"Alright."
Su Mingde waved his hand, his tone suddenly turning cold.
"Brother, just tell me, what brings you here?"
Su Mingqiang clenched his fists, and finally could only grit his teeth and say.
"I...I want to borrow some money."
The living room was quiet for a few seconds.
"ha!"
Liu Meijuan suddenly burst into laughter.
"This is hilarious! I can't take it anymore, Mingde, your older brother is just too funny!"
Su Mingde didn't laugh.
He slowly stood up and looked down at his brother.
How much do you want?
"Fifty...fifty dollars."
Su Mingqiang's voice grew softer and softer.
"I'll pay you back once I find a job."
Fifty yuan?
Liu Meijuan exaggeratedly covered her chest.
"How much does Mingde earn in a month? Brother, you're killing us!"
Su Mingde silently limped to the cabinet and opened the drawer.
Su Mingqiang's heart started racing instantly.
However, what Su Mingde produced wasn't a wallet, but a contract.
Do you know him?
He handed the contract to Su Mingqiang.
It was, surprisingly, the original agreement for the division of the family property.
"It all started from the day we separated."
Su Mingde said, emphasizing each word.
"I don't have an older brother anymore."
Su Mingde turned and walked to the door, then opened it.
"Please."
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Liu Meijuan kicked the overturned stool to Su Mingqiang's feet.
"Oh dear, you've made everything dirty. Don't leave empty-handed, take it home and use it."
Su Mingqiang stood there, having already lost all face because of Su Mingde and Liu Meijuan's back-and-forth banter.
"Okay, very good."
He said in a hoarse voice.
"Su Mingde, remember this day."
It started raining outside sometime earlier.
Su Mingqiang walked into the rain without looking back.
A loud door slammed shut behind me, followed by Liu Meijuan's shrill laughter.
"They're finally gone! Quick, get some disinfectant and wipe down everything they stood on!"
...
Let's turn our attention back to Su Jianguo.
The autumn sun shines on the barren mountains of Sujiatun.
The frames of four brand-new vegetable greenhouses gleamed in the sunlight.
Standing at the highest point, Su Jianguo looked at the fruits of his labor over the past month, and a smile finally appeared on his dark face.
"Brother Jianguo, the plastic sheeting is all ready!"
Zhang Dazhu's voice came from the bottom of the hillside. Behind him were more than a dozen villagers, each carrying rolls of plastic film.
Su Jianguo nodded and patted the sturdy earthen wall beside him.
"Check the frame and slots again; once the plastic sheeting is on, it can't be changed."
A month ago, this was a desolate mountain that no one paid any attention to.
Now, the two-meter-thick north wall winds along the hillside like the Great Wall, with the bamboo and wood frame neatly arranged, just waiting for the final step.
Cover it with plastic sheeting, and it becomes a real winter vegetable greenhouse.
Down the mountain, villagers gathered in twos and threes on the hillside.
An elderly man leaned on a cane, a woman held a child, and even teenagers who were usually sedentary came to watch the spectacle.
Sujiatun has never seen such a large-scale event in decades.
Su Jianguo, who returned from the city, wants to grow winter vegetables on this barren mountain.
"Have you heard? These few sheds alone cost over ten thousand yuan!"
Widow Wang, carrying a basket, whispered to Aunt Li beside her.
Aunt Li smacked her lips.
"Over ten thousand? That's enough to build more than ten large brick houses! Grandpa Su doesn't even do anything about it, letting his son run wild."
"Shhh-keep it down!"
Widow Wang glanced nervously at Su Jianguo on the hillside.
"They've seen the world, they might actually succeed."
"What do you mean, 'accomplish'?"
Old Zhao sneered as he puffed on his pipe.
"I've lived for sixty years and I've never seen cucumbers grow in winter! That Su kid must have gone crazy from living in the city."
The murmurs drifted across the hillside like the wind.
Su Jianguo ignored him, focusing intently on checking every detail.
Over the course of a month, he suffered sunburn and peeled several layers of skin. The blisters on his hands scabbed over and broke repeatedly, but he finally managed to complete the main construction project before the first frost.
"Nation-building."
Old Master Su was standing behind him at some point, his white eyebrows framed by a pair of worried eyes.
"Someone's coming."
Su Jianguo turned around and saw the old Party Secretary leading several village cadres up the hillside.
"Old Party Secretary."
Su Jianguo went up to him and handed him a Daqianmen cigarette.
The old Party Secretary took the cigarette, but instead of lighting it, he squinted and examined the greenhouse in front of him.
"The founding of the nation, wow, quite a grand affair."
"Thanks to you."
Su Jianguo took out a match and lit a cigarette for the old Party Secretary.
The old Party Secretary took a deep breath and exhaled a smoke ring.
"I heard you invested over ten thousand? What, are you struggling to make ends meet?"
Su Jianguo smiled.
"Money is a minor issue; the key is the technique. I've seen it done in Northeast China—growing vegetables in winter is truly possible."
"The Northeast is the Northeast, this is North China!"
The old Party Secretary raised a question, which drew the attention of the surrounding villagers.
"Jianguo, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but if you lose this, you might never be able to recover in your life!"
A commotion broke out in the crowd.
Grandpa Su stood to the side, his expression not very good, but he didn't say anything.
Su Jianguo looked around and saw that the villagers' faces were full of doubt.
He took a deep breath, suddenly jumped onto a mound of earth, and said in a loud voice.
"Fellow villagers! I know you're all having doubts—planting vegetables in winter, isn't that ridiculous?"
The crowd quieted down, and everyone looked up at him.
"but!"
Su Jianguo pointed to the faint outline of Beijing in the distance.
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