Chapter 135: Chapter 132: I’ll Buy

Li Xiangyang nodded, smiling as he eyed the wicker basket she was carrying. “Good thing I got here a bit early, or I would’ve missed you.”

“Come in and sit!” Seeing he didn’t look like he had bad news, Lin Lan smiled and turned to lead the way inside.

The two had just stepped into the courtyard when an old woman stood up from the steps by the drainage ditch. Watching Lin Lan’s retreating back, she curled her lip in disdain. “Vixen. The moment her son is out the door, she’s inviting a man in. Shameless hussy. What rotten luck, living next to a widow.”

The old woman muttered curses, abandoning her laundry. She simply picked up her basin and left.

When Lin Yuezhen saw Li Xiangyang, she greeted him with a smiling nod, brought him a chair, and then went to fetch some flatbreads and pastries.

Li Xiangyang looked at the flatbreads and soy milk on the small square table and laughed. “Yuezhen, I just had breakfast!”

Lin Yuezhen gestured for him to have a little more, then smiled and went to the kitchen to get on with her work.

’She could tell Li Xiangyang likes Little Lan. How wonderful it would be if they could get together! But then again, Li Xiangyang is still a young, unmarried man, and Little Lan has a child now. Would his parents approve?’

She looked up at the sky, clasped her hands, and prayed. ’Oh, heavens, please, please bless Little Lan. Let her find a man who will cherish her and give her a lifetime of happiness!’

Lin Lan brewed a cup of tea for Li Xiangyang and asked with a smile, “Have the pigs from your grand-aunt’s place been hauled away yet?”

Li Xiangyang nodded. “They have. I actually came to talk to you about some properties.”

Lin Lan glanced at him. “You mean?”

Li Xiangyang smiled. “I had someone ask around and found a few properties for sale in the city. I have a feeling more and more people will be going into business in the future, so the demand for storefronts is only going to grow.”

“When that happens, property prices will get more and more expensive. I was thinking of buying something now while it’s still affordable and holding onto it for later. If you’re interested, shall we go take a look together?”

Lin Lan smiled gratefully. “To be honest with you, Sister Zhou and I bought three storefronts next to Liming Restaurant after the Mid-Autumn Festival. I also stockpiled a lot of beans and rapeseed oil after the autumn harvest, so I don’t have much cash on hand. Still, if I come across something at the right price, it’d be good to buy and hold.”

During the autumn harvest, when broad beans and peas came to market, she had used her money to stock up while the price was two cents cheaper than usual. She was planning to wait until the time was right after the New Year to open her shop on Limin Street.

Seeing how openly she shared this with him, Li Xiangyang couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry about the money,” he said with concern. “If you don’t have enough, I can help. We can all go take a look after Xiuyun and Ding Bang get off work.”

Lin Lan did a quick mental calculation of the money in her passbook and figured she probably had enough to buy the property by the city’s No. 1 Middle School. “Thank you, Xiangyang,” she said gratefully. “I should have enough for the house by the middle school. As for the one on Vegetable Market Street, I’ll take a look first. If it’s not too expensive, I’ll buy it. It’s mainly for my brother and his family to sell local specialty goods in the future.”

’She was already incredibly pleased with the idea of a house on the same street as the No. 1 Middle School. The No. 1 Elementary School was on that street too—it was a bona fide school district property!’

’Then again,’ she thought, ’the concept of ’school district housing’ doesn’t really exist yet. No matter what, it can’t be more expensive than property on Liming Street. If I buy a house there, Little Douzi can attend the No. 1 Elementary!’

When Li Xiangyang saw her talk about buying a house, the joy practically overflowed from her glistening eyes. The sight made his heart pound erratically, and he felt his ears grow hot.

He stood up, coughed lightly to clear his throat, and said, “Three o’clock this afternoon. We’ll wait for you in the alley by the vehicle factory, and we can all go together.”

Lin Lan smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’ll be there on time.”

Li Xiangyang wheeled his bicycle out, and Lin Lan saw him to the gate. Once he had ridden away, she returned to the courtyard. She and Lin Yuezhen shelled the broad beans, washed them, and moved them over to the stove before Lin Lan slung the wicker basket onto her back and headed to the foot of the mountain for her shift.

The fodder grass at the foot of the mountain was growing more and more slowly. She worked until the end of her shift, managing to harvest the entire remaining patch.

Looking at the pale green stubble, she thought, ’Now that this batch is cut, it’ll be a few days before I can harvest here again.’

She delivered the fodder grass to the drying yard and was walking toward the bridge when she heard Little Douzi calling for his “Mama.”

She turned to see Little Douzi, Little Kai, and Little Ming running toward her with their schoolbags on their backs.

The moment they saw Lin Lan, the boys started chattering away.

Little Douzi tugged on Lin Lan’s hand. “Mama, Teacher said the school anniversary is in a few days and we have to put on a show. I’m going to be a little sailor!”

Little Kai squeezed in. “Auntie, I’m reciting a classical poem.”

Little Ming sniffled, looking displeased. “Teacher didn’t pick me for a solo act. She’s just making me sing in the chorus with everyone else.”

Lin Lan comforted him with a smile. “If you do a great job next time, I’m sure Teacher will pick you.”

“SIGH!” Little Ming heaved a sigh. “Auntie, I don’t like to study. The words in my textbooks just make me want to sleep. School is so tiring.”

Little Kai pulled at him. “Then how come you don’t get tired when you’re reading picture books?”

Little Douzi nodded. “Exactly! You’ve read Journey to the West dozens of times and never get tired. You even said you’ve memorized the whole beginning.”

“Textbooks aren’t picture books,” Little Ming said after a moment, finally finding a comeback.

Little Douzi tugged on him and asked, “Brother Ming, your family is so weird! Sister Xiaolin wants to go to school, but your grandma won’t let her. You *don’t* want to go to school, and your grandma insists on it!”

Little Kai wedged himself between them. “Little Douzi, you don’t get it. My grandma favors boys over girls. Last semester, she tried to stop my sister from going to school. My mom told her to take a look around the production team and see how many people were like her, selling off their daughters like cattle. My mom said that since the family property had been divided, she was using her own money and Grandma couldn’t interfere. Only then did she finally back off.”

Little Kai and Little Ming were paternal cousins. The matriarch of the He family was notorious for favoring boys. All four of her daughters had been “married off” for an explicit price, and the bride price from each was used to build houses and find wives for her two sons.

Little Ming nodded vigorously. “Yeah, Grandma plays favorites the most. Whenever she makes something delicious, she only gives it to us boys, never my sister.”

Little Kai shot him a glare. “You’re one to talk. You always eat the most and still don’t share with your sister. You even have the nerve to call her a money pit. If you keep acting like this, we’re not going to play with you anymore. Right, Little Douzi?”

Little Douzi nodded. “Yeah! And you can’t have any of my picture books or the pastries my mom makes. And nothing from Brother Dandan, either!”

Seeing their united front, Little Ming had no choice but to surrender. “Okay, okay! I’ll share with her next time, and I won’t bully her anymore. You’ll still play with me, right?”

The two boys nodded. “We’ll play with you if you change. Have you forgotten? The three of us, plus Dandan—we’re the Four Heavenly Kings!”

Little Ming nodded emphatically. “I haven’t forgotten!”

The three of them linked arms and skipped ahead with light, cheerful steps.

’The Four Heavenly Kings,’ Lin Lan thought with a smile as she followed them. Seeing how they formed a united front in an instant, she wished the world of adults could be as simple as a child’s.

When they reached the gate to Lin Lan’s home, the three boys waved goodbye.

Inside the courtyard, Wangcai greeted the pair with a wagging tail. When they entered the kitchen, Lin Yuezhen already had their meal set out on the table.

After they ate, Lin Yuezhen brought the steamed pumpkin and beans over to the worktop.

Lin Lan began mashing the pumpkin for grilled flatbreads, while Lin Yuezhen worked on making bean puree and sweet bean paste.

The two of them worked without a break for over two hours to get all the goods for the afternoon prepared.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep