Xia Minmin carried the graduation certificate home. Before she could even change into her slippers, Xia Jianguo walked into the entryway with the certificate in his hand. "Minmin, look, this is Dad's graduation certificate. See it? Xia-Jian-Guo!"
Li Chunmei shook her head. Tonight, Xia Jianguo had a small gathering with friends and was showing off his university diploma to everyone he met. She couldn't stop him.
The graduation certificate was practically shoved under Xia Minmin's eyes; he'd never been this happy since his family bought their first house.
Actually, a graduation certificate is not very useful to Xia Jianguo now. A university graduation certificate has always been his dream, a farewell to the pursuit of the first twenty years of his life.
Since Xia Jianguo was admitted to university, Li Chunmei has never heard him regret not repeating his studies. For the past four years, most of the work at the factory has fallen on Li Chunmei's shoulders, but she is happy to do it. Isn't this how lovers support each other and stay together until old age?
Seeing his daughter receive her graduation certificate, Xia Jianguo staggered back to the sofa. "Coming to Shenzhen was the best decision we ever made. I wanted to come to Shenzhen to try my luck right after we got married. I was too timid, hesitant about everything. Hesitation is the worst thing for a person. One effort, then a decline, then exhaustion. If it weren't for your mother's encouragement, I wouldn't have been able to pick myself up and decide to come to Shenzhen again. Fortunately, fate has been kind to our family, giving us a great gift right after we arrived in Shenzhen..."
Judging from Xia Jianguo's tone, you could tell he had drunk quite a bit; drunk people love to reminisce about the past.
“Your dad has been nagging me for an hour.” Li Chunmei rubbed her ears, and it was all the same old stuff, going on and on.
"Given how much my dad drinks, he must have drunk at least half a jin (250ml) of liquor, right?" Xia Minmin asked softly.
"Xia Minmin, your dad isn't drunk!" Xia Jianguo shouted.
The mother and daughter looked at each other and smiled; drunk people always say they're not drunk.
Half of the honey water on the coffee table had been drunk, and after rambling on for another half hour, Xia Jianguo finally got tired.
"How is Mengmeng's workplace? Are her colleagues easy to get along with?" Li Chunmei asked.
"It's great, my colleagues are friendly."
"After your college entrance exam, Mengmeng chose to attend the Public Security University. Your Aunt Yang was actually very unhappy about it. The three of us are police officers, and we have to work during holidays. We can't even have a family reunion meal. But we had no choice but to compromise because Mengmeng likes it."
This was the first time Xia Minmin had heard the story behind her best friend's college application. "Things will work themselves out. There's bound to be a solution. Mom, you should ask Aunt Yang to go shopping more often. It'll keep her occupied and make her happier."
"You don't need to tell me!" Li Chunmei glanced at her daughter. "By the way, what kind of job are you planning to do after graduation? How about taking the civil service exam or becoming a teacher? University teachers are pretty good; they not only have summer and winter vacations but also have an easy job."
Xia Minmin had never really thought about it. If she had to say what her dream was, she didn't know if being a lazy bum would count.
“Our family doesn’t need your salary. The main thing is that you need to find a job to pass the time. You can’t work too hard and you need to make sure you get enough rest. Not long ago, the newspaper reported that some people in the financial industry died suddenly and some committed suicide.”
Li Chunmei looked worried, and Xia Minmin still thought she was a member of the financial industry.
Xia Minmin put her arm around Ms. Li Chunmei's shoulder and said, "Mom, I understand. I will think about it carefully."
Li Chunmei raised her hand to touch her daughter's head. She had grown so fast in the past few years, already 175 centimeters tall. She couldn't grow any taller, as she was already taller than many boys in Shenzhen.
"Oh, by the way, I have some good news for you. The building where our discount supermarket is located is going to be demolished!"
Li Chunmei's eyes lit up, and Xia Jianguo, who had been resting with his eyes closed, immediately sat up straight when he heard the word "demolition," but soon fell back onto the sofa.
Is it reliable?
The rumors about that area being demolished have been circulating for almost eight or nine years, but there has been no news. This made Xia Minmin think that it was a false rumor spread by the landlord to raise the property value.
“This time it’s for real. Not long ago, your Grandma Hui told us that the demolition notice was posted yesterday, and our building and the textile factory are both within the demolition area.”
A few years ago, Grandma Hui was the neighbor who told the Xia family about the demolition.
Even a home textile factory is being demolished? That area is indeed very large. "Won't the former owner of the home textile factory cause trouble?"
The couple bought the textile factory building at the end of last year.
"How could that be? We didn't shortchange him a single penny. He just wants to back out because he sold at a loss? Besides, he's not unaware of the rumors about the demolition. It's just that he's unlucky with money."
Xia Minmin stopped worrying about it. "Have you seen the new factory? Does that mean the discount supermarket will have to close down?"
"Well, after the agreement is signed, the discount supermarket will prepare for a clearance sale. The employees will be reassigned to the home textile factory. Those who do not want to go to the home textile factory will be dismissed with compensation in accordance with the labor law."
Li Chunmei's eyes were glistening with tears. Her family had worked their way up from a street stall to where they were now, and the discount supermarket was a major contributor to their success, earning them many houses over the years.
“Taking advantage of this opportunity, we also plan to sell the supermarket in the ground floor of Dudu Garden, and we also plan to sell the small commodity wholesale store, leaving only the storefront. In the future, your father and I can focus on the home textile factory more easily.”
“I have no objection to you retiring now,” Xia Minmin said with a smile.
“That won’t do. There are still many workers in the factory who rely on this job to support their families, including your aunt and uncle. We can’t just shut it down without thinking,” Li Chunmei said sternly.
At 11 p.m. in Dudu Garden residential area, even the streetlights are off, and the sound of cicadas outside hasn't been heard for years. Xia Jianguo is snoring loudly.
"Xiaomin, lend a hand and help your dad into the house."
Throughout the summer vacation, Xia Minmin and Li Chunmei were busy at the relocation office, while Xia Jianguo and Xiao Wu were supervising the construction of the new factory in the neighboring city. Land in Shenzhen was too expensive, and the cost of building a new factory was too high. It would be better to buy a piece of land in the neighboring city and build it themselves. Moreover, a fast track had been opened between the two cities, and it would only take an hour to get to the new factory from Dudu Garden Community.
It's even closer to Xia Xiaomei and Xiao Wu's house, only a 40-minute drive each way, so commuting to work by car every day is no problem.
Xia Jianguo arrived home around 8 p.m. and hadn't even had a sip of water before asking, "Chunmei, what did the relocation office say?"
“Our two buildings have a total area of 5,127 square meters. They said there are 50 units of 100 square meters each and 30 million yuan worth of them. I’ve seen the design drawings and they look pretty good, but most homeowners are still waiting and seeing. However, I heard that if you sign early, you can choose the location.”
The building that appreciated the fastest was the one near the discount supermarket. The factory building, which was over 2,000 square meters, was bought from the original owner last year for 30 million yuan, which was equivalent to three years' worth of profits for the Xia family.
According to Xia Minmin's understanding, they plan to build a new village there, which will be able to accommodate the housing needs of 200,000 to 300,000 people in the future.
"Fifty apartments and 30 million are great. We'll bring the documents and sign the contract tomorrow. We'll have to sign sooner or later, so we might as well do it sooner. Have you asked them if we can register the property under Xiaomin's name?"
"Yes, minors need their guardian's signature."
"Let's register it directly under Xiaomin's name to avoid the hassle of transferring the registration later."
Xia Minmin looked at her parents in confusion. When was this decision made? Why was no one asked for her opinion before it was arranged like this?
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