Chapter 224: Fried Rice with Eggs and Long-lasting Love

At the turn of August and September, Zhu Yingning received a notice that new village staff would arrive in early September and asked her to be prepared to receive them.

This time, the team consisted of three people: two men and one woman, and she was still in charge. After breakfast and some work at the service center, she got up, put her car keys in her pocket, and drove to the airport to pick up the new members.

Wang Shengju walked her to the front gate and watched her skillfully reverse the car. He couldn't help but sigh, "We're getting better day by day. There are even more people coming this time, and the e-commerce business is booming. Lately, there have been people from the city wanting to rent here. I wonder if they were lured in by the promotions for the cultural tourism department."

Zhu Yingning backed the car out and wanted to laugh. "There's no cultural tourism here. The city next door does have caves you can visit. Did those people who asked you to rent a room confuse us with the city next door?"

"Don't be so foolish," Wang Shengju laughed. "Maybe they're attracted by the lower prices here. Don't you young people all yearn to return to the countryside and live in seclusion?"

Seeing her drive to the gate, he raised his hand and said, "Alright, go ahead. After picking up the people, we still have to set up the dormitory, pack the luggage, and introduce jobs. We're busy."

The route to the airport was already mapped in Zhu Yingning's mind, no navigation needed. She called up the car music—strictly speaking, it wasn't car music, but a BBC tape. A few days ago, she had been on a business trip to an e-commerce festival, where she met many foreign businessmen. This had made her realize the need to learn English. Two years after graduation, her English had deteriorated from neglect. Her first reaction to meeting foreigners was to say, "How are you?" or "I'm fine." To improve her listening skills, she simply replaced the car music with English recordings.

I don't know if it's effective, but it's very hypnotic.

Halfway through the drive, while waiting for the traffic light, she quickly grabbed a sour plum and put it in her mouth to refresh herself.

When she arrived at the airport, the new members were already waiting at the exit, saying their flight was twenty minutes early. She picked them up and drove back to the village.

The new girl was tall and cheerful, with thick, black, shoulder-length hair and a Northeastern accent. She chatted with her in the passenger seat, her manners familiar. Two men sat in the back seat, a shorter, thinner one staring blankly out the window, while the other, who looked like a music student but was said to be studying electronic information engineering, leaned in to listen to their conversation. Later in the conversation, she learned that the girl's name was Hao Yuechu, and she was studying business administration; the thinner one was Fang Yiliang, studying plant science and engineering; and the trendier one was Qi Xiu.

No matter how glamorous everyone looked when they arrived, after arriving in the village, they visited the Party and Mass Service Center, were introduced to their work, put down their luggage, inspected the farm, and went to the town's live broadcast room to understand the operating mechanism... After going through this set of processes, everyone became exhausted.

It was past eight in the evening when Zhu Yingning finally found time to cook, donning her bib and whipping up a few quick dishes. The other three sat at the dining table, wailing for food. Qi Xiu asked, "Captain, are we all going to cook for ourselves from now on?"

When Zhu Yingning heard the voice he was not used to calling him captain, he would occasionally feel dazed. He scooped up the snow peas from the pot and hummed.

Qi Xiu smiled awkwardly: "I can't cook."

Hao Yuechu agreed weakly: "I didn't even dare to say it... Actually, I don't know how to do it either."

Zhu Yingning looked at Fang Yiliang again, who was silent, and he finally spoke: "I can make egg fried rice."

“…”

She sighed silently, thought for a moment, and then said, "It doesn't matter."

Just when everyone thought she was going to say something like there was a cafeteria nearby or that she would cook and they would take care of the other chores, she said sternly, "You can learn if you don't know. I've made a rota. You can check it later to see if there are any adjustments. If everything is fine, we'll start tomorrow."

After dinner, everyone lined up to shower because there was only one bathroom. Ladies were given priority, and the two boys let them shower first. Zhu Yingning then gave the opportunity to shower first to Hao Yuechu.

While Hao Yuechu was washing up inside, Zhu Yingning had to face the two boys in the living room alone and awkwardly.

Fang Yiliang's hands remained on his knees, his face serious as he sat upright. Behind his glasses, he glanced down, gazing at his knees in a daze, saying nothing. Qi Xiu had no choice but to actively search for a topic. He glanced around the living room and said to Zhu Yingning, "We actually have an ergonomic chair here."

She was stunned for a moment, followed his gaze to the ergonomic chair, her heart in turmoil, and after a long while, she nodded slowly.

"It should be quite comfortable to use as a gaming chair for playing games." He continued to make small talk.

Zhu Yingning could only nod again. "It's just that the numbers don't seem to match. Oh... I see, because your last team had three people." Qi Xiu, however, seemed to be having a hard time with the ergonomic chairs, and the topic didn't stray far from them for a long time. "We have four people now, do we need to apply for another one?"

Zhu Yingning had to explain: "This is not provided by the government."

"So you bought it at your own expense. It's quite expensive."

"It's not like we bought it ourselves..." Zhu Yingning said slowly, "It was a gift from my friend."

Qi Xiu didn't expect this to happen. He was stunned for a moment and sighed, "Your friend is so nice to you?"

"...Yeah." She felt depressed and responded in the same depressed tone.

**

After Hao Yuechu and others had initially adapted to the work here, Zhu Yingning began to take them around.

Back in August, the livestreaming studio contacted her again, hoping to host a similar livestreaming event during the Double 11 shopping festival. They'd invite some of the biggest livestreamers to compete and liven up the atmosphere, and asked if they'd like to participate as supporting cast members. Zhu Yingning naturally had no reason not to participate, and after signing up, she'd been keeping an eye on the progress of the event.

The event is currently in the preliminary planning stages, and sponsors have reportedly already been secured. Thanks to the successful last competition, several sponsors have been attracted this time. City officials are taking this event very seriously, and impressed by Zhu Yingning's successful integration of pork promotion with e-commerce livestreaming. They've invited her to promote the upcoming event in other villages within the city, sharing her poverty alleviation expertise tailored to local circumstances.

She was busy with this project throughout early September. Perhaps the publicity was effective, because by mid-month, even the neighboring city invited her to share her experience. She took time off to bring her team to the meeting, and when she had some time left after finishing her work, she went to visit the live broadcast base.

The head of the base was very enthusiastic when he met her. He welcomed her into the conference room, turned on the big screen and solemnly introduced to her the unprecedented magnitude of this live broadcast event.

She spoke eloquently, practically foaming at the mouth, saying things like, "We want to create an era of live-streaming agricultural products for our province," and "This will be a grand event! A new starting point." Zhu Yingning listened with a smile. Finally, the person in charge asked her if she had any ideas. She cautiously asked a few harmless questions, then pointed to the design image on the screen and said:

"Aren't there too many advertising spaces for sponsors? It doesn't feel as fresh as the last event. Our focus is on the agricultural product live broadcast and the competition between big anchors, but these few words are almost drowned out by ads. If a viewer clicks into the live broadcast and doesn't grasp the key points within a few seconds, they may quit. The first few seconds of the live broadcast are key to attracting viewers."

The person in charge laughed and said, "It was so refreshing last time because we didn't even get any sponsor advertising space. We only had one individual sponsor last time, and they wanted profit sharing, not advertising space, so we didn't do anything fancy. This time it's different. Several new big bosses have come, all of whom are here to promote their own brands. But what you said makes sense. I'll talk to the designer and see how we can meet the client's requirements without overshadowing our main focus."

Zhu Yingning nodded, stood up and said a few words of goodbye to the other party, then left with the team members.

It was still afternoon when we returned to the village. Today was Fang Yilian's turn to cook. He was in the kitchen making the only dish he could make, fried rice. Qi Xiu was hiding in the corner and making a video call with his girlfriend. Hao Yuechu was studying the accounts left by Wen Wenxu.

It rains a lot in midsummer, and the house they live in has been leaking a little after several consecutive heavy rains. It's not serious and can be caught with a bucket, but the dripping sound in the middle of the night is really annoying. When Zhu Yingning has some free time, he simply studies how to repair the leak on the roof.

After much research, she decided to find some waterproof putty. Wang Sheng's family had been renovating, and she had the impression they had some leftover putty. Since they were in the same village, just a short walk away, Zhu Yingning made a quick decision to visit Wang Sheng's home. His wife, upon hearing her intention, found the half-used bucket of putty.

"Thank you, Aunt Lei." Zhu Yingning reached out to take it.

Wang Shengju's wife is Lei Yuting. After Hao Yuechu arrived, Wang Shengju joked that she and Hao Yuechu were sisters who had been separated for many years. Because one was called Hao Yuechu and the other was called Lei Yuting, maybe they could form a girl group and debut, and the name could be Weather Forecast.

Before Lei Yuting could even utter "You're welcome," she heard Wang Shengju sighing as he sat on the sofa, his phone in hand. She said impatiently, "You didn't even charge me for this lousy job. If you're so bothered, why not just let them talk face to face?"

"What's going on?" Zhu Yingning asked casually.

Lei Yuting complained to her, "It's all about the housing issues in the village. A few years ago, they demolished all the old houses and renovated them, but some young people still choose to work outside the village and move in with their parents, leaving many of our new houses empty. Leaving them empty isn't a big deal, so some people list their properties on those rental apps. After a few years, there was no activity. Then a few months ago, someone suddenly came inquiring about renting a house here long-term."

"Okay, I rented it, but they had a bunch of demands. They wanted the landlord to record a 360-degree video. It wasn't enough; they had to turn on all the faucets and lights to see if there were any leaks and if the lights worked. They wanted to record during the day to see if the lighting was good, in the evening to see if it was noisy, and at night to see if there were any nocturnal insects. Do you think these are requests a normal person would make? The landlord works out of town, so how could he have the time to come over and record this ridiculous video? They asked the tenant to come over and watch it themselves, but then they said they were busy and didn't have time. As a last resort, the landlord turned to this guy from our house, sent him all the keys, and asked him to act as a middleman to help negotiate."

"Now, every day after get off work, I record that crappy video!" Lei Yuting said indignantly, "But that troublemaker...that tenant wasn't happy about it and even asked us to record every available room in the village."

Zhu Yingning was so amused that she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "How about I act as a middleman and talk to the tenant?"

"No, no." Lei Yuting waved her hand and pushed her out the door. "I'm just complaining casually. You're so busy every day, how can I ask you to worry about this? Don't worry, no matter how annoying it is, we can still handle this little thing."

Zhu Yingning then carried the paint bucket back to his dormitory.

As soon as she opened the door, the smell of egg fried rice hit her nose. Hao Yuechu helped her set the table and said, "Captain, you can eat now!"

"Yeah! Here I come." She put the paint bucket by the door.

Qi Xiu finished a sweet phone call with his girlfriend and came to the dining table. Seeing that they had egg fried rice again, his face turned green. "Why egg fried rice again? This dish is haunting me. Hey, can you be a little more creative?"

Fang Yilian pushed his glasses up his nose and said seriously, "I'm innovative every time I make it." "Where's the innovation?" Hao Yuechu couldn't help asking as he looked left and right at the bowls of egg fried rice but couldn't see any difference from the last time.

Fang Yiliang said: "Last time I fried it with farm eggs, this time I fried it with corn eggs."

Qi Xiu & Hao Yuechu: “?”

Zhu Yingning chuckled and pulled out a stool to sit down. "Alright, let's leave it at that for now. Fang Yiliang, you should learn to cook some other dishes in the future. Otherwise, even if it's a delicacy, everyone will get tired of it."

The other two also sat down, leaving Fang Yiliang with a pout. He said unconvincedly, "How can I get tired of it? My mom has been making this for me since I was in kindergarten. I can eat it every day."

"You are quite nostalgic and loyal." Qi Xiu teased him with a mixture of laughter and tears.

Hao Yuechu shook his head and sang to his bowl, "Egg fried rice, egg fried rice—after all the twists and turns, it's still you~"

Everyone picked up their bowls and chopsticks. For a moment, the only sound on the table was the clinking of chopsticks against bowls. Zhu Yingning held her bowl in her left hand and picked up half an egg yolk from it with her right hand. Just as she was about to put it in her mouth, the entire conversation suddenly replayed in her mind.

What about "I can bear to eat it every day", "nostalgia and long-lasting love", and "going around in circles".

There is no way to explain the premonition when it comes.

She thought of everything that had happened in recent days, the so-called personal sponsor, and the picky tenant that Wang Shengju had to deal with.

This style of behavior is so familiar that it can't be more familiar...

With a bang.

She put down her bowl and chopsticks lightly, pulled out a stool under the surprised gaze of the other three, turned around and ran out.

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Author's words: I estimate there are still five or six chapters to finish. It's almost finished and it feels so hard to write each chapter TT, I can only finish one chapter today, sorry [please]