CHAPTER 37: CHAPTER 37: GOOD THINGS TAKE TIME

Chen Wenjun laughed, "Dad, our money is just enough, we don’t need yours!"

Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if a big weight had been lifted from his heart, and asked naively, "How much?"

"Over four thousand!" Lin Qin replied crisply.

Lin Yi couldn’t help but take a deep breath, "Over four thousand! My goodness! This much money could build a small Western-style house in the village, and you could even lease several hundred acres of land!"

Seeing Lin Yi’s distress over the money, Lin Qin immediately explained, "Dad! The situation is different. The price they’re offering is quite fair. Once we get the property certificate, we’ll get ready to clear the land and build a house. We’ll talk about everything else later."

The moment they talked about building a house, Lin Yi indeed stopped worrying about the cost of the land.

Instead, he began lamenting about not being able to help.

Lin Qin didn’t want to hear it, so she turned away to fish further back.

Chen Wenjun, on the other hand, excitedly said, "Why don’t we go check out the abandoned island now? The tractor can’t get there; we’ll have to clear it by hand."

"Manual clearing is fine, the land is so big that even if we clean it all at once, we can’t plant it all. Let’s first choose a suitable place to build the house." Lin Yi was full of enthusiasm, pumped up and ready to start working.

When the boat reached the shore.

Lin Yi was carried off the boat by Chen Wenjun, with the two children wearing new clothes and holding hands following along.

As soon as Lin Yi entered the open space, he asked Chen Wenjun to put him down. He looked at the vast land in front of him in amazement, "It’s much bigger than I imagined! The slopes on the sides can be tidied up to grow fruit trees, and it’s good for vegetables as well. The area close to the opening is convenient for drawing water; how about we dig a paddy field and plant grains, and build a house in the middle?"

Lin Yi casually picked up a branch and limped towards the middle.

Chen Wenjun was worried he might fall, so he kept supporting his arm.

But Lin Yi didn’t care about that and instructed Lin Qin, "Go back to Shanglin Village and bring over all the hoes and rakes from home. We can start working tomorrow."

"Dad! Don’t mess around! If anyone’s doing it, it will be us! You just watch over the kids and cook for us." Lin Qin interrupted Lin Yi’s enthusiasm.

The two of them spent half the day mapping out the layout of the large land.

A week later, Han Guandong informed Chen Wenjun to pick up the materials and then go to the finance department to make the payment.

With so much money to carry, not to mention Lin Qin’s anxiety, even Chen Wenjun was a bundle of nerves.

To successfully deliver the money to the finance department, Lin Qin especially prepared a large cloth bag, placed all the money inside, and put it on a cart. She sat on the cart, while Chen Wenjun pushed her along.

They put two big buckets of river shrimp on the cart for show.

Luckily, they didn’t run into any acquaintances on the way, and they smoothly entered the finance department. When handing over the money, the staff called three or four people to help count the amount, and only after verifying it did they issue the invoice.

Holding that invoice, the two treated it like a treasure, not daring to delay, and immediately took it to Han Dongcai.

Han Dongcai took out the prepared materials, got the signatures and stamps from the leaders, and handed all the documents to Chen Wenjun.

"It’s done now! That deserted island is now called Nanyu, and it’s yours. You can build however you want. The power lines won’t come soon, you’ll have to wait for the power company to arrange it."

"No problem, no problem, we’re not in a hurry." Chen Wenjun held the materials tightly, feeling much more at ease, and gradually relaxing.

Han Dongcai escorted them out, and as they reached the entrance of the Land and Resources Bureau, they unexpectedly ran into Liu Yongming.

Liu Yongming was stunned for a moment, and upon recognizing Lin Qin, his face changed dramatically. He quickly explained to Han Dongcai, "Director Han, don’t listen to the nonsense from this bitch Lin Qin. She’s a lunatic; she even hit my mom, and I divorced her because I couldn’t live with her anymore."

"What nonsense are you talking?" Han Dongcai looked at Lin Qin and then at Liu Yongming, with a shocked expression.

Liu Yongming realized Lin Qin wasn’t there to cause him trouble, instinctively covered his mouth, and his expression turned quite colorful.

Lin Qin smirked sarcastically, boldly stepped forward, "Director Han, let me introduce you, this is Comrade Liu Yongming, my ex-husband. We divorced less than two months ago, and his new wife is probably due in the next two months, maybe you’ll get invited to their wedding banquet then!"

"Lin Qin!" Liu Yongming clenched his fists viciously, looking at Lin Qin with threatening eyes.

Han Dongcai understood immediately and his face turned solemn, "Liu Yongming! This is a government office, what do you think you’re doing? Apologize to Ms. Lin Qin immediately!"

This whole matter was purely Liu Yongming creating trouble, and since Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun had just bought a piece of land from him, he had to support them.

Liu Yongming’s face alternated between shades of red and white; no matter how angry he was, he didn’t dare challenge the leadership. "I’m sorry."

Lin Qin smirked, not even giving Liu Yongming a direct glance, she smiled at Han Dongcai, "Director Han, thank you for the trouble today. How about this, we’ll leave first, and we’ll treat you to a meal another day."

"Sure, sure, if you encounter any problem you can’t solve, feel free to come to me." Han Dongcai happily sent them off.

Liu Yongming was left ignored, his anger towards Lin Qin only intensified.

Lin Qin, pulling Chen Wenjun along, left the Land and Resources Bureau in a huff, cursing, "Running into him on such a good day, how unlucky!"

Chen Wenjun chuckled, "You were amazing just now! Your momentum had me stunned, I bet Liu Yongming is about to spit blood, you even exposed all his secrets, he won’t be able to go to work calmly anymore."

"Serves him right!" Lin Qin was in great spirits, after walking for a while, she suddenly stopped, "Did we forget something? You gave Fang Yin from Fangshan Village fifty bucks to check out the provincial capital, and it’s been so long with no news?"

If it weren’t for bumping into Liu Yongming today, Lin Qin almost forgot about such an important thing.

Chen Wenjun paused, gritting his teeth, "Alright, tomorrow I’ll sell fish at Fangshan Village, I’ll inquire about what’s happened then."

Lin Qin nodded, "That’s fine, just hope nothing went wrong!"

Her original intention was to get back at Liu Yongming and "Fang Yin", not to involve the innocent. After all, Fang Yin is just a small-town girl, and if she ran into trouble in the unfamiliar provincial capital, it would be disastrous.

There are quite a few cases of women and children being trafficked these days.

The more Lin Qin thought about it, the more worried she became, her mind was preoccupied as they walked.

Chen Wenjun asked, "Should we go pick up the hoes and rakes from dad?"

Lin Qin shook her head, "Forget it, let’s buy a couple of new sets ourselves. We’ll need them often in the future, if we bring dad’s stuff over, we’ll have to return it later. We’ll be using these frequently from now on, so why bother!"

Chen Wenjun thought about it and realized this was indeed logical, so he took Lin Qin to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Buying two sets of hoes and rakes cost twenty to thirty bucks, and they also needed to buy two pairs of long boots, which would be more practical when clearing the land, and could prevent any incidents with snakes, bugs, mice, or ants.