Chapter 220

The motives of these people were mostly not pure.

But Lin Mo was pretty open-minded about it; it didn’t matter why they came, after all, they were guests and neighbors, and maintaining good relationships was the right thing to do.

In big cities, people might not care too much about social interactions, but any child who grew up in a village knows full well the importance of the saying “distant relatives are not as helpful as close neighbors.”

Lin Mo let the curtain fall and went to the bathroom on the second floor to wash his face, then he changed into the clean clothes Li Jinwen had prepared for him and came downstairs, all smiles and full of pride.

After struggling for thirty years, Lin Mo was now truly experiencing what it was to “return home in glory and splendor.”

And with his appearance, he instantly attracted everyone’s attention.

“Lin is up. Why not sleep a little longer?”

“Daddy~~”

“Lin!”

“Mr. Lin, any plans this morning? Let’s play cards later.”

“Yo, wealth really changes a person. That outfit Lin’s wearing mustn’t be cheap, right?”

“Haven’t seen the kid in a while, he’s grown quite a bit.”

“An impressive young man, no wonder he’s making big money.”

“Happy New Year, Lin.”

“Happy New Year.”

“Son, come here; this is your cousin auntie. She heard you were coming back and specially came from the county to see you today.”

There were so many people greeting him that, for a moment, Lin Mo didn’t know who to talk to first. It wasn’t until his father Lin Changshui introduced him that he managed to greet these relatives whose names he couldn’t remember.

It was indeed tiring, and Lin Mo’s smile almost stiffened on his face.

Taking advantage of his mother and others attending to the guests, Lin Mo also took out the red envelopes and cigarettes he’d prepared from the trunk of his Maybach, giving red envelopes to the children in the yard and handing out two boxes of Hetianxia cigarettes, worth a hundred yuan per pack, to the men.

“Happy New Year, I didn’t bring any special local products, just some cigarettes and red envelopes.”

“Happy New Year, cousin auntie. This is a red envelope for your child.”

“Happy New Year, happy new year.”

“For the child, just take it.”

“Happy New Year, all the best.”

“I haven’t made much money; I’m just working for someone else.”

“Haha, alright, no problem. Let’s chat later; we’ll have a good talk at my home later.”

It was right to give a small gift in return when people came carrying presents or risk falling prey to gossip.

Watching their son deftly handle the distribution of red envelopes and cigarettes, Lin Changshui and Xu Qin felt an almost surreal sensation.

In the past, they were the ones who stood in crowds waiting for their bosses to hand out red envelopes and hoped that there’d be a little extra cash in them.

Yet now,

Without them realizing, they had become the wealthy bosses they had once envied, the focus of everyone’s admiration.

Their son had succeeded, and that made their lives feel fulfilled.

For the time afterward, Lin Mo entertained the guests who came to the house with his parents and parents-in-law.

There were so many people that the house could not accommodate everyone, so the rest stood in the yard to chat.

After nearly two hours of this, Lin Mo took the excuse of needing to buy New Year’s goods and, along with his wife and children, left the house in their Land Rover Range Rover as if escaping.

…..

The Land Rover Range Rover meandered through the village lanes, occasionally greeted by villagers.

Lin Mo was courteous, no matter what his past relationship with the person was, or what they might be thinking; he nodded in response to everyone who greeted him.

Some familiar faces would even stop for a chat.

Of course,

There were also those who would just watch Lin Mo’s Range Rover from a distance with disdain and contempt written all over their faces, comforting themselves by believing Lin Mo’s money came from fraud and that he’d soon be apprehended by the public security bureau.

As for these people, Lin Mo couldn’t be bothered with them and chose to ignore them completely.

No one is free from gossip behind their backs, just as no one refrains from speaking about others.

Worrying too much about what others think only brings unnecessary troubles.

Once out of the village, the greetings dwindled, and the Range Rover picked up speed.

Li Jinwen rubbed her sore cheeks and sighed, “If I keep smiling like this every day, my wrinkles are going to show up soon.”

“Haha.” Lin Mo joked, “Starting tomorrow, you can hang a sign at the front door that says, ‘No laughing allowed within these premises.’”

“How can that work? They’re all guests, might as well apply more facial masks.” Li Jinwen paused and then asked, “Honey, what are we doing now? Going directly to buy things or picking up the delivery?”

They had a lot to do today.

After thinking it over, Lin Mo said, “Let’s first visit the new house; the construction team said the foundation is almost ready. Let’s see how they’ve done.”

“Alright, I’ll follow your lead.” Li Jinwen took out her phone and said, “I’ll check where the fridge and washing machine we ordered on Jingdong are. If they’ve arrived, we’ll call for a truck to take them back with us. Also, there are many parcels that have been at the town for days.”

About 20 minutes later, Lin Mo, his wife, and daughter arrived at the location of their new home.

Behind the house was a continuous range of green mountains, with two small man-made lakes nearby, offering a rather picturesque scenery.

The foundation was ready, but the surrounding area was still undeveloped, and the road was full of potholes and not yet repaired.

The reason for building the house here was, on one hand, the convenience of transportation, as the house was not far from the provincial road, making it easy to travel to the village or the city.

On the other hand, it was quiet; there weren’t many neighbors, and the houses were a good distance apart.

There was no significant disturbance from one another.