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

Chapter 348 Final Chapter
Zhu Fugen shouted impatiently, "What's the rush! Aren't there still two children to be found? If you can't find this one, go find the other two!"

He had kept track of the other two when he was giving them away, and he roughly knew their locations.

Upon hearing this, Li Lan finally calmed down.

That evening, Lin Yi told Lin Ying and her husband about Zhu Fugen's search for his daughter.

“They suspect that your youngest daughter is their child. I told them that Xinyi has gone abroad to study and will most likely not come back in the future, thus thwarting their hopes of getting close to Xinyi. You can make the arrangements as you see fit.”

Lin Ying was so angry that she started cursing.

Xu Dahai remained calm. "Dad is right. Since Xinyi is studying abroad, she might as well stay and develop her career there. We can visit her when we go abroad. There's no need for her to come back and be bothered by her biological parents like this."

After venting her anger, Lin Ying realized that her husband had a point, so she immediately called her daughter to discuss it.

The next day, the couple had just returned to Pingxi Town and were discussing how to handle their business when they received news of Wang Ximei's death.

This kind of thing happens so close to the Chinese New Year.

Lin Ying felt it was bad luck; she hadn't shown up when Old Man Xu passed away, and it was even less likely she would show up this time.

Xu Dahai was furious and determined not to show his face this time. He told the clansmen in the village that the funeral expenses would be shared equally and that it was impossible to hold a grand funeral like before.

The villagers knew about the feud between Xu Dahai and Wang Ximei, and apart from muttering a few words, no one spoke ill of Xu Dahai.

Apart from Xu Dashan.

To spite him, he even said that Wang Ximei didn't have a son named Xu Dahai and that Xu Dahai didn't need to contribute money, which led to Wang Fengying pointing her finger at him and cursing him.

"You think you're so great just because you have money! If you're so capable, then handle your own funeral arrangements and don't worry about whether my son and I live or die!"

Xu Dashan continued cursing and swearing, but didn't dare to respond to Wang Fengying's words.

Because of the house sale, his son got divorced again, and his work was also affected, making it impossible for him to stay in Pingxi Town any longer.

Xu Jie is gloomy now, and he might not say a word all day. Nobody knows what he's thinking.

Xu Dashan was also afraid of his son.

He was even more afraid that something would happen to his son before he died, and then there would be no one to take care of him in his old age, see him off in his final days, or take him to see a doctor.

Because of Wang Fengying's opposition, Xu Dashan could do nothing but rage in a state of impotence.

The consequence of not having money was that Wang Ximei's funeral was hastily concluded, a far cry from the grand funeral of Old Xu. The villagers were all deeply saddened by the sight.

The funeral was over in just two days.

Xu Dahai paid the money and didn't want to stay in Pingxi Town any longer. He took Lin Ying to Guangdong Province to relax and live with his eldest son's family.

Xu Kang and Xu Jiahui also left with them.

By the time Zhu Fugen received news of Wang Ximei's death and rushed to Pingxi Town, Xu Dahai and his family had already fled.

He went to Xujia Village to inquire about the situation, but the villagers couldn't give him any concrete information. Some said that Xu Xinyi was born after Lin Ying became wealthy, while others said that she was adopted. No one had any solid evidence, and the villagers hadn't seen Xu Xinyi for several years, so no one knew what she looked like.

Zhu Fugen was completely disheartened and, before the Lunar New Year, took Li Lan and Zhu Laigui to find the other two daughters who had been given away.

After finally getting there, I found out that one of the families had moved to Southeast Asia more than ten years ago, but I did manage to meet the other one.

They pretended to be pitiful to gain sympathy and try to claim kinship, but were beaten and thrown out. The other party even threatened to set their dogs on them if they came back.

Zhu Fugen wasn't about to give up easily. He persisted in pestering the man during the Lunar New Year, eventually driving him to hire gangsters. The man was given a severe beating before finally calming down.

The family of three, covered in injuries, returned to Anshi during the Lunar New Year.

They discovered that their original rented house had new tenants, and they wanted to go to Lin Yi for help, but no one answered the door after knocking for a long time. However, the person across the hall answered the door.

Lin Qingxiang frowned as he looked at Zhu Fugeng's family, his tone somewhat sharp, "What are you all doing? The whole family across the street went to another province for the New Year, they're not here!"

"You must be kidding! We just moved to a new house, how could we possibly go to another province for the New Year?" Zhu Fugen said, somewhat annoyed.

Lin Qingxiang scoffed, "It's already the third day of the Lunar New Year! Who said that you can't go out during the first month of the lunar calendar just because you've moved into a new house? That's hilarious!"

Zhu Fugen's face turned pale and then red after being scolded. He squatted outside Lin Yi's house for another two hours, but no one answered the door, so he had to take his wife and children downstairs first.

The family of three waited until evening, and seeing that the lights in Lin Qingxiang's house were on while the lights next door were still pitch black, they had no choice but to believe it and reluctantly rushed to catch the last bus back to the village.

At this time, Lin Qin's family was enjoying a life of luxury at Lin Qingxiang's house.

Lin Qingxiang was speechless. "I'm telling you, it's not a good thing for you to keep hiding like this!"

Lin Yi was particularly frustrated. "What can we do if we get covered in poop? Luckily, we can afford to wait it out, so it doesn't matter."

Lin Qingxiang was not so optimistic.

In the following days, he thought Zhu Fugen would come knocking again, but nothing happened.

It wasn't that Zhu Fugen gave up, but that Zhu Laigui became picky and unwilling to do anything after returning to the village. He spent his days playing cards with some village hooligans and engaging in petty theft.

Zhu Laigui had squandered almost all the money the couple had, so they had no choice but to ask their eldest daughter for more.

The eldest daughter had no money either, and the two of them got into a messy argument with her husband's family. The eldest daughter was even beaten by her husband, and in a fit of anger, she packed her bags and ran away overnight.

Now things are really messed up. The man's side insists that the Zhu family instigated the incident, that they hid the person, and that they must pay compensation.

Zhu Fugen and Li Lan panicked because their daughter had run away and they had no source of income.

The two sides argued back and forth, ending up at the police station. Each side had their own version of events, leaving the police with no choice but to mediate.

Zhu Fugen was already burdened with a host of troubles. He had no money, no daughter, and his son was a disappointment. He had many more headaches to worry about in the future, so he had no time to keep an eye on Lin Yi's movements.

After the first month of the lunar calendar, Chen Wenjun had someone investigate Zhu Fugen's situation, then sneered and completely ignored it.

There was a gentle knock on the study.

Chen Ruiming pushed open the door and placed a planning proposal on his desk. "Dad, I plan to design Nanyu as a private club, providing various high-end services and agritourism. If all goes well, it can bring us a lot of revenue each year."

Chen Wenjun's gaze fell on the cover, his expression becoming deep. "Have you told your mother about this?"

Chen Ruiming nodded. "Mom just boarded the plane, she doesn't object."

Chen Wenjun couldn't help but laugh when he thought of Lin Qin flying to Gangcheng to shop every few days. "Since your mother doesn't object, I have no objection either. You can just discuss any ideas with your mother directly."

Chen Ruiming nodded habitually, then felt a little strange, "Dad, why do you ask Mom's opinion on everything? You're clearly a very successful person in Anshi!"

Chen Wenjun smiled wryly, then murmured as if reminiscing, "Because without your mother, I wouldn't be who I am today!"

(The End)