Chapter 92 [The Old Village Chief’s Fate](11,000 words)
January 28th, Tuesday. Lunar December 29th, Chinese New Year’s Eve.
Chen Yan got up early in the morning—there were important things to do in the morning.
While washing up, he saw Lu Sisi already sticking her head out of the room.
Today, this girl was up early as well, well-dressed in a white down jacket Chen Yan had never seen before, with a plaid sweater underneath—probably new clothes she brought with her.
"Wait a bit, I just finished washing up, soon I’ll make breakfast." Chen Yan, with a mouth full of toothpaste foam, mumbled to Lu Sisi; "You go to the kitchen first to drink some water."
"It’s okay, I’ll help you make breakfast." Lu Sisi smiled sweetly and went into the kitchen.
After finishing washing up, Chen Yan walked into the kitchen and saw the girl already cooking dumplings—the kind of frozen dumplings bought from the supermarket.
Whether they taste good or not, the point is it’s New Year’s, and that’s the tradition.
Although Chen Yan had some self-sufficiency skills and could cook a few home dishes, making dumplings was still not within his skill set.
Lu Sisi wasn’t good at cooking either, but boiling dumplings was simple enough for her to handle. Chen Yan glanced at her and saw no problem, so he left her to it.
Chen Yan walked over to Gu Qingyi’s door and pounded on it hard, calling out, "Get up and eat!"
The door slowly opened, and Gu Qingyi stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes and yawning, "What are we eating?"
"Dumplings, hurry up and brush your teeth."
"Oh." Young Lady Gu replied softly.
This 21-year-old Consort Mother, did she stay up all night playing games again?
Chen Yan gave her a look and shook his head.
For breakfast, they casually ate some corn pork dumplings. Chen Yan actually didn’t filling, but Gu Qingyi ate more than twenty in one go. Lu Sisi, as usual, was the slowest eater, and seeing that Chen Yan and Gu Qingyi had already put down their chopsticks, she immediately said, "You guys go ahead, I’ll do the dishes."
Over the past two or three days, the three of them had developed some tacit understanding living together.
Because Lu Sisi had bad luck before the age of 18, she ate very slowly—afraid of choking. It takes time to change her slow eating habit, so after each meal, she took the initiative to do the dishes.
Gu Qingyi wouldn’t do such detailed household chores, so physical work could be left to this Celestial Human Realm master.
For example, this morning, clearing snow in the yard.
Since it snowed three days ago, it stopped for a day, then snowed all day and night yesterday.
The courtyard, which had been cleared the first two days, was now covered in a thick layer of snow.
After breakfast, Chen Yan handed the broom and shovel to Gu Qingyi. She looked cold but had a hint of girlish excitement as she swept the courtyard.
A perfectly good girl, why does she always keep such a stern face... Chen Yan watched for a while, then shook his head and walked away.
He understood, judging by Gu Qingyi’s snow-clearing efficiency, it would take the entire morning to clear the courtyard, and in the end, he might still have to help.
But for now, leaving this Consort Mother aside, Chen Yan went out—he had something more important to do in the morning.
The old lady’s funeral was carried out with the help of the whole village. From setting up the tent to presiding over the funeral, hiring a funeral band, to the final burial, basically, every household in the village lent a hand.
These favors had to be repaid.
When he returned from Jinling Prefecture, the car trunk was filled with various gifts—but actually, it wasn’t enough.
After returning, Chen Yan went to the small convenience store at the village entrance and bought a lot, nearly clearing out the store’s stock of milk and nutritional products.
For what wasn’t enough, he went to the town market and ordered a large batch of cigarettes and alcohol from two or three supermarkets, arranging delivery. By last night, everything had been delivered.
Chen Yan calculated, each household received two cartons of cigarettes, two bottles of alcohol, a pack of milk, and a big nutritional gift package from a certain brand.
The cigarettes were the kind that cost around twenty yuan a pack, not very high-end. Two cartons were about five hundred yuan.
The alcohol was a local brand, and he chose a type that was over a hundred yuan a bottle. Two bottles were about three hundred yuan.
Plus a pack of milk and a large gift package.
Each household’s gifts added up to just under a thousand yuan, a little over nine hundred. This gift, in the countryside, was quite substantial.
With over a hundred households in the village, sending a gift to each would cost about a hundred thousand yuan—if Chen Yan hadn’t made some money now, he couldn’t afford to send gifts of such heavy specifications.
It seemed appropriate—if it were more expensive, Chen Yan could afford it now, even adding a zero to each gift, making it worth ten thousand each.
But, that’s not fitting!
Firstly, you shouldn’t show off wealth. Secondly, the value of favors should match the magnitude of the help.
In interpersonal relationships, if you exceed this principle, good intentions might turn bad, causing a lot of unnecessary issues.
Chen Yan’s grandmother taught him this principle.
Oh, your family had a funeral, invited the villagers to help, then you repay them with gifts worth over ten thousand yuan each?
You’re the only one with money?
In the future, when others in the village need help and invite everyone, how are they supposed to repay? If they only give a hundred or two hundred, would that be enough? How are they supposed to do things afterward?
You think you’re being generous giving ten thousand? That’s making enemies!