“Buy land? Who?”
Rarely getting a day off, Tian Tian had gotten up early to pack her luggage for going home. She hadn’t expected Zhou Haoting to show up at her door saying someone wanted to buy the land they had just purchased. This was really a bit ridiculous.
“I’m not sure. They just sent a middleman to mention it. But I refused directly.”
Zhou Haoting was somewhat concerned about this sudden land buyer. Mainly because he had already hired people to plan the plot. His factory and Tian Tian’s rental buildings were already being designed. Now someone had come out of nowhere wanting to buy the land, and he was a little worried whether there had been a new change in municipal planning.
Otherwise, their village area shouldn’t be in the planning zone so soon. Even if it were, it should be somewhere nearby. This location was one he had carefully selected.
Now that someone was asking around, he was afraid the plot really was going to be expropriated. Then all their work would be for nothing.
Hearing Zhou Haoting’s words, Tian Tian knew what he was worried about. But in her past life, the place they had chosen wasn’t in the expropriation zone. Instead, some open areas not far from the village were expropriated, and a commercial district was built there. At the time, driven by the commercial district, the village actually lived better than if it had been expropriated.
Houses rented out at high prices, convenient shopping, and increasingly complete surrounding facilities. And if the village was collectively expropriated in the future, the price would definitely be much higher than now.
However you calculated it, it was a good deal.
But Zhou Haoting didn’t know that!
So Tian Tian could only say, “How about having someone ask around, just in case there really is some change in municipal planning?”
Zhou Haoting was cautious and nodded. “Alright. After I see you onto the bus tomorrow, I’ll go find some people. Also, you really don’t need me to drive you back?”
Tian Tian quickly shook her head. “No, no, no.”
She still didn’t want to get married so soon. If she really let Zhou Haoting drive her back, the next day word would spread that she was married, two months later that she was pregnant, and a year later that she was already a mother. Anyway, people in the village were sometimes just that magical.
Seeing her like that, how could Zhou Haoting not understand? He tapped her amusingly. “Alright. Then you be careful. Once you’ve decided what day you’re coming back, remember to call ahead and let me know so I can pick you up at the station.”
Having someone pick her up—Tian Tian wasn’t silly enough to go squeeze onto a bus. “Okay, I’ll definitely let you know in advance. I’ll bring you back some good food.”
Zhou Haoting’s face was full of smiles. “Thanks in advance. By the way, want to go buy some local specialties this afternoon for you to take back?”
Although he hadn’t met his future in-laws yet, sending gifts ahead of time was polite. He, Zhou Haoting, wouldn’t be rude.
Tian Tian said, “I was waiting for you to say that. By the way, what specialties does Shenzhen even have…”
The two chatted until lunch, ate together, and in the afternoon drove out to buy several gift sets of local specialties. On the way back, they even made a special trip to the wholesale shop to ask Fengmei and Niuzai if they wanted to send anything to their families.
The two were busy with the wholesale shop and weren’t going back with her.
In the end, each of them had Tian Tian bring two hundred yuan to their families.
Soon it was the next day. Tian Tian, carrying a pile of packed luggage, was seen off by Zhou Haoting onto the bus home. Although the bus was slow, it was direct. When she got off, her dad would come pick her up.
But the bus was exactly the same as when she’d come—crammed full. Listening to the occasional sounds of dry heaving and smelling the various odors in the air, Tian Tian thought that once she got back to Shenzhen, she should hurry up and get a driver’s license, then buy a car to drive.
At present, she still had about three hundred thousand yuan on hand. Buying the vegetable plot had cost several tens of thousands. Dreams that once seemed impossibly far away had now actually come true.
Thinking about these past months in Shenzhen, Tian Tian felt it was a bit dreamlike. In just a few months, she had earned money many people couldn’t earn in a lifetime.
Mm, it just went to show there was no future in working for others. In her past life, she’d worked for ten years and never had more than five figures in savings. Thinking about it now was really sad.
The bus arrived smoothly at the road near her home. From far away, Tian Tian spotted two familiar figures standing under a tree, looking toward the oncoming traffic. She immediately called out, “Driver, please stop.”
The bus honked and stopped. Before long, Tian Tian shouted “Dad, Mom” out the window. Then she saw her father and mother happily jogging over.
“Why did you buy so many things? We have everything at home. It’s enough that you came back yourself—carrying so much must be tiring!”
Tian Tian’s parents said this, but their hands moved quickly, afraid of delaying the people on the bus. And the passengers were very enthusiastic too, each one helping pass the luggage along. Five or six big bags were all handed down in less than two minutes.
The family of three waved goodbye to everyone on the bus, and then Tian Tian’s mother sighed. “People are so warm when you’re out and about! When you first went to Shenzhen, were the people on the bus this nice too?”
Tian Tian nodded repeatedly. She absolutely wouldn’t tell her mother that on her first bus ride, she’d run into human traffickers and also pickpockets. But maybe she really was lucky. This trip back had been smooth all the way. The passengers had all been quite normal.
“It’s almost Mid-Autumn Festival. Quite a few people from the village have come back. How come Fengmei and Niuzai didn’t come back with you?”
“They didn’t!” Tian Tian said while looking around the village. She hadn’t been back for a few months, and the village hadn’t changed much. But today there really were more people in the village—quite a few who worked elsewhere had come back for the holiday. Seeing Tian Tian’s family of three loaded with bags, everyone greeted them. Some directly asked whether Tian Tian had become a big boss.
“No, just making a living.” Tian Tian brushed it off, with no intention of showing off her wealth. Although everyone knew she’d opened a shop in Shenzhen, they all just assumed she was making small money.
“That’s fine. You’re a girl—making a bit of pocket money is enough. Finding a good husband early and settling down is what matters…”
Hearing this kind of talk, Tian Tian pretended not to hear.
But soon, the people saying such things disappeared. For no other reason than that an even more heavyweight figure had also returned to the village.
When Tian Tian saw Meng Ge driving into the village, she was stunned. She hadn’t seen Meng Ge in a long time. She hadn’t expected him to be back in the village today too.
Just then, Meng Ge drove up beside Tian Tian and rolled down the window. “Tian Tian, if I’d known you were coming back today, I would’ve given you a ride.”
“No need, no need. The bus is quite convenient.”
Meng Ge smiled, then turned and started talking with Tian Tian’s father. From the familiar way they spoke, Tian Tian could tell he really did have a friendship with her dad.
After watching Meng Ge drive toward his home, Tian Tian asked, “Dad, how are you and Meng Ge so close?”
Tian Tian’s father chuckled. “That kid has brains.”
Tian Tian’s mother exposed him from the side. “Back during the production team days, your dad slacked off every day, and Meng Zai wasn’t honest either. It’d be strange if those two lazy bums weren’t close.”
Tian Tian found this hilarious.
Her father howled in protest, saying no such thing happened.
The family went home noisily and happily.
She’d thought the Meng Ge matter was over. She hadn’t expected him to show up at their door in the evening carrying a bag of things.
“Oh, shouldn’t you be out drinking with people? What are you doing here?” Tian Tian’s father said polite words while his hands quickly took the things Meng Ge was carrying.
Tian Tian thought her dad was absolutely hilarious.
“Isn’t it that I have something to tell Tian Tian?”
Hearing that he’d come to see her, Tian Tian asked seriously, “Meng Ge, what is it?”
It wasn’t He Cheng business again, was it?
Turned out it really was. And this time it involved her. Tian Tian was about to go numb!
Leave a Reply