Chapter 87: The reborn of paranoid boss cannon fodder wife
Chapter 87: He Wants Bai Lu
After more than a week of explosive sales through three channels, the chestnuts purchased from grandparents and Wang Cuihua's family, totaling nearly three thousand kilograms, were finally sold out.
Xiao Cheng was going to replenish his stock in Xiao Family Village.
Early in the morning, after finishing a bowl of wontons, Bai Lu and Xiao Wei accompanied Xiao Cheng to the door, reminding him to be safe on the road.
"Don't drive too fast. The mountain roads are steep, with gravel and muddy paths, and no guardrails. Pay attention to the road conditions. The morning fog is heavy; if you can't see the road ahead clearly, drive slowly. Safety is the most important..."
Bai Lu, for some reason, had become verbose. It was just a matter of going to the countryside to collect chestnuts, not a long journey that required a lengthy admonition.
But she kept on talking.
After the last word, Xiao Cheng lightly rubbed her head with his large hand, leaving warmth in his palm.
Then he turned and left.
Xiao Wei also went to school with a small backpack.
Bai Lu returned home, poured the remaining hundred kilograms of chestnuts into the pot in batches, plugged in the electric power, watched the sand and chestnuts rolling around, added sugar syrup at the right time, and fried fifty kilograms in each batch.
After frying, she turned off the power, poured everything out, and separated the sand and chestnuts with a large slotted spoon, putting the chestnuts into a large bamboo basket.
When Wang Cuihua, Aunt Wu, and Yu Fugui arrived, all the chestnuts were already fried and ready to be sold.
This time, Xiao Cheng went to Xiao Guofu's house to collect chestnuts.
Xiao Guofu also wanted to raise piglets. The wild piglets on the mountain were too cunning and hard to catch. He wanted Xiao Cheng to help him buy some from Zhu Family Village but was hesitant to ask directly.
In the end, it was Li Hongying who spoke up. She had mentioned it to Bai Lu when they went to the riverside to pick snails that afternoon.
Bai Lu agreed at that time.
When Xiao Cheng returned, Bai Lu mentioned something about "aunt," "sister-in-law," "cousin," and even added names; he didn't know who was who.
He could only go to Zhu Family Village, pull a cart of piglets, and exchange them for chestnuts, expressing gratitude to Li Hongying.
The village head's family had a large population, and they had stored a lot of chestnuts, nearly ten thousand kilograms. Xiao Cheng had to make three trips to transport them all.
After loading the cart for the third time, instead of leaving immediately, Xiao Cheng went to visit a relative's house that he had never contacted before.
The son of his grandfather's elder brother, Xiao Zhigang's cousin, and the third uncle - Xiao Hongbo's house.
Xiao Hongbo's wife had been anxiously waiting outside, hoping that Xiao Cheng would quickly finish loading the chestnuts and leave.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Cheng suddenly came in this direction.
Xiao Hongbo's wife hurriedly went back to report, and Xiao Hongbo, who had been uneasy sitting inside, had to go out to meet him.
"Xiao Cheng is here. Come in quickly, sit down. It's been so many years; Uncle almost didn't recognize you."
He had only seen Xiao Cheng once before, during the Qingming Festival a while ago. Besides that, he had never seen him before.
Although their tone was familiar, like long-lost nephews, they didn't have much to talk about. It was all pleasantries.
Xiao Cheng didn't say much either. He took out a yellowed piece of parchment from his pocket and placed it on the table.
"Grandpa's mountain, it's time to return it."
Xiao Hongbo's face changed. What he had been expecting had finally happened, and the anxious feeling in his heart couldn't be dispelled.
The parchment was proof of land ownership.
Before Xiao Cheng's grandfather and grandmother moved to the new town, during the land reform, they were allocated an entire hill. The hill was covered with Chinese fir trees planted during the production team's time. At that time, these Chinese fir trees were not valuable, and there were few people who could make furniture from them.
Later, the lumber mill bought them for a few cents per cubic meter. The mill owner said Chinese fir couldn't be used to make good furniture. They cut them into long blocks and sold them as firewood to people in the city.
At that time, Xiao Cheng's grandparents were doing a small business in town, and they didn't lack the meager money they could get from selling those Chinese fir trees.
So, they didn't sell them and let the Chinese fir trees grow freely.
After the family moved to town, the hill was handed over to Xiao Hongbo to manage, and he could plant other things but was forbidden from cutting down the Chinese fir trees, as per the instructions left by Xiao Cheng's grandfather.
Under the Chinese fir trees, he planted shade-loving plants such as ginger, lily, and star anise. Even though the purchase price was low, after several decades, Xiao Hongbo didn't make much money, but it was enough for their basic needs.
During Qingming Festival, when Xiao Cheng returned to pay respects to his ancestors, he didn't mention this matter, and Xiao Hongbo thought that Xiao Cheng's grandfather had not given any instructions.
He felt relieved but didn't expect that Xiao Cheng would come to collect the mountain today, and he naturally couldn't bear to part with it.
However, no matter how reluctant he was, he had to return it.
Xiao Cheng was not someone easy to deal with, and Xiao Hongbo's family also had chestnuts to sell. If Xiao Cheng and Bai Lu refused to buy their chestnuts, where could he go to cry?
Li Shuixian had said before that she needed as much as they had, but so much time had passed since then. After collecting five hundred kilograms of chestnuts on the second day of Qingming Festival, they hadn't come again, and Xiao Hongbo didn't know what was going on.
The Xiao family in the city was the same. After collecting once, there was no news, and they didn't know if they still wanted the reserved chestnuts.
Xiao Hongbo sighed and, with a kind and cordial tone, spoke to Xiao Cheng, "Child, I'll return the mountain to you. For those things under the Chinese fir trees, can you give Uncle some time? After Uncle digs them all up, you can take them back. Is ten days enough? I'll invite relatives and other villagers to help. In ten days, we can dig up everything and transplant the small fruit trees. When you come back, you can cut down the Chinese fir trees or plant whatever you like. There won't be anything in the way anymore."
Xiao Hongbo didn't know if Xiao Cheng had found a new path and planned to sell the Chinese fir wood elsewhere to make money.
But Xiao Cheng's grandfather had left this hill of Chinese fir trees for a reason, anticipating the success of future generations.
He could only admire and envy.
With a ten-day deadline set, Xiao Cheng returned home.
The parchment was given to him by Xiao Wei a few days ago. Before that, Xiao Cheng didn't know that there was still a hill owned by his grandfather in Xiao Family Village.
Xiao Cheng's grandfather had passed away the year Xiao Cheng's mother left, and his grandmother also passed away that year.
At that time, Xiao Cheng was only three years old, and he had no idea who had handled the parchment.
When Xiao Wei handed the parchment to Xiao Cheng, he mentioned that it was given by his mother before her death, and he knew nothing else.
Xiao Wei didn't recognize any of the characters on the parchment when his mother passed away. He just put it away.
A few days ago, when sorting through old clothes, Xiao Cheng finally found it at the bottom of a box. After roughly understanding it, he immediately handed it to Xiao Cheng.
Bai Lu at home sorted out the chestnuts brought back by Xiao Cheng, cleared the firewood shed, made room for another batch of chestnuts.
After finishing the work, she was about to go to the main house to pour a glass of water when a knock on the door sounded. Thinking it was Xiao Cheng returning, she eagerly ran to open the door.
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