Chapter 323: Chapter 322

The eldest uncle doesn’t particularly like these pickled things, but the eldest aunt does. She steamed two trays of large steamed buns and ate them with the crab paste, savoring every bite. She consumed a half-kilo steamed bun.

Ling Chengyan was also at home, and she liked these pickled things too. However, crabs are considered cold in nature, and she was well-educated since childhood, so she only ate a little and stopped. She only let Xiao Xing and Shi Tou taste a bit and didn’t allow them to eat much.

Seeing the eldest aunt enjoying her meal, she didn’t stop her but took out a jar of old wine, sliced plenty of ginger, added some brown sugar, warmed it up, and handed it to the eldest aunt: “Have some warm wine to dispel the cold.”

The eldest aunt glanced again at the plate of crab paste, and eventually couldn’t bear to refuse the goodwill of her niece-in-law. She accepted the wine and sipped it slowly.

As she drank, she laughed, “I still plan to grind some rice flour for New Year’s cake this afternoon. If I get tipsy, how can I go?”

Ling Chengyan chuckled, “I’ll grind the rice flour for you; it’s pure hand-made stone-milled, even tastier than machine-made.”

In the compound, there’s an old stone mill of unknown years. After the special training team moved in, chef Da Liu took a liking to it. Occasionally, he would use it to grind soy milk and make tofu. Additionally, they found a ’punishment’ method for Ling Chengyan and others. Running ten or twenty kilometers is too routine for the special training team’s members and not very effective anymore. However, pushing the millstone can’t be rushed or stopped, making it a good way to temper one’s character.

Hmm, I wonder which unlucky guy from the special training team will be the mill donkey this afternoon.

On the day before the lunar month began, as Ling Chengyan just stepped out the door, she bumped into Liu San with his cart parked by the roadside. Ling Chengyan nodded, and Liu San followed on his bike, reporting the situation in Huicheng to her.

The matter with the Ling Family’s eldest brother involves the so-called ’sufferer’s’ younger brother, who was just extraordinarily recruited as a contract worker in the district dyeing factory.

As for the position of the eldest brother of the Ling Family, shortly after his resignation, it was filled by a certain director’s brother-in-law, a military transfer arrangement. Reportedly, he doesn’t even have a driver’s license and is learning on the job but hasn’t passed the test yet.

Judging by the situation, you can basically deduce who pulled the strings.

However, Ling Chengyan still needs reliable evidence: “We can’t rely solely on our speculations; we need solid evidence.”

For such matters, she doesn’t want to get directly involved, nor does she want Liu San and the others to resort to those indecent methods again. She prefers to follow the proper procedures, which require solid evidence. Once they take action, they must ensure the other party cannot recover from it.

Her eldest and second brothers want to start their own business, which is one thing. Being forced to resign, they must seek an explanation.

The Ling Family’s tradition has always been that they don’t provoke others, but if provoked, they will retaliate double.

When they reached a less crowded area, Liu San pulled a large envelope from his pocket and handed it to Ling Chengyan. She nodded, bid farewell to Liu San, and returned home.

After dinner, the children did their homework, Wang Liansheng accompanied the two elders watching TV, and Ling Chengyan went into the room to examine the contents of the envelope.

Upon inspection, there was quite a lot of stuff, including account books, receipts, and numerous photos. Among them, there were several photos of that director entering and leaving karaoke bars, even small video rooms, and two photos of him holding women. In one photo, the director, who was in his thirties but already bald, had his hand inside a woman’s skirt…

Ha!

Ling Chengyan threw down the photos and turned to look at the account books and receipts. As she perused them, a hint of appreciation appeared on her face: Liu San and his group indeed have some skills. She really wondered how they got hold of these things.

The account book was kept by the director’s wife, resembling a household cash flow ledger. Most family ledgers record trivial and complicated expenses, like rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea. However, this ’lady’s’ ledger had more entries under income, such as this house gave a few dozen kilograms of meat, and that house gave twenty kilograms of shrimp… Yet, this lady was quite ingenious, labeling each family, like Li Wenyou who gave twenty kilograms of peanut oil, labeled as ’grain and oil.’

And this director wasn’t particularly high-ranking but was responsible for logistics and procurement. What this ’grain and oil’ referred to was obvious, surely a grain and oil supplier or someone aspiring for this position.

Of course, in Ling Chengyan’s estimation, this Li Wenyou was too petty and probably gained nothing.

Because this lady’s ledger not only recorded goods but also had records of those who gave money, appliance vouchers, gold rings, and gold necklaces… Twenty kilograms of peanut oil truly weren’t impressive.

Wang Liansheng brought in a cup of tea, poked his head from behind his wife to look at what she was holding, and uttered a soft “Eh”: “You keeping notes?”

Ling Chengyan turned her head and chuckled at him, “Someone else got gold rings, earrings, and necklaces. Have you ever received any?”

Wang Liansheng raised an eyebrow, “Do you want some?”

Ling Chengyan turned back, poking his chest with her finger, “In your job, you often need to ask for favors rather than receiving gifts!”

Wang Liansheng put on a serious face, solemnly saying, “If my lady desires, I will find a way to transfer to a cushy position with benefits.”

Ling Chengyan picked up the teacup but burst into laughter before taking a sip, “Don’t push me out before doing anything.”

Wang Liansheng also laughed, walked over, wrapped his arms around his wife’s shoulders, pressed his cheek against hers affectionately, and whispered, “Saying this made me realize how much I owe you.”

Unlike other wives who love beautiful clothes and gold and silver jewelry, his wife doesn’t care for adornments but favors armed gear, and he carelessly overlooked it. How improper!

Ling Chengyan put down the teacup, patted his hand in amusement, and reassured him, “All the household money is with me; I buy whatever I want.”

“That’s not the same,” Wang Liansheng said, burying his face into his wife’s neck and nuzzling her.

“Ah, you…” Ling Chengyan said laughingly and helplessly, thinking of pushing him away, but ended up caressing him instead.

The man’s hair was thick and firm, slightly stiff, but felt nice in her palm, reminding her of Da Huang… heh heh.

Wang Liansheng didn’t know what was on her mind but followed his thoughts and mumbled, “I’ll be good to you.”

“Hmm?… Hmm!” Ling Chengyan responded, unable to suppress a smile.

Entering the lunar month, the construction of the eldest cousin’s project was paused, the elder sister-in-law stayed in Huicheng with the kids for school, and the elder brother first returned to their hometown to tidy up and clean the old house. After living in it for a couple of days, he dried out the dampness from long unoccupation, then set off for the provincial capital to bring the two elders home for the New Year.

With this delay, the children’s final exams were also over.

The eldest brother waved cheerfully, “Let the kids come along too, go home to play and relax for a couple of days.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep