Li Jinfeng happened to overhear this from next door and immediately said, "Auntie, come eat here. I've already killed the chicken, so don't bother with all that work. You can come and eat with me too."

"How come you're so fast? I just finished preparing everything, thinking about killing the chicken tonight," Kang Yinhua said. "You're too quick."

"What have you prepared?" Li Jinfeng asked.

"We didn't make any preparations since it's neither a holiday nor a festival. Live chickens and ducks can't be put on the train, and slaughtered ones can't be released easily. All we have are two oil drums of eggs and twenty or thirty catties of peanuts."

Mr. He quickly said, "Sister-in-law, please don't prepare any more. I can't carry all of this in just my two hands. We're coming back for the New Year."

Li Jinfeng paused for a moment and then said, "That's fine too. You guys make a lot of money outside and get rich. When you come back for the New Year, you can bring back a lot of local products."

"Haha, thank you for your kind words, sister-in-law."

...

The house had been uninhabited for a long time and was covered in dust. Mr. He hadn't planned to cook anything, just intending to have a bowl of instant noodles for dinner. He hadn't expected the neighbors to be so welcoming.

That evening, Mr. He ate at Li Jinfeng's house. There was not only chicken but also poached eggs and stir-fried peppers, which smelled delicious.

He Hui's father also bought a few bottles of beer. He's father couldn't hold his liquor and was out of control after just two drinks.

Before he had finished his meal, several card players from the village came over and called for Uncle He to play cards again.

"No fighting, no fighting, you guys play."

He Zhongliang reached out and pulled his father: "Come on, don't be so hesitant. It's just playing cards, not asking you to go to a brothel."

"I'm really not going to fight. My pockets are emptier than my face. I'm not lying to you."

Beiqiao didn't believe it and said, "Are you pretending with us? Are you afraid we'll borrow money from you?"

Mr. He: "We really have no money. We just bought a small, old house in the countryside, and we still owe a lot of money."

"It takes skill to borrow money; we can't even borrow if we wanted to," He Zhongliang said. "Let's go. If you don't have money, go gamble. With your lucky hands, what are you afraid of!"

Beiqiao: "If you really don't have any, I'll lend you some. I'm leaving now, don't spoil the fun."

As Beiqiao spoke, he pulled He's father outside.

Mr. He was initially somewhat tempted, but He Beiqiao's words, "I'll lend it to you," instantly roused him.

Her daughter He Wenlin's words seemed to echo in her ears: "Be careful if someone lends you money to gamble; you might just be the pig in that pig's eye!"

"I'm not going, I really'm not going. You guys go, I need to talk to Brother Yong about something." Father He shook his head repeatedly. He didn't want to be the pig in the pig-slaughtering scam!

After Mr. He said that, He Dayong chimed in, "You guys go and fight, it's not like we don't have enough people. I need to talk to Daming about something."

He Zhongliang: "Why can't we talk about this after we finish playing cards?"

He Beiqiao: "Are you discussing how to get rich?"

"How could I possibly have that ability?" Mr. He laughed. "I may appear successful on the surface, but I'm actually drowning in debt. I'm planning to borrow money to buy a house. By the way, you two have money to gamble with every day, why don't you lend me some?"

"You, a big boss, still need to borrow money from two poor folks like us? Don't be ridiculous," He Zhongliang laughed. "You should lend us money."

He Beiqiao: "Exactly, a big boss borrowing money, isn't that ridiculous?"

Just then, Scarface came over and called for a card game. He Zhongliang and He Beiqiao said, "If you're not going to play, we'll call someone else."

After saying that, the two people left.

Mr. He breathed a sigh of relief.

After the man walked away, He Dayong whispered, "You should play less cards. There are a lot of traps these days. A cousin of mine used to raise pigs and made some money. Good heavens, he played cards all night and lost over six thousand yuan! Over six thousand yuan!"

He Dayong, an outsider, feels heartbroken just thinking about it.

For families like theirs, farming at home, they're lucky if they can save six hundred a year.

“Now that you’ve bought a house and are coming back to transfer your household registration, everyone will definitely assume you’ve made a lot of money. Be careful,” Li Jinfeng kindly reminded her.

“Yes, I know what I'm doing.” Mr. He explained, “I said I was borrowing money as an excuse, not because I really wanted to borrow money.”

Fearing they might misunderstand, Mr. He quickly explained.

He Dayong laughed and said, "Even if you really want to borrow, I don't have any. I have a college student and a junior high school student in my family. You know what the situation is. Nini's tuition fees were all borrowed from various sources."

He Ni is attending university in the capital, which is no small sum of money for a rural family.

“I understand, but Huiya’s business is doing well now, and your good days are yet to come,” said Father He.

Li Jinfeng hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Daming, do you still need people?"

"Does your sister-in-law want to go?"

"Hmm, what do you think?"

"Doesn't that mean Yong-ge will be the only one left at home?"

He Dayong laughed: "If you need more people, my wife and I can go together."

“I need to ask Linlin about that,” said Father He. “Don’t laugh at me, but Linlin is the real Wu Zetian who runs the household. I haven’t even become a prime minister or the chief steward of the inner palace.”

At this point, Mr. He sighed, looking regretful.

He Dayong and Li Jinfeng had heard before that He Wenlin made all the decisions regarding the business.

Hearing it with their own ears, the couple were still shocked: "So it really is her who makes the decisions, and she manages the money too?"

“That’s right. She and my mom manage the money. Aizhen and I can’t get involved. Last time I played cards, they ignored me for more than half a month.”

"Ha ha."

He Dayong and Li Jinfeng burst out laughing.

He Dayong bluntly stated, "That's exactly how it should be done."

“But Linlin is really amazing. You’ll be lucky to have her in the future,” Li Jinfeng said with a smile. “The New Year is just a few months away. If you need more people next year, please reserve two positions for us. We’ll work for you.”

"Don't even mention working. Hui Ya's business is good. If you go there, you can do the same thing as him. The city is so big, you can set up a stall anywhere. Who knows, you might even have a grandchild next year."

He Dayong: "What do you mean? Our Huiya has a girlfriend?"

"You don't know?"

"That brat didn't tell us at all," Li Jinfeng cursed. "Daming, tell me quickly, where is that girl from?"

"It seems to be Qi Nan's, but I don't know the specifics."

"Luckily, it's within the province." Li Jinfeng was slightly relieved. People in this era don't want their children to marry someone from far away.

How is he?

Father He paused for a moment: "It's almost Chinese New Year, so let Hui Ya bring them back for you to see for yourselves. But these things are mainly for Hui Ya's own enjoyment. They sell glutinous rice balls together offline, and business is pretty good."

Mr. He originally wanted to say that Huang Dandan wasn't very good, but thinking that it was better to tear down ten temples than to ruin one marriage, he didn't say it outright.

Besides, He Hui has obviously slept with that girl, so what can you do about it?

However, the astute Li Jinfeng still noticed that Mr. He was not very satisfied with his son's girlfriend.

She thought she would find an opportunity to ask what had happened, but instead, she received news of her son's accident...