Chapter 399: The Return
Chapter 399: The Return
This cold front lingered for quite some time, and it wasn't until ten days later that the weather warmed up again.
Due to the cold and strong winds, Zhou Chenglei and his brother had not ventured out to sea during these days.
Taking advantage of this downtime, the two brothers renovated a storage room in the old homestead, turning it into a drying room, and also built an additional dehydrating room beside the kitchen by purchasing bricks and tiles.
This made it convenient to dry and air-dry fish during humid weather.
Zhou Mu was not in favor of Zhou Chenglei building the dehydrating room at this time, but he didn't believe in such superstitions, and she had no choice but to let him proceed.
In the past few days, Jiang Xia and Zhou Mu had been working together to make curtains and a four-piece bedding set.
Today, Zhou Chenglei was installing the curtain tracks in the new house and hanging the curtains.
Zhou Chengsen and Zhou Chengxin also lent a hand, each brother taking charge of a different floor.
Tomorrow was the Winter Solstice, and today happened to be Saturday, so the second room's family had also returned.
Zhou Chenglei took responsibility for the second floor.
After working for half a day, the three brothers finally managed to install the tracks and hang the curtains.
Zhou Mu admired the living room and bedrooms after the curtains were hung, and she laughed, saying, "With these curtains up, the whole house feels different. Why do the curtains look so good?"
The large windows in the living room, now adorned with curtains, exuded a sense of grandeur. Moreover, the curtain patterns matched the color of the sofa in the room, creating a harmonious and comfortable atmosphere.
In addition, a few days ago, Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei had gone to the city to sell dried fish and then shopped for vases, ornaments, greenery, and a bedside lamp to decorate the new house.
With the addition of curtains and decorative items, every space in the house became cozier and more elegant.
Tian Caixia, who was helping to clean up the dust from drilling, spoke up, "Xia knows how to arrange things. This house is almost as good as the ones on TV. She helped me decorate my living room, and with the curtains, it looks so much better."
Just a few days ago, she had asked Jiang Xia to help her with her living room, and the transformation was immediate!
Now, her house also had curtains, and Jiang Xia had helped her choose the curtain fabric.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiuxian asked, "Your house has curtains too? And it's the same fabric? Where did you buy it?"
She found the curtain fabric chosen by Jiang Xia to be very attractive and stylish, but she didn't know where it was purchased. She had visited the Friendship Mall and the supply and marketing cooperative just last week and hadn't seen anything like it.
Tian Caixia proudly replied, "Yes! We changed them! They weren't bought; Xia had them custom-made at the textile factory. The factory hasn't even mass-produced them yet, so there's nowhere to buy them. Xia specially got me the curtain fabric from the textile factory, and it was free."
As soon as Li Xiuxian heard it was free, she immediately asked Jiang Xia, "Xia, do you have more of this curtain fabric? I'd like to change my curtains too, as they're getting old."
Jiang Xia shook her head as she swept away the dust, "No, I didn't know you wanted to change your curtains too, so I didn't take any extra. I only took some because Elder Sister-in-law mentioned it to me."
Factory Director Peng loved these patterns and believed they would be a big hit for export, so he didn't charge any money and even offered to give Jiang Xia a share of the profits if she provided more attractive patterns in the future.
Li Xiuxian didn't say anything further and turned away, feeling unhappy. 'No money charged, and no extra taken! When she took some for Tian Caixia, didn't she think that Tian Caixia was also her sister-in-law? Why didn't she ask if I needed any?'
She felt that the two of them were deliberately excluding her.
As Li Xiuxian looked at the curtains, she felt increasingly uncomfortable, thinking she had been shortchanged.
The curtains required fabric, and buying enough for the entire house would cost at least ten to twenty yuan, and you'd also need fabric coupons!
Tian Caihua mentioned that even bed sheets and duvet covers required a significant amount of fabric.
Zhou Mu brought in a bucket of water and a mop, intending to clean the floor.
Li Xiuxian spoke up, "I'll take care of throwing out this trash. Yingying has gone off somewhere to play, hopefully not to the beach. I'll go check on her while I'm at it!"
With that, she carried the bucket of trash out.
She couldn't wait to leave, not even for a second.
Furious!
Once the floor was swept clean, Tian Caihua took the mop from Zhou Mu's hand, "I'll take care of mopping!"
Jiang Xia grabbed a rag and a feather duster to wipe down the sofa, coffee table, and TV cabinet, removing all the dust.
Zhou Chenglei and his two brothers were busy mopping the floor and cleaning the sofa.
Seeing this, Zhou Mu returned to the old homestead to prepare dinner, and Jiang Xia, after finishing with the TV cabinet, followed to help with the cooking.
As Zhou Mu washed the vegetables, she said, "Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. Your father called a few days ago saying he'd be back these days, but he still hasn't returned. I wonder what's keeping him."
Jiang Xia was also a bit concerned and replied, "There was a cold front a few days ago, probably caused a delay."
"That must be it," Zhou Mu said, less worried about a cold front than a typhoon.
The ship was large and had a strong resistance to wind and waves.
But she was still concerned.
Finally, around five in the afternoon, Zhou Fu returned, bringing back a large bundle of money, not including what he had deposited in his bank book.
He handed the suitcase to Zhou Chenglei but addressed Jiang Xia, "Xiaxia, this is for you. I've put the bank book in the bag. Make sure you keep it safe and don't lose it."
Zhou Fu reminded them to take good care of the money.
He had intended to have Wang Cai carry the bag, but with three little Wang Cais in her belly, the bag was too heavy, so he had to ask his son to do it instead.
Li Xiuxian glanced at the suitcase Zhou Fu had given to Zhou Chenglei, wondering if it was full of money.
How much could it be?
Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei took the suitcase to their room to put it away.
It was unlikely that Zhou Fu had bought her clothes, so the suitcase must contain money.
The couple returned to their room, closed the door, and opened the suitcase.
Indeed, it was filled with large denomination banknotes and some of other values.
Jiang Xia began counting the money with a smile.
Zhou Fu's return meant another family dinner together.
Zhou Fu shared his experience of accompanying several fishing boats to a particular sea area to catch eels.
Every year, numerous fishing boats ventured to that area to catch eels, and the local fishing boats could catch tens of thousands of pounds of eels in a single day.
Their fishing boat was large and equipped with a fish finder, making their catch even more substantial.
Li Xiuxian was curious, "Could it be that the local fishing boats are also large vessels?" She asked, "Did your trip earn you a significant amount of money?"
Zhou Fu laughed, "Not bad at all."
This trip had been longer, and after catching eels, they followed a large ship to catch tuna, and then they went to catch some dried fish to bring home. They covered a lot of sea areas, so they made quite a profit.
After deducting costs and crew salaries, they made over ninety thousand.
Jiang Xia recalled a wealthy shipowner who once said that in this golden age, owning a large ship meant breaking even in a year and achieving financial freedom in two years was not just a dream.
Of course, there was some exaggeration in his words, but he was expressing that business was thriving during this era, and large ships were indeed profitable.
(End of Chapter)
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