Gu’er and Li Zhi walked out of the City Government building’s main gate.

After getting in the car, Li Zhi didn’t start the engine right away. Gu’er was lost in a heavy silence.

Li Zhi drove Gu’er home, and they agreed that he and Dingzi would come to the Sun Family’s house that evening to discuss the matter.

After dinner, the four of them went to Gu’er and Sun Jiaming’s room, where Gu’er poured them tea.

"Jia Ming, Li Zhi, Brother Dingzi, it was my fault. I was too impulsive. I didn’t want that man named You to tarnish my dad’s reputation. When I saw Grandpa Wang and the others, it made me think of my grandma and the other elderly women, so I blurted out that I wanted to build a nursing home. I admit I was reckless then. I didn’t discuss it with you, and I didn’t think about the consequences. I just thought the money I had would be enough. I intended to fund it all by myself; I never meant to drag you all into this."

Gu’er explained her thoughts to the three men, apologizing as she did.

"But afterward, when I saw the emotional faces of all the grandpas and grandmas, my heart just ached. They’ve worked hard their whole lives, only to be left with no one to care for them in their old age. You live in the city, so you might not know, but in our village, there was a grandmother with no family. She had no children, no one to look after her. She was dead for three days before anyone found her, by which time her body had already started to decompose. Zhou Mei’s uncle had someone wrap her in a mat and bury her. There were several others like her who died sick in their beds. At first, I just wanted to build a good reputation for my dad, but later on, I was being sincere. I genuinely want to give the elderly a place to go so they don’t die without anyone even knowing."

Gu’er’s eyes grew red as she spoke. She had rarely cried in the past two years. ’I’m not a particularly smart person,’ she admitted to herself. ’I didn’t have any special skills in my past life, and it’s not like I could suddenly become a genius in this one. I’m just an ordinary woman.’ Although she had been through a lot in this life, compared to those who were truly educated and came from good backgrounds, her perspective was still limited. She never had grand ambitions or desires. All she wanted was to live a comfortable life with her family in this small city and help others when she had the ability. That was enough.

Though everyone was grateful to her for this, and Sun Jiaming, Li Zhi, and Dingzi all supported her—the grandmas even held her hands and praised her—she knew this was no simple task. It wouldn’t be easy. There would be many follow-up issues, and if she made one wrong move, people would start to talk. Doing it well would be incredibly difficult.

The deputy mayor had sought them out today. If they really had to build four nursing homes in the city as he’d said, the few of them would be completely broke.

And if they were also expected to manage the city’s nursing homes, the pressure on them would be immense.

Yes, they could refuse. But could they really refuse?

If they agreed, Sun Jiaming, Li Zhi, and Dingzi would all have to put up their money. And she was the one who had put them in this situation.

It was her impulsiveness that had led them into this predicament. Although Gu’er didn’t regret her decision to open the nursing home, she did regret being so impulsive. If she hadn’t acted so rashly at that moment, there might have been a better way to handle things.

"Hey now, what are you talking about? If you keep talking like that, I’m going to have to give you a lecture. You did nothing wrong in this, really, Gu’er. You know what? Dingzi told me he admires you. For a woman like you to be so considerate of the elderly and of children, you’re much better than us grown men. Yes, you were a bit impulsive when you said it, but who isn’t impulsive sometimes? What’s youth without a little recklessness? If we don’t act on impulse a few times, we might as well be old men and women already, and I’m not ready for that."

Li Zhi said in a lighthearted tone.

His words made Gu’er crack a smile.

"We all know you didn’t consult us because you wanted to pay for it all yourself. Building a nursing home doesn’t cost that much upfront; the real expense is in the follow-up. Hiring staff, daily food and drink, medical care, all sorts of expenses. For one nursing home, your money would have been enough to support it, no problem. You never thought about asking us to chip in. But Gu’er, we’re a team. Since we’re doing this, we’re definitely doing it together. Money is meant to be spent. What difference does it make where it’s spent? We’re spending it on so many people, and everyone will be grateful. They’ll treat us like Bodhisattvas. I feel great about that! You can’t stop us from being a part of this, or I’ll really resent you for it. At worst, the next time one of us guys gets an impulse, you just have to stand with us and support us, that’s all."

Li Zhi didn’t want Gu’er to feel burdened.

"Agreed."

Dingzi nodded and said a single word.

"Gu’er, Li Zhi is right. Don’t overthink it. We all support you. Besides, I don’t think this is a bad thing."

Sun Jiaming squeezed Gu’er’s hand.

"Right, Jia Ming is right. Actually, the City Government asking us for money isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If we put up the money, there’s no way the city won’t compensate us somehow, right? Nothing else, just look at our mall. Ever since we opened, has anyone come looking for trouble? Why? The city must have put the word out. If we make another contribution to the city and its people, the city will definitely support us even more. It’ll be more convenient for us to do things in the future. Whatever we want to do, they’ll surely give us the green light all the way. That’s something no amount of money can buy. Who knows, maybe by giving up this bit of money now, we’ll end up earning even more later."

Li Zhi also agreed with Sun Jiaming’s point.

Seeing the three of them supporting her so completely, Gu’er was deeply moved. ’My greatest fortune in this life is having such close friends,’ she thought. ’No matter what I do, they always support me.’ At the same time, Gu’er silently reminded herself that in the future, she had to think more about everyone else and not be so impulsive.

"I’ve thought about that too. Yes, if we put up the money, the city will definitely support us more, and we’ll build a good reputation among the people. Whenever we’re mentioned, everyone will know we’ve done a good deed, which will also be good for our mall. But it’s really not a small sum of money. If we build them all at once, I’m afraid hundreds of thousands won’t be enough."

Gu’er knew they were right, but the amount of money required was just too much.

"It’s fine. We’ll just earn more. In two or three months, we can make another shipment of white sugar over there. The money will come back quickly."

Li Zhi said, unconcerned.

Gu’er glanced at him. ’Easy for him to be unconcerned,’ she thought, ’but this is hundreds of thousands! Even split four ways, that’s still a lot.’

"How about this," Gu’er suggested. "If you all agree, let’s talk to the mayor. We’ll build the one in the village first this year, and just two in the city. Building four at once is too much of a strain, and I’m worried we won’t have enough follow-up funding. If we build two, once they’re done, we can use them as a test case. We can build the other two next year. That way, we won’t be under so much pressure. What do you guys think?"

Gu’er asked the three men.

"Okay, that works for me. Let’s do that."

Li Zhi immediately declared his stance.

Dingzi nodded.

"Then that’s the plan. But we only put up the money. We need to make it clear to the city that we won’t be involved in the management or anything like that. Let the city find people to run them. They can use the opportunity to assign a batch of workers. We won’t get involved in the subsequent operations. There are just too many complications in that area. I’m worried about conflicts."

Sun Jiaming laid out his thoughts.

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Three Chapters today. Thank you to Zheng Qi Biran for the peace charm, and thank you to warmhu and Wuye Landiao 3355 for the monthly tickets. Thank you all for your support.