20 years of restarting life

Chapter 3746 Zhao Chang'an's Olive Branch

The car drove off the winding mountain road, continuing westward along a route with cliffs on one side and mountains and farmland at the foot of the mountains on the other.

Zhao Chang'an saw a group of people walking towards him about two or three miles ahead. He looked closely and saw the old woman among them.

They also saw the car driving by and quickened their pace, but since they weren't sure if it was the same car, they didn't make any exaggerated gestures.

Zhao Chang'an stopped the car, turned around and said to the girl, "Your mother and the villagers are here. Get out of the car."

He didn't want to get entangled with this group of people; just thinking about it gave him a headache.

"I'm not going down, I'm going with Xiaojie!"

The girl was clearly still worried about Lin Xiaojie, and she held her arms tightly with both hands.

"Alright, another stubborn person!"

Zhao Chang'an was both amused and exasperated by the two women. He said to one of them, "We're going to Jiangcheng. If you don't get off the bus, I'll take you with me. If the police ask you about it, you can say that you went there on your own, not that I did anything to you."

"But I have evening self-study tomorrow, and the teacher requires us to be in class before 7 o'clock."

The girl looked at Zhao Chang'an with teary eyes. At first, she was fierce towards him, but now she realized that this older brother was really thinking about her sister Xiaojie. So her gaze and voice were no longer fierce towards Zhao Chang'an. Instead, she revealed a trace of weak helplessness.

Zhao Chang'an grinned, thinking, "Is this something to do during evening self-study? What are you doing following us around like this?!"
"We told you to get off the bus, but you wouldn't. If we take you to Jiangcheng, you'll have to go to class for evening self-study at 7 a.m. tomorrow. So tell us, what do you want to do and how do we do it?"

The girl hesitated for a moment before saying, "Wait for my mom to come."

"Why are you waiting for your mother to come over? Who is Lin Xiaojie to your family? Do you need to wait for your mother to come over so she can make decisions for her?"

Zhao Chang'an was both amused and annoyed: "You may recognize your mother, but we don't know her."

"Anyway, I'm not getting off the bus, and you're not allowed to leave either."

The girl got anxious and started acting a bit shamelessly. At her age of sixteen or seventeen, when faced with problems she couldn't solve, she still had to ask her parents to step in.

"Girl, you're a high school student, you need to be reasonable!"

Zhao Chang'an was also getting impatient. Although the group was still some distance away, his patience was wearing thin.

The girl was at a loss for words.

"Lin Xiaojie has already been badly hurt by your brother once. Do you really want everyone in your village to come and watch the monkey show? Are you genuinely worried about her? You're trying to force her to die!"

Qiao Yan didn't tolerate them; her words were harsh and unpleasant, yet they were very true.

Zhao Chang'an, as a grown man, was embarrassed to say it like that, but in reality, he had already cursed this stupid little sissy countless times in his heart.

The girl's face changed. She stared at Lin Xiaojie, biting her lip, and finally made up her mind. Her voice trembled as she said, "Sister Xiaojie, my brother isn't that kind of person. You two must have misunderstood something. I'll call my brother, and I'll get in touch with him for you." Qiao Yan pulled a business card from her pocket and handed it to her, adding sneer, "Girl, I don't know your name. This is my business card. My name is Qiao Yan. I don't hide my name from anyone. If it's really a misunderstanding, you and your brother can call this number. If there's no misunderstanding, then save me some money on phone calls. Earning money isn't easy these days, and even receiving calls costs money—it's expensive!"

The girl reluctantly let go of Lin Xiaojie's arm and said in a trembling voice, "Sister Xiaojie, there must be some misunderstanding here. My brother isn't that kind of person. Please don't do that anymore. Wait for my call."

-

After dropping the girl off, Zhao Chang'an turned the car around and glanced in the rearview mirror. The group of people over there saw the girl get out of the car and started running towards them as fast as they could, especially the old woman, who was shouting something as she ran. However, the car windows were closed and the engine of Xiang Yong's old car was too loud, so they couldn't hear the sound coming from afar.

The old woman's full head of white hair flowed backward in the sunlight, like the long mane of a white horse galloping at high speed.

"What a pity the hearts of parents in the world!"

Zhao Chang'an sighed, "Some kind-hearted parents end up raising utterly wicked children."

"What kindness? Which eye of yours saw her as kind? Teacher Lin is beautiful. Back then, vocational school graduates were much more valuable than graduates from top high schools. Only the top few dozen in the county could go to vocational school, and getting in meant a secure job, especially since it was the Shancheng Teachers' School. After two years, you could become a teacher. In the mountains, being a teacher was a highly respected profession. I bet she's been bragging to the villagers a lot these past few years about how capable her son is. Not only is his girlfriend beautiful and a teacher, but she doesn't ask for a dowry and even gives him 150 yuan a month for living expenses, which is almost equivalent to the harvest from half an acre of land. Zhao Chang'an, put yourself in her shoes. If you were a poor old woman in the mountains, she would be just as incredibly kind."

Zhao Chang'an said to Qiao Yan, "I feel that you are becoming less and less tactful with me. You should respect me as a kind and respectable person."

"I bother!"

Qiao Yan spat at Zhao Chang'an, thinking to herself, "You poked my chest, kissed my face, and shamelessly held my hand for a long time, but you didn't say anything about having boundaries between us."

Before taking Lin Xiaojie's pulse, Zhao Chang'an didn't want to say anything more to her, because in her condition, it would be pointless to talk to her.

If she really is pregnant, then the only option is to have Qiao Yan secretly call Qiao Zhanhai and ask the town to handle it.

He has no right to decide whether Lin Xiaojie should have an abortion or give birth if she gets pregnant.

Instead of continuing the topic, he asked, "Would you be interested in joining our cultural tourism group and working on tea projects?"

"You're slapping me and then giving me a sweet treat, huh? I'm not a child, I won't take it."

"Of course, if you and your husband manage that tea garden well, you can continue to contract some tea gardens of similar quality. Just make sure you don't use pesticides unless absolutely necessary, and only use them when there are pests or diseases. However, pesticide residues must not exceed the standard, and you must never use excessive amounts of growth promoters for short-sighted profits. In the future, the cultural tourism group will be buying a lot of tea. This year, your 600 acres can probably generate a profit of 600,000 to 700,000 yuan. Isn't that much better than working for someone else? Even Wang Deyuan, the general manager of the cultural tourism group, only earns 200,000 to 300,000 yuan a year in salary and bonuses."

"That's different. His two or three hundred thousand is not the same as our two or three hundred thousand. In addition to money, he also has power, and much of it is paid for by public funds and can be reimbursed."

Zhao Chang'an smiled and decided not to discuss this sensitive topic with Qiao Yan.

Just like Wu Yudong's annual salary is less than 50,000 yuan, Zhong Yuanqiang opened a barbecue stall in front of a townhouse and earned more than 50,000 yuan a year. Does that mean that Zhong Yuanqiang is more capable and popular than Wu Yudong?

Everyone understood the reasoning, and Zhao Chang'an wouldn't say much to Qiao Yan, lest any inappropriate words get out and have a negative impact on Wang Deyuan.

(End of this chapter)