At noon, Li Mai treated them to a meal at a restaurant. After the meal, a large group of people drove the oxcart back to the village.
Li Wanchun did not bring up the topic of how Lijia Village should get rich again with Li Mai. He planned to go back and discuss it with the villagers first.
Today, out of the eighteen households in the entire Lijia Village, five children have been sent to Limai.
These five children are the future and hope of their village.
Even thirteen years later, they will only be in their twenties, in the prime of their lives. If they are willing to go back and help the village then, they will surely be able to do better and better.
The more Li Wanchun thought about it, the happier he felt.
During the meal, Li Mai also sent over five boys from Lijia Village, and they all met them.
Of the five, Li Dong is now the most promising, working as a junior manager for Zhou Quan.
They were also wearing black brocade robes, which looked much better than the dark blue work clothes worn by Li Shan and Li Su.
In the afternoon, when Zhou Quan accompanied Li Mai on a tour of the shops, Zhou Quan told Li Mai about what Uncle Wan Chun had said that day.
Li Mai smiled and said, "I knew he would ask you. That's just how he is. He's warm-hearted and always worries about things that others don't even care about. I've said before that Uncle Wan Chun should be the clan leader because he loves to worry."
Zhou Quan nodded. "You guessed right. I just said a few words to him, and he said he'd figured it out."
Li Mai nodded. "Let him go back and discuss it with the villagers first, and see what they think before we decide!"
She had thought about the development of Lijia Village. To be honest, with only a dozen or so households living halfway up the mountain, it was not easy to develop the village.
She thought of two ways that could help them make money: one was to grow medicinal herbs, and the other was to plant fruit trees and watermelons, or they could do both at the same time.
But all of this requires them to put in labor, so she can't bring it up first. She has to wait until they can't find a way to get rich on their own and come to her for help before she can bring it up.
People are strange sometimes; their feelings are very different when they work voluntarily versus when they work passively.
Your mood will affect the quality of your work.
...
In mid-April, Mr. Wang recommended two people to Zhu Qiang and Manager Lu, but they wanted to meet them to make sure they wouldn't interfere with their future lives.
Mr. Wang agreed on their behalf and arranged a meeting day for each of them.
Although Zhu Qiang and Manager Lu were shy, they dressed up smartly, wearing brocade robes, jade hairpins and pendants, and went to their blind date looking their best.
The girl Zhu Qiang met was named Xiao Qing. She was twenty-three years old and had lost her husband after marriage. Her husband was sickly, and her in-laws had married her to bring good luck.
When she entered the family, her husband, who was on the verge of death, lived for three more years. Her in-laws were not bad-hearted and said that if someone was willing to marry her, they would give her a dowry so that she could get married.
Mr. Wang knew her father-in-law, who was also a small business owner. He told him about Zhu Qiang's situation, and the father-in-law, knowing that Zhu Qiang was an orphan and a veteran, sincerely admired him and became interested in meeting him. Since they had no other sons, they said they would like to meet Zhu Qiang and, if possible, would be willing to adopt him as their godson.
So, it was Xiaoqing's mother-in-law and father-in-law who accompanied her to see Zhu Qiang.
Zhu Qiang's injured eye, after being treated with spiritual herbs by Li Mai, has not regained its vision, but it looks like a normal person's, except that it is missing an ear, which makes it look a little unsightly.
But Xiao Qing thought Zhu Qiang had a dignified appearance and a heroic air about him, so she thought he was quite good.
When the two elders learned that he was blind in one eye, they took a closer look, and Zhu Qiang didn't hide, letting them see.
The two elders asked him if it affected his daily work.
Zhu Qiang shook his head, saying that he had no problem practicing martial arts.
The two elders were relieved and explained their special situation to Zhu Qiang.
Zhu Qiang said he knew that Mr. Wang had told him, and he said he had no objection. If the two elders didn't mind, he could take care of them in their old age, but he probably couldn't help with the family business. He was going to work for Li Mai for the rest of his life.
The two elders said it was alright; the business would be given to Xiaoqing as part of her dowry. Xiaoqing could run the business herself, and they would help her. They would then give it to their children in the future.
Zhu Qiang's blind date went very smoothly, and they settled on a date.
Zhu Qiang didn't need Li Mai to prepare a house for her; she married directly into the Liu family.
The wedding was held in early June.
Manager Lu's marriage was arranged a little earlier than Zhu Qiang's.
The other party was a widow with a son and a daughter. The daughter was sixteen years old and the son was thirteen years old.
She was from a village in the town. Her husband's family had no one left, and her mother-in-law had passed away in February of this year. She couldn't make a living in the village with her two children. She originally came out intending to find someone to sell herself as a servant. Someone introduced her to Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang asked the mother and her two children, and after discussing it, they agreed.
The woman is forty years old this year, and Manager Lu is fifty-eight. There is quite a big age difference. Mr. Wang felt that although Shen Qu and Liu Guang were of suitable age, the woman had two children, which was not very suitable. He still wanted to find two women without children for the two of them, since they were still able to have their own children at that age.
He had asked the woman about her age, and she said she didn't mind, as long as the mother and her three children had a stable place to live, food to eat, her son could go to school, and her daughter could have something to do. She said she wouldn't mind that he was over fifty years old, as long as he agreed to these conditions.
Mr. Wang came to ask Manager Lu, who said, "Isn't he too young?"
However, persuaded by Mr. Wang and Li Mai, Manager Lu went to meet them.
The mother and her two children met him together.
Manager Lu had been a manager for several years, and his demeanor and presence were undeniable. The mother and her three children immediately recognized him as someone who could ensure they would no longer go hungry, so they all nodded and said they had no objections.
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