“Huh? Third Brother, why are you back?” Once An Jianmin clearly recognized An Jianping, he immediately strode up to greet him.
Jiang Shanshan, who had been quietly discussing something with him just moments earlier, subtly changed her expression.
Thinking of what they had just talked about at the village secretary’s house, she felt a twinge of regret. At the time, when Jianmin had wanted to agree right away, she had insisted on thinking it over a bit more.
An Jianping first greeted the couple. As for An Jianmin’s question, he didn’t answer it directly.
After all, what he wanted to ask and discuss wasn’t something appropriate to talk about in a place like this.
But seeing An Jianping’s demeanor, An Jianmin thought of the same thing his wife had.
He quickly ushered his third brother toward his own home.
Jiang Shanshan pressed her lips together and followed behind them. Yet all the way back, she didn’t say a single word.
It was only after the two brothers had poured tea that she said, “Third Brother, you and Jianmin talk. I’ll go check on the orchard.”
“How about you stay for dinner tonight? I can go catch a chicken later and prepare it.”
“No, sister-in-law. Jianmin and I have something to discuss. Once we’re done, I’ll head back to the city,” An Jianping quickly declined.
If he could confirm certain things with his younger brother, not to mention staying for dinner—even sitting around afterward would be hard for either of them.
Jiang Shanshan didn’t press the matter. Instead, she said, “Then don’t rush off, Third Brother. I’ll go cut some vegetables from the garden. Take them back to the city with you later.”
This time, An Jianping didn’t refuse.
After Jiang Shanshan’s figure disappeared from sight, An Jianping looked at An Jianmin with some hesitation.
Along the way, An Jianping had actually thought a great deal.
But now that he truly had to speak up, he didn’t know where to begin.
While An Jianping hesitated, An Jianmin did not.
“Third Brother, about what I mentioned on the phone last time—what do you think?”
An Jianping’s mind was still full of thoughts about demolition, and for a moment he didn’t even realize what his younger brother was referring to.
So he asked directly, “Which matter?”
An Jianmin found this a bit strange. He had assumed that his third brother had returned to the village specifically to see him after making up his mind.
Thinking that, he still answered patiently,
“The matter of building houses together.”
“If your family joins in, we can build three houses together—five floors per household. That’s a pretty big project.”
“Whether it’s negotiating labor contracts or purchasing materials, we’d be able to get quite a few discounts.”
An Jianmin deliberately didn’t bring up his nephew’s residential plot.
He knew that his third brother still planned to buy an apartment in the city for his nephew’s marriage.
If that was the case, he would probably have to subsidize the construction costs first.
With his current financial situation, helping build one house wouldn’t be a problem.
But if two houses were built at the same time, it would be somewhat troublesome.
Just earlier, An Jianmin and his wife had discussed contracting fish ponds, mulberry groves, and flower fields at the village secretary’s house.
An Jianmin also wanted to build a house because agritourism was doing well for many families in the village.
Although his fruit shops were profitable, there was no reason to pass up money that was right in front of him.
An Jianping didn’t know about all the considerations going through his younger brother’s mind.
Seeing An Jianmin’s sincere expression, he felt a bit emotional.
“Jianmin, what made you suddenly think of building a house?”
As soon as An Jianping asked that, An Jianmin immediately perked up.
He even felt that this was already a sign of his third brother wavering.
Otherwise, in the past, he had mentioned this idea more than once, yet his third brother had never proactively asked for details.
Of course, An Jianmin temporarily forgot that every time he went to see his third brother, he had already laid out his entire plan in exhaustive detail.
After all, in the eyes of everyone in the An family, An Jianping—who had moved to the city early and firmly established himself there—was indeed someone reliable to lean on.
“Most people in our village are developing agritourism now. Some have planted small orchards for fruit picking.”
“Some grow vegetables that visitors can harvest themselves.”
“Some do fishing and barbecues.”
“Others rely on their cooking skills, using vegetables and fruit from their own gardens and free-range chickens and ducks to make authentic farmhouse dishes.”
“Some have even built swimming pools and set up artificial beaches.”
“And some people have even put the marginal wasteland to use—stream valleys plus an open space, where people can play, relax, and even rent tents.”
“Third Brother, you know that Shuncheng people can lack many things, but they can’t go without good food.”
“And since the bus route to the counties below opened a couple of years ago,”
“there are now direct buses from the city straight to our village.”
“Whether it’s bringing the whole family out for a weekend getaway or just coming to eat, drink, and have fun, it’s all very suitable.”
“There are still fish ponds, mulberry groves, and flower fields in the village that haven’t been contracted out yet.”
“The village secretary wants to finish contracting them all this year, then pull the entire village together to form a large-scale operation.”
“We’ve gone to take a look several times. If the remaining fish ponds and mulberry fields weren’t so far from the village center, they probably would have all been taken already.”
“What I’m hesitating about now is building a house on that residential plot out there—there aren’t any other households nearby, and the roads might not be very convenient.”
There was no need to continue. An Jianping already understood.
After all, An Jianmin had discussed this with him more than once since last year.
It was just that An Jianping hadn’t asked in such detail before.
An Jianping carefully studied the expression on An Jianmin’s face.
It seemed like he didn’t have any special information— was this just a coincidence, a matter of good timing?
An Jianping thought to himself.
“Third Brother? What do you think?” An Jianmin asked again. “I know that for my nephew’s marriage, your finances aren’t very flexible right now.”
“But it’s fine. Although the money my wife and I have on hand isn’t overly abundant, covering the construction of your house along the way is still something we can do.”
An Jianmin wasn’t being blindly generous to his third brother.
There were six siblings in their family.
Yet only two of them were especially close—and that was certainly for a reason.
Now, An Jianmin wanted to help his third brother.
But in the past, it had always been An Jianping who helped him.
After thinking it through for a long time, An Jianping finally made up his mind.
He stood up decisively, first stepping out into the courtyard to take a careful look around.
Then he went back into An Jianmin’s house and inspected it closely, room by room.
An Jianmin was a bit puzzled and was about to ask what his third brother was looking for, when he saw An Jianping already sitting down beside him.
Lowering his voice, An Jianping said, “Jianmin… while my niece was working at the hotel, she heard a guest on the top floor say that a logistics center is going to be built here.”
“The neighboring village seems to have been expropriated the year before last, and more than two-thirds of it was already taken.”
“The remaining land probably isn’t enough.”
“A logistics center?” An Jianmin’s eyes widened instantly. He finally understood why his third brother had been looking around so carefully just now.
If he had received such news, he wouldn’t dare let a third person hear it either.
“Yes,” An Jianping nodded firmly, then added, “You’ve been asking me about building houses since last year, and you even called me specially this year.”
“I originally thought you had gotten some news as well.”
An Jianmin immediately shook his head vigorously.
What news could he possibly have?
He was just a fruit seller. If he had information like that, it would have spread all over the village and beyond already.
But An Jianmin was quick-witted. He immediately motioned to his third brother.
“Come on, let’s ride the motorbike over there and take a look first.”
The two villages weren’t far apart to begin with, and the land there had been expropriated for nearly two years now.
Logically speaking, construction should be almost finished.
Especially judging from what his niece had overheard.
(End of this chapter)