Seeing Tan Wenbin still wanting to peel for himself, Li Zhiyuan hurriedly said, "Brother Binbin, you eat it, I don’t really like shrimp."
"Really?" Tan Wenbin was a bit surprised, "Then I will eat it myself."
Secretary Jin brought over a big bowl with a stewed chicken inside.
Ding Dalin fiddled with it using chopsticks and asked, "It’s not an old hen?"
"There are no old hens left."
"Ah, how can this be."
Ding Dalin shook his head dissatisfiedly.
Li Sanjiang tried to smooth things over, "Come on, Lord Lin, look at how spoiled you are. Eating chicken and still worrying about whether it’s a hen or rooster. Before the liberation, it wasn’t easy even to think about having some meat."
Saying this, Li Sanjiang personally took action, picked a plump chicken leg, and placed it in Li Zhiyuan’s bowl.
Li Zhiyuan stared at it, not rushing to eat. It wasn’t that he was being pretentious, but this chicken, it seemed oddly familiar.
The reason being, even if it was a rooster stewed for soup, how come there wasn’t a single piece of chicken skin?
"Are you not fond of it?" asked Ding Dalin.
"I like it." Li Zhiyuan picked up the chicken leg, took a big bite, it was a bit tough.
Ding Dalin nodded in satisfaction. As he stood up to pick more dishes, Li Zhiyuan noticed a black gauze wrapped around the base of his right hand.
The dinner was very warm and harmonious, so normal that Li Zhiyuan felt like he was the most abnormal person at the table.
Nevertheless, quite unusually, Li Zhiyuan did not leave right after the children finished but sat properly until the meal ended.
After the meal, everyone began smoking and chatting, making their final preparations before dispersing.
The village chief was the first to stand up, gently patted his trousers, and said, "Well, that’s it for today. As for your contract, the village needs to discuss it further. Don’t worry, we’ll give you an answer soon."
"Okay, thanks for your effort," Ding Dalin stood up and shook hands with the village chief.
Everyone left the table together, walked out of the hall to the dam, lit their cigarettes, exchanged a few more words, and the village chief and a few elders walked down the dam.
Li Zhiyuan was anxious because Li Sanjiang didn’t leave; he still stood beside Ding Dalin, both smoking.
"The village chief didn’t clarify earlier, and I was too embarrassed to ask, are you planning to plant peach trees instead of crops on this leased land?"
"Yep, planting peach trees, and they will bear peaches."
"The peaches won’t sell, who would buy them? Previously, these could be sold to canneries, but now I heard that these canneries aren’t doing well themselves."
"Even if they don’t sell, it’s nice just to look at the peach blossoms."
"I say, Lord Lin, what’s gotten into you?" Li Sanjiang reached out and touched Ding Dalin’s forehead, "You seem like a completely different person today."
Li Zhiyuan felt his heart clench once again.
Tan Wenbin began to add his part, proactively saying, "Mr. Li, you don’t understand. Uncle Ding is pursuing a beautiful scene, yes, just imagine when all these peach trees are planted, and the flowers bloom, how beautiful it will be."
"And this fish pond?" Li Sanjiang asked.
"It will be filled, and trees planted over it."
"I say, Lord Lin, how much fortune did you make abroad to allow you to be so wasteful?"
"To make money isn’t just to waste it?"
"I can’t understand you, never mind, do as you please."
"Oh, right, the opera troupe said a set of speakers was broken and wanted me to compensate for repairs. I couldn’t be bothered to argue, so I just bought them as second-hand."
"Are you silly? Where did you find such a troupe, their own equipment breaks and they have the nerve to ask the main family for money?"
"It was quite cheap, I fiddled with it last night, and it actually wasn’t broken, just some poor contact in the plug, I’ve fixed it now.
I have no use for this thing, and you’re in this business, maybe you can use it for rentals to make some money.
Come, come and look, if it’s good, you can take it."
"Alright, let’s have a look."
Li Sanjiang followed Ding Dalin to a back room on the first floor, shaded from the sun, while Li Zhiyuan and Tan Wenbin exchanged looks, wondering if they should follow.
"Kid, you forgot to take this." Secretary Jin’s voice came from behind, as a purple compass was presented in front of the boy.
Before, he had purposely left it on a chair next to the dining table, not wanting to seem too eager.
Li Zhiyuan stretched out his hand to take it, surprised, "Really for me?"
"Do you know how to use this?"
Li Zhiyuan held the compass, continuously spinning it around, watching the needle swirl inside and smiling foolishly.
"Secretary Jin, come here for a moment, adjust this again." Uncle Ding’s voice came from inside.
Secretary Jin put her hands on Li Zhiyuan’s shoulders, saying, "Let’s go see."
The moment the woman’s hands landed on his shoulders, Li Zhiyuan froze.
He didn’t rush to move but slowly looked up.
Secretary Jin also lowered her head, their eyes meeting.
For a long time, Ding Dalin’s urging voice came again from inside: "Why aren’t you coming yet, waiting for you to fix this."
Li Zhiyuan walked ahead, Secretary Jin’s hands grasping his shoulders, following behind.
Even though it was a short distance, Li Zhiyuan felt it somewhat lengthy.
Eventually, the two of them approached the room, one after the other.
Secretary Jin let go, adjusted the sound system, then picked up the microphone:
"Hello hello... hello hello..."
It was slightly distorted, but the overall effect was very good.
Ding Dalin glanced at Li Sanjiang, then said to Secretary Jin, "Come, sing a song to test."
Secretary Jin nodded, asking, "What song should I sing?"
"Anything, Lord Sanjiang, what song do you want to hear, my secretary knows many songs, you can choose anything."
"Hah, I’m not that thick-skinned, to make a young girl sing a song for me. Little Lord Yuanhou, what do you want to hear, you decide."
Li Zhiyuan shook his head: "I’m okay with anything."
Secretary Jin looked at Li Zhiyuan: "Kid, you pick one."
"I don’t have a particular song I want to hear; auntie, you sing one you want to."
Secretary Jin nodded, picked up the microphone, sang without instrumental accompaniment:
"Slowly looking back, evenings that once belonged to us.
Still so red, you, the bright sun given to me in my heart..."
The song, sung gently and in slightly inaccurate Cantonese, was very captivating.
It was "Thousands of Songs."