Chapter 126
The good thing about the space is that it's like a refrigerator, it stays the same as what you put in.
Every time Zhen Zhen goes to another place, if she sees something delicious there, she buys some and puts it in her space.
So, late at night, while Cheng Su was asleep, she secretly took out the roast duck that she bought in Beijing many years ago.
The roast duck skin is golden, crispy and refreshing. Dip it in roast duck sauce, put it in spring cakes as thin as cicada wings, and add some cucumber and green onion shreds. It is absolutely delicious!
Zhen Zhen was eating until her mouth was full of oil, but she still didn't feel satisfied, so she took out the hot pot she bought during her inspection in Sichuan Province. She had put the ingredients in the hot pot as soon as they were boiled, and they were just delicious when she took them out.
After eating and drinking enough, I went to sleep. I slept until dawn and heard Cheng Su muttering:
"Auntie Zhen, do you feel that our house smells like roast duck?"
Zhen Zhen thought to herself that she had clearly opened the window to let in some fresh air last night.
"I didn't smell it. Are you a roast duck?"
"No? There's still a smell of hot pot on the curtains."
Zhen Zhen shook his head, "You are so young, but your nose doesn't work well. How can there be any roast duck hot pot? You didn't eat it, so I couldn't have secretly gotten up in the middle of the night to eat it, right?"
Of course Cheng Su would not doubt Aunt Zhen, because Aunt Zhen was the most selfless and loved to share!
Everyone can eat alone except her.
"Did I really hear it wrong?"
"You must have heard it wrong."
Cheng Su is a little skeptical about life.
After lunch, Mrs. Meng got off the bus.
Batou Village is the most economically developed village in the town, and it has the most buses running to and from the county seat.
Mrs. Meng often takes the bus to the Meng family, both to keep in touch with her sisters-in-law and to see Old Lady Meng, for fear that others would say that they had abandoned Old Lady Meng to the care of the second son's wife.
In the past few years, the construction of the house in Zhenzhen factory and the building of Zhenxin department store were all contracted to the Meng Dajian brothers.
The two brothers made a lot of money and built a house in their hometown. This time, Mrs. Meng came because she had something and wanted Zhen Zhen to mediate.
"Dajian and Dazhu have both built high-rise buildings, but your elder brother and I still live in our old tile-roofed houses. We are not greedy for enjoyment, but the village has become richer in recent years, and every household has built a high-rise building. Some people say we are idle talkers."
Meng Dazhui and Meng Dajian both have money now, so it stands to reason that they should partner up to build a house for their parents.
Meng Dajian's wife Zhou Shufen mentioned this matter, but Zhang Qiaohong disagreed.
Zhang Qiaohong thought that building a house would cost at least more than 20,000 yuan. Mrs. Meng had saved more than 5,000 yuan, and the two brothers had to contribute at least 10,000 yuan each.
Meng Dazhu made nearly 100,000 yuan by building a house for Zhen Zhen. After deducting the expenses for building the house at home, Zhang Qiaohong still had 50,000 or 60,000 yuan left. But she wouldn't even give him 10,000 yuan, let alone 10,000 yuan.
Why should a daughter-in-law pay for building a house for her mother-in-law!
How can this be true!
Mrs. Meng felt aggrieved. She and Mr. Meng had worked very hard to build tiled houses for their two sons, and they were the ones who took care of their grandchildren. She had never made things difficult for Zhang Qiaohong, but Zhang Qiaohong was not willing to give her a penny.
"After we die, the house will still be divided between the two brothers. They won't lose anything."
Zhen Zhen also felt a headache. Zhang Qiaohong's personality was similar to Tao Aihong's. It was impossible to ask her to take out the money.
Ten thousand yuan is nothing to Zhen Zhen, but it is absolutely not her business to intervene in other people's affairs.
Zhen Zhen groaned: "If she doesn't want to, let Da Jian and his wife do it."
"I have two sons. How can I let one of them pay?"
"Sister-in-law, listen to me. Dajian made nearly 100,000 yuan from the project, and Zhou Shufen made hundreds of thousands from selling me salami."
Mrs. Meng's eyes widened. "Shufen makes so much money? I thought it was harder to make money selling salted meat."
"Then you really underestimate the business of selling pig heads. Nowadays, there are not many businesses that make more money than selling pig heads."
"Even if the child has money, we can't let him take all of it. I'm afraid Zhou Shufen will be unhappy."
Mrs. Meng is a reasonable person. Zhen Zhen has known her for many years and knows her character.
"What I mean is, let Dajian pay you to build a house, and then ask Li Decheng to write a document saying that after the old couple dies, the house will be inherited by Meng Dajian and his wife, and has nothing to do with Zhang Qiaohong, and let Zhang Qiaohong sign it."
"There's no way Zhang Qiaohong would agree to this! Although the money is provided by Dajian, the homestead is ours, and I can also provide 5,000 yuan in capital."
"That's what I mean! If she doesn't agree, let her take the money! She has to choose one."
After much thought, Mrs. Meng decided that this was the only thing she could do.
She sighed again, saying that having two sons was a difficult life.
"I'm not as lucky as you. I have three sons who are all filial. Unlike us, when it comes to dividing the property, they all jump out, and when we ask him to pay, no one says a word."
Zhen Zhen asked Mrs. Meng to go back and seek justice.
Old Mrs. Meng and her father also have a residential plot, but Zhen Zhen doesn't want it. She plans to give it to Mrs. Meng. In this way, Mrs. Meng's residential plot is more than 20 meters from east to west, and the house built there will be particularly magnificent.
Old Mrs. Meng has old-fashioned ideas and believes that she should build a more luxurious house in her hometown.
That is the root of the Meng family, and it cannot be cut off from her.
Old Mrs. Meng went back to find Li Decheng, who was naturally willing to help. He called a few uncles in the village and went to Meng Dazhui and Meng Dajian's house to mediate. The two brothers agreed, but Zhang Qiaohong grimaced and refused to pay a penny.
Li Decheng mentioned the signing and sealing matter. When Zhang Qiaohong heard that she had to sign, she became anxious!
She really doesn't want to spend money, but she wants to share the inheritance!
She planned to let Meng Dajian pay for building the house, and then when Meng Dasao died, she would jump out to share the money.
But Zhang Qiaohong didn't expect that Mrs. Meng would ask for signature!
You know, this house is more than 20 meters long and the yard is spacious. Meng Dajian himself is a builder of houses, so the cost price must be cheap. If the inheritance is divided, Zhang Qiaohong can at least get the foundation of two rooms and three floors. It is a good deal no matter how you think about it.
Li Decheng owed Zhen Zhen a lot of favors and wanted to get this done.
"Qiaohong, I have discussed with your parents and decided to build this house symmetrically. When your parents pass away, we will build a wall in the middle of the house, giving each family half, and combine it with your current yard."
Meng Dajian and Meng Dazhui's houses are on the east and west sides of Meng Dasao's house. Li Decheng's idea is a good deal for Zhang Qiaohong.
After all, Mrs. Meng would give us 5,000 yuan and such a large piece of residential land.
Rural residential land is not expensive, but Batou Village has become developed, and every household has built a house. There are really few good places to live in the village.
Zhang Qiaohong is not used to living in the county town and is happy to stay in the countryside. For her, if her home could be bigger, she could grow vegetables in the yard like other people's villas in the city.
"I have no money!"
"If you don't have money, just sign it! Give up your inheritance voluntarily!"
Zhang Qiaohong had no choice but to grit her teeth and agree.
After Li Decheng solved the problem, he had the nerve to go to the city to ask Zhen Zhen for help.
He had been bothered by this matter for several months. His wife asked him to go find Zhen Zhen, but he couldn't open his mouth. He felt that he was always bothering her and wasting all their friendship.
Li Decheng took the ginseng he grew himself and rode his bike to Haopo.
"I'm really embarrassed to ask, but my son is going to high school. There are many idlers in the town's high school. I'm afraid he won't study hard, so I want to ask you to do me a favor and send him to the county to study."
Zhen Zhen was puzzled: "Can't we just spend money to do it?"
"You don't know! The county has just issued a new policy. In order to ensure the enrollment of rural schools, rural students are not allowed to study in the city. I have been using my connections for half a year, treating people to meals and giving them gifts and money, but they all say it is difficult to do."
Li Decheng was so worried about this that his hair turned white.
In the past, Li Decheng thought it didn't matter where his children went to school, as they might not be able to get into college anyway.
But seeing what Zhen Zhen had done for the child, he was subtly influenced and felt that parents should still do their best to raise their children.
Besides, his family is better off than before, and after getting out of poverty, he will naturally pay attention to his children's education.
Zhen Zhen didn't expect this to happen. It was not a big deal for her.
"Wait a minute, I'll call Xu Wei."
Li Decheng wondered who Xu Wei was. The director of the Education Bureau was not called that name either. He thought for a long time before realizing that this was the mayor of Xinyao County!
Zhen Guizhi actually called the county chief by his name!
Zhen Zhen picked up the phone and talked directly about the child's education. Xu Wei didn't say anything pretentiously and agreed directly. Ten minutes later, Zhen Zhen received a call from Xu Wei. Xu Wei said that the matter had been settled and asked her to take the child to report directly.
Li Decheng was stunned. "You've done it just like that? God, you are really capable. I've been trying to do this for half a year but you solved it with just one phone call! You really gave me a lot of face."
Li Decheng heard that Zhenxin Food Factory was a major taxpayer and Zhen Guizhi could be on par with all the other department directors.
He didn't believe it before, thinking that officials were too powerful to give Zhen Guizhi this face!
Only today did he realize that Zhen Guizhi's reputation was far greater than he had imagined!
When he gets back, he has to tell the villagers of Batou Village how Zhen Guizhi is so capable, yet she hangs out with farmers like them every day. She's really remarkable!
Life in Batou Village is good, but the children's learning resources are scarce. Zhen Zhen is thinking about donating a library to Batou Village, which will be centrally managed by the village.
Li Decheng was overjoyed. "I thank you on behalf of the villagers!"
To purchase books, just contact Xinhua Bookstore directly. Zhen Guizhi is very famous in Xinyao County. When the staff at Xinhua Bookstore heard that she wanted to purchase books for donation, they were willing to help and give her a discount.
Xinhua Bookstore listed books from National Tsing Hua University for Zhen Zhen to choose from.
Zhen Zhen took a look at it, removed some book versions that were too old, added some world classics and books from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and asked Xinhua Bookstore to distribute the books directly.
Li Decheng asked the villagers to build an insect-proof bookshelf, so that when the books were purchased, they could be numbered and stored.
With the cooperation of so many parties, the library was built in less than half a month.
There weren't many entertainment activities for the children in the village, so Zhen Zhen bought a lot of books for the children to read, and the children were all very happy.
Books cannot make people rich overnight, but they can sow a seed in people's hearts, which will grow into a towering tree when the time is right.
Meng Daguo and Meng Hua did not go home for the New Year this year, and they haven't called home for a month or so. Zhen Zhen was a little worried about their safety, so she planned to go to Nanhai Province.
Before leaving, she took Meng Dajian with her, and the two of them bought tickets from the provincial capital airport to Nanhai Province.
It was Meng Dajian's first time to take a plane. He clung to the seat nervously, "Auntie, this plane is not going to fall down halfway through the flight, is it?"
Zhen Zhen said calmly, "Relax, our country's pilots are very experienced."
Meng Dajian was still very worried and was nervous after getting on the plane. Fortunately, the plane not only did not fall, but took him through the clouds and saw the most beautiful morning glow.
After getting off the plane, the heat wave hit Zhen Zhen's face. He took off his sweater jacket and changed into a lighter outfit.