Returning to the small mountain village of '86, intelligence updated daily.

Chapter 97 Alternation (Please subscribe!)

The transition between old and new tea represents the generational shift between two peoples.

Zhou Rui's last address to Uncle Zhang also had a deeper meaning: "Boss Zhang" was a business term, while "Uncle Zhang" was a respectful term.

The final agreed price was 25 yuan per mu for leasing and 145 yuan per mu for buying the trees. It was roughly agreed that Zhou Rui would buy five mu of tea trees this year and lease the rest.

The fees will be settled once at the end of this year and again at the end of next year.

The land survey was scheduled for tomorrow, with the village collective handling the task. Zhang Chengyun suggested that the township officials could skip it.

After all, at that time, everyone in the village was a big shot, not to mention those "masters".

Zhou Rui rejected the proposal, saying that multiple witnesses were necessary. Zhang Chengyun agreed, and they made a deal: one would go to meet the villagers, and the other would handle the people in town.

Zhou Rui agreed.

Anyway, I know someone in the town, my own uncle is one of them, so if he takes the lead in coordinating things, things will be much simpler.

After greeting Zhang Sheng, Zhou Rui slowly walked towards his home, giving Zhang Chengyun a deposit of one hundred yuan before leaving.

This is to reassure the other party; otherwise, it would be better to pay the deposit tomorrow.

After Zhou Rui left, Zhang Sheng stayed at Zhang Chengyun's house.

He stared blankly in the direction of the door, lost in thought, before finally making a move.

He walked to Zhou Rui's seat, where a cup of fragrant tea was placed on the wooden table.

"Young heroes indeed, Boss Zhang. It seems we're all getting old and can't keep up with these young men anymore."

Zhang Chengyun, as usual, used a rag to tidy up the table.

"Mr. Zhang, I apologize for any neglect you have received."

Although it was supposed to be an apology, Zhang Chengyun seemed too lazy to pay attention to the other party, clearly indicating that he wanted to see them out.

Zhang Sheng was a clever man. After muttering something in a cryptic tone, he went out the door.

"This young man—just watch and see! This trip was worthwhile; he's picked up two packs of cigarettes, hahaha."

When Zhou Rui returned home, his grandfather did not go out to watch the old men play chess, but instead lay reclining on a bamboo chair in front of the door.

Next to the old man was a high-quality chess set.

It's even better than Old Man Xia's.

Zhou Yong'an found this in his usual drawer. Unlike before, he didn't feel bad about the money, nor did he say that his younger family members were wasting money.

"Grandpa, why don't we go 'deploy troops and have a good fight' today?"

Zhou Rui squatted down next to the old man, leaning against the adobe wall.

Zhou Yong'an turned to look at his grandson.

"Let's not go today, how about we play a game of chess, grandfather and grandson?"

"Okay~"

"Two chariots crossed, checkmate!"

"Grandpa, you lost!"

"Grandpa, how did you lose?"

"You've grown up."

"But I don't want to grow up. I want to be Grandpa's eldest grandson forever. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

People have to grow up.

"In front of my grandfather, I will always be a child, and I will always only want to be a child."

Zhou Yong'an is a very skilled chess player, but he lost his first game in the village today.

Zhou Rui's chess skills were average, yet he defeated the best player in the entire village.

The grandfather and grandson looked at each other, Zhou Yong'an's withered hand stroking a red "general" piece.

"How did the talks go? Did they go smoothly?"

"The deal is done. We'll go to the land survey tomorrow. The deposit has been paid. The agreed-upon prices are all on the low side, so we got a good deal."

C

Zhou Yong'an nodded and continued, "That's good. Let's call the whole family and go together tomorrow. I'll go to your uncle's house now and have him contact the relevant people in the township tomorrow."

"Come inside, Guo'er is reading."

Zhou Rui tidied up the chess set, and the two went inside. Grandma Meng Dan wasn't home; she must have gone to the "intelligence station" at the village entrance.

As evening approached, Zhou Yong'an went out to find Zhou Shiping, leaving only his brother and sister at home.

Zhou Rui was cooking rice over a fire because her family would all be home in the evening, and her mother wasn't home, so she always had to cook and wait for them.

Zhou Guo'er helped from the side, wearing an apron that was too big for her, peeling potatoes and washing vegetables. The two worked together seamlessly.

Just as Zhou Ruigang was taking the steamer off the stove to prepare to rinsing it with water, his mother Zeng Jiamei and his second aunt Yang Laidi returned.

"Mom, Second Aunt, please sit down and rest for a while. Dinner will be ready soon."

"Auntie, Mom, where did you go?"

Zhou Rui and his sister greeted each other.

Yang Laidi walked to her daughter's side and gently pinched Zhou Guo'er's cheek. This was one of the few people she would take the initiative to show affection to.

"Guo'er has grown up and can help your big brother with chores now. Here, Auntie will give you some candy."

Zeng Jiamei walked over to Zhou Guo'er and handed her a candy. Zhou Guo'er accepted it but didn't open it or eat it right away.

As the older woman, she cared most about her niece.

Because she didn't want Zhou Guo'er to repeat the same mistake. Yang Laidi was someone who didn't receive love and was even bullied since childhood, which is why she ended up like this, with no opinions of her own.

After doing all this, Zeng Jiamei walked over to Zhou Rui, took the water bottle, and poured water on him by hand.

Zhou Rui had no choice but to move aside.

"How did it go? Did it go smoothly? Did Zhang Chengyun give you any trouble?"

Zeng Jiamei was very concerned. Zhou Rui stepped aside, smiled, and said, "Mom, it went very smoothly. He didn't make things difficult for me."

Zhou Rui didn't want to tell his family the details of his negotiation with Zhang Chengyun, because if he did, Zhang Chengyun would be suspected of bullying a younger person.

However, the person involved felt that Zhou Rui was bullying him.

"That's good, that's good. Sigh—Mom is useless. I was going to go to the market today to ask around and see if I could find out anything, but it turns out that no one knows anything."

"Don't blame Mom."

"What are you saying, Mom? It's alright. Tomorrow we'll be surveying the land and writing the notes. Let's go together, Grandpa said so."

Zhou Rui comforted his mother, and Zeng Jiamei didn't hold a grudge: "So soon? That's fine, go join in the fun and give our family some encouragement."

After a while, she continued, "If you don't have enough money, remember to tell Mom. Mom has some, and your dad has some too."

Zeng Jiamei patted her cloth bag embroidered with a small flower.

Zhou Rui nodded and replied with an "okay".

After a while, the eldest and second eldest sons of the Zhou family, as well as Zhou Ming, also returned.

They heard that Zhou Rui had made the deal, and although they didn't know much about the price, they were still full of praise when Zhou Rui said it wasn't expensive.

Zhou Ming was the most excited, after all, he was his brother Zhou Rui's number one fan.

"My brother is the most awesome big brother in the world!"

Dinner was ready, and Grandma had come home. Everyone was waiting for Zhou Yong'an to come back for dinner.

Zhou Yong'an returned before sunset, not long after.

He said there were no problems with Zhou Shiping, the third son, and that he would personally go to talk to him tomorrow and then go with him.

Zhou Rui recounted the story at the dinner table, and the other eight family members all beamed with smiles.

Meanwhile, outside the Zhou family, a storm of rumors about Zhou Rui was brewing in the afternoon, and by evening, every household had only one topic of conversation after dinner:

Zhou Rui from the Zhou family is about to buy twenty acres of tea plantation!