Chapter 21: Shenhao System in the City (21)

The school hasn't been built yet, and students haven't been recruited, but the practical training grounds for agriculture, culinary arts, and fashion design have been scouted out a step ahead of time.

Of course, they were all paid with deposits, and the contracts signed were also deposit contracts.

The final payments will all have to wait until the various rents arrive at the beginning of next month.

These merchants and bosses are actually quite agreeable; no one is unhappy because of this.

And why wouldn't they be! Business in this small county has been getting harder and harder to do these past few years, and the transfer signs have been hanging out for who knows how many days; having finally waited for a "takeover sucker" (bushi), let alone a few days, they would likely be willing to wait a whole month.

What's more, the deposit Xie Yang gave is not low—100,000 yuan per household; if she doesn't come to pay the balance and sign the formal contract by the due date, this 100,000 is theirs to keep.

Xie Yang spent several days wandering around the county.

During this period, the Shenhao System didn't stop issuing tasks to her:

【Ding! The Shenhao System is at your service! A task is now issued: Building a harmonious society cannot be separated from education. Please listen to the true inner voices of fifty students within 12 hours. Upon task completion, you will be rewarded with one Global Library City containing hundreds of millions of books.】

【Ding! The Shenhao System is at your service! A task is now issued: Building a harmonious society cannot be separated from medical care. Please listen to the inner yearnings of fifty patients within 12 hours. Upon task completion, you will be rewarded with one Medical Center encompassing the world's top medical facilities and equipment.】

【Ding! The Shenhao System is at your service! A task is now issued: Building a harmonious society cannot be separated from elderly care. Please listen to the troubles of fifty elderly people within 12 hours. Upon task completion, you will be rewarded with one Health and Wellness Center possessing world-class elderly care services.】

【Ding! ……】

As the tasks were completed one by one, the earnings from these projects related to people's livelihoods—located in libraries, hospitals, and health and wellness centers across the globe—also arrived in her account one after another.

It was clearly a rhythm of sending money to her!

The various rents hadn't even arrived yet, but there was already money in the account!

What a godsend!

These industries are distributed all over the world, and all in famous developed countries; Xie Yang doesn't have time to inspect these industries for now. Once she smooths out the matters at hand, she could take Xie Shuling on a leisurely global tour under the guise of inspecting the industries.

For now, she went to settle the payments for the projects where the balance was owed and signed the formal contracts.

Xie Yang was responsible for signing, and Xie Xufang was responsible for running errands, focusing on active assistance.

"Sis, task accomplished!"

After handing in the last set of documents, Xie Xufang pulled Xie Yang to his house for a meal:

"Someone in my grandmother's village slaughtered a pig, and my uncle bought half a carcass and even brought over a suckling pig. My mom made the sweet and sour ribs and braised big bones you like, and she's also roasting the suckling pig. She told us to come over as soon as we're done."

Xie Xufang's grandmother's family is in the next village. Because there are many mountains and little flat land, the grain they grow is only enough for their own family to eat, so every household in the village raises some chickens, ducks, and pigs in their spare time to sell for money at the end of the year. Unless a family is holding a wedding the following spring, they keep the "New Year pig" and don't sell it.

The eldest aunt-in-law wanted to treat Xie Yang well, so she entrusted her maiden family to find a family holding a wedding to buy half a pig, and also caught a suckling pig from her maiden family's Pig Pen.

Xie Yang hadn't eaten authentic free-range Pork in a long time; it had perhaps been several hundred years since she last tasted it.

Nowadays, the pigs on the market, even those labeled as ecological black Pork, are mass-raised. How could they compare to the fragrance of Pork raised by farm families in the Pig Pen in front of or behind the house—pigs that are let out of the pen every day when it's not raining to run wild, foraging in the radish, pumpkin, and sweet potato fields where crops were left behind, and only chased back when the sun sets?

Xie Yang: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Her tone carried a bit of impatience.

Xie Xufang laughed: "I knew you liked this, Sis."

Just as they were talking, his phone rang; the caller ID was "Mother Dear."

"My mom is calling! It must be that the roast suckling pig is ready! She's urging us to go back to eat!"

However, after answering and listening, the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

Xie Yang asked: "What did the eldest aunt-in-law say? Did something happen at home?"

"It's not at home, it's about the eldest sister."

The eldest sister Xie Xufang spoke of is Xie Yang's eldest aunt's only daughter, Rong Yue.

Don't look at the fact that the eldest aunt is a full zodiac cycle older than Xie Shuling; in reality, Rong Yue is only three years older than Xie Yang. She studied a five-year undergraduate program and has only been graduated for three years.

If she had listened to the eldest aunt's arrangements, she would have returned to Xiaoling County after graduation to take the civil service exam. Even if she didn't pass, she could have found a stable job in the County. After all, there are few college students in a small county, and employment is much easier than in a big city.

But when Rong Yue was in college in the Provincial Capital, she started dating a boyfriend whose family was local to the Provincial Capital. After graduation, it was only natural for him to stay in the Provincial Capital, eating and living at home. Rong Yue rented a small single room herself and stayed in the Provincial Capital to struggle.

In her first year after graduation, Rong Yue got engaged to her boyfriend. The man's parents said nice things: the betrothal gifts would all be converted into cash and saved up to give the young couple a down payment for a wedding house in the city.

This year, the wedding house was bought, but Rong Yue's name wasn't added to the property deed. Instead, after buying the house, the man's salary was used as an excuse to pay the mortgage, and Rong Yue paid for all the daily expenses.

After getting engaged and buying the house, the young couple moved in together.

To save expenses, Rong Yue tried her best not to eat out. Every morning, she got up an hour earlier than her boyfriend to make breakfast; lunch was also made in the morning and packed in an insulated lunch box to be microwaved at the company; after getting off work in the evening, she would rush back to buy groceries and cook dinner.

It rained the day before yesterday, and she slipped while buying groceries. Unexpectedly, she had been pregnant for over a month, and this fall unluckily caused her to lose the child.

After the man's parents found out, they were furious. Coupled with the fact that they were already picky and dissatisfied with this daughter-in-law from the countryside, they ordered their son not to go to the hospital to see her, leaving her lying alone in the hospital to receive an IV drip.

When Rong Yue finished her drip and went back, she found that the password to the new house had been changed. She couldn't get in and squatted at the door, feeling wronged and at a loss.

Fortunately, at this time, the eldest aunt called, intending to ask about her daughter's recent situation and whether she had time to come home and have a meal with her cousin.

She hadn't even revealed that her niece had given her family two villas yet, but hearing her daughter's voice sounding wrong, she pressed for a few questions and heard her daughter break down in loud sobs.

After understanding the cause and effect, the eldest aunt was so angry she wiped away tears: "You silly girl! That family treated you like that, why didn't you tell Mom and Dad sooner! They look down on us, but we look down on them too! What kind of behavior is that! Wait, Mom is coming to pick you up and bring you home!"

The eldest aunt immediately called her two younger brothers, asking them to go to the Provincial Capital together to pick up her daughter; even if she couldn't get married, it would be better than being tormented by that family.

After Xie Xufang finished relaying this, he was so angry he wanted to explode: "Infuriating! Too infuriating! Is the eldest brother-in-law a mama's boy? Whatever his mom says, he does? The whole family is trash! Bah! They haven't even held the wedding yet; he doesn't deserve for me to call him brother-in-law!"

Xie Yang glanced at the time: "Has the eldest aunt already set off? Why don't we go together! Bring all the bodyguards!"

Xie Xufang nimbly dialed his father's phone: "Dad! Have you set off yet? Sis said to bring all the bodyguards, we're going together!"

"……"