CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 61: REGRET

Lin Qin watched silently and gave Liu Yaya a look.

The little girl understood and deliberately broke a duck egg, leading Lin Yi to scold for quite a while, and had to boil another one.

Just right, everyone had their share.

Chen Wenjun ate a boiled wild duck egg and hurried to Shanglin Village.

When he returned, he even brought Lin Qingxiang and Lin Shaojun with him.

Soon, trucks delivering red bricks and concrete gravel came one after another.

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

The materials were first piled up by the shore, then transported to Nanyu by fishing boat in trips.

At this time, many of the Dang people noticed, and some recognized Chen Wenjun, shouting and asking a question.

Chen Wenjun responded loudly, "Building a house!"

He didn’t say much, but the news of Chen Wenjun buying land to build a house spread quickly, and everyone suspected that he had struck it rich.

Chen Yongding returned from town and told the family about it.

"Wenjun is going to build a house. I heard that Guoxing Restaurant bought a nearly twenty-pound big fish and sold it for forty yuan!"

Zhou Shuifang paused her work and looked at him, "What do you mean? Are you saying this fish was caught by Wenjun? Yesterday evening when I asked his wife, she said they hadn’t caught anything!"

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

Zhou Shuifang was momentarily speechless.

Last night they had returned to the port, but Chen Wenjun’s fishing boat indeed hadn’t come over, so it was possible, and highly possible!

Chen Yongding sighed, "Yesterday Wenjun said he didn’t have the money to build a house. Today he bought cement and red bricks, isn’t that making money? And I guess he earned a lot, otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to buy so many materials at once."

Zhou Shuifang’s expression gradually became awkward as she regretted selling that fishing net to Chen Wenjun, hesitating to speak several times.

After holding it in for a while, she couldn’t anymore.

"Why don’t we go ask if they caught it with the net I weaved."

Grandpa Chen, who hadn’t said a word, heard this and immediately got angry, "Ask what? What’s the point of asking? The stuff is sold, the money is received, weren’t you really happy yesterday! Now regretting to go and claim it is embarrassing if it gets out!

Besides, it wasn’t just Wenjun using a big fishing net yesterday, why didn’t others also catch big hauls! Do you really think bringing this net back means the big fish belongs to us?"

Zhou Shuifang was left speechless from being scolded, and turned her head to continue her work resentfully.

Chen Yongding then looked at Grandpa Chen, "Dad, should we help out with Wenjun’s house? "

Earlier, without money to lend, asking would be pointless. Now that they have bought materials, they can’t contribute money but can offer help!

Grandpa Chen shook his head, "If Wenjun came and asked us, of course, we’d go. But otherwise, why go unasked? Helping requires paying wages too, and wouldn’t it be awkward to impose on them?"

If the help was for only a day or two, fine, but if it goes on, they would have to keep helping, and working without getting paid isn’t fair, yet taking pay feels awkward.

Moreover, they haven’t built a house before, they might end up being more of a hindrance.

Chen Yongding’s thoughts were all denied, so he no longer mentioned the matter about Chen Wenjun, instead turning the discussion to the cargo transport arrangements.

After a heavy rain, water levels had risen, it was the perfect time for boating.

Meanwhile, Chen Wenjun along with the others being discussed worked until dark to get all those materials delivered to Nanyu.

The group looked up to the sky, seeing the starry expanse, knowing without a doubt that tomorrow would be a clear day, and immediately felt relieved.

Lin Qingxiang said, "Tomorrow morning, I’ll bring the masons over, let’s get the measurements done and start laying bricks."

Lin Yi, excited, rubbed his hands together, "Good, good, good! How early tomorrow?"

Seeing his eagerness, Lin Qingxiang pondered, "We’ll set out at five, arrive before six, how’s that?"

"Sounds good!"

After Lin Qingxiang and Lin Shaojun left, an excited Lin Yi quickly found Lin Qin, saying, "Tomorrow morning you should buy some snacks and entertain the masons well; we have to ensure they are satisfied."

Chen Wenjun immediately said, "Then I’ll buy some shrimp cakes and fried dough sticks, tomorrow for lunch dad can stew a pot of tofu fish soup, steam rice, and a bowl of soy sauce snails, how’s that sound?"

Lin Yi considered it carefully and smiled more broadly, "Very good, very good, this is just perfect."

Tomorrow marks the formal start of the work, and this meal can be considered a feast for the hardworking masters, only after they eat well will they work earnestly.

After the three finished their discussion and turned around, they found two kids nearly drooling, and burst into laughter.

Around four the next day, Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun got up.

Pushing a cart, they reached Xiantian vegetable market at about five.

The industrious folks were already out with many stalls open.

Lin Qin first bought freshly made fried dough sticks and pastries on the street, then two pounds of bulk biscuits from a nearby shop.

With that, they hurried back.

Once aboard the fishing boat, Lin Qingxiang and his son came with the mason Zhang Yongquan.

Beside Zhang Yongquan was another person, named Lin Zhiqiang, his apprentice.

All four carried tools for work.

Upon seeing this, Lin Qin quickly got out of the boat to help.

Lin Yi was responsible for chatting with Zhang Yongquan.

Zhang Yongquan, having worked as a mason for many years, was working on an island for the Dang people for the first time, everything looked fascinating the moment he boarded the boat.

Lin Yi took out the pastries Lin Qin bought to entertain everyone, "For the next few days, we’ll rely on Master Zhang. We are Dang people, not as wealthy as others, buying as many materials as we can afford, so it might not be possible to finish the build all at once."

Zhang Yongquan nodded, understanding, "It’s the same in the village. Some families take half a year to build a room. Just let me know ahead when you want to start work, so I can arrange. It was a coincidence this time, we just finished another job, planned to rest for two or three days, what luck Qingxiang found us!"

"That shows we are fated to meet!"

Usually tongue-tied, Lin Yi was quite eloquent this time, showing how much he valued building the house.

Lin Qin quietly listened with the two children beside her, giving each a biscuit, and both sat obediently without fussing.

Then Lin Yi poled the bamboo raft to Nanyu.

Zhang Yongquan and everyone else got ashore as quickly as they could.

Seeing the large area, Zhang Yongquan’s first reaction was just like Lin Qingxiang’s, to repair the gap.

Lin Yi quickly pointed to the stones on the side, "We’ve accumulated quite a bit of material, and the foundation is dug, today we’ll handle it ourselves."

Building a house he couldn’t do, but setting up a small enclosure shouldn’t be hard, right?

Zhang Yongquan nodded in satisfaction.

Arriving at the place, he first climbed onto the cement ground, jumping a few times, then hammering it a few times with a big stone mallet, testing the cement’s solidity.

Lin Qingxiang, seeing the sound foundation, proudly said, "We used rocks from this mountain, harder than red bricks, this foundation will last hundreds of years!"