Stepmother Reborn: Dad, my mom hasn't hit me for three days

Zhuzhu arrived at the orchard and saw the house on the top of the mountain. She could see it from a long distance and couldn't help but praise it, "That's great. It's built on the top of the mountain so we can see it clearly."

In fact, this mountain cannot be said to be very high, it is just a dirt slope, but the advantage of being at a high point is still obvious, and you can almost see everything at a glance.

The house is also more spacious than before. Previously, the room could only accommodate a kang, but now it can accommodate furniture and a TV.

"Will the old house not be demolished?" Zhuzhu walked around and was satisfied with everything. She pointed at the house below and asked.

"No need to tear it down." Yaoyao told her, "Dad said we can put the sundries there."

Zhuzhu asked her, "Did you design this house? The pebbles outside are really interesting!"

Yaoyao felt ashamed. "It wasn't me who thought of this, it was Aunt Zhang. I originally wanted to use wood, but the contractor said that wood would rot easily, and there were so many ants in the orchard that it would rot even faster. So I gave up."

Zhuzhu suddenly realized, "This window is very big, I like it very much. And it is decorated with a wooden frame, like a small wooden house in a fairy tale. And this wall is also beautiful, white on the top and pink on the bottom."

Seeing that she liked it, Yaoyao raised her lips happily and pulled her sister to tell her, "We can also plant vines by the window. The whole window will be covered with vines. It will be very beautiful when it blooms."

Zhuzhu jumped up happily, "Mmm! It looks great!"

Unfortunately, before they could be happy for long, Li Jianguo interrupted their fantasy with a sentence, "No! Vines are likely to attract snakes! If they get into the house, it will be unsafe."

Zhuzhu and Yaoyao looked at each other in disappointment.

Yaoyao comforted Zhuzhu, "It's okay, you can put potted plants on this table, it will definitely look very beautiful."

Zhuzhu became happy again and nodded wildly, "Okay!"

The two sisters were chattering around the new house. Jilin ran to pick some fruit. After washing them, the three of them sat on the kang and ate the fruit together.

Jilin complained to Zhuzhu that Sister Yaoyao was too much. "She fell in love prematurely, and Uncle Li and Mom made a fake love letter to stop her for her own good. She actually asked Uncle Li and Mom to apologize to her in front of the whole village."

After hearing this, Zhuzhu was also filled with righteous indignation, "Sister! You are going too far. You want face, but your parents don't? Look at our village, there are so many parents, but only my parents have never beaten us, and they respect us. They take us on trips and buy us delicious food."

Yaoyao was scolded by her sister, and said in a bland voice, "I know they are doing this for my own good. But I'm afraid they will act on their own again next time."

Zhuzhu didn't quite understand, "Then next time you have a crush on someone, just don't let your grades drop, right?"

Yaoyao felt tired of talking to her, so she shut up.

Seeing that she ignored her, Zhuzhu climbed down from the kang and went to find her mother angrily.

Zhang Xiuhua bought a chicken from Aunt Wang's house and caught two fish from the fish pond in her old village, planning to cook a sumptuous meal for her family.

Zhuzhu ran over, lay directly on her back, patted her shoulders and comforted her, "Mom, I will definitely listen to you in the future."

This is so out of context that Zhang Xiuhua didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What's going on?"

Zhuzhu snorted, "Sister Yaoyao is too much. How could she let you apologize in front of the whole village? You must have been laughed at by the villagers."

Zhang Xiuhua didn't care at all, "It's okay. If you don't care about other people's opinions, life will be much easier. Mom doesn't know how to educate her children, so she uses stupid methods. Yaoyao is right to be angry."

"But you are the mother." Zhuzhu was not convinced.

Zhang Xiuhua's mother thought, "No matter how much I am her mother, I can't make decisions for her. After all, it is Yaoyao's own life."

Zhuzhu didn't quite understand. She just felt sorry for her mother. "Her behavior is so disheartening. Mom, please don't bother her anymore. She doesn't know what's good for her!"

Zhang Xiuhua didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She wasn't angry, but the girl was. She laughed along, "Okay, go play."

Seeing that her mother was not angry, Zhuzhu thought that there was nothing she could do, so she went out to play.

Ergou listened to the whole process and couldn't help but admire his godmother's generosity. He was afraid that he would never be able to cultivate the same state of mind as his godmother in his lifetime. "You are not her biological mother, why are you so open-hearted to her?" If it were him, he would probably feel heartbroken and would ignore her from then on.

Zhang Xiuhua is not a saint, but she has to fulfill her promises to others. "I agreed with your godfather that I would raise his child as my own. I am thinking from his perspective. If Jilin didn't study hard, fell in love early, and his grades dropped so quickly, I might also use this method."

"You intervened strongly for her own good. Otherwise, her grades would have dropped so quickly, and she wouldn't be where she is today." Ergou felt that Yaoyao was a little ungrateful. How could she let her godfather and godmother apologize to her in front of the whole village! It was too much.

Zhang Xiuhua was actually conflicted. If Yaoyao was her biological child and she treated her wholeheartedly, and she asked her to apologize, she might be disappointed and feel that she had raised an ungrateful child, and she would be angry. But she was not Yaoyao's biological mother, and she had no expectations of her from the beginning.

Ergou was indignant, "The villagers must have talked about it a lot."

Zhang Xiuhua doesn't care much. "I read a sentence in a book before: Every child wants to hear an apology from his parents when he grows up, and parents want to hear a thank you from their children. Actually, it's quite sad when you think about it." The book says that parents should respect their children, which is easy to say but difficult to do. Putting aside the blood relationship, who would respect someone who depends on them and can't beat them? Many parents can only treat their children as independent individuals and respect them as human beings when their children grow up and start working.

Ergou's heart seemed to be touched by something. He had heard his godmother say before that "happy families are all alike; unhappy families are each unhappy in their own way." He suddenly understood what similarity meant, which was to treat children as independent individuals, respect them, love them, but not to look down on them as elders and criticize them. Such parents are so rare!

How lucky he is to have such a person as his godmother.

After Zhang Xiuhua finished cleaning the fish, she smiled and said, "We are having this meal to celebrate Yaoyao's admission to university and the completion of the house."

Ergou came back to his senses and started laughing. He was in charge of making the fire, while Zhang Xiuhua was in charge of cooking.

After preparing four dishes and a soup, the whole family gathered together for dinner.

He took the drinks from the refrigerator. These were also goods imported from private factories. The stock was piled up in his own warehouse. It used to be a chicken farm, but after the equipment was sold, Zhang Xiuhua used it as a warehouse.

This drink is served iced and tastes refreshing.

One cup per person.

Zhang Xiuhua smiled and said, "Come on! Let's toast and congratulate Yaoyao for getting into college and becoming a doctor who saves lives in the future."

Everyone clinked their glasses together. After finishing one glass, Yaoyao filled everyone's glass again, then stood up and said to Zhang Xiuhua and Li Jianguo, "Dad, Aunt Zhang, thank you for saving me."

Ji Lin muttered, "You still have some conscience!"

Zhu Zhu snorted, "You still know how to apologize?!"

Zhang Xiuhua tried to smooth things over, "You're too polite, kid. What's there to be thankful for?!"

She pulled Yaoyao to sit down, but Yaoyao refused. "I know my grades dropped in my freshman year and I made you worry. You made that fake love letter for my own good. But the love letter you made up made me have sweet dreams for two whole years. When I found out it was fake, I was really angry, so I asked you to apologize in front of the whole village. I thought I would feel better, but when the whole village gossiped about you, I felt very uncomfortable."

She pursed her lips, tears welling up in her eyes. "In fact, I just took advantage of your love and pampering to vent my anger on you. Rather than saying that I am angry with you, I am actually angry with myself. It's my own fault! Dad... Mom! I'm sorry!"

Why did Yaoyao never cause trouble to Aunt Zhang since she was a child? Because she knew that she was not Zhang Xiuhua's biological child. She liked to follow Baolin and do the same things as her because this way she would not be targeted by her stepmother. Even if Aunt Zhang wanted to criticize her, she could not find an excuse. She was even more afraid that her father would be like Ergou's father and treat her son as an enemy after being fooled by her stepmother. When they used fake love letters to fool her, she wanted to be willful once, but she did not expect that it would cause them to be talked about.

Zhang Xiuhua opened her eyes wide. This child actually called her "Mom"! Although she never had any expectations from these three stepchildren, it felt really good when her efforts were recognized by them.

The others also opened their eyes wide, obviously not expecting Yaoyao to change her mind at this time.

Zhuzhu's heart skipped a beat. She thought Sister Yaoyao was too mean to take her mother away. She held Zhang Xiuhua's hand tightly and said, "Mom, you love me the most, right?"

Zhang Xiuhua touched her head and picked up some food for her.

Zhuzhu was instantly satisfied and smiled triumphantly.

Yaoyao was stared at by so many people, her cheeks slightly red, a little embarrassed, "Thank you for not giving up on me! I will definitely remember this lesson in the future and never let you worry about me again."

Li Jianguo sighed. He was such a face-conscious person, how could he apologize in front of so many people? He had been hiding in the orchard these days and didn't come out. Hearing that his daughter understood their difficulties, he felt that everything was worth it. He sighed, "Think twice before you act. People can't be swayed by their emotions. Just like some people will kill people when they get emotional. Dad hopes you can stay calm. As a doctor, you must learn to restrain yourself!"

Yaoyao pursed her lips and nodded.

Zhang Xiuhua smiled and tried to smooth things over, "Okay! Why are you talking about this on such a happy day? Dry your tears and eat."

As he said this, he wiped Yaoyao's tears.

The whole family had a happy meal.

Zhang Xiuhua was eating with the children, but Ergou and Li Jianguo were chatting over there, or to be more precise, they were looking at their drinks and imagining about beer.

Although the drinks are delicious, Ergou and Li Jianguo prefer beer.

Ergou felt a little sorry, "The pace of reform and opening up in our northern part is too slow. I went to Nantong to build a factory, and there were already many private factories there. Although they were small in scale, they dared to do it. I have never seen a private factory here."

"Everyone wants to be a worker in a state-owned factory," Li Jianguo said with a smile. "Our thinking is a bit conservative. We can't keep up with the development of the times."

Ergou shook his head. He felt that it was not a problem of thinking. "I don't dare to take risks. Let's not talk about other things. In terms of food, I won't lose money. Take beer for example. Now all the breweries in Northeast China are publicly owned. There is not a single private factory. If there is a private factory that produces continuously, I think sales will definitely increase."

Zhang Xiuhua glanced at him and asked, "What's the matter? You want to open a brewery again?"

Ergou gave her a thumbs up, "Godmother still understands me!"

Zhang Xiuhua laughed, "You're taking too big a step. Our instant noodles are still in the early stages, and few stores in the Northeast have our products. You'd better stick to instant noodles first. You can't bite off more than you can chew."

How come this kid starts a business like buying groceries, changing one thing every day? He is alone, where does he get so much energy?!

Ergou sighed, "Godmother is right! I'll take my time." He looked at Li Jianguo, "Godfather, I think you can open a small brewery. Isn't it more profitable than raising foxes?!"

Zhang Xiuhua felt that the child was taking things for granted. "It would cost a lot of money to buy equipment for a small brewery, and our family can't afford it."

Li Jianguo also nodded, "Yes! Not enough money!"

"I definitely can't afford new equipment. But if you have a chance in the future, you can buy a second-hand brewery." Ergou said as a matter of course.

Yaoyao felt that he was being too simplistic. "It's impossible for someone to sell a profitable brewery to my dad. If my dad takes over an unprofitable brewery, won't he still lose money?!"

This statement was logically self-consistent, and Ergou was unable to refute it. He paused and said, "It is only a matter of time before state-owned factories go bankrupt. I'll put this here! Within ten years, state-owned factories will definitely go bankrupt. You haven't been outside, so you don't know how big the gap between the two types of factories is. Take my instant noodle factory for example. Each of my production lines can produce 10,000 packs of instant noodles a day. If I want to add a production line, I can do it immediately. But they can't. Their raw materials need to be approved by the higher-ups, and they also need approval from the higher-ups if they want to buy equipment. And the staff is redundant. A factory has a security department, a safety department, a food department, etc. I can say responsibly that at least half of the people in a state-owned factory can be laid off, and it won't cause any harm to the factory. By then, Godfather can buy the state-owned factory and fire all those who don't work! Your costs will be reduced."

Zhang Xiuhua agreed with what he said, because many state-owned factories will go bankrupt in the next few years!

Ergou's words opened a door for Li Jianguo. He did make money from raising foxes every day, but it was still not enough compared to running a factory.

Ergou only needed one year to earn back a production line. If he bought the brewery, the money he made would not be as much as instant noodles, but at least it could support Yaoyao to study abroad.

In the evening, he told Zhang Xiuhua about this idea.

Zhang Xiuhua was not surprised that he wanted to start a business. After all, his sparkling eyes at the dinner table showed that he was interested. But she had something to say, "Don't think that just because Ergou can do it, you can do it too. In fact, you have a survivor bias. You haven't seen many private bosses. At most, they are Ergou, Jidong, Youcai and Guoxiang. Except for Ergou, the other three are small businesses and have never opened a factory. Opening a factory is not as easy as you think."

Li Jianguo didn't get angry, and asked her, "I know it's not easy, I don't have enough money. I don't plan to invest now. I want to wait for the breweries in several nearby counties to go bankrupt, and then I will buy them at a low price."

Zhang Xiuhua was not optimistic. "Your idea is good, but think about it, when will the state-owned factories go bankrupt?"

"When our income is not enough to cover our expenses!" Li Jianguo blurted out.

"Yes! In the final analysis, it is when the market share is very low? When is it very low? Of course, it is when private breweries have taken over the entire market and their beer cannot be sold. By then, do you have an advantage over other private factories?" Zhang Xiuhua spread her hands.

Li Jianguo was stunned by her question, "What do you mean?"

"If you want to do it, I suggest you do it early. If the state-owned factories really go bankrupt, the opportunity will be gone!" Zhang Xiuhua feels that there is a gap in the market now. They can still make a quick buck, but if the capitalists with strong funds come in, they will definitely not make any money.

Li Jianguo certainly wanted to build a factory right now, but where would the money come from? "Our family only has a little over 50,000 yuan in savings. My private savings are only a little over 30,000 yuan. Together, it's exactly 90,000 yuan. This amount is not enough to buy equipment."

Zhang Xiuhua thought for a moment, "I see the chicken farm in the village didn't make any money this year. Many families are planning to quit. They have some spare money?! Why not let them join?"

There are more than 200 households in Lijiatun. If each household contributes 1,000 yuan, they can collect more than 200,000 yuan. Adding their family's money, they can collect 300,000 yuan.

Li Jianguo was moved by what he heard, "I wonder how much the equipment will cost?"

"Shall I ask Ergou to find out for us?" Zhang Xiuhua asked tentatively.

Li Jianguo nodded, "Let him ask. If the money is not enough, let's work for a few more years and think of a solution!"

"Row!"

The next day, Zhang Xiuhua asked Ergou to help find out.

Ergou agreed immediately, "Sure. Although we don't grow much wheat here, it's no problem to just produce beer. If you want to do it, I can invest 200,000 yuan in you."

There is no more money to be made. After all, he still needs to expand the instant noodles business. It requires a lot of money.