215: Mom makes new friends

Selling fish at the front were my mother Zheng Jin and Northeast Auntie Zhang Li, and there was also someone helping to bag, who should be Zhang Li's friend. She also had a Northeast accent, looked around 40 years old, and was also a resident of this community.

As a result, over 300 catties of fish were sold out in less than two hours, even before the usual peak time for grocery shopping.

Finally, five or six catties were left, and my mother refused to sell them, insisting on giving them to Zhang Li's friend who helped out.

Before they parted ways, my mother invited the two of them to Qingshan Town to visit. Yang Qi was happy that his mother made new friends.

He immediately stepped forward and invited the two to go fishing and set up ground cages at sea tomorrow.

Upon hearing this, their eyes lit up, and they said they would discuss it at home. The three of them immediately created a group chat, and they would reply via WeChat tonight.

Yang Qi drove his mother and Chen Lanxin to the community where Bai Xue and her friends lived.

“Hey!”

Yang Qi saw Bai Xue helping a customer with fish. He walked behind her and patted her on the back.

Bai Xue was startled, turned around, and saw it was Yang Qi. She screamed, “Ah ah ah,” and pounced into Yang Qi’s arms, giving him a flurry of playful punches.

Yang Qi hugged her tightly and loudly said, “My fault, my fault, I was wrong!”

Seeing everyone burst into laughter, Bai Xue felt a little embarrassed and buried her head in Yang Qi’s arms like an ostrich.

About half an hour later, all the fish here were also sold out. Everyone tidied up and went home to cook.

During dinner, my mother received a video call from Auntie Zhang Li, who said that she had discussed it with her family and would go out to sea to play tomorrow. Wang Chun, her friend, was also going and was with her now.

My mother suggested that since there were many guest rooms at home, they might as well come over tonight and go out to sea early tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise.

If it was okay, she would call her son to pick them up now.

As soon as she said this, the two on the other end seemed a little tempted, yet also a bit indecisive.

“Let me take you over! You two should have a good time tomorrow. Just take it as a holiday for yourselves. Li and I are at home. Aren’t we, Old Li?”

At this moment, a man’s voice came from the other side.

“Yes! Don’t worry about home. It’s rare for you two to have fun for yourselves.”

Another man’s voice came through.

It seemed the two families were gathered together, discussing the matter.

“Alright then! Little sister, send me your location! We’ll stay at your place tonight.”

Zhang Li said decisively.

“Okay, I’ll send the location now and wait for you to come over. Remember to bring sunscreen, everything else is here.”

My mother Zheng Jin said happily.

After his mother finished sending the message, Yang Qi spoke up:

“Mom, later, take a few aunties and uncles to play on the boat. I’ll also cheer them on.”

His mother thought for a moment, then nodded and said:

“You’re right to consider it. Although it might seem a bit like showing off, letting their families see it will put them more at ease.”

About half an hour later, a BMW car stopped at the entrance.

Yang Qi and his mother hurried out to greet them. Four people got out of the car, precisely Zhang Li and Wang Chun with their respective husbands. The two men went to the trunk to retrieve some gifts.

Everyone quickly invited the four into the living room to rest for a while. It was still Bai Xue who made the tea. Ever since Zheng Jin kept her at home to host Zhang Jun’s mother, whenever guests came, she was basically the one making tea.

This implied that she was also a hostess of the family, which meant the entire family had acknowledged her as a daughter-in-law.

Zheng Jin and Zhang Li introduced everyone to each other. After sitting for a while, my mother and Bai Xue took the guests upstairs to choose their rooms.

The two put away some simple luggage and then returned to the living room on the first floor to drink tea.

Through conversation, Yang Qi learned that Zhang Li’s husband was Wang Xudong, and Wang Chun’s husband was Li Lifeng. The two had been friends for many years.

A few years ago, they partnered to do office furniture business here. Originally, Wang Xudong had a connection with a local municipal party committee leader, but unexpectedly, that leader had an incident in the first half of the year and was transferred.

In official circles, it's always 'people leave, tea gets cold.' With their biggest backer gone, their business was declining.

Wang Xudong even sighed, saying that a contract with a subsidiary of Shenglong Group was almost signed, but then there was no further news, and he estimated this deal would fall through.

“Shenglong Group?” My mother Zheng Jin immediately turned her head to Yang Qi upon hearing these words.

Yang Qi understood his mother’s meaning. He took out his phone and said to Wang Xudong and the others:

“Uncle Wang, don’t worry, I’ll ask for you.”

“Ah?”

The others were confused. They were chatting nicely, so why was he suddenly offering to ask for them? Ask what?

“Hey! Brother Jun, what are you doing?”

Yang Qi called Zhang Jun and asked.

“Nothing, just finished dinner at the old man’s place, getting ready to go home.”

Zhang Jun replied,

“What? Is something wrong?”

“There is something I want to ask you.”

“Hmm, if you have something to say, just say it! Don’t drag it out, that’s not your style.”

Ever since Zhang Jun returned from deep-sea fishing, he had been full of vigor.

“Well, I have two uncles, who are from my mother’s sworn sisters’ families. They are in the office furniture business.”

Yang Qi began to explain,

“Some time ago, they were with a subsidiary of your Shenglong Group…”

“Oh, that matter! I’ll ask what the situation is over there, but tell me honestly how much help you need.”

Zhang Jun said without hesitation.

Actually, Zhang Jun didn't know that Yang Qi had put the call on speakerphone to reassure his mother.

His mother gave Yang Qi a glare, thinking, 'This brat is so careless.' Then she softly said, “Help with all your might.”

“Heh heh heh, my mom said to ask you to help with all your might.”

Yang Qi found his mother’s expression amusing.

“Oh, Auntie is there. Tell her not to worry. Even if this company’s business doesn’t work out, I guarantee I’ll compensate him with three companies’ worth of business later.”

“Give me a few minutes, I’ll ask what’s going on first.”

With that, Zhang Jun hung up the phone.

The four of Zhang Li looked at each other, not knowing what was happening, feeling as if Yang Qi and his mother were joking.

“Ahem! Little sister, what’s going on? Who did Xiao Qi call? Why is his tone so confident?”

Zhang Li still couldn’t resist asking.

“Didn’t you mention Shenglong Group?”

Zheng Jin said with a smile,

“Xiao Qi just called the… the Young Master of Shenglong Group.”

His mother thought for a moment before remembering the title 'Young Master' that Bai Lang often used.

“Ah! Really? The Young Master of Shenglong Group?”

Zhang Li and the others were surprised, secretly thinking:

“Aren’t you from the mainland? How can you have such a good relationship with the Young Master of Shenglong Group?!”

“Yes, it’s him. He and Xiao Qi are very good friends.”

My mother Zheng Jin said with a smile,

“I have four houses here. My family has two, my in-laws have one, and my younger brother has one. All of them were bought from Shenglong Group at an internal price.”