Chapter 728: Taken

"We're back."

"Oh my..."

"So tired, if I had another chance to choose, I'd rather be stuck in a plot block until I die..."

Xu Hongdou, Nana, and Da Mai, carrying big and small bags of things, walk into the courtyard, each takes a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and sits on the sofa, sighing and complaining.

Nana asks: "Where is Wang Laoshi?"

"Buying groceries, I guess he'll be back in a while, I'll send a message to ask him." Xu Hongdou takes out her phone, typing 'da da da', and after a while says, "Ten more minutes, says Boss Xie, Xiaochun, and Xinxin are also coming together."

As she speaks, she gives Nana a look: "Nana, hurry, tidy up, put out all the delicious food we brought back, and we'll eat when they come back."

Da Mai stands up with an 'ouch': "I was hungry long ago, I don't know how you two can shop so much. I practiced the 'Eight Brocades' taught by Wang Laoshi, my body is much better than before, but I still can't keep up with you two."

"Then you just rest well, we two will do it, there's not much work." Nana smiles and pushes her back to the sofa, "Hongdou is a manager of a big hotel, standing all day, and me, although there isn't much work in the restaurant, it's very tiring when busy, unlike you, sitting all day. Uncle and Auntie are right, you, you have to go out more."

"The work is different, the requirements are different. I think she is already very good now, after all, she didn't go out of the room before." Xu Hongdou waves her hand, "Da Mai, you stay, Nana, move, wait for Wang Laoshi and the others to come back and eat, to tell you the truth, I'm hungry too."

"I'll help too, otherwise I won't feel at ease eating." Da Mai scorns the behavior of sitting and enjoying, and gets up with an 'ouch' again, helping to tidy up the food they brought back.

The three work together, and very quickly take out a pile of delicious things they brought back, put them on the table, and take out all the bowls, chopsticks, and cups.

Chatting and laughing like this, ten minutes passed.

Just then, the sound of guitar strumming rings out, followed by Hu Youyu running to the center of the courtyard and starting to sing.

"That day in 1994, the first day you came to this world, heard the rain stopped, your dad gave you a name, called Zhou Qingtian. Day by day, you grew up..."

Listening to Hu Youyu's original song, Da Mai, who was sitting obediently at the table waiting for food, looks at Nana and Hongdou in surprise: "Singing about me? Is Hu Laoshi crazy?"

"Go out and see."

Nana pulls Da Mai out of the side room, Xu Hongdou also follows. Just after getting out, they see Wang Yan standing there smiling, with several boxes of beer at his feet, and Xie Zhiyao next to him carrying a lot of packed food, Xie Xiaochun carrying a bowl of steaming noodles, and Little Hulu using her phone watch to call her little friends to come over for a big meal.

Huang Xinxin smiles brightly, holding the birthday paper crown sent by the cake shop, and walks over to put it on Da Mai's head.

It is also at this time that Hu Youyu's singing suddenly changes into the birthday song, everyone is singing along, especially Little Hulu, who sings the most vigorously.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

Listening to the singing, Da Mai stares blankly at every smiling face in front of her, unable to help covering her mouth, shedding tears of emotion.

The birthday song is not very long, just a few sentences. After singing the song, Hu Youyu tosses the guitar on his back behind him, pulls out the party popper tucked in his waist, and fires it at Da Mai, who is surrounded by emotion and happiness and at a loss.

With a 'peng' sound, the party popper explodes, and the scattered glitter sprays out with the impact, explodes in the air, and falls slowly.

Da Mai bursts into tears: "Thank you all, really thank you, I'm too moved."

Nana comforts her, putting her arm around her shoulder: "Alright, so many good friends are celebrating your birthday, you should be happy, why are you crying?"

"I'm just happy, I can't help but want to cry. Thank you all, thank you..."

Xu Hongdou pats her back: "Everyone is a good friend, so don't thank each other. Hurry, Wang Laoshi, hurry and bring the birthday cake in to blow out the candles, sincerity will make it work, otherwise the tears will dry in a while."

Da Mai bursts into laughter, and covers her mouth to wipe her tears in embarrassment, turning to enter the house.

Wang Yan didn't need to take the cake, Huang Xinxin took it and walked in, also bringing the tag-along Little Hulu. Children like this kind of sweet food. Xie Xiaochun follows into the house with the longevity noodles, she is still a bit embarrassed, but she can't help but bring Little Hulu, it would be more troublesome if she made a scene later.

Xie Zhiyao enters the house and puts the pile of dishes he was carrying on the table, Wang Yan dismantles the beer and places it on the table, Xu Hongdou and the others are dismantling the cake and inserting candles, Little Hulu stands obediently on the side, the excitement at this time has nothing to do with her, she just wants to eat cake.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, I made you a bowl of longevity noodles, it will be lumpy in a while, not delicious." Xie Xiaochun says, "You guys too, you didn't tell us in advance that Da Mai is having a birthday. If Wang Laoshi hadn't said it, we wouldn't have known."

Nana smiles: "Xiaochun, thank you, you guys are so busy every day, this is because we were afraid of troubling you."

Today is Da Mai's birthday, she was the one who instigated it.

In the original drama, she wanted to make Da Mai more cheerful, now it's just icing on the cake.

Seeing Little Hulu waiting on the side, Nana rubs her little head: "I'll give you the biggest piece in a while."

"And Guobao and the others." Little Hulu is very loyal, thinking of her good friends who haven't come yet.

"Good good good, all have, all have, definitely can't leave them out."

Very quickly, the candles were set up. Under the gaze of a group of people, Da Mai holds her hands in front of her chest, closes her eyes and makes a wish silently, and then blows out the candles amidst the cheers of the crowd.

Everyone chatting and laughing, sitting down, Little Hulu's friend only came one, that is Guobao, Yang Guanjun's son.

Nana and Huang Xinxin cut the cake together, asking: "Da Mai, what wish did you make?"

"I won't tell you, it won't be spiritual if I say it."

Hu Youyu smiles and takes the conversation: "It's spiritual if you don't say it?"

Da Mai smiles: "Then it depends on how I say it? I say it's spiritual, then it's spiritual."

"Naughty."

Hu Youyu is stunned for a moment, smiles and points at Da Mai, then raises his glass and says, "Come, good friends, today is Da Mai's birthday, although we have already sung the song and shared the cake, I think we still need to do it again. Come, one two three..."

"Happy birthday!"

People all raise their glasses and drink a glass of wine together.

Da Mai begins to toast everyone at the table one by one, thanking everyone for celebrating her birthday so enthusiastically. She is also a person of temperament, can't be stopped, just clinking glasses, just drinking.

According to her drinking capacity, after a round with the seven people including Wang Yan and Xu Hongdou, she basically starts to get dizzy. She might be too happy, already lost in the joy, even though Nana and the others are persuading, it has no effect, still greeting people to drink.

Hu Youyu smiles: "It seems Da Mai is really happy, this wine drinking."

Just as he finished speaking, Da Mai looked over: "What? Want to drink? Come, Hu Laoshi, I toast you, bottoms up."

"Get, this can't even mention her." Hu Youyu shakes his head, but also followed and drank a glass.

"Indeed, Da Mai's change in the past month is the biggest." Xie Zhiyao praises with a smile, and drinks another glass with Da Mai, turning to look at Wang Yan, who is eating food in big mouthfuls and occasionally picking up food for Xu Hongdou, "Wang Laoshi, I toast you a glass, really, your help to our Yunmiao Village is too great. Filming promotional videos for free, running around early and late for more than a month, and investing real money in the homestay, to tell you the truth, I was worried at the time, if no one took over the homestay, it would not only delay others, but also delay our development, fortunately Wang Laoshi came out. Drink drink, let's not return until we are drunk today."

Huang Xinxin, who is eating food on the side, hears this, and also raises her glass: "Boss Xie is right, Wang Laoshi, I also toast you, I represent the Yunmiao Village Committee to thank you for your contribution to Yunmiao Village."

"Nothing, I'm just looking for a place to stay, this place has good mountains, good water, good scenery, and even better climate, staying is not bad, in the future, I still need you two to take care of me."

Wang Yan smiles and raises his glass to indicate, and drinks a glass with them.

Xu Hongdou had already been stunned before, and now she came back to her senses. Just as she was about to ask in detail what was going on, before she could speak, she heard Hu Youyu shouting: "Did I hear it right? You said Wang Laoshi has already invested in a homestay here? When did this happen? Why haven't we heard of it?"

"I'll say it, I'll say it." Seeing his words attracted people's attention, Huang Xinxin took the initiative to ask for the task, and explained, "It's like this, this morning..."

After listening to her, Hu Youyu said 'huo': "I'm not sour, I'm really envious. Wang Laoshi, you are really a big tycoon. This is another million-plus, just invest if you want. I don't mean anything else, Yunmiao Village is indeed quite good, otherwise I couldn't have stayed here for so long, but if it were me with so much money, I definitely wouldn't invest, that's really losing money. Wang Laoshi not only invests money, listening to what Xinxin said, you also know architecture, can design?"

Xu Hongdou also bumps Wang Yan with her shoulder: "Are you really going to invest?"

"Is there any fake?" Wang Yan smiles and looks at the curious crowd, "Knowing architecture is nothing strange, my grades were quite good, I can draw, I understand mechanics, it's just messing around by myself, whatever is comfortable, it's definitely not as good as those professional designers. As for the homestay, I remember saying a sentence when I came, Xinxin said it well, I filmed the promotional video for Yunmiao Village for the past month, basically understood everything, it feels not bad, quite suitable for enjoying life."

"Understood, it's just that it doesn't matter if you lose money or not, as long as you are happy, this is the realm." Hu Youyu sighs, and tilts his head to take a sip of wine full of poverty.

"What realm or not, it makes me seem detached from the masses." Wang Yan shakes his head and smiles, "I, being able to have it now is also lucky. It's just that I am relatively restrained in my desires, don't think about those messy things, otherwise, I wouldn't be so free now, maybe I'd be moving bricks somewhere. It's just that I can enjoy it here, if I went to places like Beijing and Shanghai, I wouldn't be able to mix. Hu Laoshi, you just live stream singing and making videos well, with your ability, it won't take two years to stand up."

"I don't mean anything else, come come come, Wang Laoshi, drink drink." Hu Youyu laughs, and drinks another glass with Wang Yan, turning to ask, "Why didn't that boss do it before? And delayed wages for so long?"

Huang Xinxin sighs before speaking: "It's really quite miserable, the boss is from Shenzhen..."

After listening to the sad story, the atmosphere fell into a short low tide, but everyone was drinking wine, and there was Da Mai who was already dizzy and active in the atmosphere, everyone just sighed about life and continued to drink, the atmosphere became more enthusiastic, talking about everything messy, later even singing songs, and even wanting to have a chorus, Huang Xinxin had to control the scene.

Wang Yan just sat there smiling, drinking and eating, if someone asked him to drink, he drank, if no one asked, he just wandered by himself. Hu Youyu and Xie Zhiyao, these two men, had already been drunk by him. Other female comrades also drank quite happily. Xu Hongdou didn't drink much, just two bottles of beer for half the night.

Excitement has its limits, the drinking scene must disperse. At nine o'clock, it was completely over, basically everyone was drunk, and Wang Yan and the sober Xu Hongdou consciously cleaned up the mess.

After cleaning up, the two sat on the sofa.

"Not very high interest."

Wang Yan smiles and looks at Xu Hongdou. After Huang Xinxin talked about his investment, Xu Hongdou's interest was not high, her smile was reluctant, let alone showing her gums. When the two were cleaning up, they were just chatting.

Xu Hongdou drinks water, ponders for a moment, and asks: "You invest here, do you plan to stay here in the future?"

"Because of this?" Wang Yan reaches out and pulls her into his arms.

"I don't have a job, I always have to find a job, and there is no work I can do here. And my parents are not young anymore, there are only two daughters in our family, I always have to take care of them. My sister is in Shanghai, much more powerful than me, and my brother-in-law's family conditions are also very good. So, I think I will take care of them by their side in the future..."

Xu Hongdou sighs, leaning against the man's side.

Her meaning is expressed very clearly, that is, she cannot stay here.

Wang Yan nods: "I understand your worry, it's just that you seem to have ignored a problem."

"What?"

"I still have some money."

Wang Yan continues: "I don't need to work, you don't need to work either, as long as we don't buy a house in a big city, we can live very well, it doesn't matter where we are, it's just that it's quite comfortable to stay here. Your parents are old, when we get married, we can completely pick them up to live together, or we can stay here for a few years, and then go back. You don't know, I am a person without a home, now I met you, I am very sure, you are my home."

These words still have some lethality, Xu Hongdou stares blankly at Wang Yan, and takes the initiative to seek his mouth.

After a while, Xu Hongdou pants: "I don't want to spend your money, making it seem like I'm with you for your money."

"You know you are not for money, I know you are not for money, that's enough, why care so much? We are all reasonable and normal expenses, what does it matter? If you should spend, you should spend. Otherwise, if you really go to work in a hotel, standing there all day, accompanying people with smiles, earning 20,000 or 30,000 a month, I feel bad instead, maybe I will think if you are acting there, playing hard to get?"

"Am I that kind of person in your eyes?"

"That's certainly not, it's just talking about that situation. People, once they have some money, their mentality is different. Meeting a woman, always thinking if she is for money, this is also a trouble. You don't have to look at me like this, I always have to think what if I don't have money? Not asking for sharing weal and woe, at least can't run away without money, right? What's the point of living like that? And the cost of getting married and then divorcing is very high, there must always be concerns."

"Then what about me?"

"It seems my words were all in vain, if I hadn't determined, how could I tell you these? I would only use sweet words to stabilize you first, and then eat you clean and not admit it."

Xu Hongdou blinks her large eyes and looks at Wang Yan: "Then who did you eat clean and not admit before?"

"Look, it's meaningless to say this kind of thing. My meaning is to make an analogy, but in fact, I am not that kind of person, and I have been really honest all the way. As for you, it's that you have already predetermined that I am that kind of person, so no matter how I say it, you are unhappy."

Wang Yan strokes her face: "Let's talk about happy things, this homestay, you have seen it before, I changed the building structure, wait until it is built, we will make a big floor-to-ceiling window, when we wake up in the morning, pull the curtains, what we see is wheat fields, is Cangshan. Upstairs, don't make a tile roof, but make a terrace. At night, we lie on the lounge chair on the terrace, blowing the wind from all directions, that feeling."

"I'll go see it with you tomorrow, I still have more than 200,000 in my card, shall I give it all to you? It's considered my investment, so you don't eat clean and not admit it." Xu Hongdou says sarcastically.

"Hey..." Wang Yan slaps her thigh, "I'm really angry."

"Look at you, it's meaningless to say this kind of thing, I just said it like that."

Xu Hongdou learns Wang Yan's tone just now, with a helpless look, counterattacking.

Wang Yan laughs, picks her up and sits on his lap. Xu Hongdou is caught off guard, but her hands are around Wang Yan's neck. Looking at each other, in an instant, the alluring atmosphere is born.

I am a person without a home, now I met you, I am very sure, you are my home...

The words Wang Yan said just now echo in her mind, the sincere eyes overlap with the deep eyes in front of her, her body is heating up, and she can't help but lower her head and kiss him actively.

After a long time, Wang Yan reaches out to stroke her white-and-red cheeks, feeling the panting coming to his face, the other hand wandering and stroking on her body, forehead against forehead.

He says: "I'm really going to eat clean."

"Then let's see if you admit it..."

"Then let's see."

Wang Yan smiles, holding the shy beauty in his arms, gets up, doesn't forget to turn off the light in the side room, and returns to the room... ===== CHAPTER 729 =====