Chapter 1072

The car drove all the way into the village, much more steadily than the tricycle last time, and before long, it stopped at the courtyard gate.

Hearing the noise, Grandma in the courtyard stopped what she was doing and hurried out to greet them.

"Mom!"

Zhou Dafu was the first to jump out of the car, speaking as if asking for credit: "They've all been picked up; not a single one was left behind this time."

"Grandma!"

As soon as Shen Ci poked her head out, she happily called out to her.

On Grandma's thin, dark face, a pair of bright, sparkling eyes rippled with smiles as she watched people get off the car one after another.

Shen Ci introduced them to her one by one.

Su Zheyuan held Grandma's hand: "Hello, Grandma. I couldn't make it last time because I was sick. Seeing the seafood you prepared made me crave it so much; today, no matter what, we had to come."

"Welcome, welcome. Today's seafood is even more abundant. Just a moment ago, a villager sent over two large yellow croakers. They're excellent; I'll cook them for you to eat in a while," Grandma said with a smile.

"Grandma, this is Guo Gong, who came all the way from Longcheng. He brought several professional colleagues. You can leave the matter of the village's drainage system to them," Shen Ci added.

Upon seeing Guo Gong, Grandma's expression was clearly even more excited, and within that excitement, there was obvious gratitude and respect: "Thank you so much for being willing to come from so far away for our sake."

"Don't be so polite, Auntie. Helping the village with construction is a meaningful thing to do. So, as soon as Aci mentioned it, we set aside our current work and hurried over."

Seeing this, Aqi hurried to greet them: "Everyone, come into the courtyard first. I'll make you some tea."

She then turned to instruct Zhou Dafu: "Park the car in the open space; don't block the road in the middle."

Zhou Dafu nodded repeatedly, greeted the guests to go inside first, and ran off to park the car.

Once inside the courtyard, some stools and two tables had already been placed in the gazebo. Aqi nimbly went into the house to get the tea set, but just as she was about to get busy, she was stopped by Guo Gong.

"Let's hold off on the tea for now. Since we're here, let's seize the time. We'll start now and take a look at the village's drainage lines first."

Guo Gong looked like someone who was here to get things done; he had no intention of resting or relaxing at all.

The others also had focused expressions. Because they were called over by Aci on short notice, they still had a lot of work in progress back at the company. They had squeezed out this time, so they couldn't afford to waste it.

Aqi still wanted to say there was no rush, as it wasn't right to have guests start working the moment they arrived.

As it turned out, Shen Ci took the initiative to say: "Sister Aqi, let's listen to Guo Gong. Their time is indeed quite tight this time. Let's make a quick decision; if we solve the drainage problem early, the village project can start sooner, right?"

"Then, then this tea..."

Aqi held the teapot and looked at Su Zheyuan, Gu Lianxing, and the others. Surely these guests should have some tea?

"Aqi, you take Master Guo and the others. Let Dafu entertain the guests at home for a while. When the food is ready, I'll have Dafu call you," Grandma said, seeing the situation.

Only then did Aqi nod. After placing the things on the table, she took Guo Gong and his group away.

Shen Ci looked at Su Zheyuan and the others and said: "Then you all wait here; I'll go over and take a look too."

Cheng An stood up upon seeing this: "Then I'll go with you."

Once they left, the courtyard suddenly became quiet.

Su Zheyuan curiously leaned toward Grandma. Seeing her using a brush to scrub the mud off oyster shells, he couldn't help but joke: "Grandma, I missed out last time, but today I've been fasting since last night, just waiting for this meal you're treating us to."

Upon hearing this, Grandma picked up a small dagger from the side, nimbly found the position of the adductor muscle inside the oyster shell, poked it in, and cut the muscle with force. Then, with a pry, she split the oyster in two.

The oyster meat inside was large, succulent, and very plump.

Grandma used the tip of the dagger to poke the oyster meat and handed it to Su Zheyuan's mouth: "Come on, open up."

Su Zheyuan's eyes lit up. Without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and swallowed the fresh oyster meat in one bite.

It was extremely fresh and sweet. Although the quality didn't quite reach that of high-end oyster sashimi, the texture and taste were completely on par with Rushan oysters.

"Is it good?" Grandma asked with a smile.

Su Zheyuan nodded quickly: "It's delicious, so sweet!"

Grandma said: "In the entire 'Yahai,' only the oysters in our fishing village's sea area reach the grade for raw consumption. The seaweed growing below is thriving, which feeds these clams and oysters very well."

As she finished speaking, Zhou Dafu returned after parking the car. Upon entering the courtyard and seeing that everyone was gone, he couldn't help but blink in surprise.

"Dafu, go make tea for the guests."

"Eh, alright Mom, I'm going right now."

Before he could even think to ask for details, Grandma gave the order, and he immediately received and executed the instruction, showing it was a habit formed over many years.

"Boss Su, have some tea."

Su Zheyuan looked at this obsequious Boss Zhou and really couldn't reconcile him with the person at the noodle shop that day.

Isn't this a real-life version of "fox borrowing the tiger's might"?

And what's rare is that Zhou Dafu didn't feel awkward either. How could he have known things would develop into the current situation? If he had known it would be like this, he definitely wouldn't have been so impolite that day.

Especially the way he paid the bill at the end—to be honest, it was a bit insulting.

"You are a magnanimous person who doesn't hold grudges against small people. I was ignorant and therefore innocent, right?"

Su Zheyuan was not a petty person who held grudges. Seeing that the other party had such an attitude, he just nodded silently: "I can roughly understand what role Boss Zhou played in the whole affair."

"With so many companies wanting to cooperate, lining up every day to host banquets, you really have to pick and choose who to deal with. Being able to see us was already not easy."

Because Grandma was old, she had no energy to deal with these banquets and such, nor did she want to, so Zhou Dafu had to be the one to stand in front.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Dafu immediately showed an expression of having met a soulmate and grabbed Su Zheyuan's hand: "Boss Su, long live understanding! Long live understanding!"

Just then, a phone ringtone suddenly sounded in the courtyard. Everyone subconsciously looked up and saw Grandma wiping her hands and taking her phone out of her apron pocket.

Seeing the caller ID, she hurriedly answered.

"Eh, speak."

The person on the other end of the phone didn't know what they said, but Grandma's expression went from indifference at the start to slowly filling with joy.

"Is that so? Alright, I understand. I'll be there right away."

After hanging up, Grandma looked at Zhou Dafu and shouted: "Dafu, hurry, hurry and call Aci over. Tell her there's news about the project. Go quickly!"

Su Zheyuan was startled. His whole body "sprang" up from the stool, and he rushed to Grandma's side: "Grandma, there's news? Is it good news or bad news?"