The male supporting character was actually myself.

Song Qingshan gestured for him to sit down beside him before speaking, "The first thing is very important. If you want to marry Aiwan, you can't just look at what's in front of you."

You need to think this through.

Our family were landlords, which was considered a bad social class.

To put it bluntly, in previous years, anyone with even the slightest connection to the issue was implicated and subjected to struggle sessions. While the signs of this have lessened in the last two years, who can truly predict the broader social climate?

If something like this happens again, and you two actually get together, you'll definitely be implicated.

This is a very important and serious issue. You should think it over carefully before your relationship is officially confirmed.

"If you really get dragged down later, it will be too late to regret it."

As expected of an old scholar, he is meticulous and thoughtful in his dealings with people and things.

If it were someone more greedy and selfish, they would definitely be afraid of having to hide this matter, and they wouldn't forget to act like a domineering father-in-law.

Jiang Chen nodded solemnly and promised, "Don't worry, I've already thought about this."

"Don't say that such a thing won't happen again now that times have changed. Even if one day things are still based on class background, I, Jiang Chen, will definitely not regret it and will still find a way to protect you all!"

Seeing him pat his chest and give his assurance, Song Qingshan suddenly understood why his daughter had chosen him.

There were two grown men in the family, but neither she nor Aiguo had ever protected her like a man. On the contrary, since the mother of her child passed away, Aiwan had been busy taking care of her father and younger brother.

She needs care and a sense of security!

Material provision is only part of a sense of security; there's no need to worry about lacking food or drink, nor is there any fear of troublemakers causing problems.

I can rest assured now that I've entrusted my daughter to him.

"That's good." Song Qingshan nodded, and after a moment asked the second question, "They say that a woman marries a man for food and clothing, and I believe that Aiwan will have no worries about food and clothing if she follows you."

But there's an old saying: "Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog; marry someone who will carry you on a carrying pole."

It means that once you're married, you two form a small family, sharing both prosperity and adversity. I won't comment on what you did in the village before; after all, you have to find your own way to make a living, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Seeing that things had been peaceful for the past two years, everyone was toiling in the fields for a living.

You just got Li Zhenxing removed from office and then immediately promoted Li Changgeng to village chief. He doesn't hold any official position in the village, yet you spent so much money buying a house in town.

I'd like to hear what your plans are.

We farmers can't leave the land, and I don't think you're the type to work a stable job in a factory. If you really want to get married and settle down, you need a proper income.

The little white cat stroked its ears, wagged its tail, and muttered, "From what this old man said, he's worried that the money you used to buy the house, Host, came from an illegitimate source and he's afraid it will be found out?"

"Please rest assured, sir." Jiang Chen took out a stack of receipts from his pocket and placed them on the table. "I was indeed a scoundrel in the past few years, but as you said, that's just how the environment was. I had no other choice but to cause trouble for my own benefit."

Kind people are often bullied, and good horses are often ridden.

If I weren't ruthless, I would have been bullied beyond recognition by the Li family long ago.

But I know all the shady things I've done over the years. First, I've always been careful with my subordinates; even in struggles, I've never crippled or killed anyone. Second, the money I've spent has come from legitimate sources; I haven't embezzled or hoarded any of it.

If you do the math carefully, you'll understand how much profit the entire Lijiazhuang village can generate in a year.

Even if I took every last penny from all these years, I still wouldn't have enough money to cover the expenses for today.

He unfolded the receipts one by one and explained carefully: "The town's credit union is preparing to build a dormitory building, and the contractor is a good friend of mine."

The building materials he contacted were expensive and had high shipping costs, so I helped him find a batch of low-priced, high-quality building materials, taking a small profit from the difference.

He will need a lot of building materials later, which I can get my hands on.

Once these funds flow back, I plan to create my own brand and open a garment factory in town. We're stuck in this remote mountain village, unable to feel the changes happening outside. You'll see if you go to the city or the provincial capital; this is a great era where you can make money anywhere if you're willing to work hard.”

“This…” Song Qingshan carefully examined the handwritten data on the receipts by candlelight, feeling utterly shocked.

Buying things at a low price here and selling them at a high price there—isn't that just speculation and profiteering?

These days, only government departments can contract out construction projects, so why isn't anyone investigating such a large sum of money?

He had heard that young people in town who could squeeze into factory jobs could earn about 20 or 30 yuan a month. At the time, he thought that was a high income, something he could never hope to achieve in his lifetime.

However, looking at Jiang Chen's receipts, compared to the data on them, how many years would it take to earn a monthly salary of twenty or thirty yuan to match the value of a single transaction?

"Times have changed. The college entrance examination has been reinstated this year, and in a few years the policies will be completely different, and everyone will be able to become prosperous. Don't worry, I know a lot of people and have heard a lot of information. I won't do anything illegal, criminal, or that the country doesn't allow."

Jiang Chen had to persuade Song Qingshan, a cautious and timid man, to dispel some of his bad thoughts.

“Now that we’ve talked things out, and I see you’re both interested, let’s do it this way. You can find a matchmaker and follow the village’s customs. After you get married, you two can move to town, and Aiguo and I will stay here and help you look after the house.”

Jiang Chen: ...

Without giving him a chance to speak, the reserved father-in-law pushed and stopped him from leaving and went back to his room.

"Heh, is she afraid of being accused of taking advantage of her son-in-law?" He shook his head, somewhat helplessly. It's normal for older people to be a little stubborn. He'll have Xiao Wan give him a good talking-to another day.

The little white cat, which had been yawning constantly, suddenly changed its behavior and lay on the blanket, wagging its tail excitedly.

"Host, there's a big argument on the forum!" The fluffy little thing came over with its eyes shining, licking its paws as it gossiped, "We caused trouble in the last mission world and got a complaint from the script team. But after the main review system intervened, it was reversed, and the script team got a yellow card warning."

Who knew that the guy who wrote that script would still be dissatisfied!

I don't know how it happened, but that guy complained about another host, and then the auxiliary system and the script team started fighting. That ignited the fuse, and the forum exploded.

Chapter Seventeen: This melon isn't tasty.

"It exploded?" Jiang Chen asked curiously, "Isn't the main system going to do anything about it?"

The fluffy ball shook its fur excitedly and said, "Anyway, there's no one to manage it yet."

Host, think about it, how many hosts like you can force the male lead to become his brother-in-law?

Most host and auxiliary systems have to swallow their pride and obediently do their tasks.

How can everyone feel at peace with that?

The auxiliary systems, who were usually bullied by the script, were all holding their breath. With this trigger, almost all the auxiliary systems started to speak out, building up a thread to accuse the script team of being irresponsible and only producing brain-dead scripts that disgusted people.

The scriptwriting team, on the other hand, complained bitterly.

They say they extracted storylines based on what global reading base and what algorithm was used.

In short, the gist of it is that there are many people who create stories with distorted values, illogical plots, and deliberate attempts to incite conflict, but they are particularly popular because they are genuinely enjoyable and exciting from the protagonist's perspective.

The old tropes of heroes enduring humiliation and hardship for the country and its people are outdated; nobody wants to watch them anymore.

The hosts are all young people, so we need to use scripts that are relevant to the times to make them feel involved.

The scriptwriting team also cited many examples, including film and television works, saying that in the past, cultivators in stories were concerned about the world and would save all living beings even if it meant their own death. Now, cultivators in stories just find all sorts of excuses to date, and some are not satisfied with one-on-one relationships but want to have multiple love affairs to feel satisfied.

The male and female protagonists in cultivation novels prioritize romance and tragic love as their most important tasks, while incidentally trying to save the world. If they can't save it, so be it; the ending is always the same: the male and female protagonists find a place to live in seclusion and have a happy ending.

Fans are praising and cheering, saying how sweet it is! The immortal is so handsome and the fairy is so beautiful, we want countless more sequels and behind-the-scenes clips!

Whether it's a period drama or a war drama, they're all just using the guise of a domineering CEO to tell a different kind of love story.

The problem is that this kind of thing is so prevalent and popular that the scriptwriting team's creative approach means that 80% of the stories are just watered-down versions of this kind of plot.

With the outline already finalized and difficult to modify, their efforts to write subsequent plot points were futile.

Jiang Chen frowned slightly. "Is the script team a system, or like the Best Supporting Actor team, where hosts are captured to complete work tasks?"

The gossipy little white cat paused slightly, then shook its head and said, "I don't know. We're not from the same system, so we rarely interact. If this complaint hadn't blown up the forum, we wouldn't be arguing so fiercely."

But that's strange, why isn't the main system intervening to manage it?

This argument was much fiercer than the last one…

Is the main system very busy?

The thought suddenly popped into his head, and he couldn't help but frown as he thought about the situation in reality.

After winning the chance to return to the real world last time, I spent several days before re-entering the virtual world. But why can't I remember anything that happened in the real world?

Did the main system block that memory?

Li Chengze, Li Chengze... what exactly did I say to him and what did I do?

Could those memories be related to the secrets of the main system, which is why they were blocked?

Jiang Chen lay on the bed, tossing and turning, trying to remember something, while the little white cat excitedly ate its melon and didn't notice its host's strange behavior.

The debate on the forum clearly lasted a long time, and the script was probably affected as well, with no further updates coming out.

"This is so boring. It's just endless bickering. This gossip isn't good." After a night of gossip, the fluffy little thing jumped out of the grass and onto its host's shoulders to help him massage them early in the morning. It asked in a low voice, "Host, can I post something?"

"What post?"

"Hehehe, I think you did a really good job this time! I want to brag about it on the forum. I've even thought of a title for my post—'On how to turn the male lead into his brother-in-law.'"

"It's not very appealing. If you wrote about how to turn the male protagonist gay, I guess you'd get more clicks."

"Then... host, could you try to bend me?"

“Gewuen—”

"Haha, I was just kidding! I'm going to post now, you keep having fun!"

Jiang Chen climbed out of the deep pit, patted the dirt off his hands, and instructed, "Keep digging. This section is full of rocks and debris, so it won't be easy. Everyone, don't rush, take your time."

"Will it really yield water?" Li Jianshe looked at the huge pit with a worried expression, somewhat pessimistic. "Our village has organized well digging many times, but every time we dig so deep that we can't even see a hair."

The newly appointed village chief, Li Changgeng, carrying a shovel, sighed in an old-fashioned manner, "If only our village could have electricity."

I heard from a plump, dark-skinned girl from the next village that digging a well in town is not so difficult; they have machines that can get water in just a few days!

At night, there's no need for kerosene lamps or candles; just press a button and the electric light shines brightly! You can even listen to the radio; the stories on it are so interesting!

"Is it really that good? Didn't they say it's a power hog that people can die from?"

"They say they'll have electricity? How many people in our village have ever been to town? Even if they did, they wouldn't know how to use it. Besides, even if they did have electricity, we wouldn't have the money to pay the bill. I heard from Daya who came back from the back street that electricity is incredibly expensive!"

…………

A group of young people who had never left the mountain valley were working and discussing things amongst themselves.

Li Changgeng, who had just taken office, was itching to do something. He leaned close to him and whispered, "Brother, you know so many capable people outside. Why don't you use your connections to get electricity to the village?"

If we can pull this off, my brother and I will definitely have our names engraved on the village's monument of merit!

Jiang Chen: ...

In the original story, after the male protagonist Song Aiguo returned from graduating from university, he overcame various difficulties and ran around looking for classmates and friends. In the end, he had no choice but to wait for the director of the power bureau. Finally, he managed to solve the problem of bringing electricity to Lijiazhuang.