Han Yuanzhong had a lot on his mind.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he thought, Yue Yihan wouldn’t take the bait, so there was nothing he could do.

As for Han Jiu.

After he arrived in Chuncheng, his grandparents made a special trip to the military base to see him.

Once they confirmed he was in good spirits, Mr. Han sighed in relief. "Seeing you doing well, your grandma and I can stop worrying. Otherwise, she kept thinking..."

"I’m not going to cause trouble. I’m just happy to finally be out from under my parents’ thumb!"

’It’s just farming. Besides, regular training wasn’t easy either!’

Han Jiu was good at convincing himself.

Seeing that Han Jiu understood what he meant, Mr. Han was completely relieved. He had been genuinely afraid that his grandson would cause trouble here, unhappy with his new assignment.

If that happened, it wouldn’t just be Han Jiu who was disgraced, but Han Yuanzhong and himself as well.

Han Jiu knew what his grandparents wanted to say. He had been too rebellious back in Beijing and was always causing trouble.

He was incredibly arrogant back then.

But ever since his last fight with Yue Yihan, the fact that Yue Yihan had so easily subdued him weighed heavily on his mind.

It made him realize that there was always someone better out there.

’Being the best among the new recruits doesn’t mean you’re truly strong. True strength is being like Yue Yihan—unassuming, but capable of a fatal strike the moment he makes a move.’ That was true strength.

He knew that Yue Yihan’s aura came from having been on a real battlefield.

And the battlefield was what Han Jiu yearned for.

However, he had played the part of a little troublemaker in Beijing for so long that he had no idea how to say anything gentle, not even to his own grandparents.

He was just stubborn.

Mr. Han knew his grandson’s nature and didn’t press the issue.

"Then you just behave yourself here. If you have time, come visit us in Anong County. If not, just focus on your farming and practice your cooking. Even a simple potato and cabbage stew is delicious if you make it right!"

"...Fine, fine, I get it. Next time I’m back, I’ll make you potato and cabbage stew."

Han Jiu waved his hand awkwardly, trying to get his grandparents to leave quickly. Couldn’t they see everyone was staring at him?

He...

’He’s over twenty, not a little kid anymore!’

Seeing Han Jiu’s embarrassment, Mr. Han led Han Mother away. But before leaving, he shoved a roasted sweet potato into Han Jiu’s hands. "I roasted it myself. It’s crazy good!"

After saying that, he turned and left.

Han Mother followed behind, chuckling.

Nothing made her happier than seeing her grandson had matured so much!

She had originally thought Han Jiu would be extremely dissatisfied with being reassigned as a cook, but to her surprise—

it turned out that her eldest son and his wife were the most upset, while Han Jiu himself was quite happy.

Watching his grandparents leave, Han Jiu stared at the roasted sweet potato in his hand. He was silent for a long moment before breaking it open and taking a huge bite.

Oof... so hot!

But so sweet!

’When did his grandpa learn to roast sweet potatoes this well?’

’Before, if you asked him to roast an ear of corn, he’d burn it to a crisp, totally inedible. And now he can roast sweet potatoes!?’

’Looks like everyone gets more capable after spending time with my younger uncle.’

’As expected of—’

’No, I’ll never admit Yue Yihan is my uncle. I’m going to defeat him and become the new King of Soldiers!’

With that thought, he wolfed down half of the sweet potato in one go.

The consequence of this was that he couldn’t speak for three days. His tongue was badly burned...

Only his comrades-in-arms knew of his misfortune. And every day, his comrades would taunt him, sticking their tongues out at him. "BLEH BLEH BLEH, so pitiful. You can’t eat anything. You poor thing~"

"OOF-HISS—YOO!"

Yes, Han Jiu was trying to say, "I’m going to kill you!"

But his mouth hurt too much!

-

The story of Han Jiu burning his mouth at the base was eventually told to Xie Changning by Yue Yihan as a joke. Xie Changning felt that Han’s parents had a right to know about Han Jiu’s recent situation.

So, she told Han’s parents about it.

Han Mother turned and looked darkly at Mr. Han. "I seem to recall that you were the one who gave Han Jiu that roasted sweet potato, weren’t you?"

How well did he wrap it, for it to still be hot enough to give their grandson blisters after such a long car ride!

Mr. Han rubbed the tip of his nose, looking a little guilty. "Heheheh, I didn’t think it would burn him. He’s a grown man, can’t even eat properly, and still makes his grandparents worry. Honestly."

As he spoke, he cautiously watched Xie Changning’s expression.

’I hope my younger daughter-in-law doesn’t misunderstand. I’m really not the kind of old man who abuses children!’

"Roasted sweet potatoes are hot, but they’re not meant to be eaten in one bite. Han Jiu was probably just too excited. There’s no need to blame yourself, Mr. Han." After learning that Mr. Han was the one who gave it, the smile in Xie Changning’s eyes deepened.

Mr. Han nodded guiltily.

Even knowing it was Han Jiu’s own fault, he couldn’t help but feel guilty.

If he hadn’t given him that sweet potato, none of this would have happened.

After their talk, Xie Changning went to rest.

The Autumn Trade Fair was in less than two days, and her goods were already in transit.

She had to supervise the loading of the goods onto the vehicles tomorrow and have the factory workers head over in advance.

Xie Changning had been very tired lately. The family didn’t disturb her much. She basically came home each day, played with her child for a bit, then ate and went to sleep. She had to wake up before dawn to get back to work.

This repeated day after day.

Until the day of the Autumn Trade Fair arrived—

The day before leaving for Shencheng City to attend the Autumn Trade Fair, Xie Changning had to go to Chuncheng for a meeting with the leaders and to purchase train tickets.

So, on that day, Xie Changning arrived in Chuncheng early in the morning.

Inside the meeting room.

Basically, all the leaders of Lin Province were here. Everyone was eager to hear about the main products Xie Changning was launching this time, as well as her sales target.

Ever since the 900 million last time, a few tens of millions of US Dollars no longer seemed like much to them.

Ahem, they felt they had become a bit arrogant themselves.

The moment Xie Changning entered, all eyes couldn’t help but fall on her. When they saw she wasn’t carrying anything, they were a little surprised.

Especially Director Zhao.

"You came this time without a project proposal?"

"Why would I bring that?" Xie Changning said with a smile, sitting in her designated seat. "It wouldn’t be good if someone with ulterior motives saw it, right? It’s all up here in my head!"

She tapped her head as she spoke to Director Zhao.

Hearing Xie Changning say this, Director Zhao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The provincial leaders were all very interested in Xie Changning’s plans. They had known for a while that she wasn’t bringing any newly developed products this time, but they didn’t believe for a second that she was out of new ideas.

Xie Changning did indeed have them, but she didn’t elaborate much to the leaders.

She simply stated her small goal for this time: one hundred million.

A high-ranking leader raised his eyebrows. "I recall that Mr. Xie’s transaction volume at the last spring trade fair was 900 million. Why are you satisfied with just 100 million this time?"

Shouldn’t you be aiming higher?

"Sir, you may not be aware, but the reason the transaction volume was so high last time was because many of the buyers were distributors. This time, there won’t be as many distributors, so naturally, the transaction volume won’t be as high."