Hard work after winning the lottery

Hua An's fingers tightened around his phone.

The fingertips turned white from the force applied.

He wanted to hang up.

I want to swear.

But Zhou Yanjin's next words were like a nail, driven hard into his unexpectedness.

I respect you.

"I respect you as Yunyun's most beloved younger brother, and I respect you as the children's only uncle."

"I have even greater respect for you for the past five years, for the hard work you've done as a man in protecting this family for me."

Hua An's breathing became erratic.

My eyes inexplicably started to sting.

No one had ever said such a thing to him before.

Only the man who stole his sister acknowledged his sacrifices.

"Hua An".

Zhou Yanjin's voice deepened, carrying a solemn promise.

"I only hope that in the days to come..."

You can think of me as an employee on probation.

"Look at me with your most discerning eyes."

"If I treat Yunyun any badly, if I cause the children to suffer any injustice."

"If I do something that doesn't satisfy you."

"You can kick me out of this house anytime."

"This is my promise to you."

The other end of the phone went silent.

Zhou Yanjin finished speaking.

Hua An stood in the corner of the courtyard. The morning sunlight was a bit too bright and made his eyes hurt.

The raging anger in his chest seemed to hit a cotton ball in the face of these words, unable to be vented, yet slowly dissipating.

This man, worth hundreds of billions, actually handed himself this kind of knife handle?

Hua An's Adam's apple bobbed violently.

He glanced at his sister, who was watching them with concern not far away.

I glanced again at Sitao, who was happily running around holding a toy car.

Those complex emotions surged in my heart.

A long time passed.

It was so long that Hua Yun thought he was going to hang up the phone.

Hua An finally spoke.

His voice was a little hoarse, with a stiffness that hadn't completely subsided.

"...You said it yourself."

He paused.

As if carving those words into stone, he gritted his teeth and spat out the last few words:

"Even if you make the slightest mistake, you won't get through this door."

Done.

He didn't wait for Zhou Yanjin's response.

With a "snap".

He hung up the phone immediately.

The movements were swift and decisive, carrying a hint of fleeing in disarray.

He shoved the phone into Hua Yun's arms.

Without looking back, he turned and walked towards the pile of firewood that hadn't been chopped yet.

"I'll go chop wood."

The voice was muffled.

But Hua Yun clearly saw it.

The moment my brother turned around.

Those shoulders were always taut like a drawn bow.

at last.

I've relaxed.

Life flows on like the water in the Baixi River, rushing forward.

With the wedding date at Baixi Lake finalized, the once peaceful Hua family courtyard became completely bustling with activity.

The village women often visited Hua's house, cracking sunflower seeds while sewing shoe soles, their eyes filled with envy.

"This girl from the Hua family is truly blessed."

"That's right, that son-in-law looks like a movie star, and he's rich too."

Hua Yun simply smiled faintly at these comments and said nothing more.

Zhou Yanjin kept her word.

He said he wanted to show the Chinese community his sincerity, and he truly went to great lengths to demonstrate that sincerity.

Every other weekend.

No matter how busy the company in City A is, no matter if the weather is stormy or torrential.

The once unapproachable president of the Zhou Group would appear at the entrance of Baixi Village on time.

To save time, he always took the earliest flight to the provincial capital.

After driving for a few more hours, we arrived at Baixi Village.

That priceless black Maybach was often covered in mud splatters.

He looked somewhat travel-worn, yet exuded a down-to-earth air.

at first.

Hua An showed great resistance to the arrival of his prospective brother-in-law.

As soon as you hear the low hum of a car engine coming from the doorway.

As if by conditioned reflex, he immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks.

"I'm going to check on the sheep farm."

or.

"The online store has an urgent order, I'll go and ship it."

The reasons they always come up with are always high-sounding and plausible.

They can slip away faster than anyone else.

It was as if as long as they didn't speak or make contact, the man couldn't take his sister away.

Zhou Yanjin was fully aware of her brother-in-law's "hide-and-seek" behavior.

But he wasn't annoyed.

They didn't deliberately try to ambush people, nor did they bombard them with expensive gifts like they would with business partners.

He simply and slowly took off his expensive haute couture suit jacket.

I changed into a regular pure cotton T-shirt that I bought in town.

Roll up your sleeves.

That's the kind of posture you'd really use to get things done.

What truly changed their relationship was a sweltering afternoon.

That day, Hua's online store was running a promotional campaign in full swing.

Order volume surged.

What should have been a joyous occasion turned into chaos due to a sudden collapse of the logistics system and a malfunction in the waybill printer.

The east wing was filled with hundreds of unclaimed packages.

Hua Yi was sweating profusely and frantically typing away at the computer.

Hua An frowned deeply, answering calls urging delivery while rummaging through piles of packages for missing orders.

"This address is wrong! Who filled out this form?"

"We're out of packing tape! Go get some!"

Anxiety spread through the stuffy warehouse.

Hua An was so anxious he wanted to smash things.

He was only in his early twenties, and he seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the sudden surge in orders.

Just then.

A tall figure blocked the light from the doorway.

Hua An didn't even look up, his tone was very sharp.

"Who is it? Don't block the light, I'm busy!"

"At the current sorting speed, you won't be able to finish shipping before midnight tonight."

A calm and indifferent voice rang out.

There was no sarcasm involved; it was simply stating an objective fact.

Hua An suddenly looked up.

Zhou Yanjin was standing at the doorway at some point.

He was wearing a white T-shirt that cost a few dozen yuan and holding a bottle of mineral water that had just been chilled in a well.

He seemed out of place, yet remained calm and composed.

"None of your business!"

Hua An uttered a sarcastic remark, then lowered his head and continued to struggle with the paper-jamming printer.

Zhou Yanjin remained silent.

He walked straight in.

With slender fingers, he gently pressed a few buttons on the old printer, skillfully opened the cover, and pulled out the jammed paper.

His movements were fluid and efficient, even more so than Hua An's half-day of tinkering.

A "click" sound.

Close the cover.

The printer restarted and produced clear shipping labels.

Hua An was stunned for a moment.

Before he could react, Zhou Yanjin had already turned and walked toward the pile of messy packages.

"First, pick out the ones within the province and put them on the left."

"Place people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai in the middle."

"Place the ones in remote areas on the far right."

"Huayi, export the backend data to Excel and sort it by delivery address. Don't check them one by one; it's too inefficient."

His voice wasn't loud, and he didn't speak quickly.

But every word he said hit the nail on the head.

The room, which had been in complete disarray, suddenly seemed to have a central anchor.

That ability to coordinate, unique to those in positions of authority, was on full display at this moment.

Hua An originally wanted to retort.

But Zhou Yanjin had already squatted down and started sorting the packages skillfully.

The words that were on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back down.

That's Zhou Yanjin.

The CEO of the Zhou family makes millions per minute.

But now he was squatting on the dusty cement floor, holding a cheap box sealer, sealing the cardboard boxes containing mutton with a "sizzling" sound.

Sweat trickled down his angular profile.

It dripped onto the collar.

A dark water stain spread out.

But he didn't even frown.

Hua An's eyes held a complex expression.

He thought that Zhou Yanjin, a young master born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was all talk and no action, and would definitely be all show and no substance when it came to actually doing the work.

But now it seems...

This person is not only quick-witted, but also very skilled with their hands.

They were even more organized than I was, someone who was used to farm work.

"Feed".

Hua An called out hesitantly.

Zhou Yanjin stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.

"Um... we're out of tape over there."

Hua An pointed to the corner, his eyes darting around, but the tips of his ears were slightly red.

A faint smile flickered across Zhou Yanjin's eyes.

"Okay, I'll go get it."

That afternoon.

Two men and several women worked together seamlessly in the warehouse for a full four hours.

Until the last package was labeled and neatly stacked in the yard, waiting for the delivery truck.

sunset.

The orange-red sunset dyed half the sky red.

Exhausted, Hua An slumped onto the threshold, panting heavily.

Zhou Yanjin sat on the stool next to him, holding a half-empty bottle of mineral water, and took a swig.

Adam's apple bobbed.

That sense of aloofness that usually lingers completely vanished at this moment.

Hua An secretly glanced at him.

"You... used to do this?"

Finally, Hua An couldn't hold back any longer and asked the question.

Zhou Yanjin tightened the bottle cap and looked down at the distant green mountains.

"When I first took over the company, I spent three months rotating through the warehouse."

He spoke of it casually.

"Without understanding the situation on the ground, you can't make the right decisions."

"It's the same in this house."

Zhou Yanjin turned her head, her deep eyes staring directly at Hua An.

"I want to be a part of this family, not only because of Yunyun, but also because I want you to know that I can be the high and mighty President Zhou, or I can be a brick in Huayun."

"I'll move wherever there's a need."

Hua An's heart skipped a beat.

Looking into Zhou Yanjin's open and honest eyes, he suddenly realized that his previous awkwardness and hostility seemed somewhat childish and ridiculous.

This man.

They were not looked down upon because of the difference in their social status.

On the contrary, because she values ​​her older sister, she is willing to lower her stance and adapt to their lifestyle.

This shocked him even more than if he had been given ten million.

"snort."

Hua An gave a soft hum and pulled a White Rabbit milk candy from his pocket—it was given to him by Sile.

He casually tossed it to Zhou Yanjin.

"Give me some sugar, or I'll faint from low blood sugar and then blame it on you for mistreating the farmhand."

Zhou Yanjin caught the candy steadily.

Unwrap the candy and put it in your mouth.

The rich, milky flavor melts on the tip of the tongue.

He smiled.

He smiled with great ease.

"Thanks, foreman."

From that day on.

Although Hua An still refused to call him brother-in-law, everyone could see that the ice had melted.

During meals, Hua An would seemingly casually turn Zhou Yanjin's favorite dishes in front of him.

When visiting the sheep farm, if Zhou Yanjin accompanied him, he would no longer shoo her away. Instead, he would awkwardly ask her some questions about expanding the scale of the sheep farm.

Zhou Yanjin always manages to offer the most insightful and practical advice.

He would accompany Hua Yun to choose wedding favors, down to the color of the candy wrappers.

He would patiently listen to Li Guifen nag about household chores, never showing the slightest impatience.

He could even sit in the courtyard with Huashu and chat about this year's harvest and rainfall.

This man.

In his unique way, he gradually seeped into the very bones and blood of the Hua family.