Chapter 164 - 164 Chapter 163, Heart to Heart
164 Chapter 163, Heart to Heart
At this moment, Li Lei was standing at the door of Meng Xiaoning’s house. He said to Meng Xiaoning, “You can go in.”
Meng Xiaoning nodded, a little hesitant
“Thank you for the clothes and the movie. How about I treat you to a meal next weekend?” Meng Xiaoning asked tentatively.
When Li Lei heard that, he nodded readily, “Okay, then we’ll meet at the market entrance at 10 a.m. next weekend.
Meng Xiaoning heaved a sigh of relief and happily went home.
When Meng Xiaoning returned home, Li Lei raised his wrist to take a look. It was already 7:30 pm.
He hesitated for a moment but still headed home.
Even if he were to return to his Big Sister’s place, he would have to go home first thing in the morning. There was no point in staying there for a night.
Moreover, if he went to his Big Sister’s place, he would be interrogated.
He did not want to be interrogated by Big Sis.
When he got home, the small shop was still open. Li Lei gave Li Xu a call.
If he did not say anything, Big Sis would definitely be worried.
Li Xu, still bitterly waiting for Li Lei to go back and ask what was going on, was completely dumbfounded when she received the call, “You went back? Then how about you and Xiaoning? Did you have a good chat today?”
Li Lei said, “It’s okay, we have an appointment to have lunch together next weekend. I’ll come over next Saturday morning!”
“Really? What’s Xiaoning’s attitude?” Li Xu was a little excited when she heard that.
Li Lei did not want to say anymore. He just said, “Alright, Sis, the phone bill is too expensive. I won’t talk to you anymore, goodbye.”
As he said that, he directly hung up the phone.
“Hey, don’t hang up yet…” Li Xu shouted slowly but did not manage to stop Li Lei.
Looking at the phone hung up, Li Xu shook her head helplessly and put down the phone.
“Xiao Lei is the same…”
Zhang Kun watched from the side. He advised her in a low voice, “It’s good to know that they have a chance, don’t ask too much. Xiao Lei is almost 30 years old, don’t always control him. If it were you, would you be willing to tell your parents everything about the process of dating? You have to learn to put yourself in their shoes!”
Li Xu listened to Zhang Kun’s words and did not say anything for a long time.
She then let out a sigh after a long time, “You’re right, I’m worried too much. Xiao Lei is five years younger than me. When he was young, our parents were busy and had to go to the fields to work every day. Xiao Lei grew up on my back. Later, he became a soldier and left for eight years. In my heart, he was still a child who didn’t understand the world’s ways. I was afraid that he would do something wrong!”
“But in reality, Li Lei is almost 30 years old. He’s already a mature adult.
“He has his judgment. Other people shouldn’t influence his decision.
“It’s good that you’ve thought it through. You’re so tired after worrying so much. Why bother?” Zhang Kun said with a smile. He then turned to talk about other things with Li Xu, “By the way, the owner of the house across from your house has returned. He asked me to go and complete the formalities another day. I’ll renovate it properly before the new year, and I’ll be able to live there after the New Year.”
Li Xu was quite happy to hear that.
“Do you have enough money on hand? If not…”
Before Li Xu could finish her words, Zhang Kun interrupted her, “Not really. I borrowed some from my brother and sister. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Although the house price had dropped, it did not drop by much. He was still a thousand yuan short of the money on hand, so he borrowed 500 Yuan from his brother and sister.
“It’s not easy for your brother and sister either. Go and pay them back some other day. I have money here. You can use it first,” Li Xu said in a low voice.
When she went to his home at that time, she could tell that Zhang Kun’s brother and sister’s living conditions were average.
Especially his sister. She was so young, and her hands were like old tree bark. It was obvious that she had done a lot of work at home.
A thousand Yuan was half a month’s income for her, but her brother and sister could only earn this money in half a year.
“We’re not even married yet, and you can’t wait to give me your money? If I were a bad person, wouldn’t it be easy for me to swindle some money from you?” Zhang Kun teased.
When Li Xu heard this, her expression was a little awkward, and her face was a bit red, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
She naturally knew that Zhang Kun wasn’t that kind of person, so she took the initiative to offer to lend him money.
“Alright, it’s not that much anyway. I’ll return it to them when I get paid. Don’t worry. They’re my own siblings, will I make things difficult for them?” Zhang Kun said, “You can keep your money yourself. Business here is good, and when we save up, we can open a branch.”
Li Xu nodded, “I have the same plan.”
“Oh right, have you ever thought about this signboard of ours? It’s very easy for people to imitate it. “If they hang a brand that’s exactly the same as ours, who knows if it’s our branch? If they manage it well, it won’t affect us too much. At most, we’ll just split some business out. But if they don’t manage it well and play some tricks, it’ll directly affect our reputation!”
Li Xu nodded thoughtfully, “Then what you mean is…”
Zhang Kun did not speak for a moment. He had been thinking about this problem for the past few days, but he had not thought of an excellent way to eliminate it.
“Mom, Uncle Zhang, we can register a trademark.” Ji Yuanyuan, who had been doing her homework at the side, heard the conversation between the two. She put the pen on the table and suggested.
“Register a trademark?” Li Xu muttered.
People in this era were not so sensitive about trademarks. Some people didn’t even know what a trademark was.
“Yeah, we design our own logo, which is our trademark. Just like the washing machine in our house. Isn’t there a picture of two naked little boys? That is a trademark.” Ji Yuanyuan explained seriously.
“After we register, if someone dares to use the same trademark as us, it would be an infringement. We can sue them in court. And with the trademark, it means we have a brand. Although we only have one shop now and it’s not very useful, it will definitely be useful in the future.”
Hearing Ji Yuanyuan’s words, Li Xu’s eyes lit up.
A moment later, she discussed with Zhang Kun, “I’ll go ask around another day.”
Zhang Kun nodded and looked at Ji Yuanyuan, “Then what we need to do now is find someone for designing a logo for us to use as our trademark, right?”
Ji Yuanyuan looked at Zhang Kun with great admiration, “Yes, many people specialize in designing this.”
Zhang Kun was a little surprised, “Yuanyuan, where did you learn all these things from?”
“From books and television.” Ji Yuanyuan lowered his head and muttered.
Li Xu and Zhang Kun looked at each other.
Ji Yuanyuan was afraid that Li Xu and Zhang Kun would continue to ask questions. She quickly yawned and said, “Mom, I’m sleepy.”
Li Xu hurriedly said, “Alright, let’s wait for Mommy to tidy up. Let’s go home and sleep!”