"There's no rush with this matter. You manage the factory well, and we can discuss business expansion later.
I'll give you a few contact numbers. Once I leave Jiangcheng, you can reach out to me if anything comes up," Zhang Liunian said, giving Chen Zhenghe his contact information.
Chen Zhenghe sensed that Zhang Liunian didn't entirely trust his ability to make money. He took the contact information and explained, "This factory doesn't just make a hundred thousand a year. If you calculate it properly, it's closer to one hundred and fifty thousand annually. However, because I received favors from the villagers in the past, I've been giving them fifty thousand each year as a way to repay them.
Zhang Liunian raised an eyebrow. "Tell me more about this."
"This factory was originally a collective enterprise. Later, it became less profitable, and with the reform and opening up, the factory was put up for sale. At that time, I borrowed money from everywhere to acquire it.
After I took over the factory, I hired those who had helped me.
Simultaneously, to repay those who lent me money, I also voluntarily distributed funds to them every year.
However, the factory is no longer mine, and I certainly won't be distributing any more funds in the future.
I will explain this to them later today."
Chen Zhenghe paused mid-sentence, immediately clarifying that he would handle this matter properly and would not continue this practice.
"You really need to handle this properly," Zhang Liunian nodded, dropping the subject. He then shifted to other matters concerning the factory, such as the ninety thousand piglets that were about to be sold...
Meanwhile, Jiang Qingqing at home was suddenly visited by a group of people from the Jiang family. They sat before her and brazenly declared their intention to follow Zhang Liunian to Nancheng.
They wanted Zhang Liunian to give them jobs, jobs with high salaries. They also hoped he would help them solve their housing issues. In essence, they wanted to rely on Zhang Liunian alone to instantly elevate their entire family to a life of wealth, housing, and employment.
Jiang Qingqing, who was already disappointed with her family, listened to their shameless words, which angered her to the point that she was speechless for a long time. Only after they had finished their demands did she finally manage to utter three words: "Impossible."
Upon hearing this, Jiang's father and mother immediately put on their parental airs and, one after another, began to criticize Jiang Qingqing.
"Qingqing, you are the daughter that Mother carried for ten months. Now that your life is good, you should lift up your maternal family. Only if your two brothers also live well will your own life be good for a long time."
"Qingqing, your mother is right. We, your maternal family, are the support for you married daughters. You've grown up, so don't trust a man too much. A woman without a maternal family will not have a good life."
After Jiang's father and mother finished, Jiang Xiaoqing couldn't help but join in.
"Third Sister, don't just look at how good your brother-in-law is to you now. He travels on business every day, is good-looking, and rich. Who knows what he might do behind your back. You mustn't be foolish and abandon your maternal family for a man."
Jiang Qingshan and Jiang Qingtian, being men, didn't dare to speak up directly, but their tacit approval made it clear they felt the same way.
Unfortunately, in Jiang Qingqing's heart, her maternal family, with whom she had lived for over a decade, was not as good as her husband Zhang Liunian, whom she had lived with for five years.
Therefore, their words had no effect on her; instead, they only made her more angry.
"I don't want to hear you speak ill of Liunian. He is the one who treats me the best, he will not betray me, nor will he wrong me.
You say bad things about him and try to sow discord between us, but it's useless. I don't believe it, not a single word."
Jiang Qingqing's words left the Jiang family dumbfounded, unable to believe that such love-struck pronouncements could come from the daughter they watched grow up.
How did they not know before that this daughter was so easily captured by a man?
And sowing discord? They were clearly speaking with good intentions, thinking of her, yet she misunderstood them so much.
How could she be so naive, believing a man's words? If there were truly so many good men in the world, there wouldn't be so much misfortune.
Especially men like Zhang Liunian, who were exceptionally handsome, the kind that women couldn't help but be drawn to, and who were also capable of making money. If such men were honest, they wouldn't believe a word of it.
Only Jiang Qingqing, this silly girl, foolishly expressed her trust. She would surely regret it one day.
"You ungrateful girl, you won't shed tears until you see the coffin. You believe a man's words. Sooner or later, you'll have nowhere to cry," Jiang's mother, infuriated by her daughter's words, blurted out a curse.
"I only believe Liunian's words. I don't believe anyone else's words, including yours.
I'm not stupid. I know who treats me well.
Even if he can't treat me well for the rest of his life, I accept it."
Jiang Qingqing didn't expect to be in love with Zhang Liunian forever, but she didn't want to ruin their current happiness because of future possibilities.
Jiang's mother's face darkened, and she turned away from Jiang Qingqing's innocent, sweet demeanor.
Jiang's father, seeing this, interjected at the opportune moment, "You fool, a man's mouth is full of lies. Keep your wits about you!
As a woman, if he kicks you out of the house someday, what can you do about it?
But if we, your maternal family, live well, and something happens to you, we, your maternal family, will surely support you.
Of course, this is under the premise that we live well. But now, you have the opportunity to help your maternal family, and you're not. If our lives become difficult in the future, even if we want to help you, we won't be able to.
And we're not asking for handouts. We're just asking Liunian to give us good jobs. This won't harm you, and you don't need to rush to turn your back on your family.
Think carefully if this makes sense.
Alright, we'll come back tomorrow. You think about it carefully by yourself."
After Jiang's father finished speaking, he led his reluctant family away.
However, they didn't go to a guesthouse. Instead, they inquired about Zhang Liunian's businesses in Datang County, and then the whole family went to see Zhang Liunian's crayfish restaurant there.
Yesterday, they had visited Nancheng and seen the establishments there. Now they came here to get a clear understanding of just how extensive Zhang Liunian's family fortune was.
Upon arriving at the crayfish restaurant, they found that Zhang Liunian's crayfish restaurant in this county was doing extremely well.
This gave Jiang's second brother the idea of returning to Jiangcheng to sell crayfish.
He shared this idea with his parents, but they dismissed it as wishful thinking. They argued that Jiangcheng was different from Nancheng. Nancheng had flat terrain, but Jiangcheng had many mountains and little farmland, and no lakes. Where could they find crayfish?
Even if they could find them, it was unlikely they could do as well as Zhang Liunian.
However, the second brother felt that although their water resources were scarce, they had plenty of ditches, and crayfish were everywhere.
But no one in the Jiang family paid any attention to his ideas or supported them.
They were now awestruck by Zhang Liunian's several establishments. Not to mention the two extremely popular businesses in Nancheng, the ones in the county town were also doing incredibly well.
"I heard he also set up a factory in his own village, and it's a large factory with over a thousand employees," Jiang's mother said, looking enviously at the business in the crayfish restaurant.
"Shall we go and see tomorrow?" Jiang's father suggested.
"But we don't know anyone," Jiang's mother said with difficulty.
"..." This truly stumped them. They could find out about Zhang Liunian's restaurants because many people knew about them.
But if they wanted to find out which village he was from, very few people would know.
After all, a county had so many villages that one couldn't count them with just a few hands.
Zhang Liunian was not aware of the affairs happening here, but he too encountered trouble.
The situation was that he had finished handing over matters concerning the Fuqiang Pig Farm with Chen Zhenghe. However, when he went to the hospital to visit Zhang Qian, he found that the person was gone.