Chapter 339 - 336: The Father-in-law’s Question

Chapter 339: Chapter 336: The Father-in-law’s Question

"The way those two reacted just now was pretty funny."

Recalling the flustered looks on Shen Ying’s and Wang Ming’s faces, Lin Yanwan couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

"It’d be strange if two people who like each other *weren’t* nervous on their first secret date," Jiang Xia said.

"You mean like a certain someone who asked me to the movies for the first time and ended up with his palms all sweaty from nerves?"

"Really? The way I remember it, you were the one sweating."

"Pfft, it was obviously you!"

Lin Yanwan wrinkled her nose. ’The Jiang Xia from back then was so much cuter,’ she mused. ’He used to blush from the slightest bit of teasing. Not like now... these days, even if I get him right where he’s weak, he’ll just shamelessly ask me to go faster.’

"Do you think Wang Ming will confess to Shen Ying on the Ferris wheel?" Lin Yanwan looked up at the Ferris wheel not far away. At this moment, who knew how many couples were confessing their love or kissing up there.

"I don’t know."

Jiang Xia sighed. Although he had been encouraging Old Wang to confess, with Wang Ming’s personality, it was really hard to say. Especially after already being rejected by Shen Ying before, he was even more afraid of failure.

"There’s no need to rush things with them. We just have to wait for things to happen naturally," he said.

After all, that ambiguous phase can’t last forever. Just like with him and Lin Yanwan back then, two people who like each other will find themselves together before they even know it.

"That’s true."

Her little sister, who was playing on the slide, suddenly ran over. "Brother-in-law, Xiao Man is thirsty."

"What would Xiao Man like to drink?" Jiang Xia asked with a smile.

For some reason, his little sister-in-law remembered the ice cream she’d seen Wang Ming eating earlier, and her mouth began to water.

"Ice cream!"

"Xiao Man, eating ice cream in winter will upset your stomach."

"No, no, Xiao Man wants to eat ice cream!"

"Alright, let’s go buy some then. After we eat ice cream, your brother-in-law will take you on a thrilling ride~"

"Eh? Is it fun?"

"Of course it’s fun!"

Watching Jiang Xia and her little sister walk further and further away, Lin Yanwan looked on with deep resignation.

As dusk fell, the young couple slowly took Xiao Man home. Strangely, after running into Wang Ming and Shen Ying at the Ferris wheel, they didn’t see a trace of them for the rest of the afternoon.

Jiang Xia strongly suspected that they had probably gone straight to a movie after the Ferris wheel ride.

’They couldn’t have possibly gone to get a room, could they?’

’Old Wang probably doesn’t have the guts for that yet.’

Back at home, Ji Wanqiu was in the kitchen cooking a fragrant meal. Seeing the three of them, she couldn’t help but smile. "Xiao Man, was the amusement park fun?"

"Mhm! There were so, so many people at the amusement park today, and lots and lots of kids my age." Xiao Man nodded emphatically. "We rode the Ferris wheel, and Brother-in-law also took me on a roller coaster. Lots of kids were crying their eyes out, but Xiao Man didn’t cry!"

"Xiao Man is so brave," Ji Wanqiu praised.

"Mom, Xiao Man sweat a lot today. She needs to take a bath quickly so she doesn’t catch a cold," Jiang Xia shouted toward the kitchen.

"Then go on, hurry up," Ji Wanqiu nodded.

"Can I have Brother-in-law help me bathe?" his little sister-in-law asked, looking at Jiang Xia with a face full of anticipation.

Lin Yanwan’s face darkened. "No. You’re a big girl now, you have to bathe by yourself! I’ll go get your clothes."

’I’m disowning this sister!’

"But Sister is already a grown-up, so why do you still have Brother-in-law help you bathe?" Xiao Man retorted confidently.

Lin Yanwan quickly covered her sister’s mouth, her face instantly burning hot. She subconsciously glanced toward the kitchen, hoping her mom hadn’t heard that last sentence.

"If you keep talking nonsense, your brother-in-law and I will ignore you forever! And you can forget about ever going to the amusement park again!" she said in a low voice, her face flushed red.

"Sob... Sister is threatening Xiao Man again. Xiao Man will just wash by herself, fine," the little girl pouted, whimpering.

"Don’t spout nonsense like that in the future, you hear me?" She tapped her sister on the head.

"Sob... Xiao Man understands now."

"Go be a good girl and take a bath. I’ll go get your clothes."

Lin Yanwan suddenly thought of something and continued with a beaming smile, "If you really don’t want to wash yourself, Big Sister can help you with a steel wool ball. Don’t worry, steel wool can scrub off even stubborn stains, so scrubbing you clean will be a piece of cake~"

Lin Xiaoman froze in terror.

’A steel wool ball would probably scrub my skin right off, wouldn’t it?’ At that moment, Lin Xiaoman suddenly thought her big sister was terrifying.

"N-No need, Sister. Xiao Man... will... wash herself." She swallowed nervously.

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Xiao Man dashed into the bathroom in a flash.

"Why’d you scare her on purpose like that?" Jiang Xia said with a laugh.

"Hmph, that’ll teach her a lesson. She shouldn’t think she can just say whatever she wants."

Lin Yanwan let out a soft hmph and went to her sister’s room to find a change of clothes for her. Jiang Xia, with nothing better to do, fished Yuyuan out of its cat bed where it was sleeping and started doing crunches with it.

Ji Wanqiu washed some green jujubes and brought them out. Jiang Xia looked around and asked, "Mom, where’s Dad?"

"Something came up at the factory, so he went over to take care of it," Ji Wanqiu said.

"Oh, okay."

"Xiaxia, stay for dinner tonight. I’ll call your mom in a bit to let her know."

Jiang Xia hesitated for a moment before nodding. ’Forget dinner,’ he thought, ’as long as my mother-in-law gives the word, I could even sleep here tonight. It’d be best if she arranged for me to sleep with Lin Yanwan.’

For dinner, they had leftovers from lunch. As soon as it turned seven o’clock, his little sister-in-law ran to the TV to watch the newest episode of Cat and Mouse.

At the dinner table, Lin Gaoyuan asked Jiang Xia a question.

"If I want to develop Gaoyuan Toys into the Gaoyuan Group, what should I do first?"

Although he had ridden the explosive popularity of the Cat and Mouse animation, capitalized on the traffic from merchandise, and earned a lot of money, he was still, in essence, the owner of a small, private factory. His vision was likely limited to a single province or city. If he wanted to set his sights on the whole country, his current level of insight probably wouldn’t be enough.

Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Dad, I don’t know the toy industry, but I understand one thing: to make big money, you have to invest first. In my opinion, Gaoyuan Toys still has too few production lines. It can’t possibly meet the demand of the national market. Even with three shifts running 24/7 at full capacity, the production output can’t be increased in a short period of time."

"So, you’re saying I should add more production lines?" Lin Gaoyuan frowned.

"For now, you can think of it that way. But in the medium to long term, it has to be about product diversification. For example, I want Dad’s toy factory to be able to make race cars and robots—no matter what kind of merchandise I come up with later, Gaoyuan Toys should be able to produce the finished product right away."

Jiang Xia thought for two seconds before saying seriously, "Of course, the toy factory doesn’t need to handle the entire production chain. A lot of things can be outsourced. Let’s take toy race cars as an example again. Things like the motors can be sourced directly from downstream manufacturers. In the end, as long as the final product is assembled by Gaoyuan Toys, it can be considered your own product."

Hearing this, Lin Gaoyuan’s eyes instantly lit up.