I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 74. Returning to the Village
More than a month after the port city announced that the SARS virus had been completely eliminated, Chuxi Village finally lifted the ban on allowing people to leave but not enter.

Xu Qingfan couldn't help but sigh. People who lived through that era truly understood the instructions from above in a clear and fluent manner. Unlike more than ten years later, all sorts of strange people and strange things could emerge.

After being away from Chuxi Village for half a year, the Xu family of three finally returned.

Today, Li Meijuan is running the convenience store on Yao Jinping's behalf. After repeated invitations from Yao's mother, she finally agreed to Yao Jinping's offer.

Because Yao Jinping waived three months' rent for her, Li Meijuan voluntarily helped watch the shop and clean it in return.

As the first four-wheeled vehicle in the village, it attracted many villagers to stop and watch as soon as Xu Aiguo drove it into the village.

As soon as the car stopped, before it could even be turned off, a crowd of villagers gathered outside to watch the spectacle.

"Grandma!" Xu Qingfan pushed through the crowd and ran straight towards home.

As expected, Grandpa and Grandma were already waiting at the door. "My dear Xiaofan, Grandma missed you so much!" Grandma hugged Xu Qingfan, who ran over affectionately.

"Father-in-law, Uncle!" He greeted the two with a smile after releasing the hug.

"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back," Grandpa said happily.

"What nonsense are you talking about? What do you mean it's good that you're back?" Grandma glared at Yao Shulun with displeasure.

"Go cook your meal, Xiao Fan is too lazy to argue with you!"

The couple had been arguing for half their lives, and Xu Qingfan was used to it.

"Come on, Xiao Fan, take a look at this." Grandpa took out a packet of lotus leaves from his trouser pocket. Xu Qingfan opened it and saw mulberries and wild strawberries of all colors. Just looking at them made his mouth water.

"Thank you, Father-in-law!" Xu Qingfan happily accepted the package. Having seen the world's wonders, he found this small bag of wild fruit all the more precious.

"Dad, Mom, Brother!" Yao Jinping came over happily carrying large and small bags.

"Why buy so much stuff? We already have everything at home!" Grandma complained.

Yao Jinping was completely immune to it, and happily took out the contents to give them: "Dad, this is for you, one tablet a day, it's said to nourish your liver."

"Why didn't you say that crayfish were so profitable sooner? Tsk tsk tsk~ You've even bought a car now!"

"The Shu family has really made something of themselves! They have a refrigerator, a color TV, and now they even have a car with four wheels!"

"."

People with envious eyes are never short of people, and sure enough, it wasn't long before some people started making sarcastic remarks.

"Smoking, smoking, what money do you make? You guys have sold crayfish before, three or five cents a pound, and you made tens of thousands of yuan!" Once a person has money, their whole spirit rises. Xu Aiguo's confident aura silenced everyone with just a few words.

"You still say you haven't made any money? You've already got this little car!"

"Yeah, wow, this cigarette is really good! It's much better than the pipe I smoke!"

"What kind of car do you drive? I'm just an employee. The more than 10,000 yuan I earned from crayfish has all gone into supporting this piece of junk. I owe the bank more than 100,000 yuan and have to pay more than 2,000 yuan in interest every month!"

I'm driving around day and night picking up passengers, and I haven't even paid off my debts this month. Does anyone have some spare cash and want to lend me some?

"Haha, the weather is so nice today! My millet hasn't been dried in ages!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, Xiao Xu, no offense, but if you don't have a head big enough, don't wear such a big hat!"

A group of people left, shaking their heads and swaying, as if their souls had been elevated after confirming that Xu Qingfan's family had not been turned around.

"You shameless Kun, aren't you leaving yet? Want to stay for dinner?" Seeing that everyone else had left but Yao Jiankun was still there, his grandfather scolded him impatiently.

"Isn't it perfect that Xiaoping is here? Next month, in the village committee election, vote for your Uncle Kun, and I'll give each of you thirty yuan!" Yao Jiankun said with a sly grin, rubbing his hands together.

A year ago, Yao Jinping might have been interested in those thirty yuan, but now that she's worth millions, she just sees it as a joke.

"Are you going to get out of here or not! If you don't, I'll kill you with this hoe!" Yao Shulun angrily raised the hoe by the door, ready to strike.

"You childless bastard, what are you so proud of!" the scoundrel Kun cursed as he retreated.

"Alright, Dad, why bother getting angry with someone like that? It's not worth it!" After Jiankun left, Yao Jinping helped her father back into the house.

"Someone like him wants to be the village chief? Bah!" Speaking of which, Xu Qingfan really had a deep impression of this scoundrel Kun. According to his grandfather's account, this man had been lazy and good-for-nothing since the commune era, and he had corrupted the atmosphere of the whole village.

Over the years, he has committed many petty thefts, and it is said that he once had his leg broken for peeping at someone else's wife taking a bath.

Ironically, this same person became a billionaire twenty years later and an outstanding entrepreneur representing Chuxi Village.

The other party's rise to wealth was as simple as it gets: he successfully became the village chief in the village cadre election next month through his money, and then sold off all the village's common property in the following five years!

What? You're asking why others don't report him?
This man was clever because he tricked the villagers into believing that the property was only for rent, and he only took 50% of the money from each sale. He shared the rest with the other cadres, and gave the rest to the villagers as New Year's red envelopes.

With red envelopes to be received every year, who would even think about reporting it?

With money comes extravagance, and his son soon got several girls in the village pregnant, causing widespread resentment among the villagers.

Yao Jiankun thought this wouldn't do. He still needed to make money for several more years, and he couldn't let his son's career fall apart. So he made a tough decision and sent the other party to study in Yancheng. He also thought that since he had money to spare anyway, he bought seven or eight houses in the Second Ring Road before 08. Just like that, twenty years later, he became a billionaire.

In my past life, I often thought about how I had studied hard for over a decade, only to end up as a research student, while the other person...
Xu Qingfan had never experienced the life of the wealthy, nor did he dare to imagine what the other party would do.

[We have to thwart this old bastard's dream of becoming village chief!] Xu Qingfan took a step back and became angrier the more he thought about it.

"Father-in-law, why don't you become the village chief too?" Xu Qingfan asked innocently.

"How could I possibly be qualified for that position? If I were to take it, wouldn't I be occupying a position without doing anything?" Yao Shulun said hesitantly.

"Father-in-law, if everyone thought like you, wouldn't that scoundrel Kun really get the position?"

"Go away, go away! What kind of swearing is this, a child like you!" Yao Jinping gave Xu Qingfan a flick on the forehead on the spot.

“Being the village chief is great, it’s so convenient to contract a fishpond!” Xu Aiguo suddenly said.

Clearly, he's still clinging to his dream of owning a fishpond.

“Dad, I also think it’s feasible. Let’s hope that that scoundrel Kun doesn’t actually get the position and make the village a mess!” Yao Jinping chimed in from the side.

Yao Shulun hesitated for a moment: "Can I?"

"How will you know if it will work if you don't try? Look at my convenience store, it's doing just fine now. Anyway, we're not short of money at home. Dad, if you want to try, then go ahead!"

"Ha! Don't you even look in the mirror? You've got a green onion stuck in your nostril!" Grandma sneered from the side.

"Hey! Who are you calling pretentious? He's just a small village head, he could be the county magistrate!" Grandpa slammed his hand on the stool and stood up to scold him.

Everyone watching laughed; Grandma really did have Grandpa's user manual.

"Mom, that guy just said he'd give everyone who votes for him thirty yuan. If Grandpa doesn't offer something, he might not be able to compete with him, right?"

"Ha! You think I can't compete with that cripple?" Yao Shulun laughed contemptuously.

“Dad, it was because you didn’t send us off that our family was allocated a few plots of rotten land,” Uncle Yao Jianjun said, rarely speaking up.

"Wrong ways! It's those people who have corrupted the social atmosphere!" Yao Shulun slapped her thigh angrily.

“Father-in-law, that’s why you should become the village chief. Only in this way can the village’s atmosphere be changed back. If that Kun guy really becomes the village chief, who knows what will happen.”

"Alright, alright, my brother and I will take care of the gift-giving. Dad, you don't need to worry about it." Yao Jinping started working in a textile factory at the age of sixteen, so she naturally understood the rules of society. Who would help you if there was no benefit to be gained?

Especially in rural areas, even if you promise him 100,000 yuan a year later, it's not as effective as giving him 10 yuan at the polling station.

The election for village chief is now settled. With his family's financial backing, he should be a shoo-in for the position.

[I never imagined I'd be able to loudly proclaim to the world: My grandfather is the village chief!] Xu Qingfan daydreamed.

(P.S.: Becoming the village chief is connected to the later career storyline; it's not filler. Bonus question: Besides drawing comics, what was the protagonist's first job?)

Thank you to reader 20230225003329577 for the 500 Qidian coins.

Thank you to reader 20221227212416482 for the 100 Qidian coins!

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(End of this chapter)