Jiang Si was genuinely surprised this time. When she had invested in the farm initially, she hadn't expected to recoup her investment in the short term, as the farm was just starting up and required spending on everything.
She never thought the first year's dividend would be this substantial.
She roughly counted; there were over twenty thousand yuan here.
"At this rate, wouldn't the investment be recouped in less than ten years?"
"It might not even take ten years."
Huo Tingzhou explained: "The farm expanded with two new factory buildings in the second half of the year, specializing in various specialty canned goods. Part of the output supplies the service cooperatives of major military regions, and the remainder is exported to Southeast Asian countries through the Canton Fair."
"When I came back this time, the farm sent one can of each variety for you to try."
So that's why, Jiang Si thought, he had carried so many cans from afar.
Looking closely, she was surprised by the variety of canned goods available in this era.
Besides traditional fermented black bean and dace, there were actually glutinous rice chicken, tangerine peel duck, and lion head fish.
In fact, the most popular among this batch of cans wasn't any of these, but the three-snake soup canned stew. However, Huo Tingzhou didn't bring it, afraid it might scare his wife.
Fortunately, he didn't bring it; otherwise, Jiang Si wouldn't have let him into bed today.
Looking at the large stack of ten-yuan bills in the bag, Huo Tingzhou said, "Darling, give me the household register. I'll go to the bank tomorrow to open a savings account and deposit all this money."
Jiang Si thought for a moment. "Let's wait another couple of days."
Seeing Huo Tingzhou's puzzled look, Jiang Si briefly recounted the important events that had happened after he left.
During this period, she had designed three sets of templates.
Except for the first set, which was sold at the original price,
the latter two sets were priced thirty percent higher than before.
However, this matter was jointly led by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Jiang Si receiving only half of the proceeds.
But since everything was settled in foreign exchange, these few template sets had still brought her over a hundred thousand yuan in income. The key point was that many more were still queuing up.
It was foreseeable that once she finished the templates currently in hand,
the savings in Jiang Si's possession would likely multiply several times over.
Of course, compared to what the Jiang family had left her, this was actually nothing significant.
But that didn't stop her from feeling excited about it.
"In a couple of days, the final payments for two more templates are due," Jiang Si said. "Let's wait until those payments arrive and deposit everything together, to save us two trips."
Huo Tingzhou listened, his eyes filled with uncontrollable pride and admiration.
Looking at his wife, he felt she was simply glowing.
"Alright, we'll do as you say."
A few days later, the final payments arrived smoothly.
Jiang Si and Huo Tingzhou went to the bank together to deposit the money. In these times, large deposits still required proof, otherwise the bank wouldn't process them.
Under the envious gazes of others, the two deposited the money.
Afterwards, they went together to a nearby state-run market and bought a lot of groceries.
Usually, when Huo Tingzhou cooked, Jiang Si would help with washing vegetables or other small tasks if she wasn't busy.
But she had just had her period a couple of days ago. Although it was completely over now, Huo Tingzhou absolutely refused to let her lift a finger. Once they arrived at their new home, he made her rest on the living room sofa.
When Chris and Chi Heng arrived, they saw Jiang Si covered with a thin blanket, comfortably lying on the sofa reading a book.
The two little ones were each playing on their own.
Meanwhile, Huo Tingzhou, wearing an apron, was busy working in the kitchen.
When the food was served on the table, Huo Tingzhou was hardly idle either.
He was either peeling shrimp or picking out fish bones for Jiang Si, or wiping the mouths and feeding water to Suisui and Zhaozhao.
Chris watched with wide-eyed amazement.
Taking advantage of the moment when Chi Heng and Huo Tingzhou were clearing the dishes, she sat down in front of Jiang Si with a look of earnest inquiry.
First, she showed Jiang Si the blisters on her hands.
Jiang Si: "You... you've been learning to cook?"
Chris nodded vigorously. "Don't you Chinese have an old saying, something about 'to win a man's heart, you must first win his stomach'?"
Because of this saying, she had been spending time in the kitchen every day after work recently.
Since she could already cook some Western dishes, it wasn't as exaggerated as blowing up the kitchen.
But the Chinese food she made... the taste was, well, indescribable.
Even Chris's father, who usually doted on his daughter, had recently made it a habit to fill his stomach at the embassy district restaurant right after work.
Jiang Si fell silent for a moment after hearing this.
After a long while, she said, "You can take those sayings with a grain of salt. Different methods work for different people. What works for others might not work for Chi Heng."
Chris nodded wildly.
She had also realized that this path didn't seem quite right for her.
Thinking about this, Chris asked curiously, "Quick, tell me, how exactly did you win his heart?"
How did she win Huo Tingzhou's heart?
This question really stumped Jiang Si.
And so, after their guests left and the two of them were lying in bed,
Jiang Si posed this exact question to Huo Tingzhou.
Hearing this, Huo Tingzhou lowered his gaze to look at her.
Meeting her bright, sparkling eyes, he said, "You don't need to do anything. Just be yourself."
For him, her appearance was like a beam of light in a terrible world.
Even if she did nothing, as long as she was there,
that was enough for Huo Tingzhou.
That night, Jiang Si didn't get the answer she was hoping for, nor did she get to see the sunrise the next day.
When she woke up, it was already past noon.
The room was empty.
A note was left on the bedside table. It turned out Huo Tingzhou had taken the two children to Regimental Commander Xiao's house.
No, he should be addressed as Division Commander Xiao now.
Since the two of them had to officially report to their new work units after New Year's Day, Xiao Zhengjun had also arrived in Capital City three days prior.
Sister-in-law Hu had taken her two sons, Weidong and Weimin, back to her hometown for a visit.
They wouldn't return until early January.
The food was kept warm in the pot. After washing up, Jiang Si ate a few simple bites.
Just as she was planning to go to the Xiao family to meet up with her husband and the two children, Huo Tingzhou returned.
Seeing him carrying a sack-sized parcel on his shoulder, Jiang Si asked in surprise, "Didn't we already receive all the packages? How is there another one?"
Huo Tingzhou was also somewhat puzzled.
Looking at the address on the parcel which read Qiongzhou Island, Jiang Si said, "Could it be from Sister-in-law Xu?"
But upon second thought, it seemed unlikely.
Sister-in-law Xu always called in advance every time she sent something.
If it wasn't from Sister-in-law Xu, then who could it be?
While they were thinking, Huo Tingzhou had already started unpacking it.
The parcel was tied very securely, and it took him considerable effort to undo the outer layer of hemp rope.
On top were some dried goods, each packaged separately: white fungus, monkey head mushrooms, black fungus, and hazel mushrooms.
Then came pine nuts and hazelnuts.
There was also a fair amount of millet, red dates, and goji berries.
In addition, there were some cured meat, cured sausages, dried bamboo shoots, prepared fermented broad bean paste, and chili sauce.
Finally, there were various kinds of dried fish and dried shrimp.
As they took out the items one by one, the confusion on their faces deepened.
Fortunately, there was a letter inside the parcel, wrapped in oilpaper.
"The letter is for you." After glancing at it, Huo Tingzhou handed the letter over.
"For me?" Jiang Si took it and saw a line of clumsily written characters on the envelope:
[For Sister Jiang Si]
With curiosity, Jiang Si opened that letter—
