Chapter Twenty-Four: The Matter of Meeting Again

  "How big is your ranch? It looks quite large in the photo," asked Wang Jingjing curiously.

  "Five hundred and fifty thousand acres."

  Li Yuanshan exclaimed in surprise, "It's so big! Over 50,000 mu of land. If this were before Liberation, you would have been a big landlord!"

  "I know that one acre is roughly equivalent to six mu in China, a little more. If calculated according to the domestic standard, it would be over three million mu," Chen Jianguo explained.

  Wu Ming's eyes widened immediately: "Hurry up and drag him out to be shot, tens of millions of acres of good land, yet we still have to pay for our own plane tickets. Where is justice? Where is Chairman Mao?"

  Ju An Qi Guai glanced at Chen Jianguo and knew that even the conversion between acres and domestic mu was clear.

  Chen Jianguo smiled and explained: "Our family also bought a small villa in Australia, just for vacation, so I know."

  Juw An smiled, and his impression of Chen Jianguo improved a lot. Not only was he handsome, but also elegant, without the arrogance of some nouveau riche young masters. He was a very introverted person, leaving a good impression on Juw An. If it weren't for Qi Yan, they might have become good friends.

  "By the way, are you paying a high salary to have someone take care of your ranch? If it's high, I'll go help you take care of it too," Li Yuanshan said with a smile.

  "Get up at 5:30 every day, rest after 7:00 pm, about $1,000 a month, you're welcome to come."

  "My god, it's just this much, only 7,000 RMB, wasn't it said that American salaries are high? This isn't even that high." Li Yuanshan muttered.

  "New York, San Francisco and so on are of course expensive, just like in China. In Jiangnan city, you can buy a pound of shrimp for 18 yuan, but in the countryside, you can get it for 4 or 5 yuan. It's the same in America, the cost of living is lower in rural areas."

  "Now I'm balanced, so you're in rural America, this class is about the same as mine, I'm in a big city in China, considered a city person, and you're still a country person" Li Yuanshan nodded with satisfaction.

  Wang Fan nodded and said, "Mm, now Far Mountain is satisfied".

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  At this time, Ju An got up and said sorry, then went to the bathroom. Chen Jianguo also stood up and said let's go together.

  After Ju An and Chen Jianguo entered the bathroom together, Chen Jianguo said to Ju An: "Qiyuan, tell me, did she have a romance in college?"

  "Oh!" It's hard to say whether it's acceptable or not to stay in a safe place and do nothing.

  "Actually, when I came, I thought you should be a rough and unrefined type, with a big head, and it would be perfect if you had a face full of scars." Chen Jianguo said with a smile.

  Juw An replied: "Actually, I initially thought you were a slick-looking pretty boy, and it would be even better if you had some feminine tendencies."

  "Haha" Chen Jianguo burst out laughing.

  "It's all in the past, no need to mention it," said Ju An.

  Chen Jianguo said: "Really, nice to meet you" and extended his hand.

  "Are you sure I have a hand to shake with you right now?"

  "Sorry, sorry" Chen Jianguo smiled awkwardly: "I think Wang Fan is not very friendly to me because of Qi Yan's relationship".

  "Basically he's not very friendly to anyone except a few classmates, so you don't have to take it to heart."

  "I understand that the Red Third Generation always has some arrogance, and in the future, I will mainly be responsible for business in Jiangnan with Qi Yan. In fact, I don't want to make it so stiff," Chen Jianguo explained.

  "You just let Ziyuan talk more and it's fine." Ju'an doesn't want to get involved in this matter.

  Chen Jianguo said: "Actually, my father appreciates Qi Yan very much. She is indeed very capable and became the manager of a branch company in two and a half years."

  "University knew she was a strong character, doing everything to be the best."

  As the two people laughed and returned to their seats, Ju An discovered that everyone's line of sight suddenly paused, then immediately resumed as usual, continuing to chat about embarrassing things from college.

  Everyone ate until after 9 o'clock before they went their separate ways back home.

  Wang Fan drove with Ju An and Wu Ming back to the hotel room, bringing a case of Jiangnan beer, buying some duck necks, braised beef and so on, preparing to have a heart-to-heart talk in the hotel.

  Wang Fan opened three bottles of beer and handed one to Ju An and Wu Ming each: "I see you're getting along well with Chen Jianguo, this is the result of your experience, if it were in school, I reckon you could just kick him directly".

  Looking at Wang Fan who had taken a sip of beer, Ju An said: "Just treat him as an ordinary friend, get by with it, there's no such deep hatred there".

  Wang Fan said: "I still look down on Qi Yan, if she wants to break up, directly breaking up is fine with me, but dragging it out for half a year before breaking up, and then marrying that kid within three months of the breakup".

  Wu Ming said: "Old Three, what's the point of bringing these up? If you don't see eye to eye with them, just keep a distance and maintain a facade."

  Wang Fan said: "He's just a small merchant from the south, is he worthy of my brotherly treatment?"

  "Alright, let's not mention this anymore. In October, Wei Dong is getting married and you all should go." Ju An changed the subject.

  Wu Ming said: "Of course we have to go, Lao Wu is getting married, Lao Da is celebrating his anniversary, and Lao Er Su Mingrong are all going, how can we not go since we're so close?"

  "Besides, I heard that Wang Jianming is also going to Canada at the end of the year."

  "Wu Ming said: "Huh, he's planning to quit his job at the institute after a while, and I heard that he's also planning to sell his house. Look at us classmates now, two of them are already abroad, this brain drain is serious!"

  Wang Fan said, "If Jianming leaves, I admit it's a loss of talent. But if Lao Liu leaves, I'm all for it. Long live the great Lao Liu! Let him go and cause trouble in America. Originally, our country has more women than men, so he can also make a contribution to the nation by going abroad. Defeating America is not difficult at all - just parachute 30,000 Lao Liux into the US, and within ten years, the Americans will definitely become a developing country, and the proportion of Chinese-Americans will increase by at least ten percentage points."

  "Easy for you to say when you're over sixty and have a roof over your head."

  "By the way, are you going back to your hometown tomorrow?" Wang Fan asked further.

  "Uh, I'm planning to head back home tomorrow afternoon. This trip was just to pick up my family and have them stay with me for a bit. It's not summer vacation yet, so it'll be nice to take them out and about. Plus, being alone there can get pretty dull."

  Wu Ming sighed and said: "Lao Liu is capable of being filial, but the down payment for this house has not been settled yet."

  "Hey Fourth Brother, why don't I help you with the down payment? My money is just sitting there anyway, what do you think?"

  "Never mind, I have my own plans. You've mentioned these things, so it's not in vain that we're brothers." Wu Ming thought for a moment and then shook his head.

  "Two months ago, I still didn't let him help me with business and he wasn't willing to do so, how could he possibly accept your money?" Wang Fan said, looking at Ju An.

  "I don't understand your business at all, it's just going to mix a salary. I know the work is leisurely, but getting paid for doing nothing every day, I look down on myself." Wu Ming took a big gulp of beer.

  "Nowadays, many people in the country are traveling to the US. California has done a great job with things like ranch tours and horseback riding. Why don't you attract some customers here and I'll contact some farms and ranches over there to see what we can do? Montana is less crowded than California and the natural environment is even better, especially where I am now in Lewistown - Snowy Mountain Ranch has everything. You can also go hunting, get a permit on site, and have fun at the shooting range. Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park are all tourist attractions, there should be many people who want to go."

  Wang Fan listened and thought the idea was not bad: "I think this can be done, now going abroad for tourism is very popular, otherwise Lao Si you do this, what kind of license thing brother comes, I'll pay the money, you're in charge of taking care of it, anyway Anzi Pasture is so big, just send more people over there".

  "Hey, Third Brother, you know I'm not a fan of too much commotion. If it's just the brothers going, that's fine, but if there are strangers involved, I really have no interest. You and Fourth Brother can handle it, I'll make some calls, and we can consider the funds borrowed from Fourth Brother - as long as we pay him back when we make a profit. And my ranch won't be hosting any tourists."

  "I can still afford the money for Mao's trip and starting a travel company. Why don't you go back and ask around, see what price they quote, and if everyone is satisfied, we'll make it happen." Wang Fan said with a pat on Ju An's knee.

  "Alright, I'll take care of it when I get back."

  Wu Ming saw that the two people were sincere in their desire to help and could only nod his head in agreement.

  Next, Ju An looked at Wang Fan and Wu Ming again and roughly settled down. Then everyone started talking about things in college, such as which girl from the computer science department who took foreign language classes with them was still passable, whose voice was the ugliest, and so on, a series of male topics. Unbeknownst to them, the three people finished off a bottle of beer, snacks were also swept away, with some intoxication, they fell asleep as soon as they lay down.

  The next day, he slept until the sun was high in the sky and only woke up when it was safe. When he opened his eyes, Wang Fan had taken up more than half of the bed, Wu Ming had been squeezed to the floor, and he himself was curled up in a corner.

  Rubbed his eyes, got out of bed to wash up, then came over and kicked them both: "Get up, get up." These two guys rubbed their eyes and slowly got up.

  Wu Ming unexpectedly lifted up his clothes and scratched his belly twice.

  While they were washing up, Ju An gave Li Ge a call to tell them that he was back. As soon as the call connected, he heard the sound of horses neighing and guessed that they were playing at the horse farm.

  Exchanged some pleasantries and politely declined their invitation for dinner, also inviting them to visit his ranch when they have time in the US.

  After lunch with Wang Fan, Wang Fan suggested that Ju An rent a car, but considering the hassle of returning the car and Ju An not having a driver's license, they decided to take the bus back. Wang Fan sent Ju An to the station, and Ju An boarded the big bus for the journey home.