[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-romantic-path-to-success":3,"chapter-the-romantic-path-to-success-the-romantic-path-to-success-chapter-517":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Romantic Road to the Top",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},2146708,3567,"Chapter 517: Returning to the Hometown","the-romantic-path-to-success-chapter-517",517,"\u003Cp>Along the way, Hou Guangbi didn't speak. He kept turning his head to look out the window, his eyes filled with complex emotions: longing, joy, sadness, melancholy...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui naturally understood Hou Guangbi’s mood. His hometown, unseen for forty-five years, was right before his eyes!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui didn't say anything to Hou Guangbi, letting him silently watch the scenery outside the window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In December, the fields didn't have much scenery to look at. At this time, the farmers mostly grew wheat or rapeseed, which hadn't grown very deep yet, so there wasn't much to see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The farmhouses by the fields were also very dilapidated. This was a very ordinary scene of the Chinese countryside in the eighties and nineties, but Hou Guangbi watched it with great fascination. He hadn't seen such scenery for over forty years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn't until the motorcade was close to Pengjiawan Town that the number of vehicles on the road increased—trucks coming and going, trucks carrying vegetables, big and small, and even hand-tractors. Such a scene caused a change in Hou Guangbi’s eyes, adding a look of inquiry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned his head and asked, \"Is this almost Pengjiawan, where you are the mayor?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui nodded, \"Yes. The vegetables in Pengjiawan have matured, and there are many distributors coming to collect them every day, so there are more vehicles.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi nodded. The motorcade drove for another few kilometers and entered Pengjiawan Town. The fields by the roadside were a scene of bustling activity. Mature cabbages were being cut down one by one by farmers, put into large plastic bags, and then transported to the side of the road to wait for loading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The white greenhouses stood out in the green fields. Hou Guangbi said, \"Are these the greenhouses you built?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said, \"Yes, these are greenhouses built for growing off-season vegetables. This should be quite common in France, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi said, \"Yes, the Hou family’s industries also include agriculture, and of course, we have greenhouses. However, we mainly use them to grow fresh flowers; the French have a very large demand for fresh flowers.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Su Xinghui smiled, \"The French nation is a romantic one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi said, \"Actually, growing greenhouse flowers has higher economic benefits than growing greenhouse vegetables. You might want to consider it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui shook his head, \"The domestic flower market shouldn't be that big yet. The common people in the country are still relatively poor, and the main concern is how to have enough to eat, so for now, we can only grow greenhouse vegetables.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi nodded. This was indeed a difference in national conditions between China and France. Many Chinese people couldn't even afford vegetables, let alone flowers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it were in Europe, it would be different. Europeans would buy flowers to keep at home even if they didn't have money for bread.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi said, \"Coming to your Pengjiawan, it looks very different from other towns. It seems you are indeed doing a very good job as mayor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said, \"This is just my duty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi said, \"There aren't many places like this in the country now, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said, \"I wouldn't say that. The country’s development is indeed very fast now, and there are many places that have developed better than our Shangjun County, especially those coastal cities. They accepted advanced foreign ideas earlier, so they are ahead of us in economic development. We need to develop faster to let the people of Shangjun County live a good life sooner.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi nodded, \"Yes, to let the people live a good life. Back then, when the War of Resistance Against Japan ended and I became a provincial councilor, I was also full of ambition, wanting to offer advice for the province, engage in large-scale economic construction, and let the people live a good life. But unfortunately...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point, Hou Guangbi shook his head. Clearly, that past was too painful to look back on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said, \"You can't blame yourself for that, Grandpa Hou. At that time, the entire Kuomintang regime was corrupt and had lost the support of the people. That wasn't something you alone could save.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi didn't say anything more. He turned his head to look out the window again, clearly slowly finding the mountains and rivers of his hometown that he had dreamed of. The scenery before him was slowly overlapping with his memories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they approached Shangjun County, Hou Guangbi’s expression became more and more excited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, a group of people appeared in front, standing next to a row of cars, looking forward expectantly. Su Xinghui said, \"Grandpa Hou, these are the county leaders who have come to welcome you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi nodded and straightened his clothes. These were the parents of his hometown, coming to welcome him, a wanderer returning from overseas. He had to treat them with courtesy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui had the driver stop the car on the side of the road, and the cars behind also stopped. Su Xinghui got out first and then helped Hou Guangbi out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Tao took the lead and came up to greet them. Su Xinghui introduced Hou Guangbi’s identity to him and introduced the identities of Ji Tao and the others to Hou Guangbi. The county leaders shook hands with Hou Guangbi and his descendants one by one to express their welcome.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After everyone had shaken hands, Ji Tao said happily, \"Elder Hou, on behalf of the more than 300,000 people of Shangjun County, I welcome you back!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi’s voice was already somewhat choked with emotion. He nodded and said, \"Thank you, thank you!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said, \"Secretary Ji, let’s go to Zhuangyuan Lane first.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Tao nodded and had the county leaders get into the cars, heading toward the county seat. The Hou family also got into their cars and followed the county leaders’ motorcade toward the county seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Along the way in Shangjun County, traffic police and public security officers were maintaining order. The motorcade drove smoothly to the entrance of Zhuangyuan Lane and stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Along the way, as Zhuangyuan Lane got closer, Hou Guangbi’s expression became more and more excited. When he saw the high archway at the entrance of Zhuangyuan Lane, he was already in tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With Su Xinghui’s support, he got out of the car, walked under the high archway, and looked up at the four characters \"Zhuangyuan Mansion\" on the archway. Suddenly, he knelt on the ground with a \"thud\" and began to wail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His crying was heart-wrenching, mixed with some incoherent words: \"Forgive me,\" \"Unfilial descendant,\" \"It’s been decades\"...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one laughed at this old man crying like a child; everyone could understand his mood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second to kneel was Hou my lord, who also cried very sadly. He was also an old man nearing sixty, but the depth and complexity of his feelings for this Zhuangyuan Lane were absolutely no less than Hou Guangbi’s. He had also been fleeing his hometown for over twenty years!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi’s descendants also knelt down one by one behind him. Although most of them had never returned to China and were born abroad, in the Hou family, they received an education in Chinese culture. They usually spoke the Shangjun dialect at home, and they had heard their grandparents tell stories about Zhuangyuan Lane countless times. They were also proud that their ancestor was a Zhuangyuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, they didn't have the pain of leaving their country and missing their hometown like Hou Guangbi and Hou my lord. They just knelt down and didn't wail like Hou Guangbi and Hou my lord. However, such a group of well-dressed people collectively kneeling under this huge archway was still a shocking scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a long time, Su Xinghui stepped forward and supported Hou Guangbi, who was already hoarse from crying, and whispered in his ear, \"Grandpa Hou, get up. You must take care of your health!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi’s emotions, accumulated over forty years, had been vented after this bout of crying. With Su Xinghui’s support, he stood up, and the others followed him. Hou Dali took a handkerchief from his body, handed it to Hou Guangbi, and helped him wipe the tears and mucus from his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said, \"Grandpa Hou, let’s go in and take a look.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi nodded and followed Su Xinghui into the deep Zhuangyuan Lane, with the others following behind them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui pushed open the gate of a courtyard. Looking at the renovated courtyard, Hou Dali was stunned. He didn't expect that in the short ten days or so since he went abroad, the county had turned that messy compound into this. He couldn't help but look at the county leaders with gratitude.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi led his descendants into this courtyard and said, \"This courtyard was the fifth house of the second branch back then. I didn't expect that after so many years, this courtyard hasn't changed much.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He walked around the courtyard and then visited a few other courtyards. When he saw the courtyard where he had lived back then, he was in tears again. This was the place where he had lived for decades; it was the place that gave birth to him and raised him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xinghui said, \"Grandpa Hou, is this your former residence? If you want to come back and live here in the future, you can stay here as much as you like.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi said, \"I want to stay here today.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Tao and Zhang Kaishan looked at each other. Ji Tao said, \"Yes, you can stay here. The county government has already cleaned it all up, and the conditions won't be worse than the County Committee Guest House.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Guangbi nodded, \"Thank you!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Hou Guangbi saw the spirit tablets of his parents and elder brother at Hou Dali’s home, he and his children and grandchildren knelt respectfully before the tablets and offered incense. Hou my lord knelt before the tablet of Hou Guangji and cried bitterly. More than twenty years ago, when he abandoned everything to smuggle himself abroad, he never thought he would see his father’s tablet again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At noon, all the Standing Committee members of the County Committee hosted a banquet for the Hou family at the County Committee Guest House. The banquet mainly consisted of Shangjun dishes. Hou Guangbi hadn't eaten such authentic Shangjun food for decades. In France, although they could make some Shangjun dishes, the seasonings weren't as authentic, and the taste naturally wasn't as authentic either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eating such authentic Shangjun food today, tasting the flavors of decades ago from his memory, Hou Guangbi was filled with mixed feelings, feeling that he had no more regrets in this life.\u003C\u002Fp>",1786,"2026-06-16T17:50:43.208Z","2026-06-16T17:54:34.477Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","7b7f9c9038f98f0e9de73fc885e3081152fe346278266074852cb569913a0d56","the-romantic-path-to-success-chapter-518","the-romantic-path-to-success-chapter-516",572,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-romantic-path-to-success-cover.jpg"]