Country Love: Xie Dajiao, 37, is pregnant!

"In a few days, the chairman of Qingmei may personally come to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Once the ribbon-cutting is completed, it will mark the official transformation of our Xiaomeng Bean Products Factory from a semi-handmade workshop-style processing plant into a formal bean product marketing enterprise integrating production, quality control, and sales."

"The standards will be higher and the requirements will be stricter in the future, but correspondingly, there will be more opportunities and everyone will earn more. I hope everyone is mentally prepared, learn more knowledge, and practice more skills. I will distribute the learning materials later. If you have any questions or ideas, you can contact me and Li Qiuge anytime."

As soon as he finished speaking, another round of enthusiastic applause erupted from below, and the female workers around him clapped until their hands turned red.

After Bai Qingming finished speaking, he sat down. Li Qiuge turned her head and exchanged a glance with Wang Xiaomeng, and the two of them nodded slightly.

Wang Laoqi sat below, chuckling to himself, and whispered in Xiao Mengniang's ear:

"Look at our girl, she really looks like a big boss now."

Xiao Meng's mother just smiled and nodded repeatedly. She was very happy to see her daughter doing better and better.

Wang Xiaomeng continued talking about the factory's plans. Li Qiuge sat beside her, watching Wang Xiaomeng talk so eloquently. For some reason, the image of Lin Chen flashed through her mind, and the corners of her mouth quietly turned up. Her fingertips unconsciously twirled the pen.

……

The village office consisted of only two empty rooms, which became quiet as soon as it got dark. Wang Yun was squatting on the ground, making a bed. The bed was a single spring bed, the kind that could be folded. The floral mattress was stretched flat, and a thick cotton quilt was stacked on top. He patted it twice with his hand, and it was fluffy. When you pressed it down, your hand would sink in half a palm.

Chang Gui stood to the side with his hands behind his back, muttering to Wang Tianlai:

"Hey, how about this house? It's quiet in the village and close to the clinic, just a short walk away. I won't have to go back to town every day."

Chang Gui's attitude was already quite good. When he learned that Qi Santai's purpose in transferring his daughter away was to make room for Wang Tianlai, he was furious. He didn't even consider himself a relative, and yet he still acted as a matchmaker.

It was only thanks to Wang Yun's constant persuasion and Qi Santai's status as town mayor that he was able to swallow his anger.

Wang Tianlai looked around, nodding repeatedly, his messy hair swaying as he did so.

"Uncle, this place is so spacious! Look at this huge table! Oh my, they even put a TV on it for me!"

His eyes lit up when he spotted the television on the wall, as if he had seen some treasure.

"Where in the village would you find the spare money to buy this kind of thing?"

Chang Gui went over to explain:

"This was brought by Liu Da Nao. He's the general manager and lives in the village office year-round. He can even plug a microphone into the TV to sing. City people always have all sorts of fancy gadgets."

"Liu Da Nao? Who's that?" Wang Tianlai asked, puzzled.

"You have to call him Uncle Liu."

Chang Gui rolled his eyes at him:

"He's the general manager of the hot spring resort, a favorite of Wang Dana. He's very capable. If you want to get along well with him in the village, you won't suffer any losses. He'll be staying in the room next to yours."

Wang Yun straightened up and pounded his lower back, his bones cracking.

"Alright, if it's cold at night, plug in the electric blanket. Don't catch a cold and be late for work. Your uncle and I are going back now. You should get some rest."

"Oh, thank you, Auntie. Thank you, Uncle."

Before I could even leave the house, a car headlight flashed past the window, illuminating the wall. I heard a screeching sound outside the yard, followed by a loud bang from the car door.

Chang Gui peeked out and said with a smile:

"Speak of the devil, and he appears! Liu Da Nao is back. Come on, Tian Lai, let me introduce you. You'll see each other all the time."

"Okay."

Just as the three of them reached the middle of the courtyard, Liu Da Tou, with his protruding belly and carrying a bag, came over and raised his hand to greet Chang Gui:

"Director Changgui, haven't you gone home yet? What are you doing here so late at night?"

"Look, Wang Yun's nephew, Wang Tianlai, is officially starting work at the village clinic today. He didn't have a place to stay, so we arranged for him to stay in the room next door."

"Tianlai, you can just call him Uncle Liu."

Wang Tianlai was quite adept at handling people; he immediately moved forward, bending slightly at the waist, his smile practically overflowing, his words as sweet as honey.

"Uncle Liu, I've always heard my uncle mention you, saying that you manage the resort very well. Seeing you today, I can confirm that you have the air of a big leader! Look at your straight back and protruding belly, standing there like that, everyone would think that the CEO of the group has come down to inspect!"

Liu Da Nao, who had been maintaining his airs as general manager, couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. He even pretended to wave his hand and said in a serious tone:

"Hey, stop with the nonsense. What boss or what, you're just working for the chairman."

"How can they be the same!"

Wang Tianlai climbed up the pole, looking on with admiration.

"I've heard about it at the town's health center. Ivory Mountain Hot Spring Resort is a benchmark enterprise in our Kaiyuan area. Uncle Liu, you are so capable. I'll have to learn a lot from you in the future."

Chang Gui, standing to the side, felt a little embarrassed listening to his smooth flattery and quickly tried to smooth things over:

"Alright, alright, Tianlai, stop praising him. Old Liu, Tianlai will be working in the village from now on. He's young, so please take good care of him."

"Of course, we're all from the same village. There's no need for any special treatment. If you need anything in the future, just let me know. If the resort needs anything or you need to get something done, just give me a call."

He glanced at Wang Tianlai, and the more he looked at him, the more pleased he felt that this young man knew how to handle things. He then added:

"You can watch whatever you want on TV. I also have a pot in my room. If you get hungry tonight, you can make some noodles or something. Don't be shy."

"Oh! Thank you, Uncle Liu!"

Wang Tianlai's eyes narrowed into slits with laughter:

"Uncle Liu, you're too generous! If you ever need my help in the future, just let me know! My medical skills are quite good; I can treat headaches and fevers."

Liu Da Nao nodded, patted Wang Tianlai on the shoulder, and limped into the house.

Chang Gui nudged Wang Tianlai's arm and said with a smile:

"Well done, kid. You've got a sweet tongue. You've been hanging around town for a while now."

Wang Tianlai chuckled and scratched his head:

"Of course, when you're traveling, knowing more leaders opens up more opportunities."

The three of them chatted for a bit more about things to be careful about, and then Chang Gui and Wang Yun went home.

Wang Tianlai went back to his room and lay down on the spring bed. The bed creaked. He touched the soft bedding, looked at the small TV, and felt a pang of unease. He wanted to sing a couple of songs, but then he thought that he wasn't the only one living there, so he decided against it.

……

A few days later, in the conference room of the new building of the soybean product factory.

On the long table were spread out an opening process chart, display case design drawings, and several stacks of product brochures.

Wang Xiaomeng, Bai Qingming, and Li Qiuge were going through the procedures for the opening day. Each of them had a glass in front of them, and the tea had gone cold but no one was drinking it. They were very focused on their work.

Wang Xiaomeng pointed to the ribbon-cutting guest section on the schedule, looked up and said:

"You two think that for such a big event as the opening, we should invite the chairman over? If the head of headquarters is there, our first branch in Northeast China will have prestige, and our distributors in the surrounding cities and counties will also have more confidence in us."

"That makes sense. I'll make a call and ask."

Bai Qingming nodded, picked up his phone, got up and went outside. He whispered his report into the phone, keeping his voice low. Only the two girls were left in the room.

Li Qiuge twirled her pen, seemingly making a casual remark:

"Xiao Meng, why hasn't Brother Chen come back to the villa lately? It's been so many days. Is everything at the resort that busy?"

Wang Xiaomeng smiled and flipped through the quality control manual in her hand:

"That's right. There's a lot going on at the hot spring resort. Wang Dana went back to Benxi, so only Brother Chen can keep an eye on things. You don't know him. That's just his personality. He either doesn't do anything, or he does it to the best of his ability. He thinks Liu Dana is unreliable, so he keeps an eye on things himself every day."

Li Qiuge nodded, gave a soft "oh," and didn't ask any further questions.

He didn't show any expression on his face, but he sighed inwardly. He seemed to have really fallen for her. His mind was filled with Lin Chen's image lately, and he would even get distracted at work from time to time.

If she continued asking, Xiao Meng would start to suspect something, so she quickly looked down and flipped through the sample book, pretending to study it.