Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 101 Hong Weimin's Work
Work included, room and board provided, thirty yuan a month.

Huang Yuezhen and her husband were both startled and quickly refused.

"I earn thirty yuan a month cooking over there, and you guys offer me thirty yuan a month for free room and board? I can't possibly take that!"

Hong Weimin chimed in, "Yuezhen is right, we can't take advantage of you."

Lin Qin rarely spoke so seriously, but explained, "Cousin and cousin-in-law, this payment isn't something you're taking advantage of. How was the cooking you prepared this morning, cousin-in-law?"

Huang Yuezhen thought about it carefully and said, "I think it's pretty good. It's not as difficult as I imagined, and I can work while sitting down. It's so much easier than working in the village before."

Lin Qin clapped her hands and said, "That's right! You can easily earn thirty a month for cooking, but in the afternoon you have to help my dad with farming and building pigsties, and you might also have to help clean the pigsties and water the vegetables. These are all physical jobs, and you'll be busy from about two in the afternoon until seven or eight in the evening. The work is long and tiring. If you ask me, thirty a month is still too little."

Huang Yuezhen shook her head repeatedly, "No, no, I'll listen to you. I'll go to the construction site to cook in the morning and come back in the afternoon to help my uncle with the work."

Hong Weimin asked, "Wenjun and Aqin have both gone out by boat. What will happen when Yuezhen comes back?"

Lin Yi laughed and said, "Wenjun has already made arrangements with people. There are quite a few Tanka people in Nanxi, and many of them are elderly people who occasionally fish at home. Wenjun has made an agreement with an old man, paying him fifteen yuan a month. He fishes near Nanyu. If you need to take a boat, just call out twice and he will come over. It won't delay you."

If you can't find anyone to help you, you can just flag down any passing boat and ask them to give you a ride across the river. It costs about ten cents each time, it's simple.

Hong Weimin gave Chen Wenjun a thumbs up, "You're really something, you've arranged everything perfectly."

The next afternoon, Hong Weimin went to Nangang with Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin's boat.

This was the first time Hong Weimin had ever seen the sea. Although it was just an inner bay, it was enough to shock this man who had never seen the world to the point of being speechless.

The three arrived quite early; the fishing boats hadn't docked yet.

Hong Weimin followed Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin to the dock recruitment office.

The person in charge is named Lü Lin, a local fisherman whose family owns two large fishing boats and made their fortune by catching seafood.

During this period, Chen Wenjun bought a lot of seafood from Lü Lin's family. He ordered a large quantity, and in Lü Lin's eyes, Chen Wenjun was his benefactor, so he couldn't be neglected.

Upon seeing Chen Wenjun and his two companions arrive, Lü Lin hurriedly stepped forward to greet them warmly, "Oh! Brother Chen, sister-in-law, you've arrived quite early today!"

Chen Wenjun handed him a cigarette and said familiarly, "I brought my relative here to find work. We'll pick up the goods when the fishing boat arrives. Brother Lü, you're knowledgeable and have many connections. See if there's anything suitable for my cousin to do."

Lu Lin shifted his gaze from Chen Wenjun to Hong Weimin, and nodded without hesitation, "Sure! I'm really short-handed here. I wonder what your cousin knows? Is he literate?"

Before Hong Weimin could speak, Chen Wenjun interrupted, asking, "What? Do you need to be literate to do the work?"

Lu Lin laughed, "No, it's because I have a high-paying and easy job, but it requires the person to be literate. It involves recording the number and weight of seafood collected each day. I used to do this job by myself, but I've been too busy since the second half of last year."

This is a dock, as you know, so it's not suitable to hire female workers. If there were a literate man, that would be great. He'd earn forty-five a month, with room and board included.

Don't let the lower pay fool you; it's easy work! We only work when the fishing boats come into port, and then we can rest as soon as we're done.

To be honest, Chen Wenjun was intrigued when he heard this and subconsciously looked at Hong Weimin, "Cousin, can you do it?" Hong Weimin was a little timid and honestly said, "I only went to the fourth grade of elementary school. I can write and recognize common characters, but I can't do anything too difficult."

Chen Wenjun quickly looked at Lü Lin, "Brother Lü, look, my cousin can read. Why don't we give him a few days to learn and also learn about seafood? If he really can't do it, then forget about it. We'll waive his wages for these few days."

Lu Lin was initially hesitant, but upon hearing that he wouldn't be paid, he readily agreed. "Then let's start today. When the fishing boat docks at five o'clock, you'll follow me to identify the seafood. I'll write down the names of the common seafood, and you can refer to them yourself, okay?"

Hong Weimin nodded his thanks repeatedly.

Chen Wenjun exchanged a few more polite words with Lü Lin before leading Lin Qin and Hong Weimin to the tin boat.

Once on the boat, Hong Weimin became anxious. "Wenjun, can I really do this job? What if I can't do it?"

Lin Qin immediately encouraged Hong Weimin, "Cousin, you have to have confidence in yourself. Look at Wenjun and me, we didn't know many words before, but in this year we've learned almost all of them and can write those complicated seafood names. You're in fourth grade, so you can't show weakness."

Besides, you haven't been paid these past few days. Even if you don't do a good job, they won't lose anything, so what are you afraid of? As for the food and lodging issue, we'll talk to Boss Lü later and see if he can get you a bed. You can figure out your own food, or we can bring some for you when we come.”

Hong Weimin quickly shook his head, "No need, no need, I can figure out a solution myself. You're all busy enough, so don't bother me any further."

With encouragement from Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin, Hong Weimin felt more confident when he went to ask Lü Lin for the seafood list again.

When the fishing boats docked, Hong Weimin was drawing and writing on the ground, very seriously.

Seeing this, Lü Lin couldn't help but nod in agreement. Regardless of whether Hong Weimin could do the job or not, at least his attitude was quite good.

Once the fishing boat docked, Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin completely forgot about Hong Weimin.

The two followed the other seafood vendors and rushed forward, some even boarding the boat directly, their destination clear.

Lin Qin and her husband had a clear goal: they specifically collected common seafood such as small yellow croaker, squid, small octopus, pomfret, shrimp, crab, and razor clams. Rare and expensive items were not within their consideration.

Hong Weimin glanced at them and, seeing how busy the couple were, was instantly inspired. He quickly focused on learning how to identify seafood from Lü Lin and also learned some skills in selecting seafood.

By the time he snapped out of his busyness, it was already so dark he could barely see the words.

The once bustling and lively harbor was now deserted, with only a handful of people remaining.

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun had almost finished packing their seafood.

Before leaving, Chen Wenjun went into the recruitment office again, said a few words to Lü Lin and Hong Weimin, and then sailed away.

Over the next four or five days, Hong Weimin gradually adapted to the work of receiving and registering goods at the dock, and began to try to record the types and quantities of seafood.

Every time the goods were sold out, Lü Lin would ask him to check them again.

Two weeks later, Lü Lin took the initiative to approach Chen Wenjun and his wife.

(End of this chapter)