"Brother, are you live streaming?" Xiaoqi stared at the other person's phone.
Xiao Wu often does live streams from home, so Xiao Qi is very familiar with it.
"Yes." Chen Hang blocked the camera: "If you don't want to be on camera, I won't film you."
"It's okay!" Xiaoqi straightened her back: "Brother, take your hand away, let me do an ad!"
"advertise?"
“Yes!” Xiaoqi nudged his hand, and Chen Hang took his hand away. Xiaoqi leaned in front of the camera and said in a childish voice, “Do you all like my pets? My family is opening a zoo soon, and you have to come and support us! Tickets are half price for seniors and children!”
Xiao Qi tilted her head, remembering Wang Ma's complaint about the animals' big appetites, and immediately said, "I'll use all your ticket money to buy food for the animals, so they can eat their fill and be plump!"
Are you really going to open a zoo?
Haha, I'm the first to show my support!
[I'm the first one! I'm going to support the little angel's zoo and add a chicken to the big tiger's food supply!]
Xiao Qi ran up to Han Fei and urged, "Grandpa, please open our zoo soon! Everyone wants to come!"
“Okay, once your Aunt Chen acquires the land, we can build a zoo.”
...
Chen Meilan offered a high price, but not all residents agreed.
Some people felt like they'd struck gold, finally becoming rich overnight from the demolition compensation, and rushed to sign the papers and leave. They'd long since given up on living in these dilapidated houses.
Some people wanted more compensation for the demolition, so they made things difficult for Chen Meilan.
It's not that they're unwilling to leave without reason; for example, the couple in front of us, the woman with gray hair and the man with graying temples.
Chen Meilan thought they were older than her parents, but after inquiring, she learned that the two were just over forty years old.
She is forty years old, but looks like she is sixty or seventy.
"Gentlemen, do you think the price offered by the Han family is too low?"
“That’s not how it is. We never thought this dilapidated house could be worth 2 million, but we have reasons to stay here.”
Can you tell me why?
“We…” The couple looked at each other, as if they had thought of something extremely sad, and they began to cry.
Chen Meilan was startled and immediately handed the two of them tissues, asking what had happened.
It turns out that the couple has a son who went abroad as an exchange student during high school. He later said that he found a great job abroad and wanted to stay and develop his career there.
But this departure lasted for a full five years.
Five years passed without any contact.
The two were scared and contacted the school, but the school said that the child was being forced to stay abroad and there was nothing they could do at the time.
When asked about the whereabouts of the children, the school stopped sending anyone to respond.
So the couple sought help from many people and visited many places, but to no avail.
They considered going abroad to find their son, but after five trips on tourist visas, they still received no news.
They also had very bad suspicions in their hearts, but neither of them dared to say them out loud first.
They still harbored a sliver of hope that perhaps their child was only temporarily out of contact with home and would return once they finished their work.
They can't move away; if they do, the children won't be able to find their way home when they come back.
“Your children went out through the school, so the school should bring them back.”
“That’s what we said at the time, but they ignored us. We contacted many people, including the Education Bureau, but they all said they couldn’t handle the matter.”
"I understand your situation. I will arrange for someone to help you search. Are you sure the child went to country M at that time?"
"Yes, the school was referring to the US country at the time."
Chen Meilan visited several more companies, and she generally agreed to raise prices as long as it wasn't too outrageous. She knew that the bosses wanted quick profits and didn't care how much investment was involved.
The last house had its door tightly shut.
Chen Meilan knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered.
The neighbor next door to the first family kindly remarked, "This family is a bit strange; they don't like to go out, and even when they do, it's usually in the middle of the night."
"What to eat if we don't go out?"
“They grow vegetables in their yard and receive deliveries, but they only open the door to pick them up in the middle of the night.”
"Um... if I come back tonight, will they open the door?"
"It's hard to say."
Chen Meilan returned home with a heavy heart.
This time it didn't go smoothly. One family stayed in the house for their son, and it would be inhumane to ask them to move out. The other family was acting strangely, and they hadn't even met them yet, so they didn't know if they could persuade them to move out.
...
When Chen Meilan was about to go out late at night, her husband Zhang Jianguo immediately became nervous: "Where are you going?"
Seeing the jealous look on his face, Chen Meilan was speechless: "What do you think I'd be doing out so late at night, meeting my lover?"
"No... I'm not jealous."
Chen Meilan rolled her eyes: "I went to discuss business, but one of the households facing demolition refused to see me. It's a difficult situation."
"They refused to see you. What were you doing out so late at night? Were you planning to sneak in?"
“My neighbor told me that this family would open the door to pick up their packages at night. I saw packages in front of their door, so I figured they would definitely open the door at night. I just waited there, hoping to catch a glimpse of them.”
"What if he's a bad guy? You shouldn't go."
"We're only missing two households; the progress is too slow."
"Okay, I'll go with you. I'm worried about you going alone."
"You're busy during the day, so you should rest at home."
"Rest is nothing compared to my wife, I have to go with you."
Chen Meilan couldn't persuade him otherwise, and she felt sorry for him because he was working so hard at his new job during the day. She could only sigh and say, "Let's go check. If the package has already been picked up, we'll come back as soon as possible."
"Okay, I'll do whatever my wife says."
Chen Meilan and Zhang Jianguo arrived at the family's door and saw that the express delivery was still placed outside.
“Let’s wait here. If they don’t come out to collect it within an hour, we’ll go back,” Chen Meilan suggested.
Zhang Jianguo nodded, still maintaining the attitude of "I'll listen to whatever my wife says."
Time passed slowly, and after 59 minutes, the door opened.
A hand reached out, clearly intending to drag the package inside, but before he could even touch it, his hand was grabbed.
"Ahhh—" A bloodcurdling scream came from behind the door, very shrill.
Chen Meilan was startled: "Honey, be gentle, don't hurt him."
"I was very light; I was just holding him, I didn't use any force!"
"What's wrong, little mute? What happened?" someone asked.
"Ah-ba, ah-ba, ah-ah-ah—"
"You mean someone's holding you hostage?"
"Ah-ba ah-ba!"
"Friends outside, please let go of the little mute."
Chen Meilan quickly said, "I'm sorry, we meant no harm. This area is going to be demolished, and we've come to discuss the demolition with you."
“I know you. You came during the day. I think that our refusal to open the door is already a polite way of rejecting you. Please don’t bother us. We don’t want to move away.”
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