Chapter 117 Plans and the Future

"Second sister."

"Ke Xin."

Xu Hongdou's cousin Lin Kexin came to Xu Hongdou's house with a big belly.

"Second sister, did you buy me cherries?"

"I bought it. I heard you wanted to eat it, so my mother prepared it a long time ago."

Xu Hongdou helped Lin Kexin to sit down in her room, and the two sisters chatted.

In the living room, Liu Guiqin and Lin Kexin's mother were chatting.

"Hehe~~ It's not me who wants to eat, it's the baby who wants to eat." Lin Kexin touched her belly with a smile.

"Second sister, where is your boyfriend?" Lin Kexin looked around.

"He went fishing with my dad." Xu Hongdou washed some cherries and put them on the table.

"I heard from my aunt and my mom that my future brother-in-law is very handsome." Lin Kexin joked.

"It's okay." Xu Hongdou said with a hint of reserve.

"Your expression doesn't show that you're okay." Lin Kexin teased, seeing the sweetness on Xu Hongdou's face that could not be concealed.

"Wait until he comes back and see for yourself." Xu Hongdou did not comment.

"Second sister, your boyfriend is here, why don't you take him out to play?" Lin Kexin asked.

"Yes." Xu Hongdou said.

"We went to the Ceramics and Glass Museum, Haidai Tower, and Songshan Temple the other day. Let's just visit these places."

"That's true. We'll just be here for two days and there won't be much to see." Lin Kexin nodded while eating cherries.

When locals look at the tourist attractions in their hometown, most of them think “it’s just so-so”, which is similar to the mentality of the big brother of “The Cowardly Big Wild Goose Pagoda”.

If outsiders ask me about it, I will definitely say something nice.

But even if I have nothing to do, I am too lazy to go in and take a look when I pass by.

"So your boyfriend goes fishing with his uncle every day?" Lin Kexin asked curiously.

"He goes there every day. He likes fishing very much." Xu Hongdou nodded.

"The main purpose is to conquer the father-in-law, right?" Lin Kexin had a playful look on her face.

"I don't know. I don't care about him." Xu Hongdou shrugged and did not deny it.

Obviously Xu Hongdou knew why Chen Mo was so "enthusiastic" about fishing.

"At this rate, it looks like I'll have to call you brother-in-law next year." Lin Kexin said with a smile.

"I'd better listen to the baby in your belly calling me second aunt first." Xu Hongdou touched Lin Kexin's belly.

"Second sister, can you be the surrogate mother for my child?" Lin Kexin suggested.

"Then let the child share your blessing and grow up to be prettier."

"Sure, when is your due date?"

"Early next month."

Xu Hongdou thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll stay a few more days then."

Originally, Xu Hongdou was planning to leave after moving in two days, but now she has to stay a few more days.

"Second sister is still the best." Lin Kexin happily took Xu Hongdou's arm.

"What about you? How does your husband treat you?" Xu Hongdou asked with a smile.

"It's okay." Lin Kexin smiled.

"We are both pretty lazy. His mom spoiled him so much that he can't do anything, and my mom spoiled me so much that I can't do anything. We are two giant babies, and neither of us can dislike the other."

"You are such a fool with good fortune." Xu Hongdou sighed.

"I'm not as lucky as you and my elder sister."

"Look at my eldest brother-in-law, he has so many houses in Shanghai. And my future second brother-in-law, I heard that his family in BJ also runs a big company. At most, I have found someone with 'like-minded' interests." Lin Kexin smiled and shook her head.

"Your life is your own." Xu Hongdou smiled.

"Sister, you know I'm busy as a top every day. The phone never stops ringing. I just quit this time because I'm tired."

"You are safe in your hometown, close to your aunt and uncle, and your family can help you."

Lin Kexin was also very content. "I don't have much ambition, and I don't have the drive of you and my elder sister. I am happy with a comfortable life."

Xu Hongdou looked at Lin Kexin, remembered something, stood up and said, "Wait a moment, I'll get something for you."

"What?" Lin Kexin was a little curious.

After a while, Xu Hongdou held two toys in her hands, "Dangdang."

Lin Kexin's eyes lit up, "Oh, they are tiger-head shoes and tiger-head hats."

"This was knitted by my neighbor's grandmother in Yunnan." Xu Hongdou handed the tiger-head shoes to Lin Kexin.

Lin Kexin looked at the cute little tiger-head shoes and couldn't help but feel nostalgic. "If grandma were still alive, she would also make tiger-head shoes for the baby."

"Yeah." Xu Hongdou also missed her grandma.

When Xu Hongdou was in Yunnan, she often went to Grandma Xie's stall just to smell the scent of her grandmother on Grandma Xie.

It was a smell of toasted bread, warm and soothing.

"We are back, Dou'er, come out and see the fish we caught."

When both of them were feeling a little sad, Xu Jianguo's cheerful voice came from outside the house.

"My uncle is back." Lin Kexin heard the voice.

"Well, you look so happy, I guess you really caught a fish." Xu Hongdou guessed with a smile.

"Hasn't my uncle and brother-in-law caught any fish these two days?" Lin Kexin couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, there are two every day these days. Everyone can catch one."

When saying this, Xu Hongdou had a strange expression on her face.

"It seems that we caught a big fish today." Lin Kexin said with a smile.

"No, I guess two people really caught the fish by themselves today." Xu Hongdou said meaningfully.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Lin Kexin blinked and heard something else.

Xu Hongdou smiled and explained, "They caught two fish on the first day, but they didn't say anything after they came back. They just took them back to the kitchen and cooked them. This happened for two or three days in a row."

"That's great, I can catch fish every day." Lin Kexin didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Xu Hongdou continued helplessly, "On the fourth day, the two of them only caught one fish, which was not big. But when they came back, my dad was like this. He didn't even enter the house, but his voice could be heard in the corridor, as if he was afraid that the neighbors didn't know he had caught a fish."

Lin Kexin understood now and said with a smile: "That means the previous ones were not fished by two people?"

Xu Hongdou raised a finger to her lips and whispered, "My mom said that the fish was definitely not from the market, so it must have been 'shared' with a fellow angler."

Lin Kexin suddenly realized and couldn't help laughing.

"Let's go, let's go out and show our support." Xu Hongdou gestured.

"Okay." Lin Kexin nodded while holding back her smile.

Xu Hongdou helped Lin Xin up.

"Don't expose it later."

"Don't worry, I understand."

After Chen Mo came and was entertained for a few days, he began to help with packing and moving.

"Xiao Mo, you're tall, help auntie take the things off the cabinet."

"Here you go, Auntie."

"Xiao Mo, let's move these packed boxes to the wall so they don't block the aisle."

"Uncle, your waist is not in good condition, just let me do it."

In the past few days, Chen Mo had exchanges and conversations with Xu Jianguo at the fishing bureau, and helped Liu Guiqin with the cooking demonstration of bread and buns. These "inadvertent" positive performances have already left Xu Jianguo and Liu Guiqin with the impression of a "future son-in-law".

Xu Hongdou looked at Chen Mo who was feeling very comfortable in her home and couldn't help but think of what Lin Kexin had said two days ago.

If this continues, I feel that the next time Chen Mo comes, Ke Xin will really call Chen Mo brother-in-law.

"Do you want this?"

Chen Mo took out an old electric fan covered with a transparent bag from the corner. It looked like it was quite old.

"Let me see."

Xu Hongdou walked over and took off the transparent bag covering it, raising a cloud of dust.

"Ahem~~" Xu Hongdou fanned her eyes with her hands.

"My grandma bought this for me when I was in elementary school." Xu Hongdou looked at the yellowed outer shell of the electric fan, and memories flooded her heart.

At that time, her grandmother raised more than 30 chickens and saved eggs to exchange for more than 100 yuan, which she used to buy this electric fan.

"Mom, take a look at this." Xu Hongdou took a rag and gently wiped the dust off the surface of the electric fan.

"What? If you think it's useless, just throw it away. No need to ask." Liu Guiqin walked over.

"Wait a minute, what are you throwing? I need to take a look." Xu Jianguo also came over after hearing the sound.

Liu Guiqin saw the electric fan and said, "Wow, this electric fan must be more than 20 years old. I didn't expect it to still be there."

Xu Jianguo nodded and said, "You were reluctant to throw it away at the time, but you haven't used it since then, so you still have to throw it away in the end."

"It was working fine at that time. I didn't think I could use it in the future. But after an air conditioner was installed, I couldn't use it anymore." Liu Guiqin didn't think it was her fault.

"You always think like this, so you hoard a lot of things. Look at how many things you have found in the past two days that could have been thrown away long ago." Xu Jianguo said helplessly.

"You have money, so if you don't need something, just throw it away. If you can't find it when you want to use it, you have to spend money to buy it." Liu Guiqin glanced at him.

"The question is, are you using it again?" Xu Jianguo pointed to the electric fan.

"It's not a waste if you can't use it. It's a waste if you want to use it but don't have it." Liu Guiqin snorted.

"You also said that Dou'er saves junk, and I think you do the same." Xu Jianguo shook his head.

"Hey! Xu Jianguo"

The two of them were about to start quarreling.

Xu Hongdou had already turned on the electric fan, and as soon as he turned the switch, the fan started to turn.

"Mom and Dad, stop arguing. The fan is not broken yet." Xu Hongdou said happily.

"It's true." Liu Guiqin stretched out her hand and felt the wind.

"It must be said that the quality of things in the past was good." Xu Jianguo sighed.

In the past, many factories were state-owned and there was little market competition, so they simply focused on making good products.

Nowadays, the market is competitive and products are updated quickly, so many products are planned to be scrapped.

Planned obsolescence means setting a critical point for the product’s service life. This time will not be too short or too long, allowing customers to continue to have demand and continue consuming.

This manufacturing concept was first proposed abroad in the 1920s and used in light bulbs.

At that time, several companies formed a monopoly and controlled the service life of light bulbs from 2500 hours to 1000 hours in order to double sales.

After this was learned, other industries followed suit, such as the heating elements in washing machines that are easily damaged, electric toothbrushes with batteries that cannot be replaced, printer cartridges, and so on.

Simply put, the quality is too good, how can we sell the following products?

So, in the past, when an electrical appliance broke down, it would be repaired, but now it is just replaced with parts, or even just replaced without repairing.

"No matter how good it is, I don't want it. I don't need it now, and it won't look good in my new home," said Liu Guiqin.

"Well, it's indeed too old." Xu Jianguo nodded.

"No, I want to stay. This is grandma's style." Xu Hongdou refused.

Hearing this, Liu Guiqin said with a smile: "It's still grandma's wind. If your grandma knew about it in the underground, she would go crazy."

"Mom" Xu Hongdou was speechless for a moment.

Complaints from one’s own mother are often the most deadly.

"Have you finished moving into your new home?"

"I've already moved. I'll go back to the old house tomorrow to clean it up. My parents are planning to rent it out."

Xu Hongdou was talking on the phone with Chen Nanxing in the room.

"Where's Chen Mo? How's it going at your house?"

"He's fine. He's making dumplings with my mom now." Xu Hongdou glanced towards the kitchen.

"Chen Mo is great. He won over his mother-in-law so quickly." Chen Nanxing teased.

"My dad has also become fishing buddies with him." Xu Hongdou couldn't help but smile as she recalled their fishing achievements.

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war." Chen Nanxing sighed.

"I found that Chen Mo seemed to be quiet, but when it came to crucial matters, he always acted quietly and swiftly."

Chen Nanxing thought that at the beginning she had been Xu Hongdou's wingman, spying on the enemy and providing escort.

At that time, Chen Nanxing mainly prevented Jiang Congwen from "interfering" and causing Xu Hongdou to suffer.

Later, I felt like I wasn't paying attention for a moment, and when I came to my senses, Chen Mo had already caught up with Xu Hongdou.

"Well, we can't let him be easily confused in the future." Xu Hongdou agreed.

She only realized belatedly some of the tricks Chen Mo used when he was pursuing her.

"Well, be careful that he might hide his own money in the future." Chen Nanxing said seriously.

Xu Hongdou shook her head and smiled, "Don't talk about me. How are you doing in Yunmiao these days? Have you booked a flight back to BJ?"

"Not yet. I shot two store exploration videos these days, and then I'll have a midnight snack with Nana in the evening." Chen Nanxing said.

"However, there have been a lot more tourists in Yunmiao Village in the past two days."

"Huh? Why?" Xu Hongdou asked puzzledly.

They stayed there for nearly three months, and it seemed like the tourists had been there forever.

"There is a travel blogger named 'Baozou Luoli' who has more than five million followers. She came to Yunmiao Village a few days ago to shoot a video, so many people know about this place. It is estimated that there will be a peak this weekend."

"So that's how it is." Xu Hongdou suddenly realized.

"Guess how 'Runaway Luo Li' knew about this place?" Chen Nanxing asked with a smile.

Xu Hongdou thought for a moment and asked, "The promotional video we shot last time?"

"That's right." Chen Nanxing snapped his fingers.

"Xinxin sent the promotional video to many travel bloggers in private messages, and unexpectedly she actually got one."

"That's great." Xu Hongdou said with a smile.

"This village is still the same as our school back then. As soon as we graduated, the school installed air conditioners and new dormitories. Now as soon as we leave the village, there are more tourists."

"It's true." Chen Nanxing was also happy.

"By the way, when I was helping Nana in the restaurant these two days, Xie Zhiyao came to me and told me about Shaohua Bookstore." Chen Nanxing remembered something.

"Is the matter of Shaohua Bookstore confirmed?"

"Not yet, but a formal team came to inspect a few days ago. From what Xie Zhiyao said, the probability is very high."

"It seems that the village is really showing signs of development." Xu Hongdou said with emotion.

"Do you think so too?" Chen Nanxing suddenly asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Xu Hongdou was confused.

"In fact, Xie Zhiyao hinted to me about running a B&B." Chen Nanxing said.

Xu Hongdou knew that Chen Nanxing was talking about Xie Zhiyao’s previous proposal: to start a homestay brand with Yunmiao as the starting point.

The two had discussed this issue before.

"What do you think now?" Xu Hongdou asked.

Chen Nanxing thought for a moment and said, "Although I like it here very much, from a realistic perspective, whether it's medical care or education, big cities are definitely better."

"Xie Zhiyao came back because this is his hometown, but this is not our hometown. If we want to leave the big city, why not go back to our hometown, at least we still have our family around us."

"That's the truth." Xu Hongdou nodded.

If one day she leaves BJ, and if there is no better development elsewhere, she will definitely want to return to Zibo, at least to be with her parents.

"But from a career perspective, this is indeed an opportunity," Chen Nanxing added.

"B&Bs are an industry we are familiar with. If we don't want to work, we can only start our own business, and opening a B&B is a good choice."

"The cost of starting a business in BJ is too high, and we obviously can't afford it. But starting from Yunmiao is a good way."

Xu Hongdou understood what Chen Nanxing meant. She didn't intend to settle down in Yunmiao from then on, but she could use it as a landing point for starting a business.

Xu Hongdou hesitated for a moment and said, "Let me think about it. Let's wait until Shaohua Bookstore is really confirmed to be established before we decide."

"Well, this is the prerequisite." Chen Nanxing nodded. She actually hadn't thought it through yet.

Starting a business is full of uncertainties for people like them who are used to working, so both of them need to think it through carefully.

And Xu Hongdou has the most important problem.

Xu Hongdou walked out of the room and looked at Chen Mo who was making dumplings with her mother.

She is no longer alone in BJ.

Xu Hongdou knew that her plan had to include their future.

(End of this chapter)