Pastoral Daily Life

The fame of Xiaohua’s Home Cooking Restaurant was growing in the neighbourhood, and there were many repeat customers every day. Wang Shuxiu herself understood that her craftsmanship was one thing, but the most important thing was the good ingredients. When there was no one around, Wang Shuxiu pulled Lu Lingxi to talk about what to do in winter. The vegetables in the restaurant were all purchased from the village, and to be frank, these vegetables were not specifically grown for sale, they were just grown by the villagers in their yards for their own consumption. The summer and autumn were fine, but it was going to be October soon, and in two more months the weather would be cold and the vegetables would stop growing.

Lu Lingxi wanted to talk to Wang Shuxiu about this before, but he almost forgot about it recently.

“Mom, how about we rent a few acres of land to build a greenhouse to grow vegetables? Right next to the plant nursery.”

Wang Shuxiu was a bit hesitant; the cost would be a bit too high.

“Will it work?”

Lu Lingxi nodded, “The greenhouse in the plant nursery is already being built, and the manpower is there. I heard from Big Brother Yan that the progress is fast, so it’s not a big deal to build an extra one next to it. Besides, the land in the village is usually deserted, so they are more than happy to have someone to rent it.”

Wang Shuxiu counted the money in her hand, “Let me think about it.”

Lu Lingxi didn’t say anything. Yi Hang, watching him from a distance, winked at him. Lu Lingxi instantly remembered what Yi Hang said in his text message and subconsciously looked around.

“What are you looking for?” Wang Shuxiu asked casually.

“Didn’t Brother Feng come?”

“What would he be doing here?”

Lu Lingxi didn’t realise what he had said until he finished speaking; his eyes wandered guiltily and he didn’t dare to look at Wang Shuxiu. Wang Shuxiu stared at him suspiciously, muttering in her heart: the little bastard didn’t hear something, did he?

“Tell me, why are you looking for Brother Feng?”

Lu Lingxi stammered, unable to speak, and Wang Shuxiu understood everything at a glance. She was so angry and amused that she reached out and slapped him. “Worried that I’ll find you a stepfather? Don’t worry, your mom has just crawled out of the fire pit and has no intention of jumping into it again.” She said this, but in her heart she was thinking that even though Lu Lingxi didn’t remember anything, he still couldn’t let go of Lu Yishui.

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Lu Lingxi didn’t know that Wang Shuxiu had misunderstood, and hesitated for a long time before saying seriously, “Actually, it’s fine for Mom to find someone.”

After sending Gao Yongliang away in the afternoon, Lu Lingxi pondered this question for half a day. What would Lu Lingxi think if it was the original body owner? Lu Yishui had treated Wang Shuxiu badly, and the original Lu Lingxi must have also wanted Wang Shuxiu to be happy. Although he wanted to take good care of Wang Shuxiu, a son and a husband would still be different, just like for him, Yan Yue and Wang Shuxiu were different.

When he said it seriously, Wang Shuxiu was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed. “Little bastard worries a lot. Alright, don’t worry about the adults’ business, you’re hungry, I’ll go and cook you something.”

As soon as Wang Shuxiu left, Yi Hang came over. “What were you talking about? Look at your bitter look! By the way, where is Brother Yan?” He was used to Yan Yue bringing Lu Lingxi over at night. Once in a while Yan Yue wasn’t there and Yi Hang felt a little unaccustomed.

Lu Lingxi stopped thinking about those things and found an empty table to sit down. “Big Brother Yan has something to do.”

Yi Hang was curious, “What exactly does Brother Yan do? How come it usually feels like he has nothing to do?”

“Big Brother Yan has been on holiday recently.” Lu Lingxi explained. Yan Yue rarely mentioned anything about his family, and Lu Lingxi didn’t know much, he only knew that Yan Yue was a member of the Yan family in Zhongjing. He struggled to mobilise his barren memories from his last life and couldn’t recall much about the Zhongjing Yan family. But families like this were usually full of arguments and fighting, when all was said and done. Lu Lingxi had listened to Yan Yue’s phone calls a few times and could sense that Yan Yue’s family was not at peace either.

Yi Hang didn’t think about it as much as Lu Lingxi did and said with an emotion, “It’s good to be rich.”

Lu Lingxi didn’t say anything, but after thinking about it, he sent a text message to Yan Yue, “Have you had dinner yet, Big Brother Yan?”

Yan Yue’s text message came back quickly, “I’ve eaten, I’m a bit busy now, be good, I’ll call you tonight.”

Yan Yue was really busy right now. After a quick reply to the text message, Yan Yue put down his phone and looked at the computer again, his face turning serious, “Continue, you just said that Gao Yongliang’s project had secured an investment from Sequoia?”

Sequoia Investment was the same kind of venture capital company as Dezhi Investment, and the two, as competitors, had dealt with each other a few times before.

“Not bad.” The man who spoke in the video was a middle-aged man, somewhat cubby, called Dai Wei. He was the person in charge of Dezhi Investment. He quickly flipped through the information in his hand and affirmed, “Gao Yongliang’s project did pull in investment from Sequoia, but Sequoia didn’t pay much attention to his project and only gave it a C rating, and because Gao Yongliang had pulled in investment almost a year ago without doing anything concrete, Sequoia seemed to be a bit dissatisfied on their side and were considering withdrawing their investment.”

Yan Yue tapped the desktop a few times and instructed, “You should find someone to move around and find a way to facilitate Sequoia’s disinvestment as soon as possible. We need to follow up on this project.”

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Although Dai Wei had been mentally prepared when Yan Yue suddenly asked to investigate the progress of Gao Yongliang’s project yesterday, he still had some concerns when he really heard that Yan Yue intended to invest in this project. “Why? To be honest I was really optimistic about this project at first. But considering what Gao Yongliang has done this year, I am a little worried. He wasted a year of Sequoia’s money without bringing in any revenue, and will probably not be making any revenue in the short term in the future. I’m not sure if investing in this project is the right decision. Of course you are the boss,” after expressing his opinion, Dai Wei added a timely remark as a conclusion.

An Jie, who was sitting behind Yan Yue, was amused by the last sentence and gave Dai Wei a thumbs up. He also had concerns about this investment and wondered why Yan Yue had suddenly pulled out this project that they had already eliminated.

Dai Wei nodded to An Jie, and Yan Yue pretended not to see their small gestures as he explained, “Gao Yongliang is a bit nitpicking in his work, but he can also be described as striving for excellence. Through his behaviour this year, I am instead optimistic about the product he is preparing to launch. In any case, we need to be involved in this project by the end of the month.”

“No problem.” Dai Wei assured. Wreaking havoc was something he was best at, especially with an old enemy. With the two sides in agreement, Dai Wei felt he had to go and catch up on his sleep first. Anyone who worked all day and all night without sleep couldn’t bear it. He was a little envious of An Jie now that he and Yan Yue were unified in terms of time difference and didn’t have to turn night into day and vice versa all the time like he did.

After hanging up the video, An Jie laid out the statistical financial statement in front of Yan Yue. “This is the current liquidity we can use, and given that you rated Gao Yongliang’s project as Grade A, I suggest we take at least 51% of the shares.”

“Of course.” Yan Yue affirmed, “We must have absolute control of this project. Let Dai Wei go and talk to Gao Yongliang.”

An Jie was a little curious, “Are you really just optimistic about this project? No other reason?”

Yan Yue glared at him with a smirk, “What do you want to say?”

An Jie immediately changed the topic. “The house is almost equipped, when are you planning to move out?”

Yan Yue frowned, considering the best time to move out of the Yin house and announce that he was going to recuperate abroad. He was the only one in Fengcheng during this time, with his grandfather and mother both in Zhongjing. Yin Ya’s progress in Hopewell was not going very well. His grandfather had never agreed to her entering Hopewell, and without his support, Yin Ya’s development could be considered difficult. However, this situation would soon improve, as his father’s suppression of Yin Ya would only provoke Grandpa’s sense of crisis and he would support Yin Ya instead.

Yan Yue sometimes felt that Yin Ya was incredibly stupid. Although Grandpa held a similar amount of shares as his father, he had long since withdrawn from the operation of Hopewell and his influence in Hopewell was much less than before. The current Hopewell could almost be described as the Yan family’s Hopewell, so where in the world did Yin Ya get the confidence that Yan Yue’s father would let an “outsider” take over Hopewell? To Yan Shihui, Yan Yue and Yan Hai were both his sons, so giving Hopewell to one of them would be like adding meat to his own pot; but not to Yin Ya, he would never even consider the idea of giving it to her.

“I’ll go back to Zhongjing some time.” Yan Yue decided. Since he had decided to retreat, he would retreat cleanly and wait until Yan Hai and Yin Ya were done fighting.

“Big Brother Yan, you’re going back to Zhongjing?” Lu Lingxi was a little surprised to learn of the news the next day.

Yan Yue smiled faintly, “Xiao Xi can’t bear to let Big Brother Yan go?”

Lu Lingxi was a little embarrassed, but still nodded seriously.

Yan Yue looked at him, his heart softening into a puddle. He took advantage of the lack of people to touch Lu Lingxi’s face, explaining: “I’ll go back just for a few days and will come back soon. After that, I won’t leave. The house at 202 is almost ready, Big Brother Yan will leave you a card. Xiao Xi, if you see something you like, buy whatever you like and decorate the house.”

Lu Lingxi was puzzled, “Shouldn’t you decorate it the way you like, Big Brother Yan?”

Yan Yue’s eyes darkened slightly as he looked at Lu Lingxi and said in a soft voice, “This is Big Brother Yan and Xiao Xi’s home, of course Xiao Xi’s preferences should be the main focus.”

When he said this, the tips of Lu Lingxi’s ears turned red. He looked at Yan Yue and nodded, blushing.

Yan Yue left quickly, and soon returned to Zhongjing with An Jie. Lu Lingxi was a little unaccustomed to being left alone in the shop. He hugged Dahei and counted the days until Yan Yue returned.

“Xiao Xi.”

“Grandma Wang.” Lu Lingxi was very surprised, “You’re out of hospital?”

Several people entered Tiny Garden; the one in the middle was Grandma Wang and two young people were supporting her by her sides. There were also several middle aged men and women, looking at Lu Lingxi and smiling kindly. “Discharged from the hospital.” Grandma Wang said loudly: “But my legs are still a bit weak. Where is Dahei? I brought him ribs, freshly steamed.”

Lu Lingxi was a little bewildered and Grandma Wang smiled, “Xiao Xi, you’re still hiding it but Grandma Wang already knows. If it wasn’t for Dahei, Grandma Wang would still be confused and not know who hit her. You child, you don’t say anything even when you’ve done something good.” Grandma Wang pretended to complain and gestured at the people around her to hurry up and bring out the steamed pork ribs for Dahei.

Lu Lingxi didn’t know how to face this situation. He thought no one would know about Dahei. Grandma Wang looked at Dahei lovingly. One of her legs was still in plaster, and with some difficulty she bent down and stroked Dahei’s head, praising him, “Good Dahei, Grandma Wang really wants to thank you.”

Dahei seemed to understand her words and squinted his eyes and gave a low bark.

The room full of people burst into laughter. Grandma Wang’s son, a tall, thin, middle-aged man, looked at Lu Lingxi gratefully. “Xiao Xi, right? I really don’t know how to thank you for this.”

Grandma Wang interjected, “Xiao Xi, your Uncle Wang’s job is also to deal with flowers and plants. He works at the Botanical Research Institute, so if you need something, just ask your Uncle Wang.”

Lu Lingxi’s eyes lit up and he nodded gently.