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

Chapter 110: The Decision to Build a Gymnasium
Summer vacation is here in the blink of an eye.

Lin Qin took the two children and Lin Yi to scout out the location beforehand, letting the three of them familiarize themselves with the place.

The calligraphy classes in the training program are all in the morning, the art classes are in the afternoon, and the dance and piano classes are one in the morning and one in the afternoon, respectively, so they are not scheduled to be held in the same place as the calligraphy classes.

Besides attending training classes, the two children also have to practice and do their summer homework at home, and they can only play for a while in the evening.

Usually at this time, they would go to the fields to help Lin Yi with his work, playing and working at the same time, or running and jumping around on the island.

Lin Qin thought about having someone clear out a flat area where the children could play ball, kick a ball, jump rope, and so on, allowing them to balance work and rest.

Once the thought came to mind, I couldn't stop it.

Lin Qin told Lin Yi and Chen Wenjun about her plan.

Chen Wenjun offered his unconditional support and immediately said, "I'll go find Boss Huang later, order some cement and gravel from him, and ask him to send two people over to help. A flat surface can be finished in a day or two."

Lin Yi shook his head, "Wenjun, Aqin is just bored at home and causes trouble for no reason. Why are you joining in her nonsense?"

Chen Wenjun's expression was unusually serious. "Dad, Aqin is doing this for the child's own good. I'm also planning to find out if we can install two swings and two basketball hoops so that Ping'an can get more exercise, which will be good for him."

When asked if it was for safety reasons, Lin Yi immediately fell silent. He even considered adding some single bars, but then decided against it because he felt single bars were unsafe.

After learning about this, Huang Yuezhen took the initiative to say to Chen Wenjun, "You go about your business, I'll talk to them for you. Just tell me roughly how big you want it to be."

Chen Wenjun didn't really know how big the basketball court was, and subconsciously looked at Lin Qin.

Lin Qin immediately said, "I'll go talk to you! Anyway, I'm just sitting at home doing nothing."

The next day, after Lin Qin accompanied Huang Yuezhen to take her child to the tutoring class, they went to work together. When they arrived at the construction site, they heard a clanging sound.

Huang Wenlong was supervising the construction when he saw Lin Qin and immediately walked towards her with a smile, "What brings you here, sister-in-law?"

Lin Qin grinned and exchanged a few polite words before explaining her purpose.

"I want to set up a sports field for the children on the island, for playing basketball or badminton. I need to prepare a piece of land. Can you do this job?"

Huang Wenlong was clearly surprised. "Wow, sister-in-law! I didn't expect you to have such foresight! It's not difficult to get a sports field. You can build it according to the standards of a school sports field. If you have enough funds, I suggest you just build a gymnasium."

After all, your home is on an island, where the river wind is strong. Playing basketball is fine, but badminton is probably out of the question. Plus, with wind and rain, you can't always use the facilities whenever you want to exercise. Having an indoor sports facility would be a different story; you can exercise whenever you want.

We don't need to follow the same standard design as others. We can just build a taller house and simply pour concrete on the roof.

Lin Qin was stunned for a moment. After regaining her senses, she took a deep breath and mustered up her courage to ask, "How much would it cost if we did it like this?"

Huang Wenlong counted on his fingers for a moment, then pondered and said, "A little over ten thousand should be enough."

Seeing that Lin Qin seemed a little absent-minded, Huang Wenlong said, "Sister-in-law, there's no need to rush to decide. You can go back and discuss it with Brother Wenjun. If it's just a flat piece of land, that's fine too. We can do it. That would be cheaper."

Lin Qin quickly thanked her and, upon returning to the kitchen where Huang Yuezhen was cooking, immediately told Huang Yuezhen about the situation.

Huang Yuezhen gasped when she learned the situation and hesitated, saying, "Cousin, I think we should go back and discuss this with your husband. Ten thousand is not a small amount. I can't give you any advice if you ask me."

If it were her, she definitely wouldn't be willing to spend this money, but the Chen family has a special case involving Ping An, and for Ping An's sake, Lin Qin and her husband might actually be willing to spend the money. Lin Qin also knew that Huang Yuezhen couldn't give advice, so she helped her for a while and didn't leave until almost when the children got out of school.

After bringing the two children home, Lin Qin first cooked a meal, then subtly tried to find out what the children thought.

"Ping An, Ya Ya, do you like playing ball?"

Ping An remained silent.

Ya Ya nodded excitedly, chattering about school. "During our PE class, the teacher lets us play badminton. I've already learned how. The boys play basketball and volleyball, but my brother can't play volleyball; he can only dribble basketball."

She's actually quite good at badminton; every time during PE class, after playing with the other girls for a while, she'd go and play badminton with her brother.

Lin Qin looked at Ping An.

Ping An smiled shyly and nodded, "Ya Ya will play with me for half an hour, and she won't get angry even if I can't catch the ball."

Ping An's hands and feet are not very nimble, so he can only walk quickly. Sometimes he really can't catch the ball in time. When this happens often, people don't like to play with him. At present, the only sport he can play is badminton. He can probably play table tennis too, but Ya Ya doesn't like it. He really can't play without someone to practice with.

Lin Qin seemed to be deep in thought.

When Chen Wenjun and Lin Yi returned, he immediately told them what had happened.

“I think more exercise is good for Ping An. Even if it doesn’t do anything good, it won’t do anything bad. He needs to move around more in his condition. If Ya Ya plays with him, she can only play badminton. Our house is a bit windy, so there aren’t many opportunities for him to play badminton. Mr. Huang’s suggestion is to build an indoor sports facility, which will cost more than 10,000 yuan.”

This time, Lin Yi wasn't as stingy with money as before. Instead, he looked at Chen Wenjun and gritted his teeth, saying, "If it's for the child's good, then spend it! If all else fails, I still have some money."

Chen Wenjun immediately stopped Lin Yi, "Dad! We have money. I'm just thinking about how to arrange it. If we're going to build an indoor sports venue, where should we choose a location?"

The three of them walked out of the courtyard together and surveyed the various areas of the island.

Their house is located near the gap on the island. The area from the house to the gap has been fully utilized, with lotus roots planted on one side, rice on the other, and fruit trees planted on the slope.

About fifty meters behind the house, near the slope, a pigsty was built.

Between the pigsty and the house is a vegetable garden, and on the other side is a paddy field where lotus roots and rice can be grown.

Behind the pigsty, three large plots of land were fenced off for raising chickens, ducks, and geese, while the rest of the land remained unused, with fruit trees planted on the slopes.

Indoor sports facilities can only be built behind pigsties, and in a location completely opposite to pigsties. Places for raising chickens, ducks, and geese can be chosen elsewhere.

The three of them went to that area and conducted an on-site inspection.

Lin Qin pondered for a moment and said, "In that case, we'll have to build another road."

All things considered, this project will probably cost around 20,000.

Chen Wenjun nodded, "Then fix it. Anyway, leave the money-making to me, and you can use it however you want, as Aqin says."

Lin Yi was amused and said, "If you're going to do it, hurry up. Before summer vacation ends, we can build it and let the kids use it for a while."

(End of this chapter)