Chapter 585: Cannot Sign Recklessly

Jiang Liangjin stayed longer at the old person's house than anywhere else in the village.

He squatted beside the kiln ruins, taking photos of those tools and shards, preparing to go back and organize a report.

Mu Youyu accompanied the child in drawing for a while; one day seeing many mosquitoes overhead, she put on her jacket, stood up, and said, "Almost done—if the weather is good tomorrow, I'll come again to teach you color mixing."

The evening before leaving the village, Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin went again to the old house, that is, the village cultural room.

Seeing them, the old man took out a pottery jar from the inner room, its lines smoother and more composed than those old objects, placed it in her embrace, and laughed, "This is for you."

Mu Youyu looked down at the pottery jar in her hand, her fingertips lightly stroking the few blue flower strokes, and said, "Thank you, Grandpa."

It was already late; villagers gradually headed back, and the village slowly grew quiet in the dimming light.

The children still didn't know this group of older brothers and sisters would leave tomorrow, waving their hands and saying they'd see each other after school tomorrow.

Early the next morning, the bus waited at the village entrance, sending Mo Yuan and the students back to C University.

Mu Youyu looked out the window at the receding village for a while, then turned her gaze to Jiang Liangjin beside her.

Over these days of contact, their group stayed at a hotel in a town thirty minutes from the village, and they also gained a better understanding of the village.

Besides the cultural room, which looked decent despite being managed by an unknown person, the rest of the village was truly backward.

The ground was pitted, making it hard for vehicles to enter; they could only reach the village entrance. The mountain signal was weak, most areas almost without internet. Scattered throughout the village were still several old earthen houses, their walls mottled, conditions rudimentary.

No one knew how the school had originally found such a place; many well-off classmates privately discussed wanting to donate funds for repairs.

Jiang Liangjin also happened to turn his head, seeing her gazing out the window in a daze, and softly asked, "What's wrong?"

Mu Youyu lowered her head, placed the pottery jar on the table in front of her, and said nothing.

Jiang Liangjin understood; his fiancée from childhood had a compassionate heart and couldn't bear to see this, so he said, "I've already contacted people to handle it."

Mu Youyu then smiled and said, "Good."

In April, the Mu Family had a happy event.

Yan Yuejiu was pregnant.

When the news spread, several elders laughed till they couldn't close their mouths; even Mu parents abroad called several times to confirm, repeatedly urging Yan Yuejiu to take good care of herself.

Yan Yuejiu herself was extremely calm; after all, after marriage they had begun preparing for pregnancy, and everything was as expected.

Mu Nian was full of springtime pride; for several days he couldn't keep the smile from his lips, rarely showing any smile even in meetings.

When a subordinate made a mistake, he no longer gave them a "guess yourself" look; instead he patted their shoulder to encourage them, which frightened several executives.

Everyone's faces showed smiles, except for one person.

Mu Xi sat on the edge of the sofa, holding a cup of icy fruit tea, not having taken a sip, nor spoken.

He felt this tea was like his heart—chilly and chilly.

Song Lujing approached holding a glass of red wine, tapped the rim against Mu Xi's cup, and said, "Hey, what's wrong with you, Xi bro? The family has happy news—why the frown?"

He was about to have a cute, soft little niece!

Mu Xi didn't even bother to give him a glance.

Newly arrived Mu Youyu saw the situation, scanned the expressions of the various elders, then came over and softly asked, "Second brother, what's wrong?"

The elders silently moved to the dining room to chat, and the living room instantly became half empty.

Hearing his precious little sister's words, Mu Xi finally lifted his eyelids, his tone full of resentment: "I was tricked by the eldest brother."

Mu Nian feigned ignorance.

Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin both had question marks.

Song Lujing's hand, still holding the cup, froze mid-air, equally bewildered: "What?"

Mu Xi set down his icy fruit tea, pinched his brow, and briefly explained the cause and effect.

Sometime at the end of June last year, Mu Nian gave him a document; he was so exhausted he didn't examine it closely, just signed it, then went upstairs to sleep.

The next day, upon waking, he vaguely felt something was off and asked a question.

Mu Nian "explained" that he was establishing a new company, independent of the Mu Clan Conglomerate, heading in a new energy direction, needing to hang a name and go through the procedure; because he was on vacation then, he had asked Mu Xi to sign on his behalf.

Mu Xi then didn't think much of it, didn't anticipate any problem, and so didn't pay further attention.

As a result, today he returned from his performance, unintentionally glanced at the document lying on the table.

He then discovered that on the Mu Clan Conglomerate's list of major shareholders, his name was listed under "Company Internal Highest Position Chairman," and he held the largest share of stock!

The effective date was from the end of June last year—there was actually no newly established company at all!!

"What do you mean?" Mu Xi confronted Mu Nian face to face.

Mu Nian was relaxed, his tone soothing: "Your name looks better there; it makes the company seem vibrant and hopeful."

Yan Yuejiu: "Really damn sneaky."

Mu Xi: "……" He now only wanted to take back his signature then.

Mu Youyu momentarily couldn't find words to respond.

Jiang Liangjin felt Mu Nian was very scheming; that time he had even asked him whether he wanted to sign, and this was clearly a plot against his own kin.

After hearing this, Song Lujing's red wine glass swayed in his hand, he let his arm drop, and his face was full of anguish.

"No way—you signed a company share transfer agreement? You didn't even look before signing? That's basically a body-selling contract!"

Mu Xi closed his eyes: "I didn't notice; I saw him hand it to me and just signed."

At that time he had thought, his older brother definitely wouldn't scheme him.

Mu Nian objected: "What child labor? Xi bao, rest assured—the board doesn't raise grass bags; you just need to make decisions."

Mu Xi didn't want to do it.

Sleep-deprived Song Yusui, hearing this, finally couldn't hold back, flipped over and sat up: "Brother Nian, you're recruiting child labor—our Xi bao is still young."

He secretly felt fortunate that Lu Yuchu was not present.

Mu Nian raised his head from beside Yan Yuejiu: "He's nineteen; in two months he'll be twenty—time to get some practice."

Mu Xi: "I've practiced."

Mu Nian: "Not practiced enough yet."

Song LuXiao stood aside, regretting, "How did I not think of that?"

If someone had handed him a copy while Song Lujing was playing games, wouldn't he have been free?

Silent Mu Xi had nothing to say.

This tells him he can't just sign casually; also, older brother really has a lot of tricks.

Mu Youyu listened around, found no one truly comforting the second older brother, so she spoke up to speak up for him: "Older brother, how can you be like this? Too terrible!"

Jiang Liangjin: "Exactly."

Mu Nian first glanced sideways at Jiang Liangjin, then turned to his sister, still with leisure to educate her, speaking gently: "Dear, remember not to sign randomly, okay?"

Mu Xin stood up, pulled his sister to his side, then turned to Mu Xi: "Are you going to report him?"

？

"Xinbao?" Mu Nian tried to use the nickname to restore their familial affection.

Yan Yuejiu laughed softly as a spectator.

Mu Xi saw his brother wasn't joking, half of his frustration eased: "Considering your sister-in-law's pregnancy, I'll work for a while."

Mu Nian, seeing the situation was good, immediately stopped, smiling: "I knew Xinbao was the most sensible, unwilling to let your sister-in-law go without care."

Mu Xi: "Ugh."