In the future, theyâll be running back and forth between the two cities, and taking the train every time is too troublesome. Lin Wan being alone, he isnât reassured.
Itâs already agreed that after the new year starts, theyâll go buy a car to bring back.
Nothing, no matter how good, can compare to oneâs own home.
After all the hustle over the past few days, upon returning home, Lin Wan happily jumps onto her own big bed.
Two days after returning, Han Yi takes her and the child to visit relatives.
His motherâs family had a good celebration because his mother-in-law was sick and didnât have time to bother them.
Hu Dong and Lijuan made a lot of money selling melon seeds and candy during the new year. They even bought a new TV for the house.
Grandma, aside from her legs being weak, was doing pretty well otherwise. This year, her uncle and aunt stayed with her at her cousinâs house for the holidays.
After the tenth, Lin Wan and Han Yi didnât leave the house.
Ning Jiang and Shi Lan also stayed behind; mainly because Shi Lan was far along in her pregnancy, they didnât dare to carry large bags on the road.
According to Shi Lan, her mother-in-law is coming over in a couple of days, specifically to take care of her.
Which is quite nice. In another half a year, Ning Jiang and Han Yi will graduate.
She will graduate too. The long road of studying is finally about to end.
"...Hongqi, your dad not coming home for New Yearâs is one thing, but now Lin Guozhiâs family has left, hurry up and make him come back." After Lin Guozhiâs family left, Li Xinghua secretly ran off to call her son.
Li Hongqi had just managed to coax his wife, and now a call comes. Heâs quite annoyed at the moment. "Mom, I found Dad. Heâs not with me." Li Hongqi didnât dare to tell Li Xinghua about the fight between him and his dad.
"Heâs back? When did he come back? Havenât seen him this New Year, where did he disappear again?"
"Who knows? With some money in his hands, heâs always running around aimlessly." Li Hongqi feels a bit guilty; his dad was quite seriously hurt when he left that day.
Didnât return for New Year, where could he be?
"Ignore him, whether he comes back or not. If he doesnât, itâs just perfect." Li Xinghua is now in the village, fitting right in, and doesnât care about Li Fugui, the useless guy.
Ye Weijun came over to her place yesterday, and after they had finished, he bragged about his daughter marrying an officer. Said that when he came back, his son-in-law even gave him two hundred yuan.
Li Xinghua sneered at this; everyone in the village knows that Ye Weijun is blinded by jealousy, being a drunk isnât enough, and now he has learned to boast.
Li Xinghua isnât foolish either. Sleeping with her isnât for free; on the spot, she coaxed Ye Weijun into giving her some money.
Who would have thought Ye Weijun would be so stingy? Despite all the coaxing, he only gave her five yuan, which wasnât even enough to cover the cost of the drinks and meat for entertaining him that night.
Relying on these village men, Li Xinghua has secretly saved quite a bit of money. Occasionally, her son and daughter visit her and give her some money, and she lives quite comfortably these days, hoping Li Fugui doesnât come back.
Later, when village people asked Li Xinghua where her Li Fugui was,
Li Xinghua always replied with "No idea where heâs died off to," making the villagers laugh uproariously.
No one really cared about this; they just thought Li Fugui truly feared that Lin Guozhi would come looking for him to settle accounts and ran off leaving the family behind.
...
After the new year, Han Yi returned to school on time.
Lin Wan, alone with the child, also became busy. The store they bought recently is already under renovation.
The designer her aunt found is actually pretty good, fitting their style well and ahead of its time. Such renovations wonât seem outdated even after twenty years.
Mom told her that this designer is a young girl.
On Momâs end, the project duration is pretty long. Building a structure could take at least half a year.
Her part, although connecting with the row at the back, will also take time to build.
At minimum, the construction time is around three to four months. Itâs colder after New Year compared to Z City, and starting the construction at her place will require waiting until April or May.
This matter canât be rushed and has to be taken slowly. Over the past few days, she, along with Yin Peibai and Su Ling, have been selecting a site in the east.
Lin Wan recalls that this place holds many big operations in later times. Thinking about future planning, Lin Wan chose a spot close to the main road.
Two hundred meters ahead is an intersection, making the place quite prominent for traveling.
Not long after they chose, a neighboring plot was already recruited.
Luckily, they were timely. Just this plot cost them a hundred thousand yuan.
They can pay off in three years, initially paying five thousand yuan.
The rest is for planning the factory. Lin Wan asked Mom to find that designer to estimate the costs.
Building a factory will cost at least a hundred thousand yuan. Following Lin Wanâs requirements, itâs to be a two-story L-shaped building with its corner dedicated as an office area.
At the entrance is a large clothing showroom, similar to a clothing store. Those merchants coming to the factory can look at their styles, and they sell retail regularly as well.
Kind of like a factory store.
Buying land and building will cost roughly over two hundred thousand. Over these two years, Yin Peibai and Su Ling have earned close to twenty thousand yuan alongside her.
Profits from the past two years have totaled over forty thousand and have been circulating until now; Lin Wan didnât distribute it. The land purchase used five thousand from this pool.
Su Ling took two thousand, Yin Peibai took two thousand, and Lin Wan took six thousand. So, their original contract didnât count, and the three discussed and resigned a new one.
This new one still has Lin Wan benefiting the most.
Of course, the factory design is entirely left to that young girl designer.
During this period, aside from preparing spring and summer clothes, Lin Wan went to the winery every week to have Brother Jianye teach her to drive.
Although itâs a big truck, Lin Wan shows no hesitation when driving. In these times, with few cars around, finding an open space to drive is easy. As long as one isnât idiotic, one can drive.
"I said we should leave him without worry; you insisted on leaving it with your mother-in-law." In May, Han Yi mentioned he had a week off.
Lin Wan had honed her driving skills well, and the two were considering going to S City to buy a car.
Originally they thought of going to Shanghai, but it was too far, and they wouldnât have time to go back and forth.
Pressed for time, Lin Wan didnât plan on taking Little Star, so she has to let her mother-in-law watch over for a few days.
Shi Lan was pregnant at the time and considered leaving Little Star at her place. Her mother-in-law was there to help watch over,
"Aunt Ning has to handle the sauce every day, and look after you, whereâs the time? My mother-in-law said she took sick leave and can help me for a few days." Shi Lanâs mother-in-law treats her quite well; the mother-daughter-in-law relationship is also decent.
Since coming here, occasionally when Lin Wan is busy, Aunt Ning considers her and sends over some food for her and the child.
Shi Lan swells with pregnancy and canât work, so Aunt Ning handles all the sauce-making work herself. Shi Lan, like a princess, doesnât do anything.
Lin Wan feels that Shi Lan is quite blessed with such a good mother-in-law.
Shi Lan unconcernedly shakes her head, "My parents-in-law are great, and the brother-in-law is good too, but my sister-in-law is worrisome. When Ah Jiang asked my mother-in-law to come, my sister-in-law threw fits at home for several days."
Lin Wan blinks, thinking to herself that every family has its hard-to-recite scripture. Letâs not dwell on this.
Lin Wan went to Z City a day early; she needed to meet the architect first and take the factory design plans.
"Her family has a large courtyard. Mom will take you to her house later. I just talked with her mom on the phone, and sheâs home today,"
"Mom, you have a friend in the courtyard?" Lin Wan jokes with her mom after coming out from freshening up.
"Iâm getting houses designed by the young girl, and over time, we became familiar. I chit-chat with her mom too. Her momâs a university professor."
Mom having someone to talk to here also makes Lin Wan happy.
Mom brings goods from S City to the Ying family.
To a not-so-far two-and-a-half story small building in the same row.
Speaking of which, architects for sure are architects; their courtyard is paved with cobblestones, with a fenced vegetable garden and flowers on the other side.
Lin Wan sees the designer is about her age, fair-skinned, clean and neat. At such a young age, sheâs already an architect, designing buildings that are not only attractive but also practical.
"Sister Yun, this is my daughter, Lin Wan. Xiao Wan, this is your Aunt Yun, and this is Han. Sister Yun, how old is your Han Han?"
"Just turned twenty this year."
"Oh, a few years younger than my Xiao Wan."