Chapter 227 - 227 Building a new House
227 Building a new House
The two of them then looked towards each other.
Xie Yunjin was the first to break the silence, “I’m going out for a while.”
Lu Jiao nodded, “Sure.”
Then, she called out to Lu Gui, who was cleaning up, “Go with your brother-in-law.”
Lu Jiao was worried about Xie Yunjin’s legs. It was a long journey to get them to heal to this extent, she didn’t want any accidents.
Xie Yunjin’s gaze lowered as he wondered if Lu Jiao cared about him or if she just didn’t want to get dragged down by him and any potential injuries.
Remembering how determined Lu Jiao was about the divorce, Xie Yunjin decided that Lu Jiao was worried he’d hurt his legs again and prolong the separation process.
Xie Yunjin pursed his lips, “That’s okay. I’ll be careful.”
He then left in giant leaps. Behind him, Lu Gui strangely glanced between those two. What happened to them? Were they in a fight?
Just then, Lu Jiao spoke again, “What are you doing standing there? Follow your brother-in-law. Make sure nobody hurts his legs.”
Lu Gui did as told. He had to listen to his sister’s orders.
Lu Gui followed. Lu Jiao, on the other hand, went out to do some gardening.
The vegetables she planted were blooming. It wasn’t just the green veggies or the eggplants, even her tomatoes and cucumbers were thriving.
The tomatoes have started to redden. Lu Jiao picked out the ripe ones and washed them. She cut them up, added some sugar, and waited for the four little ones to get up and eat them.
She then harvested a variety of veggies to stir fry for dinner.
In a few days, Xie Yunjin will demolish this place and build a new courtyard. Her little vegetable garden wasn’t going to survive that, so she might as well eat what she could.
Xie Yunjin and Lu Gui first went to the Village Leader’s place to talk about how Xie Yunjin will no longer have the capacity to teach the village children. The Village Leader felt disappointed but he was proud to hear that Xie Yunjin will be tutoring youth scolars.
The Village Leader nodded, “You have legitimate business to tend to. It’s already nice that our village children learned a few characters. We don’t want to stop you from doing greater things.”
Xie Yunjin nodded, then he handed him the list of children he wrote down beforehand.
“I have compiled a list of children that I found to be talented. After teaching all the children for the past while, I believe it would be worth it to send these children to school. They’re all excellent. If they take their studies seriously, I believe there’d be at least two to three scholars amongst them.”
The Villager Leader anxiously looked over the list to check if his grandsons were on the list.
He didn’t find Datou there but did see Maomao’s name. Though sad Datou wasn’t on the list, he was happy Maomao was. One was better than neither.
The Village Leader asked Xie Yunjin, “Maomao is smarter than Datou?”
Xie Yunjin said in a soft voice, “Studying well doesn’t make one smarter than others. Everyone has shortcomings and strengths. Some people are suited to study, while others are suited to do other things.
Datou is just as smart as Maomao, but he finds it hard to sit down and focus. Though Maomao is younger, he is calmer and is willing to sit still for longer. That trait is important when it comes to studying.”
The Village Leader understood what he meant. His elder grandson, Datou, was very hyper and often acted like a monkey.
“I understand. Datou isn’t suited for school.”
Xie Yunjin shook his head, “That’s not true. He may not pass all the exams for a government job, but he could learn how to read and later become a businessman or something. He’s going to turn out great.”
The Village Leader excitedly said, “Then we will send them both to school. Learning to read and running a business, later on, is a good option.”
Xie Yunjin smiled and pointed at the list, “The children on top of that list are talented and will likely study well. The children on the bottom are not as smart but are not bad. They might not get a government job, but they can be an accountant or a manager.”
The Villager Leader felt like those were good occupations and nodded, “I will talk to their parents and ask them to send their children to school.”
Xie Yunjin nodded, “I have something else that I wanted to talk to you about.”
The Village Leader asked, “Yes?”
“The Dean asked me to tutor the younger students in exchange for money. I want to use the money to rebuild my house. However, the land my house is on is rather small so I want to build a little more to the east. Can you please sell me that piece of land? You can let me know the price.”
The Village Leader instantly patted his chest, “I’m not going to ask you for money. Go ahead and build as far east as you want. Nobody from the village would say anything.”
Xie Yunjin’s house was at the outer edge anyway. There were no homes to his east. The field beside his home was barren due to its close location to the mountains. There were too many rocks underneath that land to farm. Therefore, the Village Leader didn’t hesitate to offer that land to Xie Yunjin.
Xie Yunjin calmly asked, “Is that okay? Village Leader, it might be better to warn everyone first.”
The Villager Leader slapped his hands, “This whole thing is up to me. I sure want to see who dares to talk trash. Whoever talks will get kicked out!”
Yunjin and his wife have helped out the village way too much. If someone has opinions over this little matter, that person would be heartless and should leave the village.
Since the Village Leader felt so strongly about this, Xie Yunjin didn’t say anything more and thanked him.
The Village Leader asked when construction would start so he could send people over to help.
Xie Yunjin smiled, “We’ll start the foundation work this week. You can help me ask around to see who’s willing to help. I will pay 30 tokens a day plus lunch.”
The Village Leader said, “We are all neighbors. There’s no need for money. We’ll do it happily for a meal.”
This kind of work normally would cost 15 to 20 tokens a day. The price Xie Yunjin offered was truly generous.
Though the Village Leader didn’t think money was necessary, Xie Yunjin was stern, “Being neighbors doesn’t mean people’s labor should be free. Everyone who’s willing to help is doing it out of kindness. I cannot let them go unrewarded.”
He didn’t want to owe anyone anything over this small amount of money. He would also owe everyone favors because of this. He would rather make others feel grateful about this matter.
The Village Leader agreed, “Okay. Let me know how many people you’ll need.”
“Okay.”
Afterward, Xie Yunjin took Lu Gui and went to the Xie family to talk about the new house he’ll build.
Xie Laogen and the others were shocked to hear the news. How capable was Xie Laogen’s youngest son to be building a house using black bricks? That must be expensive.
Xie Laogen immediately shared his desire to move to his son’s house. Xie Yunjin bluntly reminded Xie Laogen, “Father, we were exiled from here without a home before. I seem to recall your house is right here.”
Xie Laogen was embarrassed and quiet for a while. Xie Yunjin added, “Today, my aunt and uncle visited me to tell me that mother is slowly killing herself over there. They asked me to take my mother home.”