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

Chapter 345 Renovating the House
Lin Ying saw Lin Qin and immediately grabbed her hand to complain, "How could Xu Dahai have such unreasonable parents? They came to our house on New Year's Eve and made a scene, threatening to kill themselves, insisting that A Jian or A Kang have a child for Xu Jie to raise, saying that the eldest son's bloodline cannot be cut off."

When my husband and I refused, she called us ungrateful wretches, accused us of being unfilial and disobedient, threatened to call the police and have us arrested, and brought a bunch of relatives to our door. Her words were essentially telling Dahai to back down, and that his mother was old and didn't have many years left, so we just needed to fool her, coax her, and put on a show.

"What kind of monsters and demons are these!" Lin Qin was furious.

Lin Ying jumped up and down in anger, "Don't even mention me disagreeing, my two daughters-in-law don't agree either. Yesterday morning, both of their families came over. They went to the old house and started cursing at Xu Dahai's mother, saying that if they dared to covet the child, they would call the police and accuse them of child abduction, and send the whole eldest son's family to jail."

My mother-in-law can cause trouble with us, but she can't handle my two in-laws. They outnumber us and even insulted the elders of the Dahai clan. They also threw money at her, saying they'd buy her a coffin after she died so she could die sooner and be reincarnated, and stop causing trouble for others!

Lin Qin felt particularly relieved and quickly asked, "And then what? What did your mother-in-law say?"

Lin Ying snorted twice, "She didn't dare to utter a single word. A-Jian and A-Kang were taken away by them directly, and they even said they wouldn't come back, so as not to make my mother-in-law cause them trouble."

After everyone had left, in the afternoon several young people from the clan came over to apologize, saying that their elders were senile and that we shouldn't hold it against them.

I made it very clear that my son and daughter-in-law would not be returning to Pingxi Town. I used them as a mouthpiece to pass on a message to the old witch: this morning, before we left, we heard that the old witch had fallen ill. Dahai and I are truly terrified of her. We plan to stay in the city for a few months before going back. The shop is managed, and we don't need to do anything."

If they had known Wang Ximei was so shameless, they would have come to the city for the Spring Festival this year, and things wouldn't have turned out like this. Fortunately, she didn't get the better of them.

Lin Qin warmly welcomed Lin Ying to stay in the city, saying, "She can just stay with me. Xin Yue is married and will be taking her wife back to Guangdong Province for the New Year. They have a villa in the city and won't be living with us anymore. Only Rui Ming will be left. He left when school starts and will move out after he gets married. It's so deserted with just a few of us in the huge Nanyu area."

Without a second thought, Lin Ying said, "Why don't you move to the city! To be honest, you two are not young anymore, and Dad is even older. It's inconvenient for you to go out in Nanyu. If you go to the city, you can go to the hospital if you have a headache or fever, and Dad can talk to people there."

"You mean move to the resettlement housing?" Lin Qin asked, raising an eyebrow.

The compensation plan offered during the demolition of Shanglin Village was quite good. In addition, Chen Wenjun had shares in the developer, so in addition to receiving the square footage of Lin Yi's house, he also received a subsidy for the price difference and bought a 200-square-meter duplex on the top floor, as well as two apartments of 180 square meters each.

That penthouse duplex was right across from Lin Qingxiang's house.

If he were to move there and become neighbors with Lin Qingxiang's family, Lin Yi would definitely be willing.

Lin Ying pondered, "Moving there isn't bad either. Anyway, you two have plenty of houses. From now on, Nanyu can be used as a vacation spot, just like the Gao family. Send someone over every month to take care of it, or tell Gao Lei to contribute some money and have his workers come over and take care of it together. Wouldn't that be perfect?"
Anyway, Dad can't work anymore these past two years, and he hasn't been farming the land anymore!

Lin Qin seemed to be deep in thought, and as soon as Chen Wenjun and Chen Ruiming returned, she immediately discussed the moving with them.

The two had no objections. Lin Qin then called her son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and son-in-law to ask for their opinions, and they all agreed. That's how the matter was settled.

Since we're moving, we definitely need to renovate the resettlement house first.

For Lin Qin and her husband, who are not short of money, the decoration was naturally designed to be as comfortable as possible.

The first day of work.

Lin Qingxiang and Huang Yuzhen noticed that the door across the street was open. They were puzzled, but when they went inside, they found a group of workers moving materials. They quickly contacted Lin Yi and learned that he was preparing to move the materials back. The couple were overjoyed.

In less than half a day, the whole neighborhood knew that Lin Yi's family was renovating their house in preparation for moving. The village head came over to see what was going on, and while he was at it, he stopped by Lin Qingxiang's house for tea, and couldn't help but sigh, "You know, Lin Yi is probably the best off in the whole village now. Who would have thought that back then!"

"That's right! Luckily, we're not the kind of people who judge others based on their status! Now that Lin Yi is here, I'll have company! I won't have to wander around aimlessly every day and get scolded by Yuzhen for no reason."

Lin Qingxiang started grumbling again.

This made the captain burst into laughter.

After laughing, the captain recalled carefully: "I remember a couple of years ago, some of Lin Yi's wife's relatives came to our community to inquire about him. I don't know if they found Nan Yu."

"Who knows!" Lin Qingxiang shook his head, not caring much. He usually told Lin Yi about those things in time, and if Lin Yi didn't say anything, it wasn't a big deal.

Home renovations take more than a day or two to complete.

After that, Lin Qin and Lin Ying, the couple, went to the resettlement house every day.

In addition to renovating the rooftop of the resettlement house, Lin Qin also renovated a villa next to Chen Ruiyu's house.

This villa was reserved for Chen Ruiming. Now that it's been renovated, the formaldehyde will have mostly dissipated in two or three years, and his youngest son can move in.

The renovation has been going on for more than half a year, and the house is still not finished.

News came from the capital that Chen Xinyue gave birth to a son naturally, and both mother and child are safe.

Upon receiving the news, Lin Qin immediately handed over the renovation work to Lin Ying and Xu Dahai, and bought plane tickets with Chen Wenjun to fly to the capital.

When the couple arrived at the hospital's VIP ward, they found the entire Xiao family there. Mr. and Mrs. Xiao were fussing over their newborn grandson, unable to get enough of looking at him.

Mu Qinglian and her husband Xiao Bai were also there. The man was looking after the child in the living room of the ward, while the woman was inside looking after Chen Xinyue.

Seeing how much the Xiao family valued her daughter, Lin Qin was delighted, and her smile deepened.

As soon as Madam Xiao saw her, she immediately grabbed her hand and wouldn't let go, "My dear in-law, you've come so quickly! Stay a little longer this time so we can show you our hospitality."

Lin Qin understood what Old Madam Xiao meant, nodded obediently, and asked about Chen Xinyue's health.

Madam Xiao couldn't stop smiling. "Last night, after dinner and a bath, she said she was going to sleep, but as soon as she lay down, she said her stomach hurt."

Jinlin had prepared in advance and sent the baby to the hospital immediately. Second births are quick; the baby was born not long after entering the delivery room, in less than two hours. This child is also quite wild; she got up and wandered around right after giving birth, and it took a lot of persuasion to get her to lie back down.

The doctor said Xinyue was in good health, the delivery went very smoothly, and there were no problems. She can be discharged first thing tomorrow morning.