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

Chapter 35 Deep-rooted Prejudice

"What nonsense are you talking about! Don't scare them!" Han Dongcai slapped Zheng Guoxing irritably. "Go, go, get me something to eat, I'm starving!"

Zheng Guoxing immediately went to cook.

With him gone, Han Dong finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Which deserted island in Nanxi are you interested in? I remember there are at least a dozen deserted islands of varying sizes in Nanxi."

"Yes, you remember correctly, there were about ten of them. We wanted to buy that deserted island next to Qingyun Temple." Chen Wenjun licked his lips and clenched his fists nervously.

Han Dongcai fell into deep thought. "I've been to Qingyun Temple a few times with my mom before. I remember that deserted island was mostly rocks and there wasn't much to see. Are you sure you can clear it out?"

Chen Wenjun nodded, "Indeed, it is surrounded by rocky mountains and there are no decent big trees. There is a relatively flat piece of wasteland in the center of the deserted island, which is estimated to be several dozen acres. There are also some slopes on the side, which together are also several dozen acres, but it definitely cannot be a hundred acres."

Han Dongcai frowned. "That wouldn't be that big! How big are you planning to buy?"

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin exchanged glances and hesitated before saying, "We'd like to know the price. We want to buy as much land as we can afford, and it would be best if we could buy all the wasteland and hillside land."

"That's ambitious! Here's what I'll do: I'll go back and ask around for you. I'll let Guoxing know when I have any news, and then we'll discuss the situation further." Han Dongcai looked at Chen Wenjun with new respect.

When Zheng Guoxing first said that Chen Wenjun was a Tanka people, Han Dongcai instinctively thought that Zheng Guoxing had met some strange person again. Even though Zheng Guoxing said that he and Chen Wenjun were doing business, Han Dongcai still had a prejudice against Chen Wenjun. But after hearing what Chen Wenjun said, his opinion of him changed a lot.

Just then, Zheng Guoxing came over to serve the dishes.

Chen Wenjun immediately pulled Lin Qin to her feet, saying, "Then we'll be leaving now and will contact you later."

“Let’s eat together!” Zheng Guoxing pointed to the dishes on the table. “I’ve prepared everything.”

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin shook their heads repeatedly.

“We didn’t tell our families we were leaving. They’ve already prepared dinner, so we have to hurry back,” Lin Qin said.

Zheng Guoxing couldn't stay any longer, so he hurriedly went back to the kitchen, packed a bag of shrimp cakes, and insisted that the two of them take them with them.

After seeing Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin off, Zheng Guoxing went to find Han Dongcai, "How did it go? Can it be sold?"

"It can be sold! Why can't it be sold? I'll go back and ask about the price and how to sell it. That deserted island probably doesn't belong to any village or community. If it's sold, we'll have to give it a name and a house number. There are so many things to do! If they can buy the whole island, that's fine, but if they can't, all that trouble isn't worth it!"

Han Dongcai ate while muttering to himself.

Zheng Guoxing hurriedly said, "Brother-in-law, please help us out as much as you can! It's not easy for the two of you. Don't underestimate them just because they are Tanka people. They are hardworking, diligent, and honest in their business."

"Can real Tanka people afford to buy a deserted island? Aren't you supposed to be a shrewd person? How come you're so easily fooled!" Han Dongcai shook his head, speechless at his brother-in-law.

Zheng Guoxing got angry, "I'm serious! You, you, you... you're underestimating people! What's wrong with the Tanka people? They're focused on fishing to make money. They send me ten or twenty catties of river shrimp every day. Just the river shrimp can sell for over thirty yuan. They also have bamboo shoot fish. The bamboo shoot fish soup you're drinking is also from them. They catch about twenty of them a day."

"I catch bighead carp, silver carp, and occasionally eels, soft-shelled turtles, and other types of fish—I don't even want to mention them. I make sixty or seventy yuan a day just from them. They even have stalls selling fish at the market. How could they not make money?"

Han Dong was truly astonished. "Fishing is really that profitable? One day's work is worth more than a month's salary for me!"

"Why would I lie to you? So don't judge a book by its cover! I don't know about other Tanka people, but Chen Wenjun is no ordinary person! At least the goods he sells every day are extraordinary! So if you can help him, do so. Even if there's no benefit, there's no harm in it, right?"

Zheng Guoxing offered a word of advice, and seeing that someone had ordered food, he quickly went to the kitchen to get busy.

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin carried the bag of shrimp cakes back to the fishing boat.

Lin Yi didn't even bother to look at the contents of the bag; he couldn't wait to ask what was going on.

Lin Qin explained, "We've already asked, and we're waiting for their reply. It should be in the next day or two. Wenjun told them to check the prices and buy as much as we can afford. Dad! Is there any food? I'm starving!" Lin Yi quickly got some for them, glancing at the bag. "What did you buy? You've been wasting money again!"

"No! We were waiting for someone to come and ask us something at the Guoxing Hotel. We were just killing time, so we helped the owner for two hours. They invited us to stay for dinner, but we didn't eat. These are shrimp cakes that the owner of the Guoxing Hotel gave us."

As Chen Wenjun spoke, he took a plate and poured out the shrimp cakes.

Guoxing Hotel's shrimp cakes are made with high-quality ingredients. Each thin, large shrimp cake contains at least seven or eight river shrimp, along with shredded carrots and chopped green onions. They are crispy and crunchy, and particularly tempting.

The two children were so hungry they were practically drooling.

Lin Yi quickly gave one to each of them, and left two for Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin.

I put the rest away; I couldn't bear to eat them myself.

Lin Qin frowned as she watched. "Dad! What are you doing? Saving a bite won't make us rich, and eating an extra bite won't make us poor. Hurry up and pick it up and eat it."

Chen Wenjun immediately took out another one.

Lin Yi said he didn't need it, but he felt very pleased inside.

The family ate the shrimp cakes and looked on with lingering satisfaction.

Liu Yaya whispered in Chen Ping'an's ear, "I wish we could eat shrimp cakes every day."

Lin Yi shook his head, "This stuff uses so much oil! How can we be so extravagant! It's good enough if we eat it once in a while!"

Lin Qin, however, had an idea. She turned to Lin Yi and said, "Dad, once we buy the deserted island, let's clear the land and grow vegetables, and plant some peanuts to make peanut oil."

Lin Yi immediately got angry, "Why are you making oil? If we really grow peanuts, we still need to sell them for money!"

"What kind of beans?"

"Why plant beans? What a waste of land! If we're going to plant anything, we should plant sweet potatoes or grains!"

Lin Qin immediately shut up and stopped talking.

In their eagerness to buy the deserted island, the whole family became incredibly enthusiastic; even the two children stopped playing and focused solely on fishing.

Lin Yi's condition is much better than before, and he can help the children pull the fishing rod to catch fish without any problem.

The old man and the two children are working together more and more smoothly, and if they encounter a large truck, they will call Lin Qin for help.

Lin Qin decided to fish separately from them so she could catch more fish.

Two days passed.

When the two went to Guoxing Hotel to deliver goods again, Zheng Guoxing immediately slapped his thigh and ran up to them excitedly, "We've been waiting for you! Yesterday evening, my brother-in-law came over here after work to say that there's been progress on the matter you asked about."

"What did you say?"

What's the price?

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin asked in unison.

(End of this chapter)