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

Chapter 61 Regret

Lin Qin watched silently and gave Liu Yaya a wink.

The little girl understood immediately and deliberately broke a duck egg. Lin Yi nagged her for a while, so she had to cook another one.

That way, everyone gets a share.

After eating a boiled wild duck egg, Chen Wenjun hurried to Shanglin Village.

When they returned, they brought Lin Qingxiang and Lin Shaojun with them.

Soon, trucks delivering red bricks, cement, and gravel arrived one after another.

Chen Wenjun and his wife, along with Lin Qingxiang and his son, rushed over to help unload the goods.

The goods were first piled up on the shore, and then transported to Nanyu Island in trips by fishing boat.

Many of the Tanka people saw it at this moment, and some recognized Chen Wenjun and shouted a question.

Chen Wenjun shouted back, "Building a house!"

He didn't say much, but the news of Chen Wenjun buying land and building houses spread like wildfire, and everyone suspected that he had made a fortune.

When Chen Yongding returned from the street, he told his family about it.

"Wenjun is going to build a house. I heard that Guoxing Hotel bought a big fish that weighs nearly 20 jin and sold it for 40 yuan!"

Zhou Shuifang paused in her work and looked at him. "What do you mean? You mean Wenjun caught this fish? When I asked his wife yesterday evening, she said she hadn't caught anything!"

"Did you ask her this morning?" Chen Yongding looked at her with amusement.

Zhou Shuifang was speechless for a moment.

They went back to the port last night, but Chen Wenjun's fishing boat did not come over. That is to say, it is possible, and very likely!

Chen Yongding exclaimed, "Yesterday Wenjun said he couldn't build a house without money, but today he bought cement and red bricks. What else could it be but making money? In fact, I estimate he made quite a bit, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to buy so many materials all at once."

As Zhou Shuifang listened, her expression gradually became awkward. She regretted selling the fishing net to Chen Wenjun and hesitated several times before speaking.

I held it in for a while, but then I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Why don't we go and ask them if they caught it with the net I wove?"

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Chen, who had been silent all along, immediately became furious. "What are you asking! What do you want to do by asking? The goods have been sold, and the money has been received. Weren't you especially happy yesterday? Now you're going back on your word and asking for it back. It'll be embarrassing if word gets out!"
Besides, Wenjun wasn't the only one using a large fishing net to catch fish yesterday; why didn't anyone else catch any big ones? Do they really think that just because they brought back a big fish with this net, it's theirs?

Zhou Shuifang was speechless after being scolded, and turned away to continue her work in a depressed mood.

Chen Yongding then looked at his grandfather, "Dad, should we lend a hand when Wenjun is building his house?"

Before, it was because I didn't have the money to lend them money, so asking was pointless. Now that they've already bought the materials, they can't contribute money, but they can contribute their labor!

Grandpa Chen shook his head. "If Wenjun had come to ask us, we would definitely have gone. Why would we go if he didn't ask us? We need to be paid for our work. Why would we go looking for trouble?"

If it's just for a day or two, that's fine, but if you really want to help, you have to keep doing it. It's not right if they don't pay you, but if they do pay you, they'll feel awkward accepting it.

Another issue is that they've never built houses before, so they might just make things worse if they go.

Chen Yongding's ideas were all rejected, so he stopped mentioning Chen Wenjun's side and instead talked about the cargo transportation arrangements.

After a heavy rain, the water level rose, making it the perfect time to travel by boat.

Meanwhile, Chen Wenjun and the others, who were the subject of much discussion, were busy until dark before finally delivering all the materials to Nanyu.

The group looked up at the sky and saw a sky full of stars. They knew without a doubt that tomorrow would be a sunny day, and they breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Qingxiang said, "I'll bring the foreman over first thing tomorrow morning, and we'll take the measurements and start laying the bricks."

Lin Yi rubbed his hands excitedly, "Great! How early tomorrow?" Seeing his eagerness, Lin Qingxiang pondered for a moment and said, "We'll leave at five and arrive before six, how about that?"

"to make!"

After Lin Qingxiang and Lin Shaojun left, Lin Yixing hurriedly found Lin Qin and said, "You have to buy some snacks to bring back tomorrow morning to properly entertain the master craftsman. You have to make sure he is satisfied."

Chen Wenjun, who was standing nearby, immediately said, "Then I'll buy some more shrimp cakes and fried dough sticks. Tomorrow at noon, Dad will stew a pot of tofu and fish soup, steam rice, and also make a bowl of snails in soy sauce. How about that?"

Lin Yi considered it carefully, then his smile deepened. "Not bad, not bad, this is very good."

Tomorrow marks the official start of work, and this meal is a way of treating the workers to a feast. Only when everyone is well-fed will they be able to work diligently.

After the three finished their discussion, they turned around and found that the two children were practically drooling. They burst into laughter.

The next day, around four o'clock, Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun got up.

The two of them pushed their cart to the Xiatian vegetable market at about five o'clock.

People are working hard these days, and quite a few are setting up stalls.

Lin Qin first bought freshly fried dough sticks and snacks on the street, and then went to a nearby convenience store to buy two jin of loose biscuits.

When it was almost time, we headed back.

After she boarded the fishing boat, Lin Qingxiang and his son also arrived with their master craftsman, Zhang Yongquan.

There was another person by Zhang Yongquan's side, named Lin Zhiqiang, who was his apprentice.

All four of them were carrying tools for their work.

Upon seeing this, Lin Qin quickly disembarked to help.

Lin Yi was responsible for exchanging pleasantries with Zhang Yongquan.

This was the first time Zhang Yongquan, who had worked as a laborer for so many years, had ever gone to the island to work for the Tanka people. As soon as he boarded the boat, everything was new and exciting to him.

Lin Yi took out the snacks that Lin Qin had bought to treat everyone. "We'll have to trouble Master Zhang for the next few days. We are Tanka people, not as wealthy as others who can buy as many materials as they have. We probably can't build it all at once."

Zhang Yongquan nodded in understanding. "It's the same in the village! Some families can spend half a year building a house. Just let me know in advance when you're going to start work, and I'll make arrangements. It's just a coincidence this time. We just finished the last job and were planning to rest for two or three days. But then Qingxiang came looking for us!"

"That means we're destined to be together!"

Lin Yi, who is usually not good with words, has become quite eloquent this time, which shows how much he values ​​building the house.

Lin Qin listened quietly with her two children, giving each of them a cookie. The two children sat obediently without making a fuss.

Lin Yi then used a bamboo pole to reach Nanyu.

Zhang Yongquan and his group reached the shore as quickly as possible.

Upon seeing this large area, Zhang Yongquan's first reaction was the same as Lin Qingxiang's: to repair the breach.

Lin Yi quickly pointed to the stones on the side, "We've collected a lot of materials and dug the foundation. Today we'll do it ourselves."

He's no good at building houses, but he can't even manage a small fence?

Zhang Yongquan nodded in satisfaction.

Upon arriving at the location, he first climbed onto the concrete ground, jumped around on it several times, and then hit it a few times with a large stone hammer to test its sturdiness.

Seeing that the base was in good condition, Lin Qingxiang said proudly, "We used rocks from this mountain, which are much harder than red bricks. This foundation will last for hundreds of years!"

(End of this chapter)