408: Chapter 402: Idle Talk 408: Chapter 402: Idle Talk In the following period, everything was calm.
During the day, Chen Hai bought gold everywhere, and then refined it into fine gold; at night, he was mostly at home, accompanying his parents.
Considering that refining fine gold is a long-term process, it’s not something that can be completed in just three or five days.
Chen Hai did not continue to choose a hotel as the site for refining gold.
He bought a house in the county, and although his family had already moved there, the old house of their Chen Family in Wuyang Town’s Chenjiaping was still there.
For quite some time, with no one taking care of it, the old house was dirty, messy, and somewhat unsightly, but this did not affect Chen Hai much.
The old houses in the countryside are all a good distance from the nearest neighbor, requiring one to climb over one or two hills.
Refining fine gold in such a place was actually quieter and less disturbed.
The only problem was transportation.
After reaching Wuyang Town, there’s a stretch of earthen road leading to the old house in Chenjiaping, too rugged and narrow for cars to drive through.
To facilitate his own back and forth, Chen Hai simply borrowed the 250cc motorcycle from his cousin Jiang Dalong.
Jiang Dalong and his buddies, who had partnered up to run a sand quarry, were now in the midst of heated construction.
The location of the sand quarry was set in the suburbs of Liuyuan County, a bit past Yanbei Village, near the Yuan River.
Chen Hai had already handed over the four hundred thousand he promised to Jiang Dalong.
As a joint-stock company, they were currently processing the business license and other procedures.
Business is business, and personal is personal; even brothers have to settle accounts clearly in these matters.
The money was invested in the sand quarry, and the shares he was entitled to were definitely not to be shortchanged!
Because of the sand quarry business, Jiang Dalong and some of the local riff-raff reportedly had a couple of brawls.
There was no helping it; such are the characteristics of the times!
After all, Jiang Dalong and his buddies had come from the towns below.
If their group wanted to set up a quarry in the suburbs of the county town without showing some real skills to subdue the local bullies, it would be troublesome if the quarry really got off the ground.
Facing those hooligans who came to make trouble, wanting to gain benefits from the newly established quarry, Jiang Dalong and his group could only be tough, not soft.
Otherwise, those hooligans would only see them as weak and bully them more, acting more and more presumptuously.
It was said to be a brawl, but no major conflict actually occurred.
First, a few thugs came with some far-fetched excuses, trying to get some compensation from Jiang Dalong and his group.
In the end, not only did these guys not get any money, they were instead beaten black and blue by Jiang Dalong’s group.
When those guys called their friends and came back to the quarry again, Sun Jinzhong and Tong Daqiang directly brought two truckloads of people over.
The factory was crazy busy expanding; just the new employees alone amounted to nearly two hundred hires.
These two didn’t actually have any direct blood relation to Jiang Dalong!
However, being Chen Hai’s relatives, Sun Jinzhong was very familiar with him.
Sun Jinzhong had long known that the sand quarry was also one of Chen Hai’s investments, and it was he who helped finalize the location of the quarry!
When he got the call from Jiang Dalong, without a word, he brought people over to show support.
Sun Jinzhong and Tong Daqiang were genuine local bigshots.
A good number of people from Yanbei Village and nearby areas were prioritized to be hired into the factory.
Although the Peach Blossom Immortal Brew of Peach Blossom Wine Industry wasn’t officially on the market yet to create profits, these two had already become well-known capable people in the region.
With these two stepping in, those bullies immediately wilted!
After giving a hit, they followed it with a sweet date.
Jiang Dalong and his team, by holding a few tables of feasts, not only thanked Sun Jinzhong’s group but also completely cleared the air with those bullies.
Even the bullies, who were beaten black and blue by them, became warm with a few drinks, calling Jiang Dalong “Brother Long” as if they were close…
When Chen Hai heard about these things from Jiang Dalong, he just nodded lightly.
He could understand these matters, but he himself did not want to get involved.
The sand quarry business, with its low entry barrier and no substantial technical content, requires one to be brave and combative; if not careful, it could easily veer into illegality.
His cousin Jiang Dalong, who had not studied much and wasn’t exactly proper, wanted to start with a sand quarry and then venture into real estate following Chen Hai’s advice, which was understandable.
Even if running a sand quarry was prone to brush with the underworld, at least it was a legitimate business; it was more reliable than him going to Yuedong.
Now that the bullies were dealt with, the sand quarry had gained a foothold in the locality.
Whether it would make money was a matter for the future, but at least now, this was a good start for the quarry!
Knowing this result, Chen Hai was also quite satisfied.
After borrowing that motorcycle from Jiang Dalong, Chen Hai continued with his grand plan of refining fine gold.
Considering the amount of gold he had to purchase, it wasn’t a small quantity.
Not just in Liuyuan County, but even in Wuling City and several nearby counties, Chen Hai toured each of them.
He bought a few jin here and a few there, rotating through the counties and cities.
Although it was a bit troublesome, at least he didn’t stand out too much.
In the blink of an eye, December had passed.
According to the Gregorian calendar, a new year had already begun, and it was now 1995.
Having refined fine gold for so long, his experience had become extremely proficient.
In the beginning, managing to refine one or two pieces of fine gold per day was considered lucky.
But now, in one day, and with virtually no loss, he could refine ten or twenty jin of gold into fine gold.
For Chen Hai, this was naturally good news.
The only downside was the way money flowed out like water.
He roughly estimated that in this period, he had already spent tens of millions to purchase gold.
In the small store of the Chen family in the Wenchang Pavilion Community of Liuyuan County,
Riding Jiang Dalong’s motorcycle, by the time he arrived, his mother, Jiang Meixian, had already prepared the meal.
Braised pork with radish, stir-fried cabbage, and egg drop soup.
These simple dishes couldn’t be considered either good or bad in that era, maybe slightly above average.
“Hai, you’ve been riding that motorcycle all day and running around outside, what exactly are you busy with?”
“You just up and quit such a good university; aren’t you going over to the Capital City?”
“Qingqing is a good girl.
You stay in the county all day and don’t go to the Capital City to spend time with her; aren’t you worried…”
Inside the tiny space of the small store, with a small dining table laid out, Chen Hai had only taken a few bites when his mother, Jiang Meixian, started nagging again.
At first, Chen Hai didn’t inform his parents about dropping out of university.
It was only six or seven days ago, when Jiang Meixian and Chen Zhonghua found it strange that their son was always home and not returning to the Capital City.
After their persistent questioning, Chen Hai finally told them that he had dropped out.
Since that day, whenever Chen Hai was present, Jiang Meixian never failed to grumble and nag a bit.
“Mom, I’m staying at home because I want to spend more time with you and Dad!”
“Don’t worry about me dropping out.
Going to university, it’s just so you can get a better job after graduation.”
“This kind of opportunity is indeed very important for most people, but do you think that your son, me, needs to wait to be assigned a job after graduation?”
…
Sticking a piece of cured pork into his mouth and chewing vigorously, Chen Hai spoke up, offering an explanation.
He had repeated this explanation to his parents many times.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he said, it seemed to be of no use.
In the eyes of his parents, it seemed that no amount of money could compare to the status of being a university graduate.
“Hai, just tell me the truth, did you have a falling out with Qingqing?”
“Otherwise, why would you drop out of a perfectly good university, leave the thriving Capital City, and instead shrink back to the county?”
Not knowing what came to mind, Jiang Meixian stopped eating, slammed her bowl on the table, and stared intently at Chen Hai as she questioned him.
“Qingqing’s family has such a prominent background.
When I first learned who her ancestors were, I was so scared I shivered several times!”
“Our Chen family is just an ordinary one.”
“When I first heard you were getting engaged to Qingqing, I thought it didn’t quite seem reliable!”
“If you really have fallen out and broken up, it’s not the end of the world.
Take it easy, Hai.”
“A man of valor doesn’t worry about finding a wife!”
“Given the seed of Chen Zhonghua, just spreading the word, all those aunts would definitely bring a large group of girls to our doorstep, enough to dazzle you…”
Before Chen Hai could speak, his father Chen Zhonghua already spoke up first, echoing Jiang Meixian.
While Jiang Meixian only suspected that there were emotional problems between her son and Qingqing,
For Chen Zhonghua, he seemed to have already confirmed that his son and that Qingqing had indeed broken up.
If you had to say why they thought this, it wasn’t really surprising.
After all, their family, going back generations, was still just ordinary farmers, never having produced any notable officials.
But Ye Qingqing, a descendant of a founding figure…
Thinking about her background, whether it was Jiang Meixian or Chen Zhonghua, they both felt uncertain about her marriage with their son Chen Hai.
Previously, they didn’t discuss these issues with Chen Hai, simply because it seemed that their son and Ye Qingqing looked quite affectionate, and they didn’t want to dampen his spirits.
But under the current circumstances, they couldn’t help but overthink…