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

Chapter 73 Rescue
Zhou Shuifang was furious when she learned that Chen Yongding had gone to the crematorium alone, but she didn't dare to yell at Grandpa Chen, so she kept quiet.

It was already dark when Chen Yongding returned.

Upon seeing the person, Zhou Shuifang anxiously asked, "How much did it cost?"

Originally, everyone should have chipped in to pay, but Chen Yongding was the only one in charge. His family was the ones who got ripped off. Why should they?
Zhou Shuifang became increasingly dissatisfied.

Chen Yongding frowned. "Get me something to eat first, I'm starving."

Grandpa Chen has already started making arrangements.

Chen Yongding took the opportunity to gulp down a large bowl of water, and his parched throat finally recovered. He plopped down on the deck. "Someone paid money at the crematorium. When I went there, they just had me put my fingerprints on the document and took me to identify the body. They asked if I wanted to choose a date to cremate it. They said that if the body stayed for another day, they would have to pay more. I don't know who paid this money, or how much they paid. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough money later, so I had the crematorium handle it directly. That's the end of the matter."

Zhou Shuifang was overjoyed, "You didn't spend any money?"

Chen Yongding nodded, "The round trip cost two yuan, but I couldn't bear to buy any food or drinks."

Two yuan is nothing compared to more than ten yuan! Zhou Shuifang was happy again and turned to go to sleep in the back cabin.

Without Zhou Shuifang, Grandpa Chen said quietly, "Tell everyone about the situation tomorrow, so that everyone will have a general idea."

Chen Wenjun only learned about this two days later when he encountered Chen Yongding's fishing boat while fishing in Nanxi.

Chen Yongding briefly explained the situation, not bothering to hear Chen Wenjun's thoughts, and instead asked, "Is your house finished?"

During this period, many Tanka people saw Chen Wenjun's steel bars, red bricks, and cement, and many people speculated that Chen Wenjun was going to build a big house or a small Western-style building.

Some people went to Nanyu to investigate, but all they saw was a gap in the fence and a high wall; no one knew what was inside.

Because he couldn't figure it out, the story became increasingly bizarre, and Chen Yongding couldn't suppress his curiosity.

Chen Wenjun laughed and said, "It's not completely finished yet. We plan to build two floors. The cement slabs for the first floor have just been finished. We're saving up money to build the second floor as well. It's habitable now, but it's a bit dirty. The windows and doors haven't been installed yet. Aqin and I plan to save up some more money and try to get the doors and windows done before the first frost."

Uncle, you can come visit me when you have time. It's just that we live in a shack now, it's rather simple.

Chen Yongding was overwhelmed by the idea and shook his head in refusal, saying, "Your grandfather and I are going out on a ship tomorrow, so we have to work today and we don't have time."

After they finished speaking, they went their separate ways, and Chen Wenjun continued with his work.

Zheng Aqiang's incident did not affect Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin's lives at all. At first, some Tanka people were gossiping behind their backs.

As some debt collectors came to Zheng Aqiang and emptied his fishing boat, no one talked about Chen Wenjun anymore; instead, they were particularly understanding of him.

Getting involved with a gambling addict like Zheng Aqiang will either kill you or leave you badly skinned alive; staying far away is the best course of action.

end of August.

The scorching sun baked the earth.

Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun's new house has already been built to two stories, and all the doors and windows have been installed, but they don't have enough money. Fortunately, Zhang Yongquan is easy to talk to and agreed to help them finish it first, and then pay them back slowly later.

The house is now habitable, but it's bare, unfurnished, and quite dusty.

Even so, Lin Yi was quite satisfied.

His greatest wish was for his daughter and granddaughter to have a house. Now that he has this impressive two-story house, he can hold his head high when he goes back to the village.

Compared to Lin Yi's joy, Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin were deeply worried.

With the start of the new school year just around the corner, the arrangements for the two children's schooling are still not finalized.

During this period, Chen Wenjun made several trips to the Education Bureau. At first, the Education Bureau told them to go and ask the principal of the nearest village primary school. Chen Wenjun went, but he didn't even get to see the principal and was turned away.

When he went back to the Education Bureau, the person he had contacted before was nowhere to be found; a new person had taken his place. He had to explain the situation all over again. The person said they would report it to their superiors and told him to go home and wait for news. Three days later, he went to inquire again and was told that their superiors were away on a business trip and it would be a week before he could get any further information.

A week later, the staff member in charge of him changed again. This time he got anxious, and the other party started to dodge the question, saying that he could only contact the village school principal and that the education bureau could only make a phone call to inform him.

After passing the buck back and forth, he eventually didn't know who to turn to anymore.

Now he's hesitating about whether to ask Zheng Guoxing for help.

If you open your mouth like that, it will be difficult to repay the favor later.

While he was lost in thought, Lin Qin pulled up a big fish with a pole and pondered, "Why don't we take a few fish with us to the school? This time, let's be a little thick-skinned and just stand there and not leave. I don't believe the teachers at the school can kick us out."

Chen Wenjun had no better solution, so he agreed.

To show their sincerity, the two also loaded two large buckets into a cart, one containing large fish and the other containing river snails.

They pushed the cart across the road and down the slope to reach the territory of Anshan Village, where they were looking for the principal of Anshan Village Primary School.

The roads in the village are difficult to walk on; it takes two people to push the cart steadily.

When they reached the crossroads, looking at the vast rice paddies and sugarcane fields, Chen Wenjun paused for a moment. “If we go through the sugarcane fields, it will only take ten minutes, but it’s not easy to push a cart across. If we go through the main road, it will take about twenty minutes.”

Lin Qin was about to suggest taking the main road when she caught sight of someone lying in the sugarcane field out of the corner of her eye. She screamed in fright, "Ah!"

Her shouts attracted some villagers who were working in the fields.

Several people rushed into the sugarcane field and carried the person out.

"Whose house is this? How did it get beaten up like this? Is it still alive?"

"I don't know? I don't think I've ever seen it before?"

"Can you even see the blood everywhere?"

"It doesn't matter if you can't see it clearly, who in our village wears such a nice watch!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at the watch and, incidentally, glanced at the person on the ground.

Chen Wenjun initially didn't want to get involved, but the more he looked, the more something seemed off. "Oh no! This guy is Gao Lei!"

He had met Gao Lei a few times, so the watch should be genuine.

When the villagers heard that Chen Wenjun knew him, and since he wasn't from their village, they didn't want to get involved.

Lin Qin was at a loss. "What should we do? Should we save her?"

Chen Wenjun was also hesitant. Reason told him that Gao Lei was a thug and must have offended someone powerful if he was beaten like this. He couldn't get involved in this kind of thing, but his conscience wouldn't allow him to stand by and watch someone die.

After thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and stamped his foot, saying, "Get the bucket down, I'll take him to the hospital in a trolley, and I'll call the police. That's all I can do."

It's impossible for him to spend money to save people, but he can certainly do some physical work without feeling guilty.

Lin Qin immediately took the bucket down and helped Chen Wenjun lift Gao Lei onto the cart. The couple then moved the cart onto the road.

Lin Qin watched Chen Wenjun leave before turning back again.

Realizing she couldn't carry those two big buckets of stuff away and wouldn't be able to go to school, she decided to set up a stall in a shady spot by the roadside and sell them cheaply.

(End of this chapter)