The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 48 Conversation

(I'm too lazy to split it into two chapters, so just read them as two separate chapters. Also, I'll only be online on certain days when I upload new chapters; I'll be offline at other times. I don't have many drafts saved up, so if any of you have update tickets, please don't bother voting; it won't help me update... If there are no unforeseen circumstances, I can still guarantee stable updates.)

Once the apartment was chosen, the burly young men from the moving company got to work, helping to carry things upstairs. Luckily, there was an elevator in the building; otherwise, climbing seven flights of stairs would have been exhausting.

After working until 3 p.m., everything was finally tidied up. Xue Hua and her daughter Wei Qingqing went to the kitchen to cook. It's customary to light the stove on the first day of moving.

So far, only three apartments have been sold on the entire seventh floor. At 2 PM, Sun Fangfang and Zhang Yang went to work, and Zhao Fen took her grandson away. Only Yang Ming and his three companions remained on the seventh floor, making it quite quiet. You could hear a pin drop in the hallway.

"Yang Ming, I heard from your mother that you and Qingqing are going on a destination wedding. Have you decided where to go?" Wei Jianguo sat on the sofa, drinking tea and talking with Yang Ming.

"Qingqing said she wanted to go to QHD, I don't really care." Yang Ming held the teacup, feeling the warmth of the tea.

"QHD is a good place, it's even in our province." Wei Jianguo nodded. "Where have you been these days? I only heard from Fangfang that you went to the countryside, what were you doing there?"

"Well...we bought a country villa in Yunggu County and have been living there a lot. It's quite interesting." Now that the house is all renovated, telling my father-in-law about living in the countryside won't make him unhappy.

"A country villa?" Wei Jianguo raised an eyebrow. "That makes sense. Nowadays, city dwellers are tired of reinforced concrete and car exhaust. They all want to find a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters to live a peaceful life."

"You only understand this because I bought two houses, right? If I were just a poor guy and I took your daughter to the countryside, you'd probably fight me to the death, wouldn't you?" Yang Ming muttered to himself, but said aloud, "Yes, the air there is nice, but there are a lot of rats."

"So what if there are a lot of mice? Our Mimi is the best at catching mice. Anyway, we don't need her now that we live in an apartment building. You can take her back with you when you go back..." Wei Jianguo said, "By the way, where's Mimi?"

"Oh, it's in my car outside. We were planning to take it with us when we left," Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Are you not staying here tonight?" Wei Jianguo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We're not staying here. Today is the 20th, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is the day after tomorrow. We plan to bring my parents over tomorrow," Yang Ming said.

"Oh, I see! To be honest, we've never actually met your parents; we've only communicated with them by phone," Wei Jianguo said.

"During the Mid-Autumn Festival, I have to give gifts to relatives and friends. I'm going back to my hometown tomorrow, so I'll send all the gifts over," Yang Ming said.

"Oh!" Wei Jianguo nodded, feeling slightly dissatisfied. Why didn't you bring us anything today? But then he thought, they've already given us a house, what more could you want? Thinking too much would be too greedy. But a small gift carries great meaning, and it's more comfortable to receive those small gifts. Receiving such a big house feels unreal.

Actually, Wei Jianguo and Xue Hua never intended to own this house. They moved in only so that their daughter and son-in-law could support them in their old age. The house, in essence, still belonged to Yang Ming. Of course, even if the household registration was transferred to the Wei family, what would happen after the couple passed away? They only had one daughter in their lives, so wouldn't the house still belong to Yang Ming?

Seeing his father-in-law's displeased expression, Yang Ming knew what he was thinking and said with a smile, "We originally planned to bring you and Mom something today, but our apples are all crisp, and I know you like noodles, so we didn't bring any..."

"Why are you bringing this up again, you little rascal?" Wei Jianguo blushed, recalling the scene when he made things difficult for his son-in-law, and found it quite funny. He couldn't help but glare at his son-in-law.

"Hehe, I'll bring you two big fish tomorrow. The fish sold at the country market tastes completely different from the fish in the vegetable market," Yang Ming said with a smile.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Tell me about your country villa." Wei Jianguo changed the subject. If they continued, it would just look like he was relentlessly demanding gifts from his son-in-law.

"Our country villa was just three small bungalows with two large fenced yards in the front and back. There were two side rooms in the front yard, and the back yard had a toilet, a well, and we kept more than twenty dogs..."

"It's good to keep dogs. They can guard the house. Many people in the countryside don't know the law. In some things, dogs are more useful than people..." Upon hearing that there were more than twenty dogs in the house, Wei Jianguo nodded in satisfaction. More dogs meant that the safety was more guaranteed.

"Dogs are more useful than people? Does that mean I'm useless?" Yang Ming was quite annoyed, but he still nodded and continued, "I raised a pair of pigeons, the kind that can do somersaults..."

"I've heard about that... One of my colleagues likes pigeons. We were chatting in the office when he told me that he spent eight hundred yuan on a pair of somersaulting pigeons, the kind that can do several somersaults in a row. We even scolded him for wasting his time on such a hobby... I said, Yang Ming, I know you have money, but you can't just spend it recklessly, can you? Spending several hundred yuan on a pair of ornamental pigeons, isn't that a bit wasteful? With that money, you could donate it to Project Hope..." As Wei Jianguo spoke, he began to lecture Yang Ming.

"Teachers just love to scold people..." Yang Ming thought to himself, feeling frustrated. He quickly added, "It didn't cost several hundred yuan, just eighty yuan. We bought it at the market."

"Eighty yuan? You're not kidding me?" Wei Jianguo's eyes widened.

"Of course, if you don't believe me, you can ask Qingqing. She's the one who bought it back then," Yang Ming quickly replied.

"Now that you mention it, I believe you. Qingqing never spends money recklessly, but this tenfold price difference is definitely a business opportunity..."

"Alright, Dad, our pair of pigeons have just hatched a pair of chicks. If you'd like, we can get them for you once they leave the nest. They're not very big; you can just put them in a cage on the balcony," Yang Ming said.

"This... works too..." Wei Jianguo thought for a long time. He felt that his wife controlled his salary. When he went out for a walk, his pockets were emptier than his face. He couldn't even afford a bottle of water when he was thirsty. This situation was quite embarrassing, so he finally nodded.

Wei Jianguo is a teacher with a formal teaching position. According to national regulations, he is not allowed to engage in business. However, if raising a couple of pigeons can be both enjoyable and profitable, he will do it.

A man whose salary is tightly controlled by his wife finally came up with the idea of ​​making money on his own.

"Go on, what else do you have there?" Wei Jianguo urged.

"We also raise some chickens, ducks, and geese, and we even have a budgie, the kind that can talk..."

"Oh? A parrot can talk? I heard there are hundreds of talking parrots..."

"I only paid three hundred, and that was their cost price!"

"Cost price?" Wei Jianguo asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It was at cost price. The parrot seller was an expert at trimming the parrots' tongues, so they didn't charge for labor. They just sold the parrot to me at the price of a regular parrot."

Why should someone sell to you at cost price when you're not related by blood or marriage?

"Hehe, because I bought a cat that day."

"A cat?" Wei Jianguo was even more confused.

"That's right. There's a saying in the bird market of Yunggu County: Old Liu's parrots are the best talkers, Old Huang's yellow birds are the best whistlers, and Old Li's cats only eat caged birds."

"Oh, the cat you bought, the one that eats birds, right? They're grateful you bought the jinx, so they're charging you cost price?" Wei Jianguo realized.

"I guess that's why."

"Go on," Wei Jianguo said, his interest piqued.

"What else?" Yang Ming pondered. "Then there are rats..."

"Rats? You keep rats? Guinea pigs, perhaps?"

"No, it was a house mouse, the kind that's all grayish. Yesterday afternoon, we were squatting in front of the pigeon coop watching the baby pigeons when Qingqing said, 'Let's hope the mice don't carry them away tonight.' That's when things went wrong..."

"Why did Qingqing say that?" Wei Jianguo asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Generally, when raising pigeons, you can't bring mice around when you have baby pigeons, otherwise the baby pigeons will be snatched away by mice at night..." Yang Ming explained.

"This is too far-fetched, isn't it? It's like that mouse can understand human speech."

"I also find it strange, but it really happened. At night, we had just fallen asleep when we heard a series of thumping sounds outside, followed by barking dogs and meowing cats. When we went out to check, good heavens, the room was full of rats. This morning, I counted them, and there were five or six hundred of them."

"Is the little pigeon alright?" Wei Jianguo was worried. Those were wild pigeons, which sold for eight hundred yuan a pair in the city. If they had been eaten by rats, it would be a terrible injustice.

"It's alright, those two little guys aren't even scratched," Yang Ming said.

"That's good...otherwise it would be such a waste..." Wei Jianguo said.

"Behind our house, we also leased two mountains, and we discovered hot springs there, so we opened a hot spring pool..."

"Oh? You've leased the whole mountain and even discovered a hot spring? Hot springs are great; soaking in them regularly is good for your health." Wei Jianguo nodded. "By the way, is your mountain a public or private one?"

"What is a public mountain and a private mountain?" This time it was Yang Ming's turn to be puzzled.

"Public mountains belong to the public and cannot be contracted out by local authorities. Even if they are contracted out, it has no legal effect. Private mountains belong to the local authorities and can be contracted out to private individuals at their discretion."

"I don't know that, but I heard that those two mountains are the foothills of the Taihang Mountains."

"That's Gongshan. Who did you sign that contract with?"

"And the village..."

"Your contract is useless; you need to sign one with the provincial government!"

"What should I do? I've been keeping this for seventy years."

"If no one causes you any trouble, you can just take the contract. After all, there are plenty of people who clear land without permission. But if someone deliberately sabotages you, you'll have to swallow the loss. However, you can get another contract from the province. If you have connections in the province, seeing that you've invested a lot of money, it wouldn't be a big deal to give you the contract. Luckily, those two mountains are just spurs. If they were the main spurs... the province wouldn't have that authority," Wei Jianguo advised Yang Ming.

"It seems I really need to take this seriously." Yang Ming frowned, nodded, and made a mental note of it.

After finishing their meal, everyone chatted for a while. It was already 5:30 pm when Yang Ming and Wei Qingqing drove back to Zhengjia Village together.

Little Bao spent the whole day working in the fields. Of course, he wasn't breaking corn cobs with his mother; instead, he was catching grasshoppers everywhere. The little guy was quite skilled, and by the time it was getting dark, he had caught a long string of them. He counted them and found a hundred and a few more, which was quite enough. Only then did he happily go home with his mother.

"Bao'er, why did you catch so many grasshoppers today?" Aunt Liu asked, dragging her tired body as she cooked by the stove.

"Aunt Qingqing wants it. Aunt Qingqing said that if I can catch a hundred grasshoppers before they come back today, she will buy me a learning machine." Xiao Bao'er lay on the octagonal table, counting over and over again, afraid of miscounting.

"One hundred and five, you've counted them ten times already. Soak them in salt water, and Mom will stir-fry them for you. Your Aunt Qingqing was just joking with you, and you actually believed her?" Aunt Liu said.

"Aunt Qingqing would never lie to me." Little Bao'er puffed out her cheeks and rolled her eyes at her mother.

"Alright, alright, count all you want." Aunt Liu genuinely believed that Wei Qingqing would buy her daughter a learning machine, but she didn't quite believe they would be back tonight. They were city people, and staying in the mountain village was just for novelty. It was almost Mid-Autumn Festival, and who wouldn't want to spend it with their family? Running back and forth for a little kid, wouldn't they be tired? But these two were really something, how could they lie to a child? Of course, Aunt Liu didn't know that her daughter had sat outside Yang Ming's house all night. The little one was afraid her mother would scold her, so she didn't dare to tell anyone when she got home.

As darkness fell, the meal was served. It was very simple: two bowls of thin porridge, a plate of salted radish strips, and three large white steamed buns.

"Stop counting, wash your hands and eat..." Aunt Liu set out the chopsticks.

"Mommy, why haven't Uncle and Auntie come back yet? Is she really lying to me?" Little Bao'er pouted, looking sullen.

"Don't worry, your aunt and uncle will definitely buy you a learning machine. However, they also want to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with your parents. They will come back after the Mid-Autumn Festival." Aunt Liu picked up a piece of radish strip, put it in her bowl and ate it with her porridge. Her daughter likes learning machines, so she'll buy them. She'll give them the money when they come back. Although the family isn't well-off, they still have a few hundred yuan.

"Uncle and auntie lied too..." Little Bao'er sat down on the stool with a droopy face and ate his meal in silence.

Aunt Liu glanced at her daughter and shook her head slightly. She was too tired today and didn't have the energy to talk to her daughter.

"Ah... it's Uncle and Auntie back! I knew Uncle and Auntie wouldn't lie to me..." Suddenly, Xiao Bao jumped up happily and ran outside. Halfway there, he seemed to remember something and ran back to pick up a bunch of grasshoppers from the table, leaving Aunt Liu stunned.

Only after her daughter had disappeared from sight did Aunt Liu hear the sound of the car. The dogs in Yang Ming's yard also started barking. She couldn't help but shake her head and chuckle, "That little devil, her ears are sharper than a dog's." She got up and walked into the house. But now, she really admired Yang Ming and his wife.

"Uncle and Auntie, look, I caught a hundred grasshoppers..." When the delivery truck stopped at the gate of Yang Ming's house, Xiao Bao'er ran over excitedly with a string of grasshoppers in her hand.

The puppies also ran out of the yard, jumping and frolicking around the delivery truck.

The car door opened, and Wei Qingqing got out. "There really are a hundred of them? You're not lying to Auntie, are you?"

"No, no, it's a hundred, five extra..."

"I meant one hundred, not one hundred and five..." Wei Qingqing smiled mischievously.

"Aunt Qingqing is trying to renege on her promise, that's not good behavior. We even made a pinky promise!" Xiao Bao'er immediately became anxious.

"You're just teasing her..." Yang Ming got out of the car, slapped Wei Qingqing on the bottom, bent down, and handed a plastic bag to Xiao Bao'er. "Xiao Bao'er, look what this is?"

"It's a learning machine..." Xiao Bao'er pulled the contents of the plastic bag out and couldn't help but laugh.

"You bad man, what are you doing in front of a child?" Wei Qingqing, blushing, glared at Yang Ming after being groped on the buttocks, and squatted down: "Since Bao'er caught a hundred grasshoppers, then your uncle and aunt will keep their word and reward you with this learning machine..."

"Thank you, Uncle and Aunt..." Little Bao'er happily kissed each of them on the cheek.

"You're welcome, you deserve it." Wei Qingqing kissed the little guy on the cheek.

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