Chapter 700: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 700 Liang Xinghua Returns to the Village to Develop

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Former coworkers, whether Lin Dajun or the several Big Workers who worked together later, Wang Zhanggen still kept their contact information.

So he called them one by one to inquire.

Upon asking, he learned that Lin Dajun had actually passed away.

The one who picked up the phone was Lin Dajun's wife.

Lin Dajun's wife said Lin Dajun passed away two months ago from a sudden cerebral infarction, collapsed in the vegetable patch inside, and by the time he was discovered his body was already cold, beyond rescue.

Hearing this news, Wang Zhanggen was greatly shaken inside.

In memory, although Lin Dajun was several years older than him, his body was very robust.

Unexpectedly he just left like that.

He also thought of himself, that he also had a cerebral infarction, and because of the cerebral infarction had once stayed at the Big City Hospital, passed through the Gates of Ghosts, and fortunately saved his life.

Inside he couldn't help but sigh, always feeling he might not live much longer.

After all his body got worse day by day.

Wang Zhanggen asked several other former coworkers, and found many coworkers no longer did this line of work, older in age, with all sorts of ailments.

Either heart and brain blood vessels had problems, or kidneys and lungs had problems.

Only Zhou Hongwei was still doing it.

Back when Wang Zhanggen first entered the trade doing masonry construction, he worked together with Zhou Hongwei and Liu Xiaoli for Lin Dajun.

Wang Zhanggen and Zhou Hongwei also had some conflicts because of Liu Xiaoli.

If not for truly being unable to find anyone, Wang Zhanggen wouldn't have contacted Zhou Hongwei.

But Zhou Hongwei had long forgotten those old matters.

Upon learning Wang Zhanggen wanted him to build a house, Zhou Hongwei immediately became enthusiastic.

"Changgen, you've finally found the right person; these years I've always been doing masonry, now I've come out to work as a Foreman, leading two Big Workers and two Small Workers together, and just recently have no work, you've come at just the right time!"

Zhou Hongwei also hurriedly asked:

"How big a house do you want to build?"

Wang Zhanggen said:

"About one hundred square meters, two stories, fine decoration, do you also do decoration?"

"Do, of course we do, if there's work we do it!"

Zhou Hongwei laughed heartily.

Wang Zhanggen asked:

"How much do you charge for labor?"

Zhou Hongwei laughed:

"According to market price, I'm too embarrassed to speak up, you name a price yourself."

Wang Zhanggen named a fair price, and Zhou Hongwei agreed in one breath.

This matter was thus settled.

The two agreed that tomorrow they would come to Shanggou Village to look at the construction site, and then start work on the first day of next month.

The next day after ten o'clock in the morning, Zhou Hongwei came over.

He skillfully handed Wang Zhanggen a cigarette.

This made Wang Zhanggen think of how many years ago Zhou Hongwei used his and Liu Xiaoli's secret to blackmail him; back then Zhou Hongwei demanded Wang Zhanggen buy him a pack of cigarettes every day before he would keep his and Liu Xiaoli's secret.

Now all that was old history.

He supposed Zhou Hongwei had forgotten it.

Wang Zhanggen didn't take it to heart.

If he still took it to heart, he wouldn't have invited Zhou Hongwei to build the house.

After Zhou Hongwei looked at the construction site, he also ate a lunch at Wang Zhanggen's home, and then went home.

Zhou Hongwei had just left with his front foot, and Wang Zhanggen received Liang Xinghua's call with his back foot.

"Hello, Xinghua, what's wrong?"

Wang Zhanggen didn't know why Liang Xinghua called him.

From the other end of the phone came Liang Xinghua's polite voice:

"Brother Changgen, good noon, just wanted to ask you something, if, I'm saying if, if I do the decoration myself, my house, how much money would it cost?"

Wang Zhanggen thought for a moment and answered honestly:

"If you decorate yourself, spending only material costs, then it shouldn't take much; simple decoration might be several tens of thousands of yuan, not exceeding one hundred thousand."

"Is that so..." Liang Xinghua nodded, "Then it's quite a bargain."

Wang Zhanggen then asked:

"If you decorate yourself, you need to have that skill; without skill you can't do this work. Have you done masonry before?"

Liang Xinghua showed a bitter smile:

"Never done it."

Wang Zhanggen said:

"Then you must not act recklessly, otherwise if you make a mess of it, others will laugh when they see it; you must first learn the skill before you can do the decoration."

Liang Xinghua asked at this time:

"Brother Changgen, can I learn from you?"

Wang Zhanggen was stunned:

"Aren't you working in Shenzhen? If you learn from me, you have to run back to Shanggou Village. Besides, I don't work at construction sites anymore; my body can't take it, I can't do that work."

Liang Xinghua then said truthfully:

"When I went down to Shenzhen yesterday, there was a traffic jam. I was late for work at the factory by over an hour, and then I was fired."

"Is that so..." Wang Zhanggen couldn't help but sympathize with Liang Xinghua, then said: "You can come back and learn from me, it's not impossible, but what about your wife and children? If you come back to learn from me, there's no salary."

Liang Xinghua then said:

"Let them go back to Shanggou Village too. The cost of living in Shenzhen is too high. I'm working alone, and I really can't support it anymore. If we're in the rural area, we can make a vegetable garden and grow some vegetables; expenses will be much lower."

Wang Zhanggen then thought of Zhou Hongwei, and thought of the house his family wanted to build.

So he said:

"How about I introduce you to a construction site to work? Start as a Small Worker, learn slowly, and once you've learned, you can decorate your own house yourself."

Hearing this, Liang Xinghua was immediately delighted and hurriedly thanked him:

"Thank you so much, Brother Changgen!"

Wang Zhanggen laughed and said:

"No need to thank me. We're all fellow villagers, but I must explain in advance: the salary for doing masonry work as a Small Worker in the rural area isn't as high as working in the city. According to current rates, a Small Worker makes one hundred yuan a day, and at most three thousand yuan a month."

Liang Xinghua laughed:

"It's fine. As long as I can learn a skill, three thousand yuan is more than enough to live on in the rural area!"

Liang Xinghua said excitedly:

"Then I'll go back tomorrow. How about that?"

Wang Zhanggen said:

"Alright, then come back tomorrow. I'll talk to my friend and have him bring you along."

Liang Xinghua was a bit worried and asked weakly:

"Will your friend be unwilling? After all, I'm a novice and don't understand anything."

Wang Zhanggen laughed:

"Why would he be unwilling? The next construction site he's doing is my family's new house. If I say I want you, there's no reason he wouldn't agree!"

Hearing this, Liang Xinghua completely put his mind at ease and thanked Wang Zhanggen again:

"Brother Changgen, thank you so much. Then my wife and children will pack up, and we'll go back to our hometown tomorrow!"

Liang Xinghua hung up Wang Zhanggen's phone and immediately told this good news to his wife Lan Menglian. After hearing it, Lan Menglian had a black face.

"What's good about going back to Shanggou Village? That mountain pass of a place, is it fit for humans to live in?"

Lan Menglian was also from a rural area. She had suffered enough of the hard days in the countryside, so she had desperately climbed into the city.

It was a pity that her education level was low, so in the city she could only work odd jobs.

Now that she had a child and needed to raise the child, she didn't even have a job and could only be a full-time mother. After all, Liang Xinghua's parents had both passed away, and her parents had to go take care of her brother's child, so they had no time to come over to her side.

"Sigh, what can be done? I've already been fired by the factory!"

Liang Xinghua sighed, looking worried, and then patiently persuaded her:

"Meng Lian, actually going back to the village isn't a bad thing. Brother Changgen said he'll introduce me to a masonry job. The salary isn't high, but I can learn a skill. Once I've learned the skill, we can decorate our own house and save a lot of money!"

Lan Menglian was still unwilling and said resentfully:

"You lost your job, and it's all because of Wang Zhanggen. If he hadn't asked you to go back to handle the homestead land confirmation procedures, you wouldn't have been late at all!"

Liang Xinghua smiled bitterly and sighed:

"This must be fate. Who would have thought that on a day that isn't even a holiday, there could be such a serious traffic jam?"

Then he patiently persuaded her again:

"Meng Lian, let's just go back. In Shenzhen, if we both work, we can barely get by. Now only I am working, and the pressure is too great. Even if I wasn't fired, I could barely hold on."

Lan Menglian said nothing. What else could she say?

In the current situation, indeed there was nothing else but to go back to the rural area.

Besides this, there was no other road to take.