Chapter 61, Second Installment

In Lin Xuexia’s eyes, the only problem with Sun Jindou’s restaurant was that it was filthy, messy, and poorly run. Because business was sluggish, Sun Jindou had no heart to manage it, leaving the staff undisciplined and the kitchen in complete chaos, covered in layers of grease. With the low temperatures of January, unwashed pots were caked with hardened grease, making the whole place utterly repulsive.

Lin Xuexia rented the shop primarily to save money, and the space was large enough; the decoration could barely be managed with some tidying up, but she needed to completely remodel the kitchen. Out of the more than one hundred square meters, at least half had to be the kitchen. The dining area didn't need to be too large, but it had to be clean and neat.

She re-planned the kitchen and two pickup windows herself, and when she showed her "doodled sketch" to Fu Wei, he was so exasperated by her rough drawing that it made his blood boil.

"You're pregnant and still tossing about every day. Can't you give me some peace of mind?" Fu Wei had recently been swamped with construction site work and was tied up with the land purchase procedures. With the end of the year approaching and Chinese New Year just around the corner, many construction projects had to be rushed and finished, after which he still had to settle accounts and pay everyone's wages.

Currently, Fu Wei was spinning like a top, feeling like a production brigade donkey whipped by his young wife's small leather riding crop over and over again.

Deep down, Fu Wei wasn't too thrilled about the land purchase because he genuinely felt he was getting a raw deal on it. Buying land and building houses over there, and then having to find tenants... Just thinking about it gave him a splitting headache.

Of course, what he cared about had nothing to do with money. Fu Wei was not a particularly money-driven person to begin with. Most of the substantial earnings they had previously made were wired by him to the families of fallen comrades, a habit that had caused considerable dissatisfaction among others. After all, the money was earned by the living, and the living still needed to go on with their lives—getting married, having children, and building houses—all of which required money.

After this year ended, he did not plan to wire any more money, intending to keep it as dividends for his subordinate brothers so everyone could have a bountiful year—except for him.

He had found himself a spendthrift little wife.

She was dedicated to spending every last cent of his money.

Who could blame him when he was willing to do it of his own accord?

Fu Wei harbored a secret, mischievous thought: next year when the houses were built and couldn't be rented out, or if the management fell into chaos, would his wife Lin Xuexia tearfully fling herself into his arms and say, "Hubby, I was wrong"?

He would step in to clean up the mess. Actually, once these houses were built, as long as they sold even a third of them, it wouldn't be considered a loss—just a modest profit. They hadn't taken out any loans to build the houses and buy the land, so they weren't in a rush to recover their funds.

Lin Xuexia smiled and said, "I want to finish the renovation and open before the New Year. I don't want my mom and the others to keep setting up stalls on the roadside in this cold weather."

Roadside stalls yielded high profits, but they were hard on the body. Especially when it was windy or rainy, it was hard-earned money.

Having her own shop would be much more comfortable, though the rent was high and the pedestrian traffic might not be as heavy as that around the agricultural market. However, there were many office buildings nearby, and Lin Xuexia was considering a boxed-lunch delivery service.

"Having a place to shield you from the wind and rain is always more comfortable."

Compared to men, women had a natural, fervent passion for buying land and building houses, yearning to own a place of their own to shelter from the elements.

When Zhang Yuqin learned that her daughter and son-in-law had bought a plot of land, desolate as it currently was, she used her salary to buy a bicycle and rode it like a minor landowner every day to inspect that wasteland, occasionally measuring it out with her footsteps.

Her daughter had moved her household registration away, leaving behind no fields or land in their hometown, yet out here, she managed to secure a piece of land. Even if it only had a fifty-year lease, and even after fifty years when the lease expired, the house on the land would still belong to the original owner.

Nowadays, the land contracting agreements in their hometown were only signed for ten or fifteen years at a time anyway. It was much the same; once land was contracted, things basically didn't change drastically.

"If you don't have time, introduce me to an acquaintance who can do it well, just a simple decoration will do," Lin Xuexia knew Fu Wei was busy at the end of the year, and since she was pregnant and had nothing much to do, she took the initiative to hug and kiss him. "Trust your wife; I'll definitely lead you to make a fortune."

Fu Wei: "..."

"Are you treating me like your husband, or as your construction site foreman? Am I your client?"

Lin Xuexia suppressed a smile: "Comrade Fu, you are my husband, the locomotive of our household."

"And also my very own exclusive little foreman."

Reborn for another lifetime, Lin Xuexia still had many things she wanted to accomplish. She didn't just want to collect rent and make money, nor was she merely opening a fast-food joint; she also wanted to open high-end restaurants, grand hotels, and eventually a seaside resort hotel.

That Boss Sun had mentioned that the "Bailixiang" restaurant across the street liked to poach other people's chefs. Lin Xuexia was quite curious if she could poach their chefs right back.

"Once we get through this busy period, we'll have a proper New Year." Fu Wei was now counting down the days on the calendar, wishing he could finish all the work on his hands and stay home to spend more time with his wife.

"Mmm."

*

Several hundred miles away, in the Lin family household.

Zheng Qiaoli and her husband received a thorough beating. The ones who beat them were none other than her brother-in-law, Lin Yongfu. Zheng Qiaoli’s hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and the left side of her face was red and swollen. "He's crazy! He's completely crazy!"

Lin Yongfu and Zhang Yuqin’s divorce had shocked the entire village, leaving everyone in utter disbelief. How could there possibly be a woman in their village who dared to divorce? Zhang Yuqin had left with all three daughters?

Didn't Lin Yongfu’s eldest daughter bring home a wealthy husband? They had set off so many fireworks at night, so why had she divorced and left the very next day?

Lin Yongfu refused to believe that Zhang Yuqin would really leave. For the first three days after they left, he still thought Zhang Yuqin had secretly rented a place in town—don't think he didn't know that Zhang Yuqin had previously discussed renting a place in town with Lin Yuexia... Lin Yongfu went mad looking for people in town. He searched for more than ten days, but he couldn't find Zhang Yuqin anywhere in town.

Then he went to the county seat to look. Their daughter, Lin Yuxia, had already transferred schools. He couldn't find anyone; he had asked all over the county town, but there was no trace of Zhang Yuqin. She had left with her daughter and never returned.

Liu Xigui also refused to reveal Zhang Yuqin’s current situation, only saying that she was doing quite well with her daughters and told him not to worry.

Lin Yongfu was panicked and filled with deep regret. To this day, he found it hard to accept reality. Day after day at home, he did nothing—he ignored the fields, neglected the land, and had no desire to do anything or summon any energy for anything.

Just at that moment, his sister-in-law Zheng Qiaoli brought a widow to their doorstep, trying to set him up with her and claiming that this widow had a son, so marrying her would ensure he could carry on his family line.

"A woman like Zhang Yuqin who couldn't even bear a son—now that she's divorced, good riddance. Do you really think they'll have a good life going into the city?"

"That son-in-law of yours is no ordinary person; there's no way his family would ever accept Xuexia as a daughter-in-law."

"Oh my, you're still daydreaming. They're probably out there begging for food in the city..."

"This widow has a son; she's much better than those three ungrateful daughters of yours. No matter how many daughters you raise, they're just money-losing goods, one after another."

...

Lin Yongfu picked up a carrying pole and drove Zheng Qiaoli out with blows. "If you dare talk nonsense again, I'll beat you to death! You want me to marry a widow? Why don't you go die instead? Once you're dead, let my brother marry a widow—see how you like it!"

"Your daughters are the money-losing goods, you damned bitch!"

Zheng Qiaoli took a couple of strikes from his pole and was practically dazed from the beating. This usually meek and submissive brother-in-law actually dared to lay a hand on her.

Furious, she ran into the courtyard and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Murder! Murder! Lin Fujia, get out here right now and look—your younger brother is murdering people!"

Lin Fujia snatched up a sickle and charged in, bellowing menacingly, "Lin Yongfu, what kind of madness are you on?"

Seeing this, Lin Yongfu wasn't scared at all. He realized that right now, he genuinely had nothing left to fear. Aside from himself, there was nothing left in that house; what else did he have to worry about?

So he picked up his stick and gave Lin Fujia a beating as well. The more he struck, the greater the surge of satisfaction in his chest.

He discovered that this older brother, who had lorded over him and acted like a tyrant all these years, wasn't anything special at all. Beating him didn't take much effort.

Lin Fujia took a blow from the stick right on his backside, howling in pain, and his grip on the sickle loosened. Lin Yongfu struck his wrist, swelling it up instantly, and Lin Fujia yelled anxiously, "Are you out of your mind? What do you think you're doing?"

Lin Yongfu's eyes were bloodshot. "What do I think I'm doing? I want to beat you to death! I have no wife and no daughters left, I have nothing left at all! What else is there for me to fear? What else?!"

As he spoke, he rained down blows. Over on the side, watching her husband get beaten, Zheng Qiaoli let out a frantic shriek, too terrified to step forward, and ran back into the house to call for Li Yinhua.

Li Yinhua came out to take a look, and just as she was about to unleash a torrent of abuse, Lin Yongfu lunged toward her brandishing his stick. "Mother, if you dare say one more word to me, I'll drag you down to the netherworld so you can serve your ancestors properly down there! If you think living with me is such a misery, I'll die and take you along to enjoy the afterlife!"

Li Yinhua shrieked in terror and scrambled back into her room, not daring to come out again. This son of hers had truly gone mad.

After Lin Fujia and Zheng Qiaoli suffered a severe beating, their son returned shortly after. Hearing that his parents had been beaten, he was instantly consumed by rage and rushed over to confront his uncle Lin Yongfu, only to be beaten black and blue by the reckless Lin Yongfu as well.

The villagers were more than happy to watch the spectacle; not a single person stepped forward to help. They just stood on the sidelines making sarcastic remarks: "This is just family business within the Lin family."

Lin Yongfu, you're quite something. Your older brother's entire family can't even beat you alone."

"Your big brother raised three useless trash sons."

When Lin Yongfu first started beating Zheng Qiaoli, it was merely a flash of uncontrolled fury; when Lin Fujia charged out with a sickle, he was forced into self-defense; and when Li Yinhua rushed out, Lin Yongfu's eyes turned red and he genuinely intended to drag them down with him... But when the three nephews rushed over, he ended up beating up the entire neighboring household.

——And he discovered that absolutely nothing happened to him at all.