Although the noodle shop now has a dedicated person in charge of purchasing, Feng Zhanchang still drives there after dropping Mei Qiuping and Feng Yuxuan off at the shop in the morning and gives it a quick look around. He just feels more at ease there for some reason.
In the morning farmers' market, apart from the vegetable sellers, all the people who come are big buyers like him. A familiar seller greeted him as he was busy, "Boss Feng, why are you here in person again today?'
Feng Zhenchang squatted down and picked up a small green vegetable to look at it, "This vegetable is good, it's quite tender,'
'Of course, it was just harvested from the field yesterday afternoon.'
The employee in charge of purchasing had already bought what needed to be bought and called out to him from over there, 'Boss Feng!'
When they passed the wholesale fruit market, Feng Zhenchang went in and picked out two apples. It was cheaper to buy them here than from the fruit stalls outside. Feng Yiping had told him to smoke less and eat more fruit. Although Feng Zhenchang acted like he didn't care, he took it to heart.
The two cars drove to the warehouse one after the other, the vegetables were divided into the two cars, then they were loaded into the cars, sorted into categories, and loaded with oil and various spices, before being delivered to each store separately.
At noon, he would wait at the store on Xueyuan Road. After everyone's persuasion, Mei Qiuping finally agreed that every day at noon, after the store was busy, she would go home to eat and take a nap on the way.
Now Feng Zhenchang is not the same as he used to be. Mei Qiuping, after standing for a morning, goes home and watches TV on the sofa, while he skillfully cooks in the kitchen. In no time at all, there is a dish of hot and sour shredded potatoes, a dish of braised tofu, a stir-fry of vegetables, and finally the soup, which is made with chicken stock from the restaurant and golden needle mushrooms.
They can't help but feel old. They now like softer rice, and Feng Yiping likes the kind that is a bit harder, which they can't bring themselves to eat now.
The old married couple don't have much to say during meals. At the end, while drinking the soup, Feng Zhenzhang said to Mei Qiuping, 'I think Yu Xuan is right. Let's rent a bigger house and take some people from the restaurant. We can make the wheat cakes and sticky rice chicken there first and then deliver them to each restaurant. The restaurants only need to heat them up. We can also wash the daily groceries in advance and deliver them to the restaurants as ready-to-cook vegetables. This way, the restaurants will save time and manpower. What do you think?'
'I think that's fine,' they can still do it without a comprehensive analysis requiring specific data.
'That's good, then you'll be in charge of this area, and you won't have to stay in the store all day like you do now, and you'll be able to go out and about when we're both free.'
'What's the point? It's all more or less the same.' They hadn't just arrived in the provincial capital, and they didn't feel dizzy when they saw the tall buildings.
'This is their filial piety. Besides, do you think we've lived in the mountains for decades and there's nothing to see there? Did you see the photo of the maple leaves that Yiping brought back last time? It's beautiful!'
'It is beautiful,' said Mei Qiuping. Now that they've been in the city for a long time, they like those natural things again.
'Yiping is right. Now we don't have to work hard to make money. It's most important that we enjoy the good life and live a few more years,'
'You're an old fart who's almost ready to retire, but I'm still young,' Feng Zhenchang is exactly one year older than Mei Qiuping.
'Am I old?' Feng Zhenchang feigns anger. Indeed, although his hair has turned grey, he doesn't really look old.
'No, you'll probably look like this when you're 70 or 80.' As it turned out, this was exactly how he looked.
'The road to the village will be open by the end of the year, and I expect many people will rush to build buildings next year. We'll have to build one too, it's not good to always ask others to do things for us. Next month, the two factories in town will also start production, we'll have to help keep an eye on things, won't we? That way, we can live in the village for a while and in the city for a while, wouldn't that be great!'
Mei Qiuping took this to heart. Her two sons had a major stake in the two factories in town, which together were worth millions. She really had to keep an eye on things. Although the city did seem to have everything the old hometown had, she couldn't help but think about her old home from time to time when she was free. She could no longer recall the feeling of worrying about a few dollars. The hard times of the past were quite warm and fuzzy when she thought about them now.
'Suit yourself. Besides, someone like you is not going to be a member of the county's Political Consultative Conference next year, right? You'll have to go to the county to show off a bit. Don't think I don't know what's on your mind.'
That's true. To be honest, Feng Zhenchang still doesn't really understand the responsibilities of a member of the Political Consultative Conference. He just knows that for a farmer, it's quite an honour.
For someone like him, this is particularly meaningful. You have to know that when he was a child, he was denounced along with his parents and called a black-five-category scum.
'That's good. Yiping said that a good car will be launched at the end of the year. We'll buy one and drive it directly to our doorstep in style.'
'What car? Isn't it in style for you to drive back in the van you're in now? You'll still be in style if you walk back now. I think it's better to buy a few more houses.'
In the past two years, there have been few new branches, so they have a lot of money in their hands. In addition to buying a storefront, they also bought two houses, one for each of their son and daughter, to prepare for their future weddings.
'That's fine. Yiping said it's called something, a villa, right? We should go take a look sometime,'
Mei Qiuping kept nagging while washing the dishes, 'The others are all fine, but Yuxuan, she's a young woman of 22 or 23 this year, and she still hasn't settled down. I think she's getting high-maintenance now, and that's really a problem.'
'What's the problem? There are so many new college graduates in several companies, it's not hard to find one for her,' Feng Zhenchang finished washing the dishes Mei Qiuping had washed, wiped them clean and put them on the rack.
Mei Qiuping shook her head, 'I don't think it's a good idea. These college students these days are all arrogant. Which one of them hasn't had a few relationships in college and would look down on Yu Xuan, who didn't even graduate from junior high school?'
'So what if she didn't graduate from junior high school? Is she any worse than they are? Besides, isn't Yu Xuan going to take a refresher course now?' This is also a sore point for Feng Zhenchang and the others. At the time, they really had no choice but to let their underage daughter go out to work.
'You,' Mei Qiuping gave him a cold stare, 'as the old saying goes, marry your daughter into a good family, and marry your wife into a bad family. We don't expect Yu Xuan to rely on her in-laws in the future, but we can't let her find someone with other intentions. I think we should go back to the countryside and pick one out. Those who are honest and hardworking, even if the family is average, it's fine, as long as they are good to Yu Xuan. In terms of the noodle shop, it's not easy to support a family now, right?'
Feng Zhenchang doesn't think about these things as much as Mei Qiuping does. He just knows one thing: 'Do you think that's what Yuxuan is looking for now?
'Sigh!' Mei Qiuping sighed, hoping that her daughter would listen to her and find an honest and hardworking family in the countryside. It seems that it is still unrealistic now. 'If everyone is as worry-free as Yiping, that would be great!'
'I don't think Yiping is easy to worry about. When he was in junior high school, he got into a big fight over a girl. Fortunately, they separated and never got back together. I think there will definitely be more of these kinds of things in the future,' Feng Zhenchang said.
'So what? He's good at attracting girls!' Her son is her greatest pride, and Mei Qiuping cannot stand anyone badmouthing her son, including Feng Zhenchang.
They have no idea that Feng Yiping has been struggling with this personal matter.