The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 149 Competition

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Wei Jianguo has been living a truly miserable life these past few days. Starting a month ago, countless parents have been calling their home. Their landline and cell phone ring about once every three minutes, which has been incredibly annoying for the couple. They've heard so many questions and insults that they were initially quite upset, but now they've developed a strong immunity to it.

"I've noticed your eloquence is getting better and better..." Xue Hua sat wearily on the living room sofa and gave Wei Jianguo a thumbs up.

"It's alright? This is no living hell..." Wei Jianguo's face was so bitter he was almost crying. "Sigh, I didn't consider everything properly back then..."

"It's not your fault. The launch of a new product always faces countless questions..." Xue Hua said.

"Judging from the tone of your voice, it sounds like I'm a product salesman..." Wei Jianguo said with a smile.

"It's amazing you can still laugh. Why don't you tell any more parents that if they're worried about their kids getting sick from drinking too much, they should stop?" Xue Hua said.

"Is this a good idea? After all, the children will have more energy after drinking goat milk, and their study time will almost double. That's equivalent to having twice as much study time as students from other schools..." Wei Jianguo said.

"We think we're right, but the parents don't understand. Besides, is this goat milk really without side effects? We can't guarantee that 100%. Let whoever wants to stop, just stop..." Xue Hua was already dissatisfied: You come to us to ask about fresh milk, can't you just talk it out? Why are you cursing and swearing? It's like we've gotten a huge advantage. To make it affordable for students from poor families, we've tried every means to lower the price to the lowest possible level. We've even gone so far as to shamelessly take advantage of our age and bully our son-in-law. In the end, even our daughter couldn't stand it anymore, and in the end, we still get scolded by the students' parents. Is this how you bully people? It's like Pigsy looking in the mirror, pleasing neither side, all our efforts are in vain.

"Actually, we should understand them. Of course they know the benefits of fresh milk, but they're worried. Just imagine, if our Qingqing were to stay awake all day and night, unable to sleep, wouldn't we be terrified? They don't want to give up fresh milk, but they're also worried about their child's health. They're torn between two equally desirable options..." Wei Jianguo said.

"I bet they've already taken the fresh milk to the Food and Drug Administration for testing. Otherwise, who would dare give such questionable milk to their child? ... Never mind all that. If any of them call again, I'll answer. Do whatever you want. If you don't want to drink it, fine. It's not like we're begging you to drink it. How much have my daughter and son-in-law suffered because of this?" Xue Hua thought of the grievances, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Alright, alright, let's not put up with this anymore, okay?" Wei Jianguo said quickly, feeling sorry for his wife who was crying.

"Not only that, from now on, I'll raise the price of each carton of fresh milk to 5 yuan. Whether people like it or not, it's up to them. Why should my son-in-law suffer for the sake of strangers???" Xue Hua said, choking back tears.

"This... isn't that a bit inappropriate..." Wei Jianguo looked troubled.

"What's wrong with that?" Xue Hua raised an eyebrow. "Our son-in-law is so filial to us. Whether it's the house, the food, clothing, or anything else, he bought it all for us. We're his parents-in-law. Even if he didn't support us, no one would say anything. But he treats us no differently than his own parents. Whatever his parents have, we have too. He's so filial to you, how can you treat him like this...?"

"If he weren't so filial to us, I wouldn't bully him anymore..." Wei Jianguo muttered.

The truth is, Wei Jianguo treats Yang Ming like a son, which is why he bullies him like this. Otherwise, if they were just polite to each other, the relationship would be too distant, and they wouldn't even be considered family.

"You... Anyway, if anyone calls again, I won't be polite to them..." Xue Hua said defiantly.

Jingle Bell……

Before Xue Hua could finish speaking, the phone rang.

Wei Jianguo, afraid his wife might speak impulsively and offend someone, hurriedly tried to answer the phone, but Xue Hua was faster, grabbing the phone first: "Hey? Who is it?"

"I am the parent of Wang Dongdong from Class 1, Grade 3. I want to ask you, what's the deal with the fresh milk you provide? Why is it keeping me awake? Let me tell you, if anything happens to my son, I will sue you and send you to jail..." came an angry male voice from the other end.

"Don't worry, Mr. Wang, right? I can tell you responsibly that our fresh milk has absolutely no side effects. If you think there's anything wrong with our fresh milk, you can stop giving it to your child. We said that when we sold it, it was just that the school strongly recommended it. Whether you buy it or not, we don't force you..." Xue Hua said unhurriedly.

"You..." The man on the other end of the line was speechless with anger. "What am I going to do with the leftovers at home?"

"You can bring the remaining fresh milk to school, and after we count it, we will refund you the full amount..." Xue Hua said.

"Hmph..." The other end of the line slammed the phone down.

"You little brat, you dare mess with your grandma? I'll make you pay..." Xue Hua had a smug smile on her face, finally able to get her revenge.

"Hehe..." Wei Jianguo also thought his wife was pretty amazing. She didn't say a single harsh word, but she managed to shut the other person up.

"These people deserve to be taught a lesson. They think we're easy to bully..." Xue Hua said, putting the phone down.

"If you call again in the future, you can answer it..." Wei Jianguo said.

"Alright, I know you're useless, just watch me..." Xue Hua said with a smile.

Wei Jianguo immediately felt a wave of exasperation wash over him.

Sure enough, when others called to inquire about the fresh milk, Xue Hua handled them all. Unlike Wei Jianguo, who was concerned with his manners, Xue Hua was a woman. As the saying goes, "Women and petty men are the hardest to deal with." Every parent who called ended up looking disheveled, which made Wei Jianguo feel incredibly proud. His admiration for his wife was like a surging river, endless and unstoppable. He thought his wife was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he diligently made tea and water for her, serving her attentively.

"Wife, let's go rest..." Wei Jianguo glanced at the quartz clock; it was already midnight. He couldn't help but smile ingratiatingly.

"Go and rest, I'm waiting for a call..." Xue Hua said excitedly.

The other party came in aggressively and left looking disheveled, which gave her a great sense of accomplishment. Answering the phone had become a pleasure for her.

Wei Jianguo was covered in cold sweat: He'd gotten addicted to answering the phone…

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, everything outside was already covered in a blanket of white. The heavy snow had stopped in the early hours of the morning, and in just a day and a half and a night, it had accumulated to a depth of about a foot, almost knee-deep when you stepped into it…

While everyone was busy clearing the snow, Yang Zhengfang and Liu Shugen took their two big dogs, Dabai and Erbai, out to hunt rabbits.

Zhang Shufang and Jiang Yue'e were not idle either. Instead of sweeping the snow out of the yard, they cleared a space in the middle of the yard, sprinkled millet on it, and then covered the sieve with a weight hanging inside to increase its weight.

The sieve is propped up with a wooden stick, and a rope is tied to the stick. The rope is hidden in the snow, with one end extending into the house. Whenever a sparrow comes to eat millet, the people inside gently pull the rope, causing the sieve to flip over, and the sparrow will be trapped.

"We absolutely have to beat them today..." Jiang Yue'e smiled mischievously; her body had become younger, and her mindset had become much younger as well.

"Are we really going to starve them for three days?" Zhang Shufang asked.

"Girl, you're too honest. If we starve them for three days, do you think they'll behave? Won't they just go to someone else's house for a meal?" Jiang Yue'e said.

"Yes..." Zhang Shufang thought about it and realized he was right. If there was no food at home, couldn't he go to his son's house to eat? What good food couldn't his son have there?

The two men set up the sieve and hid it behind the door of the outer room, waiting for the old sparrows to find no food and walk right into their trap.

Thud...

A sound of flapping wings rang out, and plump pigeons flew down from their nests, landing under the sieve and greedily pecking at the millet.

"Oh dear, I forgot about them..." Zhang Shufang slapped her forehead and hurriedly ran out to shoo the pigeons away.

"This isn't a solution. They'll just come back if we chase them away. You should quickly scatter some corn kernels..." Jiang Yue'e said.

The corn kernels are large, which pigeons can eat, but sparrows can't.

After chasing the pigeons away, Zhang Shufang grabbed a handful of corn kernels from the side room and sprinkled them on the snow. The pigeons stopped eating the millet. Actually, pigeons don't like millet. The millet kernels are small, and even after eating for a long time until their necks ache, they might not be able to fill their crops. Corn kernels are much more practical.

Watching the pigeons pecking at the snow, Zhang Shufang nodded in satisfaction. These pigeons were perfect for being seasoned veterans. When the older sparrows saw them eating here, they would definitely lower their guard. In fact, some people who have raised pigeons should remember that when feeding pigeons, some older sparrows would also come along to freeload, especially when feeding pigeons sorghum or wheat. In those cases, there were more sparrows than pigeons freeloading.

Zhang Shufang quickly went back into the house and hid with Jiang Yue'e at the door. Holding ropes in their hands, they could catch all the sparrows as soon as they went to eat under the sieve.

After waiting a little while, suddenly, an old sparrow flew to a tree in the yard, hopping and jumping on the branches, chirping from time to time, probably calling for its companions. As it chirped, more and more sparrows gathered, and the whole yard became lively, with a cacophony of chirping filling the air.

Both of them, hiding in the house, held their breath...

Although some sparrows are quite wary, not all of them are. After a night of heavy snow, the ground was covered in white, and the sparrows couldn't find any food. They were starving. When they saw the millet grains under the sieve, some sparrows couldn't resist and flew down to eat the millet. The power of example is great; once one flew down, a whole flock followed.

"Pull..." Zhang Shufang was eyeing the birds with envy and was about to pull the rope to catch them all, but Jiang Yue'e stopped her.

"Don't be in such a hurry. Chase them away right now, and then sprinkle some millet under the sieve. Remember, don't tip the sieve over..." Jiang Yue'e whispered in Zhang Shufang's ear.

"Why?" Zhang Shufang asked, puzzled.

"You'll find out when you get there..." Jiang Yue'e smiled mysteriously.

"Go..." Zhang Shufang didn't ask any more questions, pushed open the door and walked out, shouting loudly as she went.

When Zhang Shufang pushed open the door, the flock of sparrows scattered warily. Zhang Shufang then scooped up a ladle of millet, sprinkled it under the sieve, and then went inside.

"Just watch, we'll only need to do this once, and we'll definitely win..." Jiang Yue'e said confidently.

"Why?" Zhang Shufang asked.

"You'll see when you look..." Jiang Yue'e said with a smile.

The sparrows were driven away, but as soon as Zhang Shufang entered the house, they swarmed down again. This time, it was a full-scale mobilization; even the cunning sparrows that had been observing all along flew down. Sparrows were once classified as one of the "Four Pests," and naturally, they were hateful for a reason. During the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, how much damage did the People's Army inflict on the enemy's mind and body by using sparrow warfare? This shows how troublesome these birds are.

A flock of sparrows huddled under the sieve, a dense mass of them, pecking at the millet on the ground like thieves.

"Pull..." Jiang Yue'e pulled the rope sharply, and the wooden stick immediately fell down, trapping all the sparrows inside, not one of them escaped...

"Great, sis, we caught them all this time..." Zhang Shufang exclaimed excitedly.

"Come on, let's get them all out..." Jiang Yue'e pulled Zhang Shufang out of the house, picked up a large chicken skin bag, put the bag over the sieve, and then opened the sieve. The panicked sparrows flew around and flew directly into the chicken skin bag.

The two sisters spent a long time finally managing to get all the sparrows into the chicken skin bag. A flock of sparrows fluttered around inside, making the two sisters smile from ear to ear. There must be at least fifty of them in there. If they still couldn't win, then there would be no justice.

The atmosphere at Chengxi No.1 Middle School in the city was quite unusual today. The students were very quiet, both boys and girls, with their lips tightly pursed and their eyes narrowed when they looked at others. When they talked or discussed problems with their classmates, they kept their voices down, making sure that no third person could hear them.

The teachers were all bewildered. What was wrong with the students? Could it be that they had gotten sick from drinking too much fresh milk lately? Principal Hu was even more anxious. He called Wei Jianguo to his office and, together with a group of vice principals, besieged him.

"Jianguo, what's going on? Didn't you say that the fresh milk had no side effects? Why are the students all acting like they've lost their minds?" Principal Hu was so anxious that a bunch of blisters appeared on his lips.

"Old Wei, we know nothing about this fresh milk. You're the one who introduced us and facilitated this, which is why we're all following your lead. If anything happens to the students, we'll all be executed. That's over five thousand people... You need to reassure us..."

"Yes, Lao Wei, we've staked our entire future on this..."

"My blood pressure hasn't dropped below 180 all day, oh dear, I'm so dizzy..."

"Old Wei, you should contact your son-in-law right away and have him come and see what's going on with the students..."

A group of vice principals also complained.

"Don't worry, don't worry. All the school leaders and teachers drink a carton of goat milk and a carton of cow milk every day to keep their energy levels high. Is anyone feeling alright? Even more so, someone boasted to us that after drinking goat milk and cow milk, their energy and stamina were so high, it even seemed to have improved their sexual performance," Wei Jianguo gave Principal Hu a mischievous glance, making Principal Hu blush with embarrassment. "We older folks are fine after drinking it, so how could those kids, who are at the peak of their vitality, possibly have any problems???"

Yang Ming provided the school principal, the director of the political education department, and the teachers with fresh milk free of charge, as a favor. Of course, this favor made Yang Ming feel particularly awkward. He was already selling the milk to the school at cost price, so the school had already gotten a great deal. Shouldn't they be doing him a favor instead of him providing fresh milk for free? But this favor was proposed by Wei Jianguo, and the quantity of fresh milk provided was calculated based on the number of days and the number of people, which wasn't much. Yang Ming could only grit his teeth and bear it.

"Ahem... Let's not talk about irrelevant things. Let's get back to the main topic and continue talking about the students... Old Wei, it's not that we don't trust you. We've known each other for decades. Who doesn't know who? But go listen in the hallways. The students are all like they're mute. In every grade and class, you can only hear the teacher lecturing. Other than that, you can't hear a single fart..." Principal Hu coughed twice, completely ignoring the amused looks from the vice principals.

"Exactly, this is too abnormal. Although most of the students are adults, since they are attending classes at our school, we have to be responsible for them."

"Oh dear, this situation with the students is terrifying, my blood pressure is going to spike again..."

"This situation absolutely cannot continue, otherwise, if the students' parents find out, they will definitely cause trouble at the school..."

None of the principals knew why the students were behaving so strangely...

"This is a temporary phenomenon. Let's not be so pessimistic. It's not necessarily a bad thing..." Wei Jianguo said with a smile.

"This is indeed not a bad thing for you, Wei Jianguo," Director Hong's voice rang out. Then, with a cold face, Director Hong pushed open the door to the principal's office and walked in. "We asked a few students and the situation is clear. Old Wei, you are a terrible person..." Following behind Director Hong, the directors of the political education department for the first and third years also walked into the principal's office with cold faces, their eyes looking at Wei Jianguo with unusual hostility.

"What exactly happened?" Upon hearing that the problem was likely with Wei Jianguo, the principals immediately became serious.

"Jianguo, how could you do this? You actually want to cut off the students' supply of fresh milk. Tell me, are you trying to raise prices and make a quick buck off the students?" Director Hong accused Wei Jianguo with great distress.

A barrage of gazes, some disdainful, some heartbroken, fell upon Wei Jianguo.

"What 'black-hearted money'? What have I earned? What gives you the right to say that? I've wronged my son-in-law so that the children can afford milk! Do you know how much this milk sells for at the Yingning Hotel? Five yuan! Not four yuan more, but four times more! How much less money does my son-in-law earn? Have you even calculated it? Do you have any conscience saying that? The Yingning Hotel sets the price at five yuan a box because they know the benefits of this milk; the biggest market is children, and they don't want to cheat them. My son-in-law said that if these two types of milk were sold retail, 20 yuan a box wouldn't be expensive..." Wei Jianguo rolled his eyes, found a chair, and sat down. "You bunch of skinflint, bloodsuckers! If you don't give me an explanation today, I'm not leaving..."

P.S.: Please recommend and add to your favorites...

(End of this chapter)