Chapter 44: Surprise

Chapter 44: Surprise

Since the tile factory started paying wages, the workers' enthusiasm has skyrocketed. Everyone is working hard, knowing how rare it is to find such a high-paying job. No one wants to lose this opportunity to change their fate.

Deng Shirong has been extremely busy lately. He's responsible for feeding twenty to thirty people every day, which is no small task.

Of course, with more than twenty strong young men helping out, the progress on his house has been impressive. The foundation was dug in just two days. Since it would take twenty-one days to lay the bricks, the young men weren't idle either. They went up the mountain to cut pine trees, which would be used to make beams.

In the Double Prosperity area, over 95% of households use pine wood for beams.

In rural areas, paint is rarely used when building houses. To prevent the beams from being damaged by insects, people use a traditional method passed down from their ancestors: soaking the cut beams at the bottom of a river. The longer they soak, the better.

As early as two years ago, when his eldest son turned eighteen, Deng Shirong had started cutting down pine wood for soaking.

However, back then, he hadn't planned to build so many houses at once, so the prepared pine wood was now insufficient. He had to send the young men up the mountain to cut more.

There wasn't enough time to soak the newly cut pine wood properly. Fortunately, Deng Shirong wasn't the only one in Thatchfield Village who had prepared beams in advance. Many families planning to build houses in the next few years had also cut and soaked pine wood.

Since these families weren't ready to build yet, Deng Shirong could exchange the newly cut pine wood for their pre-soaked beams. He still had some influence in the village.

Soon, it was July 21st. At 6:28 in the morning, after the brick-laying ceremony and firecrackers, the construction of Deng Shirong's house officially began.

By this time, the summer vacation had quietly passed, and his sons would start school the next day.

That evening, after the family had bathed and gathered in the living room, Deng Shirong pulled out a stack of money from his pocket. He counted out 25 yuan and handed it to his second son, saying, "Yunheng, this is your tuition and two weeks' living expenses. You only have two semesters left in high school. I've already told you everything I needed to say. If you don't get into college, you'll have to come back and do hard labor. Only by getting into college can you live the life you want."

Deng Yunheng took the money and said firmly, "Dad, I understand. I'll work hard and won't let you down."

Deng Shirong nodded, counted out another ten yuan, and handed it to his third son. "Xiaosong, use this for tuition, and the rest is your pocket money. You're about to start junior high. These two years are crucial—they'll determine your future path. You must work hard."

Schools at that time weren't very standardized. For example, the school in Thatchfield Village not only had an elementary school but also a junior high school. The junior high section wasn't abolished until a few years later.

Tuition fees at Thatchfield School weren't fixed. They might be higher one semester and lower the next, depending on the school's income. Since schools at that time had side businesses, they also set up labor classes, allowing students to help with work and reduce part of their tuition fees.

Deng Yunsong took the money and nodded. "I understand, Dad. I'll study hard."

Deng Shirong then counted out two eight-yuan bills and handed them to his fourth and youngest sons. "It's the same for you two. I guess you won't fully understand if I talk about the future now. Anyway, I've already explained the rewards for midterm and final exams. If you want money for snacks, study hard."

Deng Yunhua and Deng Yunheng took the money and nodded.

After a moment's thought, Deng Shirong counted out two more two-yuan bills and handed them to his two daughters. "Ah Zhen, Ah Zhu, this is your pocket money. As girls, you should have some money on you."

Deng Yunzhen and Deng Yunzhu both took the money with surprise, clearly not expecting their father to give them so much.

Deng Yunzhu's face flushed with excitement.

Even though Deng Yunzhen was already eighteen, she couldn't hide her smile. Even the red envelopes from her father and relatives during Chinese New Year didn't add up to more than two yuan. Now, her father had suddenly given her two yuan in pocket money—a huge surprise.

Seeing his daughters so happy, Deng Shirong felt the four yuan was well spent. He smiled and said to his eldest daughter, "Ah Zhen, Yunheng is going to school tomorrow. It'll be a waste of time if he walks. You can ride the bicycle with him. After you drop him off, you can have some noodles or something at the commune and then ride back."

At this, both Deng Yunzhen and Deng Yunheng couldn't help but feel delighted.

Deng Yunzhen was happy because she had never been to Pine Mountain Commune in her life and was eager to see it.

As for Deng Yunheng, he had studied at Pine Mountain High School for a year. The most tedious part was walking to school with his luggage and rice on his back—a journey of over three hours, almost like hard labor.

Now, he could ride a bicycle to school, which was not only faster but also meant he didn't have to carry so much. It would be strange if he weren't happy!

After that, the father and children chatted for a while before heading to their rooms to rest.

Once back in bed, Deng Shirong began thinking about how to expand his social connections.

The braised pork and other items in his system space were being consumed quickly because of the large number of people he was feeding every day. Even with the addition of fish, shrimp, eels, snails, frogs, and other things, nearly a third of the braised pork had been consumed before the house construction even really began.

If he didn't find a way to replenish his income and the meat in his system space ran out, he'd have to spend real money to buy more, which wouldn't be economical.

There were many young men of marriageable age in the village, but after some thought, Deng Shirong realized none of their potential marriages could compare to that of Deng Changfu and Guan Yongying. Some couples quarreled for half their lives, some divorced in their forties or fifties, and others, though they didn't fight, remained poor for decades.

Deng Shirong naturally didn't want to arrange such marriages.

After thinking for a long time, he still had no clear ideas. He realized it was because he had too few resources—only a handful of people to match. A matchmaker couldn't work with such limited options. It seemed it was time to visit other brigades and gather more information on eligible men and women.

As for cooking for the workers, he could leave that to his eldest daughter. After so many days of teaching, her cooking skills had improved significantly. Though she still wasn't on par with him, few in the village could match her now.

With his eldest daughter in charge of cooking and two or three helpers, Deng Shirong only needed to prepare enough meat in advance each day, freeing him from the kitchen.

(End of this chapter)