Chapter 440 Have you grown up? (Subscribe for monthly tickets)
After breaking up with Ji Ling, Zhang Yunqi took Xiao Xiao back to his old house to sleep.

The old house was renovated two years ago, and the walls and the house were painted white, neat and clean. There are two trees in the yard, one is a jujube tree, and the other is also a jujube tree.

When the village's stock cooperative was first established, his yard was temporarily used as the cooperative's office for a period of time. Later, the village built its own office next to the village committee, and his father happened to come to work at Huafeng Agriculture in Yunxi Village and usually lived here.

Xiaoxiao just graduated from the third grade of elementary school this year. She looks quirky and has a mischievous personality. The little girl was very crazy when she was playing today. Now it’s time to go home. She is too tired to walk even a step. Zhang Yunqi carried her on his back and said, "Will you remember this time when you grow up?"

Xiao Xiao lay on Zhang Yunqi's back, shaking her head like a rattle: "I don't remember, I don't remember." Then, she smiled sweetly and said: "But I will remember my second brother."

Zhang Yunqi laughed.

Home was not far away. The little girl had a good sleep quality and played around for a while. After a few words, she fell asleep on his back.

His father, Old Man Zhang, was lying on a rocking chair in the courtyard, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan to cool off. When he saw Zhang Yunqi coming in, he stood up and said, "Third brother, you're back."

Zhang Yunqi nodded: "It's so late, Dad, why aren't you asleep yet?"

Old man Zhang took Xiaoxiao into his arms, sat on the doorstep, and wiped the dirty mud off his daughter's fair face with his rough hands: "I have nothing to do, so I want to chat with you."

Zhang Yunqi nodded, reached out and patted the dust on the door edge, and sat on it. He was usually busy, and his father spent most of his time in Yunxi Village, returning to Jiangchuan once a month, so the father and son rarely had the opportunity to sit down and chat.

Zhang Yunqi said, "You want to talk about building a villa in the village, right?"

Old man Zhang sighed: "You see everything clearly."

"Seeing it clearly is one thing, and whether your approach can satisfy everyone is another." Zhang Yunqi smiled, and seeing his father holding a pipe in his hand, he grabbed a handful of Yunxi Village tobacco from it and rolled a cigarette stick with cut newspaper, but he couldn't roll it well after several attempts.

When Old Man Zhang saw this, he took the pipe of tobacco, rolled one in a few seconds and handed it to him: "In this case, you should satisfy them."

Zhang Yunqi took a puff of his dry tobacco stick, but he hadn't smoked for a long time, so he was not used to it. He coughed twice: "Yunxi Village is not what it used to be. The impact is too great. We need to stay on the right path."

Old man Zhang said, "What you said makes sense, but there is no need to make it so serious tonight and embarrass the uncles and aunts in the village. If your words fall into the ears of others, it will seem that these village cadres are messing around with donations and apportioning money, and are not doing practical work. You should know that this unified villa project is the largest project in our village, with a construction cost of 600 million yuan! It is really groundbreaking! Who among the people in your hometown doesn't miss your kindness? There is no need to make some trivial matters so innocent."

"This is a rural area, and it has its own rules of operation. Your uncle Haijun understands you. You talked about them in front of so many people, saying that for the development of the village, they, the cadres, need to improve their vision. Isn't this talking about them in secret? Look at the other village cadres, what are their faces like?"

Zhang Yunqi didn't say anything. But not saying anything doesn't mean he completely agrees with his father's statement. His tone was a bit impolite, but the thinking of the village leaders really couldn't keep up with Yunxi's development.

Yunxi has come to the point where he is now, and in his eyes, there are golden opportunities to make money everywhere. The leaders in the village do not think about how to revitalize and utilize the resources to strengthen the village's collective economy. They even collect donations to build a villa, which will cause gossip. Their vision is really narrow.

What happened tonight made him realize that it was necessary to set up another village-run enterprise under the village collective system, put Yunxi's assets and resources into it, invite professional managers to operate it independently, and let the village collective be a shareholder. In other words, it would be a hands-off manager who would collect money without doing anything. In this way, it could, to a certain extent, prevent the short-sightedness of the villagers from affecting Yunxi's development.

When Zhang Yunqi was thinking about this, Old Man Zhang sighed and said, "Now, the rumors are that the hometown of the richest man in Jiangchuan is going to build villas for everyone, and that the richest man in Jiangchuan is leading his hometown people to get rid of poverty and become rich. Dad knows that you are a rational person and don't care about these empty tricks. But you know, when the villagers heard that you were coming, they came to me and asked if they could arrange for you to have a meal at their home. The old people in your hometown regard it as the greatest honor to invite a 'big shot' like you to their home for a meal."

Zhang Yunqi said: "Please thank them for me."

"I know." Old man Zhang put out his pipe under his foot. "Of course, what I said are all small matters. They are over. The uncles and aunts in the village will not blame you. It's just that your personality has changed in recent years. You have been too rational and strong. Once you make a decision, you will not listen to anyone's opinions. You have the final say in the village and Liansheng. Now, you are going to the provincial capital to study. You will be in contact with big shots on weekdays. You should be gentle and don't provoke people easily. In the future, you should look at the long-term and take care of yourself. There is nothing wrong with your family. They understand your difficulties."

Zhang Yunqi nodded: "Dad, I understand."

Having said this, the father and son were speechless.

After sitting at the gate of the courtyard for a while, even the barking of dogs in the deep part of the village stopped, and Old Man Zhang carried Xiao Xiao back into the house.

When he entered the room, he patted Zhang Yunqi on the shoulder and said, "Third brother, your mother is a miserable person and doesn't care about wealth. She is in poor health. Once she woke up in the middle of the night and told me that she dreamed about the last time you were arrested for investigation. In the future, you should not make her worry." Zhang Yunqi said nothing, lit a cigarette, and sat alone on the threshold of the courtyard that had accompanied him throughout his childhood, smoking and silently looking at the depths of Yunxi Village under the starry sky.

******
The next day, the weather was fine.

Zhang Yunqi got up early and had breakfast at Zhang Haijun's house.

Old man Zhang never cooks. At this time, he had already gone to work and was eating in the cafeteria of Huafeng Agriculture.

He still remembered some of what his father said last night. Although his father, a traditional Chinese farmer who spent his whole life digging in the fields, did not have much knowledge and ability, he had another kind of simple wisdom, another kind of philosophical profundity, and another kind of greatness in behavior.

While eating breakfast, Zhang Yunqi noticed that Ji Ling was a little listless and not in a very good mood. He took a mouthful of noodles and asked, "What's wrong with you? Didn't you get enough rest last night?"

Ji Ling glanced at him and said nothing.

Zhang Yunqi didn't know how he had offended this old lady, so he said, "Wait a minute, call your cousin and take you to Shenxian Bridge to fish."

Ji Ling said, "I need to think about it."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and continued eating his noodles.

He rarely saw Ji Ling like this, but he knew that this girl had an innate ability to forget and resist sadness, which should be the highest quality of being a human being, self-healing and self-perfection.

So, she is free.

In the afternoon, we caught crabs and small fish and shrimps in the creek below the Shenxian Bridge. The girl, wearing denim shorts and a white T-shirt, waded in the clear creek and turned over the warm stones in the sun. In her hand, she was holding the net bag that Zhang Yunqi had used to catch a lot of crabs, and she was smiling happily.

Zhang Yunqi came to Yunxi Village this time to rest, as if on vacation. It was not his turn to get involved in the affairs of the village, and he did not need to get involved in the work of Liansheng Group.

Every day he would eat some food from his hometown that he wanted to eat but couldn't usually eat, walk around the village, chat with the elders in his hometown, and play with Ji Ling and Xiao Xiao.

When we were playing, there was already a new generation of children in the village leading the way. The children always liked to pick fruits in the mountains, roast corn and sweet potatoes on the ridges of the fields, and catch fish and crabs by the river...

Now is the season for harvesting and the fragrance of fruits and vegetables.

In the ditches and hilltops on both sides of the Crescent River, the jujube trees are already full of bright red fruits, large tracts of crops are green and tinged with yellow, and some autumn crops have already been harvested in the fields.

During that period, the scene in the village was prosperous and lively. The golden grains were shoveled into the blue sky by the bare-chested farmers. The rice fell like rain and sprinkled on the bodies of the playful children. On the small paths in the mountains, the peasant women walked leisurely with their fat buttocks shaking, carrying lunch boxes on their shoulders.

In the midsummer of 1995, the melon fields were still lush green, fireflies were dancing in the evening breeze, and the deep night sky was full of stars. In this expanse of blue sky and white clouds and thick and vast land, Zhang Yunqi watched the new generation of children born in the late 80s in the village running and laughing unscrupulously. He also saw the running figures and unscrupulous laughter of him and Ji Ling.

On an evening when the sun was setting and the warm breeze was intoxicating, Zhang Yunqi sat on a haystack and asked Ji Ling: "Do you remember the candy box we buried in the small bamboo forest behind my old yard?"

Ji Ling was stunned for a moment, then smiled with her head tilted to the side, her fringe swaying in the evening breeze: "I remember it, it's been many years, we agreed to open it together when we grow up."

"Do you want to open it now?"

"But have we grown up yet?"

******
(End of this chapter)