Chapter 148 Sun Qiang’s Difficulties

Ai Xiaoxia smiled and said, "Your brother-in-law has a mine there, and the returns are pretty good. Anyway, don't worry about being short of money in the future, second brother. Just be a good doctor. If you find a good project, I will take you with me. You don't have to worry about anything else, and I can still make a lot of money."

Lin Rui scratched his head and laughed so hard he couldn't close his mouth: "I have to go home quickly and tell my parents about this. They are still worried that you don't have money to spend."

Ai Xiaoxia said, "I originally wanted to give you a surprise. I had already booked it and was going to bring you here on Saturday night to talk about it, but now the secret has been revealed."

Lin Rui blinked his big eyes: "How about we wait until Saturday to talk about it?"

Ai Xiaoxia also meant this and nodded: "Okay, let's surprise them then."

Sun Qiang said, "I have prepared some good wine, and I am waiting to serve it to you on Saturday to cheer you up."

Maybe because they are still young and have a childish mentality, they all think it is more interesting to give their elders a surprise on Saturday.

After saying this, Ai Xiaoxia let Lin Rui walk around here by himself, and then she talked to Sun Qiang about opening a branch. Today they had roughly decided on the idea of whether to open two stores directly, and then find a store location and discuss it slowly.

Like Ai Xiaoxia, Sun Qiang thought it would be better to open two branches directly. Otherwise, if someone imitates them in the future, it would be difficult to occupy some markets at that time. Now they just occupy good locations in several business circles in the city and make their reputation bigger. In this way, if others imitate them, it will just be imitation.

However, selecting a new store location still takes time. Of course, opening a new store also requires some new marketing methods. Ai Xiaoxia also has to go home and think about what special advantages the chain stores she visited in her previous life had, so that she can use them in her own store.

After talking about the barbecue restaurant, Ai Xiaoxia mentioned the hot pot and buffet to Sun Qiang, and asked him to investigate and see which one would be more acceptable. Once the barbecue restaurant branch was opened, they could develop these two. After all, the decoration of the bath center would take longer. If the decoration started in the spring, it would be officially operational by autumn at the latest, so there would be no delay in opening other stores during this period.

The more Sun Qiang listened to Ai Xiaoxia say these things, the more excited he became. He had been holding his breath in his heart and wanted to let his father see his ability. His father was influenced too much by his stepmother, and he always favored his half-brother Sun Jian in everything. Although Sun Jian was idle all day long, he just ate, drank and had fun every day, changed girlfriends more frequently than he changed clothes, and liked to go to brothels. He was very extravagant at a young age and didn't know anything about business, but he was protected by his mother.

The last time the barbecue restaurant opened, Sun Qiang's father came. It was the first time he gave Sun Qiang that kind of affirmative smile. It was the first time he told Sun Qiang that if he needed anything, he could tell him. He also gave Sun Qiang the car. That feeling made Sun Qiang feel satisfied.

But after all, as soon as his father returned to that woman, he would no longer pay so much attention to him. What he could let his father see about himself was his own achievements. Now the path that Ai Xiaoxia was leading him on was the path he would have spent several years or even decades exploring on his own. He was also glad to have met Lu Jingshen and Ai Xiaoxia. Not only did it make his business career smoother, but he also felt a sense of home with his family.

In the past, he had no one to talk to about his worries, but now that he has a brother and sister-in-law, he has someone to vent his grievances.

Ai Xiaoxia feels emotional every time she hears Sun Qiang talk about his father and stepmother.

She was very optimistic about Sun Qiang, so she promised him that she would make him surpass his father in the future.

And when Ai Xiaoxia listened to Sun Qiang's description of his half-brother Sun Jian, she felt that the Sun family's business would still have to be saved by Sun Qiang. Such a playboy would become a prodigal son in the future. Moreover, he liked brothels at such a young age and had so many women. His health would not be good either. But it was not a good thing to say that now. Anyway, she encouraged Sun Qiang.

After the branch was decided, Sun Qiang returned to the hotel. He had some inspections and a lot of social engagements at the end of the year, and Ai Xiaoxia couldn't help with any of these. So Ai Xiaoxia wanted to do more within her ability and come up with more ideas to allow Sun Qiang to develop more.

Lin Rui came back after a stroll and talked to Ai Xiaoxia about the novelties of the store. He also expressed his admiration for Ai Xiaoxia, and then asked Ai Xiaoxia to go home with him for dinner in the evening. He also had a lot to say to Ai Xiaoxia.

Ai Xiaoxia looked at Lin Rui's expectant expression and couldn't bear to refuse, so she called Lu Jingshen and told him to go directly to her parents' house after get off work in the evening.

After hearing what Ai Xiaoxia said, Lu Jingshen smiled and said, "Mom just called me and said she's taking a break this afternoon and wants us to go back for dinner in the evening. My eldest brother and his wife are also going back, and she's making dumplings. I'm going to call you soon."

Ai Xiaoxia laughed when she heard this: "That's perfect, I'm with my second brother, so I'll just go over there."

Lu Jingshen agreed, and since he was at work, he didn't say much and hung up the phone.

After Ai Xiaoxia and Lin Rui went out, they didn't rush to take a bus home. They talked while strolling.

After walking for a while, Lin Rui seemed to want to say something but stopped, then sighed and finally said nothing.

Ai Xiaoxia could tell that Lin Rui was worried. She stopped and asked Lin Rui, "Brother, is there something that's so hard to say?"

Lin Rui's expression was very serious: "It's better to tell me. You should be mentally prepared so that you don't accidentally bring up this topic in the future and make Mom uncomfortable."

Ai Xiaoxia was even more confused: "What's going on, second brother?"

Lin Rui sighed again: "We also have a little sister named Lin Mei, nicknamed Xiaoya, who is three years younger than you. When she was five years old, she was lost while playing on the roadside with Lin Zhu. The family put up a missing person notice in the newspaper and posted many notices. We searched for her for three years but there was no news. Then Mom got sick and suffered from insomnia. After a while, she suddenly stopped talking about her sister. Others said she was deaf, and the doctor said it was a kind of mental self-protection escape. So in order not to upset Mom, no one in the family dared to mention it. But Dad has been looking for her privately all these years, but he just hasn't found her."

Ai Xiaoxia felt sad when she heard this. Her sister was lost, and her mother also had to bear so much psychological pressure. It was really not easy. Fortunately, she had everything ready this time before she went to recognize them. If she had taken her biological parents with her from the beginning, Huang Wanxia's body probably wouldn't be able to bear it.

She said to Lin Rui, "Brother, information will become more and more developed in the future. If we have money, we can put up a missing person notice on TV. In any case, there is still a chance to find my sister."

She knew that with the development of the Internet, there were many platforms for finding people, so she still had hope.

Lin Rui said, "I hope so. But since you know, if Mom doesn't mention it, then you shouldn't mention it either. Dad has put away all the photos of my sister at home and put them at my eldest brother's house. He just doesn't dare let Mom think about it."

Ai Xiaoxia nodded and said, "I understand, brother. Don't worry, I know what's going on."

Lin Rui was still relieved about Ai Xiaoxia's affairs: "Well, let's go home."

Ai Xiaoxia agreed and calmed down. The two of them took a taxi back to the Forestry Bureau’s staff quarters.

They had agreed downstairs not to talk about business matters and keep it confidential, so when they got home, they didn't mention anything. They washed their hands and went to the kitchen to help Huang Wanxia wash the vegetables.