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

Chapter 49 Huang Wenlong's Request
Liu Yongming scratched his head in frustration, squatted on the ground, and was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Brother, Fang Meixiang has something on me! Back then, in order to divorce Lin Qin, she contacted someone for me, and that person lent me 150 yuan. Now Fang Meixiang says that person is a loan shark, and if I can't pay back this money, I'm finished!"

And then there's Lin Yi's matter—any one of these things could get me into serious trouble, brother! I've worked so hard to get to where I am today, and graduation and job assignments are just around the corner. I can't take any risks!"

For the first time, Liu Yongguo felt so aggrieved. "So you're just going to let that woman control you like this? It's one thing if we can't get a divorce, but you're really going to raise that child?"
"You took all of Mom's savings for her funeral, and now we're living on borrowed money. If you keep supporting that brat, Mom will be furious! And I don't know how to explain this to your sister-in-law either!"

It would have been better if he hadn't said anything, because the more Liu Yongguo talked, the angrier he became, to the point that he wanted to kill someone to vent his anger.

Liu Yongming gripped Liu Yongguo's clothes tightly. "Brother, I've decided to go back to school for a while and wait until the school assigns me a job before coming back. Anyway, there are only about two months left. Can you help me out? I'll repay you when I get back to work!"

Liu Yongguo looked troubled. He couldn't refuse his younger brother's plea, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go back to explain to Ma Cuihua and Xu Manzhi.

"What? You can't get a divorce, and you still have to raise Fang Meixiang's daughter? Dream on!" Ma Cuihua's voice was unusually sharp with anger, as if she wanted to hit Liu Yongguo with a big stick.

Liu Yongguo quickly retreated to the yard, looking at Ma Cuihua warily. "Mom, my younger brother said he has to go back to school to lay low for a while. I think he's right. We'll figure these things out carefully once the job assignments are done."

Fang Meixiang still has leverage over her underlings. What will happen to them if she exposes it? She's already in jail herself, what's there to be afraid of? But we can't take the risk! She's just a little girl; as long as she has food to eat, that's enough. As long as she doesn't starve, that's our leverage over Fang Meixiang!

Ma Cuihua's angry mind gradually calmed down. "You're right. We can't let that bitch ruin your brother. Since Fang Meixiang said so, go and pick up that good-for-nothing tomorrow. Let them get a divorce after Fang Meixiang gets out of prison."

Upon learning that Ma Cuihua was willing to raise the child, Liu Yongming immediately submitted his resignation to his internship unit and packed his bags to return to school.

Chen Wenjun only found out about this when he went to Guoxing Hotel to deliver fish and shrimp.

He snorted in dissatisfaction, "He got off easy, he didn't even go in!"

Zheng Guoxing now knew about Chen Wenjun and his wife's past, and comforted them, "Just because he hasn't been arrested yet doesn't mean he's safe! With so much trouble going on here, he's become famous in Anshi. He'll definitely have to come back for job assignments after graduation. Which company would dare to hire him? Just you wait and see!"

"Oh, by the way, my buddy who works in engineering is coming over for dinner later. You two can get to know each other. His name is Huang Wenlong, and he's my childhood friend."

As they were talking, a group of disheveled men entered the restaurant.

He sat down and casually shouted, "Hey bastard, get us a meal, three dishes and a soup, whatever's cheapest!"

Zheng Guoxing retorted irritably, "You're the one who's a stinky head! I have a name, Zheng Guoxing!"

"What the hell? Did it get hit by ammunition?" Huang Wenlong finally looked at Zheng Guoxing and saw two unfamiliar faces. He then realized what was going on and stepped forward with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, sorry! Did I disturb you? Well, good brother, we're all hungry. The city leaders are coming to inspect later, so we probably won't have lunch today. Could you get us something to eat?"

"Go away! Get out of here!" Zheng Guoxing slapped Huang Wenlong's dirty hand away impatiently and said to Chen Wenjun, "This is my childhood friend who does contract work. Don't let his unreliability fool you, he really is unreliable. If you need cement or sand, just negotiate with him. You can rip him off all you want, I'm going to go cook!" Huang Wenlong was so angry he jumped up and down. "You heartless bastard! I'll eat you out of house and home one of these days!"

He muttered a couple of curses, then turned around and immediately flashed Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin a friendly smile, showing them eight teeth. "Sit down, sit down! You're the friend that Chou Tou was talking about who bought the deserted island?"

Chen Wenjun nodded hesitantly, "We're planning to build a house. Boss Zheng said that since you're building a highway here, he can ask you to help buy cement and gravel, which will be cheaper."

"That's right! The director of the cement factory is my second uncle! Of course it's cheap! It won't cost much to build a house!"

Huang Wenlong put away his frivolous demeanor.

Chen Wenjun said helplessly, "We need to raise the foundation to build houses on the deserted island. The island is not short of stones, but it needs cement and gravel. According to the plan, we want to raise the foundation by about one meter, and the total area of ​​the houses will be about 230 square meters."

Huang Wenlong took out a notebook and pen from the counter and calculated according to Chen Wenjun's instructions. His brows furrowed more and more. "If we do it the way you said, it will cost around 20,000! If you bring cement from the cement factory yourself, it will cost 120 yuan per ton. I do projects here, and the internal price is 90 yuan per ton. If you can accept that, come to me and I will get it for you."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Chen Wenjun was overjoyed, his mouth practically stretched to the back of his ears.

He had inquired at the market when he was selling fish and found out that it did cost 120 yuan to pick up cement directly from the cement factory, and more importantly, the factory was very arrogant and the cement they provided might not be good quality.

If you buy with Huang Wenlong, even if the items aren't the best, they won't be too bad.

Huang Wenlong glanced back at Zheng Guoxing and saw him still cooking in the kitchen. He quickly lowered his voice and asked, "Do you guys deliver fish and shrimp to Chou Tou every day?"

Chen Wenjun nodded, somewhat puzzled.

"Where is your wife?" Huang Wenlong asked again.

Chen Wenjun was completely baffled, but honestly replied, "She didn't come out today."

Huang Wenlong leaned closer and said, "Well, to tell you the truth, I've taken on another road project. The construction site isn't far from here, and my brothers said that eating out every day is too expensive, so they want to cook for themselves."

But this is a difficult task to arrange. First of all, it's hard to please everyone, and none of us rough guys are as good at cooking as Chou Tou. Also, we don't have time to buy groceries and cook. We need to find someone to take charge!
I heard your wife is a nice person, would you like to come and cook for us? We'll buy all the fish and shrimp from your place, how about that?

Chen Wenjun was shocked. "This won't do! She only knows how to order ordinary dishes; she doesn't have Boss Zheng's culinary skills."

"Hey! Old Zheng runs a restaurant. Even if your wife had his cooking skills, I couldn't afford to hire him! Our requirements are simple: just cook home-style meals for the workers. Three dishes and a soup or four dishes and a soup are fine. The main thing is that everyone works very hard on the highway, and I want them to eat well. Just make them some fish and shrimp every day, and a couple of other dishes!"

(End of this chapter)