novelraw Chapter 233 - 229: Don’t Be Ungrateful
Chapter 233 - 229: Don’t Be Ungrateful
Old Miao saw Li Xiangyang stop. "Little Li, I just went to your house to look for you. Your dad said you weren’t home." He had searched everywhere for someone to help him make trouble for the person who bought his house, but couldn’t find anyone, so he had no choice but to go back and discuss it with Li Xiangyang.
Li Xiangyang gave a faint smile. "Go on. What’s this about?"
"Let’s talk at your place!" Old Miao said, turning his handlebars and riding toward Li Xiangyang’s house.
Old Li watched Old Miao return and frowned. "I told you Xiangyang wasn’t home. You thought I was lying to you?"
Old Miao laughed sheepishly. "Not at all, Sir. I ran into Xiangyang on his way back right after I left." ’He really was a butcher,’ he thought. ’Even in old age, he still has such a menacing air about him.’
Before Old Miao could finish speaking, Old Li saw Li Xiangyang ride up to the gate. He gave Old Miao a cool look. "Come in and sit."
Old Miao breathed a sigh of relief. He parked his bike and followed Old Li into the main room to sit down.
Li Xiangyang parked his bike, pulled off his gloves, and entered the main room. He looked at Old Miao. "Old Miao, what did you need me for?"
Old Miao looked at him with a pained expression. "Little Li, please, have a heart. Sell the house back to me. I’ll pay double to buy it back."
Li Xiangyang looked at him calmly. "Old Miao, if there wasn’t news about the market opening, would you still be trying to buy it back for double the price?"
"Well..." Old Miao didn’t know how to answer.
Li Xiangyang looked at him and continued, "I remember when you sold me the property, you said you were going to renovate your own house. Instead of spending twice the money to buy this shop back, why don’t you find someone to design and add a few more floors to your house? Now that things are opening up, more and more people will be coming to East Market. You could just rent out your place. The result would be the same."
After Li Xiangyang finished, Old Miao remembered that his family used to have tenants. He sighed. "Sigh! I guess that’s my only option." With that, he stood up and headed out.
Li Xiangyang saw him out for a few steps, then turned back and told Old Li that the pigs had been delivered and were penned up at the pig farm.
Old Li nodded and brought him a massive bowl of noodles with meat sauce. "From now on, remember to finalize the terms before you make a deal. What if you run into someone unreasonable who shows up making trouble every other day? Would you be able to live in peace?"
"I know," Li Xiangyang said, taking the bowl and digging in.
****
Lin Lan boiled some water, took a bath, and changed her clothes. Grabbing some mountain goods, she took Little Douzi to Yang Liying’s house. As soon as he was off the bike, Little Douzi pushed open the courtyard gate and ran inside, shouting, "Third Aunt! Sister Little Li! I’m here!"
Yang Liying was in the kitchen boiling soy milk. When she saw the mother and son arrive, she wiped her hands on her apron and smiled. "Little Douzi, you’re back! Your Third Aunt will get you some soy milk."
Little Douzi nodded. "Okay! I want it extra sweet."
"Extra sweet it is." Yang Liying smiled at Lin Lan as she wheeled her bicycle in. "When did you get back?"
"This morning. I brought you some things from the mountains," Lin Lan said with a smile.
Yang Liying accepted the bag with a smile. Seeing it was full of wood ears and other dried mushrooms, she asked, "How many mountain goods did you gather this trip?"
Lin Lan smiled. "Over a dozen burlap sacks’ worth."
The three of them went into the kitchen. Yang Liying ladled out two bowls of soy milk, added a couple of spoonfuls of sugar, and placed them on the table for Little Douzi to drink.
Yang Liying smiled at Lin Lan. "You haven’t made any kidney bean rolls while you were gone, and I had a few regulars asking for them."
"I asked Sister Yuezhen to steam the beans. I’ll make the rolls as soon as I get back." Lin Lan paused, then added with a smile, "I also came to ask my brother-in-law to help me find a carpenter. I need some shelves built for my dried goods."
Yang Liying nodded. "He went into town to buy some plaster. I’ll have him find someone for you as soon as he’s back."
Lin Lan took a few sips of her soy milk. "I’ve secured a supply of beans from the mountains," she told Yang Liying. "And I had my parents arrange for some more. You can tell Eldest Sister that we won’t have to worry about our bean supply next year."
Yang Liying looked at her, her eyes full of gratitude. "Thank you, Lin Lan. If it weren’t for your help, we would’ve been..."
Lin Lan raised a hand to stop her. "Third Sister, I’ve told you before, there’s no need for that between us."
Little Douzi, sipping his soy milk, chimed in, "That’s right, Third Aunt! We’re family, you don’t have to thank her."
Yang Liying laughed at his words. She cupped Little Douzi’s face in her hands and kissed his forehead. "How did my Little Douzi get to be so smart!"
Little Douzi looked up at her, his eyes crinkling into a smile. "Grandma taught me. She said if people are good to you, you have to be good to them back. You can’t be a thankless wolf."
Yang Liying ruffled his hair. "Our Little Douzi is no thankless wolf."
"Uh-huh!" Little Douzi nodded vigorously.
Lin Lan chatted at Yang Liying’s for a while longer before taking Little Douzi to his school. There, she learned that Teacher Zheng would be back to teach the next day. Afterward, she and Little Douzi went home and got busy.
By the time she finished making the kidney bean rolls, Lin Yuezhen and Qiaohui had finished baking the pumpkin cakes.
Lin Lan then remembered the pumpkin seeds. Remembering that snacks like roasted seeds sold for a dime, she had the others roast about ten jin of them. They packed the seeds into two-liang bags, and she planned to see if they would sell at the Eucalyptus Forest.
That afternoon, Zhao Dehai brought a craftsman, Woodworker Li, to Lin Lan’s house. Lin Lan drew a diagram of the shelves and a square, cubby-style cabinet for displaying dried goods for him. Then, she took him to her shop in the East Market to take measurements.
After that errand, it was already time to set up her stall. She had just pushed her cart out when Li Xiangyang arrived.
"Little Lan, my old man says there are wholesale buyers for mountain goods in the provincial capital. He said they all stay in the guesthouses there."
"Really?" Lin Lan looked at him, her face lighting up with a pleasant surprise.
"Yep. The head chef at the commune’s canteen is a friend of my father’s; he’s the one who told him," Li Xiangyang said with a smile. "How about we take a trip to the provincial capital in a couple of days?"
"Are you done with the business at the pig farm?" Lin Lan asked. ’I could just go by myself,’ she thought.
"Not yet. They’ll probably want to raise the rent. I’ll go check on it tomorrow. We can go to the provincial capital when I get back."
"It’s not too late. We can go after you’ve sorted everything out with the pig farm."
Li Xiangyang nodded. "Alright. Let’s head to the Eucalyptus Forest first."
Lin Lan suddenly remembered something. "Qiaohui told me Dandan’s mother showed up. You should go check on Ding Bang after we close up the stall."
Li Xiangyang hadn’t expected Xie Tian to show up so soon. He could already feel a headache forming on Yang Dingbang’s behalf. "Alright, I’ll head over after we pack up."
After they closed up the stall for the afternoon, Li Xiangyang paid a visit to Yang Dingbang’s house. He learned that Xie Tian had somehow pulled some strings and gotten herself transferred to East Market’s Number Two Elementary School as an art teacher.
Yang Dingbang gave a relieved smile. "Thank goodness she wasn’t assigned to the Number One Elementary. I’d have to move to the countryside just to get some peace."
Li Xiangyang looked at him. "I think you should tell your grandmother that Xie Tian is in East Market so she can be prepared. And you need to talk to Dandan about it, too."
Yang Dingbang nodded and sighed. "I haven’t told Grandma yet. Dandan says he doesn’t want to see his mother. He’s actually been pushing Little Man and me to register our marriage." A gratified smile appeared on Yang Dingbang’s face. "No idea how he even knows you need a certificate to get married."
Li Xiangyang chuckled. "Kids these days are different from when we were young. They’re sharp. Little Douzi told me that step-parents are all villains, so he’s just going to call me Uncle Xiangyang."
"I’d bet money Dandan taught him that. Dandan says he won’t call Little Man ’Mom,’ either. He’s just going to call her ’Auntie’."
"So, when are you and Yang Xiaoman planning to make it official?"
"Little Man and I are going to her parents’ house on Sunday. I’m going to formally ask for their blessing."
"Then I wish you a resounding success."