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墨書 Inktalez
It was past eleven-thirty when the parents hurried back home. Seeing their son had returned, they were naturally very happy, especially since Jiang Yizhou could no longer book tickets online in advance; the Internet was still a novelty, and even nationwide banking networks had not been established yet. He was still traveling with cash.
Even if he had bought tickets at the train station, there was no way to inform his family. They couldn't bear to install a telephone, and they were too frugal to buy a pager.
"Son, you must be hungry. I'll start cooking right away," his mother said as she rushed into the kitchen, preparing a dish with loofah. "Girl, get the stove going over here!"
During his previous two visits home, Jiang Yizhou had not been accustomed to eating on the train. Gao Qingzhen thought that her son must have been traveling on an empty stomach and hurriedly got to work.
Jiang Yizhou followed his father into the house. His father initially wanted to hug him and gauge his weight but hesitated when he reached out. Such nice clothes must be worth quite a bit; it wouldn't be good to get them dirty, so he awkwardly withdrew his hands.
Once they settled in the living room, Jiang Yizhou looked around. He had thought that sending two thousand yuan home every month would allow for some extra spending, perhaps even dining out or having stewed meat. He felt there should be enough left over.
How come the furnishings in this house hadn’t changed? For instance, that bed which wobbled as soon as you sat on it, and the cabinet that had warped and had gaps everywhere that couldn’t keep out mice. Most of the furniture was bought when his parents got married, which was at least twenty years ago...
In reality, nothing had changed at all. Although Jiang Yizhou felt some complaints rising within him, he also recognized that this was indeed the style of the older generation. Generally speaking, before the 1980s, there was a habit of being frugal and thrifty, especially in rural areas of impoverished counties.
“Dad, don’t I send you money every month? Why don’t I see you using it? The house isn’t even being repaired; what if the roof starts leaking?” Jiang Yizhou turned to ask his father, who was looking at him with barely contained joy.
“Huh? What?” Jiang Maoqiang hadn’t yet come to terms with the fact that his son had really made something of himself. The last time he came home, he had spent half of it dealing with passport applications for going abroad; he didn’t have any direct impressions of it.
Slowly realizing that they received remittances every month made him think his son must have found some quick money-making job that worried them greatly. Now seeing him dressed so well eased many of his concerns.
After processing this information, Jiang Maoqiang slapped his forehead. “That money of yours! It’s all been put into a savings account; once we save enough, we’ll build a house. I’ve already thought it through: a Two-Story Building with stairs on both sides and we’ll extend the yard in front…”
Listening to his father talk about building a house made Jiang Yizhou chuckle and nod along without much else to say; he just let him enjoy himself!
His father mentioned raising chickens in the stairwell and building a pigpen in the yard. If someone else said such things to him, he might have mocked them; but for his father… well, let him have his fun; after all, he already had plans of his own.
“There are two of you inside; clear off the table and wash your hands for dinner!” Gao Qingzhen shouted as she served the stir-fried dishes from the pot onto plates.
……
"This is the thermal underwear I bought for you, this is the meat I got, and there are some fruits. Oh, and I also brought a watch for Er Ya!" After finishing his meal, Jiang Yizhou started pulling things out because he couldn't bring large items, so everything he brought back for his family were small gifts.
He pulled out a box and handed it to his eagerly waiting sister, not even acknowledging her "Thank you, brother" as he continued to dig through his belongings.
"Why did you buy so many things? You could have saved that money!" His mother said this, but her expression showed she was quite happy; what she received was a Massage Device.
However, when Jiang Yizhou pulled out two dozen bills from the box, it left his parents astonished. His mother asked, "What kind of business are you doing? How did you make so much money?"
"Don't worry, Mom, Dad, let me explain!" If he couldn't clarify things and made his simple parents worry about him, then earning this money wouldn't mean much.
His mother cautiously secured the door as if he had done something shameful, which made Jiang Yizhou laugh and cry at the same time. "Mom, what are you doing? I didn't steal or rob anything; why are you locking the door?"
"You don't understand! What if those idle punks find out?" His mother waited for Jiang Yizhou to share his wealth-making experience.
"Actually, it's nothing much," Jiang Yizhou shrugged. "I bought those Phone Cards and sold them for several times their value. A while ago, after selling them, I partnered with someone to open a Computer Training Class. Now I can earn four to five thousand a month!"
"Is it like the training teacher job you did before? Can that really make big money?"
"It can, but the threshold is a bit high. A single computer costs several thousand; I need to buy ten or twenty to get it started! Plus, I'm just funding it; I'm hiring people to do the training—Zhao Yifan!"
Now the old couple somewhat believed him; their son had struck it rich and opened a Training Class.
"So what do you plan to do with this money?" His mother wanted to hear her son's suggestions.
"How about we rebuild our house?" Jiang Yizhou shared his thoughts. He didn't want it to turn into a luxurious villa; at the very least, he didn't want it to remain a shabby place.
"I have high hopes. If our family builds a house, how impressive it will be!" Gao Qingzhen and Jiang Maoqiang would not oppose this; it's not like they lack money, so naturally, the sooner the house is built, the better.
"It's all up to me. I guarantee it will be well-constructed and well-supplied!" Jiang Maoqiang, working part-time as a construction worker, confidently planned to gather a crew to build it himself.
"Dad, I've prepared everything in advance. It has to be built according to my requirements!" Jiang Yizhou stated frankly. Most of the newly built houses in the countryside are flashy and grand on the outside, with tiles on the exterior.
However, the interiors are often quite poor, used as storage rooms, chicken coops, or junk rooms. Many toilets are built outside the house, and his past experiences of going out in the middle of the night to face the cold wind to use the toilet made him very averse to that.
Such clumsy and rough constructions are better off being torn down entirely and replaced with a few well-equipped rooms.
Jiang Yizhou had specifically hired a designer, although not a famous one; they simply designed something based on their own land size, surrounding environment, orientation, and his requirements, producing blueprints for him to bring back.
There was no expectation for a professional construction team; in this remote area, most workers are like his father—able to build according to the blueprints would suffice.
There wasn't much fuss; once the outline was established, everything else could be gradually decorated later.
Taking the blueprints handed over by his son, Jiang Maoqiang muttered, "Isn't this just building a villa?" Although it was much simpler, he could still recognize that.
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