Less than five minutes after I got home, Xu Dongliang came knocking on my door.
"Anzi, there's a meeting at the village chief's house at seven o'clock. It's about this year's dividends from tidal flat aquaculture and related development matters for next year. Each household needs to send at least one person. Do you have time to go tonight?"
"Dividends? The mudflat aquaculture has only just started harvesting, right? How can there be dividends so soon?"
"Yes, when we were planning to do mudflat aquaculture, everyone in the village put together all their savings to make it happen. Now that the New Year is just around the corner, we should all contribute a little to make sure everyone has a good New Year, right?"
"Okay, I'll come over after dinner."
Xu An nodded in agreement, and after watching Uncle Dongliang knock on Aunt Hong's courtyard gate, he closed the gate and returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner with his grandmother.
Although Grandma Xu concealed it well on the surface, she added white sugar instead of salt to the vegetables when she should have added salt, and boiled the vegetables into soup instead of blanching them. When Grandma Xu threw the freshly picked vegetables into the trash can as scraps, Xu An finally couldn't hold back anymore.
"Grandma, is something on your mind? Tell us what's wrong, and we can all work together to figure it out. Keeping it inside will only hurt your health."
After Xu An's persuasion, Grandma Xu hesitated for a moment before saying succinctly, "Your aunt came to see me this afternoon and said she's planning to divorce your uncle and move her household registration back."
Xu An's hands, which were kneading the dough, froze. He then smiled to cover his embarrassment and asked, "Grandma, did you agree?"
"You brat!" Grandma Xu laughed angrily, ignoring the flour all over her hands. She lightly patted Xu An's shoulder and said, "Do you think your grandma is that clueless? Why didn't your aunt say anything earlier or later? She only came back to talk about it after hearing that the aquaculture in our Xu Family Village had made money. Everyone knows what she's up to."
Uh-huh!
Grandma actually refused, which shocked Xu An even more than when she agreed to her aunt's request.
In fact, this was only the first time the aunt had come to Xu Family Village, but it wasn't the first time she had come to see Xu An.
When Xu's Catering only had one store, Xu's Fast Food, my aunt had already come to visit Xu An after seeing the report on the local TV station in Shanghai.
Whether due to some reservations or other reasons, she didn't go directly in to find Grandma Xu, but instead stood guard outside the door and stopped Xu An, repeatedly telling him to manage the money for him.
I visited Xu's Fast Food three times, Qingya Kindergarten twice, Xu's Catering once, and Xu An was contacted a total of six times!
This only includes the times Xu An happened to encounter; it doesn't include the times he ran away empty-handed and was directly driven away. If it were included, the number of times he could run away would be too many to count, even if he used both his hands and feet.
After the Xu family catering headquarters was built and a front desk was installed, and because Xu An was frequently away on business trips and had to make empty trips each time, she finally calmed down.
Unexpectedly, not long after things calmed down, they heard about the bumper harvest of the collective industry in Xujia Village and came knocking on their door again.
Despite Grandma Xu's clear stance, Xu An couldn't bear the thought of her aunt's personality and the high probability that she would come knocking again and again, disturbing their peaceful life.
After dinner, Xu An told his grandmother that he was going to his second grandfather's house for a meeting, then walked out of the courtyard gate and headed straight for his second grandfather's house.
Halfway there, Xu An stopped and walked behind a big tree by the roadside. He took out his phone, found Boss Wei's number, and dialed it.
"Good evening, Mr. Xu. Have you had dinner yet?" President Wei greeted him warmly as soon as he answered the phone.
"I just had dinner. I made some meat buns myself; they were soft and delicious." After a few brief pleasantries, Xu An got straight to the point: "President Wei, I remember that Harvest Farm has a branch in Gui'an Province, right?"
"Yes, what's wrong, Mr. Xu? Are you expanding your business to Gui'an Province?"
"I'd like to expand my business to Gui'an Province, just like Harvest Farm." After complimenting Harvest Farm, he continued, "There's something I'd like to trouble you with, Mr. Wei. Could you help me contact Mr. and Mrs. Xu Juan from Jinhan Food Processing Factory and recruit them to our branch in Gui'an Province?"
Upon hearing Xu Juan's name, President Wei immediately guessed what was going on. To him, it was just a matter of course, and since Xu An had helped them so much last time, it wouldn't be right not to help with this small favor now.
With this in mind, President Wei didn't ask any further questions. He readily agreed to Xu An's request, inquired in detail about the positions and benefits Xu An wanted for the two men, and then hung up the phone to begin arranging the matter.
In reality, given Xu An's current status in Haishi, it would be an easy thing for him to get Xu Juan and her husband to change jobs or even lose their jobs.
But a cornered dog will do the opposite of what it seems. If the two of them really lose their jobs, then the two of them, who have nothing better to do, will only become more unscrupulous in going to their grandmother's house to complain and seek sympathy.
It's hard to say whether Grandma Xu will soften her heart after learning that the two have lost their jobs. After all, no matter what, the younger sister is still Grandma's biological daughter, and she can't just watch them starve to death.
Therefore, the best way to solve this problem once and for all is to lure them away from Hai City with high salaries and have them settle in Gui'an Province, where it takes seven hours by high-speed rail.
Most importantly, this was arranged by Harvest Farm. Although they owed him a favor, they weren't afraid that the two would shamelessly cling to them and treat him like an ATM.
Xu An could not forget what his aunt had done to Xu Kang and Xu Le in his previous life, but because of his grandmother, he could not bring himself to kill her. His current actions could be considered as doing everything he could to be kind and righteous.
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