Chapter 758: 748. Must have one_1 Chapter 758: 748. Must have one_1 Like the son of Seventh Uncle?!

My great-aunt’s blood pressure shot up instantly!

How could she have not heard of Seventh Uncle’s kid? His son has been to the border and started a family, and in these decades, he’s come back home only twice!

And now Seventh Uncle has to rely on Tantan for his old age!

They have only this one child, Yanping. If he also doesn’t show up for a dozen years, they’ll cry themselves to death!

The always quiet great-uncle couldn’t stand it anymore!

“Enough already! If the kid doesn’t want to take the civil service exam, then don’t force him! We have a house, and later we can buy a shopfront property. If we save up some retirement money and don’t burden them… Isn’t that good enough?”

Looking at it from another angle, great-uncle suddenly felt satisfied, “Look at those folks at the wholesale market: some who didn’t go to university, some who loaf about all day, and some who gamble away their time upstairs with shady friends… Our Yanping is so much better!”

“We didn’t push the kid to do anything, and he went and got into a key university all on his own. He even helped us find suppliers before, and business has been booming! He doesn’t smoke, drink, or mess around!”

“Why are you always on about taking the civil service exam or getting a permanent position? You want to drive the kid to his wit’s end?”

Great-uncle, usually an honest man, rarely lost his temper, and great-aunt, taken aback, immediately raised her voice, “What do you mean always pushing? You used to dream of him becoming a high-ranking official too!”

With that said, both husband and wife calmed down.

Song Tan: …

She gave Secretary Xiaozu a thankful look–while Zhang Yanping’s words were indeed the last straw that broke the camel’s back, it was Secretary Xiaozu’s earlier remarks that really lit the fuse.

All in all, everyone’s efforts weren’t in vain, as Zhang Yanping’s tense nerves instantly relaxed.

And seizing the opportunity, Song Tan fed her great-aunt the final Reassuring Pill:
“Great-aunt, my farm is a registered company, and Brother Yanping has a proper job here…”

It was registered, but just a shell of a company.

There was a position, but he mainly did customer service for now.

But, that’s not important!

“Moreover, there’s news from the city that our village is about to get an asphalt road built, and the funds have already been deposited!”

Whether the funds have arrived or not, we don’t know, but there’s no harm in a bit of bragging.

“When it’s done, it will only be an hour’s drive from my place to the urban area–tell me, doesn’t it take almost forty-five minutes to get from the new district in our city to your wholesale market when there’s traffic?”

“Working for me there would be no traffic jams, just an extra twenty minutes or so.”

In reality, there’s always traffic in the urban area, and it typically takes only forty minutes to get from the new district to the wholesale market–it’s a small city, after all! But with Song Tan’s ability to skirt around the truth, her great-aunt felt like there wasn’t much difference.

As for whether there’s a traffic jam in the urban area, well, that was a different story.

Great-uncle often drove deliveries and was sensitive about time. After hearing this, he glanced at Song Tan silently but didn’t say a word.

Meanwhile, Song Tan kept up her big sales pitch: “And great-aunt, didn’t you ask me to bring Brother Yanping over initially because you thought staying at home all day without exercise was bad for his health?”

“Just look at Brother Yanping now, how sturdy and healthy he’s become! If he worked somewhere else, would he eat and sleep as well as he does here?”

“Besides, we have such a close relationship, and if Brother Yanping ever wants to quit, he could resign today and be back tomorrow–I wouldn’t hold him back. He’s essentially still free–earning a salary while staying healthy, helping out my family, and able to leave whenever he wants… Great-aunt, don’t you think my place is too small for you?”

Ah, this.

What could great-aunt say?

Great-aunt has never set foot in the workplace in her life, how could she understand the layers upon layers of a capitalist’s schemes?

Reflecting back, I started to feel that without relatives, I wouldn’t even have had this job opportunity!

So…

She tried to keep a straight face, “Yanping, if you don’t want to take the civil service exam, that’s fine, but you’re in your twenties now, it’s time to take personal matters seriously… So, when are you planning to visit the girl’s family, huh?”

Zhang Yanping: …

Do I have to have one?

…

The slight dissatisfaction of the aunt quickly dissipated in front of the fragrant spread of dishes on the table.

Today was a festival, and Chef Qian had been given the day off early. When he came down from the mountain at six o’clock, he just in time joined Seventh Uncle in preparing dinner for Lao Song’s family.

Tonight, there were more than thirty people dining, and the big round table in the dining room was packed for the first time. Equally crammed was the lazy Susan atop the table, heaped with various colored dishes.

Stir-fried green pepper with eggs, braised eggplant, stir-fried green tomatoes with fish chunks, spring onion exploded shrimp, clear stewed crucian carp soup sprinkled with coriander and ageratum, and the aromatic and satisfying stir-fry made by cutting cowpeas and braised pork belly into small dices…

These were all the fruit of Seventh Uncle’s labor, focusing on homely simplicity and complementing rice.

And for Chef Qian, who used such fine ingredients for the first time, his excitement was uncontrollable, as he showcased his varied cooking skills to retain the natural flavors of the ingredients!

Tiger-skin green peppers, garlic baby bok choy, tomatoes and eggs, sweet but not cloying fragrant glutinous rice stuffed pumpkin, melt-in-your-mouth braised pork with old cucumber, sesame oil-seasoned red braised winter melon with a compelling aroma, and the freshly green stir-fried bitter melon… followed by a pot of silver ear mushroom soup.

On one side were dishes that were light and kept the original flavors, and on the other side were more savory dishes that greatly complemented rice.

For a moment, everyone’s eyes were dazzled, and when they reached out with their chopsticks, they hardly knew which dish to try first.

Despite the abundance of food, there were also many people to feed, so today the table was also full of stainless steel basins.

Not a single person in the room felt the presentation was unfit, rather they held their bowls, wishing they had more than one stomach!

Zhang Yanping, too, wolfed down his food and said to his mother Wu Fang, who was too busy shoveling food to speak:
“Mom! Tell me, what job could I do that would provide this quality of meals?”

Wu Fang’s mouth was full; at the moment, she mumbled vaguely in response, and then with lightning-fast reflexes, she quickly picked up the last piece of fish with her chopsticks!

Zhang Hong, caught off guard: …!!! With so much food to choose from, why did she have to go for my piece of fish?

Zhang Yanping still wasn’t giving up, now perfunctorily and insincerely placing a piece of bitter melon on his dad’s plate: “Dad, tell me, isn’t it nice to eat at Tantan’s place? I could eat like this every day!”

Zhang Hong, hesitantly staring at the bitter melon he disliked, finally stuffed it into his mouth, taking in its crisp and tender green hues–
What the? Even the bitter melon tastes this good!

He swiftly picked up several more pieces with his chopsticks, not bothering to respond to Zhang Yanping’s question.

Similarly, Aunt Song Hongmei felt a pang of pain: “Why does it taste so good! It’s even better than during Spring Festival and Dragon Boat Festival! What a waste to eat so much in one sitting!”

But as she spoke, she also didn’t stop picking up more dishes–because no one at the table was listening to her.

If she didn’t eat more now, there would be no chance to take any leftovers home.

Meanwhile, Wu Lei took a photo before dinner and sent it to his mom:
[Mom, we’re having these dishes tonight! Look, aren’t you missing out by not coming?]
At the moment, he was eating noisily without care for his image, while his phone on the side was vibrating furiously–
That was love and concern from his aunt!