The advantage of being a leader is the freedom of time. No one can control whether Xu Damao comes to work or when he comes to work. However, he usually informs the office before leaving to prevent being unable to contact him in case of an emergency.

At noon, Xu Damao rode his tricycle to his father-in-law's house to discuss dinner. When his brother-in-law heard that there would be good food that night, he almost skipped school that afternoon and wanted to go to Xu Damao's house early. However, his mother-in-law beat him up before he reluctantly took his schoolbag and went to school.

After returning to the factory in the afternoon to handle some documents, Xu Damao went to the office to tell Li Tong that he was going home first.

"What are you going home for?" Li Tong asked.

"Why should I report to you? Just mind your own business." Xu Damao was too lazy to say anything more to Li Tong.

"Fine, you don't have to tell me. I'll just tell Minzhi about how you held onto a female colleague's hand and wouldn't let go," Li Tong threatened.

"Li Tong, don't make baseless accusations. I was just showing my regards to the comrades, and I shook hands with everyone. Besides, why didn't you mention that the woman weighed 200 pounds?" Xu Damao was at his wit's end with this office director.

"Maybe you just like 200-pound fat guys. Tell me why you're going back?" Li Tong persisted.

“Okay, you’re really something. My house is all renovated. I’m inviting my father-in-law home for dinner tonight. I’ll go back early to prepare, is that alright? Minzhi already knows all about it,” Xu Damao said.

"You're having dinner, right? Of course I'll be there. I'll head over after I get off work." Without waiting for Xu Damao's agreement, Li Tong grabbed a stack of documents and went to another office.

Xu Damao hadn't expected that simply reporting his itinerary would require an extra pair of chopsticks. Ever since this girl's failed blind date, she seemed to have completely let loose, either attending company dinners or going to one of her best friends' houses for meals, basically never going home.

Upon arriving at the courtyard house, I saw that Yan Fugui had returned even earlier than me. No wonder teachers' salaries are so low these days.

"Third Uncle, are you free tonight? If not, come over for dinner. My new house is all set up, and I'm inviting my father-in-law and his family over for dinner. You three uncles can help keep them company," Xu Damao said.

In this compound, whenever someone had a big or small matter, they would usually call on the three old men. Xu Damao didn't want to be different. If a meal could solve the problem, Xu Damao was too lazy to use his brain; if one meal wasn't enough, he'd have two.

"Oh, the house is all renovated. Okay, I'll cancel everything else tonight and make sure your father-in-law is entertained." Yan Fugui seemed to be giving Xu Damao a huge favor.

After discussing dinner with Yan Fugui, Xu Damao returned to the backyard, only to find the deaf old lady sunbathing there. Xu Damao usually left early and returned late, and although they lived in the same courtyard, it was rare to run into her.

"Grandma, are you sunbathing?" Xu Damao greeted her.

The old lady was quite peculiar. She was sunbathing on a deck chair with her eyes closed when she heard someone enter the yard, so she opened them. But when she saw that it was Xu Damao, she ignored his greeting, as if she hadn't heard him at all. After glancing at him, she closed her eyes again and continued sunbathing.

"Grandma, who dropped that 'big yuan bill' on the ground in front of your house? I picked it up since nobody wanted it." Xu Damao saw that the old lady was pretending to be deaf and dumb, so he wanted to tease her.

The old woman who was supposed to be deaf was definitely not really deaf. Upon hearing what Xu Damao said, she sat up straight as if by reflex and said "mine," but before she even turned around, she knew she had been completely deceived.

"You brat, you're just as bad as your old man." The old lady cursed under her breath, but she simply lay down and didn't move.

After teasing the old lady, Xu Damao went straight home. At home, his mother was picking vegetables, while his son, Yongjun, was fast asleep in bed, bubbles still forming at the corner of his mouth.

"Da Mao, how are we going to cook dinner?" Xu's mother asked.

"No rush, I'll cook later. You just need to take care of your grandson. It's still early, let me prepare the ingredients first," Xu Damao said.

Since Xu Damao started living alone, he has been cooking and preparing meals for himself. He enjoys it, and his skills are getting better and better, almost on par with his mother's.

“Okay, I know your cooking is delicious, so I’ll just take care of the kids,” said Xu’s mother.

Actually, Xu's mother was a professional nanny, so she was naturally good at cooking. However, Xu Damao was willing to use oil and seasonings, so others naturally thought it tasted very good.

After quickly preparing the dishes, seeing that there was still some time, Xu Damao began planning which furniture to buy for the house. Many of the old pieces of furniture in the old house were broken and didn't need repair, so Xu Damao had given them away. For dinner tonight, there would be at least two tables of people, so he would need to borrow a table from Liu Haizhong.

When the workers returned home in the evening, Xu Damao first went to Liu Haizhong's house across the street to borrow a table. Then he told Liu Haizhong about dinner, and Liu Haizhong insisted on bringing two bottles of good wine to celebrate. He then went to Yi Zhonghai's house to talk about dinner, and Old Yi also said he wanted to show his appreciation.

A short while later, Xu Damao became lively as his father-in-law's entire family arrived, and even his brother-in-law, who had been accompanying him in the car, returned.

"Wow, Minzhi, this bathroom in your house is so great! It'll be so convenient from now on." Wang Minzhi's sister-in-law immediately took a liking to the independent bathroom. There's no way around it; the most annoying thing for women these days is fighting over bathrooms.

Men are alright; some can just find a corner to relieve themselves in the middle of the night. Women, however, will go to public restrooms even if it's cold. In the morning, there are only a few squat toilets, so women have to queue up one by one.

"I like this little room the most. Sister, brother-in-law, why don't I live with you from now on? Anyway, Yongjun's room is too small for him to use." The brother-in-law had his eye on his nephew's room.

During the renovation, Xu Damao specially built three small rooms as preparation for his future children. Wang Minzhi laughed at him at the time, saying that he was preparing so many rooms before the child was even born. Xu Damao replied that with his abilities, three rooms were definitely not enough, and he would need to move to a bigger house later.

Seeing so many people around him, Xiao Yongjun, who was already quite lively, became even more excited and started gesturing wildly. He and his cousin from his uncle's family began to communicate in Martian language, one saying "uh uh uh" and the other saying "giggle giggle." Others couldn't understand what they were saying, but the two of them couldn't stop laughing.

At this moment, Li Tong, who had just entered the room, joined in the alien language conversation like a child, making everyone else laugh so hard they bent over.

"Li Tong, if you like children so much, why don't you find someone to marry?" Xu Damao asked with a smile.

“Your son is my godson. In the future, you can give me a few more godsons and godsisters. When I get old, I can rely on them. I’m not going to get married,” Li Tong said.

Xu Damao was utterly defeated by this line of thinking. This woman is destined to be single.