"Give up on Xiang Hong, Big Brother. We'll abandon her immediately, sacrifice a pawn to save the king," Xiang Lao Er said after a moment of thought.
"Can you bear to?"
"No, I disagree!"
Two voices spoke at once.
The male voice was Xiang Lao Da, and the female voice was Shi Xunfang.
"I asked you to properly educate this useless brat, but you ignored it and just indulged him. Now that he's caused such a huge mess, do you still want to continue indulging him?"
"Shi Xunfang, are you waiting for this prodigal to drag our entire Xiang family into the mud?"
Xiang Lao Er had always been rather lenient with Shi Xunfang.
The fact that he could scold Shi Xunfang like this this time showed how truly furious he was.
"Dad, I didn't, I didn't want to drag the Xiang family into the mud. I was just, I was just jealous of that second-hand fox spirit!" Xiang Hong cried.
She had just realized that her father was about to abandon her.
Without the Xiang family, how could she, Xiang Hong, have a good life in the future?
"Jealous? What right do you have to be jealous?" Xiang Lao Er roared with red eyes. "What are you to Chen Zi'an? You can't even handle one man, so why are you jealous of other women?"
This idiot! He had given her so many chances, but she hadn't even earned a glance from Chen Zi'an.
And she still dared to spew nonsense about being jealous of others!
"Dad!" Xiang Hong exclaimed in disbelief.
"You are no longer my daughter. Tomorrow, you will go to the countryside as a educated youth!" Xiang Lao Er gave no room for negotiation.
The next day.
The Xiang family did indeed arrange for Xiang Hong to go to a distant place as an educated youth. The departure was set for the third day, with very little time.
When Chen Zi'an received this news from the Xiang family, he merely sneered.
This outcome was not entirely satisfactory, but it was barely acceptable.
He didn't intend to pursue the matter further, as there were many more important things to do.
For example, taking Su Xiaotian to meet the manager of the sponge cake factory, Li Changqing.
Li Changqing was very surprised to see Chen Zi'an.
"Minister Chen, why have you come? It's been a while since I last saw you."
Li Changqing greeted Chen Zi'an very politely.
He was somewhat familiar with Chen Zi'an, but Chen Zi'an was a cold person, not easy to approach.
His sudden visit to his newly opened factory today was a pleasant surprise.
He even began to speculate whether Minister Chen, like other leaders, was here to place someone in the factory.
If Minister Chen were to make a request, he would have to grant it.
He heard that many people in Minister Chen's wife's family were from the countryside, so perhaps Minister Chen had come for that reason.
"I just came to take a look. Your sponge cake factory's scale is a bit small!" Chen Zi'an said, after looking around, delivering a blow right to the heart.
Li Changqing couldn't help but want to roll his eyes. "You really know how to talk, sir. Building a factory is easy, but the difficulty lies in the raw materials, isn't it?"
Flour, oil, and sugar were all manageable, but the most difficult ingredient was eggs.
Eggs were like hard currency; they were hard to acquire.
"Minister Chen, it's not that we can't help it. The egg production in our county is simply too low," Li Changqing said with a wry smile.
"If you had enough eggs, you could expand your scale?"
Li Changqing immediately patted his chest and guaranteed, "Naturally. We don't lack people, technology, or space; we only lack eggs!"
"Hongxin Brigade has a chicken farm, and it will be able to produce eggs in a few months. You can contact them. It will be just in time for the New Year," Chen Zi'an said directly.
"Hongxin Brigade? Minister Chen, are you serious? How come I haven't heard of it?"
How could he not have heard of such important news?
There wasn't a single chicken farm in the entire county. If there were a chicken farm, wouldn't all problems be solved?
Although this was just about chickens and not yet eggs, this news was still very important.
No, he had to place an order now. What if someone else heard about it and placed an order first?
After all, besides the sponge cake factory, there was also a pastry factory in the county, and they would definitely need eggs.
"This child of mine is from Hongxin Brigade!" Chen Zi'an nodded towards Su Xiaotian.
Li Changqing finally noticed that a little girl was following Chen Zi'an.
"Oh my, is this Minister Chen's little girl? She's so beautiful, looks very smart and clever." Li Changqing immediately switched to his flattery mode.
But after flattering her, he suddenly remembered that he had heard that Minister Chen had just had a baby, who wasn't even a month old yet. This little girl couldn't possibly be from Minister Chen's family.
He was about to change his words when Chen Zi'an spoke!
"She's mine."
She's Minister Chen's?
Li Changqing was stunned.
But then he remembered that he had heard people say that Minister Chen's wife was a second-time bride. Could this little girl in front of him be a burden brought by Minister Chen's wife?
"Hello, Uncle Li. I'm from Hongxin Brigade. My name is Su Xiaotian. Our brigade got a chicken farm not long ago, but the scale isn't very large," Su Xiaotian said, acting a bit too mature for her age.
"What a clever child. Tell Uncle, how many eggs can you provide per month?" Li Changqing became interested.
However, when he heard that the scale wasn't large, he felt a bit disappointed. But on the principle that even a small mosquito is still meat, he decided to seize these eggs.
"At most three thousand eggs per month."
Three thousand? That was indeed a bit small.
Li Changqing was even more disappointed.
"It's the same predicament as your sponge cake factory, Uncle Li. You lack eggs, and we lack chicks," Su Xiaotian added.
Lack chicks?
Li Changqing quickly began to calculate and finally realized that he did have a way to get chicks, and his eyes lit up with renewed hope.
"If you had chicks, could you manage them?"
"Of course. Our brigade's chicken farm is quite large. We only have two hundred chickens now, but we can raise another thousand chickens without any problem."
Li Changqing, however, stopped looking at Su Xiaotian and turned his gaze to Chen Zi'an.
Such a big matter, and only a child said it. How could he believe it?
Even if this child was brought by Minister Chen, it was still a bit hard to believe.
"Factory Director Li, you can talk to Xiaotian about this matter."
"Minister Chen, can she make the decision?" Li Changqing asked hesitantly.
"If you don't believe me, I'll go look elsewhere," Chen Zi'an said unceremoniously.
Doubting Su Xiaotian?
That wouldn't do!
His mother-in-law said that the chicken farm was Xiaotian's suggestion, and the current chicken raising methods were also Xiaotian's ideas.
He looked at Su Xiaotian with a smile, his expression incredibly doting.
It made Li Changqing suspect he was seeing things.
What was Minister Chen's expression? If it were his own child, such doting would be understandable, but a burden...
Li Changqing seemed to have confirmed that Su Xiaotian was indeed a burden.
But then he thought, forget it, it's their family matter. If they want to dote on her, so be it!
As long as it could help him solve the egg problem.
"Minister Chen, what are you saying? I just felt that such a big matter, and such a young child!" Li Changqing quickly apologized.
"Little girl, don't worry, Uncle Li can definitely help you solve the chick problem. However, a thousand chicks at once might not be possible. How about in three installments?"
Su Xiaotian hadn't expected the matter to be resolved so easily. According to scientific chicken farming methods, they could start laying eggs in about four months.
It was only the seventh month of the lunar calendar, so they could produce eggs before the New Year, which wasn't too late.
"Then we will provide Uncle Li with a batch of eggs before the New Year, at least ten thousand eggs. Are you satisfied, Uncle Li?" Su Xiaotian said generously.
Today's trip was purely an unexpected joy. Originally, she thought that if it didn't work out, she would go back and hatch chicks herself. She hadn't expected the major problem to be solved now.
Chen Zi'an smiled, seeing how happy the little girl was, and said, "Xiaotian, when we get back, your uncle will also think of a way to get you some chicks. Is there anything else you want?"
Li Changqing heard "uncle"?
This was his niece?
He hadn't expected Minister Chen to be so fond of his niece. He really couldn't tell.
"Satisfied, satisfied! Little girl, I'm truly satisfied. However, since I'm getting the chicks this time, the eggs produced by your chicken farm in the future must be supplied to our sponge cake factory first."
The matter was thus happily settled.
Li Changqing, seeing how much Chen Zi'an liked Su Xiaotian, had a slight ulterior motive, but he couldn't express it directly.
He strongly invited Chen Zi'an to bring Su Xiaotian to his home as a guest tomorrow, but Chen Zi'an politely declined.
Li Changqing was not discouraged and said he would bring his family to visit Minister Chen's home tomorrow to congratulate Minister Chen on the birth of his son.
Chen Zi'an initially wanted to refuse, but considering that Su Xiaotian was still waiting for Li Changqing's thousand chicks, he agreed.
When they left the sponge cake factory, both Chen Zi'an and Su Xiaotian were very happy.
Chen Zi'an laughed, "You little girl, you're quite a worrier. The Hongxin Brigade is so big, why do these things need a little child like you to worry about?"
Su Xiaotian looked around and whispered, "Uncle, in a few years, I plan for our family to run the chicken farm ourselves."
Chen Zi'an was startled. He instinctively looked around, and when he saw no one else, he whispered, "Why would you say that? This is a capitalist tail! Aren't you afraid of implicating the whole family?"
It was fine for the commune or the brigade to run a factory, but for a family to run a chicken farm, that was a big deal.
"Uncle, it will be fine in a few more years! It won't always be like this," Su Xiaotian said with great certainty. "By then, we'll contract the chicken farm."
"Why do you think so?" Chen Zi'an looked at Su Xiaotian with much more seriousness.
The little girl's confident assertion must have a reason. Had she received some news?
Was it from her Uncle Chi Ge, or from her adoptive grandfather Du Tonghe?
"Grandpa Chi said that the country wants to make the people rich, not to make them suffer," Su Xiaotian said with a smile.
"Just that one sentence?" Chen Zi'an asked doubtfully.
That sentence was fine, but would it affect things a few years later?
"Uncle, don't you think these past two years are different from the previous two years?"
Chen Zi'an thought about it, and it seemed to be true. Many things were not as strict as before.
It seemed that Uncle was indeed Uncle, and he saw these things clearly.
Su Xiaotian smiled, "I'm not wrong, am I, Uncle!"
"That's right, Xiaotian, you are indeed smart. But you mustn't say these things to others!" Chen Zi'an reminded her.
Su Xiaotian quickly nodded, "I'm only telling you, Uncle. I haven't even told Auntie."
The reason she told Chen Zi'an was because Chen Zi'an, in his previous life, was a person with a great future. She believed that Chen Zi'an would be very good at observing the situation.
Chen Zi'an nodded.
"You've been urging your brothers to study hard these past two years, is it for this reason?" Chen Zi'an asked again.
The Su family children were all studying diligently, and even other members of the Su family were trying their best to become literate.
Su Xiaotian had also reminded them to let Su Manxiu learn more knowledge. She must know something.
It seemed that Uncle Chi Ge trusted his little apprentice very much and had told her a lot about the current situation.
Indeed, Chen Zi'an believed that Su Xiaotian knew these things because of Chi Ge.
He had no idea that Chi Ge had not anticipated any of what Su Xiaotian was saying.
"Uncle, let's go back. Little brother's full moon is today, and Grandma said she's making delicious food."
After finishing the important matters, the little girl looked like an innocent little glutton.
Chen Zi'an even suspected if the Su Xiaotian he had seen just now was fake!
"Let's go home!"
"Uncle, I want to go home too. I miss my brothers, and I miss Brother Yiyuan!" Su Xiaotian chattered as they walked.
Chen Zi'an listened patiently. Several people who knew Chen Zi'an on the road looked as if they had seen a ghost when they saw Chen Zi'an showing such a gentle expression.
It was also from this day that many people in the county town knew that Chen Zi'an was particularly fond of a little girl.
This news soon reached Li Changqing's home.
Li Changqing saw his youngest son playing with paper airplanes in the living room and thought he should bring the boy with him tomorrow.
Before Chen Zi'an and Su Xiaotian reached their doorstep, they heard crying and shouting.
"Uncle, it's Xiang Hong from yesterday."
Chen Zi'an frowned. He could naturally hear that it was Xiang Hong's voice.
This woman was supposed to go to the countryside as an educated youth, so why was she making a scene at his home again?
He frowned and looked towards the main entrance.
Xiang Hong was crying and sitting at his doorstep, wiping her tears while wailing and begging Su Manxiu to let her go.
Many people were gathered around, pointing and talking.
And the main door of his house was tightly shut.
Chen Zi'an's first feeling was that his family was scared and didn't dare to come out.
He walked towards his house with a dark expression. As he approached, he heard someone say that the Chen family was too much, forcing a little girl to this point, and so on.
"You think I'm forcing you?" Chen Zi'an asked coldly.
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Xiang Hong's face first showed a smile, then dimmed, and finally, a hint of fear appeared on her face.
"Chen, Minister Chen, I was wrong. Can you spare me this time? I don't want to be an educated youth, please!" Xiang Hong pleaded repeatedly.
"It wasn't my decision to send you to be an educated youth. Don't you think you're looking for the wrong person!"
Chen Zi'an didn't even look at her, only saying this before walking to his own doorstep.