The Official Ladder: I ascend to the pinnacle of power, wielding the power of life and death.

(PS: The previous chapter has been revised. If you feel the connection is not smooth, please go back and reread the previous chapter.)

After not returning for a while, Jiang Yiming discovered that the dirt road in front of his house had been turned into a cement road.

When I got home, I first chatted with my mother about everyday things before pulling my father aside to talk about serious matters.

"Mom, do we still have any roasted broad beans left?"

"Yes, I'll make you a bowl."

Jiang's mother prepared a large bowl of stir-fried broad beans and took two empty porcelain bowls.

In the past, when the father and son had nothing to do, they would sit under the grapevines in the yard, eating broad beans and drinking locally brewed grain liquor.

Jiang Yiming poured a bowl for his father and himself.

"Is your work at the county party committee office going smoothly?"

After taking a big gulp, Jiang Yunzhou asked.

"My boss takes good care of me; apart from being a bit busy, everything is fine."

"That's good."

Jiang Yunzhou said, "We should be grateful to our superiors. But we must not forget the rules. A leader is a leader. No matter how good the relationship is, we must not forget that we are superiors and subordinates and we must maintain sufficient respect."

"I remember."

Jiang Yiming nodded and said, "Dad, have you ever thought about going out and doing something?"

Jiang Yunzhou fell silent. He picked up the porcelain bowl, downed it in one gulp, glanced in his mother's direction, and said, "Why isn't there any?"

"It's just that I've tried several times before and failed. I finally paid off the debt. If I try to go out and do something again, your mother will probably object."

Jiang Yunzhou said, "However, I plan to discuss it with your mother again after Qianqian gets into university. After all, although you have a job in the system, your salary is not high. It will be a lot of pressure to buy a house and get married. I will go out and try my luck to see if I can reduce your financial burden."

"Don't worry about the money, I have it. As long as you want to go out and make your own way, I'll support you."

"Are you rich?"

Jiang Yunzhou was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Yiming, I've always trusted you, so I haven't emphasized the importance of integrity and honesty to you. Although our family is poor, we must never do anything illegal or disorderly."

"Dad, don't worry, all my money is legal. I wrote a book in my spare time, it got published, and it sold quite well."

Jiang Yiming explained, "I invested the money I earned in the stock market and made quite a bit of money."

"I wanted to tell you this before, but I never had the chance."

"It doesn't matter whether you say it or not. You're an adult, you can take responsibility for yourself, and it's your freedom to do whatever you want."

Jiang Yunzhou laughed and said, "I've heard of the stock market too. I've heard that you just put money in and can't do anything about it. If the stock market goes up, you make money; if it goes down, you lose money."

"Yiming, I've heard that many people have lost everything because of stock trading. You should be careful not to gamble too much, lest you never be able to recover."

"Dad, you're quite trendy! You even know about stocks."

Jiang Yiming was somewhat surprised.

“Your dad doesn’t have any other hobbies, he just loves reading newspapers and listening to the news. He learned all of these things from them.”

Jiang's mother passed by and chimed in.

"I forgot about it."

Jiang Yiming suddenly realized and laughed, "Dad, don't worry, I'll know when to stop."

"I believe you."

Jiang Yunzhou smiled and said, "If you can provide some funds, I'll try to borrow some more. I want to open a fresh food supermarket."

“Now that state-owned stores have all closed down, many citizens have nowhere to buy things. Although roadside vegetable vendors are cheap, they are not fixed and are very remote. It is inconvenient to buy vegetables in slightly more prosperous areas. As long as we can provide fresh vegetables, even if they are more expensive than those from street vendors, people will buy them. I believe there is definitely a market for this.”

"Of course, if we can find a supply channel and get fresh vegetables directly from growers, firstly, we can reduce the number of intermediaries, which will save time and ensure that the delivered vegetables are fresher; secondly, without middlemen, we can save costs and lower our prices, which will be more attractive to customers."

"I thought you were going to go into the construction industry."

Why get into the construction industry?

Jiang Yunzhou was somewhat confused.

"Oh, it's nothing, I was just saying it offhand. What you're doing is great, I think it's very feasible."

Jiang Yiming naturally couldn't say that in his previous life, he ran a construction company, and a pretty good one at that.

However, his life changed, which in turn affected his father's life.

What about Xia Shining?

In reality, her life has already changed because of her, so is there still a possibility for the two of them to be together?

Thinking of this, he felt a little worried, but he also knew that worrying would not help. After all, matters of the heart are not like other things where you can prepare in advance.

"Do you think it's feasible?"

Jiang Yunzhou was very happy to receive his son's approval: "Then I'll start preparing tomorrow."

"I'll help you find a location; you can decide whether it's suitable later. As for the vegetable source, you'll need to negotiate it yourself. I remember that Dongchuan County next door is a major vegetable-growing county; you can go and make some contact."

Jiang Yiming took out 20,000 yuan in cash from his bag: "Take this money first, and I'll give you more if it's not enough."

"By the way, I'm going to the city for training, which will probably take about a month. I might not have time to come back during that time. Call me if there's any progress."

"It took you so long?"

Jiang's mother finished tidying up the dishes and sat down as well.

"He's an adult now, don't always treat him like a child."

Jiang Yunzhou said.

"No matter how old my son is, he's still a child in my eyes."

Jiang's mother said, "You two continue chatting, I'll go pack my son's things."

“Yiming, recently, a lot of people have come to our house. There are leaders from the township, cadres from the village, and of course, relatives from both sides. They all come under the guise of visiting us to ask you for help.”

Jiang Yunzhou said, "I've already made up excuses. Just focus on your work, your mother and I will take care of things at home."

"Was the road in front of the gate built by the township government?"

Jiang Yiming said.

“Yes, I told them not to build it, but they insisted on doing it. Although they said it was to make it easier for people in the area to walk, they ended up building an extra section of road right up to our doorstep, which has caused a lot of gossip among the neighbors.”

Jiang Yunzhou said, "You've been busy with work, so I didn't tell you. Oh, and there's a gift list too. I'll have your mom show it to you."

"Xiujuan, find the gift list."

Jiang's mother took the gift list and said, "When they came to visit us, they brought gifts. We told them to take them back, but they wouldn't listen. These things are all piled up in the room, and we haven't touched them. Your father said we'll deal with them when you come back."

Jiang Yiming took the gift list and looked at it; the gifts weren't expensive.

"From now on, if you are not familiar with someone, just return it. If they insist on sending you something, tell them to come find me."

"If it's a gift from relatives and friends, you should find an opportunity to return the favor. If you don't have the opportunity, then forget about it. After a while, they will realize that giving gifts is meaningless and they will stop giving them gifts."

Jiang Yiming said, "Use what you can, and give away what you can't."