r18novel Chapter 170
Chapter 170
Song Nianchu lowered her eyes in thought for a moment, and a figure appeared in her mind.
"I think I know who it is. Let's go over and take a look right now," Song Nianchu said.
"Alright," Wu Zhenggui quickly replied.
When Song Nianchu and Wu Zhenggui hurried to the village entrance, they happened to see the power supply bureau personnel doing an inspection on the side. Meanwhile, a tall, slender man stood casually by the road with one hand in his pocket.
From just his back, Song Nianchu recognized the man as Xiang Tianyi.
"Manager Xiang," Song Nianchu stepped forward and greeted him.
Xiang Tianyi, who had been feeling a bit impatient, instinctively turned his head upon hearing the familiar voice.
Seeing Song Nianchu walking towards him with a face full of smiles, the impatience in Xiang Tianyi's heart inexplicably subsided quite a bit.
"You really are a busy person. I came to help you solve your problem, but I end up having to wait here for you," Xiang Tianyi's tongue was as unforgiving as ever.
"I'm truly sorry, there are just too many things to handle in the village. But as soon as I heard Manager Xiang was here, didn't I rush over without stopping?" Song Nianchu kept a smile on her face the whole time.
However, Xiang Tianyi felt her smile was a bit too formulaic, as if she could smile like this at anyone.
"Stop smiling, you look like a fool," Xiang Tianyi scoffed coldly.
Song Nianchu froze, the smile on her lips pausing.
She even began to doubt if she had misheard.
She smiled like a fool?
Did this guy know how to talk at all? Did he understand basic communication?
Her smile was carefully practiced—decent and polite. It could close the distance between people without appearing overly flattering.
In the business world, it was invincible and had never failed her.
How did it turn into smiling like a fool when it came to Xiang Tianyi?
Song Nianchu rolled her eyes inwardly, thinking that Xiang Tianyi was a fool himself, which was why he saw everyone else as a fool.
On the surface, however, Song Nianchu didn't show any abnormality; she merely reined in her smile slightly.
After all, they still had to rely on him to get electricity for their village. She would just swallow her pride and endure a little grievance.
She had a good temper and wouldn't stoop to a fool's level.
"Manager Xiang, are these the staff from the power supply bureau? Can our village be connected to the grid now?" Song Nianchu steered the conversation to business.
"Do you think getting electricity is that simple? The lines have to be thoroughly inspected, then an application has to be submitted upwards, and it must go through layers of approval before official construction can begin," Xiang Tianyi snorted.
"It requires that many procedures," Song Nianchu said, curiously observing the staff who were carrying out the inspection.
Just then, one of them looked up at her.
Song Nianchu quickly smiled at him. The rather young staff member's ears instantly turned red, and he instinctively looked away.
Seeing this, Xiang Tianyi, standing to the side, couldn't help but frown.
"Are the inspections done?" Xiang Tianyi raised his voice.
The staff from the power supply bureau hurried over.
"We're basically done checking here. There shouldn't be any issues with the wiring; it can be brought in."
"Then what else needs to be checked?" Xiang Tianyi asked in a deep voice.
"We still need to go into the village and take a look." The staff's attitude was just as Wu Zhenggui had said—extremely respectful.
Song Nianchu's gaze couldn't help but circle over Xiang Tianyi's face.
She secretly thought this guy must have some unknown background. Otherwise, if he were just a manager of a state-run restaurant, these staff from the power supply bureau would absolutely not be so respectful to him.
"Lead the way," Xiang Tianyi, not noticing Song Nianchu's scrutiny, signaled to him with a glance.
"Alright, please come with me," Song Nianchu quickly led the way.
First, they did a rough inspection of the basic conditions in the village, and then Song Nianchu took them for a focused tour of their canning workshop.
"This is our village's canning workshop. This is the place that needs electricity the most," Song Nianchu looked at the power supply bureau staff.
"There really is a workshop here?" A staff member looked inside the workshop with some curiosity. "Oh, there's quite a lot of people too."
"It's just a small workshop for now, and the helpers inside are all villagers. However, since we're making food, the hygiene requirements are relatively strict, so I won't take you inside," Song Nianchu smiled.
"It's fine, it's fine. We can just look from the outside," the staff member waved his hands repeatedly.
After walking a circle around the canning workshop, he finally spoke.
"This place is a bit of a distance from the village, but the terrain isn't high, so there's no problem with connecting the electricity."
"That's good." Song Nianchu breathed a sigh of relief. Then, remembering something, she asked tentatively, "I'm supplying power to the workshop here, and the electricity usage might increase later on. Should we separate it from the village's electricity usage?"
"If you have that need, we can do that for you," the staff member replied.
"Then please help us separate it," Song Nianchu nodded repeatedly.
"Alright, I'll make a note of it for you when the time comes."
"Sorry for the trouble," Song Nianchu's tone was full of gratitude.
"The person you should be thanking the most is me," Xiang Tianyi shot a condescending sideways glance at Song Nianchu.
"Yes, yes, yes. I sincerely thank Manager Xiang for lending a helping hand to our village. From now on, you are our village's great benefactor. Do you want us to build a temple for you and offer incense?" Song Nianchu was already having a little trouble suppressing her emotions.
She didn't know what was wrong with this guy today; he kept liking to undermine her.
Meanwhile, the power supply bureau staff standing to the side saw that Song Nianchu actually dared to speak to Xiang Tianyi like this, and they couldn't help but rest their gazes on her.
What exactly was this girl's identity?
To dare to be so unruly in front of Xiang Tianyi?
Could it be that this girl was Xiang Tianyi's sweetheart?
Is that why he went through the trouble of personally bringing them here?
Thinking of this, the looks the power supply bureau staff gave Song Nianchu became even more reverent.
At the same time, Mu Shi'an was coming down from the mountain carrying a few bamboo poles.
He instinctively looked up and happened to see the scene of Song Nianchu and Xiang Tianyi chatting happily. The expression on his face couldn't help but pause.
Who was that man?
He looked very unfamiliar; he probably wasn't from the village.
"Comrade Mu, why did you stop?" The person behind noticed that Mu Shi'an had stopped and stepped forward to check.
Then, following his line of sight, he also saw Song Nianchu in the distance and Xiang Tianyi standing beside her.
"Huh, who is that person?"
"You don't know him either?" Mu Shi'an asked.
"I don't know him. He looks very unfamiliar, definitely not from our village. But he seems to be chatting quite happily with Chu, so he's probably her friend." The person speaking was one of the five people who had originally followed Mu Shi'an as apprentices.
"Friend?" Mu Shi'an lowered his eyes and murmured.
"Let's go, let's bring the bamboo over first. We can try to build the shed. If it's not enough, we'll go back to the mountain and cut more." The man did not notice Mu Shi'an's unusual expression.