Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 348 Conflict resurfaces
Before going home, Yan Hui had already spent over ten thousand yuan on cigarettes, but he felt no pressure at all. On the contrary, he felt very comfortable, as if all his hard work had been worthwhile.

After returning home, Yan Hui searched everywhere but couldn't find Qing Lan. He quickly asked her about it.

"Qinglan went out to play; she didn't know you were coming back today. You came back without even saying a word," her father scolded. He was still upset about the cigarettes Yan Hui had given him.

"How's his work going now?" Yan Hui asked.

“Their vacation wasn’t long; they just got back yesterday. I haven’t talked to her about it in detail yet. You can ask her about it later,” the father said.

Qinglan graduated last year; it seems like only yesterday. After returning home and looking around, Yan Hui was still reminiscing about Qinglan's graduation banquet.

That was also the time when the Yan family was at its peak. After that, Yan Hui started to bring his parents and grandmother to live in Quancheng, and they would stay in Quancheng for more than half a year every year.

"Dad, when I came back just now, I noticed that the family in front of our house, did they expand their wall?" Yan Hui noticed this problem as he was taking out his cigarette.

In rural areas, everyone has their own homestead. The homesteads of the Yan family and the Xiao family are adjacent. To facilitate passage, each family gave up a section of the adjacent land to serve as a road.

As a result, the Xiao family, for reasons unknown, actually built a section of their wall outwards, directly onto the line, and even built the gate on the side facing the Yan family.

According to the relevant regulations on homestead land, this is not illegal, but it looks awkward to everyone.

This lane was originally agreed upon by my grandfather and the elders of the Xiao family when my grandfather was still alive, to facilitate travel between the two families. The elders of the Xiao family passed away in 1993, and this lane has remained unchanged ever since, with about four meters of space between the two families, enough for cars to pass through.

Now that this wall is built, the width of the road instantly shrinks from four meters to two meters. Even if Yan Hui were blind, he could see that.

“I heard it happened about six months ago. We weren’t home at the time. They did the work at night, and by the time the villagers found out, the bricks had already been piled up a meter high. Someone from the village called me then, and I wanted to come back to see you, but you were too busy, so I thought I shouldn’t bother you and didn’t come back.” The father sighed.

“Oh, okay, then we can just build the wall over there. Their front door faces this road, but ours doesn’t.” Yan Hui nodded. He had planned to build a house this year anyway, so this was just a small favor.

"Huh? We'll build one too? Wouldn't that block their doorway?" the father asked, somewhat surprised.

Yan Hui's father was indeed not a man good at fighting; he was rather honest and unassuming. When Yan Hui heard his father say this, he didn't say much: "Don't worry about this matter."

After telling his grandmother he was going out, Yan Hui took two bottles of Moutai and several packs of Zhonghua cigarettes and went to Grandpa Yan Delin's house in the village.

His eldest uncle and the others hadn't returned yet. The only people Yan Hui wanted to visit were his second and fourth uncles, and none of them were in a hurry. Grandpa Delin had helped him several times when he was in trouble, and when he went bankrupt, Grandpa Delin even wanted to send him some money. Of course, Yan Hui remembered this kindness.

I knocked on Grandpa Delin's door, and it opened quickly.

The person who opened the door was Grandpa Delin's granddaughter, seven years younger than Yan Hui, and would be 21 after the New Year. Yan Hui recognized the girl, of course, but he was very surprised. In his memory, this girl was even younger than his younger sister; you know, in a child's eyes, a seven-year age difference is basically like being two generations apart.

"Are you... Brother Hui?" the girl asked, somewhat puzzled. "It's me... Oh... You've grown so much!" Yan Hui was truly incredulous; after all these years, the little girl from back then had blossomed into a beautiful young woman!
"I'm in college now! Oh, it really is Brother Hui! Who are you looking for?" the girl asked.

"I'm looking for your grandfather."

"Oh, oh, oh, he's here, he's here. Come with me." The girl led the way, and Yan Hui soon saw Grandpa Delin.

After leaving the gifts, Yan Hui asked about what had happened in the village recently.

Grandpa Delin was also very forthcoming: "The Xiao family's situation is similar to what your father said; it was very sudden. They had already bought bricks, sand, and cement, and at first, they were digging ditches outside, telling people they were going to lay water pipes underground, and some people even spoke well of them. But one night, they hired seven or eight people to go out and build a wall, and by the morning when someone saw it, it was already quite high. Some people in the village went to scold them, but there was nothing they could do, since it was indeed their homestead."

"Does such a small thing need to be done secretly? The Xiao family really has no ambition." Yan Hui shook his head slightly.

"What did you come to ask me this time?" Grandpa Delin asked.

“These are minor matters. My house definitely needs repairing. I plan to take my grandma and mom back to Jinan after the New Year, leaving my dad in our hometown to stay with my second uncle and keep an eye on the house construction. What I really want to talk about is the road repair. I’ve heard that there are subsidies in town specifically for road repairs. Our village is 4 kilometers from the town. If we build a 4-meter-wide cement road, it will cost over 100 million yuan. The town will subsidize part of it, and I’ll lead the donation for the rest. Do you think this is feasible?” Yan Hui asked.

"You want to build a road?" Grandpa Delin was surprised. Of course he knew how expensive road construction was!

“Yes, I can accept a donation of 20 yuan. If anyone can donate more than me, they can put their name before my dad’s name,” Yan Hui said.

“20. That’s a lot. If you donate 20, your uncle can probably donate 20 too. After deducting the subsidy, your two families will have donated half.” Grandpa Delin was very interested, of course. The whole village would donate money for this kind of thing, and his family would donate as well.

"That's what I mean. I'll discuss with my uncle how much he should donate." Yan Hui didn't make the decision for his uncle.

This road has been a source of pain for the villagers for many years, but in Yan Hui's hometown, road construction, bridge building, and temple renovation are all things that can be commemorated with inscriptions. The person whose name is inscribed first is someone no one dares to bully.

“I’ll go ask your uncle about this. Since you’re interested, I’m all for it. How about this, let’s have a village meeting in two days to finalize this matter.” Although Grandpa Delin wasn’t a village secretary or any other leader, he had the confidence to speak like that. In the village, there weren’t many people of his generation left, and even fewer in such good health.

After finishing his business here, Yan Hui went straight home and started talking to his grandmother and father about building a house.

"My plan is to build a six-story house," Yan Hui said, taking out a sketch.

This is the structural drawing of his self-built house, which he had commissioned to be designed long ago. It was made by a design institute.

The construction cost of this house is at least 200 million yuan. Yan Hui doesn't have that much money on hand right now, but that doesn't matter. The construction period for this house is at least a year, so Yan Hui doesn't feel any pressure about this amount of money. The profits from the plywood business are enough.

(End of this chapter)