Zhou Ying's face flushed with excitement as she asked, "Big brother, is this house really ours?"
Zhou Xuan chuckled and tapped her on the head, saying, "What do you think? If you like it, I'll buy you a house just like the one you bought when you get married!"
Zhou Ying chuckled and said, "I'm not getting married. I'll spend my whole life with my parents and older brother!"
Jin Xiumei scolded, "Silly girl!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "When you wanted to get married, even if your elder brother begged you not to, you probably wouldn't have listened. But now you're quite stubborn!"
He glanced at his parents and said, "Mom and Dad, you two go ahead and have fun. This is our own home, and we have nothing to do tomorrow, so just keep playing. I'm going upstairs to take a nap."
Zhou Cangsong waved his hand: "Go ahead, don't worry about us. This isn't like the countryside, where there's nothing to do and no one can sleep."
As Zhou Xuan went up the stairs, he glanced at Fu Ying again. When their eyes met, Fu Ying's face inexplicably turned red again, and she quickly turned her face to the other side.
Fu Ying was incredibly shy. Zhou Xuan felt sorry for her and didn't want to make her feel awkward by teasing her in an ambiguous way. She had come all alone from overseas to find him, so how could he bear to do that? He should have a proper wedding with her to be worthy of her. However, it would be even better if he could get her grandfather's approval, since he was her family!
After Zhou Xuan went upstairs, Fu Ying was even more reluctant to follow. She chatted with Zhou Ying in the living room. Zhou Cangsong and Jin Xiumei looked at Fu Ying and were more and more pleased with her. They were very satisfied with this daughter-in-law.
Zhou Xuan went up to the third floor in a good mood, filled the tub with water, and soaked in it. He stretched out his body in the hot water and groaned comfortably a few times. While soaking, he actually fell asleep. When he woke up, he realized that the water was almost cold. Fortunately, there was air conditioning in the room, so he didn't feel hot or cold.
When Zhou Xuan got up in the morning, he went downstairs to the living room and saw that his parents were already up. He wondered how late they had stayed up last night, but they never slept in this morning. He checked the time and it was only 7:30.
Fu Ying and Zhou Ying hadn't gotten up yet, not to mention Liu Yufang who was taking care of the children.
After Zhou Xuan sat down, she heard noises coming from the kitchen across the dining room and asked in surprise, "Who's in there? Is Zhou Ying up?"
Jin Xiumei shook her head and said, "No, it's the nanny your friend Hong hired. I've spoken to her; she's from the same county as us. Hong is so thoughtful!"
Brother Hong is indeed very thoughtful; he even invited Bao Mei from his own hometown, which makes his parents feel more at ease. They can speak the local language, and the food is just what they like.
The nanny's name was Liu Yue'e, she was thirty-four years old, married, and had two young children who were studying in her hometown. Her husband also worked in construction in Beijing.
Liu Yue'e has been working as a nanny and maternity nurse here for four or five years. She is very experienced and cooks exceptionally well. Wei Haihong was indeed carefully selected. It's not just about being close to Zhou Xuan's hometown; everything else had to be similar.
Liu Yue'e's cooking was indeed quite good. Zhou Xuan was used to southern flavors, while Fu Ying had always lived in New York, and Zhou Xuan's parents and sister had always stayed in their hometown. Liu Yufang, on the other hand, had lived in Beijing for two or three years, and their tastes differed. But Liu Yue'e's cooking satisfied them all quite a bit, which showed she had some skill.
Zhou Xuan asked her and learned that Wei Haihong had hired her full-time for 5,000 yuan a month. This monthly salary wasn't very high here, but it was the highest salary in Zhou Xuan's hometown.
After finishing his meal, Zhou Xuan pointed out a room on the first floor to Liu Yue'e, telling her to tidy up and come in, and that he would call her "Sister-in-law Liu" from now on.
Aunt Liu is a good cook. She's also very efficient at cleaning. After cleaning and tidying up the kitchen and rooms, Zhou Xuan gave her seven thousand yuan. Five thousand yuan was an advance payment of one month's salary, and two thousand yuan was for groceries. Of course, she couldn't ask Brother Hong to pay her the remaining salary.
Aunt Liu was a little surprised. In other places, wages were paid after the workday was completed. She had never seen anyone pay Zhou Xuan right away. Some kind employers might lend money in advance, but they would never pay the full month's wages.
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Sister Liu, you're from our hometown. As the saying goes, 'No matter how beautiful, the water of one's hometown is never the closest.' People from the same hometown are all from the same place. It's fate that we meet here. Here's an advance of five thousand yuan for you. Take it and use it. If you have any difficulties, just tell me, and I'll definitely help if I can. As you can see, besides my sister and girlfriend, my family consists of my parents. With someone from our hometown like you, my parents might have someone to talk to!"
Aunt Liu was deeply moved as she received the money.
Zhou Xuan added, "Sister Liu, your salary will gradually increase. From now on, you can collect the next month's allowance at the beginning of each month. Also, there's the two thousand yuan living allowance. If it's not enough, just ask me, and I'll give you more. Use it as you like; I want my parents to live a better life, so don't skimp on food!"
For the entire afternoon, Zhou Xuan's parents and sister chatted with Aunt Liu and helped with the chores. They didn't act like family members at all.
Amidst laughter and chatter, Achang, Ade, **, and Zhou Tao returned in two Hummers.
He rushed in excitedly, hugged his son and kissed him, then gave Liu Yufang a big kiss on the cheek.
Liu Yufang scolded, "Are you trying to kill me?!"
Zhou Tao, the younger brother, wiped his sweat and said to Zhou Xuan and Zhou Cangsong, "Brother, Dad, the stone lion has been safely brought back!"
Today, I'm delivering 10,000 words. Looking at the monthly votes, I'm so moved I can hardly breathe. They've more than doubled in a flash! The monthly vote prize is practically waving in my eyes too. Thank you brothers and sisters for your support. I will continue to persevere. Only in this way can I feel that I've done right by you all!
Volume 1, Chapter 85: Xiaoqing is in trouble.
While Gong and Ade were sitting in the living room, Zhou Fu told them to sit for a while. After they warmed up, he pulled the car into the garage, pointed to the two cars, and said, "Drive these two cars to the open space in the garden outside and park them. Drive the car with the stone lions in!"
One of the two cars was Zhou Xuan's own Sonata, and the other was a Bugatti Veyron that Wei Haihong had given to Zhou Xuan.
He muttered to himself, "I thought you were just jealous because you saw me kissing my wife and son earlier." But when he heard Zhou Xuan ask him to drive those two cars out, he got excited.
I've wanted to drive this Bugatti Veyron for ages. It costs over 40 million! Even if I don't drive it, just sitting in it and touching it would be nice, to soak up some of that luxurious aura.
Thinking it over, but quick on the uptake. He first drove the Sonata out, then came back to drive the Bugatti Veyron. This car uses smart remote ignition and fingerprint start, so Wei Haihong didn't enter his fingerprint. This saved Zhou Xuan some trouble. The remote key was in a box on the hood.
I took the car key and pressed the start button. The Bugatti Veyron's engine gave a soft roar and started up, its sound deep and resonant.
Zhou Xuan removed the box from the hood of the car and tossed it into a corner. He opened the car door and got in, a little nervous but excited. He slowly drove the car away.
When he returned, he naturally drove the Hummer adorned with stone lions. As soon as he jumped out of the car, he muttered, "What's the use of these damn stone lions? They just make your villa look ugly!"
Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "Boss, you really think I'm going to use it to guard the gate?" He then heard ** muttering to himself and asked, "Boss, how was it driving that half-hundred-million-dollar sports car?"
"What a load of rubbish!" he laughed and cursed. "That car is all about speed. It can go over 460 kilometers per hour, as fast as an airplane. You tell me, from your garage to the riverbank, to the garden next door, it's less than 30 meters. You try driving it. See if it's fun? It's like Pigsy eating a ginseng fruit, you don't even get a taste!"
Zhou Xuan couldn't help but laugh. He went to the Hummer, opened the trunk, beckoned over, and said with a smile, "Boss, let me tell you, the reason I bought this stone lion wasn't to guard the gate. That was just an excuse. You've been in the antique business for years, you know how to find bargains, right?"
"Find a bargain?" He paused, then asked, "Finding a bargain means making a small amount of money to buy something valuable. Could this broken stone lion be some kind of antique?"
Zhou Xuan shook his head and said, "It's not an antique. It's a stone lion with gold inside!"
"Gold?" He was taken aback. Staring wide-eyed at the stone lion, he asked, "Little brother, how do you know there's gold inside it? Do you have X-ray vision?"
"What nonsense!" Zhou Xuan laughed and cursed. "I heard the old Taoist priest mention it before, but I didn't understand back then and thought he was joking. Now that the old Taoist priest is dead, but the stone lion is still there, buying it back isn't exactly doing the old Taoist a disservice!" ** asked in surprise, "Wasn't the old Taoist priest missing? How do you know he's dead?"
“My dad only found out when he saw the notice for identifying the body posted in the city. He didn’t mention it when he came back, so the villagers don’t know about it,” Zhou Xuan replied with a sigh. “Boss, come out with me right away. You’re more familiar with the area. Go buy a small cutting machine and we can cut the stone lion ourselves in the garage. I’ll go to the bank to withdraw some money while I’m at it.”
He grinned and said, "Then let's go drive a Bugatti Veyron. It'll be so cool!"