Chapter 903

Su Xinghui smiled, "The French nation is a romantic nation, after all."

Hou Guangbi said, "Actually, growing greenhouse flowers has higher economic benefits than growing greenhouse vegetables. You can consider it."

Su Xinghui shook his head, "The domestic fresh flower market shouldn't be that big yet. The ordinary people in the country are still relatively poor, and now they are mainly considering how to have enough to eat, so for the time being, they can only plant greenhouse vegetables."

Hou Guangbi nodded. This was indeed a difference in national conditions between China and France today. Many Chinese people now can't even afford vegetables, let alone buy flowers.

If it were in Europe, it would be different. Even if Europeans don't have money to buy bread, they have to buy flowers to put at home.

Hou Guangbi said, "Arriving at your Pengjiawan, it looks very different from other townships. It seems that you are indeed doing a very good job as a township head."

Su Xinghui said, "This is just my duty."

Hou Guangbi said, "There aren't many places like this in the country now, right?"

Su Xinghui said, "You can't say that. The development in the country is indeed very fast now. There are many places that have developed better than our Shangjun County, especially those coastal cities. They accepted advanced foreign ideas earlier than us, so they are also ahead of us in economic development. We still need faster development to let the ordinary people of Shangjun County live a good life sooner."

Hou Guangbi nodded, "Yes, to let the ordinary 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 ordinary people live a good life. Unfortunately..."

Speaking of this, Hou Guangbi shook his head. Clearly, that past event made him unable to bear looking back.

Su Xinghui said, "You can't blame yourself for that, Grandpa Hou. At that time, the entire Kuomintang regime was corrupt and lost the hearts of the people. That wasn't something you alone could save."

Hou Guangbi didn't say anything more. He turned his head again to look out the window. Clearly, he was slowly finding back the mountains and rivers of his hometown that he had been dreaming of. The scenery before his eyes was slowly overlapping with his memories.

As Shangjun County seat slowly approached, Hou Guangbi's expression became more and more excited.

Suddenly, a group of people appeared in front. They were 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."

Hou Guangbi nodded and straightened his clothes. These were the parents of his hometown, who had come to welcome him, a wanderer returning from overseas. He had to treat them with courtesy.

Su Xinghui asked the driver to stop the car by the side of the road, and the cars behind also stopped. Su Xinghui got out of the car first and then helped Hou Guangbi down.

Comrade 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 Comrade Ji Tao and the others to Hou Guangbi. Comrade Ji Tao and the other county leaders shook hands with Hou Guangbi and his children, grandchildren, and nephews one by one to express their welcome.

After everyone had finished shaking hands, Comrade Ji Tao said happily, "Old Mr. Hou, on behalf of the more than 300,000 people of Shangjun County, I welcome you back!"

Hou Guangbi's voice was already somewhat choked with sobs. He nodded and said, "Thank you, thank you!"

Su Xinghui said, "Secretary Ji, let's go to Zhuangyuan Lane first."

Comrade Ji Tao nodded and let the county leaders get into the cars, driving towards the county seat. The Hou family also got into the cars and followed the motorcade of the county leaders towards the county seat.

Along the road in Shangjun County seat, traffic police and public security police were maintaining order. The motorcade drove smoothly to the entrance of Zhuangyuan Lane and stopped.

Along the way, as Zhuangyuan Lane got closer and 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.

With Su Xinghui's support, he got out of the car, walked to the high archway, and looked up at the four large characters "Zhuangyuan Mansion" on the archway. Suddenly, he knelt on the ground with a "thump" and burst into loud sobs.

His crying was heart-wrenching, and it was mixed with some incoherent words, "Forgive me," "Unfilial descendant," "It's been decades"...

No one laughed at this old man who was crying like a child. Everyone could understand his mood.

The second to kneel was Hou my lord. He also cried very sadly. He was also an old man nearing sixty. However, 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!

Hou Guangbi's descendants also knelt down one by one behind Hou Guangbi. 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 grandfather and grandmother tell the story of Zhuangyuan Lane countless times. They were also proud that their ancestor was a Zhuangyuan.

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 burst into loud sobs like Hou Guangbi and Hou my lord. However, such a group of well-dressed people collectively kneeling under this huge archway was still a scene that shocked the heart.

After a long time, Su Xinghui stepped forward and supported Hou Guangbi, whose throat was already hoarse from crying, and whispered in his ear, "Grandpa Hou, get up. You must take care of your health!"

Hou Guangbi's emotions, accumulated for over forty years, had been vented almost completely after this bout of loud crying. With Su Xinghui's support, he stood up, and the others also stood up after him. Hou Dali took a handkerchief from his body, handed it to Hou Guangbi, and helped him wipe the tears and snot from his face.

Su Xinghui said, "Grandpa Hou, let's go in and take a look."

Hou Guangbi nodded and followed Su Xinghui into the deep Zhuangyuan Lane, with the others following behind them.

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-plus days since he went abroad, the county had already repaired the messy compound into this. He couldn't help but look at the county leaders with gratitude.

Hou Guangbi led his descendants into this courtyard and said, "This courtyard was the courtyard of the fifth family of the second branch back then. I didn't expect that after so many years, this courtyard hasn't changed much."

He walked around in the courtyard and then turned to a few other courtyards. When he saw the courtyard he had lived in back then, he was in tears again. This was the place where he had lived for decades, the place where he was born and raised.

Su Xinghui said, "Grandpa Hou, is this your former residence? If you want to come back and live here in the future, you can live here as much as you want."

Hou Guangbi said, "I want to live here today."

Comrade Ji Tao and Zhang Kaishan looked at each other. Comrade Ji Tao said, "Yes, you can live here. The county government has already cleaned up everything here, and the conditions won't be worse than the County Committee Guest House."

Hou Guangbi nodded, "Thank you!"

When Hou Guangbi saw the spirit tablets of his parents and elder brother at Hou Dali's home, he knelt respectfully before the tablets with his children and grandchildren and offered incense. Hou my lord knelt before Hou Guangji's spirit tablet and cried loudly. More than twenty years ago, when he left everything behind and smuggled himself abroad, he never expected that he would be able to see his father's spirit tablet one day.

At noon, all the members of the County Committee Standing 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 dishes for decades. In France, although they could also make some Shangjun dishes, the seasonings and such weren't this authentic, and the taste naturally wasn't this authentic either.

Eating such authentic Shangjun dishes here today, and eating the taste from decades ago in his memory, made Hou Guangbi feel a mix of emotions, feeling that there were no more regrets in this life.