Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 768 The First Snow

A short while later, Xia Maosheng drove the three women back to the courtyard, where everyone tidied up and ate.

Xiaowei's mother said, "Xia, why don't you and Xiaohui move in tomorrow? You have to go to work during the day, and Xiaohui can't stay there by herself. Aunt Wang at the company will take care of her for now, so Xiaohui can just wait to give birth. I can keep an eye on her here, and I'll cook whatever she wants to eat. She can stay on the first floor for now."

Xia Maosheng nodded in agreement, saying, "Okay, it's too boring for just the two of us to stand there like that."

Xiao Wei said, "This is my uncle. I haven't met Geng Hui and Chen Xiao yet. He fell while collecting autumn clothes. I'll take him to the Army General Hospital tomorrow. This is Zhang Wang, my uncle's eldest brother. If we're talking about seniority, he's the second oldest in our generation, and my brother is the eldest."

The old man said, "The world has changed now. That kind of ranking is no longer in effect. In the past, we had to rank people according to seniority. But that stopped more than 60 years ago because it was called the Four Olds and we were going to be persecuted. As a result, the ranking is a mess now. There are several eldest brothers and second eldest brothers among close relatives, and it's hard to tell them apart. As a result, the close relatives don't seem like close relatives anymore, and they've all fallen apart."

Xiao Wei's dad said, "I remember Xiao Qian, so I have to call you Fifth Brother, right?"

The old man said, "What fifth brother? I'm the third brother, the third brother. I even fought with those two brothers from the Zhong family because of this, don't you remember?"

Chen Hui asked, "Why were you fighting?"

The old man said, "It was chaotic back then, never mind, let's not talk about it. It's much better here now."

After finishing his meal, Xiaowei called Li Weibing and told him about the old man's situation, asking Li Weibing to help him contact a doctor at the main hospital.

Back in the house, Xiaowei looked at Xiaohong and said, "What's wrong with you today? Mom said you didn't get out of bed all day."

Xiao Hong glared at him: "What do you think? It hurts, of course. You've been messing with me like this, making me lose face." She then threw a pillow at Xiao Wei.

Xiao Wei laughed heartily, and the two of them started fooling around.

The next morning, everyone ate breakfast after getting it from the cafeteria. Chen Hui went to work on the equipment with Han San, while Xiao Wei drove the old man to the hospital. After registering and getting X-rays, which took several hours, the results came back: a fractured coccyx and a severe muscle strain in his upper thigh.

The doctor Li Weibing found for his grandpa was surnamed Lu, and he was over sixty years old. Looking at the X-ray, Lu told Xiaowei, "His tail is broken, but it's nothing serious. It'll just hurt for a while. Buy your grandpa a small life ring, inflate it halfway, and use it as a support when he sits. Drink plenty of bone broth, and if possible, supplement with calcium and vitamins. Avoid walking and strenuous work; he'll recover after a while."

Xiao Wei asked, "Do I need to be hospitalized?"

Dr. Lu put down the X-ray films, prescribed the medicine, and said, "No need, just be careful at home."

The old man asked, "Doctor, how long will it take to get better? I still have chores to do at home."

Dr. Lu said, "If you're injured, don't think about living. Just take good care of yourself. If you get sick, what kind of work can you do? Right? Now that it's cold and the autumn harvest is over, what work is more important than your life? It'll be quick, you'll be fully recovered in two or three months, don't rush it."

After leaving the hospital, Xiaowei helped the old man into the car, drove around for a while, bought two small swimming rings, went home and told his father about the situation, then drove to the police station for a bit, chatted with Chief Lu and Chief Huang for a few minutes, and then came to Shenhe River.

The houses we bought are all finished, and the cake shop is setting up its equipment and doing the final decorations. The staff have all arrived and are getting familiar with the environment. The samples were ordered from Master Li; they're plastic, and the matching nozzles, decorating guns, food coloring, and other supplies have already arrived.

When Xiao Wei arrived, Chen Hui was directing the workers to install the signboard. It was a large, clearly printed canvas with a fancy birthday cake and bread designs, and a row of GG lights were mounted below. The image was quite large, covering more than twenty square meters, attracting many citizens to gather around and watch.

In the early 90s, inkjet printing was a truly high-end and novel thing, just introduced from the United States. It was incredibly expensive, and ordinary people couldn't afford it. It cost more than two thousand to nearly three thousand per square meter. By around 95, the price had dropped to around one thousand sixteen, and by 99 it was only a few hundred.

Chen Hui, of course, couldn't possibly spend three thousand, so he gave him a cost price of one thousand five. At that time, the largest printing company in Fengtian was called Chuanqiong (Flying Ship), and they really made their fortune from this, reaching hundreds of millions in just a few years, and then started getting into real estate. Of course, this kind of thing required a large investment back then, and it wasn't something anyone could do just because they wanted to.

Six stores, six storefronts, it wasn't finished until it was dark at night.

The restaurant is also under construction. Old Xu has hired a lot more workers recently, and with several places working together, it's almost dawn. Xiao Wei and Chen Hui smiled wryly, "Adding the shopping mall, how many shops are we running at the same time? Can we manage? We're not worried about the cake shop, but can the restaurant and shopping mall keep up with the staff?"

Chen Hui said, "Let's open the cake shop first. Brother Long said the products will be available in three more days. Brother Wu at the restaurant is working on it, but we have to wait for the soup to be ready. In the next few days, Li Na, Sister Jin, and I will get everyone together. We don't have to worry about the shop manager or the lobby manager, but we're a bit short on waiters. We've contacted Chef Liu, so he shouldn't have asked the chef. If all else fails, we'll just open one shop at a time."

Xiao Wei asked, "What about the shopping mall? Who's managing it now?"

Chen Hui said with a smile, "Xiao Wu and Sister Long, we used to underestimate Sister Long. She's very capable. I feel we can hand this over to her from now on. Anyway, she's better than me."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, but what about their children?"

Chen Hui said, "My mother-in-law and your aunt, what can we do? They don't have anything to do anyway. We'll investigate after everyone is here. If there are too many children, we can set up a kindergarten. Xicheng is going to set one up anyway, so why not set one up in Fengtian as well?"

Xiao Wei said, "I don't think there are many. None of the people from the county are married, so where would they get children? The restaurant staff are about the same."

Chen Hui said, "We'll see when the time comes. Anyway, that's my idea. Next year, there will be three: mine, Lao Xia's, and Brother Long's. I'll have to find someone to help me decide."

……

The snow came a bit early this year. When I woke up this morning, the world outside was a white expanse. The snow wasn't heavy, just a thin layer, but the air had already turned cold and the wind had picked up. There were several sets of goose footprints on the road in the yard, which looked quite beautiful.

"Woof!" The big dog stood in the yard, looking up at Xiao Wei upstairs. It was already familiar with the place and no longer needed to be leashed. It also had its own house, a tall, solid wood house.

Chickens and ducks aren't enough; they need to be fed for several more days. That's a matter of intelligence.

"It's snowing?" Xiao Hong got up and climbed onto Xiao Wei's back to look outside. Xiao Wei twisted his body and said, "Hurry up and put your clothes on, don't catch a cold."

Xiao Hong went to the bathroom to wash up and said, "You're making that soup today, right? Chen Hui said the cake shop is opening, where are you going?"

Xiao Wei leaned out the window and looked down, saying, "I'll make soup at home, that's the important thing. The cake shop is open, why do I have to go there? It's not like we're going to cut the ribbon. We can just wait for everyone to get familiar with it and then call it a day. This afternoon I have to go and check on all the construction sites; construction will officially stop this year."

(End of this chapter)