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"Brother Qing Fan, when did you get up, quack? Last night I forgot how I fell asleep, and I don’t even remember when I went to the second floor!" Lin Wanning reminisced about the last moments before she got drunk last night, but she couldn’t remember them anymore.
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"It was Yiyi and me who helped you guys up, along with Brother Fan..." Wu Lingyu looked towards Xu Qingfan, also a bit uncertain whether they had taken him back to his own room or theirs.
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"You guys are amazing, drinking so many cans of beer and still not getting drunk, Brother Fan and Wanning are so weak, haha~" Xiao Ruawen thought about how Xu Qingfan and Lin Wanning were the first to get drunk last night and teased them.
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"Hee hee~" Lin Wanning didn’t argue back but instead felt pretty happy to have had Xu Qingfan’s company.
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Xu Qingfan himself was also helpless; how would he know that a body not yet of age wouldn’t handle alcohol well? Last night, it seemed like after four or five cans of Budweiser, he was drunk, or else that incident wouldn’t have happened...
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"Then we’ll see each other again after the new year!"
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"See you after the new year!"
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"See you after the holidays!"
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"Goodbye, Brother Qing Fan!"
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"..."
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After sending several people home one by one, it was just him and Xia Xiaoxiao left, walking side by side back to Lianhua Courtyard.
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"By the way....."
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"You..."
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The atmosphere became somewhat awkward as they both started to speak at the same time.
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"You go first."
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"You go first."
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He and Xia Xiaoxiao looked at each other; in the end, it was the young girl who spoke first, "When will you be coming back after the new year?"
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Xu Qingfan thought for a moment. He would definitely spend New Year’s Eve and the first day of the new year in Chuxi Village, his eldest uncle’s wedding was the first spring festival, and likely on the second day, they would visit the bride’s family, "Probably the third day of the new year, why?"
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Xia Xiaoxiao glanced at him: "Nothing... just come back early."
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Xu Qingfan read a hint of melancholy in her eyes; ever since her parents’ divorce, Xia Xiaoxiao would only return to her grandparents’ home for the new year on New Year’s Eve and the first day. However, in recent years, the family had been busy arranging blind dates for Lin Jing, both she and Xia Xiaoxiao had found it troubling, and they’d gradually started returning home fewer times.
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"Mhm!" He nodded his head and bumped Xia Xiaoxiao with his body.
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Xia Xiaoxiao, not to be outdone, bumped him back with her shoulder.
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The two of them jostled and played all the way back to the third floor, and with the distraction, Xu Qingfan forgot what he had wanted to say to Xia Xiaoxiao, and the girl apparently forgot to ask as well.
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...
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On the twenty-eighth day of the year, they stayed at home for a thorough cleaning; on the twenty-ninth, both families sat together for a meal, and before they knew it, it was New Year’s Eve.
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Xu Aiguo’s "Don’t Touch Me" had already gotten its license plate, and thanks to some connections, its license plate was the lucky number 16888.
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In the afternoon, after first dropping Lin Jing and Xia Xiaoxiao off at the entrance of the neighboring Shilong Village, they turned back to Chuxi Village.
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As for why they didn’t drive the car into the village, let’s just say those who know, know.
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On the way back to the village, they occasionally saw small four-wheeled cars, although they were all affordable ones like Xiali and Alto; it was undeniable that, thanks to the benefits from Haowei duck neck, the villagers’ wallets had also swelled.
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Having not returned for half a year, Xu Qingfan didn’t know when the small single-story houses had added another floor, and looking at them made him always feel as if something was off in the village, even though the village itself remained the same.
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Nowadays, women from neighboring villages take pride in marrying into Chuxi Village because it means they can work in factories under Haowei Group. Even a simple cleaning lady’s salary is more than twice the local average.
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Of course, the generous distribution of money is under the condition that employees strictly follow the labor rules set by the company. As long as the money is sufficient, even those without talents can become talented.
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And when employees realize that if they don’t work hard, they won’t find another job paying as much as this one, they’ll unleash 200% of their work enthusiasm.
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This strategy, elevating the cost of employee turnover to an infinite height, fearing the company might not need them, wasn’t pioneered by Haowei duck necks. It was previously adopted by two private enterprises, one called "Far Ahead" and another that ran supermarkets.
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The new car’s leather smell was a bit pungent; Xu Qingfan wound down the window and leaned on it when he suddenly noticed a procession of people beating drums and gongs approaching. Recognizing the white coins thrown into the sky, he knew what was happening.
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"During the New Year’s, how could there still be..." He didn’t finish his sentence, knowing all too well that birth, aging, sickness, and death are unavoidable.
"Close the window, it’s bad luck!" Yao Jiping turned her head and glared at him.
"Oh!" Xu Qingfan obediently did as told.
It wasn’t long before the car pulled into the newly built villa at her grandfather’s place. After parking, Xu Qingfan couldn’t wait to get out of the car.
"Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle, Auntie!"
"Xiao Fan, are you hungry? Grandma just made some longevity peaches!"
"Do you have any Youtiao? I want the ones with peanut filling!"
"We have~"
After some pleasantries, the group made their way back to the living room on the first floor.
On TV, there was a Peking opera show that Grandpa loved. Xu Aiguo couldn’t sit still; he put down his things and went to the door to play with the dog while Yao Jiping pulled her brother’s wife Song Zhujun’s hand to gossip.
Xu Qingfan was eating Youtiao and water chestnut cake while taking in everyone in the room.
Grandpa was dressed in a plain, unadorned leather jacket, which if paired with a thermos in hand, would complete the look of a department director; Uncle was wearing a floral shirt and seemed to have become bolder since getting married, looking like a man in his thirties.
Thinking of the funeral procession encountered on the road, he curiously asked Grandpa, "Grandpa, who passed away in the village? We saw people playing drums and gongs on our way here!"
Yao Shulun shook her head, "It was Yao Jiankun’s... He was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, struggled for a few months but didn’t make it through the New Year." The village committee had even put up money for his hospital care; Grandpa was well aware of the situation and couldn’t help but express his sorrow.
Xu Qingfan’s eyes widened in disbelief. Seeing her grandson speechless for so long, Yao Shulun nodded and then put on her reading glasses to continue with her newspaper.
In the original timeline, Grandpa had passed away around Chinese New Year this year, which Xu Qingfan remembered clearly.
But this time, the person who died of cancer turned out to be Yao Jiankun, and an odd thought lingered at the tip of his heart.
Xu Qingfan, not a medical student in his past life, remembered a high school classmate who was studying medicine once mentioned to him, "Besides being related to one’s lifestyle, the human immune system is closely tied to emotions. If you maintain an optimistic and cheerful mindset, you’re less likely to fall ill."
Knowing in advance that Grandpa would die of cancer when he was in middle school, Xu Qingfan had started taking the family for full-body check-ups at major hospitals every year since third grade.
The results turned out that besides his dad, Xu Aiguo, who had a slight lumbar disc herniation, possibly from fishing or driving, the rest of the family were all healthy.
After all, Grandpa’s living conditions had greatly improved a long time ago, so it made sense to Xu Qingfan that he didn’t get cancer.
Yet, learning today that Yao Jiankun, who had always been at odds with Grandpa, died of cancer, he suddenly had an absurd illusion that Yao Jiankun took a bullet for Grandpa.
After all, if something as unbelievable as reincarnation could happen, it was inevitable for Xu Qingfan to start becoming superstitious.
Just like worshiping the gods secretly at home on the 27th of the year, his former self would never have done such a thing. Feudal superstitions, anyone who follows them is an idiot!
But having been reborn, he hoped that the five girls would be well and wanted everyone he cared for to be well too. So even though he didn’t understand the significance of worshipping the gods during the New Year, Xu Qingfan still did as he was supposed to.
In a moment, Xu Qingfan thought of many things. He thought of Wu Lingyu’s family, whose fate he had already changed, of Xia Xiaoxiao, who died away from home in his previous life, and of course, his own sudden death in the lab.
Xu Qingfan stood up and went to the ancestral shrine of Yao’s family, lit three sticks of incense, closed his eyes, and prayed, [May the ancestors bless everyone in the house with good health, and also Xia Xiaoxiao, Xiao Ruawen, Lin Wanning, Zhang Yiyi, and Wu Lingyu...]
Thinking of Aunt Zhang and Aunt Lin, who had been very kind to him, he added, [And Aunt Zhang and Aunt Lin...]
After adding seven or eight names, Xu Qingfan felt satisfied and placed the incense sticks in their holder.
As for Xia Xiaoxiao and the others being outsiders, how could the Yao family’s ancestors bless them?
Xu Qingfan thought it didn’t matter; if worst comes to worst, he’d marry them and make them his wives. Then they wouldn’t be outsiders anymore!
"Xiao Fan, you also need to offer incense to the kitchen god and the door god!" Seeing Xu Qingfan suddenly paying homage to the ancestors, Grandma Lai Man Yao reminded him.
"Grandma, I got it!" Xu Qingfan took out more incense sticks from the drawer and lit them.
After finally paying respects to the kitchen god and the door god, he felt imbued with a mysterious Eastern power, as if he were invincible.
