CHAPTER 106: CHAPTER 106: BUYING APPLIANCES

After the family finished eating, they each returned to their rooms to sleep.

Lin Qin didn’t do much; a nap at noon was enough for her.

Huang Yuezhen had just arrived home, and she hurriedly brought her the reserved bowl of taro and pork dice rice, "Eat this for lunch. I specially saved it for you. It won’t last in this weather, so hurry and eat."

Huang Yuezhen took the bowl and said, "I already ate at the construction site."

Lin Qin chuckled a couple of times, "I’ve worked over there before. Don’t I know how things are? Even if you eat, it’s just leftovers, sometimes there are some, sometimes there aren’t. That’s not good enough!"

Actually, Huang Wenlong tacitly allowed the person cooking to count his share in, but usually, they didn’t dare take much. The appetites of the people working at the site varied greatly, making it hard to control the quantity of meals, so there weren’t many leftovers.

Because there was plenty of work in Nanyu, Lin Yi would usually cook some porridge after the midday break. Lin Qin noticed Huang Yuezhen eating a lot, guessing she hadn’t eaten much at the construction site.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Huang Yuezhen followed Lin Qin’s lead, ate the bowl of rice, and then went to rest.

By two in the afternoon, Lin Yi got up first to take the two children to school and brought Gao Lei back when he returned.

Chen Wenjun sat bleary-eyed under the pergola in the yard with Gao Lei, sipping tea.

Gao Lei immediately asked about the events of that early morning, "You’re not fishing anymore? You’ve switched to wholesaling seafood?"

Chen Wenjun chuckled and nodded, "With the iron boat, I can’t keep the desire to venture far at bay. The first time I went to South Port, I intended to fish but ended up encountering boats arriving with catch to the port, and I bought and sold a batch on a whim. It sold pretty well, so I simply started this business.

I leave at four every morning, catch the early market rush, and in the afternoon, I make another trip to deliver to restaurants, finishing around ten o’clock. Though it’s a bit exhausting, it earns more than fishing."

Gao Lei looked at him with admiration, "You’re the only one who can make money like this; I really can’t manage it."

"Aren’t you also setting out to sea with a boat?" Chen Wenjun replied naturally.

Gao Lei gave him a thumbs-up, "You can tell! Let me tell you, I’m now doing shipping around Guangdong Province, primarily bringing in goods and selling them in An City for a profit."

Chen Wenjun’s expression changed slightly.

Gao Lei could tell what he was thinking, "It’s not smuggling, don’t worry."

Chen Wenjun’s expression eased a little.

Gao Lei continued, "My family all work within the system, I wouldn’t dare mess around, or else my parents would break my legs!"

Thinking about the Gao family’s way and Shen Yunfeng’s character, Chen Wenjun was completely reassured, and advised, "As long as you know what you’re doing, I won’t say much. Smuggling is too risky, and the high seas are perilous, with no one to manage what happens at sea. Encountering trouble, the chances of survival are slim.

Recently, the government has been cracking down on smuggling harshly. The other day I heard village cadres in my father-in-law’s village announcing that there are rewards for reporting it."

Gao Lei nodded heavily, "You can rest assured; I definitely won’t do such things. But speaking of which, you have done up this house nicely, but it feels empty inside. Aren’t you planning on getting some appliances?

This time, I brought back a batch of appliances, including a television. Want one? I’ll give you one!"

Chen Wenjun’s pupils widened, and without thinking, he refused, "No, I can’t take advantage of you. Do you have a refrigerator? My wife is pregnant, and with the weather heating up, a refrigerator would be quite handy in summer."

Gao Lei quickly congratulated him, "I do have refrigerators, Rongsheng brand, double-door. I got them in bulk, so they’re not pricey. If you want one, I can bring you one tomorrow."

Chen Wenjun stated seriously, "Family or not, let’s keep things clear!"

Gao Lei paused, then laughed and nodded.

The next afternoon, Gao Lei indeed carried over the refrigerator Chen Wenjun had requested, along with a twenty-inch Sony color TV.

Seeing the TV, Chen Wenjun’s expression changed, "This is..."

Gao Lei didn’t explain, just had someone unwrap the packaging and called a technician to install it before he said, "As we agreed yesterday, I’m giving you the TV; you just pay for the refrigerator."

Upon hearing this, Chen Wenjun stubbornly refused, and after much back and forth, Gao Lei took five thousand from Chen Wenjun.

Once Gao Lei left, the whole family gathered around the TV and refrigerator, both excited and a bit pained.

Lin Yi clicked his tongue, "Just these two things cost five thousand; when did money become so easy to spend!"

He always thought that earning more than eight thousand made him rich, but now he definitely couldn’t say that anymore.

Lin Qin watched them with amusement as she adjusted the antenna with the remote.

Both Lin Yi and Huang Yuezhen were amazed by the colorful images on the TV and watched in silence.

It wasn’t until Chen Wenjun was about to head out that they snapped out of it, each grabbing a hoe and heading to the field, looking back with every step.

Lin Qin immediately turned off the TV. Although she had watched TV in a past life, this TV was less attractive to her than the refrigerator.

In the evening, when the two children returned from school and saw the TV, they were thrilled. Lin Qin turned it on briefly, showing "Black Cat Detective," and the entire family was enchanted.

After an hour, Lin Qin turned off the TV and seriously told the two children, "From now on, whether you can watch TV depends on your exam results. Do well, and you get an extra hour of TV; do poorly, and no TV at all."

The children, still wanting more, felt an instant pressure to study upon hearing this and nodded earnestly.

In the blink of an eye, it was harvest season, and every farmer knew how grueling rice harvesting was.

Lin Qin wanted to help, but nobody in the family dared let her. She could only try to make fruit popsicles and some refreshing mung bean cakes for Lin Yi and Huang Yuezhen.

The two kids also indulged along.

By the end of the two-week harvest, they both gained two pounds.

After harvesting, the rice had to be sent to the city to be processed into rice.

Lin Yi’s habit was to process fifty to sixty pounds at a time, to avoid spoilage in the summer.

But everyone was busy, and Chen Wenjun didn’t have much time to go to the city for processing, so he had to process a hundred pounds of rice at once.

When this hundred pounds of rice was sent back to Nanyu, a typhoon was on its way.

This year’s typhoon was fierce. The weather changed just that morning, and by two in the afternoon, the sky seemed ready to collapse, with winds so strong that going outside was impossible.

Lin Yi couldn’t even manage a trip to the kitchen shed, and the sound of the plastic tarpaulin tearing made everyone inside anxious.

"With such strong winds, how can we send the kids to school!"

Lin Qin quickly pulled the two children into her arms, "Dad! You should be glad the weather changed now; it would have been troublesome if it changed on the way to school! We definitely can’t go out in this weather, just explain to their teacher tomorrow."

Saying that, Lin Qin hurried upstairs, making sure all the windows in every room were tightly shut, before waking up the sleeping Chen Wenjun, "There’s a typhoon. The winds are too strong now, we’re not going out today, just keep sleeping."