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

Yaoyao came back, but she didn't go out to play like Jidong or Youcai. Instead, she stayed in the house all day, reading books with Jilin and Tong Shuyu.

Zhuzhu felt that her sister was boring and complained to her mother, "Sister Yaoyao is just a nerd. She only knows how to study all day. Isn't she tired?"

Zhang Xiuhua knows how hard it is for medical students. "She wants to be a doctor, so she has to memorize all the knowledge. If a patient comes to her for treatment and she can't even remember the cause of the disease, the patient will doubt her medical skills."

Zhuzhu thought so too. But this way, she would be alone in this family.

"Sister Baolin won't be back this year." Zhuzhu could only watch TV and didn't know if she could see her game.

In fact, there was no such thing before the New Year, because foreign competitions are not broadcast live. They have to be filmed and edited before they can be broadcast.

On New Year's Day, the whole family sits together at the table to eat the New Year's Eve dinner.

The meal was prepared by Youcai and Zhang Xiuhua. It was delicious and tasty. Even though there were two less people, it was no less deserted than usual this year.

Several children surrounded Jidong and asked him to talk about the United States.

"I heard that the United States is very developed, with tall buildings everywhere. Is that true?"

Jidong nodded, "Yes! There are indeed more high-rise buildings than in our country. And those high-rise buildings have a history of 200 years, which is equivalent to the existence during the Qing Dynasty."

Several children exclaimed.

They are curious about foreign countries, especially now that many magazines are bragging about how good foreign countries are and they want to learn from them.

Zhuzhu read in the newspaper a few days ago that an official was shot for embezzling more than 100 million yuan. She asked, "Is there no corruption and bribery in the United States?"

This is not to say that Zhuzhu is ignorant, but with the injection of foreign capital and heavy media publicity, the Chinese people have an unprecedented low self-esteem.

Jidong smiled and said, "Yes, there is no corruption or bribery."

Before anyone else could open their eyes, he added, "That's not called corruption or bribery. They are legally accepting money."

Everyone, including Li Jianguo, stared at him with wide eyes, "What do you mean?"

Jidong explained to them, "In our country, corruption and bribery means taking money to do things. It is considered corruption if you take money directly, and it is also considered corruption if you take money indirectly. But it is different abroad. Let me give you an example. I gave money to a certain governor and asked him to help me with something. But in order to avoid being found out, I arranged a position for his wife in my company and let her receive a fixed salary every month. Here, this is called corruption and bribery. In the United States, it is legal. Even if you take it to court, it will be useless because the law does not support it."

Everyone's eyes widened. Isn't drawing a salary without doing any work the lowest level of corruption?

Youcai was more direct, "The filter was shattered all over the floor. Isn't this corruption?"

Everyone nodded. If this isn't corruption, then what is?

"In addition to providing for your family, you can also get a position for yourself. For example, if I am an official and I help you accomplish something, you reserve a position for me on the board of directors. Officials from the United States can concurrently serve as company directors. This is not illegal." Jidong spread his hands.

Li Jianguo felt that this country would be ruined sooner or later. "After these officials took office, wouldn't they only care about making profits for themselves?"

"Yes. We don't have to think too highly of them. Where there are people, there are gangs. Corruption and bribery are caused by greed. No country in the world can avoid it. The key is to continue to fight against corruption." Jidong summarized to them, "The accountability efforts abroad are not strong. And generally, they rarely hold people accountable."

Jidong's words stirred up waves in the children's hearts. They also pulled down the holy land in their hearts, and realized that the United States was just like this.

New Year's Eve passed uneventfully.

If there was anything to be happy about, it was that Li Jianguo had been running around for several days and had finally managed to get a hold of a leader who had a say through various connections.

Li Jianguo said happily, "On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, I will bring some things to your house and establish a good relationship first. It will be convenient for us to do business later."

"Isn't this bribery?" Zhang Xiuhua felt that this was not good.

"It's not something expensive." Li Jianguo certainly didn't dare to give anything too expensive at first. He was also afraid of spoiling these people's appetites. "I'll just buy some cigarettes, alcohol and snacks."

Zhang Xiuhua sighed and then ignored him.

It was on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year that Zhuzhu discovered Baolin's competition on TV.

Although it was edited, it was her latest match and the whole family gathered in the main room to watch her compete.

"Baolin is the champion again this time, right?" Jidong had never seen her championship match before, so he was looking forward to witnessing her wonderful moments.

"She should. She skates very fast." Zhang Xiuhua was really happy for Baolin.

Zhuzhu said, "In ice skating competitions, you have to compete for the track together. If you are not careful, you may be pushed out. Sister Baolin's advantage is not that big. If you want to win, you have to be very careful."

A gunshot was heard, and they all stared at the athletes on the track trying their best to catch up in front of the TV.

Everyone was very skilled and skated very fast. Almost in the blink of an eye, someone changed their formation. The competition was also very fierce. The people watching were very nervous, fearing that Baolin would be pushed out by others. They secretly prayed that she would run faster and not slip.

Round, round, round again...

The whistle blew and everyone started sprinting. In the spotlight, Baolin was the first to reach the finish line, then slid over to high-five his coach.

There was warm applause from the audience, wave after wave.

"Huh? Isn't that my second brother?" Zhuzhu has sharp eyes and quickly spotted a familiar figure.

Yaoyao didn't read today, and she also ran over to watch TV. How could she miss Baolin's wonderful game? Almost as soon as Zhuzhu found out, she caught a glimpse of the figures in the audience, and another camera was directed to the audience. Others also saw it.

"Ah! It's really Ergou!" Zhang Xiuhua was very confused. "Didn't he go to another city to discuss cooperation? Why did he go abroad?"

Jidong laughed and said, "During the Chinese New Year, officials also need to rest, so no one would receive him. I thought it was strange before."

Youcai clapped his hands and remembered something, "Did he go abroad to get a production line? The production line for his brewery was bought from Germany."

"This short track speed skating championship is held in Sydney, Australia. Maybe that place also produces wine?" Zhang Xiuhua was not sure.

"I heard that they are rich in wine. Maybe beer too." Youcai said uncertainly, "But this guy is really cunning. He actually went to watch Baolin's competition without telling us."

Zhang Xiuhua felt something was wrong. Ergou wanted to watch Baolin's game, so why lie? Could it be that the two of them had some ulterior motive?

She put the matter aside and turned to ask Youcai, "When are you going to study abroad?"

"Don't worry, school starts in September. It's still in time for me to go there in August." Youcai said with a smile.

"Do you know English?" Although many students have been learning English since junior high school, they only learn dumb English and cannot communicate with foreigners. Youcai's English is very average, and Zhang Xiuhua is worried that he will not be able to communicate when he goes there.

Youcai shook his head and said, "I went to study in France and studied French."

Jidong patted him on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. "That's amazing. You can actually speak French. French is much more difficult than English."

Youcai waved his hand, "It's okay! I can only communicate simply now."

"When did you learn French? How come I didn't know about it?" Zhuzhu felt that her elder brother had changed after getting married and he never told his family anything.

Youcai smiled and said, "I haven't learned it systematically. I just practice more often like Aunt Zhang. I wanted to learn Western cuisine before, so I practiced a few sentences from time to time. Now I can only communicate briefly."

Jidong looked at Zhang Xiuhua and said, "Aunt, Youcai takes you as a role model."

Zhang Xiuhua patted Youcai on the shoulder and said, "You don't have a good communication environment in the capital. Once you get there, your French will improve quickly."

Youcai nodded.

After the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the children returned to their respective posts one after another. Zhang Xiuhua also had to go back to work.

Li Jianguo told Zhang Xiuhua that he was going to devote all his efforts to obtaining various certificates for the brewery, so he was not going to raise foxes this year and would sell all the animals.

Zhang Xiuhua asked him, "After you sell it, what are you going to do?"

"I grow fruit trees. I planted many branches before the New Year, and I will transplant all these branches to other places later." Li Jianguo feels that this will not hinder his ability to make money.

The orchard is seasonal, and Cheng Duo only keeps an eye on it during the ripening period. At other times, he just needs to take care of it.

Zhang Xiuhua saw that he had made up his mind, so she didn't try to stop him. "Then tell Ergou that we don't keep foxes anymore. Let him go to other places to collect fox fur."

"it is good!"

Li Jianguo agreed readily, but in fact he couldn't find Ergou at all. He called Ergou's factory, but he was not there. He said he was out of town.

Zhang Xiuhua went to work, and when she arrived in the capital, she heard from Jidong that Xiangxiang was ready to auction the mall's operating rights. She set the rent at 10 yuan, signed a -year contract, and the rent increased by % every year.

Zhang Xiuhua didn't understand this. "Based on your knowledge, can she take it down?"

Jidong was not optimistic, "This kind of project is not her turn."

Zhang Xiuhua patted his shoulder and said, "Then you should comfort her more and don't let her be too sad. There's nothing wrong with us facing reality."

Sure enough, when Zhang Xiuhua came back the next time, she learned from Jidong that Xiangxiang had not won the auction rights. But what made Jidong angry was that "the person who won the operating rights only had to pay 20,000 yuan in rent every year."

Zhang Xiuhua should be angry, but she is not. This is because such things are common in this era. This is not a specialty of her hometown, but can be found all over the country.

Zhang Xiuhua was afraid that Jidong would make a big fuss, so she comforted him instead, "Forget it, we didn't have any hope from the beginning. The result is out, let's just accept the reality."

She asked, "Where's Xiangxiang? What did she say?"

"She wants to look at other malls." But Jidong is not optimistic. "If they fail to get this mall, will they be able to get the next one?"

He was a little anxious. "Xiangxiang has worked really hard for this mall. I don't want her to fail. Do you think I should help her get it?"

"Didn't she ask you not to help?" Zhang Xiuhua thought he should not act on his own. "Wait until she asks you to help, then do it. Women hate men meddling in their affairs the most."

Xiangxiang is not the heroine in a sweet romance novel. If Jidong really did that, she would not be moved. Instead, she would feel that Jidong does not believe in her ability.

Jidong could only suppress his annoyance and said, "Okay then."