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

Chapter 87 Renovating the First Floor

That's as if they're landlords, able to do whatever they want.

Afu became increasingly envious.

After the things were moved up to the second floor and the room was renovated, Afu was completely impressed.

He and Lin Qingxiang installed the bed together.

Lin Yi was busy cooking on the first floor, and it was almost time to pick up the two children.

After he finished his work, Afu had also finished assembling the four beds.

The processing fee for the materials was over one hundred yuan. A deposit had already been paid, and after Lin Yi checked it and confirmed that there were no problems, he paid the remaining amount as well.

Ah Fu was very happy to receive the final payment. After sitting for a while, he wanted to leave. Lin Yi tried to persuade them to stay for dinner, but the two of them refused.

He had no choice but to take the keys, use a bamboo pole to help them cross the river, and go pick up the children along the way.

When Lin Qin and her husband arrived home at noon, they were overjoyed to see four brand-new beds.

"Dad, come with me this afternoon to buy a few new quilts. We should be able to move them upstairs soon."

Lin Yi nodded, "Okay! I'll take the child to school first, and you can go to the tailor shop to choose materials for the duvet cover."

Supply and marketing cooperatives also sell these items, but they are much more expensive. Now there are more and more shops opening stores, and for the same quality four-piece bedding set, custom-made is cheaper than buying ready-made.

There's also a cotton quilt, which also has to be custom-made.

The two of them spent the whole afternoon getting these things done.

During dinner, Lin Qin placed a piece of fish on Chen Wenjun's plate and said, "Today, Dad and I went to the cotton quilt workshop and got six 12-jin cotton quilts and six 8-jin cotton quilts. They'll keep us warm when we put them underneath."

"Twelve duvet covers were custom-made, plus pillowcases; all that adds up to several hundred yuan."

Chen Wenjun nodded, unconcerned. "This money should be spent anyway. And clothes too. We can buy some warmer clothes when we have time. It seems like this winter will be quite cold."

People living on the water have their own way of predicting the weather, from autumn to winter.

Lin Yi hurriedly said, "I bought yarn and plan to knit two sets of clothes for each of the two children. If you want to buy some, buy less. We still need to save money for renovating the house!"

Chen Wenjun laughed and said, "Dad, don't worry about saving this little bit. We've saved up a lot of money recently, enough to repair the house. Once the second floor is settled, we can move in and hire people to do the work."

Lin Yi was overjoyed to hear this.

Before the cotton quilts arrived, four custom-made straw mats were delivered first.

Wait until all the things for the bed are delivered.

Chen Wenjun personally made a trip to Shanglin Village.

The first floor renovation officially began in mid-October.

With previous experience, everyone worked together very well this time, and the tiles covering more than 100 square meters were laid in three days.

It was only then that Lin Qin realized that the bricks delivered included not only floor tiles but also wall tiles, and there were quite a few of them.

Zhang Yongquan and his apprentice carefully calculated the number of tiles and laid them out in circles from bottom to top.

It took another five days to finally finish pasting the wallpaper on the wall.

"The wall tiles are 1.4 meters high, which is enough. The rest can be painted, and it should be completely finished by early November. I see there's still a lot of cement left. Why don't we pour cement on the dirt road outside? That way, we won't have to worry about the house getting messy when it rains."

Zhang Yongquan suggested.

Lin Yi went to discuss it with Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin, and the three of them nodded in agreement. They needed to find experts to repair the road, and Lin Qin happened to be working for a road repair expert. She mentioned it to Huang Wenlong, and he agreed without hesitation. As soon as the house was painted, he immediately brought two of his underlings to help Lin Qin with the work.

Upon arriving at Nanyu, the three were struck by the impressive two-story building before them, which changed their perception of Lin Qin and her husband.

Knowing that the vegetables they were eating were all grown by Lin Yi, they showered them with compliments.

Lin Yi was sowing seeds at that moment, wading through the paddy field, not even bothering to exchange pleasantries with Huang Wenlong and the others.

Huang Wenlong was somewhat surprised, "Is Uncle Weather planting rice?"

Although he doesn't farm, he still has basic common sense.

Lin Qin shook her head and explained, "It's for planting lotus roots. This whole area is going to be planted with lotus roots, and they can be transported to Nangang to sell next year."

Huang Wenlong suddenly realized that lotus roots are not cheap and are not easy to grow. It seems that only one village around here grows this stuff. If this large area is successfully planted, it can make a lot of money!

Now he truly admires Lin Qin and her husband from the bottom of his heart.

A small path can be completed in about a day.

The three of them stayed in Nanyu for dinner before Chen Wenjun saw them off.

As soon as everyone left, Lin Qin took her two children to clean up the remaining building materials and waste. They picked out what was usable and packed the unusable materials into fertilizer bags, which Chen Wenjun then sent out.

After three days of hard work, the island's sanitation was finally completed.

Looking at the remaining bricks and the broken pieces that could still be used as tiles.

Lin Yi suggested, "Why don't we build a kitchen in the yard ourselves? That way it will be more convenient to start a fire and cook, and I won't have to be so careful, afraid of making the house dirty."

There is a kitchen on the first floor, and a wood-burning stove was installed. Before the renovation, he used it without any psychological burden.

Once the renovation started, he felt uneasy. The kitchen was spotless, everything was white, and when the firewood was burned, he felt it ruined the house. It was better to leave it as it was before.

Chen Wenjun understood immediately, so he ran to mix cement, rebuilt bricks in a corner of the yard, repaired the stove, put up two walls, and used the remaining materials to build a simple roof.

It took about four or five days to finish the kitchen in the yard.

Lin Yi was very satisfied with the kitchen and worked with extra enthusiasm.

The kitchen here has just been finished, and Afu has also finished making the wardrobe and dining table and chairs.

Bringing these things into the house makes the house look different.

Afu was amazed by the renovated house. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Since the house is so nicely decorated, I think we should put an eight-treasure shelf in the living room. It will look nice to display things there. Also, a four-piece set of living room table and chairs is a must, as are desks and chairs for the two children. Once we add these things, we'll have everything we need."

Lin Qin agreed wholeheartedly and paid the deposit before Lin Yi could speak. She asked Afu to deliver the items before the Lunar New Year and also ordered two more beds and two more cabinets. There were three rooms on the first floor: one as a storage room and the other two as guest rooms.

We saw Afu off.

The next day, Lin Qin went to the tailor shop again.

She's now a major customer of the tailor shop and has become friends with the owner, Zhang Shujuan.

As soon as he entered, Zhang Shujuan called him over to help, saying, "Please press down this piece of material for me; someone wants it."

Lin Qin quickly went over to help, and while she was at it, she glanced at the colorful fabrics on the three walls. "Shujuan, I want to buy curtains. Can you tell me which ones are better?"

Zhang Shujuan stopped what she was doing in surprise. "Who buys fabric to make curtains? What a spendthrift woman! I really don't have any suitable material here. I heard that there is some in Guangdong Province, but we can't get it here."

(End of this chapter)