Chapter 79

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

The next day, Lin Dajun brought Zhou Hongwei over to start work, and discovered that the road in front of Yang Xiaocai's house had really already been connected; only then did he believe Li Xiulan's words.

However, at this moment he discovered yet another unexpected situation.

Li Xiulan had injured her waist, and her work efficiency was far lower than before.

Most importantly, she was completely unable to do heavy labor.

Besides doing light work like mixing mortar and sifting sand, a small worker also needs to carry the mixed cement mortar and the red bricks from outside the house into the construction site; these are all heavy tasks requiring strength.

Now Li Xiulan was completely unable to do these kinds of tasks.

If she carried two buckets of cement mortar, she would be holding her waist, cold sweat pouring out in pain.

Lin Dajun noticed something was off, so he asked her what was going on:

"Xiulan, what's wrong with you?"

Li Xiulan's wax-yellow face tinged with paleness revealed a bitter smile:

"It's nothing, nothing, I'm doing just fine."

She used clumsy acting to try to forcibly conceal her pain, but it was all seen by Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei.

"If you're sick and can't do the work, don't force yourself; recover first. If it really won't work, I'll go find another small worker for this side."

Lin Dajun spoke like this.

"Finding a small worker would cost quite a bit more money; me doing the small worker job is fine."

Li Xiulan forced herself to hold on.

She simply didn't want to spend more money.

Save a bit wherever she could.

Because her money was originally not enough to build a two-story building, she had to be thrifty in every aspect.

"You can't go on like this; it'll delay the construction progress!"

Lin Dajun's expression was serious as he spoke.

Li Xiulan could only smile bitterly and explain:

"This waist injury of mine is a minor matter; I've already seen a doctor, it'll be better in a few days! It won't delay too much time!"

Seeing he couldn't persuade Li Xiulan, Lin Dajun could only sigh and compromise.

After all, she was the true owner of this construction site, while he was merely a hired worker.

"Alright, alright, do as much as you can, don't force yourself; I'll have Hongwei help you with the heavy work."

Lin Dajun turned to Zhou Hongwei and said:

"Hongwei, after Xiulan mixes the mortar, you go help her carry it over; she has a waist injury, so you'll have to trouble yourself these few days."

Although Zhou Hongwei felt some displeasure in his heart — having a big worker do a small worker's job without earning double pay, what a loss — he still agreed in the end.

"Hongwei, thank you!"

When Li Xiulan finished mixing the cement sand and Zhou Hongwei came to carry it, Li Xiulan expressed her thanks to him, but he was expressionless:

"Don't say those empty pleasantries; you should just spend the money to hire another small worker. Don't think that because I'm helping you carry cement sand now you've gained something. I'm telling you, you're actually losing big time. Using a big worker as a small worker means you not only have to pay me big worker wages, but it'll also delay the construction progress. Tell me, are you losing out or not?"

Li Xiulan smiled bitterly, unable to say anything.

She calculated in her heart, and it really was exactly the case.

But then she thought again that she should be better in a few days.

Hiring another small worker is easy, but sending them away later won't be easy; as the saying goes, inviting a god is easy, sending a god away is hard. Long-term adding a small worker versus short-term using a big worker as a small worker — obviously the latter is more cost-effective.

Li Xiulan knew Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei were both not too happy inside, so to please them, at noon today when she made lunch, she specially killed a chicken to treat them.

Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei saw Li Xiulan was so thoughtful, and only then did their sullen moods dissipate a little.

"Say, how come I've never seen your husband?"

While eating, Zhou Hongwei looked at the three kids wolfing down their food and casually asked this question.

In his eyes, these three children were all quite pitiful; none were young anymore, but they were all dirty all over, noisy and rowdy while eating, getting oil all over their hands and mouths. It was obvious they lacked a father's discipline, resulting in no upbringing, not knowing many manners.

But in the countryside, kids like this were too common. Back then, many rural kids were raised free-range like monkeys, especially boys, who were even more full of wild nature, incomparably mischievous.

"My husband works in the city."

Li Xiulan lowered her head eating rice and replied with this sentence.

Seeing Wang Dashan beside her holding a chicken head and playing with it, Li Xiulan scolded sharply:

"Eat properly, believe it or not I'll hit you!"

Wang Dashan stuck out his tongue, bit off the chicken comb, and threw the chicken head into Wang Erhai's bowl.

Wang Erhai was unhappy:

"I don't want it! You take it away!"

Wang Dashan egged on Wang Erhai: "Give it to Third Brother; Third Brother loves eating chicken heads the most!"

Wang Erhai threw the chicken head into Wang Xiaohua's bowl; Wang Xiaohua looked aggrieved but didn't dare speak.

Because he was afraid that as soon as he spoke, once Mom went to work, Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai would gang up and beat him.

As they grew older, Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai became increasingly naughty; they hadn't beaten Wang Xiaohua a few times.

In a family lacking discipline, the youngest child being bullied is a common phenomenon.

"Which city does he work in? Yangcheng? Pengcheng? Dongguan?"

Zhou Hongwei continued chatting idly.

"I'm not too clear on it either; he didn't tell me."

Li Xiulan spoke honestly.

Lin Dajun couldn't help but remind her:

"You actually didn't even ask about this? Your heart is too big!"

Li Xiulan's face showed embarrassment:

"Hehe, as long as he can send money home, no matter where he works, it's actually all the same."

Li Xiulan's only concern for Wang Zhanggen now was waiting for him to send money home.

However, the fact was that Wang Zhanggen hadn't sent money home for over half a year.

She thought she would wait until after lunch, then go to the Village Entrance Convenience Store to make a call and ask Wang Zhanggen what exactly was going on, whether he had taken his salary to raise another woman again.

Just as she was thinking this, at this moment, urgent footsteps came from outside.

She looked up and saw, to her shock, that it was Li Yunxia from the Village Entrance Convenience Store who had come.

"Sister-in-law Xiulan, come quickly to answer the phone!"

Li Yunxia was panting heavily, her face full of urgency.

"What's going on?" Li Xiulan's face was full of stunned puzzlement.

"Your maternal home's people called, saying your mother has a big thing happen!"

As soon as Li Yunxia's words fell, Li Xiulan's delicate body trembled, then she stood up with a whoosh.

She hurriedly put down her bowl and chopsticks, then hurriedly followed Li Yunxia running to the Village Entrance Convenience Store.

The one who called was Li Xiulan's eldest brother, Li Yaozu.

"Our mother fainted a few days ago suddenly, was taken to the hospital for an inspection, discovered it's late-stage cancer, days are probably not many left, you these two days find time to go home once!"

Li Yaozu's tone was flat but carried some vicissitudes.

Li Xiulan's parents gave birth to three children in total, two males and one female; besides eldest brother Li Yaozu, Li Xiulan also had a second brother Li Jiahao.

Her eldest brother and second brother were both several years older than her, and had long since married and had children; their children were all in junior high school and high school.

Ever since marrying Wang Zhanggen, Li Xiulan had been busy with her own family's livelihood and taking care of children, rarely returning to her maternal home; generally only during Spring Festival would she visit and return once, the rest of the time basically never went back.

Last year during Spring Festival visit, her mother was still quite spirited.

Never expected now such a piece of bad news would come; for Li Xiulan this was nothing short of a bolt from the blue.

"Okay okay, I'll go back tomorrow!"

Li Xiulan didn't ask much, directly saying she would go back tomorrow.

Because she knew, many things on the phone in a few words couldn't be explained clearly.

Mother got a serious illness, no matter what she must go back to take a look.