Chi Yiyuan, living at the Su family's residence, was unaware that his father harbored thoughts of taking him to Germany.
If he had known, he would likely have burst into laughter.
Their relationship wasn't close, yet instead of examining his own shortcomings, his father believed the issue stemmed from them not living together.
Heh...
Chi Niandong indeed thought this way.
He had already harbored this idea when his wife mentioned earlier that Chi Yiyuan was more affectionate towards outsiders than his own family.
However, he was abroad at the time and didn't feel it as strongly as he did now.
Now, he firmly believed that his son's lack of closeness was due to outsiders speaking too ill of them, leading to this outcome.
Subsequently, Chi Niandong went to Chi Ge's room.
"You plan to take Xiaoyuan abroad, have you asked for Xiaoyuan's opinion?"
Chi Ge looked at his son and asked only this one question.
Chi Niandong had not asked Chi Yiyuan, and it was precisely because he hadn't that he came to find his father.
"Dad, I was hoping you could help persuade Yiyuan to agree to go abroad with me!"
Chi Ge snorted coldly, saying nothing.
Chi Niandong continued, "Dad, you also know that I have some foundation abroad now. Taking Chi Yiyuan with me won't make him suffer. On the contrary, he can receive a better education abroad."
Having lived abroad for many years, Chi Niandong now looked down on China's backwardness.
Although when he visited this time, he saw that China was a bit better than he had imagined.
But what of it?
Even if it was a little better than before, it still couldn't compare to foreign countries.
Chi Niandong believed he was truly considering his son's best interests.
Chi Ge, unwilling to stay at his son's home any longer, turned and left the house, heading to the Su family's.
Chi Niandong looked at the emptier house, with only his own family of four left, and didn't understand what was happening.
It was one thing for Chi Yiyuan to be distant, but why had the old man also left?
He was the eldest son and grandson of the Chi family, and his father had doted on him since childhood.
He shouldn't be this cold!
Meanwhile, Yu Xiyue said with a very displeased tone, "You have no standing in your father's heart now. Perhaps the old man is worried you'll come back to seize the family fortune."
Chi Niandong did not agree with Yu Xiyue's statement.
Seize the family fortune? He was the eldest son. When the old man passed away, he would naturally inherit the majority of the family assets.
Besides, his younger siblings were all abroad and not returning, so there was no one to fight for the house in China.
He himself couldn't bring himself to like this courtyard house.
He preferred the Western-style houses from before. He didn't know what the old man was thinking, moving from a perfectly good Western-style house to this place.
Grandpa Su was very surprised to see Chi Ge arrive.
"Old Chi, why have you come over?"
His son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren were all back, shouldn't he be at home with them?
"I have failed in teaching my son, it is my fault!"
At this moment, Su Xiaotian and the others on the train finally arrived at the train station.
This was a small county train station, and not many people were getting off.
After the three of them alighted with their bags, they transferred to a long-distance bus, which took another three to four hours to reach their destination.
This was a small town, a very elegant Jiangnan water town.
The town was called Tongliang, with bluestone slab roads and ancient houses, exuding tranquility and peace everywhere.
The town under the setting sun was like an ink wash landscape painting.
People wandering within the painting!
This was Su Xiaotian's first impression.
Su Xiaotian was curious how Shen Zizhen had found this place.
"I learned about this place from an old friend. He stumbled upon it once and discovered that the rice here was very delicious."
As if guessing Su Xiaotian's thoughts, Shen Zizhen explained the reason for choosing this place as they walked.
Upon hearing his friend's serious recommendation, Shen Zizhen personally visited the place and found that the rice here truly tasted better than rice from other regions.
He collected some water and soil from here and took them back to the capital for analysis. As expected, the water and soil here were indeed better than elsewhere.
For the past two years, in addition to focusing on increasing grain yields, Shen Zizhen had also been working on improving the taste of rice.
He not only hoped for high rice yields in the future to feed the entire nation but also hoped that the quality of the increased yield rice could be improved, tasting better than before.
Therefore, he applied to establish a base here.
This year was the first year of research for this base, and Shen Zizhen had brought Su Sangong and Su Xiaomei here three to four times.
Shen Zizhen and Su Sangong were familiar with the road and walked forward along the winding path.
It was Su Xiaotian's first time here. Walking on the winding path, she was filled with curiosity.
This place was different from her old home in the northwest, and even more so from the capital.
It was even different from Rongcheng.
In her previous life, Su Xiaotian had traveled to many places, but as a working professional, she mostly looked for jobs in cities and had never been to a place like this.
Her ingrained perception of rural areas was Nanling Village.
Su Xiaotian truly loved the ink wash landscape scenery here. The scenery, completely different from Nanling Village, made her feel as if she had stepped into another time.
Wisps of cooking smoke rose from the village, and Su Xiaotian seemed to smell the aroma of rice.
Occasionally, a few people passed by on the road and greeted Shen Zizhen when they saw him.
However, they would look twice at the change in the young girl behind Shen Zizhen.
Su Xiaotian was at this moment earnestly contemplating whether Shen Zizhen had also chosen to establish an experimental base here in her previous life.
But she hadn't paid attention to such matters in her past life, so she really didn't know.
Tongliang was beautiful. If it hadn't become an experimental base, would it have developed into a tourist attraction?
Su Xiaotian thought about it but still didn't know.
In her previous life, her experience was shallow, and she actually knew very little about many things.
This small town called Tongliang didn't seem to have much fame.
But Su Xiaotian felt that if it were developed, it would definitely be very good.
Developing tourism would surely attract many people. If there were also some outstanding local products, its development would be very promising.
"Xiaotian, are you tired? The base is just ahead. The conditions aren't great, but you can rest once we get there."
Su Sangong, not hearing Su Xiaotian speak, assumed she was tired and spoke up.
After three to four days on the road, he, a young man, was tired of talking, let alone Xiaotian, a young girl.
Su Xiaotian smiled and shook her head, "Third Brother, this place is really nice, I like it very much!"
Su Sangong and Shen Zizhen both smiled.
It was not strange for a girl to like beautiful scenery.
Xiaomei had also said she liked it very much when she first came, and even said that if she had the chance in the future, she would come here to retire.