Siheyuan: A Very Happy Era

Chapter 590: The effect is fantastic!

"My face, my skin, it's so white, so tender, so elastic!" Xu Wanling held a mirror, her face full of surprise.

"Hey, that's enough! So what if you've become a little younger and prettier? Is it really necessary to make such a fuss and disturb my sleep?" Pan Qiaoyan retorted immediately, somewhat annoyed.

She had no idea what Luo Huijuan was thinking, why she insisted on bringing Xu Wanling, that snobbish woman, into the house and sharing happiness with them.

It's really unpleasant to see.

However, even though she was unhappy, she didn't dare to voice any opinions to Luo Huijuan.

More than a decade ago, Li Guoqiang established an ironclad rule for his family: Luo Huijuan was in charge of all matters concerning the household.

Anyone who dares to question Law Wai-kuen will be either locked up in solitary confinement or kicked out of the house.

She didn't want to be punished by Luo Huijuan because of that wicked woman, Xu Wanling.

"Thank you, thank you!" Xu Wanling ignored Pan Qiaoyan and climbed directly in front of Li Guoqiang, thanking him with tears of joy.

At the same time, she felt that her ten-year wait had not been in vain, and that she had even waited for the right person.

If she hadn't waited for Li Guoqiang to return, and instead tried every means to go back to the city like everyone else, the best she could have done was marry an honest man, become a haggard housewife within a few years, and spend her life in melancholy.

Where else can I regain such youth and beauty as I do now?
"Alright, if you want to thank someone, thank your sister Juan! She's the one who gave you the opportunity." Li Guoqiang waved his hand, then turned over and went back to sleep.

He wasn't even slightly surprised.

Through years of honing his skills, he had already mastered martial arts, gardening, and medicine to the level of a grandmaster.

He can bring even a whole forest back to life, let alone a blade of grass.

Just like Xu Yuping and Ma Shufen, they are almost forty years old now, but they still look like beautiful women in their early thirties.

This is because his medical skills are too superb and his methods too miraculous.

As for himself, he has maintained the appearance of an eighteen or nineteen-year-old, as if he has frozen in time, and you can't tell that he is almost thirty years old.

Sometimes, when he takes his daughter out, strangers will mistake them for siblings, not father and daughter.

This could be considered a happy problem!
"Wanling, come here. See if you can fit into these clothes?" Luo Huijuan suddenly greeted her with a soft laugh.

"Mmm!" Xu Wanling nodded gratefully, then crawled over and took several sets of clothes of excellent quality and style from Luo Huijuan's hands.

Looking at these clothes, the tears she had just stopped flowing again.

"Sister Juan, thank you. You have given me a new life and new hope. I will definitely repay you in the future." Xu Wanling expressed her loyalty to Luo Huijuan in public.

"Okay, then I'll be waiting!" Luo Huijuan nodded with a satisfied look.

Seeing this scene, Shang Xiuzhen, Pan Qiaoyan, and the others all felt a slight chill in their hearts, and then vaguely understood why Luo Huijuan had kept Xu Wanling behind.

So they're using Xu Wanling as a wolf in sheep's clothing!
Thinking of this, Shang Xiuzhen, Pan Qiaoyan, and the others immediately got up from the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove), and then some busied themselves making the beds, while others busied themselves fetching water to wash up.

In short, everyone got to work very efficiently and in perfect unison.

On the surface, they were doing all this for Luo Huijuan's benefit.

In reality, they were thinking about returning to Beijing soon.

If they continue to act like those aristocratic ladies, wouldn't Li Dawei and Yao Meilan have something to say when they return to Beijing?

Even if Li Dawei and Yao Meilan can't do anything to them, if they upset Li Guoqiang and give Luo Huijuan an excuse to punish them, they'll be in trouble.

They didn't want to be suddenly relegated to the sidelines.

"Ha!" Luo Huijuan saw that Shang Xiuzhen, Pan Qiaoyan and the others had already understood her good intentions, and she couldn't help but laugh.

Given this situation, at least she doesn't have to worry about Shang Xiuzhen, Pan Qiaoyan, and others causing any unnecessary trouble for her family after returning to Beijing.

Soon, when Li Guoqiang woke up from a nap, he found that Shang Xiuzhen, Pan Qiaoyan and the others seemed to have turned back to how they were more than ten years ago, and they were all scrambling to do the work.

Xu Yuping, Ma Shufen, and others were also busy. They got some shoe soles from somewhere and sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) to sew cloth shoes.

Compared to yesterday, they have lost much of the airs of noblewomen and gained more of the virtuousness and simplicity of young wives.

"Great job, honey! Your trick really works!" Li Guoqiang praised sincerely.

"Hmph! That's why I'm your wife!" Luo Huijuan raised her chin slightly, accepting the praise without any hesitation.

Soon, it was evening.

After a busy day, Li Guoqiang, along with Shang Xiuzhen, Pan Qiaoyan, and others, thoroughly tidied up their own adobe house and Qu Yinfeng's adobe house, inside and out.

While ensuring cleanliness and hygiene, we also ensured the comfort and safety of Qu Yinfeng and Xu Dani living in this house.

In addition, Luo Huijuan, accompanied by Xu Yuping, Ma Shufen and others, spent a good day playing with the children around the village.

Anyway, with an off-road vehicle, it's very convenient to go to the back mountain or the river.

This also allowed the children to experience the pastoral scenery of the North.

However, when Luo Huijuan returned with the children, Li Guoqiang couldn't help but roll his eyes when he saw his daughters covered in dirt.

This was the first time he had ever seen his own daughter, and she was so ugly!
"Daddy, hug me!" As usual, the girls ran up to Li Guoqiang for a hug as soon as they saw him.

"Look at you all, you're all covered in grime like little kittens! Go wash yourselves up right now!" Li Guoqiang's face darkened, and for the first time ever, he lost his temper with his daughters.

"No, we just want a hug!" The girls pouted and pounced on him, surrounding Li Guoqiang completely.

"Hey, you guys..." Li Guoqiang looked at his white shirt, which had become patchy with black and gray, and was speechless with anger.

"Haha!" Luo Huijuan, Xu Yuping, and the others couldn't help but burst into laughter when they saw this.

"Hehe!" Li Jiayuan and his sons, including Li Jiaqiu, covered their mouths and chuckled. "You're still laughing? Hurry up and take them to wash up!" Li Guoqiang's face darkened.

After this experience, he seemed to understand what a heartless daughter-in-law really meant.

"Come on! Stop bothering your father and come with me to the bathhouse to wash up!" Luo Huijuan, Xu Yuping, and the others saw that Li Guoqiang was about to lose his temper, so they stopped watching the commotion and hurriedly went forward to pull all five girls away.

The nine boys, including Li Jiayuan and Li Jiaqiu, dared not chuckle anymore and all ran into the house.

Soon, only Li Guoqiang was left in the yard. Looking at his dirty clothes and pants, he was both amused and exasperated.

Immediately afterward, once he went inside and changed into clean clothes, Xu Yuliang also came over with the brigade cadres from Jinshanbao.

"So? Have you made a decision?" Li Guoqiang invited the people into the house, sat them down on the kang (a heated brick bed), and then asked with a chuckle.

"Um..." A hint of embarrassment flashed across Xu Yuliang's face, then he said in a deep voice:

"After a vote at the village meeting, we decided that the village will continue to operate those bee farms."

"Oh?"

Li Guoqiang raised an eyebrow, then nodded and said, "Alright, then you can continue to run it yourselves from now on."

In fact, he was not surprised by the choice of the villagers of Jinshanbao.

After all, it had only been a few years since the land was distributed to individual households, and people's sense of ownership was extremely high. They certainly wouldn't feel comfortable selling so many bee farms in Jinshanbao to Qiangsheng Company.

Moreover, Qiangsheng Company did not spend a high price to acquire honey, and it did not have much of an advantage compared to other domestic sales channels.

This will inevitably lead some people to think that even if Qiangsheng Company no longer wants their honey, they can still sell it to others.

Little did they know that all of this was because a powerful company was backing them up, resulting in a shortage of honey supply outside the market.

Once Qiangsheng Company uses the latest generation of bee breeds provided by Li Guoqiang to establish a beekeeping base in the Greater Khingan Mountains region, it will abandon Changxian County, a major beekeeping household.

From now on, if the villagers of Jinshanbao want to continue living such a comfortable life, they will have to find a way to compete with other bee-raising production teams in Chang County and earn money based on their own abilities.

As for Xiangmizhai in Beijing, it was acquired by Qiangsheng Company several years ago. In less than a year, Xiangmizhai opened stores in major cities across the country, becoming the first chain of freshly brewed teahouses in China.

At the same time, Qiangsheng Company has also used its strong financial advantage to continuously acquire and merge various high-quality assets in China. It has already acquired millions of square meters of construction land in major cities alone.

To date, the total investment has reached an astonishing hundreds of billions of US dollars.

This has made Qiangsheng Group one of the most popular investment groups in China.

It should be noted that under normal circumstances, China's foreign exchange reserves were only slightly over 3 trillion US dollars until the 21st century.

This brought more than 100 billion yuan in foreign exchange reserves to the country and boosted economic development by more than 10 trillion yuan. It can be said that it injected a strong boost into reform and opening up and gave the country's economic development a pair of wings to take off.

Soon after explaining the situation, Xu Yuliang felt embarrassed to stay any longer and made an excuse to leave.

After seeing the person off, Li Guoqiang immediately decided to leave this place the next morning, a place where there was little he could miss.

However, before that, he still had to go to the bee farm deep in the mountains to settle things with Zhao Limin and his family.

As for the beekeeping research institute, it was handed over to the Changxian Agricultural Bureau when he resigned as director, so he doesn't need to worry about it now.

Late night
Zhao Limin and his wife were lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) wondering if they would ever have the chance to leave the mountains again when they suddenly heard footsteps coming from the outer room.

Then, as he cautiously got up, he saw Li Guoqiang lift the curtain and walk in.

"Master, you've arrived!" Zhao Limin said excitedly.

"Hmm!" Li Guoqiang looked at Zhao Limin's graying temples and wrinkled forehead, nodded slightly in agreement, and a hint of emotion flashed in his eyes.

He never imagined that Zhao Limin and his family would actually help him guard his bee farm deep in the mountains for ten years straight.

"Master, please sit down!" Zhao Limin pulled his wife up from the kang (a heated brick bed), wanting to stand up and listen to Li Guoqiang's instructions.

"Alright, stop your busywork. I came here today because I have something to tell you!" Li Guoqiang waved his hand, then walked to the fire pit opposite and sat down.

"Please speak!" Zhao Limin was slightly taken aback, then listened attentively with a respectful expression.

Li Guoqiang, seeing this, didn't keep them in suspense and spoke directly:

"Unbeknownst to you, you have been guarding this mountain for ten years. Considering how diligently you have worked for me for so long, I am now giving you two choices."

The first thing is that you should pack up in the next few days and move back to the village to live with your children, enjoy your grandchildren, and live out your retirement years in peace.

Another thing is that you continue to help me look after these houses and the bee farm, and then after you pass away, I will bequeath these houses and the bee farm to your children.”

When Zhao Limin and his wife heard these two options, they hesitated for a moment.

Although they often live deep in these mountains, they still manage to keep up with major news events such as the land redistribution and the reform and opening up.

In addition, they are now getting old and naturally want to go back to the village to enjoy the life of being surrounded by their children and grandchildren.

However, they were equally reluctant to part with those few brick and tile houses, as well as the bee farm that produced several thousand kilograms of honey every year.

"Why don't we continue to guard it for our master?" After a while, Zhao Limin's wife made the first decision.

Because she knew that if the old couple went back, things might be fine at first, but as time went on, it was hard to say how their children would treat them.

Moreover, if the elderly couple could earn enough for their children to have a few more brick houses and a bee farm that lays golden eggs, that would be their last contribution to their children.

“Alright, then we’ll continue to guard our master until we die!” Seeing that his wife had made up her mind, Zhao Limin stopped hesitating and immediately nodded in agreement.

Upon hearing this, Li Guoqiang immediately laughed.

(End of this chapter)