The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 575: Chapter 566: The Stepmother Who Refused to Be a Stepping Stone 54 (Bonus for 550 Monthly Tickets)

When Anning returned from the south, Li Zhicheng had already completed the school enrollment process for several children.

Liu Qi, Liu You, and Li Jingyan all entered Provincial First Middle School.

Li Jingyu also passed the exam and entered the junior division of Provincial First Middle School.

Not only had the children’s enrollment been taken care of, but they also each held a sum of money.

The five brothers of the Li family each rewarded the children with US$ 1000, while Li Baolai and Zhang Fengfeng, not as wealthy as their sons, also gave each child US$ 100.

Liu Qi and Liu Ming didn’t bother about the money. Li Jingyan ended up with over US$ 5000, enough for her three years of high school life.

Liu Qi and Liu Ming didn’t use their money.

They asked Li Zhicheng to help them open a bank account and deposited the money.

The two brothers planned to use this money for Li Jingyu in the future.

It was the children’s own idea; Anning never interfered.

Of course, she was also busy for several days upon her return.

She helped the children get acquainted with the environment of the Provincial City, bought clothes for each child, and even purchased new backpacks and such.

Not until she personally saw the children enter the school at the start of the term did she feel a bit relieved.

Afterward, Anning began considering setting up a factory.

She had made money in Mingzhu City and wanted to invest in starting a factory upon her return.

Of course, before starting the factory, the first thing Anning wanted to do was to build a road for Li Jiazhuang.

The road in Li Jiazhuang was actually quite difficult to navigate; it had been constructed quite some time ago, and it was all dusty when dry and extremely muddy when it rained, making it very difficult to walk on.

If Li Jiazhuang was to develop, focusing solely on agricultural production was insufficient; the first step was to build a better, more accessible road.

This would help drive economic development.

Li Jiazhuang had a beautiful environment with mountains, water, and fertile lands that produced richly. Once the road was built, the produce from Li Jiazhuang could be transported out and sold at a good price.

Furthermore, with the future development of the tourism industry, Anning also planned to venture into tourism, making road construction essential.

Anning, through Li Zhicheng’s introduction, contacted the county leaders and expressed her intention to donate for road construction and also to help renovate the local primary school in Li Jiazhuang.

This was a welcome development, and the county leaders were very eager.

Thus, the construction team quickly set up in Li Jiazhuang.

First, the primary school was renovated, followed by the road construction.

Anning had high standards; she didn’t want any shoddy work and asked the construction team to ensure quality so the road would serve Li Jiazhuang well for many years.

Although expensive and the standards high, the construction team still followed her requests.

By the harvest season, the road in Li Jiazhuang was completed.

Before, not only was the road in Li Jiazhuang difficult to traverse, it was also very narrow, barely allowing one car to pass, and definitely causing jams if two cars approached from opposite directions.

But the newly constructed road was a four-lane, two-way asphalt road that made travel fast and convenient.

In addition to building the road, Anning also had people green the roadside, planting easy-to-maintain and beautiful trees, which, once grown, would not only provide cool shade in summer but also uplift people’s spirits.

This road made everyone in Li Jiazhuang extremely excited.

Everyone knew that the road and the elementary school were both funded by Anning, and they were all especially grateful to her.

After the road was completed, Anning returned to Li Jiazhuang to discuss the establishment of a factory with Seventh Uncle Li.

Previously, Anning had inspected the soil and water quality of Li Jiazhuang. The soil in Li Jiazhuang was very suitable for growing fruits and the water quality was also particularly good. Moreover, Anning knew that there was a spring in the hills behind Li Jiazhuang. During the road construction, she took some spring water to the Provincial City for water quality testing, and the results were quite good.

Anning and Seventh Uncle Li discussed investing in a mineral water factory in Li Jiazhuang, as well as a beverage factory and a food factory.

Several villages around Li Jiazhuang grew potatoes that were large and tasty, and the sweet potatoes grown in sandy soil were particularly sweet.

Anning wanted to buy these potatoes to make chips, and also turn the sweet potatoes into various snacks.

Seventh Uncle Li found Anning’s plans feasible. He personally pulled some strings, and soon the land approval for the factory came through.

While building the factory, Anning bought a car and also passed her driving test, driving back and forth between the Provincial City and Li Jiazhuang every day, extremely busy.

The villagers of Li Jiazhuang knew about the factory construction and were very supportive. During the construction, they all came to help and even tried to cozy up to Anning, thinking about working there once the factory was built.

Anning just smiled without making any promises.

After the autumn harvest, the factory gradually took shape.

The entire village of Li Jiazhuang was boiling with excitement, as if seeing better days ahead.

Only Li Zhifang and Wang Baozhu seemed particularly dejected.

Because this autumn, the fruit yield on Heavenly Mountain had decreased a lot, and the quality of the fruits was not as good as before.

The prices of the fruits couldn’t be raised, and they made much less money than in previous years.

Wang Baozhu was very displeased with Li Zhifang because of this.

Wang Baozhu suspected that Li Zhifang was hiding something from her and not telling the truth.

However, Li Zhifang believed that the reduction in fruit yield was entirely due to Wang Baozhu, as she was always around him, distracting him from caring for the fruit trees on the mountain, which led to the decline in both yield and quality.

After learning about this, Anning just smiled.

This was all Anning’s doing.

When Anning and Li Zhifang were married, Anning had set up Arrays around the family’s forests and fish ponds, which were Small Gathering Spirit Arrays that would gather Spiritual Energy to promote the growth of plants and animals.

That’s why, in those years, the fruit yield was high and the taste was particularly good.

But after Anning divorced Li Zhifang, she removed those Arrays.

Without the Spiritual Energy, of course, fruit yield would gradually decrease.

Now, it was just the beginning, and it would become even more troublesome in the future.

Not only would the fruit yield drop and the taste degrade, but the fish in the fish ponds would die in large numbers, and chickens and ducks would get sick.

Most importantly, the fruit trees would become infested with insects and suffer from many diseases.

When Anning was there, since she had set up Arrays, the fruit trees rarely got infested and the bred animals hardly fell sick.

Even if there were pests and diseases, with Anning’s skills, she could quickly mix some herbal remedies to get rid of them.

But now that Li Zhifang was in charge, he didn’t have such skills.

Previously Anning managed everything, and Li Zhifang just needed to work hard; he didn’t think it was difficult to manage. But now that it was his turn, waiting as things gradually unfolded, that was really enough to overwhelm him.