higher. That's how my fourth brother and I earned our first capital."

"After that, it's just buying land, building houses, and selling them—it's as easy as picking up money... But why doesn't Wenqing do something so easy? Why does he have to keep an eye on things at home?"

When Xia Jingxing was having a good time, he suddenly thought of Xia Wenqing, who was keeping a close eye on the Xia family's businesses, and his mood soured.

Why fixate on Rujia's little bit of money when it's so easy to make money?

It can only be said that even Xia Jingxing, who had experienced a decade of downturn, still did not understand the difficulty of making money for ordinary people.

After all, during his ten-year low period, the only people he associated with were the Xia family and Wei Hanjie, and none of them were truly ordinary people.

And since they were in a peaceful place like Shangfen Brigade, no one had ever deliberately made things difficult for them.

Xia Jingxing's food and drink at that time were several times better than those of Huang, the brigade leader, who was one of the bigwigs in the brigade at the time.

While Captain Huang was happy to have a meal of meat, Xia Jingxing, except for his first year at the Shangfen Brigade, started eating meat every day after Yu Rujia and others made meat sauce and jerky.

He didn't have the opportunity to understand the lives of ordinary people.

After his identity was restored, the Xia family supported him for two years, and he also did business with Xia Jingshu.

Their extraordinary skills, unlike those of ordinary people, allow them to remain calm and composed even when facing petty thugs and bandits who would make ordinary people tremble.

He never imagined that Xia Wenqing's family would be forced to start a business by petty thugs, assuming that everyone had the same confidence as him to travel freely between the north and south.

He believes that what should be taken for granted is not so easy for ordinary people to do.

However, his brother's attention was not on his claim that money was easy to earn, but rather on his last sentence, and the group stopped in their tracks.

Xia Jingsheng: "You've seen Wen Qing?"

Xia Jingfan: "Wenqing is back?"

Xia Jingfan spends most of the year away from home and only returned a couple of days ago. No one mentioned Xia Wenqing to him, so he had no idea she had come back.

Xia Jingguo's situation was the same as Xia Jingfan's; he, too, had not received any news of Xia Wenqing returning home while in Jiangcheng.

Xia Jingguo: "Fifth Brother, what's going on?"

Xia Jingxing's words were spoken unintentionally in his moment of disappointment. By the time he realized what he had said, it was too late to take them back. His three brothers were waiting for his reply.

Left with no other choice, Xia Jingxing told Xia Wenqing that he had been approached twice.

Xia Jingsheng said with exasperation, "Jingxing, are you confused? Even if you couldn't let go of her before, you could tell from her repeated visits home that she harbored a lot of hostility towards Rujia."

"If your mother finds out you're seeing her, she'll break your legs, won't she?"

Xia Jingxing felt wronged: "I wasn't there when she came back earlier, and none of you told me. I only found out she had gone home when I was talking to her from behind."

Aren't he and them family? Wenqing has been here for so long, why didn't you tell him?

Xia Jingfan glanced sideways: "Didn't you tell Jingxing?"

Xia Jingsheng was a little embarrassed: "I didn't tell him. There are so many people in the family. I thought someone else would tell him."

He's busy with company matters every day, so he really doesn't see Xia Jingxing very often.

He thought that Xia Jingxing, who was often with the children, would tell him, but to his surprise, none of them said anything.

Xia Jingguo glared at him: "So, if Fifth Brother hadn't inadvertently mentioned this today, were you not planning to tell us either?"

Xia Jingsheng laughed awkwardly. He really hadn't intended to specifically bring Xia Wenqing up to talk to others.

I decided to pretend she didn't exist more than a decade ago, and she hasn't shown any remorse since she came back. There's really no need to bring her up and spoil the mood.

Xia Jingfan said calmly, "If that's her attitude, then we'll just avoid contact with her in the future."

They had all tacitly agreed that Yu Rujia would take over the Xia family's business.

Yu Rujia not only saved them, but also raised Xia Jingshu's child with him.

Xia Jingfan works within the system. Although he doesn't earn as much as his three brothers who are businessmen, he's not so poor that he can't support himself on his salary.

Moreover, his two sons are both very good at making money, and he is the one who earns the least among the three members of the family;

His parents are strong and healthy, and they earn more than him;

Xia Jingfan has no need to support his parents or raise his children; he's so busy with work that he doesn't have time to spend money. That's the kind of person who's described.

In this situation, if he were to fall out with Yu Rujia over some family business, he would despise himself.

Xia Jingxing: "I have no intention of contacting her."

Xia Jingsheng: "From what you've said, Wenqing harbors resentment towards Rujia and is convinced that Rujia got together with Jingshu to take advantage of her kindness. If that's the case, she should find an opportunity to see Jingshu."

Xia Jingguo: "There's no such thing as taking advantage of someone's kindness. It was clearly my brother who insisted on going there. Even if she met my brother, what could she gain? She would just have one more person dislike her."

Having lived in Shangfen Brigade for so long, he knew very well which way his brother's winds blew.

Time flies when you're playing with others; before you know it, it's midnight, and the sound of firecrackers going off outside fills the air.

Xu Xiangyue: "Is it already twelve o'clock?"

Han Meifeng: "Yes, the new year has arrived."

Gao Xiujuan turned around and noticed that a table of people was missing: "Huh, where did they go?"

Yu Rujia: "Let's go out for a stroll and stretch our arms and legs too."

Han Meifeng: "It's much colder outside than inside, so wear a couple more layers."

In the northern winter, the outside temperature drops to several degrees below zero. Even with a temperature-controlled enclosure in the yard, it barely breaks the zero-degree mark and is still cold.

They possess internal energy, but that doesn't mean they can't sense the cold; they're just a little more resistant to it than the average person.

The family gathered together, and several braziers were placed in the house to warm it up a bit.

As soon as they stepped outside, a gust of cold wind greeted them.

Yu Rujia rubbed his hands together: "I've been back in Beijing for a few years now, and every time this happens, I especially miss the Shangfen Brigade."

Xu Xiangyue: "The weather there is indeed more livable than here. In winter, the temperature is above 10 degrees Celsius for most of the time. I lived there for ten years and never saw snow."