Country Love: Xie Dajiao, 37, is pregnant!

Lin Chen glanced at Xiangxiu, who was choked by cooking fumes in the outer room, and a slight smile played on his lips as he slowly said:

"Don't worry, it's nothing. The young lady is just shy and doesn't like to strike up a conversation."

"She's cooking in the outer room right now, and the whole place is filled with fumes that are making me choke. She can't answer your call right now, so just wait patiently. I'll have her call you back when she's done."

These two sentences alone were enough to make Wang Musheng extremely happy.

"Hey, hey, thanks a lot, bro! Thank you so much! I knew your help would work, I've been waiting here like a log!"

Wang Musheng was so excited that he became incoherent, slurring his words incoherently.

"Alright, just wait and see." Lin Chen casually replied, then hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

Just as he put it in his pocket, the hula hoop suddenly slid down a large distance. Lin Chen swung his hips and exerted force with his waist, but this time he couldn't save the hula hoop; it fell straight down.

Just then, Xiangxiu brought the dishes into the house. She had seen everything from the doorway and could no longer hold back her laughter. However, she tripped and fell to her knees in front of Lin Chen.

Lin Chen was startled, his body trembled, and he quickly helped her up.

"I'm truly impressed by you, Brother Chen!"

Xiangxiu patted the dust off her knees and couldn't help but praise him, her tone particularly sincere:

"I find this thing so tiring to play with. It falls off after spinning a dozen times, and my back aches from all the effort. But you, you can spin it around while talking on the phone and even stroll around, and it doesn't fall off even once for ages! It's so stable!"

Lin Chen casually picked up the hula hoop and leaned it back against the corner of the wall, stretching his arms briefly.

"You have to find the right technique with this thing; you can't just use force blindly."

Lin Chen said calmly:

"You young girls always twist and turn all over the place, which is a waste of energy. You have to use a clever approach."

"That's impressive!"

Xiangxiu smiled and stepped forward, reaching out to grab his arm and pull him towards the edge of the kang (heated brick bed), her tone gentle, tinged with a hint of selfishness:

"Stop practicing, sit down and eat a couple of bites. After you're done eating... let's have a serious chat. I have a lot to tell you."

……

The construction team arrived faster than expected. They were also afraid of delaying the construction period, so they were going to start work in mid-March.

The old house was to be demolished and rebuilt. Lin Chen had already figured out what to do with all the furniture, appliances, pots and pans inside. He then went to find Pi Changshan.

Pi Changshan knew that Lin Chen was a capable person and had long wanted to curry favor with him, but he was just waiting for the right opportunity. He could tell what kind of person Lin Chen was from what happened with Yongqiang.

As soon as Lin Chen entered the elementary school, he saw Pi Changshan squatting at the office door smoking. Upon seeing him, Pi Changshan immediately stubbed out his cigarette on the sole of his shoe, wiped it off, and cheerfully strode over to greet him.

"Oh, Xiao Chen, what a rare guest! What brings you to my elementary school today? Is there anything you need?"

Lin Chen didn't stand on ceremony with him; they were already acquaintances, so he got straight to the point:

"Brother-in-law, my old house is going to be demolished in the next couple of days. There's a lot of furniture and appliances inside and I don't know where to put them. You have plenty of space here, do you have any spare rooms that I can borrow for a while? I'll need them until July, I just need to store some things."

This little matter was nothing to Pi Changshan. He was eager to do Lin Chen a favor, so he readily agreed without hesitation, his tone exceptionally cheerful.

"Hey! I thought it was no big deal, it's nothing!"

Pi Changshan waved his hand, patting his chest loudly:

"I have some space here. I'll have the students tidy it up in a bit. You can use it as you like, put whatever you want in it, and use it whenever you want. Don't be shy with me."

As he spoke, he turned and went into his office to look for his keys, muttering to himself as he did so:

"Only someone like you can do this. I wouldn't budge if it were anyone else, but this is a serious matter, and as your brother-in-law, I have to fully support you!"

Once the house was cleaned up, Liu Yishui took the initiative to organize things, calling on a group of workers from the farm to drive their truck, bring tools, and go directly to help.

The young people in the village also came to help. They dismantled appliances, moved wardrobes, carried tables and chairs, and packed up odds and ends. The division of labor was clear, and no one was lazy or shirking their duties. They made trip after trip to transport the vacant house to the primary school. They were busy from morning till night, and in a whole day, they put all of the Lin family's belongings away neatly.

With our belongings settled, we also need to consider temporary accommodations.

Xie Xiaomei stayed at the supermarket with Xie Dajiao, and the two of them kept each other company, so the nights were not lonely.

Lin Chen moved into the farm dormitory, which was the single room Xie Xiaomei had lived in before. The room was not big, but it was clean and tidy. Lin Chen had not originally planned to live there, but Liu Yishui insisted on taking him there, saying that he was too bored there by himself.

As for Wang Xiaomeng, she continued to eat and stay at Lao Qi's house every day, just like always.

That evening, a few people gathered at Big Foot Supermarket for dinner, enjoying small, hot stir-fries.

The group sat around the small table. Xie Xiaomei picked up a piece of green vegetable with her chopsticks and jokingly teased the two of them:

"Look at the two of you. You had a legitimate reason before, but now you have to make a special trip to the supermarket just to see each other, let alone get together at night. It's really unfair to you two."

Lin Chen held his chopsticks, slowly picking at the food, not taking it seriously at all, and casually replied:

"What's there to feel aggrieved about? It's just a temporary solution. Once the villa is completely finished in July, with all the renovations and ventilation done, we can move in and everything will be much more convenient. Just bear with it for now."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaomeng's face flushed slightly, and she immediately lowered her head to pick at the rice in her bowl.

She knew best that ever since she started dating Lin Chen, she had become addicted to the relationship. The thought of having to wait another three or four months before they could sleep together at night made her feel restless and resentful.

She ate in silence, secretly plotting in her mind how to stay with Lin Chen peacefully that night without being discovered by the villagers and causing gossip.

Before we knew it, the day to start construction arrived—

The construction team hired by Lin Chen arrived on time. The excavator roared into the yard, and as the machine passed by, the whole village knew the news.

As a string of ten thousand firecrackers crackled and popped, red paper scraps flew everywhere, and the smell of gunpowder mingled with the wind. The old house's courtyard walls and roof collapsed under the iron arm of the excavator, and the renovation and reconstruction of the old house officially began.

The news caused a sensation throughout Ivory Mountain. Half the villagers came to watch the excitement, standing outside the courtyard wall pointing and gossiping.

Xie Guangkun and Liu Neng, those two old rivals, arrived early and squatted by the wall, watching the commotion and chatting non-stop.

Liu Neng squinted at the construction team's setup and the building materials they had brought, and clicked his tongue in amazement:

"My goodness, this...this is huge! Excavators and professional construction teams! Even building a house in the city doesn't have this kind of spectacle. I reckon Lin Chen's new house won't be less than 300,000 yuan!"

Xie Guangkun immediately retorted, showing off his expertise:

"Don't make wild guesses. Look at your ignorant face. They're using all high-end materials. I bet it's worth at least forty, maybe even fifty! This isn't some rural bungalow; Yongqiang told me it's a villa!"

The two of them chatted back and forth, arguing endlessly about the layout, cost, and style of the new house.

For a time, the news of Lin Chen's family building a villa became the hottest topic of conversation in the entire Ivory Mountain, with every household discussing it during their leisure time.

While the Lin family's new house is under construction, Wang Xiaomeng's tofu shop business is also booming as the weather warms up.

The market for soy products has completely opened up, and orders have doubled. Not only tofu is selling well, but by-products such as dried tofu and bean curd sheets are also inquired about every day.

Wang Bing also called specifically to ask Wang Xiaomeng to add more products and expand sales channels. He assured her that as long as the goods were of good quality, sales would be no problem.

Seeing her business booming, Wang Xiaomeng had a new plan in mind.

That very evening, she pulled Wang Laoqi to sit in the courtyard and started talking about serious matters, her tone very earnest:

"Dad, as you can see, our business is booming right now, and we can't keep up with the demand. I'm thinking of tearing down all the old woodsheds and storage rooms in the backyard, clearing out a space, and building a new enclosed production workshop."

"I'll install another semi-automatic production line. It won't be as strenuous, and it'll be more efficient. I'll also hire a few quick-witted female workers from neighboring villages to help with the work. We'll add more categories of bean products, and from now on, we'll all print 'Xiaomeng Bean Products Factory' packaging and deliver goods to the city regularly. That way, the sales channels will be completely stable, and we won't have to worry about selling our products."

After hearing this, Wang Laoqi felt both happy and heartbroken.

I'm happy that my daughter is capable and her business is booming, with our small workshop growing bigger and bigger. But I'm also heartbroken about the expenses of building the factory, buying machines, and hiring workers. Every penny is a real expense, and we're spending too much money.

He squatted at the doorway, smoking a pipe, taking several puffs, and hesitated for a long time.

But seeing the determination in her daughter's eyes, and thinking about the booming business and the worry-free sales channels, she finally relented and nodded.

"Alright, if you know what you're doing, then do it. Dad knows you're capable. Just don't overwork yourself. Spend money when necessary. As long as the business can stay stable in the long run, the money will be well spent."

(It's the fourth watch again, I refuse to believe it!)