Xu Ying’s words successfully eased Bi Lizhu’s attitude.
She looked at her son.
Seeing that he was equally serious, she knew that this really was a decision the young couple had discussed together.
Only then did Bi Lizhu relax a little.
It wasn’t that she was being overly suspicious.
It was just that given the current situation between the two families, if she didn’t think things through more carefully, there might still be changes right before the wedding.
“If we’re not buying a house for the time being…” An Jianping pondered for a moment, looking at his son, still somewhat uncertain about their plans.
An Songlin glanced at his fiancée before turning back to his parents.
“Dad, Mom, after discussing it with A-Ying, we also agree that you can take the down payment money and use it to contract mulberry fields or orchards in the village.”
He knew that even though the family had taken out a loan, they still hadn’t touched that money.
Besides that, he himself actually had another sum of money.
Of course, it wasn’t a large amount.
It had originally been set aside for buying appliances, bedding, and other miscellaneous items after the new house was renovated.
Now, An Songlin was also prepared to put that money in as well.
“Recently, we’ve not only looked at the situation around the new factory area, but also inspected quite a few places in Rongdi and Liangdi.”
“It’s easy to see that once the new industrial zone is officially put into use, it will have a huge impact on the surrounding areas.”
“Not to mention the new district—there it’s not just one or two factories, but an entire cluster of industrial buildings.”
And precisely because of this, even though An Songlin wasn’t completely certain about the demolition news his sister had heard, he still felt that investing in Jiang Village would be worthwhile.
It was just that he couldn’t explain this too clearly in front of his fiancée.
So he analyzed it from the angle of realistic development prospects instead:
“Lin Village next to ours only has about one-third of it left now, and the whole village is determined to focus on rental housing.”
“On top of that, Lin Village originally had a lot of land and especially fertile soil, growing grain three times a year with steady harvests.”
“But our village—from the early days of mulberry cultivation and silkworm raising, to later mulberry–fish ponds, and then flower and tree cultivation—has actually laid down a lot of favorable conditions for today’s farmhouse tourism.”
“Even though most of the land around the village is now well operated by the villagers, the remaining plots are just a bit farther away from the village, without proper access roads.”
“But those unused fields are simply unmanaged, not completely barren.”
“For example, the mulberry fields and fish ponds Dad has contracted—even if we don’t build silkworm houses and resume silkworm rearing and cocoon harvesting,”
“we can still pick mulberries and mulberry leaves, brew mulberry fruit wine, and so on.”
“We can also work together with other farmhouse operators in the village, and during mulberry season, let visitors enter for self-picking.”
“After all, during the season when mulberries ripen, there really aren’t many other fruits available for picking in the village.”
“Adding another picking activity also helps attract customers for the other villagers.”
“The brewed mulberry wine can be taken home as well. I’ve visited different farmhouse inns in the village—homemade fruit wine sells quite well everywhere.”
“As long as we’re serious about doing this, once we contract mulberry fields and manage them properly, we’ll definitely find a viable path.”
“Besides that, although the new district is closest to Lin Village, it actually isn’t that far from our Jiang Village either.”
“Especially after Lin Village is demolished, the amount of usable land there will be very limited.”
“Even if we don’t consider the whole industrial zone, just one or two factories on the Lin Village side would be enough to fill Lin Village with rental demand.”
“When that happens, given the distance between our two villages, wouldn’t opportunities naturally come to Jiang Village?”
“Even if not many people actually come to rent in our village,”
“given how close the two villages are, people renting in Lin Village would only need to take a casual walk to get to ours.”
“I’ve heard that private factories in the new district pay quite well.”
“When the time comes, seeing that Jiang Village offers both good food and fun activities, how could they not be tempted?”
“In short, no matter how I look at it, I don’t think Jiang Village will be left behind.”
Everything An Songlin said had been carefully thought through.
Even the idea of mulberry wine was something he had researched—one of his classmates worked at a factory that already produced fruit wine.
For that reason, he had consulted both classmates and experienced craftsmen more than once.
Seeing An Songlin’s confident expression, Xu Ying’s eyes sparkled.
In recent years, major state-owned factories everywhere had gone through waves of layoffs.
By now, the factories that managed to survive were either inherently strong, or merely hanging on.
Shuncheng No. 1 Silk Weaving Factory, however, was an exception.
Although it had gone through several periods of upheaval, it hadn’t declined like other state-owned factories.
Instead, thanks to early implementation of public–private partnership reforms, it even showed signs of renewed growth.
Under such circumstances, when An Songlin faced financial pressure over buying a marital home, he immediately sought alternative paths.
To Xu Ying, this wasn’t just proof that An Songlin was quick-witted—it also made him someone she could truly rely on.
An Jianping wasn’t worried about the rest, but asked instead:
“Xiao Xuan, did you discuss this with your family before making the decision?”
Xu Ying nodded. “Actually, my family played a role in this decision.”
When the issue of the marital home first arose, the atmosphere in her family had indeed not been very good.
But two days ago, her aunt happened to come home and learned about it.
Instead of siding with her parents, her aunt gave them a thorough scolding.
Xu Ying’s aunt lived in Liangdi, where her younger cousin was at the critical stage of moving from junior to senior high school.
Unfortunately, their home didn’t fall within the catchment area of Shuncheng No. 1 High School.
So now her cousin could only compete with all the top students in Shuncheng for the limited admission spots.
Coincidentally, one of her aunt’s coworkers lived within Shuncheng No. 1 High School’s district.
When that coworker’s daughter took the exams last year, the process hadn’t been nearly as stressful.
In fact, that child’s grades weren’t even as good as her cousin’s.
It was precisely because of this that Xu Ying—just one step away from marriage—began to seriously reconsider whether the location of the new house was truly suitable.
Meanwhile, Xu Ying’s parents, who had been uncomfortable ever since the plan changed from a full cash purchase to a mortgage, rarely took the initiative to advise the young couple to be more cautious about buying a house.
This gave the couple the opportunity to share all their recent observations with their family.
Even though Xu Ying’s parents still weren’t entirely at ease,
Xu Ying trusted An Songlin.
And deep down, she also had her own sense of pride.
If this were the only way to keep herself from future worries, then her own judgment would hardly be worth much.
The rest of the An family didn’t know about all this.
But seeing Xu Ying’s firm expression, An Jianping didn’t say anything further.
He only reminded the two of them,
“Next week, pick a suitable time.”
“Then come with me to Jiang Village.”
An Jianping had made up his mind: even if the new house wasn’t bought, that money should still belong to the young couple.
So he planned to put the contracted land directly under An Songlin’s name.
When demolition eventually came, the compensation would have nothing to do with the rest of the family.
In fact, when An Songyu and the others signed the contracts, they hadn’t read them carefully.
Otherwise, they would have realized that the land An Jianping had contracted in the village was not only financed using loans taken out in each family member’s name, but the contracting agreements themselves were also signed under their individual names.
That was why it had been so smooth to allocate residential land plots for An Songyu and her sister.
And the residential land issue that had been worrying the two sisters all along was completely exposed the very next day, when Bi Lizhu went to Jiang Village.
(End of chapter)