Rebirth 1983: Building My Business Empire
Chapter 447 - Chapter 447 Chapter 435 Adventure

Chapter 447: Chapter 435 Adventure Chapter 447: Chapter 435 Adventure PS: Chapter 434 was unintentionally omitted. Since VIP chapters cannot be deleted, the previous chapter was covered with chapter 434, and dear readers, after refreshing, you can see the corrected content.

At five o’clock, Lu Jiaxin set out for Shichahai. Last year, she had rushed to visit the gravesite and had only seen Big Uncle and Big Aunt before leaving. This time, upon returning, Lu Jiaguang invited her over for a meal, and she agreed.

Once she arrived at Shichahai, Lu Jiaxin first went to see Lu Hongjun. As it happened, when she got there, the two were in the middle of an argument.

Tang Sufen was complaining to Lu Hongjun that, once he finished eating, he would leave the dishes and disappear: “Every day I’m busy from dawn to dusk, my back can’t even straighten, and you can’t stay at home to help me look after the child.”

Lu Hongjun, while playing with his Chinese hwamei bird, teased it and responded, “Initially, Jianjun said that his mother-in-law sprained her back, asking you to look after [the child] for a while, but it’s been two months now; it’s time to take the child back.”

Tang Sufen’s expression stiffened as she said, “Jianjun’s mother-in-law hasn’t recovered from her back injury, she can’t hold the child.”

Lu Hongjun wasn’t indulgent: “If her mother-in-law can’t hold the child, then send [the child] to a daycare center, and let them take care after work.”

Tang Sufen was reluctant to send the child to a daycare center, saying that the child was too young and wouldn’t even know if bullied.

Lu Hongjun disagreed, saying, “Jiaxin was sent to a daycare center when she was just over three months old, and she grew up just fine. This child is almost one year old now, there’s absolutely no problem with a daycare center.”

Seeing that Tang Sufen still wanted to argue, Lu Hongjun said, “If you can’t bear to send [the child] to a nursery and want to take care of [the child] yourself, I’m not stopping you; but asking me to look after their child, that’s impossible.”

Gou Dan was in first grade and came home from school on his own. He escorted him to the Children’s Palace on weekends because it was too far away and he did not feel reassured. It was somewhat tiring to run back and forth, but he did not mind. Firstly, [Gou Dan] was his own great-grandson, and secondly, Shanzi and his wife were indeed too busy to leave their work. Huang Jianshe and his wife had no responsibilities after work and could very well look after their child. Asking him to help with the child while the couple enjoyed themselves seemed like a sweet deal to them.

With her eyes reddening, Tang Sufen said, “You run to the staff building every weekend to pick up and drop off, so why can’t you help me look after the child?”

Lu Hongjun spoke confidently, “Because Gou Dan bears the surname Lu and will come to tend my grave after I’m gone. The child bears the surname Huang, and after I pass away, he probably won’t even know where I’m buried. Tang Sufen, it’s already good enough that I let him be here, don’t push your luck.”

Lu Jiaxin was not surprised to hear this. Lu Hongjun was such a selfish person, always putting himself first.

“Knock on the door!”

Her intention was to remind the two inside, but Wang Lin knocked hard, the banging sound not only alarmed the arguing pair inside but also woke up the child, who started crying loudly.

Angry, Tang Sufen cursed as she went inside to see her grandson.

Wang Lin, knowing he was at fault, did not dare to utter a word upon hearing the scolding.

Lu Hongjun was surprised to see Lu Jiaxin: “When did you come back?”

Lu Jiaxin, placing the items she had brought on the chair in the courtyard, replied, “I came back yesterday. I have some things to take care of, and I’ll be leaving tomorrow.”

Lu Hongjun gave a sound of understanding and took the initiative to say, “Your eldest brother should be off work and nearly home by now, you should hurry over!”

Lu Jiaxin was somewhat surprised but indeed had nothing to say. She nodded her head and left.

As Tang Sufen came out holding the child, she saw Lu Hongjun carrying six boxes. She could tell by the packaging that they were fine goods: “Who sent these?”

Lu Hongjun mentioned they were sent by Jiaxin and, carrying the items, went back into the house. He didn’t want her to know Jiaxin went to Jiaguang’s place because she would definitely go there with the child in tow, seeking people out. It wasn’t just Tang Sufen; even he wasn’t welcomed at his grandnephew’s home. He was satisfied with his current life and didn’t want to stir up any waves.

Tang Sufen did not consider the ambiguity of his words, seeing the gifts made her heart burn with longing. If [Jiaxin] would ask someone to deliver things to the old man, it clearly showed she was thinking of him.

Lu Zhang and Lu Zhenzhen were waiting at the door. Upon seeing Lu Jiaxin, one ran into the house shouting that their aunt had arrived, while the other came forward to welcome her inside.

By the time Lu Jiaxin made it to the door, Wang Xiaojie and Second Sister-in-law Lu had already come out. That morning, after Lu Jiaguang had finished talking with Lu Jiaxin on the phone, he had told Wang Xiaojie to go buy groceries.

Wang Xiaojie was tied up at the time and asked Second Sister-in-law Lu to help buy them. Second Sister-in-law Lu brought groceries over at noon and helped Wang Xiaojie prepare dinner.

After welcoming them into the courtyard, Wang Xiaojie said, “Your brother is already on his way back and should be home soon. Lu Ping is on a business trip with his teacher and isn’t in the Forty-nine City; otherwise, I would have asked him to come back too.”

As for Lu An, since he’s a freshman and his studies are intense, we didn’t notify him. Still, even missing a few people, we set up three tables for dinner.

When Lu Jiaguang got back, he took Lu Jiaxin to the study to talk things over, mainly about supporting impoverished students financially. He handed the ledger to Lu Jiaxin, “This is the expenditure from last September up to last month, have a look.”

Lu Jiaxin chuckled, “What’s there to see? Could I possibly not trust Big Aunt? If I didn’t trust Big Aunt, I wouldn’t have given him the money.”

Lu Jiaguang chuckled in response, saying, “That’s what I told him, but you know how he is; he just won’t listen. Keep the ledger; whether you look at it or not is up to you.”

Lu Jiaxin didn’t look at it, nor did she want to keep it: “Big brother, have you encountered any difficulties in supporting those children?”

Indeed, there was an issue, which was that Lu Jiaxin only sponsored children with excellent grades. However, some families were extremely poor, and if the children hadn’t set foot in school, it was naturally impossible to determine whether they were good at studying.

Lu Jiaxin hadn’t thought that thoroughly and, after pondering upon hearing this, said, “For those families that are especially poor, we can start sponsoring from the first grade. If they achieve excellent grades after a year, we continue to support them; if not, then we’ll stop.”

Her definition of excellence was achieving over eighty percent in both language arts and mathematics. Anyone who studied diligently wouldn’t score below eighty percent. If a child didn’t reach eighty percent, it meant they were either not very bright or they weren’t studying seriously.

This answer was within Lu Jiaguang’s expectations, he asked, “Jiaxin, you want to study and run a business at the same time, can your body handle it?”

Lu Jiaxin smiled and said, “The company affairs are managed by professionals; I just need to direct the overall strategy.”

“What if those people cook the books?”

Lu Jiaxin shook her head and said, “They can’t fake it. The person in charge has to report the company’s status to me every half a month, and every month I also review the financial statements. Plus, at the end of the year, we hire a third-party to audit the accounts.”

After hearing all this, Lu Jiaguang felt relieved.

Lu Jiaxin asked, “I just heard from Zhenzhen that Fifth Brother went with someone surnamed Leng to Longhair’s place, why would he go to Longhair’s?”

The smile on Lu Jiaguang’s face disappeared in an instant as he said, “I’m not clear on the details either. He called me from the border saying he was going to import a batch of goods and asked me to look after his two children.”

“Anything else?”

“He didn’t say anything else, just to take care of the two kids.”

“Has he lost his mind?”

Lu Jiaguang equally felt helpless, “Nowadays a lot of people are saying that business is good over with Longhair, that you can make money once you go there. He made quite a bit last year, so this must be a big deal.”

This was a case of losing reason for the sake of making money; Lu Jiaxin somewhat regretted making that suggestion back then.

Lu Jiaguang reassured her, “Don’t worry. He has Qiangqiang and Xiao Fengfeng to care for; he must be confident to go.”

“Let’s hope so!”