A distance of over 50 kilometers wasn’t too far; the drive took about an hour.
Lin Jiang’s home was in Hongnan County, but not in the county seat itself. He lived in the adjacent Xinyang Village.
It was a twenty-minute walk to the county seat and just a few minutes’ drive to the town center.
This was also why Li Xiaoping had never bought a house in town. Everything was convenient from the village. She could even take a stroll into town for fun, so there was no need to buy property there.
Besides, it saved some money that could be used for Lin Jiang’s future home and marriage. Plus, it’s hard to leave your homeland. She was used to village life and wouldn’t feel comfortable living in an apartment building in the city.
When they pulled up to the house, they saw several people standing at the gate.
Li Xiaoping, Li Rongjun, and his aunt, Meng Hongqin, were all waiting for them there.
Lin Jiang resembled Li Xiaoping in his features. She stood there, her face full of gentle affection.
Lin Jiang parked the car, and the three of them got out.
"Auntie, you’re looking even more beautiful. You should hurry up and dump my uncle and find someone better," Lin Jiang teased.
"I think that’s a great idea," Meng Hongqin played along with a smile.
He had grown up right beside her, so Meng Hongqin was used to Lin Jiang’s cheeky lack of respect for his elders.
"You little brat, you’re asking for a kick in the pants," Li Rongjun said with a hearty laugh.
Just then, Li Yueting walked over with Xu Yingjun.
"Hello, Uncle. Hello, Auntie. Sorry to impose on you."
As she spoke, she brought out the gifts they had bought beforehand.
"Oh, you shouldn’t have. Just coming is enough, you didn’t need to buy anything."
After the polite exchange, their eyes fell on Lin Jiang’s car. Li Rongjun stood beside it, staring for a good while.
"I’ve seen this brand of car on the road once. I hear they’re not cheap. How much did you pay for it?"
"Over three million."
"What?!"
Hearing the car’s price, they were all stunned.
They could have accepted 300,000, but over three million was completely beyond them.
Even Li Yueting was dumbfounded.
’I actually rode in a car worth over three million?’
"Son, where did you get the money to buy such an expensive car?"
Li Xiaoping was a little scared, afraid Lin Jiang had done something illegal.
"Business at the shop is good. I expanded it a bit and opened a catering company, so I bought a car to get around."
"I understand getting a car to get around, but this is way too expensive. You have to be frugal even if you have money."
"What’s the point of saving? Money is meant to be spent," Lin Jiang said, putting an arm around Li Xiaoping’s shoulder.
"Our relatives, except for my uncle, are all pretty terrible. You should be a little more high-profile from now on."
Standing to the side, Li Rongjun gave an awkward smile.
He had an older brother and an older sister, and he knew exactly what kind of people they were.
But at the end of the day, they were his brother and sister. As the younger brother, he couldn’t really say much. He just resigned himself to being taken advantage of.
"You brat, don’t talk nonsense."
"My cousin’s right. My uncle and my second aunt are just awful," Li Yueting said, her face full of resentment.
"Last year during the New Year, we had their two families over. They acted like they were lords of the manor, just flopping onto the sofa and not moving a muscle. Once they were at the table, one minute they were complaining the wine was bad, the next that the food wasn’t good. It was annoying just looking at them."
Li Yueting’s resentment was practically shooting through the roof. She was so pissed off, even a ghost like Sadako would’ve caught a couple of hard slaps.
"Alright, that’s enough out of you. Let’s go inside and eat before the food gets cold."
Li Yueting took out her phone, snapped several pictures of Lin Jiang’s car, and then, satisfied, linked arms with Xu Yingjun.
"Come on, I’ll take you to try my aunt’s cooking. It’s absolutely amazing."
"Okay."
The family went into the courtyard. Inside stood a large brick house and a small garden where many vegetables and fruit trees grew. Li Xiaoping didn’t do this work anymore; Li Rongjun usually took care of it.
Whenever she wanted to eat something, she could just go pick it from the garden. Being home alone, she could do whatever she pleased, which was a relaxed and carefree life.
Inside, a large round table was laden with dishes. There were also a few cases of beer on the floor. It was a magnificent feast.
Li Rongjun was on his phone, making a call.
"Big Brother, where are you? When will you get here?"
"No matter how busy you are, you have time for one meal."
"Alright, then."
After hanging up, Li Rongjun stared at his contacts and muttered to himself.
"Big Brother is busy at his shop and can’t get away for lunch, so he’s not coming."
As he spoke, Li Rongjun dialed another number.
"Second Sister, Lin Jiang is back. Where are you? I’ll come pick you up."
"Then hurry up."
After hanging up, Li Rongjun looked at Li Xiaoping and said,
"Second Sister said we should go ahead and eat. She’ll be over in a bit."
"Fine, then we won’t wait for them. Let’s eat."
Li Xiaoping had everyone take their seats, and the family’s lunch banquet began.
"Wait, wait, let me take a picture."
Li Yueting held up her phone, took several photos of the food on the table, then leaned close to Lin Jiang and whispered,
"Cousin, I just looked it up. Is your car a Maybach? It seems the one that costs over three million is the top-of-the-line model."
"Mhm."
"Let me see the key fob."
Lin Jiang took out the car key and handed it to Li Yueting.
She held it in her hand, snapped a few more pictures, and then pulled Lin Jiang in for a selfie.
After taking the photos, she didn’t even eat, instead starting to edit the pictures to post on her social media.
She typed out a caption and uploaded all the photos she had just taken.
"My cousin’s three-million-plus Maybach is so comfortable to ride in. I’ll have to start calling him President Lin from now on! Wishing you prosperous business, love you!"
After posting it, Li Yueting sidled up to Lin Jiang again.
"Cousin, believe it or not, they’ll come scurrying over here any minute now."
"Let them come. It has nothing to do with us. Go get Yingjun to eat, and stop playing on your phone."
"I know."
The meal began, and Lin Jiang started drinking with Li Rongjun.
Whenever he wasn’t home, his uncle was always the one who came over to help with any issues, so Lin Jiang was deeply grateful to Li Rongjun.
Before long, they had each finished three bottles of beer, and the atmosphere grew lively.
Just then, an electric scooter pulled up and stopped at Lin Jiang’s gate.
A man and a woman were on it—none other than Lin Jiang’s uncle, Li Rongmin, and his aunt, Li Xiaoli.
"This must be Lin Jiang’s car, right? I saw Tongtong’s post. She said it’s worth over three million," Li Xiaoli said.
"I called Hengyuan and asked. He said the car really is over three million; it’s a high-end brand from Mercedes-Benz," said Li Rongmin.
"Isn’t Lin Jiang running a noodle shop in Zhonghai? I heard business isn’t even that great. How could he afford such a nice car?" Li Xiaoli said.
"Hengyuan said he probably borrowed it from someone and that we shouldn’t make a big deal about it," Li Rongmin said.
"But anyway, he’s back, so it’s only normal for us to come and see him."
"Let’s go. We’ll go in and take a look."
Inside, the two men were drinking.
But Li Rongjun was an average drinker, and by his fifth bottle, he was already tipsy.
Li Xiaoping kept shooting glances at Lin Jiang, signaling that he had had enough to drink.
"Cousin..."
Li Yueting nudged Lin Jiang with her shoulder. "See? What did I tell you? They came as soon as they caught the scent."
CREAK... The door to the room was pushed open, and Li Rongmin and Li Xiaoli walked in from outside.
Li Xiaoping stood up to greet them, but just then, Lin Jiang spoke up.
"Uncle, we’ve had about enough to drink. As for these leftovers... even a dog wouldn’t want them. You should take them home to feed the pigs."
The atmosphere in the room instantly became awkward.
Li Rongmin and Li Xiaoli stood frozen in place, staring at the food on the table, unsure whether to advance or retreat.
Li Xiaoping didn’t know what to say. How were they supposed to eat now?
"Big Brother, Second Sister, you’re here."
Obliged to be polite, Li Rongjun greeted them, but he didn’t invite them to eat.
Everyone knew full well why they had come. It wasn’t for Lin Jiang; it was for the car.
"My dear nephew is back. Of course we had to come see him."
Li Rongmin sat down on the sofa with a chuckle, looking unnaturally toward Lin Jiang.
"My nephew has really made something of himself, buying a car and all. Must have cost a pretty penny, huh?"
"It’s alright. A little over three million."
After speaking, Lin Jiang took the watches he’d bought out of his bag.
"Uncle, Auntie, I didn’t get you two much, just a couple of watches."
"You remembered to get your old uncle a gift. I have to try it."
"Cousin, is this a Rolex?" Li Yueting leaned in. "These watches aren’t cheap. They must be tens of thousands, right?"
"The two of them together are over 200,000."
"What? That expensive?!"
Li Rongjun was so shocked he didn’t even dare to walk over to Lin Jiang.
"Your aunt’s life and mine combined aren’t worth 200,000. Why would you buy us such expensive watches?"
"Consider it compensation for burning down your chicken coop with firecrackers when I was a kid."
Lin Jiang took a watch, walked over, and put it on Li Rongjun’s wrist. "Not bad. It’s a good fit."
As he spoke, he handed the other watch to Meng Hongqin. "Auntie, you try it."
"How could your auntie afford to wear such an expensive watch?"
That’s what she said, but joy was written all over her face.
"You’re not kidding, expensive things really do look good."
At this price point, the style and other details weren’t that important. As long as it wasn’t too outlandish, no one would dislike it.
Then, Lin Jiang took out the gold bars he had bought, the clothes Chen Jingxian had purchased, the jade bracelet from Qin Yangyang, and the ginseng and sea cucumber that Xu Lin had sent.
The Li Family members stared, dumbfounded.
Even if they didn’t know the price of the other items, those two gold bars were undeniably valuable. There was no faking that.
"Try on this bracelet and the clothes, see if they fit."
"This bracelet is so green! It must be worth at least 500,000," Li Yueting said.
"You know about this stuff?"
"I took a jewelry appraisal elective last semester. You can tell from the color that it’s not cheap. 500,000 is probably an understatement."
Xu Yingjun stood to the side, completely baffled.
’Last semester, the two of them took Western Film Analysis together. She didn’t take any jewelry appraisal class.’
’Lin Jiang didn’t know anything about jade, but if it was really worth over 500,000, then he would owe Qin Yangyang a huge favor.’
"This is too expensive."
"Auntie, my cousin didn’t just buy a car worth over three million, he also started a company. To him, this is just pocket change. It’s not expensive at all."
"Jingxian must have bought these clothes for me, right? She knows my size, so they’ll definitely fit."
As she spoke, Li Xiaoping put on the jade bracelet. "This color is really beautiful. It makes my skin look fairer."
"As long as you like it," Lin Jiang said, stretching a bit.
"You all can chat. Tongtong brought her classmate over, so I’m going to take the two of them out."
"Auntie, we’re leaving!"
Li Yueting pulled Lin Jiang and Xu Yingjun along and left.
"Don’t stay out too late, and be careful on the road," Li Xiaoping said.
"We know, we know."
With Xu Yingjun present, Li Xiaoping didn’t feel it was right to force Lin Jiang to stay.
Her son was grown now; there was no need to manage him so much.
The atmosphere in the room was a bit awkward. Li Rongmin and Li Xiaoli had long faces.
Everyone else had received priceless gifts, but the two of them got nothing. Wasn’t this a deliberate attempt to spite them?

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