Chapter 88

Director Wang looked up at Li Xuewu and asked, “Whose daughter is it? Where does she work?”

Li Xuewu chuckled and said, “Not settled yet, but where would a golden phoenix come from without a phoenix tree?”

Director Wang laughed and scolded, “You’re full of tricks, but I’ve got to warn you—don’t be reckless like before. Find a good girl and treat her right. If you can’t find one, come tell me—I’ll introduce you.”

Li Xuewu quickly clasped his hands together in plea: “Mom, don’t bring up my past—just help me find a construction team!”

I Have a Scroll of Ghost and God Records

Director Wang thought for a moment and said, “Some descendants of the former Construction Office live in this area. Though their family histories aren’t clean, they’re poor laborers who take on small home repair jobs. This won’t be hard—I’ll write you an address. Go see him, say I sent you.”

Li Xuewu happily replied, “Got it! Whoever you recommend is sure to be reliable.”

After sitting a while at his godmother’s house, he picked up the note and took his leave—he still needed to arrange things for Wen San’er and the others.

Leaving his godmother’s house, he turned left and right following the address, and after a long while finally found the place.

Before him stood a standalone courtyard.

He knocked on the door; a middle-aged woman answered, opening it to ask, “Comrade, who are you looking for?”

Li Xuewu checked the note and asked, “Is this Master Dou’s house? I’m here for repairs.”

The woman replied sweetly, “Yes, he’s home. Come in.”

Li Xuewu followed the woman into the courtyard and then into the house.

Sawdust littered the floors inside and out; along the walls leaned finished furniture and window frames—woodworking projects.

The house had three rooms; in the innermost room, a man sat on a wooden frame, planing wood. He looked up in surprise at Li Xuewu’s entrance.

The woman said, “Husband, this comrade is here for you.”

Li Xuewu introduced himself: “Hello, I’m Li Xuewu from No. 95 Nanshuogu Alley. We’re planning to renovate our house. I asked my godmother at the street office, and she referred me to you.”

Master Dou, hearing he was referred by someone familiar, asked, “You mean…?”

Li Xuewu said, “Oh, Director Wang from the street office. I’m a security officer at the Rolling Steel Plant. The unit assigned me a house—four back rooms. I want to remodel them. My childhood friend has a small courtyard next to mine—we plan to build a warehouse for scrap collection.”

Hearing this solid connection, Master Dou immediately told his wife to bring tea.

Li Xuewu had other matters at noon and wouldn’t waste time—he proposed going right away to inspect the house and finalize the construction plan.

Master Dou packed a notebook, ruler, and pencil and followed Li Xuewu out; they each rode bicycles to Li’s place.

At the courtyard, Li Xuewu returned the milk powder and bottle to the room, then took Master Dou to inspect the site.

Master Dou measured the house dimensions, examined the structure, then followed Aunt Da and Li Xuewu to the west annex, measuring again.

After studying it for a long while, Master Dou said he’d return to draw plans, calculate materials, recruit workers, and finalize the schedule—comparing it to the design Li Xuewu had approved. Once Li Xuewu was satisfied, construction could begin.

Li Xuewu naturally wanted it done as soon as possible. The three inspected the timber—it was sufficient.

Master Dou pointed to the back rooms: “The roof doesn’t need repair. First, build window and door frames. Work inside the house—block the windows, light a fire inside. Three days will finish it. Turn four rooms into three—demolish one wall while building the next. Keep the fire burning constantly—it won’t weaken the structure. The walls and floors stay warm. When you do interior finishes, the masonry and work will dry faster.”

Seeing Aunt Da was also a carpenter, Master Dou hesitated and asked, “Will you handle the carpentry yourself, or want me to do it all?”

Li Xuewu thought it better to keep the work unified and spare Aunt Da the labor—he said, “Full package. I’ve only prepared timber. Whatever else you need, get it yourself. I’ll arrange the heating system inside.”

Li Xuewu planned to install heating in the back rooms because they received little sunlight and were dark and damp—without it, illness would spread.

Master Dou said, “Fine. I’ll return to design and draft the plan. We’ll discuss pricing after I finish.”

With that, Master Dou mounted his bicycle and left.

After greeting Aunt Da, Li Xuewu rode his bicycle, turned several corners down the alley, and arrived at Wen San’er’s house in over twenty minutes.

The gate was locked—he had to climb the wall again.

If this kept up, he’d eventually get caught by the little-foot guerrillas—and his face would be ruined.

Entering the courtyard, he saw a burlap sack tossed by the gate, paid no mind—apparently they’d sold off a whole sack of goods.

Inside the house, the four were snoring loudly—they’d slept barely three hours.

He didn’t wake Shen Guodong and the others, only roused Wen San’er.

Wen San’er sat up grumbling: “I told you not to call me Third Uncle—you said you’d rely on me, count on me—but you’re just using me like a dog! No sleep at night, no sleep by day!”

Li Xuewu was half-laughing, half-furious. He looked at Wen San’er and said, “Fine. If I can’t be your dog, tomorrow Shen Guodong takes charge.” He reached for the satchel under the pillow.

Wen San’er lunged like a hunting dog, pouncing on the pillow: “Hey, you’re serious? I was just joking! Who said I didn’t want to be a dog? Woof woof woof!”

Li Xuewu gave him a disgusted glance, tossed him a cigarette, and said, “Enough nonsense. Tell me how the sales went.”

Wen San’er patted his satchel, didn’t light the cigarette, just held it between his lips, grinning: “Man, it was insane! We worked straight through till 6 a.m. this morning—if dawn hadn’t come, we wouldn’t have stopped!”

Li Xuewu had checked the west room when he arrived—indeed, two-thirds of the goods were gone.

In the space, all dry goods were gone except what he’d reserved for himself: potatoes, radishes, cabbage, rice, flour, cornmeal, six dumb roe deer, furs, ribbonfish, and river fish.

Bring another truckload tonight, sell it fast—free up time to renovate the west courtyard into a scrap collection station.

At minimum, connect the outer courtyard to the west annex. Later, let them live with me in the back rooms.

Wen San’er’s pigeon market must be phased out gradually. We can’t keep doing this point-to-point—we need our own network.

Li Xuewu was rushing to raise money partly to secure futures for the guys, because the night market will be affected next year.

Second reason: our household may have no income next year—we can’t leave ourselves unprepared.

Third: without money and goods, we’ll miss out on all those good things next year—they’re treasures, pure wealth.

Li Xuewu told Wen San’er everything agreed upon with the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and the street office, and outlined the next steps.

Wen San’er jumped with joy—who wouldn’t be happy to become official? So what if we collect scrap? Better than being a street loafer with no job.

Li Xuewu pulled out the ledger he’d kept since collecting pears, ready to calculate shares and profit splits.

First, the original capital: Wen San’er and the three others contributed 1,160 yuan and two bicycles. Of that, 450 yuan was Li Xuewu’s pig money.

When collecting pears, Li Xuewu added another 550 yuan. Pear purchases totaled 1,375 yuan. At the agreed price, pear profits should be 4,050 yuan.

Now we’ve reinvested into local specialties—projected profit should be 2,393 yuan.

Add the 120 yuan in cash, the 300 round logs for the scrap station, and the pear profits—after clearing all inventory, total assets now stand at 7,054.5 yuan and 300 round logs.