A young man from another world returned to his hometown.

Lin Yan circled the middle school gate twice.

Lin Yan has already checked the health center; there are no locations facing the street.

It's different here at the middle school.

The national highway passes by, and the row of self-built houses facing the street opposite the school is very spacious, with one of them being particularly suitable.

The gate was wide open, with an electric tricycle parked on one side and several bags of rice piled up next to it. On the other side, there was a large table, and a woman was sitting on a low stool, picking green beans.

Lin Yan looked at it for a moment and made up his mind.

He stepped forward and asked, "Ma'am, could I buy this building of yours?"

The woman looked up and glanced at him.

"purchase?"

Her brows furrowed, and her tone was somewhat bewildered.

"Are you from our village? This is a rural area; houses can't be sold here..."

Lin Yan paused for a moment. Having been in another world for many years, he had forgotten that rural homesteads were collectively owned and there was indeed no such thing as buying and selling them.

He thought about it and changed his wording.

"So, may I ask if you can rent it to me? I can pay a very high rent."

The woman had just picked up a green bean when she heard this, so she stopped. She looked Lin Yan over again before slowly speaking.

"What do you want to do with this place?"

"Open a bubble tea shop."

After hearing this, the woman threw the green beans in her hand into the basin and waved her hand.

"No, I won't rent it."

"Big sister, please listen to me first."

"No need to listen, I won't rent."

She lowered her voice, but her tone was very firm.

The woman crossed her arms, her eyes filled with hostility.

"You said you're opening a bubble tea shop, so you're going to renovate the storefront, right? Half of the front of my house is a wall. If you open a shop, you'll definitely need to build a display window or something, plus drilling holes for water and electricity, and all of this will ruin my house."

As she spoke, her brows furrowed deeper, and her voice rose slightly, clearly indicating that she had witnessed similar incidents before.

"You young people, you get all hot-headed. Today you want to open a bubble tea shop, tomorrow a fried noodle shop. And the day after, if you don't want to continue after two months, you just pack up and leave, leaving me with a messed-up first floor. Who am I supposed to complain to?"

Lin Yan patiently scratched his head.

"Don't worry, ma'am, I'm not acting impulsively. I'm serious about starting a business here. If you're willing to rent, I can build you a separate room all at once..."

"No, I won't rent it, no matter how much money you offer."

The woman picked up the bowl of green beans and stood up, her tone as if she had given a gag order.

"This is our house. Go ask around elsewhere. We don't rent out ours."

Lin Yan sighed. In the close-knit community of the countryside, it was indeed difficult for people to trust him immediately when he came to discuss business in person.

Just then, a voice called out from behind.

"Oh, Fang's daughter-in-law!"

Lin Yan turned around and saw that her cousin Lin Yecheng was passing by.

"Is Uncle Fang here?"

The woman smiled and beckoned inside.

"Brother Cheng, your Uncle Fang is watering the plants in the back. Come in and sit down, do you two know each other?"

"Hey, this is Uncle Lin's son, my little brother."

Because Lin Yan's father was the youngest of four brothers, his cousins ​​usually called him Uncle Lin.

"Hi, so that's what it is..."

Just as the woman was about to speak, footsteps came from the inner room.

A middle-aged man with gray hair walked out, saw Lin Yecheng, and paused for a moment.

Lin Yecheng quickly removed the toothpick from his mouth, stood up straight, and obediently called out.

"Uncle Fang."

"Hmm, Yecheng, is this Yanzai?"

"Yes, he's a big guy, so tall and big, you probably wouldn't recognize him."

Before he could finish speaking, Uncle Fang's expression changed.

His gaze lingered on Lin Yan's face for several seconds, as if he were making a comparison or retrieving something from some memory.

After a long pause, he slowly began to speak.

"Oh, yes, you really do look like your parents!"

"Hello, Uncle Fang!"

Uncle Fang didn't say anything more, but simply put out his cigarette, took two steps forward, getting closer to Lin Yan, and finally let out a long breath.

"They look alike, they look so alike."

His voice lowered, as if he were talking to himself.

The daughter-in-law was standing beside him, holding a bowl of green beans. Seeing Uncle Fang's expression, she didn't know whether she should speak or not, so she just stood there.

Lin Yecheng quietly nudged Lin Yan's arm, signaling him to speak with his eyes, and Lin Yan opened his mouth.

"Uncle Fang, I made some money in finance in the big city and plan to come back and open a milk tea shop in the market. I like this location and want to rent the first floor of your house as a storefront. My sister has some concerns, and I'd like to have a good talk with you about it."

Uncle Fang raised his eyelids.

"She won't let me rent it out?"

"Father-in-law..."

The daughter-in-law was about to explain.

Uncle Fang waved his hand, stopping her from continuing.

"Your dad was a very adventurous person his whole life; he dared to do anything."

Uncle Fang slowed his voice, his eyes slightly red, as if he had pulled a sentence from a deep place. He just sighed softly and didn't say anything more.

But Lin Yan understood.

He had seen too many such gazes in the other world; it was the look of someone searching for an old friend on another person's face.

"Why rent?! Just take the whole building!"

The daughter-in-law gasped.

"Father-in-law?"

"We're moving back to our old house in the village, and we'll empty it out this afternoon!"

"Father-in-law, the child still needs to study in town. It's too much trouble for him to go to school every day in the village."

"As for accommodation, if it's really not feasible, you can rent another room in town to accompany your child while they study, right?"

The daughter-in-law opened her mouth, but was speechless for a moment, though she was clearly unwilling to give up.

"Uncle Fang, there's no need for that, I can..."

"It's free."

Uncle Fang immediately shut him down.

"As for my relationship with your dad, we won't talk about money. As long as you can settle down here, I'll take care of everything for you."

Lin Yan didn't speak, swallowing back the words that had been swirling in her mind.

Uncle Fang wasn't just being polite; he genuinely didn't care about the rent. It wasn't that he was ungrateful; it's just that the money was completely unimportant to him…

He thought for a moment, then looked up.

"Uncle Fang, I have an idea, please listen to it first."

Your building, together with the two houses next door, has a total of three self-built houses side by side, right?

I want to buy all three plots of land together—no, I want to talk to those two companies to combine these three residential plots and then build a new building here, a bigger one.

Uncle Fang and Lin Yecheng stared at him at the same time.

The daughter-in-law, holding a basin of green beans, turned to listen, her gossip-loving spirit ignited.

"If you keep one floor in your house, the problem of your child's schooling will be solved. You can live in this building. If you are interested, the shop also needs manpower. The salary is stable and it will not interfere with taking care of your child."

The daughter-in-law's eyes flickered; she was clearly very tempted.

Uncle Fang frowned, pondered for a moment, and then shook his head.

"Ayan, you've just started out, and this amount of money is quite a lot. Buying land and building houses, you can't just spend money recklessly when you're young."

"Uncle Fang, don't worry."

Lin Yan laughed loudly, his tone nonchalant.

"I work in finance in a big city and have made a lot of money. Building a building here is a piece of cake."

"Hey, you're just like your dad, you always listen to him. Stay for lunch."

Uncle Fang laughed as he pulled Lin Yan into the house.