Stay Home Daddy: I Was Reborn After My Daughter Passed Away
Chapter 186: One hundred and eighty-six Signing contract _1

Chapter 186: One hundred and eighty-six Signing contract _1

Gu Chen walked over, tilting his head to look at her, and upon seeing her expression, his heart tightened immediately.

"What’s happened?"

Wasn’t his wife just fine a moment ago?

How come he hadn’t seen her for just a short while, and her complexion looked this terrible?

Ji Pianran shook her head, somewhat choked up, "Thank you."

Gu Chen was startled.

He blinked, having no clue what had just happened, wondering why she was suddenly thanking him out of the blue.

Yet her tone was incredibly sincere.

His intuition told him something had happened, but she didn’t want to talk about it.

Since she didn’t want to talk about it, he decided not to ask.

After all, no matter what happened, he would always be there to walk through it with her.

He reached out and took Ji Pianran’s hand, "Come on, let’s eat!"

At this point, the courtyard only saw people coming in and nobody leaving; in less than ten minutes, more than thirty people had arrived.

Everyone gathered around, chatting and laughing, gossiping about the Zhang family and the Li family, whose children were the most sensible, whose daughter-in-law was the most filial.

It was truly lively.

Gu Chen led Ji Pianran over, and when they saw Gu Chen arrive, all eyes fell on the couple.

"Chenzi has worked hard."

"Yeah, you made so much delicious food, our family can’t even eat this much during New Year’s."

"Chenzi’s skill is really something else, we could smell the aroma from afar, absolutely mouthwatering."

"Absolutely, if my son had even half of Chenzi’s culinary skill, I’d wake up laughing in my dreams!"

Everyone took turns showering Gu Chen with praise.

There were heartfelt compliments and also some just for the sake of politeness.

Hearing this, Gu Chen just smiled.

"Today I really have to thank Aunt Zhang and the fourth brother and sister-in-law; otherwise, the two of us on our own really couldn’t have managed," he said.

He was never one to take undue credit; besides, inviting everyone over for a meal was hardly an achievement worthy of praise.

After all, the meal was the least important part; the most important thing was to get the contract signed!

Everything was for the sake of the land.

Aunt Zhang and Li You’e were sitting together, ready to eat, and upon hearing Gu Chen’s words, they paused their chopsticks and laughed, "Alright, alright, I just washed some vegetables, didn’t do much, hurry up and eat, I’m starving!"

Having said that, she helped herself to a bite of the dish as a gesture of respect.

She was truly hungry, as she hadn’t eaten a bite of breakfast and had been busy until now, her stomach felt like it was glued to her back from hunger.

Seeing Aunt Zhang’s reaction, everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

Rural folks are rather straightforward, without too many formalities or cunning.

Gu Chen chuckled, "Come on, everybody, try this chicken."

The crowd had been drooling for a while already, and at the host’s cue, they all picked up their chopsticks and dug in eagerly.

The little ones, who had been romping around, heard it was time to eat and promptly returned to their own family members, waiting for the meal to start.

They too wanted to eat meat!

The children had small appetites, were loud in their demands, but in reality, a few bites were enough to fill them up, and soon they were playing with stick figures outside.

The adults chatted as they ate, creating a truly lively atmosphere.

Once he saw that almost everyone had their fill, Gu Chen stood up.

"Folks, we all know why we invited you here today. Firstly, Pian Ran was ill and we were delayed for two days, so I want to apologize for that," he said.

"The second thing is, spring has already begun, and I think we can sign the contracts today. After all, since everyone’s here, there’s no need to trouble you with a second trip. What do you all think?"

Despite Gu Chen often appearing carefree and unserious, when it came to important matters, he was utterly meticulous.

His attitude was serious; his tone, sincere and polite.

As he spoke, everyone nodded in agreement, "That’s exactly why we came, to sign the contract!"

"Yeah, actually, since Pian Ran was hospitalized, you could’ve just told me, and that would have been enough. We’re all from the same village; we understand. And yet you went to the trouble of treating us to a meal, which made us feel quite embarrassed."

"Right, when Pian Ran was in the hospital, we didn’t even say we’d visit, and now the first thing she does when she’s better is invite us for a meal. We really do feel embarrassed."

The meal Chenzi prepared today obviously wasn’t cheap, and it wasn’t just to fob people off.

They did what they could.

Empathy is natural; those who had eaten felt Chenzi’s sincerity.

The villagers had this trait: even though they might gossip a bit, they didn’t have bad intentions.

Chenzi smiled, "That’s good, that’s good. It’s like this, I’ve prepared the contract. I’ll show it to you now, and if there are no objections, we can sign it right away."

What objections could anyone have? After all, this was what they had come for.

They nodded one after another.

"All right, let’s sign it today then!"

"We weren’t in a rush, to begin with. I didn’t expect you to be so quick, especially since Pian Ran is still ill. We wouldn’t have minded if you delayed it a few days."

"Yeah, we’re fine with whatever you decide."

Chenzi smiled, "That won’t do. I called everyone here today for this reason, and it wouldn’t be right to bother you all again."

Having said that, he got up, went back into the house, and brought out the prepared contracts, also clutching thirty thousand yuan, ready to exchange contract for cash.

In fact, some villagers were illiterate and many had never signed anything official like a contract.

Holding such a formal document felt more novel than anything.

"There you go, Chenzi!" Yang Yongxiang was the first to sign his name and handed the contract over to Chenzi.

Seeing this, Widow Wu laughed.

"Can you even write? Did you sign in the right place?"

Hearing this, Yang Yongxiang felt a bit embarrassed, and he said irritably, "I may be illiterate, but I trust Chenzi! What’s there to look at? Just write the name and be done with it, right?"

"Hahaha..."

Everyone started laughing again.

After the laughter, many had signed the contract and handed it to Chenzi, who checked against the acreage listed and distributed the cash accordingly—three hundred, five hundred, even a thousand yuan.

After all, different sizes of land commanded different prices.

Widow Wu also finished signing and handed her contract to Chenzi, smiling at him, "Four acres of land, twelve hundred yuan."

Chenzi hadn’t expected Widow Wu to rent all her land to him.

He was somewhat surprised, "Sis, you’re not keeping the land?"

Most villagers lived off farming, and Chenzi truly hadn’t anticipated her renting all the land to him.

Hearing this, Widow Wu smiled, "You know my husband died early. As a lone woman, I don’t have the strength to farm the land. It’s better to rent it to you and get twelve hundred yuan in rent. Isn’t that a good deal?"

Though she spoke of a good deal, her tone carried a hint of desolation.

Her husband had died young; it was indeed not easy for a woman alone. Everyone had seen this, and mentioning it again today made them all sigh.

"Just rent it out; it’s all rented out. The land was originally left to me by him. Consider it as his way of providing money for our son’s upbringing!" Widow Wu rambled on as if to comfort herself.

"Cai Feng’er, it’s such a good thing to rent out the land. Why the sadness?" Aunt Zhang was compassionate and couldn’t stand to see others upset.

"Exactly, in my opinion, you should give your child a new name. To keep calling him Beibei—it sounds unlucky. Name him Shun Shun! From now on, live a smooth and prosperous life!"

Somebody said this and in an instant, the somber mood was broken. Just when everyone was feeling pity for Widow Wu, hearing this comment turned the mood to laughter again.

"That’s right, just call him Shun Shun, and from now on, life will be smooth and prosperous!"

Yang Yongxiang chimed in; he and Widow Wu were close neighbors, so naturally, they had a better relationship.

"But all things considered, we really should thank Chenzi. He’s truly done us a great favor," Widow Wu’s eyes expressed her gratitude.

If it weren’t for Chenzi suddenly wanting to rent the land, she really wouldn’t have known what to do with her own. It’d be a pity not to farm it, yet she had no time to do so.

All thanks to Chenzi for solving her dilemma.