Chapter 16: Four Residential Plots?

Yuan Qionghua waved her hand dismissively.

Truth be told, she was the one who felt more ashamed.

A few days ago, she hadn't been without her own thoughts when her third brother's family suddenly made such a grand gesture by starting to build houses.

After all, not long before that, the third brother had specifically called to ask if her husband, Jianguo, could help inquire about the allocation of residential land.

At the time, they, as the older siblings and their spouses, had taken the matter to heart. They hadn't even eaten breakfast before heading into the village to help ask around.

After much effort, they finally managed to gather some information, only for the third brother to call back and say that they no longer intended to lease the residential land!

It had left the couple in a very awkward position, feeling as though they had failed on both sides.

Yet later, her husband Jianguo didn't mind even a little bit; instead, he was exceptionally happy and eager to help arrange things.

Yuan Qionghua found it somewhat difficult to understand.

But An Jianguo had always been exceptionally clear-headed over the years.

Compared to other families in the village, their life had always been quite good.

Much of this was due to the contributions of her third brother and the youngest sibling.

Not to mention how much profit they had gained from the third brother moving to the city early on.

Even in recent years, while many fruit orchards in the village lay fallow because no one was willing to contract them—simply because the fruit wholesalers were driving prices lower and lower—their family had never worried about sales, thanks to the youngest sibling's fruit shop.

And wasn't the capital and courage required for the youngest sibling to open that fruit shop also related to the third brother's family?

In short, when one understands their own capabilities, having capable relatives and friends nearby to lend a hand is truly worth more than many other things.

Because of this, Yuan Qionghua had listened to An Jianguo's nagging for several days.

While she had recalled the events of those years one by one and realized her own thoughts had indeed been somewhat improper, she was also getting quite tired of it.

It just so happened that since the third brother's family had been visiting frequently lately, she took the opportunity to get closer to them. She wanted An Jianguo to know that those improper thoughts of hers had long been cast aside.

An Songyu knew none of this.

It was only through her eldest aunt that she learned their family wasn't just building one or two plots of residential land in the village, but a full four!

"So..." An Songyu looked at her aunt with a sense of bewilderment. For a moment, she truly didn't know how to describe her feelings.

Seeing her niece's reaction, Yuan Qionghua found it strange: "What's wrong, Ayu? Didn't your father tell you that in order to return to the village to contract the mulberry fields and fish ponds, he secured a plot of residential land for both you and your sister?"

An Songyu pursed her lips slightly and instinctively shook her head.

Yuan Qionghua was stunned and couldn't help but mutter, "Your parents really do dote on you two!"

She wasn't exaggerating at all.

In the entirety of Jiang Village, there were very few people who specifically applied for residential land for their daughters.

Even with the implementation of the family planning policy in Nan Province, most families with only one child were dual-income urban families. For rural people like them, it was still common to have two or more children.

Furthermore, the phenomenon of favoring sons over daughters was unavoidable, not just in small villages like Jiang Village, but even in cities like Rongdi.

Yuan Qionghua considered herself a mother who wasn't harsh toward her children, but if she were asked to be like the third brother's family—treating sons and daughters with fundamental fairness—she believed she would find it difficult.

After all, applying for a plot of land wasn't hard. But according to village regulations, if the owner of the residential land moved their household registration out, the ownership of the land became an issue. Some could retain it, but only a few households in the entire village could enjoy such treatment to this day.

And those few households had all made significant contributions to the village. Most others, once their household registration was moved out, had to return the land to the village.

Of course, those who had experienced such situations were usually families who had moved to the city only after they had become successful in the village. The houses they originally left behind were not very good and grew even more dilapidated over time.

As for the families in the village who applied for residential land for their daughters, they were mostly due to special family circumstances. For instance, some parents, out of love for their daughters, had already arranged marriages for them in the village early on. Others simply had no sons and had made up their minds to keep their daughters at home to marry in a son-in-law.

Yuan Qionghua could emulate some of these families, but she had no desire to learn from others.

An Songyu was no longer able to process any of this.

She had originally thought that her father moving their household registrations back to the village was already a sign of fair treatment toward the two sisters.

After all, there were two plots of residential land in the village. One was already confirmed to belong exclusively to An Songlin. Knowing there was a high possibility of demolition and relocation, those two plots would certainly be built upon. Even though the family had discussed taking out loans to buy them new houses, An Songyu didn't think that fact would change anything.

Therefore, An Songyu had assumed that the two sisters would simply be registered under their parents on the other plot of land. She thought that once the demolition happened, perhaps their parents would share some of the compensation from that second plot with them.

But An Songyu had never imagined that, without them knowing a single word, her father had applied for two additional plots of residential land for them.

Following behind her eldest aunt, An Songyu looked at the four plots of residential land that were side-by-side and already under construction.

The complexity in her heart was truly beyond words. It felt as though the twenty years of effort she had spent trying to calmly accept her mother's obvious favoritism were all being liberated in this single moment.

"The one next to it belongs to your youngest uncle's family," Yuan Qionghua said, pointing toward the plot that was noticeably smaller among the four, her expression equally complex.

An Songyu was confused. If she remembered correctly, the plot applied for by her uncle for her cousin had already been approved. Moreover, to ensure close care, his plot was supposed to be near the fish pond their family had contracted.

The fish pond contracted by An Jianmin was not one of those varying sizes seen after the village implemented the mulberry-fish pond system; it was one of the earliest and largest fish ponds in Jiang Village.

In the last two years, besides raising fish, his family had also started allowing people to come fishing. In the beginning, when there weren't many guests, not having accommodation wasn't an issue. But now, as the agritourism in Jiang Village was becoming increasingly popular, besides the old regulars who purely loved fishing, more guests were coming who had originally only come to Jiang Village for fruit picking and leisure.

The demand for accommodation had grown.

Thus, An Jianmin had long planned to apply for a plot of land in his son's name over there and start building this year.

An Songyu's expression was far too obvious, so Yuan Qionghua pursed her lips before saying

"That's not for your cousin. It's because your uncle saw that your family contracted so many mulberry fields and fish ponds, so he contracted some as well."

"So, he took the opportunity to apply for a plot of land for your female cousin."

"I heard that the houses in your family are all being built by your father to leave to you two."

"And your uncle is simply following your father's lead."