Starting a new chapter in life

In less than half a month, the peach blossoms had already shown signs of fading, and the elderly couple did not plan to keep them any longer. They decided to go back to their home in Shanghai first to check on the operation of Xiangmanyuan, and then go to Beijing to see their child.

After saying goodbye to Director Wen, we encountered some villagers on our way out. Some of them warmly invited us to come back in July or August when they had time, as that would be both peach season and a great time for mushroom picking.

They also mentioned that visitors could pick peaches and gather various mushrooms in the mountains with the villagers. The elderly couple chatted happily with others, saying they would come back to visit when they had time.

They stayed there for a month in total, and they were really tired of it and homesick.

Back on Changxing Island, Xiangmanyuan was operating normally, and Master Zhou's children were able to work independently. His son worked as the head chef at Xiangmanyuan and was quite skilled in cooking; he had even gone to a culinary school for further training.

Jingyan rarely comes back, so she stayed at the shop a little longer. During her free time, Chef Zhou came to see Jingyan to ask about the initial investment for opening a restaurant.

Jingyan immediately understood. This young man wanted to open his own small restaurant, but he had no idea how much capital investment was required and wanted to learn from others. Xiangmanyuan's business had been relatively stable in recent years, but Jingyan hadn't really interfered much in managing it.

Furthermore, now that both her children have settled in Beijing, she's getting older and wants to spend more time with them, so she really doesn't have the energy to manage the shops here.

It's alright now that Master Zhou is here, but he's getting older and older. The future belongs to the younger generation. Since Master Zhou wants to open a restaurant, why not take over Xiangmanyuan in one go? That way, she can also earn some income, which is a win-win situation.

"Xiao Zhou, how about you take over Xiangmanyuan? You know, I haven't really managed this restaurant these past few years; your dad's been running the kitchen. If you're interested, I can transfer the business to you."

You can go home and discuss transferring the shop to me. Will you pay rent as a lease or will you buy the shop outright? Of course, all the ingredients and equipment in the shop will need to be converted into cash and given to me.

Whether you rent or buy the shop, the price will be based on the market rate. I won't give you a discount just because we're old acquaintances. After all, our customer base is very stable, so this is an extra bonus, and I won't charge you for it.

Master Zhou was pleasantly surprised and went home to discuss it. He returned with a reply in two or three days. The current price of a shop is between nine thousand and ten thousand yuan per square meter. Jingyan's shop can sell for more than two million yuan, but they can't afford that much money.

I was thinking of renting it, but of course, it wasn't cheap. Such a big shop would cost about 140,000 yuan a year in rent, but at least I could afford it. I would pay quarterly, but paying annually would be a big burden.

Since they had a long-standing relationship, Jingyan readily agreed. Both parties hired professionals to draft the agreement and signed the transfer contract and lease contract.

The quarterly rent for the store is 35,000 yuan. Currently, the ingredients, utensils, and furniture in the store are discounted by about 50,000 yuan. Jingyan received 85,000 yuan in one lump sum.

The original staff remained the same, only the owner changed. Jingyan didn't come here often before, so the change didn't really make a big difference.

My third sister's lease for the chicken farm was actually due to expire in 2003, but it was renewed for another ten years. Everything was going smoothly until last year when someone inquired about selling the chicken farm. My third sister refused at the time, but fortunately, Ronggang was quick-witted and put in some effort to find out more.

Someone has their eye on this business. Knowing that they don't intend to sell the chicken farm, they want to apply for a piece of land to build a factory. Changxing Island is only so big, and the number of permanent residents is only so many. Two chicken farms will definitely affect the business.

His mother is almost sixty years old. After running the chicken farm for fourteen years, she has accumulated a lot of savings. It would be better to quit as soon as possible so that his mother can enjoy life earlier and he can find another way out.

His daughter is in fourth grade this year and her grades are average. There is only one school for primary, middle and high school on Changxing Island, so there is not much choice. It would be better for her to live in the city now.

Buy a house and transfer your household registration here. Having a local household registration in Shanghai gives you an advantage when taking the college entrance exam. Previously, it was impossible to register your household on Changxing Island, and it was also difficult to do so without a house in the city. Now, this will solve all the problems.

When Jingyan and the others returned, things were almost done. The transfer contract for the chicken farm had been signed, and they were currently busy looking at houses in Haishi, still debating whether to buy a new house or a second-hand house, since there was a significant price difference between the two.

Buying houses is something Jingyan excels at. After running around with her third sister and Ronggang for a few days, they finally found a suitable apartment in Xuhui District. It was a newly built development, constructed by the construction company owned by Yuan Xiaoling and her husband.

Because she had inside connections, the building materials used were guaranteed, and the construction and design teams were also excellent. Plus, with the employee discount, the third sister gritted her teeth and made a bold decision to buy two apartments, one upstairs and one downstairs, just enough for her two sons to each have one.

As for her, she plans to live with Rongqiang after the house is renovated. Rongqiang is not married and does not have a girlfriend, so she can cook for the children and take care of their daily life.

She also didn't want to live with Rong Gang and his wife, since the two generations had very different habits in many ways, and it wasn't necessary.

Jingyan wondered if her third sister didn't have enough money, and suggested that she buy a smaller apartment so she could live alone and be more comfortable, but her third sister refused.

"There's no need to buy so many houses. Once Rongqiang gets married, I want to go back to my hometown. To be honest, after being away for over ten years, I really miss my hometown."

I've made quite a bit of money over the years. Ronggang paid for his house himself; I only gave him a small subsidy. Rongqiang also paid half for his own house. I still have a lot of money left; if I wanted to buy one, I could afford it too.

You, as the younger sister, are doing all the work of a mother. Don't you ever get tired? We've had a really good life these past few years. This time, we even got a much better deal on the house thanks to you. That's enough."

Seeing that she insisted, Jingyan didn't try to persuade her anymore. She turned to ask Ronggang what his plans were. Rongqiang had become a sales manager at a foreign company. It was said that the head of the head office had come to inspect the company recently and had a very good impression of him. There might be room for him to be promoted, so there was no need to worry about that.

Rong Gang smiled and said, "I discussed it with my second brother before, and he suggested that I open a small machining factory. The initial investment wouldn't be too big, around three to five hundred thousand yuan would be enough."

I thought that was a good idea, but after buying the house, I don't have enough money. I just borrowed about 100,000 yuan from my mom, and I'm thinking of seeing if I can get a loan from the bank to start the processing plant.

Jingyan calculated the money in her hand, "Your aunt is investing in you. I should have enough for 400,000. If it makes a profit, I'll get a share of the profits; if it loses, it's all on me."

Rong Gang laughed: "If we make a profit, I'll give it to my aunt as a dividend. If we lose money, it'll be considered a loan from my aunt. I'll pay it back slowly when I make money in the future."

Jingyan wasn't going to argue with him. She had already done most of what she could. As for whether she could make money in the end, that was something for the younger generation to worry about.

With things settled here, the couple prepared to go to Beijing. Before they could even set off, they received a call from He Jin'an, who said he would be coming back in a few days to collect the villa in Xuhui District.

The original tenant was an overseas Chinese who owned a company in China. He actually bought a villa in Shanghai, but he and his elderly family members preferred the Western-style house, saying it had a more vintage feel, so they continued to live there.

This year, the old lady in the family passed away. This place holds too many memories for the whole family. They contacted An'an several times to try to buy it, but were refused. So they decided to move back to their own villa. Therefore, An'an came back this time to take possession of the house.

Now that the house has been given to An'an, Jingyan is even less inclined to get involved in other matters. She and He Zhijun tend to the vegetable garden at home. In fact, they are often away from home these past two years. The vegetable garden is managed by people from the shop, and most of the vegetables in the shop's employees' meals come from this garden and the shop's vegetable garden.

Now that the shop has been transferred, and the elderly couple at home may not come back often, Jingyan still gave the front door key to Master Zhou. She wants them to come and take care of the yard whenever they have time, and she won't charge them for vegetables. They just need to do their part to look after the house.

Master Zhou was of course willing. Vegetables could be produced here all year round, which could save a lot of money on groceries. Now that they had some free time, the two of them treated it as exercise. Otherwise, it wouldn't matter if they didn't take care of it, since it wouldn't go to waste.

An'an's move to the new house went very smoothly. He mentioned it when he came to pick up his parents; the house had been well taken care of, he thought the location was good, and the house itself hadn't undergone any major renovations.

The photographer he brought back this time has already taken photos of the house from every angle and in every room. He plans to edit them and release the photos, suggesting that the house could be used as a filming location for TV series and movies set during the warlord era.

Such rent is incomparable to renting a place. Of course, without external rental channels, it's all for naught. So, many times it's not that you don't make money, but that you don't have the channels.

Jingyan let him do as he pleased. After packing her clothes and belongings, the elderly couple really weren't planning to return to Haishi to live permanently this time. Before leaving, Jingyan handed the house keys to her third sister.

In the future, when the whole family gathers for holidays, the house in the city is small and it's crowded when the whole family is together, so we can come over for the New Year. It's also convenient for them to stay at other times if they want to. Of course, the main thing is to ask them to help look after the house.

The third sister took the keys, feeling very reluctant to part with her younger sister who had lent a helping hand during her most difficult time and had taken care of her for more than ten years. Although they didn't see each other often, they were in the same place and could see each other frequently. She also spent every Chinese New Year here. She was truly reluctant to let her younger sister leave so suddenly.

But as a mother, she understood Jingyan's choice. Both children were in Beijing, and it was only natural for her to want to go and be with them. She, Rongqiang, and Ronggang saw the family of three off at the airport, bidding them a reluctant farewell, knowing that they would not see each other again for a long time.

Back in Beijing, Jingyan wanted to live alone. Although the apartment was convenient, it was too noisy with too many people living there, especially during rush hour. She preferred a quieter environment.

She originally wanted to stay at Zhizhi's house, but when Chen Ping called her a while ago, she was very happy to say that she had rented out the house and the rent was not low. She couldn't just take it back right after renting it out, that would be too unfair.

Besides, she also wanted to be closer to her daughter.

Unfortunately, He Zhijun's wish to live closer to his daughter was not fulfilled. She said she wanted to buy a house to live in, but before the children could help her choose, Shen Runze encouraged He Zhijun to buy near his house, saying that it was close to the newly built film and television base in Beijing.

As long as Zhizhi is filming in Beijing, that place will most likely be where she stays for a long time. This reason alone moved He Zhijun and Jing Yan. Based on their trust in their friend, the two of them went to look at houses in Shen Runze's car.

The apartment complex was newly built, and the community looked quite upscale with ample spacing between buildings. Perhaps the two of them were getting old and their minds weren't as sharp anymore; on a whim, they bought an 80-square-meter apartment. In the city center, apartments were selling for 15,000 yuan per square meter, but this one was only 8,000 yuan, fully furnished—just add some furniture and they could move in. The two felt they had gotten a great deal, a real bargain.

After everything was settled and we moved in, we realized how much of a rip-off Shen Runze was. This place is really remote. To go to the supermarket, it takes at least 30 minutes by car. Buying groceries is okay, though, as there are people selling their own homegrown vegetables by the roadside.

Moreover, the environment is indeed quiet and secluded, and it's rare to see anyone here. How could it not be quiet? The only advantage is that there is a film and television base next door. It is said that it was built just over a year ago, and film crews have already started shooting here.

The elderly couple couldn't stay idle at home, so they bought a ground-floor house where they could fence off a small yard outside the window. Jingyan didn't want to grow vegetables anymore, so she planted some roses instead, and they're growing quite well.

In their spare time, the two would stroll around the film and television base. Their young faces looked energetic. Since they were local residents, the film and television base wasn't very strict, and they easily got in.

Unfortunately, after watching for a long time, all they saw were unfamiliar people filming there. Neither Zhizhi nor Lu Xiaoxiao were seen. By August, the two were to have a meal with the Fu family, which would be considered a meeting between the two families, and He Jin'an was preparing for their engagement.

Jing Yan couldn't help but sigh, "Time flies so fast."

The two of them took this meeting very seriously and even asked An'an to take them to the mall to buy new clothes, determined not to embarrass their children. After dressing up, He Zhijun even got a haircut, showing off his impressive appearance.

When the day finally arrived, Jingyan couldn't help but smile upon meeting him. It seemed that the Fu family elders also valued this meeting, as his clothes and hairstyle were both new. The two sides smiled at each other, everything understood without words.

Once inside the restaurant's private room, they exchanged polite greetings while ordering, neither wanting to leave a bad impression. However, the two children couldn't stand it anymore and ordered their own food. The meal was more refined than Jingyan had ever been in her life. It was quite tiring to pretend, but for the sake of the children, it was all worth it.