CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 62: THE REASON FOR THE RUSH TO MOVE

Zhang Yongquan nodded along, "Using local materials is indeed good. In a moment, I’d like to measure the place with an ink line... So, are you planning to cover the entire foundation, or is it okay if it doesn’t cover everything?"

The foundation seems to be over two hundred square meters; building this house won’t be a small task.

The size is secondary; the main issue is money.

His gaze shifted from Lin Yi to Lin Qin’s face.

Lin Qin had discussed this with Chen Wenjun earlier, and immediately climbed up, pointing to the northern section, "Cover this entire row. We want to build a two-story concrete house, with a hall, a kitchen, two bathrooms, three rooms, and on the second floor, one hall and four rooms.

We don’t have enough money to build it all at once; starting with one floor is fine, but it needs to be topped with concrete slabs, not bricks and tiles."

Zhang Yongquan took a deep breath when he heard this, "In that case, the costs will double. It certainly can’t be finished this year!"

Lin Qin was aware of this, smiled and said, "We know, so moving forward, we’ll rely on Master Zhang. We’ll do what we can this year, not putting too much pressure."

Zhang Yongquan nodded understandingly, taking this work more seriously.

After all, in the countryside, most houses are tiled; only wealthy families build these small western-style two-story concrete houses.

Lin Yi was clearly a bit surprised upon hearing Lin Qin’s plan to build slowly, words of objection reached his mouth but then he swallowed them back down.

Who wouldn’t want their daughter and son-in-law to bring pride to the family? Especially since he only has two daughters, the elder daughter married far away, and no one knows how well she’s doing, but the younger daughter has indeed had a tough life. If his son-in-law really builds a two-story concrete house, who would dare look down on him?

Everyone discussed for a bit and immediately got to work.

Time flies while working; as the sun rose, the skin exposed to the sun felt burning hot, and sweat dripped down, causing a sharp pain.

Lin Qin quickly went to find the prepared straw hats and handed them out to everyone, not leaving out the two children.

The two kids had already helped move a lot of red bricks that morning; when tired, they went aside to dig with the dirt, without needing adult supervision.

When Lin Yi heard Chen Wenjun calling, he quickly put down the shovel, took a bamboo pole, went to pick them up, and made lunch in the process.

Lin Qin continued piling up stones.

She and Lin Yi spent the morning working on the gap in the surrounding wall.

The foundation was dug early in the morning; she started filling it, and with a bit more effort, they could achieve a height of about thirty centimeters by the afternoon.

After Chen Wenjun came ashore, seeing Lin Qin busy, he went over without a word to help. Mixing cement wasn’t his strength compared to Lin Qin, so he helped transport stones, saving her trips back and forth.

With Chen Wenjun’s help, Lin Qin’s pace noticeably increased. By the time Lin Yi finished cooking, they had already raised two rows higher.

When the last bit of cement was used up, Lin Yi brought over the meal.

The meal consisted of the agreed-upon rice, tofu fish soup, soy sauce water snails, shrimp cakes and fried dough sticks that Chen Wenjun brought, and a bowl of braised pork belly also bought by Chen Wenjun.

Everyone gathered under the big banyan tree to cool off and eat; the food kept them busy, engrossed in eating instead of talking.

Lin Yi kept an eye on Zhang Yongquan, offering him food, and although Zhang Yongquan refused several times, he eventually couldn’t resist Lin Yi’s enthusiasm.

He quickly expressed his thanks, adding, "Today, I’ll get the basic framework set up, and mark out the positions for windows and doors, so that in the coming days Qingxiang and the others can work. Once they’re nearly done, I’ll come back and handle the rest."

Building the walls will take at least four or five days. This house is about one hundred and eighty square meters, requiring a lot of materials. He wasn’t sure how much savings Chen Wenjun had, and if money ran out, his return might be delayed.

"Alright, alright! Master Zhang can organize however he sees fit." Lin Yi agreed wholeheartedly.

After lunch, Chen Wenjun went to help Zhang Yongquan for a while, then helped Lin Qin transport a few more loads of stones, and once it seemed enough, he took a boat to set the fish traps.

Liu Yaya and Chen Ping’an spent the morning playing in the dirt in Nanyu, feeling tired, their minds set on finding wild duck eggs, insisting on accompanying Chen Wenjun.

Lin Qin couldn’t dissuade them, so she could only let Chen Wenjun take them along.

By evening, when Chen Wenjun rowed the boat back, the two children ran excitedly ashore, jumping up and down, "Mom, Grandpa, Ping’an brother and I found lots of wild duck eggs, and Uncle said we can now earn money for the family!"

"And the snails," Chen Ping’an added.

Liu Yaya nodded vigorously, "Yes! We also caught a bucket of snails; Uncle said they’re especially big and fat, and can be sold for money!"

Seeing their little faces sunburned red, Lin Qin felt a pang of heartache, "Hurry and drink some sugar water, rest under the tree shade; dinner will be ready soon."

Chen Wenjun moored the boat, noticing that the gap in the wall had reached hip height, he was surprised, "You are incredibly fast!"

Lin Qin stretched her back tiredly, "We have a team of people working! My dad tackles one side, I do the other, we agreed that tomorrow we’d build it to head height, and in another day or so, it should reach about two and a half meters.

Then placing some glass bottle shards on top will ensure outsiders can’t climb over, or raising the height to three meters before adding shards could work too."

Chen Wenjun pondered, "In that case, we should get the door made."

Both of them looked towards Zhang Yongquan and explained the situation to him. Zhang Yongquan immediately responded, "It’s just making a door! That’s nothing! You give me the reserved height and width, and I’ll bring the materials over; it’ll be done in a day."

Chen Wenjun promptly handed him a cigarette, "Master Zhang, do you think the day after tomorrow works? We should have it built to two meters high by tomorrow, nearly ready for a door."

Seeing Chen Wenjun’s urgency, Zhang Yongquan didn’t refuse and agreed immediately.

After sending them to the other side, Lin Qin asked, "Why the hurry?"

The door wasn’t necessarily urgent to set up.

Chen Wenjun’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, "Now that the weather’s hot, sleeping on the boat feels suffocating. Opening the window sometimes leads to awkward situations. We adults might not care, but I worry the children might hear."

Lin Qin instantly understood what Chen Wenjun meant, her face turning red.

Harmony between Yin and Yang is natural, but this isn’t taken lightly in the Dang family. Especially in summer, everyone fears the heat; with windows open, certain inappropriate activities may be audible. The noise is obvious, although no one can identify the source, and at dawn, when fishing boats depart, no one investigates further.

Adults might be used to it, but not children; exposure can lead them astray.

Previously, when the kids were small, Chen Wenjun had no choice but to return to the harbor with Chen Ping’an, sometimes disturbed by the noise at night, asking what caused it.

Since then, Chen Wenjun tried to keep a distance from other fishing boats, but this wasn’t a sustainable solution.