Reborn with a Space: Building a Fortune Amidst Famine

Chapter 1179: Thoughts

Xu Hongbing just let Lian Tang climb all over him.

In fact, he was thoroughly fed up inside, but he still held it in and didn’t show it.

His two sons were unwilling to pay any attention to him.

"Hongbing, do you think Dad will stop causing trouble in the future?"

"What trouble could there be now? Things are going well.

And the sister-in-law has already made it very clear, she doesn’t want it."

"I really don’t understand what Dad is thinking. Things were going well.

He insists on making everyone unhappy. Plus, Second Brother and his wife must have issues with Dad by now."

Xu Hongbing didn’t say anything. Indeed, his father-in-law’s behavior did offend people, he probably thought it would be fine, not expecting sister-in-law’s direct refusal.

Actually, in this family, only sister-in-law is sensible enough to refuse so directly.

But this has nothing to do with our family, it’s their Zhao Family business.

Hai Yan watched as Mom hurried away. She locked the door and rushed out to find her two younger brothers, truly having no idle time.

She thought that Big Brother would be on vacation today. With him at home, those two would surely behave better.

She found them, and told them about Mom and Dad going to Grandma’s house, and the two were regretful, if only they had been home, maybe they could have gone with them.

Hai Yan didn’t bother to shatter their illusion, the road was so dangerous, how could they take those two along?

"Big Sister, what are we eating?"

"What do you two want to eat?"

"How about dumplings?" Jianhua suggested.

"We can do that, but you two will have to chop the filling for me."

"Sister, can we have sauerkraut filling?"

"Sure, why not, as long as you two help me with the work, but we still need to make some cabbage filling, Big Brother doesn’t like sauerkraut."

The two had no objections, as long as there was something tasty, doing some work wasn’t a problem.

After the three siblings got home, they started preparing. Hai Yan could handle cooking well enough.

The two boys kept asking her to add more oil.

"Jianhua, you can roll out the dumpling wrappers, Minghua, you tend the fire."

"Hehe, with Mom and Dad not at home, I want to sleep with Big Brother."

Hai Yan didn’t concern herself with what they did, just focused on wrapping dumplings.

When Zhang Xinhua came home, he saw the dumplings placed on the water tank in the main hall, and Minghua was tending to the fire.

"Where are Mom and Dad?"

"Grandma passed away, Mom and Dad, and Aunt’s family all went."

Then Hai Yan came in from outside, "Big Brother, you’re back? I’m just about to cook the dumplings, I’ll cook the cabbage ones first."

"Cook the sauerkraut ones for them first."

Zhang Xinhua went inside to change his clothes, after the twenty-seventh, they probably wouldn’t return until the fifth at the earliest, which worked well since he’d start work on the sixth.

That night, the four siblings sat on the kang eating dinner. The two younger ones found everything delicious. They ate the sauerkraut ones, while the older siblings ate cabbage ones.

After dinner, the two younger ones cleaned the table while Zhang Xinhua went to take a bath.

With nothing else to do, the four siblings sat on the kang playing poker. The two younger ones had their faces covered with strips of paper.

Hai Yan didn’t have any strips on her face, when she lost, she pasted them on Big Brother’s face.

Even without parents at home, things were lively. And the two younger ones were even happier, nobody was supervising them.

They knew how to make the best of the situation, knowing Big Brother and Big Sister wouldn’t scold them.

Zhang Xinhua saw that it was getting late, "You two hurry up and sleep, no going out to play tomorrow, we need to tidy up the house again, and the day after, I’ll take you to the market."

"Really? Big Brother, I want candy haws."

"Big Brother, I want barley sugar and twisted candy."

"As long as you behave, everything’s possible." Zhang Xinhua indeed had quite a bit of money in hand. Ever since he started working, the household didn’t ask him for money; just handed over the various vouchers to the family.

"Big Brother, whatever you tell us to do tomorrow, we’ll do it; we’ll be obedient."

"Then it’s time to sleep now."

"Big Brother, this is our room, you should sleep with us."

"Alright," Zhang Xinhua said with a smile.

"Hehe, I purposely didn’t light a fire in your room. Just wanted you to sleep with us."

The three brothers used to all sleep together. Later on, during Zhang Xinhua’s high school exams, the two younger ones were too noisy, so they ended up with separate rooms to sleep in.

"With no fire in Big Brother’s room, of course, he should sleep with us, where else could he go, sleep with Big Sister?

Big Sister, how about the four of us sleep together today, so you’re not scared?"

Zhang Xinhua’s heart was touched by his brother’s words; he was over twenty already, how could he not have thoughts, but it was because Hai Yan was still young.

Hai Yan shook her head "I won’t sleep with you all, the two of you sleep as if you’re practicing martial arts. Last time you two slept with me, I barely slept all night."

"Sister, let’s all sleep together; let Big Brother shield us. Don’t worry, we’re older now and don’t get naughty while sleeping." Minghua lay on Hai Yan’s back, shaking her.

"Alright, alright, let go of me. We’ll sleep together."

Jianhua jumped off the kang, "Big Sister, I’ll go get your quilt."

Hai Yan smiled and shook her head "Today, there’s a fire in my room."

"Sister, it’s better if we all sleep in one room, won’t it be boring for you alone?"

Jianhua brought over the bedding, setting Big Sister’s at the head of the kang, and went to fetch Big Brother’s bedding for the middle.

Next to Big Brother was the youngest brother, then himself.

Zhang Xinhua sat on the kang smiling, watching the two younger ones busying themselves.

After everything was settled, the two smiled mischievously while going to wash their faces and feet.

Hai Yan also went down with a smile to wash up, Zhang Xinhua squinted his eyes, watching her from behind.

He too went down to wash up, and when the four siblings were all lying in bed, Hai Yan turned off the light.

The two younger ones, having run wild the whole day, were asleep within minutes of being under the covers.

Zhang Xinhua couldn’t sleep. "Hai Yan, are you asleep?"

"No, I napped a bit at noon, Big Brother, you’re not sleeping either? Aren’t you tired?"

"I don’t have to work right now, so I’m not tired. Hai Yan, you must get into high school, after graduation, I’ve already arranged a job for you."

"Can I also work at the power plant?" Hai Yan turned, asking with delight.

Zhang Xinhua also turned, even though the room was very dark. He could still see the little girl he liked.

Actually, when he realized he liked this little girl, he despised himself.

But he felt no affection towards other females. His mind and heart were full of this little girl, at that time he even wondered if there was something wrong with him.

Otherwise, he certainly could have gone to university. But back then, he was very conflicted.

After the exams were over, he figured it out. Liking is just liking, she’s not his real sister, they share no blood ties. He decided to wait for her to grow up, staying by her side as her guardian.

"Possibly, I’ve arranged it accordingly, but you must graduate high school."