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Chapter 433
All the way back home, ZhiXia asked Wanqing, "Have you told your dad you're back yet?"
"Not yet, I was afraid he would insist on picking me up, so I thought I'd tell him after I got back." Wanqing felt she was no longer a child, and she was very vigilant. There was no problem with her taking the bus alone, but her mother still insisted that her younger brother, who was even younger than her, go pick her up. It always made her feel like she hadn't grown up.
In fact, ZhiXia also had her own concerns. It wasn't that she didn't worry about her son or that she was too controlling of her daughter, it was just that boys and girls were inherently different.
Nowadays, teenage boys rarely get abducted anymore, but girls this age are in high demand, and all kinds of abduction methods keep emerging, making it impossible to prevent, especially in chaotic places like train stations.
"Give your dad a call, you still have to let him know when you get back." ZhiXia said.
"OK, I'll do it now." Wanqing also missed Pei Jing very much. With this call, if nothing unexpected happened, she would probably see him tomorrow.
That night, mother and daughter lay in one bed.
Wanqing suddenly asked ZhiXia, "Mom, did you and auntie argue?"
ZhiXia was taken aback, then immediately realized that the child must have noticed auntie's cold face. "We didn't argue, but our relationship has not been as good recently. Whatever happens between us adults, you young ones should act the same as before. Don't take this matter too close to heart, understand?"
Wen Qing used to come over and stay frequently, and the two children also often went to their home. After Chenye went to Beijing, he came less often, and ZhiXia didn't want the relationship between the children to be affected because of the adults.
"I understand." Wanqing said.
In fact, when grandma wanted her to stay for a couple days today, she also wanted to agree. But when she turned her head, she saw auntie with a cold look on her face, and she felt something was wrong, so she decided to decline.
When she was little, she often stayed at grandma's house and never felt uncomfortable. But growing up, she realized that after all, it wasn't her own home.
If it was just grandma and grandpa, she would be very willing to accompany them, but people become more cautious as they grow up. She began to worry that auntie might not like her anymore.
An ZhiXian arrived very quickly the next day, carrying a box.
When the box was opened, it contained rows of neatly arranged gold bars. "As you know, I don't have a high salary. I could only use the family assets. These gold bars were taken according to the bank's exchange rate, just enough to be worth 500,000. If it's inconvenient for you, I can exchange them at the bank and give you cash."
An ZhiXian felt that ZhiXia must have spare money on hand, and keeping gold bars would be better than cash, with a higher appreciation rate, so he reluctantly exchanged them at the bank and brought them directly.
ZhiXia was very surprised. "Brother, buying a house is not like buying vegetables. You haven't even seen the house yet. There's no rush to give the money until the formalities are completed."
"But I'll have to give it sooner or later." An ZhiXian laughed, "You know me, I'm busy every day without a moment's leisure. Just contact me when the formalities are done. I know where it is anyway. I'll go see the house when I have time. As for the renovation, discuss with brother four how you want it done, and help me take care of it simply. I just need the house decorated nicely and simply, nothing too complicated..."
An ZhiXian rattled on and on. The point was that he didn't want to be bothered. He had no time.
ZhiXia thought for a moment and said, "Hu Zhou under Hu Zhou has renovation teams. I'll send you design drawings later for you to choose the decor style."
"OK. I have to get to work now, so I'll get going first." After saying that, An ZhiXian left very decisively, leaving just that small box of gold bars on the table.
ZhiXia put away the gold bars and called Jiang Tao, asking him to instruct his men to complete the house ownership transfer formalities as soon as possible.
In the afternoon, An Zhiren called again, asking her to keep a house for him too, with An ZhiXian paying first.
Only then did ZhiXia realize, "Brother, did you guys discuss this? Are you trying to help my sales in case I can't sell the houses?"
She could understand brother three wanting to buy a house, but brother two had been away for years. She heard he had just been promoted to mayor this year. He might not be able to come back for who knows how long, so he had no need to purchase property in Jingcheng at all.
Of course, investment was another matter, but ZhiXia figured he wouldn't do that given his profession.
"You got that wrong. I'm only away temporarily, not gone for good. I just want to buy a house here first to have a place to live when I come back. It'll also be convenient for us siblings to visit each other if we live close by." After saying this, An Zhiren asked her, "Right, have you mentioned this to big brother? Tell him to buy a unit too. The old family houses are all run down and uncomfortable to live in. He's not short on money, why suffer the hardship!"
"I didn't say anything." How could she bring this up? The houses were from her group. If she mentioned this, they were already unhappy with each other. Her sister-in-law might even think she was drumming up business for herself and trying to take advantage of them.
"What's the matter?" As a mayor, An Zhiren immediately picked up on her tone.
"It's nothing. Anyway, if you guys want it, I'll keep them for you. If you don't want it, I can't force you. But let me make it clear first - I didn't encourage you to buy the houses." The remaining unsold houses haven't been listed yet. When the final sales prices come out, they'll know they absolutely didn't lose out.
The siblings talked a bit more before ZhiXia hung up.
But it wasn't peaceful on An Zhiren's side.
Zheng Suchun had just returned from outside when she saw him sitting there lost in thought, clearly with something on his mind.
"What's the matter?"
So An Zhiren asked her, "Have you been in touch with my younger sister recently? It feels like she and big brother are estranged, no?"
An Zhiren told her about buying the house. Zheng Suchun immediately understood the crux of the matter. "It's not that little sister has a conflict with big brother. I think it's your wonderful sister-in-law. I could tell a few years ago when I went back. She treated others like they owed her money, when it was clearly her that father and mother helped the most. You don't know, when sister-in-law four spoke to her, she was so arrogant..."
Zheng Suchun had always been very sensible, aside from being too clingy with An Zhiren. She didn't make a fuss over other matters.
Of course, it was understandable. Having such an outstanding man, it's normal to be anxious.
She knew An Zhiren valued family bonds greatly and never spoke ill of his family in front of him.
But this time he asked about it himself, so she couldn't be blamed for gossiping a little.
An Zhiren knew very little about his sister-in-law's affairs. They lived together for a few years when he was home, but he didn't notice she was so...petty back then.
Having been away from home these years, he rarely paid attention to family matters and was completely ignorant about these trivial details.
An Zhiren thought for a long time and felt big brother had to know about this.
There had never been any problems in their brotherly affection before. Now they were all buying houses together, but big brother didn't even know. It looked as if they were isolating big brother.
Of course, after he said something, if big brother decided not to buy, that was fine too.
After all, everyone had their own considerations. Buying property was for enjoyment in the first place.
An Zhiren called An Zhiqing and learned An Jingzhi had already called him, and he had also decided to go back for a visit.