Yiling City Five Star Department Store, in front of Xinjiang Hotel on the 5th floor.
Cao Zhen was pushing his daughter Pamir back and forth at the door in a trolley.
He stretched out his hand to wipe his eyes and put the phone away. The expression on Cao Zhen's face was particularly complicated.
If you look carefully, you will find that Cao Zhen's eyes are red.
At the door of the Xinjiang Hotel next door, there were still people queuing up, waiting to be called.
Even so, there were still many latecomers, who also queued up and waited to be called.
All this means that the business of Xinjiang Hotel is very booming, and the daily turnover is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Cao Zhen and his wife Patiguli are discussing privately. What they regret most is that the area of the store is limited and cannot be expanded. Otherwise, even if the rent is hundreds of thousands more, they are willing to continue to rent the place.
, expand the scale.
When they first started working, they were still hesitant, but now they are sure that the money can be earned.
The busier he gets, the less time he has. Even though it only takes more than an hour to drive back to his hometown from Yiling City, Cao Zhen has not been back to Caojiazhuang since the restaurant opened on the eve of Qingming Festival in April last year until now.
This is his own business, and he puts in 120% more effort and responsibility than when he was in the factory.
Thinking of what Cao Shujie said in the group just now, a sad look flashed in Cao Zhen's eyes.
Comparatively speaking, he has indeed been busy making money this year. Except for Cao Fei, who is very close at hand, Cao Zhen rarely gets together with Cao Tiemin, Cao Shuyang, Cao Shulun, and Cao Shujie.
Even Cao Fei didn't often come to his place to eat. Basically, the three of them could get together only when Cao Shujie came over.
Looking back, Cao Zhen was in a daze during these eight months. He had made money, but he seemed to have missed a lot of things.
Patiguli called him at the door of the hotel.
Cao Zhen was distracted and didn't hear the shout. Patiguli came over and patted him: "Cao Zhen, what are you doing?"
"What's wrong?" Cao Zhen was startled. When he saw his wife, his eyes were a little dazed.
"Is Pamir hungry? I'll take her to the back to get some milk. You go to the store first and take a look." Patiguli said.
Cao Zhen lowered his head to look at his daughter Pamir and found that the little guy had started chewing his fingers. He felt a little ashamed and said, "Take her quickly."
"Cao Zhen, is there something wrong with you?" Patiguli asked him.
Cao Zhen shook his head: "You go and breastfeed first, I'll go to the store to watch first, and I'll tell you later."
"That's okay." Patiguli went to the back room to breastfeed with doubts.
When Patiguli returned to the counter after feeding Pamir, she saw that her husband was still lost in thought, so she asked him what was going on.
As Cao Zhen mentioned what happened in the group chat, Patiguli said directly: "What's the matter? We are closed from New Year's Eve to the third day of the Lunar New Year."
"You've been busy for a year, so you can't push people to death. When the time comes to go home for the holidays, you can always find a day to get together in the evening."
This surprise came so quickly. Cao Zhen hesitated for a while and said, "But there will be a lot of people there by then, and we still want to buy a house."
"When will you start making money? Besides, you don't have to buy a house this year. You can buy it next year and the year after that." Patiguli said.
"If you can't, just pay a down payment first and then pay off the loan slowly."
Then he said: "Look, Shujie still takes time out to take his family on a trip every year. Are we just going to focus here for the rest of our lives and not do anything else?"
"I can understand this truth, why can't you understand it?" Patiguli looked very free and easy.
…
In Caojiazhuang, Cao Shujie and his daughter Mengmeng were pasting Spring Festival couplets with freshly made paste.
Just after posting it on the door, Cao Shujie took Mengmeng to another place.
Mengmeng had a great time playing. She put her fingers into the paste from time to time, and then took them out to observe the paste stuck to her fingers.
"Dad, is this delicious?" Mengmeng was curious and wanted to put it in her mouth to have a taste.
When Cao Shujie saw his daughter like this, he told her calmly: "You can eat it, but you will have diarrhea after eating it and will need an injection. Don't be afraid of the pain."
Mengmeng was still frightened when it came to injections. She shook her head: "Forget it, I'll eat meatballs later."
Grandma, mother and sister-in-law are making meatballs at home. There are a lot of delicious things today.
Before I finished posting the couplet, Mengmeng could already smell the aroma of meat.
She threw the couplets in her hand on the ground, ran in again and shouted loudly: "Grandma, is there anything to eat?"
"Little greedy cat, are you hungry?" Wang Yuelan took out a plate of freshly fried apples and sweet potatoes and placed them on the coffee table in the living room for her granddaughter to eat.
Mengmeng started to grab it, but Wang Yuelan saw that her granddaughter's hands were all covered with paste and black soil, so she directly reached out and grabbed her granddaughter's wrist: "Your hands are too dirty. Go and wash your hands before eating. If you want to
Otherwise, all the bugs will end up in your stomach."
"No way, I'm fine." Mengmeng said.
But it was useless, Wang Yuelan directly took Mengmeng to wash her hands.
Outside, Cao Shujie was busy with the remaining work.
He didn't expect Mengmeng to do much work for him at all. It would be good if he didn't cause any trouble for him.
After posting the couplet, when she returned to the room, Cheng Xiaolin said to him: "Shujie, my elder brother just sent you a WeChat chat video, but we were too busy and didn't answer it. Please reply."
"Sent it from the eldest brother?" Cao Shujie put down his things, found his charging phone, and when he opened WeChat, he saw the unanswered video invitation from his eldest brother Cao Shubin.
He called back, and not long after, the other side of the phone connected, and the face of his eldest brother Cao Shubin appeared on the screen: "Brother, what are you busy with?"
"Brother, I just went out to post couplets. My phone is out of battery and is charging in the house. How are you? Are you finished?" Cao Shujie asked.
Before he finished speaking, his second brother Cao Shuxin also appeared in the camera: "Shujie, we will go back on the first day of the new year after celebrating the New Year."
Cao Shujie was very happy to hear what his second brother said.
Cao Zhenghu, who was sitting next to him and was watching TV, was also very happy: "Shujie, show me your phone."
Cao Zhenghu was quite curious when he saw his two grandsons appearing on the screen of his mobile phone.
"Shu Bin, are you coming back for the New Year?" Cao Zhenghu asked his eldest grandson.
Then I saw my eldest grandson nodding in the video: "Grandpa, when we go back, we will also make plans for my dad to build a house in my hometown."
Cao Shujie heard his cousin talking about this incident and thought to himself: "Is this settled?"
During the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, his uncle came back and mentioned the matter of building a house. Although the land had been returned, there has been no movement on the matter of building a house since then.
Cao Shujie thought that his uncle had given up the idea of building a house in his hometown, but he hadn't given up yet.
It seems that we have been discussing this matter for several months, and now we have finally reached an agreement.
The uncle has chosen to come back to build a house at this time. Do you plan to come back to live permanently in the future, or do you just build a house at home and come back during the holidays so that you can have a place to live?
Cao Shujie didn't understand, but he didn't ask.
Grandpa Cao Zhenghu said to the mobile phone screen: "Come back, I heard from your brother that there are many houses to be built in our village after the new year. The next step in the village is to unify the style of houses. If you want to build them, they will fit together."
This is something that brothers Cao Shubin and Cao Shuxin don't know. They were thinking about asking their cousin Cao Shujie in the video, but they thought about it and went back in two days. There was no need to ask in a hurry at this time.
After the video ended, Cao Zhenghu asked his grandson Cao Shujie about building a house in the village.
"Grandpa, this is just an idea now. After the year, we will have a meeting with people who want to build a house, and we will also ask an architect to design a good-looking template. In the future, all those who build new houses or renovate houses must follow these instructions.
Come with this template, otherwise it will not be approved." Cao Shujie said.
This is what they have discussed, but there are still some details that have not been finalized. After the year, the village committee meetings will continue, and the villagers' meeting will also be held.
Regarding the building of new houses in the village, the policies above are different now. Specific issues are dealt with in each locality.
To be honest, next year's policy is likely to be different from this year's.
Cao Zhenghu didn't ask any more questions.
…
When the crackling firecrackers sound, it is another new year.
At this time, all parts of the country are immersed in the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival.
After Cao Shujie's family finished the New Year's Eve dinner, they didn't even watch the Spring Festival Gala at home.
After buying so many fireworks, even Cao Shujie felt sorry for himself if he didn't set off a wave of fireworks, not to mention Mengmeng not letting them have a quiet time.
But before Cao Shujie started setting off the fireworks, they started setting off fireworks in the village committee compound.
Along with the banging sound, all kinds of colorful fireworks instantly jumped into the sky, lighting up the dark night.
At this time, after many people came out of their homes, they did not go to pay New Year greetings first as in previous years, but rushed directly to the village committee compound.
Mengmeng originally wanted to set off fireworks with her father, but seeing that the fireworks had been set off in the south, she was not in a hurry to set off the fireworks.
"Dad, let's watch the fireworks first."
"Shouldn't we also order some? Don't you want to read?" Cao Shujie wondered.
"Read theirs first, then click ours, so we can watch it twice, hehe." Mengmeng stretched out two fingers and smiled proudly.
His eyes also reveal a shrewdness that children of the same age don't have.
Cao Shujie subconsciously looked at his wife, but saw that his wife also turned to look at him: "Did you teach her?"
Cao Shujie asked.
Cheng Xiaolin pouted: "I thought you taught me."
"Where did this little brat come from with so many thoughts?" Cheng Xiaolin was also convinced.
Cao Shujie wanted to say a few more words, but Mengmeng had already let go of his hand and ran south.
When Cheng Xiaolin saw this, she was not in a hurry to light their fireworks and ran southward behind her daughter.
Cao Shujie wanted to call the two of them to stop him, but who knew that his mother and sister also ran south.
My father walked slowly behind with my grandfather.
Cao Shujie looked at the fireworks he had brought out, and thought to himself that he might as well not go anywhere else, but go directly to the village committee compound to set off the fireworks. Having fun alone is not as good as having fun together. Let's all have fun together.
He went home and rode out on his electric tricycle, took the fireworks with him, and drove towards the village committee compound in the south.
Unexpectedly, there were people in the village who had the same idea as him, so they all gathered the fireworks they bought at the Caojiazhuang Village Committee compound.
That night, the night sky over Caojiazhuang stayed bright for more than three hours before falling silent.
During this period, everyone formed a fireworks relay.
This is something that has never happened before, and it seems to indicate that Caojiazhuang will really become different from the past starting from this year.
