Xu Xilin followed Song Lianyuan to the south and started working in a long-distance freight company, but the journey south was not smooth.

They had just arrived and had no connections. They had a lot of enemies in the same industry. Later, their business was squeezed by Taobao's logistics, and they had been barely able to make ends meet. They didn't make any money in the first half of the year. Xu Xilin worked himself to death and lived on the rent. It was really dark.

Later, considering changing careers, they took over a small juice factory that looked good. It was said that all the equipment was imported from Japan, and they produced pure natural juice without any additives.

The juice factory looks great, but when you take it over you find out it’s a rip-off, because “no additives” usually also means “short shelf life” and “not good taste”. No matter how good the gimmick is, transportation, storage and market are all problems.

Nonsense - who would buy drinks all day long if they are pursuing health?

Later, the juice factory also went bankrupt, and all the invested money was wasted. This time it was a serious blow to the two brothers. They couldn't sleep for two or three months because of this. At the most difficult time, they didn't even have the money left for rent, and they had to squat in the haunted old dormitory building of the juice factory all day long to make instant noodles.

During the Chinese New Year that year, the two of them didn't have the energy to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner themselves, nor did they dare to splurge by going out. So Xu Xilin set up a small induction cooker in the howling cold wind and put the frozen dumplings into the hot pot.

Xu Xilin said to Song Lianyuan in the mist: "It's okay, I still have two houses. If things don't work out, I can sell them to make ends meet. I'm not at the end of my rope yet."

Song Lianyuan said nothing. For the first time, he felt that success was a matter of "time, fate, and luck." After wasting more than a year, he felt a little discouraged.

Later, Xu Xilin brought a few people and worked all night for more than ten days to come up with a plan, packaged the broken juice factory, and then used his eloquence to trick a Japanese food manufacturer into becoming the buyer - wasn't it said that the juice factory equipment was imported from Japan?

It’s just perfect. I can sell it to them and eat it in its original form.

The freight company went bankrupt and the juice factory was sold at a discount.

Both attempts ended in failure, but during this period, Xu Xilin often went to the nearby Agricultural University to eat when he was too lazy to cook. As time went by, he attracted a few graduate students from the Agricultural University and formed a small team. The group went to the countryside in a grand manner and contracted barren hills in the village.

E-commerce already existed at that time, but it was not yet popular, and the concept of "Internet plus" was not yet a household name. Xu Xilin made full use of his experience of failure in his new business.

Relying on the nearest big city, the two of them registered a company called "Xiangli" and began to test the cold chain of high-end organic food raw materials. This time, luck finally favored those who did not give up. Those two years coincided with the "organic food craze". The majority of the middle class experienced and created all kinds of carcinogenic rumors, and joined the "healthy eating" religion, a new superstitious organization. "Xiangli" unexpectedly caught up with the fashion.

The two of them had been in poverty for a long time and almost wanted to make a fortune from this.

On a day when everyone was so happy, Xu Xilin listened to the grey parrot practicing tongue twisters while saying to Song Lianyuan: "Let's get ready. There will definitely be trouble in a while. See if you can allocate some money before the New Year to deal with the people in the village committee and the township government. Don't wait until you get married before you pierce their ears."

Song Lianyuan was drinking soup in the small house rented by Xu Xilin at that time. In the middle of winter, he held a bowl of hot soup, with a bare back and wearing a "two-bar vest", and drank until his forehead was covered with sweat.

After hearing this, Song Lianyuan pushed his wet hair back, glanced at Xu Xilin, and felt a little uncomfortable.

Xu Xilin's peers are either graduates with a master's degree and have just entered the workplace, or have worked for a few years and are just becoming familiar with their odd jobs. They are struggling to upgrade from "small clerks" to "big maids."

However, he had to sit in his unheated rental house, holding a bowl of soup full of broken purines and thinking about giving gifts to village cadres.

Song Lianyuan never let him do manual labor. His thinking was still stuck in the past ten years. He believed that college students were precious intellectuals and should not give up their self-esteem so easily to do the same things as peasants. Although he admitted that they were all grandchildren and that a grandchild who had gone to college was not more precious than others, he still did not want Xu Xilin to experience this under his eyes. Song Lianyuan watched the Xu family fall apart and felt sorry for him.

The grey parrot sang three times with a pinched throat: "Eat grapes without spitting out the grape skins——"

"Wait until after the New Year," Song Lianyuan said, "after I finish this busy period and ship the goods, I'll go."

Song Lianyuan knew that he had to repay the favor, but it was the peak season around the New Year and he couldn't afford to do it, so he put it off until after the New Year, and as a result, something went wrong.

When the village committee to which the barren mountain belonged did the accounting at the end of the year, they found that the income of the entire village was so little. Then they looked at the "township" next door and felt that they had rented the "treasure mountain" too cheaply. So they acted like hooligans, organized the villagers to make trouble, and forced the villagers to sign a new agreement on the grounds that they disagreed.

Unfortunately, Song Lianyuan is also a ruthless person who is soft-hearted and does not tolerate tough situations. He does not believe that harmony brings wealth. When the villagers act like hooligans, he plays them back. The two groups of people are like a strong dragon meeting a local snake. Each of them shows their magical powers. All kinds of unethical and insidious tricks come one after another, making the whole village restless. The business of the "village" is also difficult and even stagnant at one point.

Xu Xilin, a city kid who grew up in a greenhouse, wanted to keep things quiet, but unfortunately both parties were too ruthless to listen to him. He had no choice but to prepare for the failure of this business and had to start thinking about his next way of making a living helplessly.

Then, at this moment, something happened that people still talked about for many years.

One day, when Xu Xilin was racking his brains to expand his local network, he met a girl named Gao Lan by chance at a dinner party. Xu Xilin was with a group of small business owners, and he looked particularly handsome, almost standing out from the crowd. Gao Lan took a liking to him at first sight and took the initiative to talk to him.

Xu Xilin was certainly a very easy-going person, making people feel comfortable. But Gao Lan lost interest in him after chatting with him for a while. She felt that this handsome guy looked young, but he was too "slick" in his work, and he was too good to be true to his words. He was too good to be true to her, and he was not a good match for her.

As a result, when she was about to leave, she happened to meet Song Lianyuan who came to pick up Xu Xilin on a motorcycle.

Song Lianyuan was holding a helmet, but he didn't wear it himself. He took it off the handlebars and threw it to Xu Xilin. He raised his chin. Xu Xilin thought it was troublesome and shabby, so he held it in his hand and refused. Song Lianyuan glared at him with a fierce face until he became obedient.

Gao Lan was somehow moved by Song Heimian's glare at that time, and from then on she embarked on the aesthetic heresy of loving dark-faced men instead of handsome ones.

Brother Song knew that he did not look like Pan An or Song Yu. He was just an ordinary rough guy walking on the street. He had never encountered the good fortune of being pursued by a young girl in his life. He was scared half to death. In addition, he was busy directing the release of dogs and the fight with weapons and had no time to pay attention to other things, so he ignored Gao Lan.

Gao Lan followed him for two days, witnessed the battle here, and left silently.

As a result, just a few days after she left, the higher-level government came forward and said that the village party secretary had signed the contract privately, and the fees he received were not filed or handed over, but he pocketed them, so the contract was invalid. The village cadres involved in the case were arrested, and the higher-level government asked the confused Song Lianyuan to pay a symbolic amount of money, signed a new contract with him, and made a notarization.

The confused villagers realized that they were being used as a pawn and stopped their protests for a while.

A huge dispute was resolved quickly and easily!

Later, I found out that Gao Lan was the niece of the director of the Provincial Bureau of Land and Resources. She reported a word to the higher-ups, who happened to be looking for an example, so they simply took this case as their first move. Song Lianyuan never thought that after more than ten years of being in the underworld, he would still be able to solve problems with his "sex". It's hard to describe how it feels.

Brother Song was chased all over the mountain by the unreserved Miss Gao all day long. Xu Xilin watched Shi Le from the side, but he was not idle at the same time - after he became familiar with Gao Lan, he quickly took advantage of her and used her as a medium to break into various local circles of all sizes.

Later, Gao Lan became Xu Xilin's sister-in-law. Xu Xilin was very good at maneuvering at the wine table and had built an intricate network of contacts, so that the village would never again face the dilemma of a strong dragon being unable to suppress a local snake.

He has been greedy since childhood and used to multitasking. Now, after a series of ups and downs, he has evolved into the ultimate form. Unfortunately, there is not much space to divide his eight minds, so he has to put them all into his business.

The "village" gradually got back on track, and soon the shallow puddle there was no longer enough for Xu Xilin to stir up trouble.

In the past few years, there was a tendency towards inflation and the economy was slightly overheated. Once it cooled down in recent years, many historical problems emerged - some small business owners who were hot-headed at the time followed up on projects randomly, but ended up with poor subsequent profitability. Once the capital chain was broken, it was too late to change, and they were stuck there, looking for someone to take over. At the same time, there were also some financiers who were looking for projects and wanted to buy at the bottom and get a bargain.

Xu Xilin had nothing to do anyway, so he just started pimping. If he promoted business, he would take a small share of the profits, but he didn't get involved in any trouble. He hired an accountant to check the accounts every month and wait for the profit to be distributed.

At first it was just a small fight and Song Lianyuan ignored him. Unexpectedly, his little brother would make a big move one day and bring back a big money sponsor.

The big money sponsor's surname is Wei. He is incredibly handsome, very serious, and has the noble and cold aura of a Virgo. The project managers around him dare not even breathe a word in front of him.

At the beginning, Mr. Wei did not take young man like Xu Xilin seriously. Later, after getting to know him, he found that the water was too complicated and he still needed someone to lead the way.

When others didn't need him, Xu Xilin didn't rush to step forward. But when Mr. Wei called to invite him to dinner, Xu Xilin was very tactful and took the initiative to reduce the price a lot, telling the man that it was to "make a good relationship."

Song Lianyuan hadn't seen him for nearly a month, and then he received a call from Xu Xilin asking him to sign a contract. Song Lianyuan always felt that this was not a proper business, and he felt that he was receiving gifts for nothing, so he was very nervous during the meal.

Before leaving, Song Lianyuan saw Mr. Wei off to the car. Mr. Wei suddenly pointed at Xu Xilin and asked, "How old is that kid?"

Song Lianyuan: "Almost twenty-eight."

Mr. Wei raised his eyebrows, nodded modestly, and said to Song Lianyuan meaningfully: "Good boy, if you stick a tail on it, you are a monkey."

After saying that, he got into the car and left. Song Lianyuan thought about it carefully for a while and always felt that what Mr. Wei said didn't sound like good things - of course, it might also be because nothing that person said sounded good.

Song Lianyuan looked back at Xu Xilin. Xu Xilin had drunk a little too much at the banquet and had been pretending to be fine just now. But now, after sending all the guests away, he staggered against the wall, looking tired, and smiled at Song Lianyuan.

Song Lianyuan thought that he couldn't let him go on like this.

He waved his hand at Xu Xilin unhappily: "Come here."

Xu Xilin walked a few steps with the help of the wall, and found that he was really dizzy. He was so drunk that he squatted on the spot, pressed his forehead and waved to Song Lianyuan: "Forgive me for not being able to perform the full ceremony while wearing armor."

Song Lianyuan was quite upset. He felt that the southern half of his "lord's" territory was too cramped and not enough for General Xu to display his talents. If this continued, he would definitely cause trouble.

So after half a year of preparation, Song Lianyuan sent Xu Xilin back home and asked him to start from scratch and develop the northern market.

Before leaving, Gao Lan wanted to cook for Xu Xilin herself as a farewell. However, as soon as she picked up the kitchen knife, Xu Xilin could see her amateurism and took the pots and pans from her with a playful smile.

Gao Lan was shocked to find that this man who was usually so hungry that he would rather eat instant noodles than cook was actually a hidden talent!

She watched for a while, took out a small notebook, and blatantly stole the lesson from Xu Xilin. She asked Xu Xilin, "Tell me, how many girls have you cheated?"

Xu Xilin was a little unfamiliar at first, but he soon found the feel of the knife and cut into strips skillfully. He lowered his head and grinned, without saying a word.

Gao Lan: "If you come across a good one, bring it back to us and show it to us. Don't just mess around."

"Sister-in-law, move aside. Be careful not to get burned," Xu Xilin said, and poured the chopped vegetables into the hot oil pan. The flames shot up high. He held it up to prop up the pan, stirred it a few times, and said to Gao Lan amid the roar of the range hood, "I don't plan to have a relationship recently. It costs money."

Song Lianyuan heard something nearby and quickly found something to get Gao Lan away so that she wouldn't ask any more questions.

Then he wandered at the kitchen door for a long time like a gourd without a mouth, opened his mouth and swallowed it back, as if he didn't know where to start.

Xu Xilin caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye and pretended not to know.

Song Lianyuan hesitated for a while and said, "People... must look forward."

"Yes," Xu Xilin agreed quickly, "Don't worry about the organization, we will ensure that the land reclamation mission is completed."

Song Lianyuan sighed silently. Xu Xilin was no longer the child whose eyes turned red when he slapped him.

In this way, Xu Xilin brought his dependent grey parrot back to his long-lost hometown.

Xu Xilin left in such a hurry that he didn't have time to get familiar with his "new home". He hadn't been back for several years. He looked up the map aimlessly for a long time before he found the place. Then he discovered that the house was uninhabitable - the empty house had been abandoned for several years, with no renter and no one to help take care of it. It had long become a haunted house with no water, electricity or natural gas, and even the door locks were rusted.

Xu Xilin had no choice but to take the parrot to the hotel and get a room.

He returned home in glory, homeless.

Xu Xilin hired someone to do the work himself and it took him three days to clean up. He paid all the fees and repaired everything. Finally, he had a roof over his head.

Bit by bit, he built up the first subsidiary of "Xiangli" here. He personally reviewed everything and worked overtime when there was nothing to do. He would not leave until there was really nothing to do. He also downloaded a ride-sharing app, not for the gas money, but just to have someone to chat with him on the road.

Who knew that if you walk on the road at night for a long time, you will encounter a ghost.

As the year was coming to an end, Xu Xilin sent back all the employees who had been waiting for the holiday, and went to the supermarket to buy some things. The traffic broadcast said that the traffic jam on the road was severe again, and the main roads had become parking lots. Xu Xilin felt that he needed someone to curse the city traffic together, so he simply took an order...but he ended up taking an order from someone he never dreamed of.

The moment he opened the car door and saw Dou Xun, Xu Xilin instinctively didn't dare to recognize him. It's not that Dou Xun had changed a lot, but... how was it possible?

In this city, with its long roads and traffic jams, I pass by thousands of people every day. It’s rare to run into a familiar face, let alone him?

It turned out that it was Dou Xun who spoke first - Xu Xilin suspected that Dou Xun probably didn't dare to admit it at first, because after getting in the car, he stared at the driver's license on the window for several minutes.

Dou Xun: "Changed the car?"

Xu Xilin's language system, which was overloaded 365 days a year, failed temporarily. After a long while, he uttered "hmm" and said dryly, "It's really you. What a coincidence... Did you just return to China?"

Dou Xun nodded and said, "It's even more congested than before."

Xu Xilin: “Yes.”

Then they had nothing more to say.

Dou Xun didn't know that Xu Xilin hadn't been home for several years, and Xu Xilin didn't know that Dou Xun had returned several times in those years, but always returned empty-handed and left in a daze - he lived a very displaced life in the south during those years, from a transportation company to a juice factory to the countryside, changing several places in a row, losing two mobile phones, and even being able to contact Lao Cheng only after he came back.

They both didn't dare to ask each other about their recent situation. The time separated by time was like a scary black box, and no one knew what kind of monsters would jump out if they opened it rashly.

Now that you are back, will you leave again? What are your plans for the future?

Where have you been all these years?

Do you have a girlfriend... or boyfriend?

Why sell the house and move? Is it because you have a new person or a new home?

how is it going?

Is the parrot still alive?