Chapter 340: Planning to Build a House

Guan Xiaoguan was also pricking up her ears to eavesdrop inside the room at this moment. She had indeed felt embarrassed just now; thinking of those shy words she had written in her letters before, she felt even more embarrassed to go out.

"Then you two have a good chat, I, an old man, am going to cook."

"Grandpa Guan, no need to make any for me. I promised Grandpa I'd go back to eat tonight."

"Who said I was making food for you?" Grandpa Guan rolled his eyes directly at him.

"Ahem." Zhang Weidong looked slightly awkward, but he quickly put it out of his mind.

"Pfft."

Guan Xiaoguan could imagine Zhang Weidong's deflated expression and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Xiaoguan... open the door, let's talk. Um, I brought you quite a few gifts, they are all the things I mentioned in the letters before."

"Mm..."

Finally, Guan Xiaoguan walked out of the room shyly. Zhang Weidong didn't know what to say for a moment, so he could only take out the gifts and introduce them one by one.

Guan Xiaoguan looked at the somewhat clumsy Zhang Weidong as he introduced the gifts. Every single one was something she had been curious about in the letters; she hadn't expected Zhang Weidong to have bought them all for her.

"Thank you, Brother Weidong."

"Ah? It's nothing, it's nothing. As long as you like them." Zhang Weidong scratched his head honestly.

"Pfft."

"Dummy."

With this laugh from Guan Xiaoguan, the awkwardness between the two was gone, and that feeling of strangeness had completely dissipated.

The two of them seemed to have returned to how they were when they were children, talking about everything, and without realizing it, the sky had darkened.

"Ahem, kid, it's already dark, why aren't you going home to eat?"

"Ah?"

Only then did Zhang Weidong notice the time. He hadn't expected that the two of them would be so engrossed in their conversation that over an hour had passed without them knowing.

"Oh, then Xiaoguan, Grandpa Guan, I'll come over again tomorrow."

"Mm, okay."

Returning to the side of the car, Zhang Weidong was still a bit dazed. He hadn't expected that after not seeing her for more than ten years, apart from the initial unfamiliarity, their interaction afterward would be so natural. He became even more firm in his inner thoughts.

"Wenjie, let's head back."

"Alright, General Manager Zhang."

At Zhang Ping'an's small courtyard, everyone in the family was there except for the grandparents.

"Dad, Big Brother, is Weidong really back?"

Xile was still a bit excited. He and this nephew three years his junior had gotten along very well when they were young. When the few nephews ran away back then, he had been sad for quite a while.

"You've asked eight hundred times already. It's dark now, he should be back soon. And didn't you see the clothes he brought?"

"Oh, that's right."

Zhang Xile and Qin Jingru both worked at the Textile Factory. As soon as they saw the fabric and the stylish designs, they knew it wasn't something available in the Mainland.

Originally, Donglai, Dongzi, and Bang Geng had also planned to come over to take a look when they heard Weidong was back, but they were persuaded otherwise by Lao Jia.

"Your cousin (cousin-uncle) will definitely stay for a few days. Let their family have a good reunion today; you'll have plenty of time to reunite later."

Lao Jia had also thought about coming over to ask when Jia Youwei would be back, but thinking that they hadn't returned together, he decided to wait until daytime to ask Zhang Ping'an.

Lao Jia had already been retired for two years. Before retiring, he had passed the Level Eight assessment. Now he was carefree, spending his days fishing or taking care of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He Daqing retired in the same year as Lao Jia. He wasn't interested in fishing and spent his days at home tinkering with new food dishes.

Yi Zhonghai also retired last year, as did Yan Bugui. He had applied for early retirement because he was scared. Now, the three of them were the Siheyuan's famous Air Force Guys.

Liu Haizhong was retiring at the end of this year; it was expected that the Siheyuan would have one more Air Force Guy.

"Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Aunt Li."

"Hahaha, Weidong."

"Little Uncle." The two of them gave him a big hug directly. Compared to Zhang Ping'an, they were closer in age and more like brothers.

"Little Aunt." Zhang Weidong also greeted Qin Jingru.

"Good, good, good. My good grandson has grown up too. Go wash up and get ready to eat." Dong Dani's face was full of gratification.

That evening, the whole family had a lively meal. At the dinner table, it was inevitable that they would ask about Zhang Weidong's situation over the years.

Zhang Weidong didn't hide anything and told them about his experiences, except for the matters regarding the group company; he said everything else.

That night in the East Wing Room, after Qin Jingru and Zhang Xile finished playing cards, she suddenly said:

"Xiao Le, shall we buy a small courtyard?"

"Everything is fine, why bring this up suddenly?"

"I'm just thinking that since your big nephew is back, if your four nephews and nieces come back later, Big Brother's house won't be big enough to accommodate them."

"Mm... that's true. My brother said before that he was preparing to build a house for me on that wheat field."

"Xiao Le, if you don't want to be too far from Dad and Mom, let's build in the West Cross Courtyard instead. The land here is just right for Dad and Mom to pass the time; if we occupy it, Dad and Mom won't have any space for activities in the future."

Qin Jingru understood her father-in-law and mother-in-law very well. Even in the city, the small empty space beside the wing room had been cultivated by them.

"Mm, alright, I'll listen to you."

Early the next morning, the whole family was practicing their skills in unison. Even Qin Jingru was practicing now; over the past few years, she had already undergone Cleansing Marrow.

During breakfast, Zhang Xile brought up the matter of building the house that he and Qin Jingru had discussed the night before.

"Little Brother, Jingru, it was agreed back then that the wheat field was prepared for you. After the wheat is harvested, you can just build on it. Besides, it's convenient for Dad and Mom to look after the children that way."

"As for farming, we can leave a small plot in the middle for Dad and Mom to manage; it'll be enough to grow some green onions, ginger, and garlic. Dad, Mom, what do you think?"

"Mm, that's fine too."

"That's right, Little Uncle, Little Aunt, it's so good to live together. Grandpa and Grandma are getting older, and it's convenient for us to take care of them if we all live together."

"This..."

"Then we'll listen to Big Brother."

"Good."

In the morning, Zhang Weidong took his grandparents home to visit his great-grandparents; the villagers were all extremely astonished to see a car coming.

In this day and age, let alone a car, even tractors were rare in the village, and a group of children chased after the car one after another.

"Weidong, stop at the entrance of the village; don't scrape the children."

"Alright, Grandfather."

"Brother Youzhong? Sister-in-law?" The old village head Zhang Laiyou looked incredulous.

"Mm, Laiyou, this is Weidong, Ping'an's eldest son. You saw him when he was little. Weidong?"

"Grandpa Laiyou."

Zhang Weidong handed out cigarettes to Zhang Laiyou and the men, young and old, at the village entrance, and also took quite a few White Rabbit candies from the car to distribute to the women and children.

"Ah, good, in the blink of an eye, Weidong has grown this big."

In his memory, Weidong was still a baby; later, the villagers had heard about what happened, but he hadn't expected that the person would return home in glory today.

"Laiyou, we'll be heading back first."

"Oh, oh, good." Zhang Laiyou shooed away the children surrounding the car, and only then did the car successfully enter the village.

Returning to the old home, Zhang Weidong saw his great-grandparents, and naturally, there was no avoiding kowtowing.

"Good, good child, it's good that you're back. Where are your brothers?"

"Great-grandpa, Great-grandma, my younger brother Weijun will also come in ten days or half a month; the others are still in school."

"Weidong is back? Where is he?"

Zhang Ping'an's second uncle and third uncle heard the villagers discussing that Ping'an's son had driven back to the village, so they hurried over.

"Second Grandfather, Third Grandfather."

"Good, good, good, you've all become adults."

These children were their eldest brother's heartache; although it had improved a lot after having grandsons later, as brothers, they could naturally feel that their eldest brother had never forgotten about this matter.

Now that the eldest grandson had returned, looking at Zhang Laohan again, he was clearly beaming, and their parents were also laughing heartily.

At noon, they stayed at the old home; the three Zhang Laohan brothers had a good drink with their father, while Zhang Weidong poured the wine on the side, and they didn't return to the city until after three in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, Zhang Ping'an took the land deed, separated that one mu of land, and handed it to his father in the evening.

It wasn't easy for him, as the older brother, to speak about this matter; it was most appropriate for Zhang Laohan to hand it to his younger brother.