Chapter 676 - 584: The Old Home’s New Look
Chapter 676: Chapter 584: The Old Home’s New Look
In August, a stream of good news reached Xiao Man: Lin Liuping, the village belle, and Xiao Zhao had a baby girl; her friends from Gongdao Village got into their dream schools—Guan Ailan to Zhongnan Political and Legal University and Mo Linghui to G Province Normal University; and Mo Shuixia graduated from the Provincial Sports Specialized School this year and was assigned a job as a PE teacher at the county’s No. 1 Middle School.
As for Tang Qingyun, he had gone to East Sea Qing City two months prior. Xiao Man didn’t know his specific position and had no interest in finding out.
She was quite busy herself these days, juggling Cultivation, her studies, the hospital, daily chores, and her love life. (Even though Gu Shaojun wasn’t nearby, just thinking about him and waiting for his calls took a lot of time and energy, and he even demanded she write him a letter every week—no fewer than three pages...) All told, she really had no free time. Yet, Yang Liu’er, out of the goodness of her heart, kept trying to drag her along to seize money-making opportunities. She’d say it was like seeing money lying on the ground; it would be a waste not to pick it up. And even though the Gu and Tang families were powerful, influential, and didn’t lack for money, why not make some for yourself if you could? Just think of it as earning some extra spending money. After all, you can never have too much.
Of course, Xiao Man wouldn’t argue with Yang Liu’er; she had a point. Living in Beijing in the 1980s, as long as you had start-up capital, there were more opportunities than you could count to quietly make a fortune.
Take Yang Liu’er, for example. The clothing company she started with Lu Jianling had gotten a head start, expanding to a considerable scale within a few years. Business was booming, and RMB was flying in like a blizzard—it was unstoppable. Instead of depositing her share of the profits in a bank, she used it to buy property. She bought up a number of houses and courtyard homes in various city districts, as well as some buildings and land on the outskirts. She also took the opportunity to share some of her "ideas" with Lu Jianguo. In his past life, Lu Jianguo had built a massive financial conglomerate, so his business acumen and guts were certainly extraordinary. His current focus was on road and bridge construction, but Yang Liu’er’s "ideas" gave him great inspiration, and he too began to take action.
Xiao Man knew, of course, that if you seized the opportunity and prepared well, you could make a killing in five or six years without doing anything else. But she definitely didn’t have the time or energy to handle the hassle of real estate. Still, at Yang Liu’er’s strong urging, she bought several houses and courtyard homes. When she told her family, Tang Qingshan and Hao Wenli, both being quick-witted people, understood immediately. Not only did they support Xiao Man, but they also started looking into buying more vacant properties and land themselves. Remembering that Gu Shaozhen would get into real estate in the future, Xiao Man mentioned it to him as well, planning to hand all her properties over for him to manage eventually. She and Gu Shaojun didn’t have high standards; after they married, they just needed a home. It didn’t have to be huge or luxurious, just big enough to live in. Of course, the atmosphere was important—it absolutely had to be quiet, elegant, warm, and peaceful.
After seeing the Gongsun Clan’s mountain of gold, silver, and jewels, Xiao Man was no longer particularly moved by material wealth. It wasn’t that she was so noble as to scorn money, nor was it that she had claimed that fortune for herself. It was probably just a psychological effect.
In fact, having been reborn, she knew it would have been no problem for her to create and accumulate more than enough wealth, even without the Treasure Pearl Space, just by relying on the experience from her past life.
Gu Shaojun had said it was better for that fortune to be in their hands than to be left with the Gongsun Clan. It didn’t necessarily have to be handed over to the state or distributed to the public, because while revealing it would be easy, the many problems that would follow would be impossible to explain clearly to the public.
It was better to act as if it didn’t exist, keeping it hidden in the shadows, and only releasing some of it when necessary.
As for the precious cultural relics and antiques—like the ancient bronze ware, porcelain, silk paintings, calligraphy, and ancient books—Grandpa Gu and Grandpa Tang unanimously agreed after inspecting them that these items should be handed over to the state. They were just waiting to devise a good method for the artifacts to surface one by one, so they could be placed in the national museum for people to study and understand the mysterious and ancient civilization of Xia Hua.
Winter break started not long after New Year’s Day, and Xiao Man packed her things to return to Gongdao Village. Tang Qingshan had just been transferred to a new post, and with the Lunar New Year approaching, he was so busy they barely saw him from morning till night, so naturally, he couldn’t go with her. Zheng Shaolian couldn’t go either, and Grandma Tang was even more tied up. The house needed all sorts of preparations for the new year, and besides, Grandpa Tang needed her around.
Gu Shaoqin had long since decided he would accompany Xiao Man back to the countryside. To prevent Gu Shaoying from following him, he packed his bags and moved directly into the Tang Mansion, just waiting for Xiao Man to get ready so they could leave immediately.
Hao Wenli watched as the two toddlers each grabbed one of Xiao Man’s pant legs as if they knew their big sister was about to leave home. They tilted their little heads back and babbled anxiously, "AAH! AAH! AAH!" Hao Wenli’s own heart stirred with longing. ’Oh, how I miss the plump, tender, and delicious beef, lamb, chicken, duck, and goose from Gongdao Village! Even though we often get to eat the air-dried duck and cured chicken that Grandpa and Grandma mail us, how can dried goods possibly compare to fresh meat? If only Grandpa and Grandma Tang would let me take the kids and go with Manman to the countryside for a few days. I could eat my fill and satisfy my cravings. Qingshan probably wouldn’t object.’
When Grandma Tang saw her eldest daughter-in-law giving her a silly grin, she immediately guessed what was on her mind. She shot her a reproachful glance. ’What a wild idea. The children are so young; how could we possibly let them take a long trip? Especially on a military plane, just to go faster. It’s so noisy and shaky. How could the little babies stand it?’
She walked over, and she and her daughter-in-law each picked up one of the toddlers. Smiling at Xiao Man, she said, "Look, your little brothers already can’t bear to see you go. I’m afraid they’ll have another crying spell tonight when they can’t find you. You’d better make it a quick trip, Big Sister. Don’t make your brothers miss you for too long."
"Mhm, Big Sister will be back very soon. I’ll bring you yummy treats. You two be good now, okay!"
Xiao Man gave each of the little guys a kiss, coaxing smiles out of them. However, when it was finally time to get in the car and leave, she still had to be sneaky about it to avoid making them cry.
Although Xinghua and Da Zhi had described it in their letters and mentioned it on the phone, when Xiao Man returned to Gongdao Village and saw how the old house had been completely transformed, she still couldn’t help but marvel at the change.
Tang Qingshan had drawn the blueprints, Grandpa had been willing to spend money on high-quality materials, and the lot was spacious. The resulting four-story building was quite distinctive—with its elegant and grand design, it was a bona fide luxury country villa. Even in another twenty or thirty years, when rural houses and villas would be popping up like mushrooms after a rain, this building, with a little renovation, would still be eye-catching and one-of-a-kind. Unless, of course, people started copying the style—then all bets were off.
The sturdy, high stone wall along the road had been left untouched. It was covered in a thick layer of climbing ivy planted by Qiuyan. The wooden courtyard gate had been replaced with a wrought-iron one. Stepping into the courtyard, it felt much more spacious than before. This was because the side buildings had been demolished, and the new house was set back another three or four meters from the original foundation. As a result, the large pear tree in the yard seemed much smaller. It was probably also because it was winter and the tree had lost most of its leaves.