Free Web NovelChapter 1306: Chapter 863: New Year’s Celebration (Part 2)
This part is also being followed up on by operations.
Jiang Nian’s assets have gone from the million level. If you count the total, he’s already stepped into the five-million mark.
This is only the beginning. When next year’s revenue breaks fifty million, it’ll about be time to hire designers.
It was getting close to New Year’s Eve.
Only then did Jiang Nian fly back to Zhen Nan. After landing, it was Xu Shuang who came to pick him up; he didn’t bother Old Jiang and the rest.
"Have you eaten?" Zhao Yiqiu waved.
The Daoist’s core build was still the old-school three-piece set: have you eaten, what did you eat, time to eat.
"I had the airplane meal," he said.
Xu Shuang stood to the side, arms crossed, looking at Jiang Nian, who was only carrying a small suitcase and had a smile on his face.
She was a little speechless, and also a little full of longing.
The two of them looked at each other a few times, then Jiang Nian suddenly walked up, handed her something, and said, "Got something for you."
"What?"
"The first edition sample piece," Jiang Nian said. "I thought about it and felt I had to give you one."
Hearing that, Xu Shuang was stunned for a moment.
"Mm."
She glanced at the piece of clothing. There was a tag on it, with a line of small words written: xxx Banyu First Edition Sample Piece as a Souvenir.
It was handwritten, presumably in Jiang Nian’s handwriting.
"Thanks."
Xu Shuang’s tone softened a little. Looking up, she saw him let go of the suitcase and open his arms as if to hug her.
She hesitated for a second, then still moved in for the hug.
"Welcome home."
Smelling the scent on Jiang Nian’s body, she couldn’t help feeling at ease. The last bit of knot in her heart also vanished into thin air.
She thought to herself that in the end... he still cared about her.
"Mm." Jiang Nian nodded, thinking that Xu Shuang smelled quite nice. "Let’s go, we can talk on the way."
With that, he let go of Xu Shuang.
He really wasn’t lying; this was the very first sample piece. But he still had a bunch of this kind of sample piece.
On the way, Xu Shuang asked,
"Wanna grab something to eat?"
"Where?" Jiang Nian instantly got wary. Hearing her say that gave him a vague bad feeling.
Sure enough, Xu Shuang said,
"My place."
"I didn’t buy any gifts, that’s not very proper," Jiang Nian said casually. "Sigh, guess I’ll have to visit next time."
"I got them ready," she said calmly, glancing at Jiang Nian in the driver’s seat. "They’re in the trunk."
Jiang Nian: "...."
What else could he say—he could only agree.
"That works. I’ve wanted to go for a while," he said. "Just a bit nervous, not sure what your grandpa thinks."
Hearing that he didn’t keep trying to dodge it, Xu Shuang couldn’t help relaxing her brows.
"He has no thoughts."
....
Jiang Nian hadn’t expected his first stop after coming back home to actually be at Xu Shuang’s place, but it was also a chance to hitch a ride.
Times were different now—if you don’t hitch for free, you’re losing out.
"Where’s your grandpa?"
Xu Shuang said, "At the gourd rack."
Jiang Nian: "???"
"He’s been growing gourds lately," Xu Shuang said. "Said they’re for Xu Yuanshan, he’ll give them to him when they’re ready."
"Oh, oh, I see."
So the root of this is Xu Laodi; how disrespectful of me not to realize. Still, in spoiling his grandson, he really had reached new heights.
"Is your brother back?"
Standard small talk: see the sister, ask about the brother.
"Mm, he’s home."
"So does he know... about the two of us?" Jiang Nian lowered his voice—after all, he’d earned quite a lot off the guy.
As for Xu Shuang’s money, that didn’t count as earning.
That was called transferring.
Besides, that bit of money to Xu Shuang really was like a drop in the ocean, money she spent just for fun.
The core lay in real estate.
Over the past two years, under the influence of livestreaming and short videos, housing prices had gone up as well, and Zhen Nan’s prices especially only went one way—up.
Shops were easy to sell too—pure, uncut profit.
But to Xu Shuang right now, with the family on the decline, more money wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
The old, the middle-aged, and the young—there was a generational break.
Her grandpa was getting old, her little brother was a hardcore otaku. The whole "continuing the family line, carrying on the incense" thing was far from guaranteed.
"He probably doesn’t know," Xu Shuang said, a bit nervous herself. "Even if he does, he’ll pretend he doesn’t."
"Why?"
"Because if he starts butting into my business, he can’t just butt into one thing," Xu Shuang rolled her eyes.
"All his brainpower is spent on playing."
"Oh, I see," Jiang Nian nodded, understanding. Sure enough, Laodi was a master at playing dumb.
"What does he think of me?"
"Don’t know, I’ll ask him next time," Xu Shuang thought about it. She really couldn’t let him keep pretending to be clueless.
If he kept acting sweet, she’d smack him right across the face.
Up ahead.
Xu Yuanshan happened to be riding his little e-bike out and ran straight into his dear sister. He immediately got off and pretended to be tinkering with the bike.
This bizarre scene even made Jiang Nian cringe.
The acting was completely natural.
Invincible.
"Where are you going?" Xu Shuang looked thoroughly displeased. If Jiang Nian weren’t here, she’d already be hands-on.
"Huh?"
Xu Yuanshan ended his indecent fiddling with the e-bike, stood up, and explained, "I’m not going anywhere."
"The bike’s been sitting too long, I’m pushing it out to get some sun."
Xu Shuang was speechless and ordered, "You’re not allowed to go out today! If you dare sneak out, I’ll break your legs!"
"Huh?!!" Xu Yuanshan was devastated.
Jiang Nian kept his eyes on his nose, nose on his heart. He thought, this woman is fierce—she’s not going to treat me like this in the future, right?
Thinking it over, probably not.
That contrast, though.
Xu Yuanshan sighed, then looked at Jiang Nian. His gaze went from puzzled to shocked to pleading.
"Ahem."
Jiang Nian coughed and said, "Why not just let him go? As long as he comes back for dinner." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Xu Shuang hesitated for a moment, then turned to Xu Yuanshan and said, "If you’re not back by dinner, you’re dead."
"Oh, oh, okay," Xu Yuanshan said, fleeing as he pushed the bike away. "I’ll just play for a bit and then come back."
.....
At dinnertime, Xu Yuanshan really did come back.
At the table, Jiang Nian had a couple of drinks with Mr. Xu. The meal was quite pleasant for host and guest alike; they didn’t talk business at all.
It felt... more like a family dinner.
Maybe it was because nothing was clearly defined yet. Some things were inconvenient to say, so they simply just ate.
Mm, Xu Shuang had worried for nothing.
Having drunk, he couldn’t drive, so Zhao Yiqiu drove him home. On the way, the county’s streets were full of scattered lights and shadows.
Jiang Nian looked out the car window at the familiar streets and scenes.
"When did that coffee shop open?"
"A few months ago," Zhao Yiqiu said while driving. "And there’s a new supermarket too."
"Tsk, that’s nice."
"Yeah, you can buy snacks."
Downstairs, Jiang Nian watched Zhao Yiqiu drive off. When the taillights disappeared, he turned and went upstairs.
He carried his suitcase in one hand, stride steady, and on the way he sniffed himself a bit to see if there was any lingering fragrance.
Knock, knock, knock.
The door opened, but it was Song Xiyun who opened it. Jiang Nian froze for a second and glanced at the door across the hall.
No mistake, this was his own place.
"You..."
"You’re back?" Song Xiyun looked genuinely pleasantly surprised and reached out to take his suitcase.
"Xiao Nian’s back?"
The commotion at the door drew attention from inside. Old Jiang and Ms. Li came out, as well as Xu Qianqian.
"Whoa! You really came back!" frёeωebɳovel.com
"You kid, how could you not say something in advance if you’re coming back? We could’ve gone to the high-speed rail station to pick you up."
"Hmph, that’s just how he is."
Jiang Nian was a bit moved too. After being away from home for thousands of miles, on his first day back he was still getting VIP treatment.
"I just didn’t want to trouble you. It’s not far, just a quick trip."
"Come on, I got a gift for each of you." He opened his suitcase. "The gift might be small, but the feelings are big."
"Clothes?"
"Yeah, these are the first edition samples from my company. Dad, Mom, the ones in your hands are second edition."
"Why? How come we only get the second edition?" Ms. Li was a little unhappy at that.
"Because the first edition’s limited, only a few pieces," Jiang Nian said shamelessly, then handed over a big red envelope.
"Here, here, here—Mom, you’ve worked hard all year."
Li Hongmei: "..."
For the sake of it being his first day back, she couldn’t be bothered to scold him; after all, the kid had really made something of himself.
Old Jiang was all smiles, not caring at all about which edition they got.
"You’ve gone and started a company now?"
"Gotta be legit if you’re selling clothes," Jiang Nian said. "Gotta think about contributing more to the country, right?"
The two women each held their "limited" first edition sample pieces, glanced at Jiang Nian, then looked at each other again.
This guy...
