CH 95

Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng were fighting?

That was unimaginable!

Xu Zhao immediately followed Da Zhuang’s father to see what was going on. Before he arrived at the scene, he heard Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng screams and curses. Among them were insults coming from his two sister-in-laws. Xu Zhao hadn’t gone up to them yet when he saw Xu Fan and Da Zhuang padding their short legs into the “front lines.”

“Xu Fan.”

“Da Zhuang.”

Xu Zhao and Da Zhuang’s father stepped forward and scooped them into their arms. The kids turned to see the two adults coming to watch the excitement. They really were only watching the excitement. Even Father Xu didn’t intervene nor say anything.

The Xu and Li families watched from their homes. They gathered a general sense of information from the yells and scoldings of the villegers’ discussions.

The matter involved the eldest, Xu Zuocheng. In order to build the greenhouse, not only did he borrow money from his own mother-in-law, he also used Xu Youcheng’s name to borrow money from Xu Youcheng’s mother-in-law. He had really hyped it up.

But the truth of the matter was that Xu Zuocheng had secretly watched Xu Zhao’s greenhouse vegetables thrive, and even had people come up to purchase them. Xu Zuocheng was starting to get anxious, so he followed Mother Xu and the others to learn step by step how to build the grass curtains, install the grass curtains, ventilate the greenhouse, and other stuff. As a result, Xu Zhao’s greenhouse vegetables flourished the longer they grew, but Xu Zuocheng’s directly froze.

Froze!

They couldn’t even be saved. Not to mention the land that was used in vain, he had even wasted all the initial capital.

At this time, Xu Youcheng’s mother-in-law’s family was unable to make end’s meet and wanted to find Xu Zuocheng to ask for some of the greenhouse vegetables. Who knew that when she saw this scene, she felt that her own money would be completely lost and wanted to ask Xu Zuocheng for the money back. However, not only did Xu Zuocheng not return the money, he even scolded Xu Youcheng’s mother-in-law’s family for being inscenere.

It was also then that Xu Youcheng learned that Xu Zuocheng had used his name to borrow the money. The money was also borrowed, but Xu Zuocheng didn’t want to return it. In this kind of “he said, she said” situation where they argued back and forth, Xu Zuocheng cursed Xu Youcheng for being in prison reform. He instantly threw oil to the flames and made the fight even worse.

The small grievances that they had accumulated had all come out and the argument turned into a fight.

However, some of the men in the village tried to stop the fight. Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng had only thrown a couple of punches before it turned back into a yelling fight. They scolded each other, but weren’t they just scolding Father Xu in the end? Father Xu couldn’t listen to it anymore, so he used his crutches to run between Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng to scold the two of them. But those two didn’t listen at all, and even told Father Xu to step to the side and calm down.

Xu Zhao was afraid that something would happen to Father Xu, so he quickly pulled Father Xu back and told Xu Fan to drag him away.

Father Xu doted on Xu Fan the most, so he didn’t break free from Xu Fan’s hold.

As Xu Zhao was about to go find the village chief and secretary, the village chief and secretary had already heard of the news and arrived. They reprimanded Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng. Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng didn’t dare to speak up and angrily returned home. They started building their own walls and establishing their own households since they wanted nothing to do with each other.

And so, the once single was about to be divided into three courtyards. Xu Zhao didn’t want to get involved in this matter, so he had Xu Fan drag Mother and Father Xu home.

And so, Xu Fan’s plump little hand held onto Father Xu’s little thumb while the other plump little hand held onto Mother Xu’s little thumb. He grumbled that he was hungry and was finally able to pull Mother and Father Xu home. A while later, Xu Zhao and Da Zhuang’s father followed them home.

Da Zhuang’s father glanced at Xu Zhao with a happy expression.

Xu Zhao asked, “Brother Li, why are you so happy?”

Da Zhuang’s father said, “I’m happy for you!”

Xu Zhao instantly understood and smiled.

Da Zhuang’s father laughed and asked, “You understand now?”

Xu Zhao nodded and said, “Then I guess I must thank my eldest brother for this?”

Da Zhuang’s father said, “Of course!”

Xu Zhao should actually thank Da Zhuang’s father. Ever since he planted the greenhouse vegetables and earned money, there were people in the village who were jealous and envious, some were happy for him, and some were like Xu Zuocheng and didn’t want to work for Xu Zhao. They wanted to grow and sell their own vegetables. They were all farmers and knew how to grow vegetables since birth. So everyone was eager to start. They were only waiting for Xu Zuocheng to produce some results before following suit.

In the end, Xu Zuocheng failed.

The villagers only then realized that greenhouse vegetables weren’t that easy to grow. They admired Xu Zhao and at the same time, some people wanted to work for Xu Zhao to earn some money. They didn’t have the thought of turning in their foodstuff to suffer and learn the method of growing greenhouse vegetables. Some even had the thought of protecting Xu Zhao’s greenhouse since the village chief had said that once Xu Zhao expanded his greenhouse, he would hire more people from the village.

“It’ll be easier to recruit people now!” Da Zhuang’s father said.

“Mn. But before we hire others, we should finish the matters at hand first.”

“What matters at hand?”

“The matter of harvesting the leafy vegetables. Vegetables aren’t easy to harvest. We have to bend and whatnot. Our parents and the others are old, my sister-in-law is about to give birth, and we also have Xu Fan and Da Zhuang, these two naughty children. So it will just be the two of us harvesting the leafy vegetables. We’ll also add in Qiangqiang’s dad, Zhang Xiaohu, Tian Dakui, and Su Qingqing, these three people. Their monthly salary will be 20 Yuan. If they don’t work a full month, their pay will be calculated by the day.”

“No problem. I’ll call the three of them over when we start harvesting.”

Xu Zhao and Da Zhuang’s father finished talking and returned to their own homes. Xu Zhao started planning fruits and vegetables for the spring.

However, before planting, the leafy vegetables in the big greenhouse had to be harvested first and carried to the market to sell. For half a month or so, Xu Zhao and Da Zhuang’s father brought Zhang Xiaohu and the others to harvest and sell vegetables. It could be said that they were extremely busy. During this time, Cui Dingchen and Zhou Xiangqian had called several times, but Xu Zhao never answered since he was too busy.

Since they did business right before the new year, their name had spread and Xu Zhao’s leafy vegetables sold easily. In order to develop better in the future, Xu Zhao especially rented a stall in the vegetable market. He rented it for the entire year. After all the leafy vegetables were sold, Xu Zhao earned around 3,000 Yuan. He had earned a lot.

The important point was that there was very little fresh produce at the market. He was selling in a “competition-less” market. When they finished harvesting all the leafy vegetables, Xu Zhao was already thinking about planting fruits. Before planting the fruits, Xu Zhao had almost everything planned already.

Spring was coming. Xu Zhao took off his own down jacket and only wore his threaded jacket and unlined shirt.

Seeing Xu Zhao taking it off, Xu Fan also took his off. He ran to the west wing, wanting to take off his cotton-padded jacket. Seeing Xu Zhao come in, he quickly went up and said, “Daddy, I-I-I took off my clothes. Took off my clothes.”

His tone was one used in discussions.

Xu Zhao asked, “Why are you taking off your clothes?”

Xu Fan said, “I-I’m hot. I-I want to take it off. I can run faster when I take it off.” His meaning was that he was wearing too much and it was inconvenient to run around and play.

Xu Zhao pretended not to understand and said, “But I don’t see you sweating.”

“I’m hot. I’m not letting the sweat out.”

“What are you saying? I don’t understand.” Xu Zhao laughed. He truly didn’t understand what Xu Fan was saying. In any case, he knew that Xu didn’t want to wear such thick clothes and said, “Don’t take it off. You must cover up in the spring and autumn or else you can get sick easily.”

Xu Fan added, “I have to get an injection if I’m sick.”

Xu Fan immediately echoed, afraid that Xu would regret it. “That’s right. Our Sanwa is very smart. You even know that if you take off your clothes suddenly, you’ll get sick and have to get an injection. Oh my, our Sanwa is so smart.”

After a couple sentences of praise, Xu Fan was tricked by Xu Zhao and said, “Daddy, I don’t want to get an injection. Injections hurt. Hurt so much I want to cry.”

“That’s right. Let’s try our best so Baobao doesn’t have to get an injection.”

“Mn.”

All right, Xu Fan was coaxed. Xu Fan took a penny and went to the small shop to buy Tang Seng Meat. He didn’t try to secretly take off his clothes. During the change of season, many children got sick but Xu Fan and Da Zhuang didn’t even cough once. It could be said that they were very healthy, and even be said that they were acting noisy everyday.

At this moment, Xu Fan was wearing his thermal underwear and sitting on the bed. He fluttered his small plump legs and spoke nonstop.

“Daddy! Come! Come and clip my toenails.”

“…”

“Daddy! I want to drink milk! I want to drink milk!”

“…”

“Daddy! Daddy! I want to sing. Daddy, I’ll recite a poem. I carry the boat of tomorrow.1 Daddy, I-I…”

“…”

He really could talk. Xu Fan was really noisy. He went to the main hall and grabbed a bottle from the table. He filled it with milk and handed it to Xu Fan before carrying Xu Fan to the east wing and saying, “Go listen to the radio with Grandma and Grandpa. Daddy will hug you once I’m done.”

Xu Fan asked, “Daddy, why are you always busy?”

“Because I need to make money.”

“Make money.”

“Yes. Go listen to the radio with your grandparents.”

“Okay.”

Xu Zhao then returned to the west wing and continued reading his books and notes. In fact, he was very familiar with some processes and methods, but he wanted to be absolutely certain. So before starting anything, he always made full preparations.

As he was preparing, the phone rang. He reached out to answer. Just as he brought it to his ear, Cui Dingchen’s voice came from the other side.

It had been half a month since the last time Cui Dingchen called.

“Youngest uncle,” Xu Zhao greeted.

“Mn, it’s me. I’ll meet you at the entrance of your village in 20 minutes,” Cui Dingchen said.

The entrance of the village.

What did that mean?

Xu Zhao wanted to inquire in detail, but the other side had already hung up. Xu Zhao was puzzled. Before the 20 minutes had passed, the whistle of a truck had come from the entrance of the village. Xu Zhao instinctively knew it was Cui Dingchen’s doing. He put down his pen and notified Mother Xu before walking out into the courtyard in the dark and toward the entrance of the village. In the distance, he saw a truck by the entrance of the village.

Before Xu Zhao could take a closer look, the truck door opened and a tall figure jumped down and quickly walked toward him.

It was Cui Dingchen.

Xu Zhao asked in surprise, “Youngest uncle, it really is you.”

As soon as he saw Xu Zhao, Cui Dingchen smiled, “Could I be faked?”

He would even make this kind of joke!

Xu Zhao glanced behind Cui Dingchen and asked, “Youngest uncle, why are you driving the truck?”

Cui Dingchen answered, “I’m not driving it. My company’s employee is.”

“Then you are…?”

“I need to leave with them, but I wanted to see you before I do.”

Xu Zhao looked at Cui Dingchen. He hadn’t seen Cui Dingchen in over a month. They were surrounded in darkness, but he could still see that Cui Dingchen had lost weight. He heard Cui Qingfeng say before that Cui Dingchen was very busy. It must be because he went to the imperial capital for two weeks with him, and that was why Cui Dingchen was so busy now. He even had to work this late in the night.

Xu Zhao couldn’t help but say, “Youngest uncle, have you been very busy recently?”

Mn. It’ll be better after I finish the current work.”

“Then you should pay attention to your health. Don’t wear yourself out.”

Hearing this, Cui Dingchen chuckled. The laugh carried a charm that made other’s hearts tingle.

Xu Zhao was a bit embarrassed as he asked, “Youngest uncle, what are you laughing at?”

Cui Dingchen lowered his head slightly as he glanced at Xu Zhao. He lowered his voice and asked, “Are you concerned about me?”