When Chen Jidong rushed back after learning the news that Xia Hongmei and Chen Lingling were missing, it had been a week since they disappeared.
Just before the end of the day, the people of Jingyang Village were in a panic because of a missing person.
It was previously rumored that Qiao Zhixia was missing, but it turned out that she was picking peaches in the orchard and caused a misunderstanding.
Unexpectedly, the mother and daughter of the Chen family disappeared again. No one in the village cared about it at first. It was not until three days later that the whole village started looking for them.
As a result, I searched the whole village but couldn't find the person.
Chen Wen-ge went to attend the training, and Chen Ji-dong started a small business in the county town with several of his former brothers, but he didn't get in touch with anyone until a week later.
Wang Ruoqiu was crying anxiously while holding her son at home. She couldn't suppress the tears on her face and looked really sad.
The police have already filed a case, but no one can say when they will be able to find the person.
Only Qiao Zhixia knew that once they entered that village, they would never be able to come back...
Ten days later, Chen Lingling and Xia Hongmei were finally sent to a closed and backward mountain village more than 3,000 kilometers away from Jingyang Village.
The economy here is backward, the transportation is blocked, and the villagers' thoughts are decadent and feudal.
Women here are there to carry on the family line and serve men. Because they value boys over girls, most baby girls are killed at birth, so there are more boys than girls here.
Even the custom of polyandry was derived.
A girl may be the sex tool of all the men in a family.
Chen Lingling was sold to a family with four brothers. Their mother died of illness a few days ago, leaving only four brothers and an old mother in the family.
According to custom, the four brothers would marry her husband.
She looked at the four black and smelly men and screamed in fear. She turned around and tried to run away, but was hit by two sticks and one of her legs was broken. Then she was tied up with a rope and spent the bridal chamber with the four grooms that night.
Although Xia Hongmei is over fifty, she looks almost forty because of proper maintenance.
In this village that lacks women, she will not be rejected. A bachelor in his teens took a fancy to her and bought her back.
This old bachelor has a weird personality and quirks. Xia Hongmei's screams that night were like the sound of a pig being slaughtered...
In the blink of an eye, time passed and Qiao Zhixia's company in the provincial capital had officially started operations.
Xu Xiaolan is now the sales manager of Jingyang Group. The sales department has hired nearly 30 sales personnel and has begun to promote Jingyang products nationwide.
Ji Pingan serves as the Marketing Manager, overseeing long-term market strategic planning, formulation of short-term implementation plans, and new product planning.
Qiao Chudong served as financial manager, in charge of the company's financial power.
As for other departments, they are being planned and improved step by step.
With a professional team responsible for their respective tasks, she only needs to check and sign on major decisions.
Her most important responsibility is to ensure the supply of raw materials and constantly update new products.
Before she passed away, she took some time off to take her parents to the provincial capital, one to visit her company, and the other to go to the city to hold a wedding banquet.
She is now almost five months pregnant, but because the loose blouse covers her belly well, it is not obvious.
Except for a few close relatives, no one else knew about her pregnancy.
They stayed in the provincial capital for five days and returned to Jingyang Village three days before the holiday.
This trip to the city allowed Qiao Xinguo and his son to gain a lot of knowledge and broaden their horizons. They no longer had any of their previous inferiority and timidity.
Qiao Chudong and Xu Xiaolan also came back with them.
The Qiao family's new house caught Xu Xiaolan's eye, and what surprised her most were the two-color roses blooming in the courtyard.
Although Jingyang Village is not in the north, it is not in the south either. The four seasons here are distinct, and the temperature in winter is around zero degrees.
How can such a delicate rose withstand the severe cold and not wither?
Xu Xiaolan sighed with envy: "Zhizhi, I found that you are that thing? You reap what you sow, and you grow what you raise... So can I pick a bunch of these roses?"
"No." Qiao Zhixia refused flatly.
"(ˉ▽￣～) 꾿~~Stingy! Will the baby in your belly recognize me as its godmother?" Xu Xiaolan blinked her beautiful eyes.
"As long as the red envelope is thick enough, you can have this."
"It depends on whether the boss gives me a raise..." Xu Xiaolan put her ear against Qiao Zhixia's bulging belly and could clearly feel the baby's fetal movement.
She was so excited that she kept shouting that the baby was kicking her.
When Xu Xiaolan learned that Qiao Zhixia was pregnant a few days ago, she was completely dumbfounded, but she quickly guessed that something happened that night when the two were drunk.
So she felt that she had an obligation to be responsible for the child. After all, she had persuaded Qiao Zhixia to drink and left her out all night.
She strongly supports Qiao Zhixia's decision to raise her own child. Although this idea is bold, it is not difficult for Qiao Zhixia's current financial conditions.
But there is no man. Raising a child to experience the joy of being a mother and leave seeds for the continuation of one's life. Having money, children and no man is simply perfect.
I have to say that the reason some people can become friends has nothing to do with anything else, but because they are highly compatible in thought.
The first new year in the new house was more lively than the old. Li Aizhen prepared window decorations and couplets, and Qiao Xinguo even bought a set of 100 firecrackers.
In the past, they were reluctant to spend money on these things, even if it was just firecrackers, they would just team up with others to buy a small amount.
Now that we have a new house and our finances are better, we can have a good time.
It snowed the next day. Qiao Xinguo was putting up Spring Festival couplets, Qiao Zhixia and her sister were helping their mother in the kitchen, and Xu Xiaolan was playing with Yaya on a toy slide made by boys in the yard.
The wheels ran over the freshly fallen snow, leaving two wheel marks in the yard.
In the kitchen, Qiao Zhixia watched her mother preparing the dishes and pouted with some dissatisfaction.
There were old hen stewed with pork belly, sweet and sour fish, fried river shrimp with leeks, steamed pork with rice flour, spiced brined beef... There wasn't a single appetizer.
"Mom, I want to eat hot pot, the spicy kind."
As soon as she finished speaking, she unexpectedly received a roll of the eyes from her mother.
"Are you kidding me? Eating hot pot will cause pregnancy fever, and the baby will be born with a face full of rashes."
"But I don't want to eat something bland. I want something spicy."
"Hold on for another two days, and you'll be able to eat spicy food in two days."
"Why two months? Not five months?"
"You don't want to observe the confinement period and breastfeed?"
Her mother's words silenced Qiao Zhixia. She really didn't expect that she would have to sacrifice so much to have a child.
"Sister, were you worried that you couldn't eat anything?" Qiao Zhixia asked depressedly.
Qiao Chudong smiled faintly: "Almost, but I wanted to eat sour and sweet at that time."
Qiao Zhixia sat in front of the stove and added firewood: "Don't they say sour boys and spicy girls? It seems that judging the gender of a couple based on taste is not right."
"When I was thinking about you, I wanted to eat sour, spicy, and sometimes sweet, so I can't tell the taste." Li Aizhen said as she quickly closed the lid of the steamer.
"Do you want to have a daughter or a son?" Qiao Chudong sat over and asked.
Qiao Zhixia smiled innocently: "Only fools would make choices. If possible, I want them all..."