It’s the same as his home, always neat and tidy.
Probably has something to do with the fact that he’s married to Xu Yun, the primary school teacher.
A man of refined appearance, he doesn’t talk much usually.
He came to Lin Chuxia about the village chicken farm; previously, the village agreed to provide chickens to Lin Chuxia’s food factory once they were ready for market.
But, in the end, it was just a verbal agreement between the village chief and Lin Chuxia. Now the chickens were already half-grown, Qin Jiang, as the deputy director of the chicken farm, didn’t go directly to Lin Chuxia’s office but came to her home instead.
In the past, whenever it was about the bun shop and food factory, they went directly to Qin Han, since Qin Yang was out of town and hard to reach.
Communication was more straightforward between the brothers.
Now representing the village chicken farm, it was inappropriate to pass messages through his brother.
And being Qin Yang’s brother, no matter what others thought, his internal scale always tilted towards his family’s side.
Without his younger siblings’ food company, how could he have become the deputy director of the chicken farm?
“I’m not entirely sure what the village chief specifically discussed with you, and after giving it some thought, I decided to come over and hear your opinion.”
Lin Chuxia had a good impression of Qin Jiang; previously when Qin Lihua and Cai Jun had their small engagement discussion, they talked about the chicken farm matter.
Now that Qin Jiang had come to her personally, she understood that this uncle was likely to side with her.
She spoke straightforwardly, “Let’s stick to the original agreement. The village chicken farm’s chickens will be purchased by Xiyang Food Factory at market price, provided that quality is assured. We’ll need to prepare an additional contract for this, which Xiyang Food Factory will draft. I’ll have Factory Director Su contact you directly to sign the contract. Of course, if there are any issues with the contract, you can discuss them directly with me.”
Qin Jiang smiled slightly and nodded, “Then I’ll trouble my sister-in-law, and there’s one more thing. The village chief would like to sit down with you and Factory Director Su.”
He glanced at Lin Chuxia, his voice carrying a hint of resignation, “I’ve heard that the village wants to build a pig farm too.”
This was to give Lin Chuxia a heads-up that the village chief was likely approaching her again regarding sales channels.
Lin Chuxia was not at all bothered by the village chief’s little scheme, “You go ahead and arrange it, third brother.”
Qin Jiang breathed a sigh of relief internally.
Indeed, his sister-in-law was someone capable of big things and also took great care of her family members.
Looking at Lin Chuxia and then thinking about his own younger brother and his wife…
After discussing matters with Qin Jiang, Lin Chuxia planned to visit the bun shop. Yesterday, Qin Han came back and mentioned that someone came to their bun shop inquiring about learning the craft.
At that time, Qin Han thought it was a competitor coveting their secret recipe, so he brushed it off with a few words without taking it seriously.
Lin Chuxia asked if it was a local person, and Qin Han said it sounded like a Northwest accent, which reminded her of someone.
If she wasn’t wrong, that person would visit again today.
She went directly to the bun shop from home, passing through the night market.
To call it a night market, it wasn’t only active at night.
Originally, when it was the production team era, this market was set up in the evening for the convenience of the locals.
Back then, people could bring their home-raised chickens, ducks, or chicken and duck eggs to sell.
The excess vegetables from their gardens were also brought here for sale.
After the market opened up, this place became even more bustling, with buying and selling going on all day long.
As I passed the vegetable market, a quarrel was breaking out up ahead.
The voice sounded familiar, and peering through the crowd, there was Lin Jiayi, her belly swollen with pregnancy.
Lin Jiayi was now over six months along, her stomach was sticking out prominently, yet she hadn’t gained much weight elsewhere.
Moreover, she had darkened considerably and developed spots on her face, which made her look particularly haggard.
Right now, she was hysterically shouting at Li Guangyuan.
Lin Chuxia could tell that Li Guangyuan was probably selling vegetables at a stall, something they had done in their previous life, and only for half a year before they found a new opportunity.
Although Li Guangyuan was not cut out for big ventures, he was quite adept at selling vegetables; if he had earnestly continued, he might not become rich, but a comfortable life was still within reach.
It’s just that Lin Jiayi might not be satisfied with that.
With this thought, Lin Chuxia also remembered the gossip she had heard from Sun Lanlan recently.
Before Spring Festival, through Mother Lin, Lin Jiayi had married Li Hongmei to a family from a distant relative.
Mrs. Li was getting on in years, although she favored her two daughters, some things were beyond her capacity now.
For instance, with this family, despite what the matchmaker and Lin Jiayi had said, the reality was that Mrs. Li had only met the man and thought he seemed honest. Considering Li Hongmei’s sharp nature, marrying such a man wouldn’t be losing out, so she agreed.
But less than two months into the marriage, Li Hongmei started running back home, crying and complaining to Old Mrs. Li that they had been deceived; that family was nothing like what Lin Jiayi had described.
The pigs they raised were sold by her mother-in-law at the start of spring, and they didn’t see a penny; even the harvest from their fields wasn’t theirs to touch.
It was then that Old Mrs. Li realized the kind of family Lin Jiayi had married her daughter into; they had a massive fight, with Old Mrs. Li insisting that Li Guangyuan divorce Lin Jiayi, regardless of the child in her womb.
Lin Jiayi thought that even if Li Hongmei discovered that the family wasn’t good, what’s done was done – she should just hold her nose and accept it. She never expected Old Mrs. Li would push for a divorce.
Now pregnant with Li Guangyuan’s child and not having become the wealthy lady she hoped, how could she consider divorce?
Fortunately, Li Guangyuan couldn’t bear to part with Lin Jiayi and the child in her womb either.
After much persuasion and Lin Jiayi crying that she was also deceived, Old Mrs. Li’s anger was finally appeased.
But after this incident, the covert support Old Mrs. Li had given her daughter became blatant. She even told Li Guangyuan to give half of the money he made from selling vegetables to Li Hongmei, claiming it was what they owed her.
Sun Lanlan couldn’t help but criticize this.
In the end, Li Hongmei’s marital family was merely poor, not abusive; it boggled her mind how Old Mrs. Li could be so blatantly biased. For her daughter’s sake, she was willing to give up on her unborn grandson.
People say rural folks prefer boys over girls, but Old Mrs. Li’s actions showed no signs of that.
Sun Lanlan was unaware, but Lin Chuxia, who had lived a lifetime, understood perfectly well.
Of course Old Mrs. Li wouldn’t favor boys over girls, because Li Guangyuan wasn’t her biological son; her two daughters were.
During the years of famine, Li Guangyuan’s parents had starved to death. Old Mrs. Li and Old Man Li had been married for many years without children. When they saw Li Guangyuan, an orphan, they thought to take him in so he could care for them in their old age.
Only Li Guangyuan was young at the time, and starving nearly out of his wits, any woman with milk was like a mother, and he had largely forgotten his past.