Although the shop Li Zhaodi and Mu Teng bought wasn’t big, the location was quite good. When they started to sell buns again, business was quite good.

  This matter had caused a stir in Great Eastern Village. Who would have thought that Li Zhaodi and Mu Teng would become successful by selling buns and even own a shop in the county city? This was something that they hadn’t even dared imagine in the past. After all, there was a barrier between the city and the countryside, yet Li Zhaodi and Mu Teng had broken it.

  This was even more shocking than Mu Jingzhe’s successful career. After all, Mu Jingzhe was still young, but Li Zhaodi and Mu Teng were already very old. Besides, everyone in the village knew each other and remembered clearly what they used to be like in the past.

  However, these two people that they had looked down on in the past had changed their fate at this age.

  If someone had told the people of Great Eastern Village as much three years ago, they wouldn’t have believed it no matter what. However, in reality, they had changed.

  Now, only Shao Nan and Little Bei were studying in the village. The reason was that this time, when the school reopened, they would directly skip grades and enter the sixth grade, which meant that they only had to go to this school for one more year at most. Therefore, they ultimately decided not to transfer to another school for the time being. They would directly wait until they graduated from sixth grade before leaving the village to save themselves the trouble.

  Originally, there had been five children there, but now, only two were left. The principal was both proud and sad. Now, when he went out for meetings, he was particularly well-respected. In the past, no one had noticed the principal of Great Eastern Village. Now, Great Eastern Village was famous in the entire county city because of Shao Dong and his siblings.

  He was very proud when he went out for meetings. Everyone surrounded him to ask about Shao Xi, Little Bei, Shao Nan, and Xiao Wu. However, things would only remain like this for another year.

  Still… this would remain his pride for the rest of his life.

  After Mu Jingzhe returned, other than the children, who welcomed her, the principal was the happiest. He felt at ease when he saw Mu Jingzhe. He no longer had to be afraid that Shao Nan and Little Bei would run away too and not stay for even a year.

  Mu Jingzhe took Little Bei to school and greeted the teachers. She also took this opportunity to cancel her leave of absence and gave the teachers some specialty snacks that she had brought back from Ocean City.

  Although it had been a little troublesome to bring back big and small bags when they came back, when they brought them back, the villagers liked and cherished them very much. Upon seeing this, they felt that it was worth the trouble and hard work. At the time, these snacks were truly specialties. The teachers all knew it and didn’t turn them down.

  “I’ll be troubling you to take care of Little Bei in the future.”

  “It’s no trouble. No trouble at all.” The principal hurriedly said, “Little Bei is very obedient. Why would it be troublesome?”

  On the way back from school, whenever they encountered a villager, he/she would hold Mu Jingzhe’s hand and talk to her about what had happened in the village during her absence or ask about Mu Jingzhe’s plans going forward.

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  “I heard that you are moving your hair ornament business to the county city to open a factory. Is that true? Are you still going to hire people from our village?”

  “That is indeed the plan. As long as the villagers can go, the factory will definitely want them.” Since she wouldn’t be coming back to the village often in the future, it was necessary to move her operations away. Mu Jingzhe didn’t intend to hide it.

  “If I follow you to work in the county, won’t I become a county citizen too?”

  “You’ll just be going there to work.” Mu Jingzhe thought to herself that they were just going to the county city for work.

  However, many people still found it unusual to work in the county city.

  Mu Jingzhe was held back on the way home. It was a short journey that would usually only take a few minutes, but this time, it took more than an hour. This was even after she spoke until her mouth was dry and tried her best to escape.

  It wasn’t easy for Mu Jingzhe to escape. When she returned, she saw someone sticking his head out the door. “Who is it?”

  Mu Jingzhe didn’t recognize him at first. When she turned around in a panic, she realized that he looked familiar. Wasn’t this Fu, brother of Lu, Shou, and Xǐ?

  Previously, these children had all been tanned and chubby. After not seeing them for a while, she realized that they had changed quite a bit. They had grown taller and thinner, perhaps because they no longer got to eat that much good food. They had lost some weight, but they were still tanned.

  When he saw Mu Jingzhe, Shao Fu ran off without a word.

  Not long after they returned home, they heard a commotion coming from next door. The women working in the courtyard weren’t surprised. “They’re arguing again.”

  “Yeah, they must quarrel about once a day.”

  Even now, Zhao Lan hadn’t recovered. She was still lying in bed, so she needed someone to take care of her. Eldest Brother Shao had originally wanted to save face and hadn’t said anything. Now, he had already given up and didn’t care about anything except giving Zhao Lan just enough to eat every day so that she wouldn’t starve to death.

  He felt that he had already done more than Shao Qihai and Shao Qiyang, but it hadn’t occurred to him that he had leached off his two younger brothers for half his life. Zhao Lan was devoted to him and had sucked his younger brothers’ blood to support him and raise his family and kids.

  How was it enough to just make sure Zhao Lan didn’t starve after what she had done for him? However, he simply didn’t care.

  He didn’t care, but Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao had no choice. As a daughter-in-law, she would be criticized if she didn’t take care of her. Every time she couldn’t move Zhao Lan and asked Eldest Brother Shao to help, Eldest Brother Shao would ignore her. Arguing had become the norm for them.

  Actually, if he had steeled his heart and spent the money to treat her, perhaps Zhao Lan could have been cured. However, it was impossible for Eldest Brother Shao to spend this money, nor did he have it.

  The commotion next door didn’t affect Mu Jingzhe. On the weekend, Shao Qihai brought Shao Dong, Shao Xi, and Xiao Wu back.

  Xiao Wu’s eyes turned red when he saw Mu Jingzhe, and he wailed, saying that he’d missed her.

  Shao Dong and Shao Xi had actually missed Mu Jingzhe a lot too, but they could still tolerate it since they were older.

  After this period of hard work, Good Brother Refrigerator officially started to sell products. Advertisements were posted everywhere, and just like it had been said previously, the Good Brother brand left quite a deep impression on people.

  At home, Shao Dong had brought one for Mu Jingzhe to use. He had also given one to Li Zhaodi and Mu Teng so they could use it in their shop.

  The refrigerator was in the back seat. The villagers had never seen a refrigerator before, so they came over to look out of curiosity right after it was carried in.

  “This is a refrigerator? It will prevent food from going bad, right?”

  “It will still go bad eventually. The fridge is just supposed to keep it fresh.”

  “Didn’t I hear that food won’t go bad in it?”

  When they heard that there would even be washing machines and television in the future, everyone looked at Shao Dong with even greater admiration. Why was this child so promising?

  The commotion on Mu Jingzhe’s side could be heard from next door, but no one spoke. Fu, Lu, Shou, and Xǐ wanted to go over to watch the show, but they didn’t dare.

  That night, Eldest Brother Shao and Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao didn’t sleep at all. Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao couldn’t fall asleep at the thought of the children. The next day, seeing that Shao Qiyang had also returned, she asked Eldest Brother Shao to go with her to look for Shao Qihai and the rest.

  However, Eldest Brother Shao was unwilling. Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao almost vomited blood from anger. In the end, she could only do it herself.

  She waited until it was dark before entering their house with a smile. Coincidentally, Mu Jingzhe and the others were eating. “You guys are eating? Qihai, Qiyang, Jingzhe, I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao had lost a lot of weight, and her face was filled with distress. Mu Jingzhe was speechless. “Why are you here? Is something the matter?”

  “There is indeed something I wish to talk to you about.” Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao entered the kitchen and squatted down by the door. “It’s not urgent. You guys can eat first.”

  As she spoke, she smiled and silently prayed that she wouldn’t be kicked out.

  Mu Jingzhe said helplessly, “If you have anything to say, say it now.” It was weird to have her stare at them while they ate.

  “I’ll tell you when you’re done eating. I’ve already eaten. Don’t mind me.” Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao glanced at the dining table and was left speechless when she saw the sumptuous dishes. She couldn’t help but swallow a mouthful of saliva. It had been a long time since they’d eaten meat at home.