The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 301: Chapter 301: Too Much Money, Can’t Spend It All

Sister Yun smiled. ”It’s actually quite simple. We hit it off after we met. While I was out at sea, Yaowu would often buy things and send them over for my son, but most of it actually ended up at my mom’s place.”

”One time, Yaowu came over and saw my son squatting on the ground, picking up and eating cookie crumbs. My nephew was holding the cookies Yaowu had bought and was mocking my son. Yaowu got angry right then and there and tried to reason with my mom and sister-in-law.”

”My mom started cursing at Yaowu while hitting my son. When Yaowu saw he couldn’t reason with them, he beat up my brother. They were afraid I’d find out, so they didn’t dare make a scene. Yaowu didn’t tell me either. I only found out because my neighbor told me.”

Sister Yun really didn’t want to stay in that family home any longer.

’She gave her family so much money every month, yet she couldn’t even get her parents, brother, and sister-in-law to treat her own son kindly.’

Han Xiaorui was also furious when she heard this. ”How could they do that? You give them so much for living expenses. They’re his own family, so why on earth would they treat a child so cruelly?”

Sister Yun’s eyes grew moist as she nodded. ”I know, I want to know too. Even a neighbor wouldn’t be that cruel. Sister Cai was our matchmaker. She spent some time with my mother-in-law, Aunt Hu, and told me she was a good person.”

”She said she was not only meticulous and clean, but also very warm-hearted. I’ve met her and thought she was alright too. But she obviously can’t let go of her old hometown. She plans to go back after we get married.”

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”You should transfer your son over here to attend kindergarten. Our village still has some vacant residential land. You could buy a plot and build a house. It’s a better deal than one of those tube-building apartments, and you might even benefit from redevelopment and demolition in the future.”

Sister Yun chuckled. ”The sisters already gave me some ideas. Before we even registered the marriage, I had already bought Lin Yongfu’s house and moved in.”

Hearing this, Han Xiaorui was surprised. ”Wow, you move fast!”

”It’s great having so many sisters on the ship. They all helped me come up with ideas and find solutions. There’s strength in numbers,” Sister Yun said with a smile. ”I also told Hu Yaowu that if he treats my son well, I’ll treat his daughter well! We’ll live together for three months, and if everything works out, I’ll stop using birth control. If I can get pregnant again, we’ll have another child, whether it’s a boy or a girl.”

Han Xiaorui was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. ”Actually, I was going to say the same thing. If your health allows, you really should have a child together. I was thinking the exact same thing.”

Sister Yun nodded. ”Sister Cai already told me that since I’m remarrying, I should be prepared to have another child. The new baby would be a sibling to my son and a sibling to Hu Yaowu’s daughter. This child would be like a bond, tying the new family together.”

”Besides, my son is still young. My ex-husband’s family doesn’t deserve a wonderful child like him. I’m going to change his last name to Hu. That way, the children will grow up together, form a bond, and share the same last name. Outsiders won’t be able to tell it’s a blended family.”

Hearing Sister Yun say all this, Han Xiaorui smiled. ”Since you’ve already thought everything through so thoroughly, I have nothing to worry about.”

Sister Yun smiled. ”It was all thanks to the sisters helping me with ideas. Sister Shui and Sister Xiao Yu ran around so much helping me with my affairs. Once I host a dinner for everyone, I’ll be sure to properly toast you all with a few drinks.”

’Yang Jianguo also thought very highly of Hu Yaowu, who was also a former comrade-in-arms of Ye Feng. He had an impeccable character and had also had a difficult life. It was a good thing for two people like them to come together, cherish one another, and form a family.’

When Han Xiaorui got home, she saw Ye Feng and Yang Zhigang smoking by the main gate. ”Why don’t you go inside?”

Ye Feng and Yang Zhigang moved in perfect sync, extinguishing their cigarettes and tossing them into the trash can by the door. ”Just chatting. Whoa, why do you have so much candy in your pocket?”

Han Xiaorui replied, ”It’s wedding candy from Sister Yun and Hu Yaowu. They’ve officially registered their marriage, bought Lin Yongfu’s house, and are settling down here in Jinshan Bay.”

Ye Feng was surprised. ”In that case, I’ll have to go congratulate Yaowu later.”

Yang Zhigang smiled. ”Now that he’s married, he can focus on working here without thinking about leaving.”

”Exactly,” Han Xiaorui nodded. ”Uncle Yang, there’s a lot of money in the accounts lately. It’s more than I can spend. I was thinking of rebuilding our school in Jinshan Bay. We could build spacious two-story classrooms, a library, a gymnasium, and a sports field. If we build a proper primary and middle school, Pingping and An’an can go to school here in the future.”

Hearing this, Yang Zhigang’s interest was piqued. ”Building a school will cost a fortune!”

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”Brother Jianguo should have told you about the profits from our ornamental fish farm. By the end of the year, we’ll have a production value of fifteen million US dollars. After deducting all the costs, there will still be a huge surplus.”

”Besides, between our fish farm and the ocean fishing hauls, we make a lot of money each time. It’s better to do some good deeds than to just let the money sit in a bank.”

’Han Xiaorui had already bought numerous houses and commercial properties; she really had nothing left to spend money on.’

Seeing that Han Xiaorui was serious about building the school, Yang Zhigang nodded. ”Alright, I’ll take this to Village Chief Liu. The principal of Jinshan Bay Primary School is one of his old classmates, and the middle school principal is an old army buddy of mine.”

”I’ll talk to them first, then we can report it up the chain together. It’ll be easier to manage that way. Since we’re going to build it, let’s make Jinshan Bay School the best primary and middle school in all of Shencheng.”

”Exactly. If we’re going to do it, let’s make it the best,” Han Xiaorui said with a smile. ’Now she wouldn’t have to worry about where her children would go to school.’

Yang Zhigang was thinking the same thing. His granddaughter was in preschool now. By the time she was ready for primary school in two and a half years, the new school would be finished.

Sure enough, when Village Chief Liu heard what Yang Zhigang had to say, he was visibly shaken. ”This is a deed of immense merit! No wonder your fortunes are so strong. A family that accumulates good deeds will always have blessings to spare.”

”Leave this to me. I’m about to retire soon anyway, so I’ll have nothing else to do. I’ll dedicate myself to this project and guarantee that not a single penny is misspent.”

”Then we’ll be counting on you, Uncle Liu,” Yang Zhigang said with a smile. ’Those words really hit home,’ he thought. ’A family that accumulates good deeds will always have blessings to spare.’

’Accumulating good karma, hoping the blessings would extend to the children.’

’As for his bastard son on the other side of the ocean, Yang Zhigang didn’t want to give him a shred of that good fortune.’

The Jinshan Bay Primary School and the middle school were not located together; they were separated by a seafood wholesale market. The only thing they had in common was that they were both rather dilapidated and small.

The primary school had over four hundred students and the middle school had over two hundred. Since most of the students were locals who graduated from the primary school, the combined student body was nearly eight hundred.

Rebuilding on the original sites would not only disrupt the students’ studies, but the space was also too limited to build a proper school. Therefore, the two principals, the Jinshan Bay village committee, Yang Zhigang, and Han Xiaorui jointly submitted a proposal to the district government to construct a new school.

When the leaders at the district government saw the proposal, they thought, ’This is a great thing!’

Currently, both the middle school and the primary school were surrounded by factories, which was not an ideal environment for them.

They could relocate the school to the northern part of Jinshan Bay, where there was a large, open plot of land. It was a bit low-lying, but it was spacious.

The original sites could then be rezoned for industrial use—killing two birds with one stone.

When they heard the plan was to build the school in northern Jinshan Bay, Village Chief Liu and Han Xiaorui were naturally in favor, as it would be very close to the village.

Everyone agreed that prosperity follows people.

Originally, the government had only planned to allocate half of that land for the school’s construction.

But a single sentence from Han Xiaorui sent a jolt through Village Chief Liu and the two principals, compelling them to fight with all their might to secure the entire plot of land.