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

Chapter 38 A Trip to Fangshan Society

After buying all sorts of things, I delivered the river shrimp to Guoxing Hotel. Today's expenses and earnings were exactly balanced.

The two men returned to the fishing boat with the items.

Lin Yi looked at it and started muttering about it again.

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun were already used to it. After putting their things down, they began to discuss the next steps for land reclamation and making money.

Lin Qin took out the remaining money and said, "We only have a little over three hundred left, which is obviously not enough to build a house. We have to clear the land while saving money, and try to move into our new house before the Chinese New Year this year."

"That's ambitious!" Lin Yi grinned from ear to ear.

Chen Wenjun nodded repeatedly, “Then how should we arrange it? How about you help me deliver the fish to the market street in the morning, and I'll sell the fish while you go to the deserted island first? No, no. You can't row a boat! How about this! I'll take you to the deserted island first thing in the morning, then sell the fish, and then deliver the goods to Guoxing Hotel later. It'll just be one more trip.”

It seems that no matter how it's arranged, it's not good.

Lin Qin thought for a moment and said, "Let's go together. We can go to the market to sell fish in the morning, pack up early to deliver the goods, and then you can clear the land while I go fishing. We can catch the bamboo shoots in the evening."

"Mom, we can help too! We can go fishing at home!" Liu Yaya excitedly raised her hand and spoke.

Chen Ping'an also raised his hand.

Lin Yi chuckled and said, "Alright, alright! Grandpa will join you all. The three of us will go fishing at home. If you have better luck than Grandpa, you'll catch more big fish, and then you can live in a big house!"

The two children were so enticed by Lin Yi's promises that they nodded repeatedly, wishing they could grab a fishing rod and go fishing right now.

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun packed up their documents, rowed the boat to Nanyu Island, put on rain boots, and took hoes and rakes to the island to clear the land where they were going to build the house.

Lin Yi took his two children fishing near Nanyu.

The gap leads to deep water, where there should be more big fish than in their usual fishing spots.

The three of them used two fishing rods, one for each of the two children, and Lin Yi was in charge of helping.

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun hadn't gone far when they heard Liu Yaya's excited shouts from the fishing boat, "Grandpa, it's so big! It's a big silver carp!"

"Wow! Our Yaya already knows about silver carp! It must weigh six or seven pounds! My goodness! How can it be so big!" Lin Yi's doting and exaggerated voice came from afar.

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun exchanged a smile, quickened their pace, and soon found a relatively high flat area.

“This area is probably more than ten acres! How much area do we need to dig?” Lin Qin tossed the rake around a couple of times, then looked up and saw that Chen Wenjun didn’t seem to have gotten used to the rake yet, and after trying for a long time, he still couldn’t get the hang of it.

Lin Qin burst into laughter, "That's not how you use it! Like this, one hand in front, one hand behind, use a clever trick to shove it diagonally downwards into the ground, then use force to pull the soil out. See, these weeds can be pulled up by the roots."

If you encounter deeply rooted weeds, you'll need to use a hoe. Make sure to thoroughly remove the weed roots from the ground where you're building, otherwise they'll sprout and cause trouble one day!

In Shanglin Village, many homes still have compacted mud floors without paving. Shade-loving weeds often sprout from under beds or tables and chairs. These weeds often have very deep roots, making them impossible to completely eradicate. They grow back the following year after being pulled out, which is extremely annoying.

The best approach is to clean it up from the start.

Chen Wenjun had never built a decent house in his previous life, and Lin Qin told him as much as she knew about it.

But then Chen Wenjun looked up at the surrounding mountains, seemingly lost in thought.

"What's wrong?" Lin Qin followed his gaze but couldn't figure it out. Chen Wenjun looked away and pondered, "The one thing this island has no shortage of is rocks. I want to go up and collect some stones. Let's raise the foundation, at least higher than the gap, so we won't have to worry about water accumulating when it rains."

Typhoons are possible here from early summer to mid-autumn. If there is heavy rain and the water level of the Nanxi River rises, the island may be submerged.

Lin Qin had also thought of the same problem that Chen Wenjun had considered.

The two looked at each other, realizing that building a house was indeed not a simple matter.

Unable to make a decision, they could only clear a section of land temporarily and wait until it was almost dark before boarding the boat, where they explained the general situation to Lin Yi.

Lin Yi immediately laughed and said, "That's easy. When you're turning over the soil, check if there are any snail shells or clam shells. If you find them, it means that place has been washed away by a flood. Just move to another place."

The island isn't that big, but it's not that small either. I refuse to believe we can't find a suitable place to build a house!

"That's true!" Chen Wenjun laughed, his tightly furrowed brows relaxing.

The next day, before five o'clock, the two went to retrieve the fish traps, loaded the fish that the children had caught the day before onto a cart, and headed to the vegetable market to set up a stall. Before eight o'clock, they delivered the remaining fish and river shrimp to Guoxing Hotel.

They had barely left when Zhang Youren arrived. Seeing the stall empty, he panicked, "Where are the fishmongers? I haven't seen them lately!"

An elderly woman nearby teased loudly, "You're too late! They come early now and close up shop early too. Come back at six next time, and you'll definitely be able to buy their fish."

"Go away, go away, I haven't even started work yet at six o'clock!" Zhang Youren was extremely frustrated.

Other fishmongers couldn't match the variety of fish Chen Wenjun had, and they rarely had any large fish. They also couldn't negotiate prices well. If you bought from Chen Wenjun, he could get a lot of kickbacks.

But he works for the government, not for his own family. He won't get a raise even if he works from dawn till dusk. Getting to the market around 8:30 every day is already his limit!
The old lady loved watching the stingy Zhang Youren get his comeuppance; she laughed heartily at it.

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin arrived at Guoxing Hotel around 8 o'clock.

They delivered the items to the kitchen with practiced ease.

After working together for a while, Zheng Guoxing completely trusted the two men's character, letting them weigh and report the amount themselves, and paying for it readily, which saved him a lot of time.

The two took seventy-two pieces from Zheng Guoxing and left with the remaining fish.

Zheng Guoxing glanced at it and said, "There's only a little left, give it all to me."

Chen Wenjun shook his head, "No, no, selling to you would ruin your reputation! We can't cheat you just to sell fish. Qin and I are going to other places later, so we can sell them along the way. We should be able to sell them all."

"Whatever you want!" Zheng Guoxing was busy cooking and didn't have time to be polite with Chen Wenjun.

After leaving the Guoxing Hotel, the two immediately pushed their cart to Fangshan Community.

By the time they arrived, it was already past nine o'clock. Everyone in the village was working in the fields, except for a group of old men and women gathered outside the small shop, chatting about this and that, and maybe weaving a basket or twisting a rope.

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin were new faces, and they attracted everyone's attention as soon as they entered the village.

Lin Qin mentally prepared herself and went over with a smile to ask, "Grandma, are you buying fish? Fresh crucian carp and common carp, caught in Nanxi, would you like to take a look?"

"Oh! It's a fishmonger! Let's see how much they are!" An old woman craned her neck to look at the fish in the bucket, wanting to scoop them out for a closer look.

(End of this chapter)