Chapter 2428 Guilty Conscience
Classmate Le returned to his own territory from the hospital and did not ask Brother Chao how the project was going. Mao was immersed in drawing paper in the east courtyard.
Chao Sanjun returned to Chao Er's house in the afternoon of New Year's Day. The family held a family meeting. Everyone offered suggestions and wrote a report word for word.
After the whole family worked together, they finally finalized a written report that everyone felt was perfect.
In the evening, Mrs. Chao San called her parents again to consult her old father's opinion and to talk things over first.
If the old father knew about such a big matter when he saw the report, he would be reluctant to scold his grandson and would definitely give his daughter and son-in-law a lesson.
On the morning of the 2nd, Chao Sanye took his son and went to report to the head of the relevant department.
The leaders of various departments had received Mr. Li's phone instructions in advance in the morning to arrange a meeting time. After arriving, the Chao family and his son were invited to the conference room to discuss with the leaders shortly after their arrival.
Several big guys gathered in the conference room to listen to the report of the Chao family and his son, or to be precise, Chao Yubo, the young man of the Chao family, on a certain project.
Chao Jiamei majored in economics, and also studied law and business administration. He was also proficient in accounting, material analysis and budgeting.
He personally made a rough assessment, taking into account all aspects of the project, and then the project was put on the agenda and it was already planned in an orderly manner.
Following Mr. Li's instructions, the leaders of several departments paid special attention to it. They listened to the reports of the Chao family and his son and asked about some cell problems.
The bosses did not give immediate instructions and left a written report from the Chao family and his son for further discussion.
Chao Sanye took his son to his father-in-law's house again and had dinner at his father-in-law's house at noon. Because he had to go to work in the afternoon, he went back to work first, and the beautiful boy stayed at his grandmother's house.
Mr. Li returned to his residence after get off work in the evening to meet his only grandson. The two of them, who rarely had the opportunity to be alone together, naturally became close to each other for a while.
After dinner, Mr. Li took his grandson to the study to talk, focusing on the little guy's project, and only revealed one piece of information: "Xiao Bo, there is no suspense about the project your sister is raising. Of course, the process must be walked through on the surface. Wait for four or five days." It took months to get the official approval.”
"Understood." The handsome young man understood immediately. Grandpa did not say it clearly, but he meant to tell him that he had enough time to prepare in advance. They could arrange for people to buy the Huang family's old homestead privately first, so as to avoid the possibility of leaks later and the Huang family would raise the price or raise the price when it was to be demolished. Deliberately making things difficult.
Externally, the location can only be put on the agenda after the project is approved. The project location can be selected through public bidding. Provinces and cities that are willing to provide sites can participate in the bidding. If the project does not go through public bidding, the main investor will choose the location.
No matter which method is used, the site selection process will take three or two months. Therefore, overall, it will take at least half a year from the declaration of the project to the finalization of the location.
For insiders like them, there is enough time to acquire a large number of Huang family's old homesteads in a private name and solve some troubles in advance for future demolition work.
Li Laohuai was delighted that his grandson was smart. They chatted for a long time and had a great time.
The beautiful boy had a heavy responsibility and stayed at his grandfather's house for one night. The next morning he went to play with his little boy Dabo, and specially made an appointment for Dabo's mother, Ms. Luo Zhuxiang, to have dinner at Li's house to facilitate a private meeting.
Dabo Li, who was born in the same year, month and day as Fa Xiao, couldn't help but be dumbfounded when he got the news from Fa Xiao.
Ms. Luo Zhuxiang's eyes were shining, full of fighting spirit.
The beautiful young man had a meal at Li's house, and then slowly ran to He Xiaoshi to meet He Xiaoshi in private for tea. He didn't return to his second uncle's house until the evening. He had a chat with his second uncle again in the evening, and left Beijing to return to Shishi to work on the 4th. .
When the Chao boy returned belatedly from Beijing, several main leaders of Shi City immediately invited Comrade Xiao Chao to talk and inquire about the projects that the young man had worked hard to achieve in Beijing.
Comrade Xiao Chao called the first and second leaders of Shi City and his direct superiors on the 2nd and said that there was a large technical project waiting for approval. He wanted to fight for Shi City and would delay his return to Province E for a few days.
Several leaders also knew that it was a major project with tens of billions of dollars. If it was successfully implemented in Shishi, and when the project research and development results were achieved, it would be possible to attract the attention of the world to Shishi, thus promoting the development of Shishi into a technological city.
If Shishi wins the project and works together to help the project take root, no matter whether he can wait until the day it comes to fruition, he will be able to add a lot of glory to his political achievements.
The handsome young man met with the leaders and gave them some reassurance, saying that he had won priority for Shishi. As for whether he could win the prize in the end, it would depend on the efforts of several relevant departments in Shishi and Province E.
Naturally, he would not disclose the content of the project for the time being. He only revealed that if the project is launched and becomes commercially available, the main investor of the project will require him to choose the site himself.
The leaders also understand that the project site selection determines the success or failure. If the address chosen by the investor cannot meet the conditions of the market, then it will be in doubt.
Site selection is a later matter. Now that Comrade Xiaochao has won priority, they can still make some preparations in advance. For example, they can draw up some alternative sites in advance for investors to refer to.
Leaders will also select alternative sites and add them to the work plan, secretly formulating site selection and on-site inspection plans.
After Chao Erye had a night talk with his nephew Bing Zhuxiang, he also made arrangements himself, and then invited Jay Chou and Ms. Luo Zhuxiang to have tea, and the three happily negotiated a cooperation.
He Xiaoshi and Fa Xiaochao rarely met, and they went home to have a secret talk with Grandpa San. Grandpa He San asked the juniors in charge of the family's finances to come back and give them some advice.
Director He naturally understood the importance of a certain project, allocated special funds, arranged the most professional personnel, and formulated an acquisition plan.
2024 has just entered the beginning of the year. Mr. Chao, Director Zhou, Ms. Luo Zhuxiang and Director He are already ready to show off their talents. The people arranged by each of them flew into the market one after another and began to acquire the Huang family's old homestead without leaving a trace. .
After the New Year's Day holiday, office workers and schoolchildren are busy again, businessmen are already preparing for the New Year, and farmers in the countryside are settling down for the winter.
Ms. Li's brothers knew that the Le family's little flyer rushed to Beijing before dawn on the morning of New Year's Day. Naturally, it was impossible to have dinner together this time, which was quite a pity.
Several elderly members of the Li family will stay in Meicun for the New Year. The brothers of the Li family will leave for their hometown on January 3rd. When their parents return home after the New Year, they can just go to the station to pick them up, and there is no need to come to Province E to pick them up.
Others were busy with interesting activities after the holidays. Li Xiaoyan's family had a cold New Year's Day. On the 2nd, the Li family members and their neighbors went to Granny Li's house to discuss funeral arrangements.
Granny Li didn't want to hold a banquet, so she naturally didn't organize funeral wine, but the workers still had to entertain. She killed the pig that Granny Li had raised for the New Year and purchased some items.
On the same day, everyone packed up Granny Li's coffin and waited for Li Xiaoyan and Granny Li to bathe Mrs. Meng before moving the body into the coffin. Granny Li was extremely reluctant to bathe a dead person, and Li Xiaoyan was also afraid. Even if the person who died was her own mother, she would still be afraid and not dare to approach.
The grandfather and grandson wanted women of the same surname and clan to help Meng Meng bathe and cleanse herself. The women of the same clan in the Li family were not used to the grandfather and grandson and firmly refused. They would only say what they wanted to do and would never get involved.
The women of the same clan with the surname Li refused to help Meng Meng bathe, let alone the neighbors. Grandma Li could only take her granddaughter to help Meng Meng wash her body and wear a shroud according to funeral regulations.
She actually didn't want to wipe Mrs. Meng's body, and thought she could just put a shroud on her and move her into the coffin, but the Li family members and neighbors were all staring at her, and her granddaughter was also there, so she had to follow the rules.
Granny Li calculated quite clearly that if Meng's wife died, her granddaughter would definitely go to a big city after finishing college, and it would be impossible for her granddaughter to take her there in the first few years after she started working.
Youdao said that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. Before she took her granddaughter to enjoy the blessings, she had to rely on her fellow tribesmen and neighbors in the village to take care of her in the small village. In order not to be said to be ungrateful, she did not even want to bathe the dead. Show it.
After Li's mother-in-law, Li Xiaoyan, changed Mrs. Meng's shroud into a shroud, the men and neighbors of the same clan helped move Mrs. Meng into the coffin and placed it in the main room.
It was not a good time to dig a grave on that day. The Li family members and their neighbors had a meal at Grandma Li's house and then went home. They went to dig a grave on the 3rd. On the 4th, Mrs. Meng's funeral was held.
Even though Sister Meng had worked for the Li family all her life, even if she died, Granny Li did not give her a grand burial. She did not hold a banquet, and did not even invite a funeral band. Just a few people carried the coffin out to the mountain for burial.
However, even if there was no band to see her off, Li Xiaoyan, as the only filial son, had to do everything she was expected to do. Her neighbor, who had the same surname as Li, did not stay with Granny Li at her home. I wonder if Li Xiaoyan stayed up all night and did not pamper her during the funeral. , let her hold her mother's memorial tablet in front of her to worship her, and kneel in front of the coffin three steps at a time to guide the coffin up the mountain.
After New Year's Day, the temperature has been very low and the snow has not melted.
It was very hard for the mourners to hold a funeral in the snow, but the men in the small village were very responsible and carried the coffin intact up the mountain.
Li Xiaoyan knelt all the way to the burial site. She sat up and watched as the coffin containing her mother entered the pit bit by bit and was covered with soil.
Li's people and their neighbors filled up the pit, piled up a grave, and then went down the mountain.
Li Xiaoyan followed the people down the mountain and listened to those people talking about how the remains of Aunt Le's family returned to the countryside for burial during the Qingming Festival, and how the girls from Le's family arranged the funeral for her aunt, so that Aunt Le's family was buried in a grand manner.
As beautiful as Aunt Le's family was, her mother's funeral was tragic.
Li Xiaoyan, who was walking behind, said nothing and went to bed when she got home. When she woke up at night, she and her grandma were the only ones at home, and the huge panic of becoming a motherless child came to her again.
Originally, she wanted to rush back to school the next day to prepare for the mid-term exam, but she was unable to return to school the next day because she suddenly fell ill.
Mother-in-law Li got up early to make breakfast for her granddaughter because her granddaughter had to go to school. After it was done, she didn't see her granddaughter get up. She went to her granddaughter's room to call her, only to find that her granddaughter had a fever. She was so confused that she was talking nonsense.
The child's mother was buried just yesterday, and her granddaughter fell ill immediately. Granny Li was suspicious and always felt something was strange.
The snow hadn't melted yet, so she couldn't take her granddaughter to the rural hospital for medical treatment. She took cold medicine, but it didn't work, so she had to go to someone with the same surname as the Li family for advice.
Someone with the same surname as Li suggested that Granny Li call the hospital to come and give Li Xiaoyan an injection.
On such a snowy day, they did not dare to drive Granny Li to take Li Xiaoyan to the hospital. If Granny Li fell down along the way, bumped into her, and relied on them to support her in her old age, who would they ask to reason?
Or, if Li Xiaoyan falls and scratches her face, it will be their fault. Or, if Li Xiaoyan catches wind and becomes sicker, Granny Li will blame them. Wouldn't they be taking the blame for nothing?
That's the precedent for Sister Meng. Granny Li's family is not a conscientious person. Even Sister Meng didn't get a happy death after working hard for the Li family for half her life. With the temperament of Granny Li and Li Xiaoyan, it's totally okay to take the opportunity to blackmail them. came out.
As the so-called bystanders know, the people in the small village have long seen how Granny Li treats Sister Meng, and do not trust Granny Li and Li Xiaoyan at all. In the eyes of the villagers, the Li family's ancestors and grandchildren are ungrateful, unkind and selfish ghosts.
Grandma Li didn't care about her granddaughter at all, and she didn't care about money. She called the rural hospital and asked a doctor to come to see her.
People from the rural hospital came to see her and gave her a bottle of water. They left after Li Xiaoyan's fever subsided.
But after leaving the hospital, Li Xiaoyan had a fever again at night, talking nonsense and always calling "Mom".
Grandma Li stayed with her granddaughter all night, and the next day she called the doctor from the township hospital. She also quietly took things and asked fellow Li family members to help find a master or a goddess to summon Li Xiaoyan's soul.
The Li family members had no choice but to help out and convey the words of the Goddess to Granny Li. The Goddess said that the child's mother couldn't bear to let go of the child, and that it would be fine if the child's mother left after a while.
There is a custom in rural areas that says that the soul of a person will linger at home during the period immediately after death, and will not leave home until six or seventy-two days later to live in a new home in the "grave".
Therefore, within the forty-two days after the death of a loved one, family members must offer food to the deceased.
Grandma Li heard that Mrs. Meng was reluctant to let go of the child. She was frightened to death. She no longer dared to neglect the child. She made food in the morning and evening to worship Mrs. Meng. She just asked Mrs. Meng not to pester the child for the sake of Li Xiaoyan being her own flesh and blood. .
The doctor gave Li Xiaoyan an injection, but it was still the same as the day before. Li Xiaoyan's fever subsided during the day, but continued to have a fever at night.
Grandma Li had something in her mind, so she didn't ask the doctor to give her any more injections the next day. She gave her granddaughter some antipyretic medicine, and the fever subsided again, but the fever returned in the middle of the night.
Now, Granny Li was even more convinced that Meng's sister-in-law was the one responsible. She was afraid that Meng's sister-in-law would be resentful because she was not cared for attentively in the last period of her life, and she would seek revenge on her mother-in-law by burning paper and making food offerings.
Li Xiaoyan's fever came and went, and it was not until Mrs. Meng passed the first seven days that she finally stabilized.
The fever was gone, but in just a few days, Li Xiaoyan looked as if she had been ill for several months or more. She was weaker than a person who had just recovered from a serious illness, and her whole body seemed to have been drained of energy.
She looked so sick that naturally she couldn't go to school to take exams and could only recuperate at home.
(End of chapter)