Chapter 358: The Wife's Warning

Hu Qingwan's interjection interrupted the conversation between Chen Yang and Lin Jianye. The matter of investing in New An County was also temporarily put on hold.

At the New Year's Eve dinner, Old Master Lin, as head of the family, gave some remarks about the past year, focusing on praising his younger son Lin Jianye's career and his daughter-in-law Chu Linlang's virtue and propriety. This made the eldest son Lin Jianguo and his family very unhappy.

After the meal, Hu Qingwan, citing that Du Yue'e was resting her pregnancy, called Lin Feng and his wife and Lin Wei back early. Chen Yang had originally planned to go home with Lin Wei, but just as he stood up, Old Master Lin called him to stop.

"Husband, if Grandfather lets you go invest in New An County, you must not agree." After Lin Wei left, she quickly sent Chen Yang a warning text.

In order to avoid becoming bureau chief on New Year's Eve, Chen Yang sat silently aside while Old Master Lin, Lin Jianguo, and Lin Jianye talked.

While Chu Linlang took her son Lin Junjie and Lin Xiaomi to the living room to watch the Spring Festival Gala, he simply prepared to go over and pass the time.

However, just as he stood up, Old Master Lin called him to stop.

Chen Yang, tell us your New Year's plans.

"My New Year's plan is to have a son with Lin Wei to continue the Chen family lineage." Having received Lin Wei's warning, Chen Yang guessed Old Master Lin definitely wanted him to invest in New An County, so he deliberately shifted the topic to human reproduction.

"You are at the golden age for expanding your careers; how can you be indulged in love and children?" Old Master Lin was dissatisfied with Chen Yang's answer, and immediately, in his capacity as family elder, ordered: "Put off having children for two years; once your careers are stable, having as many as you like is fine."

Chen Yang did not quite agree with Old Master Lin's view.

"Grandfather, I now have a house, a car, and a wife; my company's business is steadily rising, and as long as I don't squander the bank savings, I won't spend it all in this lifetime. The only regret is that I haven't been able to continue the Chen family lineage. Why don't you persuade Lin Wei to quit that secretary job and stay home to prepare for pregnancy?"

"Nonsense, Lin Wei is at a crucial juncture in entering officialdom; how could she abandon it halfway?" Seeing Chen Yang constantly talk about continuing the lineage, Old Master Lin became very angry.

Chen Yang deliberately showed a dejected expression and said to Old Master Lin: "Grandfather, if you don't let Lin Wei bear me a son, then I really have no plans for this year."

Old Master Lin was a bit annoyed. His original intention was to have Chen Yang increase investment in New An County to help Lin Jianye's business advance further. He hadn't expected Chen Yang to keep insisting on having a son. In anger, he also couldn't be bothered to maintain the senior's dignity and directly laid his cards on the table with Chen Yang.

"Chen Yang, you did well last year; this year you should press on and expand your scale further. New An County has your second uncle overseeing the overall situation—investing there will definitely help your business reach the next level."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Jianguo and Lin Jianye reacted differently. The former directly took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it for himself, and took a deep drag. The latter looked at Chen Yang with a smile.

Chen Yang knew that refusing would certainly displease Old Master Lin and Lin Jianye, while agreeing would upset his father-in-law more. So he said to Old Master Lin and Lin Jianye: "Grandfather, if the business of the Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company develops toward New An County, it will certainly be strongly promoted."

Old Master Lin was dissatisfied with Chen Yang's answer and directly said: "Your second uncle is at a crucial stage of career advancement; if you help him now, will he mistreat you in the future?"

Chen Yang said: "Grandfather, given your second uncle's ability and connections, even if I don't contribute, he'll still rise. In my past investments, if I made a big profit, people would surely think he was using his position for personal gain. If word got out among the uninformed public, how would you have him explain it to others?"

Old Master Lin snorted coldly: "You walk the right path and sit upright; what is there to fear?"

Chen Yang said: "Grandfather, don't you remember? When I opened a shop at Twin Grove Market last time, wasn't there someone who reported my father for using his position for personal gain?"

Upon hearing this, Old Master Lin fell silent.

Chen Yang added: "My father only oversees political and legal affairs, yet that already invites trouble throughout the city. Your second uncle, however, controls an entire county's economic power—if I went there to invest heavily, people would inevitably gossip."

Lin Jianye immediately said: "Chen Yang, go ahead and invest with confidence; I personally can withstand the Party's examination."

Seeing that Lin Jianye seemed not to have given up, Chen Yang took a deep breath and spoke sincerely: "Second uncle, we all trust you greatly, believing you can certainly withstand the Party and organization's examinations. But others may not necessarily think so."

"Public opinion is fearsome! If your political rivals seize on my investing in New An County and keep pressing the issue, filing petty reports with the province, then even if the higher-ups finally investigate and uncover the truth, they might still, out of concern for negative repercussions, temporarily shelve your promotion path! Have you considered this consequence?"

At this point, how could Lin Jianye possibly still not understand Chen Yang's meaning? He curiously asked: "How old are you, kid, and you've never worked in a government agency—how is your mind full of devious schemes?"

As for officialdom matters, Chen Yang learned them only from television—though they were future TV dramas, making it impossible to explain to the Lin father and son—so he found an excuse, saying: "When I was bored in college, I read some officialdom novels and learned from the books."

"Novels are pure fiction—how could you take them seriously!" Lin Jianye shook his head and laughed. However, he also did not continue discussing the New An County investment with Chen Yang.

Old Master Lin had originally advocated for Chen Yang to invest in New An County, but now he too fell silent.

To avoid an awkward atmosphere, Chen Yang then said to Lin Jianye: "Second uncle, although I cannot directly invest, I can establish a close cooperative relationship with New An County's agricultural products base. This year, many agricultural counties in Dongjiangsheng have seen serious agricultural product backlog issues; New An County should be similar, right? If we cooperate with our company, the impact of this problem can definitely be greatly reduced."

Lin Jianye immediately regained his interest. He sighed and said to Chen Yang: "Your words hit the mark. No matter how well an agricultural project is done, if it can't be sold it's wasted, and it could even become a major burden for the county. If it weren't for the overwhelming workload in the county, I would have already come to you for guidance."

Chen Yang laughed: "Second uncle, coming to me for guidance would be useless. Company affairs are handled by the lower-level management. At most I'd just put up some money and give them a general development direction. If I were to personally handle sales, I'd probably not even measure up to the lowest-ranking staff."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jianye couldn't help bursting into loud laughter.