Back To The 80s-Chapter 512 - 504: Unfeeling_1

Ou Tiannan was taken aback by the question, looking at Ou Ruoshui, he sighed and said, "Ruoshui, I thought I’d be the person you trust most? Such a big issue occurred, and you didn’t even tell me."

Ou Ruoshui calmly gazed at Ou Tiannan, softly asking, "Didn’t you say that we’re cousins? How could you not know that my original name was Ma Xuerong?"

Ou Tiannan laughed as though he’d expected this, "Your previous life was too hard, so I decided on a new name for you, representing a new life. This isn’t the place to discuss this, let’s go for a walk."

Ou Ruoshui didn’t object, and followed Ou Tiannan slowly towards the Yellow River.

"Ruoshui, now that you have found your daughter, I am happy for you. I hope that in the future, you won’t treat me as a stranger, okay?" Ou Tiannan said carefully.

Ou Ruoshui remained silent, her lips tightly shut, her serious expression suggesting a distancing barrier.

Ou Tiannan watched her nervously, repeatedly clenching the hand in his pocket.

...

After May 1st, the house in the small courtyard was finally built. They just needed to wait for it to dry before applying lime.

The weather gradually began to heat up, and people could wear summer clothes during noon.

Doudou, who was ten months old, became more agile when dressed in lighter clothes and could already shuffle back and forth while holding onto the edge of the kang.

Bai Xiaolan originally planned to call her mother in June to tell her about her pregnancy. Now, seeing how energetic Doudou was, she decided to call earlier, to see if Zhou Siping had time.

When Zhou Siping received the call from his daughter, he rebuked her for not telling him about such a big matter sooner. He immediately arranged for his third son to buy train tickets, the sooner the better.

Gu Xiaobei recently didn’t go to the store much and assigned Chen Zhao to oversee the packaging of the tea leaves in the factory. She would occasionally visit, but mostly stayed at home looking after the children. Due to what she had learnt about economic development history at university, specifically referring to the frequent policy mistakes during the last years of the eighties and the early nineties, she felt that as long as she could keep things stable during this period, there was no need to rush and grow her business.

Compared to the tranquil life of Gu Xiaobei, Ji Xiangdong’s work had come to a standstill.

Zhan Hezhi superseded Ji Xiangdong by directly recommending Ou Tiannan to the leaders. Ou Tiannan offered a huge temptation: an immediate investment of 500,000 into the province city. If the subsequent development was good, he would add more money, but with one additional condition, he subtly mentioned that he was interested in Gu Xiaobei’s factory.

500,000! That quantity was unheard of. There wasn’t an investor in the entire province who was willing to put down that much.

If they could retain Ou Tiannan, it would be a spectacular achievement. He was like a shining golden phoenix.

Gu Xiaobei’s factory suddenly became insignificant.

The leaders decided at a meeting to have Ji Xiangdong complete this task. No matter what, he had to convince Gu Xiaobei to cooperate with the city’s plan and retain this investor.

Ji Xiangdong sat at his desk, gazing at the blue sky outside the window, contemplating how to protect Gu Xiaobei’s factory.

...

Ou Tiannan sat across from Ma Chengwen, looked at him and confidently said, "This time, Gu Xiaobei’s factory is definitely going down. I’ve kept my promise to you."

Ma Chengwen gently tapped the table, "Is there any way to make her suffer more? The more she suffers, the more certain people will be heartbroken." A cruel expression flashed across his face as he spoke.

Ou Tiannan snorted, "You may not dare to do it. Nothing is crueler than destroying a family."

Upon hearing this, Ma Chengwen paused, shaking his head, "Don’t provoke me. I’m not like I was when I was sixteen or seventeen. I know what to do and what not to do."

"What on earth does this woman have on you that you cling so stubbornly to her?" Ou Tiannan asked, clearly curious.

"No grievances." How could Ma Chengwen tell Ou Tiannan the truth? He didn’t trust him either. Right now, they were merely using each other.

...

Bai Xiaolan sat under the grape trellis, watching the delighted Doudou walk along the edge of the kang, and said to Gu Xiaobei, "Let’s call Fang Jing when we have time."

Gu Xiaobei was presently braiding Xiaopang’s hair. Upon hearing Bai Xiaolan’s words, she nodded, "Alright. It’s just that she lives so far away. I wish we could go see her."

"Do you think we should tell her that my dad’s sick?"

Gu Xiaobei paused, "Let’s tell her, but don’t mention when he fell ill, or else Fang Jing will worry too much."

Bai Xiaolan nodded, "It upsets me to even think about it. I actually quite like Fang Jing." While speaking, she saw Gu Xiaobei fashion two pineapple braids for Xiaopang and couldn’t help but laugh, "That looks so cute. You’ll be in charge of our daughter’s braids in the future."

"Sure," Gu Xiaobei happily agreed.

"By the way, when I called my mom earlier, she said that my third brother sold the pieces of jade I brought home. Guess how much for?" Bai Xiaolan asked with a mix of mystery and delight.

From Gu Xiaobei’s perspective, it seemed like it hadn’t been sold for cheap. She played along and asked, "How much?"

"One piece sold for 500!" Bai Xiaolan held out her palm and announced excitedly.

Gu Xiaobei knew that in recent years, Capital City was not short of wealthy people. When people are rich, they want to play with antiques. But relatively speaking, there are fewer buyers and it’s necessary to encounter a particularly knowledgeable buyer.

An excited Bai Xiaolan proposed, "Do you think I should sell all the jade stones I have?"

Gu Xiaobei shook her head, "Let’s wait a bit longer, the prices are not too high now. We’re not lacking anything to eat or wear and don’t urgently need money, so there’s no hurry."

"Then let’s wait. Actually, I’m thinking about having Ayinu’s brother pick up some stones for me by the Shule River. I’ll pay them and that’s it," Bai Xiaolan revealed her thoughts.

"It’s not impossible. They already think it’s good that the stones can be sold for money. The only problems are the quality and logistics," Gu Xiaobei remarked.

"I’m just considering it right now. I’ll think more on it when the kids grow up," Bai Xiaolan said with a smile.

"If it’s feasible, it would be nice to open a jade purchase and processing plant. If you carve raw stones into crafts and sell them, it’ll be even better. Be it ornaments like Guanyin, Buddha, bracelets and necklaces, they’ll all sell for sure," Gu Xiaobei thought that the industry was currently in its infancy, but it wouldn’t be long before it hit its boom.

Bai Xiaolan didn’t understand this, so she just casually listened and the topic switched to what they’d have for dinner.

"Mom took Dad for a walk. They should be back soon, right? Let’s have cold noodles tonight. Lu Zhanguo will join us for dinner," Gu Xiaobei uttered, prompting Bai Xiaolan to tease her.

"I’ve noticed that, whenever Zhanguo is home and you’re cooking, we always eat some kind of noodles. Only when he’s not home for dinner do we have rice or steamed buns."

Gu Xiaobei gave her a look, "That evaluation is not truthful. Don’t we sometimes also eat dumplings?"