(Update with an extra chapter! Asking for red tickets)

  The next day, New Year's Day, Shen Huai went to the steel plant in the morning and had a meeting with Wang Kangsheng and Pan Cheng who were on duty, and then gave himself a holiday.

  The dormitory of the town government, after all, is simple and crude. Except for sleeping conveniently, it's not a good place to spend leisure time in the narrow and dim small living room during the long holiday; the alley is very noisy, and Xiao Li can't even study quietly. The hotel just officially opened yesterday, Chen Dan couldn't run away, so Shen Huai drove Xiao Li and Jinzi back to the old mansion.

  After the last time when there was a dispute over the house property, Little Li had not come back. Seeing that the dirt path under the highway had changed into a gravel road that could be driven by cars, she was stunned.

  "The village spent money to improve the village road, and we took advantage of it early." Shen Huai said lightly, he didn't want to leave an imprint of power on Xiao Li's mind too early, and would rather she thought of this world as simple.

  Not just the gravel path from the highway, but also the riverbank outside the yard has been cleaned up.

  Can't see the withered reeds after entering winter, previously some collapsed riverbanks have been filled with soil. In the past, nearby households were used to dumping garbage by the river, now those piles of garbage have been cleaned up, and the environment looks much cleaner.

  Shen Hua also sighed after seeing it: If the village could be so meticulous and thoughtful to every villager's family, even if economic development couldn't keep up for a while, rural society would be more harmonious.

  The old house is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and the scattered land outside the yard adds up to about half an acre. It's not worth planting anything, so it's been self-sufficient for a long time. In the past, some vegetables were planted sporadically, and along the river, mulberry, willow, elm, poplar, and bamboo were planted to reinforce the embankment.

  The vegetable garden has been idle for a long time, Shen Hua thought that he should let someone clean up the vegetable garden and plant some silver ginkgo or green sandalwood to fill the empty space. He came back today mainly to tidy up the yard as well.

  Sun Guangwu, even if he had a good intention to please this side, could not arbitrarily rebuild the courtyard, and nothing in the courtyard was moved.

  Shen Huai opened the trunk of the car and let Xiao Li help move the tools in. Looking at the messy objects piled up in the yard, he couldn't help but sigh.

  His mother had been unable to do heavy work before her death, but the family's economy had always been very tight. His mother was used to picking up anything on the street and bringing it back to the yard, even worthless trash that scavengers wouldn't look at, she couldn't bear to throw away. No matter how much Shen Huan said, his mother wouldn't listen, so over the years, the large yard had accumulated a lot of miscellaneous items in a messy way.

  It took half a day to clear out all the useful and useless items from the yard and house, piling them up by the road for the town's sanitation team to come and take away.

  Looking at the empty and desolate courtyard with weeds growing in the corner, Shen Hua also felt a sense of emptiness in life. Watching Xiao Li staring blankly at the empty courtyard, seemingly moved by the hardships of her past life, her eyes welled up with tears, Shen Hua gently put his arm around her shoulders, and for a moment, he too was speechless...

  Xiao Li turned her head to glance at Shen Hui, seeing that his face also seemed to be shrouded in a layer of gloom. She called out to him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, feeling inexplicably comforted, so she didn't let go.

  These days, Shen Huai has been busy, but every week he would take out three to five days to help Xiao Li with her homework. He would call her "stupid girl" as he pleased, and Xiao Li felt that her brother was still by her side.

  Life has given him a blank slate, and Shen Huai is unwilling to let his past life affect his emotions, nor does he want to ruin Xiao Li's mood. Standing at the courtyard gate, he describes to Xiao Li how he plans to renovate the old mansion:

  "Come down the corridor, directly to the courtyard door with bluestone pavement, both sides paved with anticorrosive wood, leaving a corner of empty space for planting some bamboo grass and so on. The house will be renovated into two bathrooms; when the time comes, you and Chen Dan can also move back..."

  The old house was rebuilt by his father when he was still alive, and it has only been seven or eight years since then. The four rooms of the old house with blue bricks and glazed tiles do not look old at all. Shen Hua had no intention of demolishing and rebuilding it, nor did he have any reason to indulge in this land, but he still wanted to give his sister the best life.

  Shen Huai gave Chen Dan and Xiao Li the impression of being a hedonist, he rented the old house, as long as it wasn't renovated to the point of turning the sky and earth upside down, adding some decorations, improving the living conditions, Chen Dan and Xiao Li also naturally indulged him.

  The overall environment of the old house is not bad, although the countryside does not have a sewage system, the original toilet can be converted into a septic tank, and the town's cleaning team can come to clean it regularly. It is also possible to learn from urban areas and use indoor sanitary facilities like duli.

  Shen Huai asked Xiao Li to help him pull out a tape measure and roughly measured the dimensions of the house, thinking about how to renovate it.

  Just as I was about to drive back to town for lunch, Jinzi let out two loud barks towards the gate and then looked up at Shen Hua's face, unable to decide whether to continue barking or tuck his tail in and quiet down.

  Shen Huai stood in the main room, seeing Xiong Dailing poking her head out from the courtyard gate, flashing a smile and asking: "Why does Second Miss Xiong always run to the countryside for no reason?" Before he finished speaking, Jinzi wagged its tail without dignity and welcomed him, while Xiao Li also jumped out excitedly: "Dailing sister, how did you come here?"

  "My dad and mom are both very busy, I'm left alone at home during the holidays. If I had known, I wouldn't have rushed back from school. My sister asked me to accompany her to work overtime at the company, it's so boring, so I can only come here to kill time..."

  Xiong Dailing's mouth was quick-witted, she stretched out her hand to rub the golden fur on Jinzi's neck like a light gold satin, looking at Shen Huai and Xiao Li who were both dirty and disheveled, she asked in a low voice, "Are you guys cleaning up?"

  Xiong Daling wore a beige windbreaker, jeans, slender and elegant, exuding a youthful aura that was captivating. Her egg-shaped face was fair, smooth and rosy, her eyes sparkling with spirit. Shen Huai thought to herself that if Xiong Daling were among the male classmates she knew, she would shout out in boredom, but could summon up an intense passion.

  Shen Huai smiled and said, "Isn't that right? We've all been busy for half a day. You came to offer yourself as a laborer, don't blame us for exploiting you? However, your timing is also good, coinciding with mealtime, first let's have you scrounge up a meal..."

  Shen Huai drove the car with Xiong Dailing and Xiao Li to go directly to the hotel for lunch, only to find out that Xiong Dailing had arrived at the hotel first to play, knowing that he and Xiao Li had gone to the old mansion, so she took a bus to chase after them.

  Xiong Dailing might have some good feelings for herself, but thinking of Bai Suimei's meticulous appearance towards him, Shen Huai also thought it would be better to stay away from the little girl. Moreover, Chen Dan seemed not to mind, but Shen Huai was not someone who didn't understand women's thoughts - who would really be willing to have a beautiful young girl accompany their lover for a whole afternoon?

  After lunch, Shen Hua received a call from Guo Quan, saying that the Assets Office would discuss the renovation of the town's dormitory with the Party and Government Offices at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

  This matter was originally unrelated, Shen Huai could go or not go, thinking of staying away from the little girl a bit, and not caring about the time being early, he picked up his phone on the dinner table and left, leaving Xiong Dailing and Xiao Li in the store - The biggest advantage of Chen Dan's hotel is that after Shen Huai finished eating and wiped his mouth, he basically couldn't remember to pay the bill.

  ***********

  Shen Huai walked into the office and saw Xiao Chu, a clerk from the Land Bureau, chatting with Guo Quan and Hu Xuebin, who was on duty today.

  Hu Xuebin is an old clerk in the town, 47 years old, a graduate of Sanjie High School. In Meixi Town and even in Xiapu County, he can be considered highly educated. He used to be a teacher at Meixi Town Primary School, and later was transferred to the commune as a secretary.

  He was originally promoted, but he violated the family planning policy and had a second child. In the early 1980s, the family planning policy was not so tight, and Hu Xuebin did not directly dismiss him from his official position, but after serving as an office clerk for more than ten years, he never got promoted.

  In the numerous clerks of the town, only Hu Xuebin has some real talent and learning. However, over the years, he has not been promoted, and he knows that he will never be promoted in his lifetime. Therefore, Hu Xuebin does not usually try to please the leaders' faces in the town, and is a role that is not welcomed by the mayor and secretaries, but whenever they need to write some materials, they cannot do without him.

  A leader needs three types of people under him: The first type can get things done, so the leader can enjoy a carefree life playing with power; The second type can flatter and fawn, if there is no such person around the leader, his sense of existence will be greatly reduced; The third type is useless in normal times, but when something goes wrong, they can be used as scapegoats to take the blame for the leader.

  Hu Xuebin was the first person, even with some temper, Shen Hua still had to transfer him to the property department as a clerk.

  Shen Hua walked into the office, and Guo Quan and Xiao Chu from the Land Bureau stood up to greet him. Only Hu Xuebin remained seated, smoking a cigarette, nodding in greeting: "Secretary Shen has arrived..."

  Shen Hua walked over, leaned against Hu Xuebin's desk, took his cigarette and lit one up, saying: "Still old Hu's Jin Ye cigarettes are strong enough to smoke, I have two packs of Zhonghua in my drawer, exchange half a pack of Jin Ye with you, not a bad deal...". Thinking to himself, you don't pretend to be nice to me, try to please me, I'll pretend to be nice to you, try to please you, it's all good.

  Shen Hua took the half pack of Jin Ye cigarettes from Hu Xuebin's hand, went into the inner office, and handed him two packs of Zhonghua, which was an exchange. Seeing Xiao Chu wanting to leave, Shen Hua called out: "Xiao Chu, I've been looking for you, there's something I need to talk to you about."

  Xiao Chu is currently on secondment from the land department and has just started working, without a formal position.

  Shen Huai remembered that Guo Quan had mentioned it to him a few days ago, and Xiao Chou from the Land Bureau wanted to be transferred to the Asset Management Office.

  In 1993, the township arranged a position that was not difficult to fill. The town reception station suddenly cleared out four vacancies, which could be filled according to regulations. The asset management office increased two or three formal staff members, which was no problem.

  Xiao Chu, Chu Qiang, his father is Chu Yiliang who contracted the town's blanket factory. Yesterday at the Zhuxi Hotel ribbon-cutting ceremony, Chu Yiliang gave 4,000 yuan as a gift.

  Chu Yiliang used to be a worker and salesman at the Zhen Mao Carpet Factory. He later resigned and went into business for himself, then returned to take over the carpet factory when it was contracted out. Now he is one of the largest bosses in Meixi Town, with assets worth tens or even hundreds of millions.

  Chu Yiliang sent his son to work at the town government, not even a formal position, so it's no wonder that his son can't even get a meal from the public purse... In the end, in today's domestic situation, private bosses with hundreds of millions or tens of billions of assets seem quite impressive, but in front of the national machine, no matter how much wealth is nothing.

  As for the direction of national policies, private bosses are also uneasy at heart. Hu Yiliang sent his son to the town government, one is that it's good to cultivate relationships in the official circles, and two is that he hopes to maintain close ties with the town.

  Among those clerks, Chu Qiang was a special one. Whether it was He Qing She, Du Jian, or other town heads and secretaries, no matter how they yelled at other clerks, they always treated Chu Qiang with a smile.