Chapter 16 "I said you guys these days...
"Grandpa, I signed this contract face-to-face with the landlord through an agent. The real estate agency has reportedly been operating in that location for three years, and the landlord's home is right there. When the other party signed the contract with me, the neighbors all knew him, and his mother was there, too. I even saw his property ownership certificate before signing the contract, so the chances of me being scammed should be extremely low."
Chen Pan had noticed the look in Grandpa's eyes since he'd seen her leave his room at noon. Having already prepared herself mentally, she wasn't particularly nervous at the moment. She spoke in a serious tone, and Chen Aiguo, holding the lease agreement, frowned as he listened.
"You stupid kid, is this the time to talk about this? The most important thing now is the three hundred dollars." Unable to bear it any longer, Chen Aiguo finally said something harsh to Chen Pan.
Chen Pan paid no attention. He leaned over and took the simple house rental contract from the other party's hand, then pointed to the address on it and said happily, "Grandpa, this is a shop in Liuping Town, near No. 6 Middle School. Liuping is different from Chenjia Town. Chenjia Town is close to us, so almost all the small vendors, teachers, and government officials there know Li Decheng. In our area, Li Decheng is almost so powerful that he can cover the sky with one hand. But Liuping is close to the city, the closest town to the city, so he doesn't have such great power and influence there."
“…” Chen Aiguo listened in silence.
Chen Pan put away the lease contract and broke his last self-deception. "People outside Grandpa only think we took the fifty yuan from the Li family. Plus, we were the only family at the scene when his son got into the accident, so he's taking a little umbrage out on us. But we know the real situation very well. Maybe because he knew there were no surveillance cameras and no witnesses at the scene, and because he knew why I hit his son, he didn't want to call the police."
But even if they don't use formal means of retaliation, they will have other ways to deal with us. Right now, they are just busy taking care of the children and celebrating the New Year, and they can't spare the time to really deal with us. But if something really happens to Li Chengcai, or if he is really out of danger, do you think he will really not do anything at that time? Today he just told the people nearby not to sell cement and sand to our family. If later, he told the nearby butcher shops and supply and marketing cooperatives, or if he didn't have to do it himself, would someone see through his thoughts, know that he doesn't like our family, and take the initiative to embarrass our family?
Or maybe the Li family and the people at their factory really didn't do anything. But others saw what the Li family was thinking, fearing repercussions, and were afraid to approach our family, starting to isolate us and not talk to us about things? Grandpa, think about grandma's personality. If you and I faced isolation and gossip, we might be able to endure it. But grandma, who appears cheerful and carefree, is actually very sensitive and suspicious. If she realized that she was being excluded and avoided, would she be very sad?
Chen Pan’s last words were almost a bombshell.
In Chen Aiguo's heart, the most important thing now is his wife with whom he has lived for thirty-four years.
With his parents gone, his son dying young, and the relationship between his brothers and sisters becoming increasingly distant, he feels that his wife and companion are the most important people.
In his eyes, his wife Xu Chunhua now comes first, followed by himself and Chen Pan.
"Stop talking, let me think about it!"
He subconsciously raised his hand towards Chen Pan, and then Chen Aiguo slowly walked outside.
As soon as he went out, he happened to see his wife walking the cow in the yard and wiping her tears.
"It's so late, why are you holding it?"
He hid the thing in his hand slightly and then immediately asked.
"I seem to have forgotten to give it water today. I'll take it to drink some water." This old ox is the most valuable thing in their family now. Xu Chunhua feels that after all this, her most important task is to feed and care for all the animals in the family.
"I'll go, you and Panpan go to the house and watch TV." He took out the things in his hand, folded them carefully, and put them in the inner pocket of his coat. Then Chen Aiguo walked over and took the reins from his wife.
"I'll go, you've been tired all day."
"Why should I be tired? You cooked all day and I did basically nothing."
The two of them gave way to each other outside, and finally Grandpa Chen took the reins and went out.
But even so, Grandma Chen did not rest and started to go into the chicken coop to pick up eggs and clean the rabbit hive.
“…” He didn’t know if what he did was right or not, but Chen Pan would never regret the brick he threw that night.
After looking at his grandmother busy outside, Chen Pan took the coal bucket at home and went outside to get coal briquettes and wood.
Since there was no hay outside, their family now used coal and the wood that his grandfather had chopped to heat the kang, so she had to take more at a time.
The most important thing during the Chinese New Year is visiting relatives.
In the next few days, the Chen family continued to entertain other relatives and visit other relatives to wish them a happy new year.
When they went to an aunt's house to pay New Year's greetings, seeing that the place was very close to Liuping, Grandpa Chen took Chen Pan out halfway, and then the two of them took a bus to the nearby Liuping Town.
Yes, there were real buses around Liuping Town now. Not the kind of shuttle bus that Chen Pan had taken today, which only came every few hours, but a real bus that ran many times an hour and could take you downtown for just ten cents.
“It’s right here!”
After arriving at the destination, Chen Pan took out the three keys given to him by the landlord from his trouser pocket and opened the rolling door directly.
Seeing that his granddaughter had really opened the rolling door, Chen Aiguo, who was dressed neatly and decently when visiting relatives today, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
You know, he's been thinking about this matter every day these past few days. He's afraid that when his granddaughter brings him here, she'll find out that everything is fake and a scam.
"Girl, you and your grandpa are finally here? I was wondering why you haven't been here for so many days!"
Almost as soon as Chen Pan pushed open the glass door behind the rolling shutter, a middle-aged woman from the shop next door ran over with a smile.
"Grandpa, this Aunt Qin is our landlord, and the Qin Yang on the property certificate is her son."
Subconsciously introducing him to his grandfather, Chen Pan then turned to look at the other party: "Aunt, we actually wanted to come over earlier, but it's the Chinese New Year after all."
"I understand!" He looked up at Chen Pan, who seemed to have suddenly become younger today. Then, Mrs. Qin, with her curly hair and wearing a fashionable down jacket and stylish leather shoes, immediately greeted the elderly Grandpa Chen: "You are Uncle Chen, right? Hello, Uncle Chen, the one who signed the contract with you that day was our son Qin Yang. I am Qin Yang's mother. I was right next to them when they signed the contract. This house here is all ours. If you have any problems in the future, just come to me or my son directly."
The house that Chen Pan rented was not actually a real bungalow. It was the kind of house with a large yard and two-story buildings all around it.
I know that Liuping Town is close to the city center and there have been rumors of demolition since ten years ago. Almost all the families nearby have built these two-story buildings, and some of the more impressive ones have even built three-story buildings.
Anyway, at this moment, Chen Aiguo was not stage frightened, and immediately turned back with a smile: "Okay, thank you. If there is anything in the future, we will trouble you."
"It's not a big deal, it's not a big deal. This is what we're supposed to do." Ms. Qin was indeed a good landlord. Seeing that Grandpa Chen Pan had a good personality, she smiled and said immediately, "I heard from Panpan that you guys are going to open a snack bar, right? It just so happens that the previous tenant here also owned a shop, and he left a lot of stuff there. You can take a look and see if you can use it. If you can, just keep it. If not, just tell me and I'll find someone to move the stuff to the other empty rooms upstairs."
“Okay, okay!”
In front of his granddaughter, Chen Aiguo never dared to show any fear. Although he was extremely nervous and uneasy inside, he remained calm and composed on the surface.
"Sister Qin, get me a pack of cigarettes—"
The person buying cigarettes next to them called away the enthusiastic Ms. Qin, and soon, only Chen Aiguo and his grandson, Chen Pan, were left in the small shop of only 30 square meters.
"Grandpa, look, this is where our guests will eat. This is the cash register; the previous tenant didn't even take it away. And back there's the kitchen, bathroom, and small bedroom. It's small, but it has everything we need. I rented this place because it has everything and doesn't require major renovations."
Her father died early, and she was a girl, so her grandparents probably had no plans to buy another house or property. It was for this reason that the money her grandparents had saved throughout their lives was actually quite a lot, not just the few hundred yuan they had recently mentioned from selling three pigs.
It was only when his grandmother had an accident in his previous life that Chen Pan realized his family wasn't as poor as he had imagined. At least they should have been saving the betrothal money that his father had saved for his wife.
This is another reason why Chen Pan is so courageous.
Anyway, at this moment, seeing that there was no one else in the room, Chen Pan immediately pulled his grandfather to continue the tour.
"Oh!!" Chen Aiguo, who had only farmed and raised pigs and sheep all his life and had never really done business, sighed again as he watched.
"Grandpa, don't be like this. I've only paid rent for half a year, so just think of it as a special experiment. Or you could think of it as us using this time to stay away from disputes and bide our time. Even if we open this shop, we won't lose everything at home. But if we do open the shop, most of Grandma's attention will definitely be diverted here. She won't think much of it if we're busy here every day."
Chen Pan looked at his grandfather sighing and continued to play his trump card.
As expected, upon hearing about his wife, Grandpa Chen nodded slowly again: "Okay, I'll go all out and experiment with you for half a year!"
"yeah!!"
Chen Pan, who had been calm all the time, couldn't help but scream excitedly.
Later, the two of them cleaned the place briefly and then hurried to their aunt's house.
It took them just over an hour to get from the house to the house. Thinking they were going to the nearby reservoir to skate, the others who came with them to my aunt's house didn't suspect anything.
That night, Chen Pan and Grandpa Chen told Grandma Chen that they had rented a small shop in Liuping Town.
"I was wondering why you guys have been acting so mysterious these days. It turns out it's because of this big thing. It's okay. Our family has a little bit of savings. As long as we don't use the money to squander it, it would be nice to start a serious business."
Chen Pan and Grandpa Chen both felt that Grandma Chen, who was completely illiterate, would have the biggest reaction to the idea of going out to do business, but in fact she was the most open-minded and calm.
Seeing her reaction, the last bit of worry and concern in Grandpa Chen's heart disappeared.
From that day on, Grandpa Chen began frequently taking Chen Pan to Liuping Town on his 28-inch bicycle. The road from their village to Liuping was a newly constructed, state-owned road—a genuine asphalt road, not the gravel and cement roads of their village. Their trips to Liuping Town were always easy, arriving in about thirty minutes along the dilapidated road. The return trip was a bit more demanding due to the uphill climb, taking about fifty minutes.
Others might find this tiring, but Chen Pan and her grandfather often walked to the mountains to farm, and Chen Pan's current school also required her to walk an hour back and forth every day. So they didn't take the cycling distance seriously.
It was the Lunar New Year holiday, and families with many relatives were still visiting each other every day. Plus, Chen Pan's family lived on the outskirts, so their constant comings and goings didn't attract anyone's attention.
So within a few days, Chen Pan and his grandfather had prepared everything for opening a store.
Following Chen Pan's strong suggestion, they decided to run two businesses in their shop: one was the spicy hot pot business, which Chen Pan was best at, and the other was the pancake business, which Chen Pan felt his grandmother must be particularly good at.
Chen Pan's ultimate goal wasn't to become instantly wealthy through this store. For now, she just wanted to take this opportunity to completely lure her grandparents out of the countryside and show them that there were more ways to make a living than just farming and tending livestock.
After they had seen the prosperity of the small town and realized that no matter how hard it was to run a business outside, it was actually better than bending over to farm and feed cattle in the countryside, Chen Pan didn't believe they wouldn't be tempted. After all, in her previous life, she and her grandfather had always felt the same way: working was better than farming, and running a small business on their own was better than working for someone else.
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