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

After the two sisters left, the smile on Su Yonghuai's face gradually disappeared, leaving only endless melancholy.

Su Shengnin watched Su Yonghuai's departing figure, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.

He stood there for a while, then gritted his teeth and went out into the street.

Lin Qin and Lin Ying returned to the newly renovated house, and Lin Ying kept talking about fate.

Lin Qin said, "Sister, let's not talk about Teacher Su's family for now. I came here mainly for A-Jian and A-Kang's studies. They've been in the city for so long, and I've pretty much figured out their situation."

The teacher said that A-Jian has good lung capacity and could learn a wind instrument. As long as he is interested and studies hard, it will be a skill in the future, just like Ping An and Ya Ya. They learned some special skills and can still study art if they don't do well in their studies.

With your and your brother-in-law's current financial situation, supporting an art student is more than enough. A-Kang is a bit restless and can't sit still. The teacher's idea is for him to learn calligraphy to temper his temperament. It would be good for him to be with Ping An, so he'd have company. What do you think?"

Lin Ying was stunned, or rather, she never dared to imagine that her own child could learn those talents like the children of wealthy families.

She suppressed her excitement, her eyes darting around, "Did the teacher really say that those two brothers can learn?"

Lin Qin gently nudged Lin Ying's arm. "Why would I lie to you! If you don't believe me, come with me to the institution and let the teacher tell you in person. You can also learn about the institution and decide if it's good before enrolling them. Anyway, they're just taking English classes there right now."

"This money was paid by our dad. I think if he knew what the teacher meant, he might even pay for the kids' extracurricular classes as well."

Lin Ying shook her head without hesitation, "That won't do! It's not easy for Dad to save up this money, we can't let the kids squander it!"

"It's not really a waste of money. After all, it's about raising his grandson, and he's happy about it! Besides, the tuition isn't expensive. Now, it's ten yuan a month for one child to take English classes, and forty yuan for four children."

A calligraphy class costs about seven or eight yuan a month. Wind instruments vary in price, ranging from eight to ten yuan. But learning piano is much more expensive. The teacher even suggested buying a piano, which would cost several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan, doubling the monthly tuition. I still have to support her!

"When A-Jian and A-Kang learn their skills, I calculated for Dad that it will cost about 110 yuan a month. Of course, there will be more classes during winter and summer vacations, so the cost will be higher. It will come to about 1800 yuan a year."

After Lin Qin finished calculating the bill, Lin Ying was so shocked that she jumped up and down, pointing at her with a trembling finger, "One thousand eight! Not one hundred eight! Little sister, you're getting more and more extravagant! Do you know how hard it is for Dad to save money? And you're already eyeing it?"

Lin Qin rolled her eyes. "Sister, don't get excited! I'm only calculating the cost of raising the child. I haven't even told you how much Dad earns in a year! Not to mention anything else, just from the lotus root and other aquatic products like eels and loaches, Dad can earn more than 15,000 yuan a year."

There are also taro, sweet potatoes, and rice. We keep these three things for our own consumption, and we can sell them for about seven or eight thousand yuan. Calla lilies are also valuable. My dad planted quite a lot of them. With the good prices at the end of the year, I don't even know how much he earned, but at least five thousand yuan!

He earns over 20,000 yuan a year just from farming. He was struggling financially before because he had to buy a house for the two of us. Now that our house is renovated, he has saved up all his money. If you don't give him any motivation, he won't know what to do with all that money!

"Before, I didn't mention it because A-Jian and A-Kang hadn't learned any other skills, and I was afraid you'd feel uncomfortable. But if all the kids had started learning those skills, I would have immediately been the one clamoring to spend the money on them."

Lin Ying really didn't know Lin Yi's background. After hearing this, her eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and her head was spinning. She couldn't come to her senses for a long time.

After a long pause, she said, "So you're really going to let Dad pay for this?" Lin Qin nodded nonchalantly, "He can do whatever he wants. This amount of money is nothing to him. As long as he's willing to spend it, don't refuse. I just came here to discuss it with you, so that the kids can learn all sorts of skills and you, as their parents, won't know anything. That would be ridiculous!"

Lin Ying shrank back, her breath weakening by half. She grabbed Lin Qin's arm in a fawning smile and said, "You're my own sister, we trust you with the child! Um, I'll go home and kill a few chickens and ducks for you to take back later, don't touch yours!"

Lin Qin quickly refused, but Lin Ying had already run off in a flurry.

In the evening, Lin Qin returned to Nanyu with several sacks of things.

Lin Yi opened it and was stunned. "Has your sister gone mad? Is she trying to kill everyone? Why did she kill so many chickens and ducks? Will her family even have anything to eat for the New Year? Wait, there's even half a pig! And it's all there!"

Huang Yuezhen and Chen Wenjun also came over to join in the fun.

Lin Qin was on the verge of tears. "I told her about sending A-Jian and A-Kang to learn arts and crafts. She got so excited that she went crazy and ran home without a care in the world. I chased after her as hard as I could but couldn't catch up. I even lost her halfway there. I had to go back the way I came and go to town to find my brother-in-law and ask him to go back to the village to stop my sister."

I never expected that this couple would spend most of the day back home and bring back so much stuff for me. My brother-in-law even said that if I didn't take it, I was disrespecting him!

Lin Qin became more and more agitated as she spoke; heaven knows how embarrassed she felt traveling with so many people on her back.

Lin Yi was speechless. He frowned and looked at Chen Wenjun. "We can't possibly eat all this meat. Our refrigerator at home is too full. We'll probably have to send it to the store, but it's almost the end of the year, and there are a lot of people buying goods. Our store's freezers are also full!"

Chen Wenjun found it amusing. "Dad, that's easy! I heard people in Nangang the other day say that smoked or cured meat is popular in the southwest region. If we can't finish it, we can make smoked or cured meat, or make sausages. I'll go buy some liquor, MSG, sugar, salt, and sheep intestines."

The sausages are a local specialty. Every year around the Spring Festival, almost every household makes some to entertain guests or give as gifts when visiting relatives and friends.

They were busy before, and there weren't enough people, so no one bothered to deal with these things.

This year things have calmed down, and with pork readily available, it would be a shame not to cook it, given that half a carcass.

Huang Yuezhen had only ever eaten sausages and didn't know how to make them, but upon hearing this, she immediately became interested and insisted on helping.

And so the lively sausage-making activity began.

It wasn't dark yet, so Chen Wenjun rushed to buy what he needed before nightfall.

When he returned to Nanyu, Lin Yi, Lin Qin, and Huang Yuezhen had already cut two large basins of pork.

Five children sat in a row in the yard, watching the adults work; they looked so adorable.

Chen Wenjun, itching to touch them, casually placed the food next to Lin Yi. "Dad, how many pounds of meat are there? Don't put too much seasoning, or it will taste bad." (End of Chapter)