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Chapter 750: Chapter 740 Li Xianghe Arrives
That night, the couple discussed the matter in bed for a long time, but ultimately, without any evidence, it was all speculation.
Shen Yunfang wasn’t worried about the fresh vegetables not selling. The vegetables were genuine and of good quality—if those enterprises and institutions went back on their word, then she could completely push this batch of vegetables onto the market.
Yesterday, she mentioned to Zhang Chunwang on the phone that they could let the employees drive the truck to the city and set up a stall, but that was really the last resort. Last night, she and Li Hongjun had discussed it; if those units they had contacted before all reneged, then she would phone the traders who had previously wanted to buy vegetables wholesale. They would start with wholesaling, and whatever wasn’t sold in bulk, she would have people take out for retail. This way, things would move faster, and it would save on labor as well.
Early the next morning, the couple got up.
"I don’t know how things will turn out today. If I’m too busy to come back at noon, you should go to the cafeteria and bring back some food for the kids, instead of coming back to cook," Shen Yunfang busied herself with breakfast in the kitchen as she gave her instructions.
This incident was the biggest and most troublesome she had encountered since starting the farm. Now she had a solution, but whether it would work as well as she hoped in practice was still unknown. Hence, she planned to spend the whole day at the farm to ensure they got past this difficult time. If that was the case, she might not be able to come home and cook lunch for her husband and children. Ah, as a mother, she had to arrange everything ahead of time.
"It’s fine, we can take care of it ourselves, don’t worry about us. As for your side, just give me a call if anything comes up, don’t make me worry," Li Hongjun was quite concerned about the incident at the farm. Last night, he had even offered to contact some old army buddies to help sell the batch of vegetables, but his wife had disagreed, insisting on trying to handle it herself first.
Shen Yunfang’s thinking was simple. She had always had Li Hongjun supporting her from behind when running the farm, but she couldn’t rely on him to solve everything, to always depend on his connections. That’s why she wanted to try handling it by herself first. After all, if she couldn’t manage, it would be the same if they then asked Li Hongjun’s army buddies for help.
My, this is what it means to be fearless, spoiled by Li Hongjun.
"Don’t worry, it’ll definitely be fine," Shen Yunfang still had confidence. "Oh, right, don’t you all start work at seven-thirty? When the time comes, I’ll give a call to the logistics department leader to see if they want to order some vegetables or something. It would be great if we could solve part of the problem right on our doorstep." She suddenly remembered that the military region could be a potentially big customer.
"You make the decision," he said. He didn’t meddle in the business dealings with the military region—firstly to avoid conflict of interest, and secondly to prevent his hard-working wife from being taken advantage of.
If Li Hongjun contacted the logistics department of the military region, those leaders dedicated to the country and the forces would probably try to take advantage of Li Hongjun’s position as regiment commander to bargain over prices, so to avoid unnecessary trouble, Shen Yunfang handled all business negotiations herself.
After bustling about and finishing breakfast, the family of four all got ready to head out.
But just as they were putting on their shoes, someone knocked on the door.
Shen Yunfang looked at Li Hongjun and whispered, "Who could it be at this hour?"
Li Hongjun also glanced at his watch. It was a little after seven, close to work hours.
He then reached out and opened the door.
Living in the military area, with soldiers standing guard outside, there was no question about security—there was no chance of bad people around, so whenever there was a knock on the door, they could open it without asking.
However, when they saw the person standing at the door, both of them were taken aback for a moment.
It was Sun Chengbin at the door, and standing beside him was Li Xianghe.
"Second brother, I’m here," Li Xianghe said with a grin, smiling at her own older brother. But, noticing his outfit as if he was about to go out, she asked somewhat foolishly, "Where are you off to?"
Sun Chengbin hurriedly interjected, "Are you muddled or something? It’s this time of the day; of course, the second brother is going to work." He turned his head, looking embarrassed as he addressed Li Hongjun, "Second brother, I only picked up Xianghe and Niuniu last night. It was too late, so I didn’t let her come over and disturb you guys. She couldn’t stay put this morning and insisted on coming over."
"It just so happens that I also need to go to work, so I brought her along. The two of us head to work and let Xianghe stay and chat with the sister-in-law." Sun Chengbin had come up with a good plan.
In the past half-month, he had experienced the awkwardness of Li Hongjun’s recent transfer. No one paid attention to him, so he desperately needed a stepping stone to get into the group, and his second uncle was exactly that.
He had brought his wife over early in the morning to get close to the second brother. This way, it wouldn’t seem like he was trying to ingratiate himself, preserving his face while also securing some actual benefits for himself—a win-win situation.
"I’m really sorry, but I have to go to work too; I was just about to leave," Shen Yunfang said, peeking out from behind the door with a forced smile.
She had never gotten along with Li Xianghe, and now they expected her to play hostess? How shameless. Besides, she had urgent matters to attend to today and had no time to waste with them.
Upon hearing this, Sun Chengbin’s face flushed with embarrassment. He hadn’t expected his usually pleasant sister-in-law to be so sharp-tongued. Glancing at his wife, who wore a disgruntled expression, he instantly understood there must have been previous conflicts between the two women.
"Haha, my bad, I completely forgot that the sister-in-law also has to go to work. Then Xianghe will head home to look after the kids first, and we’ll come over to the second brother’s place in the evening," Sun Chengbin hurriedly said, speaking before his wife could.
"Yes, let’s do that. It’s almost time for work, we shouldn’t delay any longer," Li Hongjun finally spoke up.
And so, the group descended from the upstairs, with Sun Chengbin and his wife not even having had the chance to enter.
Reaching the ground floor, Li Hongjun took his little daughter’s hand and said, "You go ahead to work first, I need to drop Manman and Pangpang off at school." Without waiting to see their reaction, he walked away with the child.
As for Shen Yunfang, she had mounted her bicycle as soon as they reached downstairs and was already out of sight.
Sun Chengbin watched as they left, feeling a wave of frustration.
"It seems like the sister-in-law doesn’t like you very much. Did you offend her back in the old home?" Sun Chengbin asked his wife.
Li Xianghe became defensive at that, "What do you mean I offended her? Why don’t you say that she offended me?"
Seeing the look on her face, Sun Chengbin knew he had guessed correctly. Annoyed, he took off his cap. One by one, they couldn’t give him the slightest bit of help; in fact, they were all holding him back.
"Hmph, she’s just a damn ninth-ranked officer, prancing around all day, every day. I bet she’ll get her comeuppance sooner or later and won’t be so cocky anymore," Li Xianghe spat in the direction Shen Yunfang had left.
"Mind your behavior," Sun Chengbin cautioned after looking around to ensure no one had seen the unrefined side of his wife, before turning back to instruct, "This is a military area, the city. Don’t bring your rural shrewishness here, it’s embarrassing enough. Alright, it’s about time; I need to go to work. You go home, we’ll talk more when I come back at noon."
