Chapter 626: An Unexpected Encounter
Chapter 626: An Unexpected Encounter
The next day, the Triplets turned a hundred days old. As soon as they woke up, they received big red envelopes from their grandparents and a shop from their uncle.
Jiang Xia, holding her little sister, said with a helpless smile, "Looks like Mom can't afford to slack off anymore. Uncle gave you such expensive gifts; what am I supposed to give my nieces and nephews in the future?"
Her little sister smiled at her mom and then stuffed her small fist into her mouth.
In the past couple of days, the little girl had learned to chew on her fist.
Jiang Xia tried to take her hand away, but she just put it back in her mouth a moment later.
Jiang Dong said, "You don't need to give anything."
Jiang Xia replied, "I'm giving it to my nieces and nephews, not you."
Jiang Dong: "..."
Jiang Father, holding his eldest grandson, smiled at his daughter and son, not caring how they got along. He just focused on entertaining the child in his arms.
No matter what, the gifts were already given, so Jiang Xia had to make it up to Jiang Dong in other ways.
Today, the children were getting their first haircuts, and they were flying back to the Capital City at two in the afternoon.
After breakfast, Jiang Xia and Zhao Cheng Lei took the Triplets to their grandparents' place, where the two elders and Zhou Chengsen would take the children to the barbershop for their haircuts.
Zhao Cheng Lei drove them to the barbershop, but Jiang Xia was worried the children might move during the haircut and get cut. So, she asked Zhao Cheng Lei to hold the children while they got their haircuts.
Jiang Xia needed to check on the clothing factory, so she rode a tractor over.
Tian Caifua and Zhou Chengsen drove the tractor, taking the Ancestor Glorifiers and the Zhou Zhou sisters to pick up the goods.
After picking up the goods, they headed straight back to Zhen Shang.
In the city, the children had seen movies they had never seen before. The next day, Zhou Chengsen took them shopping and to the mall, buying them things they had always wanted, and even took them to the park.
The park wasn't fully built yet, but the children were still delighted.
When they got back to the village, they could brag about their morning all day long!
On the tractor, the children were excitedly discussing their experiences.
"Zhou Zhiwen and his brothers have never seen a movie, never been to a park. When we get back, I'll tell them how big the movie screen is, ten or even a hundred times bigger than their tiny TV."
"Zhou Zhiwu and his brothers have never been to a park! They've never been on a slide!"
"They don't have toy paper like ours. The toy paper in the city is much prettier than what we have in the village!"
...
Jiang Xia, listening to them on the tractor, found it amusing.
Zhou Zhiwen and Zhou Zhiwu were Zhou Bingqiang's grandsons.
Zhou Fu named his grandson "Ancestor Glorifier", and when Zhou Bingqiang found out, he named his grandson "Wenwu Shuangquan" (meaning "both literary and martial prowess").
The Ancestor Glorifiers loved to show off to the Wenwu Shuangquan brothers, probably due to their family genes.
Suddenly, Zhou Wenzu tugged at Jiang Xia's clothes and asked, "Auntie, are you and Uncle going to be the factory managers?"
Jiang Xia replied, "Not yet, why do you ask?"
Zhou Wenya said, "Is a factory manager more powerful than a village head?"
Jiang Xia explained, "They have different responsibilities, so they can't really be compared. But I think a village head, who manages the entire village and serves all the villagers, is pretty powerful."
Zhou Wenya pursed his lips. "So, Zhou Zhiquan's grandpa is very powerful, right?"
The Zhou Zhiwen brothers were always boasting because their grandpa was the village head!
How annoying!
Zhou Wenzu said, "What's so powerful about that? Our grandpa didn't want the job, so he got it! And a village head doesn't earn as much money as a factory manager, right, Auntie? Earning more money is what makes someone powerful!"
Tian Caifua immediately chimed in, "Of course! Earning more money is what makes someone powerful!"
Jiang Xia: "..."
Well, that’s a pretty skewed worldview, typical of Tian Caifua.
Jiang Xia only found out upon her return that Zhou Bingqiang had been elected by the villagers as their village head, and the production team had become a village committee.
When Zhou Fu mentioned this, he said, "Although Zhou Bingqiang became the village head, it was only because I didn’t take the position. He wouldn’t dare to show off in front of me!"
Zhou Fu didn’t take the position because he often had to take the boat out to sea, but he also didn’t like the idea of being the village head. Zhou Fu said, "I have higher aspirations than that. My heart lies in the mountains and rivers."
Soon, they arrived at the clothing factory, which was still bustling with people today.
The employees were even more energetic than yesterday.
Yesterday, they just stood there, helping customers pick out their sizes and fetching the items they needed. Today, they were actively introducing and promoting the clothes, showing much more enthusiasm. They seemed to want each customer to buy multiple sets.
Jiang Xia watched for a while and could already tell who had the potential to be a top salesperson.
She didn’t have much time to stay at the factory, so she spoke briefly with the manager. After the goods Tian Caifua ordered were loaded onto the tractor and she paid the bill, she left.
Tian Caifua had to pay for the goods, and the same went for the five thousand sets of clothes Jiang Xia transported to the capital city. She paid in advance to avoid any confusion.
It was also because she had to pay that Jiang Xia didn’t transport ten thousand sets, only five thousand. She needed to keep some cash on hand for Zhao Chenglei to use.
*
For lunch, Zhao Chenglei had reserved a private room at Fulou Restaurant, and both families were dining together. Tian Caifua and his group had already returned, so only Zhou Fu, Zhou Mu, and Zhou Chengsen were still there.
As the two families entered Fulou Restaurant, they happened to run into Doctor Gao, Ruan Tang, and a middle-aged couple. Ruan Tang looked somewhat like both of them, so they were likely her parents.
Gao Jie, who had saved her daughter’s life, was greeted first by Jiang Father, who smiled and said, "Doctor Gao, it’s better to meet by chance than to make an appointment. Would you do us the honor of joining us for lunch?"
Gao Jie smiled and greeted them, then introduced Ruan Tang’s parents, "Brother, Sister, this is…"
Everyone warmly shook hands with smiles.
When it was Zhou Chengsen’s turn, Gao Jie said, "We owe a lot to Second Brother Zhou for saving Tangtang."
Ruan Father looked at the bruise around Zhou Chengsen’s eyes and held his hand tightly. "Thank you so much! Since we’re having lunch together today, I’ll treat everyone. I was planning to invite you for a meal anyway. Tangtang said you might have returned to the village, so we were going to head back to the capital city this afternoon and have her invite you later. We’ll visit during the New Year’s holiday."
"Uncle Ruan, it was nothing, really. Dr. Ruan has helped me a lot, and he’s already treated me. Today, since you and Auntie have come all this way, I’ll treat everyone."
"That doesn’t count. The children said they only treated you to a bowl of noodles. That’s not right! I’ll treat everyone!"
Gao Jie couldn’t stand the formalities and spoke straightforwardly, "It doesn’t matter who treats, can we just sit down and order some food? We’re catching a flight at two, right?"
The owner of Fulou Restaurant finally found a chance to speak and immediately led them to the largest private room.
Zhao Chenglei had already ordered dishes that everyone liked, but with more guests, they needed to add more dishes.
Since Zhou Chengsen had offered to treat, Zhao Chenglei let his second brother take the lead.
Zhou Chengsen politely asked Doctor Gao, Ruan Father, Ruan Mother, Jiang Father, and Jiang Mother to order dishes, but they all declined. So, Zhou Chengsen added a few more himself.
Ruan Tang had eaten at the Zhou family’s house a few days ago, and Zhou Chengsen remembered she had eaten a lot of the steamed fish. He also recalled that Ou Minhua had mentioned Ruan Tang liked spring fish, so he ordered a crispy fried spring fish.
When Zhou Chengsen ordered two dishes that his daughter loved, Ruan Mother gave him a scrutinizing look.
When the dishes Ruan Tang loved were served, Zhou Chengsen, who was sitting next to the serving area, stood up and moved her plate to make room for the new dishes. He placed them in front of her.
Ruan Mother was now certain that this wasn’t a coincidence. Zhou Chengsen indeed knew what her daughter liked to eat.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
