The old village chief came to Liu Meiyu to ask for a respectable job for his distant nephew, and Liu Meiyu definitely could not agree to this without going through Zhong Xingguo.
"Village head, Brother Zhong's job is hard and tiring. He signed a military warrant for me when he came here to help me manage this stall. If I mess up, he said it's all his fault. If I lose money, I can ask him for part of it. Otherwise, you see Brother Zhong works day and night to worry about this forest for me. He wants to live and eat here 365 days a year, and he is also very strict with his subordinates."
"Look, he has a group of young and energetic guys under him. If it weren't for Brother Zhong's supervision, how many of them would be willing to stay in the mountains and do this? I would like to help the village chief. You said it's okay to have one more person in charge, as long as Brother Zhong nods. But I haven't met your nephew, so I don't know if he can control the people. And as for the saplings on the mountain, is he sure that I can keep them safe?"
After listening to Liu Meiyu's words, the old village chief's expression became a little stiff. The corners of his mouth twitched, his brows were tightly furrowed, deep wrinkles intertwined, and he fell into deep thought.
He originally saw Zhong Xingguo leading people in the mountains, taking care of the seedlings and fertilizing every day, and arranging everything, which seemed quite impressive. He didn't expect that the boss Liu Meiyu was generous but also had such high requirements.
According to her, if one of the saplings died, would Zhong Xingguo have to pay for it? But they have been planting trees and saplings for their entire lives, so there is no such absolute thing.
The old village chief thought about it and felt that this job was too risky and not suitable for his nephew. He was about to change his mind and give up when he heard his nephew shouting at him at the door: "Third Uncle!"
"What's going on?" The old village chief put down his pipe and looked over. No one was there, but he saw a large bundle of firewood pressing on his nephew's back. The man was hunched over and holding two wild rabbits in his hands.
Seeing this, he quickly went forward to find a chicken coop and covered the rabbit in it. "It's so cold, why are you running to the mountain again? We can't even store the firewood for the winter at home."
The old village chief looked helpless. This nephew was just too honest. He had only been in his house for a few days, but he was already rushing to do work every day, chopping wood, feeding pigs and chickens, and he almost took over his aunt's job of cooking.
"I'm free anyway." The man put the firewood in the yard and was about to leave before even taking a sip of water. The old village chief grabbed him and asked with a frown, "What are you doing now?"
"I just came over and saw that the water pipes on the mountain were frozen, so I went to fill the water tanks."
"No, just wait until the sun comes out at noon. Why are you wasting your energy?"
"Then I'll go feed the pigs."
"Your aunt has fed you!"
“…”
From what they were saying, Liu Meiyu guessed that the person outside must be the village chief's distant nephew, so she walked out to take a look out of curiosity.
The man was about 1.70 meters tall, thin, with tanned skin, chapped face, thick finger joints and creases. It was obvious that he worked hard on a daily basis. However, what was rare was that the crevices between his fingernails were clean without any dirt accumulated over the years, and he spoke standard Mandarin.
"Uncle San, what else is there to do at home? Just tell me. I feel uncomfortable when I'm idle."
The man put down the firewood, and Liu Meiyu could see his appearance clearly. Not only was he honest in his words and work, but he also looked very sincere. The big white eyes that appeared in his silly smile made her vaguely feel that he was familiar.
"What kind of work can you do during the New Year? You should be quiet. I'm not asking you to work for me as a long-term worker. There are guests at home. Go wash your face and have dinner later."
The old village chief was helpless. His nephew was honest, but he was not good at management. Zhong Xingguo could get people to do work, but his nephew was afraid that others would steal his work!
In the spring of the following year, he still brought her to Zhong Xingguo's place and arranged for her to plant trees in the mountains. He would slowly find a wife for her once he had saved some money.
When the man heard his uncle say that there were guests at home, he pulled the towel from around his neck to wipe his face, then turned around to look.
When he saw the woman standing at the door, he was stunned, then he exclaimed in surprise: "Comrade Liu Meiyun!"
"Who are you?"
Liu Meiyu was a little confused. She felt that the man looked familiar, but after thinking about the person again in her mind, she just couldn't remember who he was.
"Me, Li Tiedan!" The man looked excited and surprised, "We were both soldiers in Yu Province! I even went to see you off on the day you were discharged from the army!"
After saying that, he turned around and ran back to the house. He quickly came to her with a book in his hand and said excitedly: "Do you remember this book? It was given to me by you. Your name is on it! I always carry it with me!"
"It's you! Comrade Li Tiedan!"
When Liu Meiyu saw the book, she remembered that the man in front of her was a very enthusiastic young comrade whom she had met when she was discharged from the army. He had given her several packets of herbal medicine at that time. However, more than ten years have passed now, and the young boy of seventeen or eighteen years old has changed his appearance.
"Yeah! It's me! I never thought I'd see you again!"
Li Tiedan smiled happily, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. The picture in Liu Meiyu's mind now became clearer.
"I didn't expect that you speak Mandarin so well now!" Liu Meiyu praised sincerely.
If I remember correctly, he had a strong local accent back then, and he said he couldn't change it no matter what he did. But now you can't tell where he is from at all.
Although the man no longer blushed as he did when he was 17 or 18, he still felt uncomfortable. He scratched the back of his head and replied with a silly smile, "I listened to you and practiced by following the radio. I also memorized all the words in this book."
"That's amazing." When Liu Meiyu wanted to say something else, she saw Lu Changzheng walking towards her carrying something, his long legs walking very fast.
When the person came up to him, he asked calmly, "Wife, who is this?"
"My former comrade-in-arms, Li Tiedan." Liu Meiyu introduced him to the two people with a smile.
Li Tiedan wiped his hands before reaching out and greeted him warmly: "Hello, Brother Lu."
The old village chief saw that Liu Meiyun and his eldest nephew were old comrades-in-arms, so he smiled and said, "Don't stand outside, come in and sit down. We'll have lunch here at noon."
"Yes! I just caught two rabbits!" Li Tiedan was even more enthusiastic than the old village chief. He couldn't wait to invite everyone into the house and start a fire. "Uncle San, I'll start a fire and cook!"
The old village chief was held back by someone, and said angrily: "I will just take care of your aunt, you can talk to the people."
Unable to refuse this enthusiasm, Liu Meiyu and her husband had no choice but to stay and have a free meal.
While waiting for the meal, Liu Meiyu wanted to talk to Li Tiedan, but for some reason, Lu Changzheng suddenly became talkative and talked to Li Tiedan about things in the army. The two of them hit it off immediately, as if they were once comrades in the same military region.
After Li Tiedan knew Lu Changzheng's identity, he became even more reserved during the conversation and almost reported to him after every two words.
It wasn't just a chat or reminiscing about the past, it was clearly like Li Tiedan was reporting his work to Lu Changzheng!
After finally finishing the meal, Liu Meiyun finally got the chance to speak: "Tiedan, can you drive?"
Li Tiedan was stunned for a moment, and replied honestly: "No."
"If you don't know how to do it, you can learn." The village chief was a smart man. He immediately understood what Liu Meiyu meant and quickly made up for his nephew: "Driving a car is just like driving a tractor. As long as young people are willing to learn, what's so difficult about it?"
Liu Meiyun nodded: "I'm in need of a driver. If you can get a driver's license, come and help me drive the truck on the side of the road. Your brother drove it here this morning. I'll pay for the tuition and everything else."
"No way!" Li Tiedan refused without thinking.
He can't take advantage of this.
The old village chief kicked him under the table, but smiled and said, "Why not? It's good for young people to learn a skill. Boss Liu just happens to be in need of a driver. Once you learn the skill, work hard for him. I'll find a way to transfer your household registration here. Then you can build a house here, get married, and start a family of your own."
The village chief was determined to help this unlucky nephew, even though he was a distant relative.
During the few days he has been at home, he has been busy doing housework. He is more diligent than his own nephew. He is kind-hearted and honest. If he stays in his village and takes root, he will be taken care of in the future.
And to put it bluntly, there are not many people in Li Tiedan’s hometown, and it’s in the vast mountains. If he goes back, it will take him several lifetimes to make a comeback.
Even if this is a rural area, it is still a rural area near the capital. Besides, isn’t Liu Meiyu currently running an orchard in their village? Who knows, it may become prosperous in the future!
"Uncle, even if I go to school, I can't ask Comrade Liu Meiyun to pay for my tuition. I will pay for it myself."
Li Tiedan refused in a resounding voice. He could help with the work, but he could not agree to pay for his tuition.
"I haven't finished talking yet." Liu Meiyun said, "I will only temporarily advance the tuition. After you officially start working, the monthly payment will be deducted from your first year's salary. No matter who you are, if you want to learn skills and improve yourself here, this is the rule."
What Liu Meiyu said was true. Not only Li Tiedan enjoyed this treatment, but she also helped the salespeople at Huamei Clothing Store to enroll in night college last year so that they could continue to improve themselves.
Huamei is constantly expanding, how can the veterans below not make progress?
In short, Cyndi Lau is always involved in scandals wherever she goes!
So, Li Tiedan's job was decided.
After the family had their fill at the village chief's house, they boarded the truck driven by Lu Changzheng and returned to the city.
"Mom, I gave my table tennis racket to someone else. Can I buy another one when I get home?"
Lu Xiaobao had a great time in the village for half a day, teaching the children how to play table tennis. Since there was no table tennis table, they just put together long benches to play. When he left, he saw the reluctance on the faces of the children, so he generously left his rackets behind.
"Okay, I'll buy it when I get back." Liu Meiyu agreed generously.
Lu Erbao, who was holding a wild rabbit next to him, also asked quickly: "Mom, can I go to the market to buy another rabbit?"
Liu Meiyun frowned: "Don't you already have one?"
Just now while having dinner at the village chief's house, Lu Erbao saw two wild rabbits that Li Tiedan had hunted and insisted on taking them home to raise.
If those two rabbits weren't male, he would have wanted to hug them both at once.
Lu Erbao explained: "This is just a male rabbit. I also want to buy a female rabbit."
Lu Changzheng was speechless when he heard this while driving: "Why do you have to pair up with others? You have to choose between male and female rabbits when raising them. Why is it so complicated? You don't set so many standards for yourself in your studies?"
"Dad, it's so boring to talk to you. You talk about studying every three sentences." Lu Erbao said with disgust: "Didn't I do well in the final exam last semester? Grandpa said that I was much better than when you were a child! You even failed before!"
“…”
Lu Changzheng was so angry that he felt choked in his chest and had no words to say even if he wanted to refute.
"My mother is still the best. She is smart, gentle, considerate and beautiful." After disliking his biological father, Erbao started praising Liu Meiyu.
"Stop it." Liu Meiyu didn't buy his words. "It's good enough that I agree to let you raise one rabbit. You want to raise a pair of rabbits? The poop of the rabbits will make the whole house smell. You should take care of this one by yourself. Don't expect Aunt Wu and the others to help you clean up when you go back. Otherwise, don't raise any rabbits."
"Yes!" Xiaobao nodded, completely on his mother's side, "Second brother, if you don't want to raise her anymore, we can take her home and let Grandma Wu cook her."
The braised rabbit meat I had just eaten at the village chief’s house was so delicious.
"No, you have no heart." Lu Erbao protected the rabbit in his arms and said confidently: "The rabbit is so cute, I want to take it home and raise it well, but you want to eat it, you are so heartless."
Dabao couldn't stand it anymore and rolled his eyes: "You just ate two bowls! You didn't even wipe the grease off your mouth, how can you be so ashamed?"
"No way!" Erbao wiped his sleeves and didn't see any oil stains. He knew that he was fooled by his elder brother again. He bumped him unhappily and continued to fight with Liu Meiyun: "Mom, please, the market is not far from our home, just let me buy another one. After all, one is enough to raise, and two are also enough."
"One or two are both fine, so just raise one." Liu Meiyu closed her eyes and concentrated, with no intention of giving in.
She knows her son well. He can raise rabbits today and turtles tomorrow. He wants whatever is fresh.
Erbao: "Mom, please, you are so gentle and kind, it's New Year's Day, you won't fail to fulfill such a small wish of your son, right?"
Liu Meiyun said without even raising her eyelids: "Your wish is not small."
“…”
Along the way, no matter how determined Liu Meiyun's attitude was, Lu Erbao would not give up and kept pestering her to buy a female rabbit.
Liu Meiyun didn't think much about it at first, but then an idea suddenly occurred to her and she asked him, "You bought a pair of female rabbits, aren't you planning to give birth to baby rabbits and sell them?"
"No...no, Mom, how could I?"
Having his thoughts exposed, Lu Erbao avoided looking at Liu Meiyun and just denied it stubbornly.
Seeing Erbao's guilty look, Liu Meiyu, as his biological mother, had nothing to understand.
So she said sternly, "Lu Erbao, I warn you, this is absolutely not allowed. Your current task is to study. You can raise a rabbit as a hobby. If you want to make money by raising rabbits and delay your studies, then you can stop studying. You can drop out of school now and go out to make money. In the future, you will pay for your own food, drink, defecation and urination, and mom will support your brother's education!"
Lu Changzheng was holding the steering wheel and finally found the opportunity to speak. He nodded and taught his second son: "Your mother is right. You have enough food and drink at home. Why do you act like you are losing money every day? If you have time, you should read more books."
Under the double pressure of his parents, Lu Erbao pouted and said nothing with a depressed look on his face. After a while, he secretly turned his gaze to Dabao and Xiaobao.
He wanted to attract two allies to invest. Rabbits have strong reproductive ability and are multi-birth animals. As long as they buy another female rabbit, they will have several baby rabbits in a few months. When they grow up, they can give birth to more baby rabbits...
The premise is that you just need to convince your mother.
However, Liu Meiyu knew that the second child would not give up so easily, so she blocked his way out and said to the other two: "This will work for you too. If you help Erbao raise rabbits, you don't have to go to school anymore. Just do this full-time for me and raise rabbits for the rest of your life. Mom will never stop!"
"I don't raise rabbits." Lu Dabao looked uninterested.
"I won't raise one either." Xiaobao also expressed his position firmly. He has to play table tennis every day, so he has no time to "go along with the crowd" with Erbao.
Therefore, the friendship boat of the three brothers was intercepted by Liu Meiyu before it even left the harbor.
Lu Erbao hung his face and touched the little rabbit in his arms. His plan to make money by raising rabbits was strangled in the cradle by his mother. His wish to make money in the mall was one step further away.
Seeing that his daughter-in-law could control his three sons with just a few words, Lu Changzheng felt that his daughter-in-law was indeed amazing.
It is an absolute symbol of status in the family.
On the other hand, the village chief and his wife also thought Liu Meiyu was amazing.
As soon as Liu Meiyu left, the village chief's wife saw the New Year gift on the table that Lu Changzheng had just brought to her home, and she couldn't stop smiling.
Pork, bacon and canned food. She gave me so many things just for a meal at her house. She was really generous.
She also heard that the people who worked for her in the village had all received New Year's gifts this year. She couldn't help but say to her husband, "I have two nephews from my mother's side. Why don't you ask them to come over and learn to drive with Tiedan? Even if they can't be managers, being drivers is also good."
"Don't even think about it!" The village chief interrupted while smoking a pipe.
The village head's wife was dissatisfied when she heard this: "Why can't you think about it? Tiedan can do it, but my nephew from my mother's family can't?"
The village chief saw that his wife had misunderstood, so he waved his hand and said, "I don't care. The key is Boss Liu!"
"What's wrong with her?" The village head's wife didn't understand. "I think that girl is easy to talk to. She arranged a job for Tiedan and even paid for him to learn how to drive."
The village chief snorted twice, lit a cigarette and took a puff before saying, "That girl is not simple. Do you know what she said to me when she left just now?"
"What?" The village chief's wife looked curious.
"She asked me for the land at the foot of the mountain! She said she wanted to take it over!"
"Isn't that our private plot of land? She has already contracted a whole mountain, isn't that enough? What does she want that piece of land for?"
"I guess he wants to build a house. Aren't Zhong Xingguo and his family still living in a dilapidated house?" the village chief guessed.
But this is not the point. The point is that he asked Liu Meiyu to arrange a job for his eldest nephew today. She agreed with a smile, but immediately asked him to contract the land. After this back and forth, he didn't suffer any loss, so how could he dare to push people to Liu Meiyu again?
What we want today is his private plot of land, but what about next time?
So, when dealing with these capitalists, you can never outsmart them with their ideas and tricks!
The village head's wife was also incredulous after hearing the man's analysis: "Oh my God, how could this girl be so cunning? I thought she was easy to talk to!"
"If you don't have a lot of tricks, how can you make such a big business? You only plant a hundred acres of seedlings a year, and the money invested in it must be a lot." The more the village chief thought about it, the more he felt that Liu Meiyu was not a simple person. She contracted a mountain, hired so many people, and even bought a truck. And the key person, her husband, seemed to be even more complicated.
Their village can't afford to offend such a person.
So he told his wife, "If anyone wants to send us some delicious food, don't go to Zhong Xingguo and say something bad. Tell them to go talk to Zhong Xingguo and don't let us get involved."
"Who's talking nonsense?"
“…”
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