Chapter 61: Gathering seafood and fishing isn't a long-term plan, so we need to buy a boat

Mei Yueqin saw Wu An holding a stack of red bills with her own eyes, instantly beaming; she didn't even mention going to sell fish, asking, "What will we eat tonight?"

"Let's kill two to make a meal," Wu An thought, then said: "Sister-in-law, you haven't been back to your parents' home in a while; take the remaining two fish back."

"Using these fish as a gift should be fine, what do you think?"

"I'll listen to you." Mei Yueqin nodded, saying: "We'll go tomorrow; tomorrow is Saturday, your brother has the day off."

Because Wu An injured someone and ended up in the hospital, also took out a high-interest loan, the family really had no money to settle the matter, Mei Yueqin also didn't dare return to her parents' home, fearing to hear her relatives nag about unpleasant things.

Now Wu An has reformed, she can happily return to her parents' home; the main point is to go back to help Wu An scout out which family has a suitable young woman.

Wu An was about to help clean the grouper when his phone rang; it was the foreman calling.

Upon learning it was the foreman from the construction team coming to inspect repairs on the old house, Mei Yueqin hurriedly said: "Go ahead and get busy."

"Wait, find Uncle Meng to go with you."

"You're young and inexperienced; don't let people see your youth and take advantage of you."

Wu An nodded; the sister-in-law made sense. He went out and saw Uncle Meng still sitting at the doorway smoking and playing on his phone, greeted him briefly about the matter, then Uncle Meng closed the door and followed him.

The contractor surnamed Li greeted him; after exchanging greetings, Foreman Li walked around the old house once and said: "You're planning to replace the two windows and the door, right?"

Wu An pointed to the roof: "Also the roof, the tiles need to be reinforced."

After listening, Foreman Li borrowed a ladder, climbed up to have a look, and said: "Your house isn't big, but fixing it up will need quite a bit of money."

Wu An remained silent.

Foreman Li took out a ruler, measured the dimensions, then scribbled in his notebook, saying: "The two windows plus the door will cost at least around three thousand."

"Adding the roof tiles brings it to five thousand."

Wu An didn't respond, but asked: "What kind of windows?"

Foreman Li: "Just ordinary windows."

Wu An shook his head, saying: "That won't do; I want good doors and windows, they need to be broken-bridge aluminum."

He had searched on his phone and also inquired at shops selling doors and windows in town.

Foreman Li said: "Little brother, that price would be high; I estimate that fixing it up will cost at least eight thousand."

Wu An: "How long will it take to get it done?"

"I want it as soon as possible."

Foreman Li's eyes lit up: "If you can confirm today, I'll measure right away, production will be ready in about five days, and installation will take one day."

"At most six days."

"I can arrange people to reinforce the roof tomorrow."

"That can be done in two days as well."

Wu An looked toward Lao Meng.

Mainly Lao Meng and Foreman Li were talking; he was putting forward the requirements, but he didn't understand the pricing, while Lao Meng naturally knew more than he did.

Lao Meng isn't an expert, but in the village, whenever anyone builds or repairs a house, they ask around about the price, so after a while he knows roughly.

This market situation isn't fixed either; it changes with the market—for example, last year renovation material prices were high, so building a house naturally cost more.

If building a house this year, one could save several ten thousand.

After Lao Meng finished talking with the person, he turned and asked: "A An, are you sure you want such high-end doors and windows? For your dilapidated house, you don't really need them, do you?"

Wu An shook his head: "We do need them; this area gets hit by several typhoons every year."

Lao Meng saw he was paying attention, so he didn't say more; he called Wu Yingwei, who had no objections, and finally they settled on a time with Foreman Li.

Wu An paid a deposit of one thousand.

The deposit isn't much.

Foreman Li didn't say much either; he wasn't worried, after so many years in the business, no one has ever owed him this money.

After another half hour of work, Foreman Li recorded the measurement data, then rode off on his motorcycle.

Wu An and Lao Meng chatted as they returned home; Wu Ping had also come back.

Although the village school is small, there's plenty to do; furthermore, Wu Ping is warm-hearted—whenever someone speaks up, he'll surely agree, so he's busy from early morning until late night at school every day.

Even though there's no official staffing, his presence can be seen everywhere inside and outside the school.

In outsiders' words, he stands out.

Among family, no one would say that; when Wu Yingwei gets busy, it's even more exaggerated than Wu Ping.

Wu An greeted: "Brother, what are you busy with?"

Wu Ping, without looking up, said: "I'm preparing some teaching materials for the students' experiments."

Mei Yueqin came out of the kitchen, saying: "Just busy all day for nothing."

Wu Ping didn't dare talk back.

Wu An found it amusing; it's only natural for the sister-in-law to hold some resentment, but she only says a couple of words—actually she still strongly supports the elder brother's work.

It wasn't until after seven in the evening that Wu Yingwei returned home.

Wu An hurriedly went to invite Lao Meng.

Today we used someone else's car; no matter what, it's a personal favor, and given the relationship between the two families, treating them to a drink is sufficient.

While drinking and chatting, the conversation naturally turned to work.

Wu Yingwei suddenly said: "There's a factory in town hiring workers; if you have time, go check it out tomorrow."

Wu Ping's face lit up with joy.

Even though Dad says he won't help on the surface, he actually still cares.

He looked toward Wu An.

Wu An shook his head: "No need."

Wu Yingwei furrowed his brow.

Mei Yueqin said: "Dad, the second son definitely has his own plans."

Wu Yingwei snorted coldly: "What plans?"

"Going out to gather seafood and fish?"

"How could that be a long-term plan?"

"Don't follow Lin Hu and Lin Bin's example."

Today Lin Bin and Lin Hu came to blows, sending people to the hospital; he came home so late today just to deal with this.

Wu An said: "Right, I also think this won't work; I plan to buy a boat and go out to sea."

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.

Wu Yingwei shook his head; Lao Meng, seeing the atmosphere wasn't good, quickly suggested drinking, stopped talking about work, and started chatting about repairing the old house.

Wu Yingwei asked: "Is the money enough?"

Wu An casually said: "Enough; I made tens of thousands today, and there's still some left."

Wu Yingwei: ……

Wu Ping:???

Mei Yueqin couldn't help but laugh twice.

To be fair,

Even such a small pretense feels somewhat secretly satisfying.

Lao Meng took a sip of wine, smacked his lips, and said: "We should go worship Mazu."

Mei Yueqin nodded: "Right, I need to go fulfill my vow."

Wu An asked: "Sister-in-law, what vow do you still have?"

Mei Yueqin said somewhat embarrassedly: "I prayed to Goddess Mazu to bless you to study well, and you really did study well."

"It's truly the blessing of Goddess Mazu."

Upon hearing this, Wu An felt a bit dazed; it seems he too should go worship Goddess Mazu.

Wu Yingwei and Wu Ping didn't say anything.

On their side, everyone believes in Goddess Mazu; Wu An's success in learning must be due to her blessing.