The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 544 - 535: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone 23

After the New Year, as he had said, Xiao Yuan really did come to Li Jiazhuang.

For this matter, Xiao Yuan even had a quarrel with Zhang Erfeng.

Zhang Erfeng was dead set against letting Xiao Yuan come to Li Jiazhuang.

She was actually afraid in her heart.

After all, Xiao Yuan was Zhang Fengfeng’s biological child. What would happen if he and his mother got closer to each other, and feelings developed between them?

Surely the bond between a biological mother and son connected by blood is much closer than her, the aunt.

But Xiao Yuan was truly stubborn and wouldn’t listen to Zhang Erfeng at all. Even when Zhang Erfeng threatened to kill herself, he didn’t care and insisted on going.

In the end, it was Xiao Qing who made the call. He told Zhang Erfeng that the child was suffering in his heart, and it wouldn’t hurt for him to go out and get a change of scenery; those over there were his biological parents and brothers, and they wouldn’t let him down.

With Xiao Qing saying this, what else could Zhang Erfeng do? Despite her unwillingness, she let go.

The arrival of Xiao Yuan made Zhang Fengfeng especially happy, and even Li Baolai, who usually only kept his head down and worked hard, showed a smile.

Xiao Yuan stayed with Li Baolai and would do some chores for the couple. Since Anning and Li Zhifang were busy selling vegetables during the first month of the lunar year, Xiao Yuan didn’t have much to do and would come over every day to lend a hand and help out.

When it came time to sell vegetables in the county, Xiao Yuan would follow them.

He was quick-witted and smart, an active person unlike Li Zhifang, who was rather simple. With his help, they sold the vegetables faster and at better prices, which saved Anning a lot of trouble.

Later on, Anning stayed home to take care of the children and grow vegetables, leaving the selling to Xiao Yuan and Li Zhifang.

After a while, Anning noticed that Xiao Yuan’s gaze towards her had changed.

He always followed her shadow secretly. When it was just the two of them, his gaze when looking at her was filled with a hint of eagerness.

But Xiao Yuan always behaved very appropriately. He never said what should not be said or did what should not be done.

And so, Anning pretended to know nothing about it.

Li Zhifang was truly naive and treated Xiao Yuan like a real brother, never thinking of such things in a negative light.

When the greenhouse vegetables were sold out, Anning discussed with Li Zhifang the idea of leasing a mountainous area to grow fruit trees.

Li Zhifang now had some money, and since he started the greenhouse farming by listening to Anning, he agreed to the fruit tree planting upon her suggestion.

They went to the village committee to inquire and leased a mountain behind the village and a plot of land beneath it. Anning made a trip to the Provincial City and brought back a good number of fruit tree saplings.

Spring was the perfect time to plant trees. Anning and Li Zhifang pooled money to hire people, and it took nearly half a month to finish planting the fruit trees.

The problem was that the fruit saplings were young and would need a few years before they could bring any yield. After planting them, Anning started thinking about other money-making projects, and later they contracted a pond in the village as well as a nearby sandy beach.

The two fenced off that piece of land, and they started to raise fish and feed chickens and ducks on the sandy beach.

Just like that, from spring to fall, Anning and Li Zhifang were busy raising fish, chickens, and ducks, while also managing the fruit trees, and in the winter, they grew vegetables in the greenhouse. Thus, there wasn’t a restful season throughout the year.

Both of them were capable and willing to exert the physical effort to work hard. In less than two years, they had saved up tens of thousands of yuan.

Mainly because the fish Anning raised were really exceptional. She bought fish fry and released them into the pond, and for some reason, they grew extremely quickly. Put in during the spring, the fish could reach several pounds by fall, and the flesh was also delicious.

Moreover, while other people could only raise a few thousand fish in the same size pond, Anning was able to raise tens of thousands, which meant her profits were far greater than others.

The chickens and ducks she raised also matured faster, laid more eggs than others, and the broiler chickens and ducks grew better, earning quite a bit of money just from selling them each year.

In just over two to three years, the fruit trees that they planted had also started to bear fruit.

Anning specifically went to the Agricultural University in the city to learn some grafting techniques to take good care of these fruit trees.

She grafted all the saplings successfully, and the survival rate was quite high. As a result, the fruit from these trees was exceptionally good: the apples were large and also red and sweet, the pears had thin skin and were juicy and crisp, and the peaches she planted were also sweet and tender.

After three years, these fruit trees produced a considerable amount of fruit. When they were sold ripe, they fetched a higher price than those from other families, yet there was still more demand than supply.

Later on, Anning became too busy to manage on her own. Since greenhouse vegetable cultivation wasn’t very difficult, and she couldn’t keep the technique to herself even if she wanted to, she passed the knowledge on to the villagers, assisted them in building greenhouses, and taught them how to grow vegetables, among other things.

Not long after Xiao Yuan returned to Shanqian Village, he came to say goodbye to Zhang Fengfeng, as he no longer wished to stay in the village. He wanted to go out and make his own way in the world.

This time, Zhang Erfeng did not stop him, and once Xiao Yuan left, he was gone for many years.

Anning fought a transforming battle over the years.

She and Li Zhifang made a good amount of money, but she never lost her rural character, because she never left the countryside. She was always working on the farm, raising chickens and ducks, just extremely diligent, strong-willed, and also lucky, which is why she was able to earn money.

The villagers admired Anning.

However, Anning taught the villagers how to cultivate greenhouse vegetables, which enabled them to make money, and gradually their lives improved. Most villagers were quite grateful to her.

Zhang Fengfeng and Li Baolai also gained popularity in the village because of Anning.

Wherever the two went, they were treated with great respect.

Li Zhifang’s life was also particularly fulfilling.

Not only did he have money, but his children were also raised well. They studied hard in school and consistently achieved excellent grades on their exams.

Especially Liu Qi, Liu Ming, and Li Jingyan, the three kids were really smart. They learned anything they were taught quickly and even skipped two grades. Although they were still young, they had already gone to junior high in the county.

When they took the entrance exams for junior high, they achieved first place and tied for second place for the whole county, which really made Li Zhifang proud.

Even Li Jinghan and Liu Yuzhen’s grades had improved significantly since starting school, to the point where Li Zhifang always spoke about his six children with a beaming smile whenever he was outside.

But Li Zhifang, now that he had money, saved it. He deposited it in the bank to earn interest and never thought about how to spend it.

At this time, Anning calculated that Wang Baozhu was about to return and began discussing with Li Zhifang about using the money to invest in real estate for their children.

One day, when the children had gone to school and only Anning and Li Zhifang were at home, Anning cooked a couple of dishes, poured a little wine, and suggested to Li Zhifang that they drink together.

Li Zhifang was also craving wine, and since Anning wanted to drink with him, he was naturally pleased.

The two sat down, each poured a cup of wine, and as they ate and drank, Anning, after two cups, said to Li Zhifang, "We’ve saved quite a sum of money now, and I was thinking, keeping it idle like that is a dead asset, yielding little. Besides, we’re still capable of working, and we earn a substantial amount every year, so we can’t always just keep saving."

As soon as Li Zhifang heard this, he put down his wine cup and asked Anning, "What are you thinking?"

Anning pondered for a while: "I went to the Provincial City before, and I noticed that houses there are now being sold. There are already many companies building and selling houses. I was thinking, there aren’t good high schools in our county, and our children are such good learners. In the future, they’ll have to go to the Provincial City for high school. Otherwise, we would not be doing justice to their talents."

This was genuinely for the children’s benefit, so Li Zhifang nodded in agreement.

Anning continued: "The high schools in the Provincial City require very high scores, but I’m not worried about Jing Yan, Liu Qi, or Liu Ming. I’m worried about Jingyu. Although he is also hardworking, he’s simply not as bright as his younger siblings. After thinking for a long time, I came up with a solution. Let’s buy a house in the Provincial City, put it under the children’s names. I’ve asked around, and as long as we buy a house there, we can get them registered as residents of the Provincial City. Then, the required scores for attending school won’t be as high."

Eh?

Li Zhifang was stunned for a long time before he nervously asked Anning, "You mean, we should buy houses for all six children? Do we, do we have enough money for that?"

"If it’s not enough, we can take out a loan."

Anning smiled confidently: "Anyway, we’ve taken loans before. We have orchards, fish ponds, and such, so getting a loan is quite easy. Zhifang, we have lived in the village our whole lives, and the money we’ve earned has come from hard work. We can’t let our children go through the same hardships. I’m not concerned about anything else, but we must plan for our children’s future."

Li Zhifang fell silent.