Chapter 225 What is the Hardest Job

Chapter 225 What is the Hardest Job

Chapter 225 What is the Hardest Job

Li Xiaotao looked at her gratefully, "Third Aunt said it all, I really didn't mean it."

"Hurry up and do your homework!" Mrs. Li glared at Li Xiaotao, "You debt collector, you look like you're doing this for me. If you don't want to study, then don't study at all and go to the mountains to collect stones."

They didn't want to go quarrying stones. If they could go fishing with their father and uncle, it would be much more comfortable than going to school.

Li Xiaotao went into the house sobbing and went to finish his homework. Mrs. Li came in and scolded the two older children, then asked Li Xiaoyang to go to Nanshan to call Brother Li back for dinner.

Li Changle saw that most of the fish that were caught last night had already been killed. He looked at the gloomy sky and asked, "Did you get up before dawn?"

"It's getting light now. It's cool on rainy days, and it's comfortable to work." Li's mother smiled, "Your eldest brother weighed it this morning. He caught 670 kilograms of fat eye herring last night. You can deduct it yourself."

At three cents a pound, I made about twenty yuan, which was considered unexpected money.

"Has Awei come this morning?"

"Awei got up early in the morning to help sell octopuses." Li's mother glanced at him and said, "You are the only one who is lazy. Your eldest and second brothers got up and went to work at the new house in Nanshan when they saw it was raining."

"..." Li Changle thought about how he woke up and heard the rain, then lay down again and went back to sleep. Compared with his eldest brother, second brother and Awei, he was indeed the laziest.

The sky was gloomy, so we didn't dare move the mullet heads and eels to the yard to dry. Instead, we spread them out under the eaves and inside the house to dry. After the fat herrings were killed and pickled, they could only be strung up with fishing lines and hung under the eaves to dry.

Li Changle thought that after he moved into the new house, he would have to buy some tarpaulins and put up bamboo frames. This would provide a place to dry the fish on rainy days like this. If there were to be a rainstorm, he could cover the fish with the tarpaulin and not worry about not having enough time to bring it into the house.

Zhou Ruonan came over and said, "Ah Le, it looks like it's going to rain again, why don't we not go out to sea today?"

"No, my brother-in-law said that a cargo ship will bring rocks today. I'll help unload the rocks. It might be noon. If it's sunny in the afternoon, I'll go fishing."

Zhou Ruonan nodded and said to Li's mother, "Mother, eat first, and then continue killing."

"Okay." Mother Li washed her hands in the basin and followed the two back to the house. Each of them ate a big bowl of rice and noodles. Only then did Father Li and his two sons arrive home.

"Dad, please sit down. I'll bring you some rice and flour." Zhou Ruonan hurriedly took out the rice and flour that were warm in the pot and gave it to Father Li.

After Father Li sat down, he said to Mother Li, "Go to the dock and buy some meat later, and let Ah Jin have lunch here."

"Mother, please kill a chicken and stew those sea cucumbers."

"There are so many people in the family, one is not enough, we have to kill at least two."

"Then kill two." Li Changle said as he touched out five yuan and handed it over. "This money is for you to buy meat. If there is anyone selling tofu and jumping fish, buy some back. My brother-in-law likes to eat them."

"Keep the money in your pocket. I haven't spent the money that Anan gave me that day. You can give it to me when you've used it up." Mother Li pushed the money in front of him, picked up the basket and left.

Father Li took two mouthfuls of noodles and thought of something. "Ah Le, when I came back, I met Ah Chun. He asked if you would like to buy dried eels, mackerel, and water bream heads. If you do, go to his house and have a look."

"That depends on the quality of their eels and mackerel. If I were to buy them, the price would definitely not be as high as the retail price in town."

"Your second brother told Ah Chun about it. He said that if they deliver it to the town and sell it to vendors, the price will be cheaper. If you want it, they won't have to deliver it to the town."

"Okay, when we get back from work, my second brother and I will go take a look."

Zhou Ruonan took out the textbook and said, "A Le, I have to go to school."

"Grandpa, Dad, we are going to school." The Li Xiaohai brothers said to the two of them while carrying their small schoolbags.

Father Li looked at his grandson lovingly and said, "Be good and listen to your teacher at school."

"remember."

"Xiao Zhou, look how pretty my little schoolbag is." Li Xiaomei, with two big red bows on her little buns, ran in on her short legs.

"I also have a small schoolbag." Li Xiaozhou hurriedly asked Li Xiaohai to take his schoolbag and took out the things inside to show off, "Look, mine looks like this, there's a small bag inside."

Li Xiaomei opened her schoolbag and said, "I have the notebook my sister gave me, and the pencil stub my brother gave me."

"I have one too. Mine is new. My grandma bought it for me."

The brother and sister huddled together and whispered.

Mrs. Li came into the house with the money and handed it to Zhou Ruonan, asking her to help register the child. After a few polite words, she went to kill the fish.

Li Xiaoqing and others also arrived at the door. After a hard fight, Li Xiaotao finished the homework he had missed and started chatting and laughing with his brothers and sisters again.

Li Changle rubbed his two sons' heads and said to them, "Listen carefully to the teacher and don't act naughty."

"I understand." Several children followed Zhou Ruonan towards the school.

There were also children walking towards school with their schoolbags on their backs. Shatou Village Primary School was just about sixty or seventy meters away from the brigade headquarters.

Except for the first grade registration day when adults go with their children, children in the kindergarten class do not need to be picked up by adults afterwards.

Li Changle waited for his father and two brothers to finish their meal. Chen Yongwei also came and gave him the money from selling octopus. The five of them walked towards Nanshan together. As soon as they got there, Zhang Dejin and A Guang arrived at the construction site. "Ajin, you guys are here so early!"

"A Guang prepared the materials yesterday afternoon." Zhang Dejin said, looking at Li Changle again, "A Guang has gathered the kind of stone slab you want for you. The big rock that was chiseled just happened to have seaweed patterns all over it."

"Also, I've pulled a stone pestle for you. Guang said you guys bought so much, so I'll give you the pestle for free."

"Thank you, Brother Guang. I'm sorry for causing you trouble." Li Changle thanked A Guang.

Ah Guang smiled and said, "It's not something valuable, why would you make any trouble?"

After some greetings, everyone pulled the cart to the beach.

Li Changle saw that they docked the cargo ship at the place where they caught jellyfish last time. There were two long wooden boards connected together with claw nails to form a gangway, one end of which was on the ship and the other end on the beach.

There were stone slabs on both sides of the ship's side, and stones and stone strips piled in the middle. Li Changle and his brothers brought bamboo baskets woven with wide bamboo strips onto the boat, moved the stones on the deck into the bamboo baskets, and then carried the baskets one by one onto the cart.

There are two bamboo baskets at the rear of the car and five at the front, so the seven bamboo baskets contain more than a thousand kilograms of stones.

Zhang Dejin got off the boat and looked around and said hurriedly, "Ah Le, why did you put the cart here to load the rocks? The wheels are stuck in the sand and it's hard to pull."

"It's already loaded. The next car will go to the intersection."

Brother Li put the tow rope on the rafter over his shoulder, held the handle of the cart tightly, and pushed forward with all his strength. The tow rope on his shoulder was also stretched tight, pulling with him.

Li Changle and Chen Yongwei stepped forward and pushed the shafts on both sides. The wheels sank into the sand, making it harder to pull than on a dirt road.

Father Li and others also rushed over to help and finally pushed the cart away from the beach.

The second time they learned their lesson. They parked the cart at the intersection and carried the bamboo basket over, which was much easier than pulling it on the beach.

After a while, the villagers who were invited to help also came. They shouted "Hey Zuo Hey Zuo" and put the cable on the stone slabs or stone strips, lifted them off the boat, then lifted them onto the cart, and pushed and pulled them to the construction site.

After unloading all the stones on the ship, Li's father paid the money to A Guang, and he took his men back to transport the goods. The second trip was made by the captain himself.

Nowadays, any village with access to water uses cargo ships to transport building materials, and the freight is cheaper than using tractors.

It is only two days until the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, so building materials have to be prepared quickly. Zhang Dejin keeps bringing cargo ships to the shore to carry building materials.

From the time they started hauling building materials, Li Changle's three brothers and Chen Yongwei gave money to Li's father to pay for the materials, labor costs, shipping costs and so on.

After more than a month of recuperation at home, Father Li, who had gained weight and become whiter, became darker and thin again in just a few days.

Old Man Jin and Jin Hui did not go out to sea to fish on the rainy day. When they saw several families starting to move stones, they came to help with the work.

Li Changle and his sons, together with the Jin family's sons and other villagers who came to help, pulled the oyster lime, steel bars, prefabricated panels and other construction materials that were gradually brought to the beach to the construction site.

Li Changle and his two brothers pulled the cart onto the road and saw Ge Changfa coming. "Why didn't you go out to sea?"

Ge Changfa smiled and stepped forward to help push the cart. "My brother said that the weather was bad and he was worried about encountering strong winds when he went out, so I went to look for you. My sister-in-law said you were here, so I came."

"It's a rare day off. You've all been doing hard labor here. I'll have sea cucumber stewed with chicken for lunch to replenish your energy."

"Sea cucumbers cost several yuan each, right? You're willing to keep such an expensive thing for yourself? You know how to eat."

"You money-grubber! People spend money to buy food, we have mouths, why can't we eat it?"

Ge Chang rolled his eyes at him, "As expected of you who are famous for their crooked ideas."

Brother Li and Chen Yongwei both laughed.

After a while, Mrs. Li pushed a tricycle carrying tea to the construction site. Seeing that the Jin father and son and Ge Changfa had also come to help, she hurriedly put down the tea bucket and went home to ask Mrs. Li to add more food.

With the addition of three new forces, the work speed increased a lot. Truckloads of stones were continuously brought to the construction site. Fortunately, the gloomy sky finally cleared up before noon.

At half past eleven, everyone finished work and went back. After working for a whole morning, everyone was sweating profusely, and their hair and T-shirts were wet.

Zhang Dejin smiled and said, "The seaside is much cooler than the town. When we work there on a cloudy day, there is no wind when we stand on the roof, and our sweat falls down like rain."

Father Li nodded and said, "It's hard to be a bricklayer. You're either working on the wall or on the roof. Carpenters are better because at least they don't have to be exposed to the sun."

An uncle who was doing rough labor wiped his sweat and said, "Atang, the skilled masters are much better than us rough laborers. We are the hard laborers."

People these days don't work slacking off. They work themselves to the bone, sweating all over, for only three dollars a day's pay and a snack.

Because there are few opportunities to work and there is not work every day, once you are found to be cheating and your reputation spreads, no one will hire you to work next time.

The wages of bricklayers and carpenters are higher. After the official start of work, a skilled craftsman can earn four yuan a day, which includes three meals and a pack of cigarettes. Those with poor skills do not even earn that much.

(End of this chapter)