The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead-Chapter 442: Extra two

Lu Jingqiu would always have to renovate the house whenever she moved.

This time, she was allocated a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment at the research institute, located on the third floor.

The walls were all white, with cement floors.

Nowadays, some houses have tiled floors, but Lu Jingqiu’s family had recently been living in an old house.

They had to start with renovating the house, laying floor tiles, remodeling the bathroom, plumbing, electrical, and kitchen.

After Jiang Nanzhou started his job, he inquired at the institute about renting a house.

Surprisingly, he found one available for rent right next door, a two-bedroom, one-living-room place for twelve Yuan a month.

Jiang Nanzhou thought it was a good deal and rented it.

It was this very house that had been newly assigned to an elderly couple, who were staying with their son outside and helping to take care of their grandchildren.

That was all that was available.

They couldn’t find a house for Manman.

Eventually, with no other choice, Shen Manman bought a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment in the family housing area near her factory.

Zhuang Yan also bought a unit there following suit.

Zhuang Yan had previously made a good amount of money selling clothes and shoes in their county town and had gone back to the village to spread the news about Xia Lin.

Now, the Old Xia family couldn’t hold their heads high in the village, and Captain Xia had also stepped down.

After the sons divided the family property, the elderly couple lived in the courtyard house of the eldest son.

The eldest son and his wife were in West City, running their own small workshop that initially made good money. Still, with more and more competitors now, the business was challenging to sustain.

Zhuang Yan later followed Wei Jincheng and helped him with business development. He was a smooth talker, which made him perfect for the job.

Manman’s sales representatives were all women over thirty, married in their twenties; their business was neither particularly good nor bad.

She was impressed by Zhuang Yan’s gift of gab and wanted him to help with business talks in one city while also helping her to market her sanitary pads.

Even if Wei Jincheng agreed, Zhuang Yan did not; as a man, he couldn’t bear to sell women’s products.

In the end, Shen Manman offered him a commission of five Yuan per box of products. After that, he didn’t spout any more heroic talk.

Who could turn down money, after all?

In the past two years, Zhuang Yan alone had opened up the market in all the county towns within the province for Manman.

With better living conditions and improvements overall, the sales volume for women’s products was impressively good.

So, over these two years, although not nationwide, their products had been distributed across three or four provinces.

The annual sales figures were quite frightening; besides buying a factory, they started distributing profits over the last two years. Last year, each person in Lu Jingqiu’s family also received a share of twenty thousand Yuan.

A business that wasn’t much regarded before was slowly getting on track.

Oh, I’ve digressed; Zhuang Yan bought a house following Shen Man and was living so nearby because of their interactions over the past two years. Zhuang Yan had taken a fancy to Manman.

Unfortunately, Manman did not feel the same about him, finding him too rough around the edges, and her father didn’t have a good impression of him either.

So, Zhuang Yan’s pursuit of a wife still had a long way to go.

...

After Lu Jingqiu’s family settled down, they brought Grandpa Jiang and Aunt Zhang over.

Xiao Cheng was enrolled in a primary school near the research institute, while Yang Yang started kindergarten in the residential complex.

The little girl couldn’t tough it out like her brother and cried for a month before adjusting.

Jiang Nanzhou and Grandpa felt so heartbroken for her.

When she went to work, the two of them would go to the kindergarten whenever they had time just to have a look, and Grandpa would also pick up the child at noon to take her home.

If not for the two of them taking care of the child in this manner, she would have gotten used to it much sooner.

It is said that a daughter is a father’s tender spot, which wasn’t at all an exaggeration.

Mainly because, in three generations of the Jiang family, there was only this one girl; of course, they cherished her dearly.

On this Sunday, Lu Jingqiu went with Luo Xinyue and Chen Qingru to the railway station to pick up He Yu.

It had been many years since they all saw each other, or to be exact, many years since they saw He Yu.

This time He Yu came not only to meet with Wei Jincheng but also brought his spouse and son with him.

It was a good opportunity for everyone to get together.

"Jingqiu, Qingru, Xinyue,"

"Ah Yu,"

"It’s been a long time."

"Yes, it’s been a while indeed. This is my spouse, Cheung Cheng, and my son, Cheung Yi."

"Hello, Comrade Cheung."

"Hello, everyone."

"Hello, auntie."

"Wow, the little guy is really cute. How old is he?"

"Five years old."

Chen Qingru said, "Ah Yu, the same age as my daughter."

He Yu laughed and said, "No kidding, we were on the phone when we both were in labor."

"Haha, right. My son is already one year old now, how about you?"

"Forget it, one is enough to be a handful."

Since the big designer had arrived, Wei Jincheng naturally had to make arrangements, setting them up with a dormitory in the factory.

Luo Xinyue found a restaurant, where several classmates gathered for a reunion, chattering away about everyone’s life over the years.

He Yu had gotten married, but none of them had been able to attend, mainly because it was too far, and they all had jobs and couldn’t get time off.

But they had all sent wedding gifts in the mail.

Lu Jingqiu had gone there once in between, because of something to do with the house.

A while back, when Shen Manman’s two classmates stopped renting, Lu Jingqiu, pregnant with her daughter, made a trip there.

She found a real estate agent and rented it directly to them.

At that time, she met He Yu just once, shortly after her wedding.

The He Yu of today is a well-known designer in Shanghai.

She has participated in the design of many residential communities in Shanghai, as well as some public buildings, and has won several awards.

Chen Qingru, who earned her professional title this year, is now Professor Chen.

She holds considerable expertise in the fields of New Year paintings and folk art; her submissions to West City Daily News were even collected and treasured by Capital City.

She and Xinyue have also made a name for themselves in the realm of children’s drawings.

Their current achievements are inseparable from the results of mutually encouraging each other to study while in school.

This time, He Yu had come to help Wei Jincheng design the residential community.

Wei Jincheng offered her a remuneration of five thousand Yuan.

It was rather generous, but when they heard her husband’s name, they suddenly felt they had offered too little, as He Yu’s husband was also a famous designer in the industry.

This time, he mainly came to accompany his wife and meet her classmates.

His wife took on the project, and he helped out a lot, too.

The couple completed the initial draft in just under a month.

Wei Jincheng was very satisfied, especially with the inclusion of high-rises and a villa area.

Not only did they make rational use of the land, but they also significantly upgraded the class of the community.

The community planning was also well done.

Later on, the couple went back to finish up the details.

So, in October, a project called Happy Valley began its groundbreaking ceremony.

On the day of commencement, Second Cousin came back from Yangcheng City with his wife, Older Cousin’s Wife.

Older Cousin’s Wife was a decisive person, overseeing the finances in Second Cousin’s factory, and still bustling about with him even with a big belly.

Aunt Zhang wanted her to take a rest, but she insisted she was fine.

Upon meeting Lu Jingqiu, she even said to help convince Aunt Zhang to back off a bit, as Aunt Zhang was too enthusiastic, and she was getting overwhelmed.

Lu Jingqiu understood Older Cousin’s Wife; she was used to being straightforward and found it uncomfortable when Aunt Zhang was overly kind to her.

The only way Lu Jingqiu could help was to find something for Aunt Zhang to do.

In recent years, with Yang Yang following his graduated Older Cousin and Older Cousin’s Wife to Yangcheng, and her uncle retiring, Aunt Zhang had finally seen her second son get married and become pregnant, and she was looking forward to taking care of the child.

Lu Jingqiu’s idea was to let Aunt Zhang make the snacks she excelled at.

Since the candy workshop that had been renting her house had moved out, Lu Jingqiu suggested that Aunt Zhang make green peas, twisted dough sticks, and beef jerky. Package them nicely and sell them in supermarkets and markets.

After contemplating for half a month, Aunt Zhang decided it was doable, and Older Cousin’s Wife was supportive.

She even brought Aunt Zhang a machine specifically for this purpose.

She went as far as to register and set up a licensed factory, leaving Aunt Zhang with no room for hesitation.

With the factory set up, the retired couple had nothing else to do and decided to go for it.

During this time, Aunt Zhang and her husband moved into that house. The couple didn’t hire anyone; they were just tinkering around on their own.