Chapter 454: Chapter 454: Sweeter Than a New Marriage

Jiang Xingye didn’t sell the grain he planted in the mountain cove for two consecutive years. Later, when it was discovered by others, he stopped planting there and directly planted grain in Xu Qinghuan’s space.

Over the past two years, he used puppets to cultivate quite a bit of grain in the space.

Inside, he placed a tractor, a threshing machine, a harvester, a plow, and other farming tools. Farming didn’t require his own hands—the more he planted, the more it grew, and naturally, there was more than enough grain to eat.

He also planted some common fruit trees inside, like pear and peach trees.

Otherwise, how could the couple have the confidence to bring four people with rural household registrations into the city from their hometown?

Even with more money, without grain vouchers, they couldn’t buy affordable grain.

Eating high-priced grain from the black market—no matter how much money you had, you wouldn’t dare flaunt it.

Jiang Xingmei said, "You should pay more attention. If there’s a suitable man, try to get along with him. Lan Yin is grown now and doesn’t need your care. Just take care of yourself."

Jiang Xinglan blushed, "Why are you bringing this up?"

It wasn’t easy for someone divorced like her, who would want to take in a woman without a household registration!

Let alone with a child.

Jiang Xinglan only thought about following her brother to earn more money. When she returned to the countryside in the future, she would be a wealthy woman, with much more confidence.

Early the next morning, the sunlight had already come in when Xu Qinghuan woke up. She felt Jiang Xingye’s movements and pressed him down, "Stop this, or I won’t be able to get up again."

Jiang Xingye turned over on top of her, "Can I control it? It gets restless when it sees you; it’s quite good outside!"

Xu Qinghuan replied stubbornly, "How am I supposed to know if it’s being well-behaved outside?"

Jiang Xingye laughed, loving the sight of his wife getting jealous, gave her a lot of kisses, and only let go when Xu Qinghuan admitted her mistake and begged for mercy.

Getting off her, Jiang Xingye hugged his wife, "I need your help with something later."

"Why so polite, what is it?"

Xu Qinghuan was really tired.

Last night, Jiang Xingye was relentless, waking her up again in the middle of the night.

"I met someone in the south who helped me a lot. His leg was fractured once and wasn’t healed properly. I’ve brought him here and want you to take a look."

"Why wouldn’t I help? I’m a doctor, after all. Where is the person? Bring him over for me to see."

"Alright!"

Xu Qinghuan went to the laboratory during the day. The term was about to start, and she planned to finish her project before then. She only had two days, so it was tight.

However, no matter how busy she was, she refused to work overtime unless Cen Lao had something for her to handle unexpectedly.

She got home at six o’clock, not expecting her father to be there today, talking to a young man in the yard.

The young man sat as straight as a pine, looking very reserved in front of Jian Jingchuan. The acacia tree in the yard spread its canopy, blocking out most of the sun, and a cool breeze blew, yet the young man was still drenched in sweat.

"You need to treat a leg injury now; it won’t be the same as before. Listening to that cooking class blabber every day, you’re harming your body. What are you thinking?" Jian Jingchuan scolded harshly.

Jiang Xingye brought out two cups of tea, "Dad, I asked him if he was a discharged soldier, and he lied, saying he wasn’t. Just by looking, I could tell that injury was a gunshot wound."

Zhou Jingsong was about to drink his tea when he saw someone coming in, and he stood up quickly. Xu Qinghuan immediately noticed his leg wasn’t good.

Zhou Jingsong was amazed when he saw her, but he quickly looked away very politely.

Jiang Xingye introduced, "This is my wife, and this is the friend I mentioned to you."

Xu Qinghuan extended her hand warmly, "Hello, welcome!"

Zhou Jingsong quickly wiped his hand on his pants, lightly shook hers, and quickly let go, "Sorry for the trouble."

"No need to be polite. I’m a doctor, after all."

She washed her hands and came back to check Zhou Jingsong’s leg, "The bone hasn’t completely healed yet. It’s still possible to reset it. Let’s get you admitted to the hospital tomorrow; I’ll arrange my schedule to perform the surgery."

She stood up and told Jiang Xingye, "Recovery should be no problem."

When Zhou Jingsong was initially hospitalized, the doctor had told him that his bone was shattered, and they could only guarantee attaching the leg back, but it would never walk like a normal person.

He had no choice but to leave the army.

Last semester, Xu Qinghuan ranked first in her grade, leaving second place thirty points behind, with several subjects getting full marks, thus the department gave her even more freedom.

After finishing her projects in the lab, she asked Cen Lao for a leave to operate on Zhou Jingsong.

For her, the surgery posed no difficulty at all, and after completing it, Zhou Jingsong stayed at the Jiang family’s second courtyard to recuperate.

Jiang Xinglan went daily to deliver meals to him, initially even taking back clothes to wash, eventually deciding to wash his clothes there.

When Xu Qinghuan sensed something was wrong, Jiang Xingye told her, "Zhou Jingsong still has over a thousand yuan, his discharge allowance, and the money he saved up while in the military—he asked me to help him buy some property here."

"Then talk to grandpa and grandma about it. They’re now very familiar with the old folks in the neighborhood and will know about any house sales, etc."

Since Zhou Jingsong wanted to buy a house, she didn’t ask any more questions.

She had also heard from her father that Zhou Jingsong was a soldier under his command, but was injured during his first mission. The attending doctor at that time had said his leg was beyond saving, and without saying a word, he left the army.

He primarily didn’t want to burden the organization.

Still, Xu Qinghuan asked her father about Zhou Jingsong’s character and family circumstances. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"His education level isn’t high, graduated from junior high, but his character is impeccable. His family has been poor farmers for three generations. He has an older sister and brother, and a younger brother. The family is from East Province."

Jiang Xingye was greatly helped by Zhou Jingsong when buying those five row houses.

In the book, Zhou Jingsong, like Luo Jinhao, was one of his key players—one handled production, the other sales.

Zhou Jingsong, in charge of production, relied on military methods that proved to be particularly effective.

Currently, Jiang Xingye also needed to buy a house. He had found a plot of land, a row of five storefronts in East City, upstairs with an extra floor, and planned to purchase them.

This storefront was owned by a pharmaceutical factory. Despite six months of running around, the factory wouldn’t sell the property because no one dared to make that decision.

Although policies were easing, allowing private business, who knew if policies would revert?

Xu Qinghuan took out the low-profile formula for the Beauty Pill and exchanged it for the row of storefronts with the pharmaceutical factory.

The Beauty Pill had been all the rage in Yan City at one time. Later, Xu Qinghuan gifted three pills to Jiang Nanxin’s elementary teacher, turning a plain-looking female teacher into a beauty akin to Xi Shi.

Xu Qinghuan used three courses of her medicine to cure Hu Zhangchun’s father’s chronic illness.

Xu Qinghuan’s reputation in the area earned her the title of "Divine Doctor."

After the pharmaceutical factory’s investigation, they agreed to Jiang Xingye’s request. Once they obtained the Beauty Pill, they transferred the property rights of that row of storefronts.

Jiang Xingye then scouted for a small courtyard nearby, right next to Song Wanlin’s previous courtyard. The previous owner was a returning emigrant from the petty bourgeois class, who didn’t want to stay in the country and planned to go to Xiangjiang to join relatives, selling the house cheaply.

It cost over thirteen hundred yuan.

It’s much smaller than the two-courtyard residence Xu Qinghuan bought before, but now the housing prices were indeed gradually rising.

By the end of the year, news of Xiaogang Village implementing the family-based contracted responsibility system, "dividing land into households, self-responsibility for profits and losses," swept the nation, broadcast repeatedly on radios and newspapers.

In the last week before the New Year, a major conference set the tone for reform and development.

Xu Qinghuan had originally thought Jiang Xingye would go to East Province again during the winter break, but to her surprise, he stayed at home, beginning the transformation of the five storefronts and customizing many shelves.

Jian Jingchuan managed to get a decommissioned jeep from the military for him, costing over three thousand yuan. Jiang Xingye buried his head in refurbishing and remodeling it, also finding a way to learn driving and getting a license, making the Jiang family one of the earliest car-owning households.