Chapter 8: Mengmeng’s One-Move Victory

After leaving Cao Family Village, they drove for over half an hour and arrived at Pingyuan County.

This is a typical small county town in the north, not very big. The total population of the entire county is only 502,600, while the permanent population in the county town is only over 200,000.

However, even in such a relatively backward small county town, there are still a few strong enterprises, including a chemical plant and a food factory, both well-known throughout the province. But they are all provincial state-owned enterprises, with several other struggling enterprises remaining.

However, the current leadership team members of Pingyuan County are quite intelligent. They found that Pingyuan County’s current development of the real economy is not very good, but soft economy and distinctive agriculture still have potential.

After realizing this key factor, a group of people held a meeting, adjusted their development strategy, and Pingyuan County began to vigorously develop this area.

After Cao Shujie drove his wife and child into the county town, they headed straight for their destination.

The couple had returned from Beijing, not wanting to continue the rat race there, but they also admitted that compared to Beijing, their hometown had more than just a small gap.

But this was not Mengmeng’s focus. Ever since the car entered the county town, Mengmeng had been looking out the window. Just as they passed a supermarket, Mengmeng suddenly pointed out the window and shouted, “Mom, look!”

Cheng Xiaolin followed her daughter’s pointing direction, turned her head to look outside, and saw a red children’s playground to the south of the supermarket entrance, with many children playing on it.

Mengmeng had also seen that just now, and she wanted to go play too.

“Daddy!” Seeing that her dad still hadn’t stopped the car, Mengmeng got anxious and shouted.

Cao Shujie told her, “Mengmeng, after we finish shopping, Daddy will bring you here to play.”

“Okay!” Mengmeng responded and quieted down.

Cao Shujie needed to buy quite a few ingredients. He went to several places but still couldn’t buy all of them in the end.

Cheng Xiaolin also asked him if this was okay.

According to Cao Shujie, the effect of this semi-finished product was much stronger than that of chemical fertilizers.

Cheng Xiaolin didn’t understand this and didn’t ask any more questions.

Cao Shujie called his childhood friend, Cao Zhen.

Learning that Cao Shujie was back, Cao Zhen immediately asked him, “Where are you? I’m gathering some people now, let’s have a drink tonight.”

“I’ll take my wife and child to Tiantian Supermarket first to look around. See you tonight,” Cao Shujie said.

As soon as he said that, Cao Zhen immediately understood that this “grandson” was already in the county town.

He said, “You wait by the supermarket. I’ll ask for leave and come over now.”

“No hurry…”

But before Cao Shujie could finish speaking, Cao Zhen hung up the phone.

“Shujie, how is it? Are they all busy?” Cheng Xiaolin said, “If they don’t have time today, let’s just look around for a bit and then go back.”

“Cao Zhen just went to ask for leave. He’ll be over in a bit,” Cao Shujie said.

Cheng Xiaolin was very surprised, “Ah, couldn’t he just come over tonight? Why take special leave to come over now?”

“He’s free. He works at his uncle’s factory. What does it matter if he takes leave or not?” Cao Shujie said.

“Daddy, jump, jump, jump.” Mengmeng saw that her dad and mom kept talking and weren’t moving. She got a little anxious and started bouncing in the car.

Cao Shujie said with a smile, “We’re going now.”

“Okay, hehe.” Mengmeng smiled.

Cao Shujie had nothing else to do now. Preparing the nutrient solution required using utensils and also a quiet and dry environment. He wasn’t in a hurry at the moment; he could do it when he got home.

Driving to the entrance of Tiantian Supermarket and finding a roadside parking spot to park the car, the family of three went over.

This children’s playground was like a small castle, with rock climbing, a ball pit, tunnels, and slides, which children loved the most.

“Husband, you watch Mengmeng here. I’ll go into the supermarket to buy spools of thread for Mom,” Cheng Xiaolin said.

“You go ahead.” Cao Shujie paid the children’s playground owner 10 yuan and carried his daughter inside.

He stood by, watching his daughter crawl around inside by herself, occasionally grabbing a few ocean balls and throwing them out.

She couldn’t play the other activities due to her age and strength. But even so, Mengmeng was having a lot of fun, laughing very happily.

“Damn, you’re back again?” Just as Cao Shujie was intently watching his daughter, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder from behind, startling him. He turned around and saw it was his childhood friend, Cao Zhen.

Cao Shujie directly gave him a punch, “You almost scared the hell out of me! When did you get here?”

“Just arrived. Seeing you here playing with your daughter, I couldn’t bear to disturb you.” Cao Zhen burst into laughter.

He looked around, didn’t see Cao Shujie’s wife, and asked him, “Where’s your wife? Don’t tell me it’s just you and your daughter who came back.”

Cao Shujie pointed towards the supermarket, “She went in to buy some things.”

“I knew it.” Cao Zhen had a question, “Shujie, didn’t you just leave last month after Chinese New Year? How come you’re back so soon?”

“I’ve been back for a week already, okay? I won’t be leaving anymore. I’ll develop things in my hometown,” Cao Shujie said.

Cao Zhen looked at Cao Shujie very seriously, didn’t see any unusual expression on his face, so he asked him with a serious face, “Is that true? You’d better think it through. The wages in our factories here are very low. Even in the best chemical plant, an operator with performance bonuses only earns a little over 3,000 yuan a month.”

“Why would I lie to you?” Cao Shujie glanced at his daughter, saw she was having a lot of fun, so he left her to it, and turned to Cao Zhen, saying, “Yesterday, I just hired someone to demolish our old house. I’m planning to build a small villa and live a leisurely life in my hometown.”

At this moment, Cao Zhen’s jaw almost dropped in surprise.

“Are you serious?” He still couldn’t quite believe it.

Seeing Cao Shujie nod, Cao Zhen didn’t know what he remembered, and said with a big laugh, “Alright, our Five Tigers of Cao Family Village are truly reunited this time! Shujie, tell me, what kind of job are you looking for? Or do you want to start your own business? Tell me, I’ll give you some advice.”

“Also, if you need anything in our hometown, just say the word.” Cao Zhen was very straightforward.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be troubling you guys a lot in the future.” Cao Shujie didn’t stand on ceremony.

Some friendships, even after another 10 years, still hadn’t changed. He kept them all in his heart.

After Cheng Xiaolin finished shopping and came out, she also greeted Cao Zhen.

Mengmeng was still playing in the children’s playground and refused to come out no matter what.

Since they weren’t in a hurry to leave, they let her be.

After talking for a while, they got a little thirsty. Cao Zhen was thinking of buying some drinks and mineral water. Cheng Xiaolin told Cao Shujie, “Shujie, keep an eye on Mengmeng, I’ll go buy them.”

She went back into the supermarket to buy drinks.

Cao Shujie and Cao Zhen chatted while watching Mengmeng.

Cao Zhen was very curious about what his childhood friend had experienced that made him decide to come back from Beijing and develop here.

“It’s too much of a rat race over there. Constantly working overtime and staying up late, otherwise, you can’t achieve performance,” Cao Shujie said with a sigh.

This is reality!

“Sigh, it’s actually the same here!” Cao Zhen said.

Cao Shujie’s eyes fell on his daughter, who was sitting and playing with a balloon inside the children’s playground. He shook his head and chuckled, “Zhen, it’s different. The pace there is very fast. If you’re a little slow, you’ll be pushed out by others.”

“Plus a mortgage of six or seven thousand yuan a month, imagine how much psychological pressure you’d be under. You don’t need others to push you; you’ll desperately rush forward yourself.” Speaking of this, Cao Shujie paused for a moment and continued, “Do you know what it feels like to desperately strive? It’s… you could really lose your life!”

“Huh?” When Cao Zhen heard Cao Shujie say this, he didn’t know why, but he always felt there was a hidden meaning in his childhood friend’s words.

But before he could figure it out, at that very moment, Cao Zhen suddenly heard Cao Shujie beside him urgently shout, “Mengmeng, be careful.”

A “bang” sound exploded.

“Wah…”

Immediately after, a child’s wail came.

Cao Zhen thought his niece had an accident. Who knew that at this critical moment, a third person’s angry roar followed, “Which bastard dares to grab my son?”

Rewind one minute. Cao Shujie and Cao Zhen were talking. Mengmeng inside the children’s playground was sitting and playing with a balloon. Who knew that at this moment, a little boy, a head taller than her, came over and without a word, reached out and snatched the balloon from her hand.

Mengmeng naturally wouldn’t give it to him. She usually ate a lot, and her hand strength was indeed quite considerable. During the struggle between the two little children, the balloon was directly pulled and burst.

Mengmeng and the little boy were perhaps startled by the balloon’s bang, and both froze.

But in just a moment, the little boy seemed to get angry and reached out to push Mengmeng down.

But Mengmeng also came to her senses at this moment. She was so mischievous that she even dared to be cheeky with her mother, so how could she be afraid of a little boy? She raised her hand and scratched at the other party’s chubby face.

Just then, Cao Shujie reminded his daughter to be careful. He hadn’t expected his daughter to win against a stronger opponent, directly making the little boy cry by scratching him.

At this moment, another man standing opposite saw this scene and immediately darkened his face. Not only did he start cursing, but he also grabbed onto the edge of the children’s playground, wanting to go up and hit someone.

Seeing that the situation was bad, Cao Shujie jumped up, stretched out a hand, pressed his upper body against the inflatable wall of the children’s playground, and first hugged his daughter Mengmeng out.

(End of this chapter)