After the Chen family left, Li Jianguo came over.
Tian Jing smacked her forehead; she had forgotten about Li Jianguo coming to borrow money.
"Zheng Ge, can you help cousin Jianguo borrow some money?"
Looking at Tiantian, who could lie with a straight face, Li Zhengguo also lied without blinking, "Okay, how much does cousin Jianguo need?"
"I, I want to buy two new residential plots."
"How much money do you have?"
"Five hundred."
"Shall we follow and plant watermelons?"
"My brother said he wants to contract a small hill of twenty mu with me. Can I book watermelon seedlings with him?"
Li Zhengguo glanced at Tiantian and nodded, "It's for you, not him. He's not qualified."
"Good, thank you, thank you."
After seeing Li Jianguo off, Li Zhengguo took out his notebook to record. "Tiantian, can you go get a gold bar tomorrow? We only have two thousand yuan left at home."
"Is there anyone else you want to help?"
The price of gold rose rapidly today, now at about seventeen to eighteen yuan a gram, and selling for twelve to thirteen yuan in the black market.
"No, at most I can offer advice, but no lending money."
"Then I'll take one down. I know you decided to withhold the wages of Minmin and Suozhu, but you should still record them. We're not short of her food expenses."
"I've already recorded it, and the money you lent her today has also been recorded."
...
The next day, as soon as it was light, Secretary Yang came to the Li family with his three grandsons.
Nineteen-year-old Yang Lei had already married last year.
Eighteen-year-old Yang Mu and seventeen-year-old Yang Hai were both courting.
Li Zhengguo waved his hand and led the three of them to fetch water for irrigation.
"Yang Hai, you fetch water for the vegetable shed. Go to the Chen family and ask Grandpa Chen for the key."
The three of them hurriedly picked up the wooden water buckets in the Li family's courtyard and followed Li Zhengguo.
Secretary Yang left with a smile. His three grandsons having work would also alleviate the household's burden.
When they first adopted the land, they only adopted ten mu to avoid giving others an excuse.
With seven grandsons, two granddaughters, three sons and daughters-in-law, plus his elderly couple, there were seventeen people. The land was scarce and there was a surplus of labor, and their appetites were not small.
Although they had cleared a few acres of wasteland, now that they had to pay for residential plots, his family was short of money.
His daughters-in-law had gone back to their parents' homes to borrow money, but how much could they borrow? At most, a few dozen yuan.
...
Tian Jing took the opportunity to go to Qingsongyan while going to the restroom.
Xiao Song grumbled unhappily that Tian Jing had forgotten it.
Tian Jing wanted to shut it up but couldn't find its mouth. "Xiao Song, don't be as chatty as the women from the village. You're a tree, not a person, where do you get so many emotions?"
Xiao Song got indignant. "I can talk, so why am I not a person? Why can't I have emotions?"
Tian Jing wanted to laugh. Xiao Song wanted to be human? "At most, you're a spirit. I've been busy lately."
"Hmph! You're only busy with the hills and land down the mountain. Why don't you come here to farm anymore?"
"Because there's enough food stored in the cave, and my finances need to be legitimate."
Xiao Song's mood drooped. "But if you don't come, Xiao Feng and I miss you. Xiao Hei misses you too. It has legs, but you don't allow it to go down the mountain."
Tian Jing felt a pang of guilt. "I've hired people to work. After this busy period, we'll come up for a vacation."
"It's a deal. You can't lie to me."
Tian Jing looked down at the hot spring area. She had divided the hot spring area into two layers. The outer layer was planted with a circle of apple trees.
The inner layer was filled with various peonies, which were now blooming in all their glory.
"Xiao Song, you're a tree, not a person. I won't lie to you. There are too many things going on lately, and I don't even have time to appreciate such beautiful peonies."
After descending Qingsongyan, she comforted Xiao Feng, whom Xiao Song mentioned, for a while. It would have been nice if it was called Xiao Lü, but this Poplar tree listened to Xiao Song and insisted on calling it Xiao Feng.
After comforting Xiao Feng, she sucked up the jar at Xiao Feng's feet, took out a gold bar, and then returned it to Xiao Feng's feet.
As she rolled up the gold bar and prepared to go down the mountain, she was intercepted by Xiao Hei and the wolf pack.
Xiao Hei was already the wolf king, taller and stronger than all the other wolves.
Xiao Hei whimpered and rubbed against Tian Jing's pant legs.
Tian Jing had to squat down and comfort it. "I've been busy lately. I'll come up for a vacation after a while."
Then, after scratching it for a bit, she was allowed to leave.
When she returned from her 'bathroom break', she found someone at home.
"Great Xia Tian, sister, you took too long on the toilet."
"Can't hold it anymore? Then hurry up and go."
Ouyang Lei: "..."
"Hahaha." Ouyang Meihua burst into laughter. "Ouyang Lei, you've been out for three years, and you still can't out-argue Tian Jing."
"Sister." Ouyang Lei looked wronged. "I'm your little brother."
"I know, I don't have Alzheimer's disease."
Ouyang Guoliang, who had come with his nephew, clasped his hands towards Tian Jing. "Great Xia Tian, I've long admired your name."
Ouyang Lei quickly introduced Tian Jing. "Sister, this is my uncle, Ouyang Guoliang, the current director of the county government's security department."
"Director Ouyang." Tian Jing also clasped her hands in return.
Ouyang Guoliang quickly waved his hands. "I don't deserve the title Great Xia Tian. I owe my current position to your and Comrade Li's guidance."
"Then let's not be so formal. Ouyang Lei calls me sister, and Ouyang Meihua is my eldest cousin-in-law, so I'll call you Uncle Ouyang."
"Good, good."
"Uncle Ouyang, please sit. Eldest cousin-in-law, Ouyang Lei, please all sit. I'll go get Damai to boil water."
"It's already boiling. Damai is already boiling it." Ouyang Meihua turned around. "You don't need to go. I'll help serve it."
Tian Jing raised an eyebrow. "So, Brother Lei just arrived?"
"Hehe, we just arrived. I was testing you, and it worked."
"You've become smarter."
Speaking of this topic, Ouyang Lei was full of grievances. "You don't know how difficult it is to be away from home. One wrong step and you fall into a pit. After being scammed many times, I had to learn to be more shrewd."
Tian Jing didn't buy it. "But I do know that some people came back driving a small car and bragging about it."
"Hehe, I drove it back deliberately to annoy my father. He said I wouldn't amount to anything if I went out."
"Aren't you afraid of wasting gas?"
"Not afraid, not afraid. We have money. I'll tell you..." Ouyang Lei paused and glanced at his uncle. "Uh, forget it. I'll tell Li Zhengguo tonight."
Is the nephew trying to avoid him to discuss something?
Ouyang Guoliang glared at his nephew, then pointed to the two cardboard boxes on the ground. "These are my small tokens of appreciation, nothing significant, but I hope you'll accept them. I've also brought a task this time, which is to observe the changes in the Kushan mountains, and I must see the real situation."
"Then I'll accept them without being polite." Although she didn't know what was in the two cardboard boxes, Tian Jing felt she deserved them.
"Have Ouyang Lei take you around. He's quite familiar with the Kushan mountains. If you really need an honest person for analysis, then go to Li Rongguo. He's so honest that he's a bit inferior, but he will never lie."
"Okay, you're busy. We'll go out and look around now."
The sugar water that Ouyang Meihua and Damai brought was unnecessary, so they let the four children drink it.
Tian Jing opened the cardboard boxes. Inside were snacks like canned goods, malted milk, milk candy, and sponge cakes. It was undoubtedly Ouyang Lei's idea.
"Eldest cousin-in-law, has Ouyang Lei found a woman?"
"I heard two women are pursuing him, but he's not interested."
Tian Jing nodded. She thought to herself, how could a man like Ouyang Lei, who was so meticulous and strong, not be pursued by women?
"Why isn't he interested?"
"I heard one is too delicate, and the other is too strong."
Tian Jing took out a packet of sponge cake and gave it to Haohao to share with his brothers. "Then what kind does he want?"
"Someone like you, who possesses both martial prowess and beauty."
"That's difficult. He'll probably be a bachelor for his whole life."
"You're really not humble."
"Why should I be humble? Someone like me is unique in the world."