Would Senior Brother Zhou surely understand?
What wouldn’t Mao Maotong understand?
Even now, Mao Guosheng thought that Junior Sister Xia might not necessarily want him.
When Qihang was first established and short-handed, Mao Guosheng could get by following in Teacher Mao’s footsteps. With father and son working together, Junior Sister Xia would certainly welcome them for Teacher Mao’s sake.
At that time, Qihang Real Estate was still processing paperwork with an unclear future. Helping Junior Sister Xia then was based on trust between fellow disciples.
But in just over a month, the whole situation had changed.
Now Qihang had no trouble recruiting people. The Jinsha Chi project was already hot before sales began. The time when they needed help in difficult times had passed. Now that Mao Guosheng wanted to work there while maintaining his pride… would Xia Xiaolan give him face?
Zhou Maotong held the phone receiver, “Yuesheng Construction has always welcomed you, but I can’t guarantee whether you can be assigned to work in Pengcheng.”
Zhou Maotong’s words made Mao Guosheng very uncomfortable. He wouldn’t admit that he wanted Qihang’s high salary: “Senior Brother Zhou, I’m worried about the old man. He’s very stubborn, staying at the Pengcheng construction site – can his health handle it?”
Zhou Maotong thought to himself that the Teacher looked more vigorous than ever. Junior Sister Xia showed great respect for the Teacher, giving him full authority at the construction site. Teacher Mao had the final say and was doing what he loved – he seemed to be growing younger with each passing day.
However, Zhou Maotong couldn’t be bothered to expose Mao Guosheng’s true intentions. “Are you planning to resign and come over, or do you want a temporary transfer? I’ll try to arrange it as soon as possible.”
Resign?
Deep down, Mao Guosheng was still very afraid of resigning.
No matter how unhappy he had been at the Provincial Design Institute all these years, he held an iron rice bowl position and was unwilling to give it up.
He had almost 20 years of experience and seniority at the Provincial Design Institute. If he resigned to join Yuesheng Construction, even as a formal employee, would these benefits start from scratch? Mao Guosheng’s personality couldn’t change in a short time:
“Temporary transfer. Let me transfer first.”
He was still keeping a backup plan.
Zhou Maotong genuinely wanted to help, but he couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable – Mao Guosheng was being cautious, but also showing a lack of trust in him.
He lacked resolve in doing things, far unlike Junior Sister Xia.
When Xia Xiaolan asked Zhou Maotong to help recruit employees, she never questioned Wang Houlin whom Zhou Maotong had recommended. Her decisiveness in handling matters explained why the Teacher liked her and why she succeeded in business.
“Alright, Guosheng, wait for news. I’ll handle this as quickly as possible.”
Mao Guosheng’s emotional intelligence was low, and he didn’t detect Zhou Maotong’s slight displeasure. After Zhou Maotong hung up, Mao Guosheng heaved a sigh of relief: “Now you won’t have to argue with me anymore. Senior Brother Zhou has agreed to transfer me to Yuesheng Construction. Are you satisfied now?”
Zheng Shuqin’s face lit up with joy. “Who am I worried about if not our family? Even strangers are earning several hundred yuan a month there. When it’s your turn to go, who knows how much you’ll make?”
600 yuan?
That was the rate for outsiders.
Given the old man’s face, Guosheng should get more.
Zheng Shuqin grew increasingly excited as she planned for the future.
“Once you’re settled there, I’ll also find a way to transfer my job to Yangcheng. Our family can stay together. If Yuesheng Construction can allocate housing for you, we can return the current house to your parents. I noticed Little Xia cares about this quite a bit.”
Mao Guosheng looked at his wife with new eyes.
When Zheng Shuqin initially convinced his parents to exchange houses, she almost got into a fight with other members of the Mao family.
Between a two-room and a three-room apartment, who wouldn’t want the bigger house?
Now Zheng Shuqin was willing to give up what she had fought for, and after nearly 20 years of marriage, this wife saying such things seemed like a stranger to Mao Guosheng.
Well, if they had to exchange the house back, so be it. When Xia Xiaolan mentioned the house earlier, it made Mao Guosheng’s ears burn with shame.
It must have been the housing issue that made him unable to hold his head high in front of Xia Xiaolan.
“We’ll exchange it, definitely exchange it back!”
…
When Xia Xiaolan received Zhou Maotong’s call, she felt like laughing.
She wondered how long Mao Guosheng could hold out.
Unexpectedly, after just a month back in Hangcheng, seeing Qihang’s promising momentum, Mao Guosheng regretted his decision. He had left decisively, but coming back wouldn’t be so easy. Since Xia Xiaolan had taken action, she would make sure both Mao Guosheng and his wife became completely submissive.
If Mao Guosheng could still be salvaged, it would be considered a favor to Teacher Mao and Sister-in-law Song.
Zheng Shuqin was a daughter-in-law with no blood ties, and Xia Xiaolan couldn’t force her to be genuinely filial.
But if the couple wanted to benefit from her, even if they were acting, they had to act convincingly – at least until Teacher Mao and Sister-in-law Song passed away… This approach was just as Zhou Wenbing had said – rather than reasoning or scheming, direct overwhelming force would ensure the Zhou family would always be stronger than Yuan Han, naturally making Yuan Han careful to please Zhou Yi.
Xia Xiaolan wasn’t particularly arrogant, but she was very confident in her ability to outmaneuver Mao Guosheng and Zheng Shuqin.
Time at school passed steadily. She couldn’t stop moving forward. She said she was going to visit Zhou Cheng, but even Zhou Cheng called her a little liar, knowing she was heading to Pengcheng to participate in the South Sea Hotel’s inspection.
“Boss, now that Yuanhui has finished their work on the South Sea Hotel project, they only have small projects left. Has Yang Jie’s family agreed to let him go back to school?”
Yang Yonghong’s eyes widened, “How could they not agree? It was the whole family’s decision, and his girlfriend supported it too. He has no choice but to go back. About the livestock farming you mentioned, I’ve been thinking about it and reading some books. I’m planning to have my family raise ducks.”
Raising chickens would work too.
It’s just that chickens have a longer growth cycle than ducks.
Ducks can be ready for market in two months, but chickens take longer.
The longer the cycle, the greater the risk. Not only does it require more feed investment, but having large numbers of poultry crowded together increases the chance of disease. After careful consideration, Yang Yonghong thought that duck farming had a shorter timeline – they’d know if it was profitable within two months. They could start with a few dozen, learning while raising them, and gradually expand the scale later.
It was good that Yang Jie was going back to school. He could help more than his younger siblings, and being a high school student, he would understand the technical books about livestock farming.
Yang Yonghong had not only taken Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng’s advice to heart but was ready to put it into practice. Xia Xiaolan was pleased, “If you need any help with capital, don’t hesitate to ask me.”
While emergency aid won’t solve poverty, Yang Yonghong was determined to help his family escape poverty and achieve modest prosperity, and Xia Xiaolan was willing to help.
Yang Yonghong shook his head, “Raising several hundred or thousand ducks requires significant capital. We’ll start with a few dozen to test the waters. Yang Jie has just received over a month’s wages from this settlement, which should be enough to buy ducklings and regular feed!”
Currently, rural families raising poultry typically feed them wheat bran mixed with vegetable leaves, and few use commercial feed.
Even for pig farming, they only used pig grass mixed with wheat bran and husks, occasionally adding oil cakes for nutrition.
Yang Yonghong had deliberately researched this knowledge and realized that for large-scale farming, relying on wheat bran and vegetable leaves was too slow. Poultry needed commercial feed, which was an investment cost. Of course, they couldn’t use only commercial feed – they would still need to add wheat bran and vegetable leaves, along with duckweed from paddy fields, and small fish and loaches that ducks love to eat. These things could be gathered manually, requiring no capital investment, only time and effort from the Yang family.
But there were no shortcuts to escaping poverty and achieving prosperity. The Yang family had nothing, and if they remained afraid of losses and hard work, they would be poor forever!
Yang Yonghong already had a plan.
Xia Xiaolan didn’t force her advice, as she was an outsider in this field and didn’t want to embarrass herself. If the Yang family were willing to try again after this setback, Xia Xiaolan would unhesitatingly help.