Chapter 121: The Pond Is Completed, Sending Caiyun to School

After Father Lin, Mother Lin, and the others left, only Lin Heng’s family of three remained in the courtyard, along with a few animals.

Lin Heng and Xiulan sat quietly in the yard, saying nothing. Xiaoxia was sitting on the straw mat nearby, playing with a little wooden car Lin Heng had carved for her.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Lin Heng looked at his wife and asked.

Xiulan gazed at the mountains outside and a patch of blue sky, then replied, “I was thinking about what it feels like to be rich.”

“Well, no need to think about it. In a few days, I’ll take you to experience it for real,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

Without a word, Xiulan walked over and opened the door to look at the more than two thousand jin of sanghuang mushrooms stacked inside.

“From now on, you don’t need to think about doing handicrafts to help out with household expenses anymore. Our family won’t go hungry again—we can have white rice and fine noodles every meal.”

Lin Heng came over and leaned against the doorframe, watching her.

Xiulan looked at the sanghuang inside, then turned to Lin Heng, blinking as she gave him a soft smile. “That’s wonderful.”

“When are you planning to take these out and sell them?” she asked after a moment of thought.

Lin Heng pondered for a bit before answering, “I’ll wait until we’ve finished digging the fish pond these next few days.”

“School’s starting soon anyway—I’ll take Xiaoxia to school at the same time,” he added.

Xiulan nodded. She stood in the room for a while, not sure what to do. Going outside didn’t seem right either.

“Honey, my ear’s really itchy. Can you clean it for me?” Lin Heng looked at her and asked.

“Sure, I’ll grab the tools,” Xiulan agreed, heading into the bedroom.

Lin Heng brought out two stools, one tall and one short, and placed them under the eaves. Not long after, Xiulan came out with a small brown kraft paper box. Inside were two nail clippers and an ear pick—part of her dowry from her mother.

Xiulan sat on the tall stool while Lin Heng sat on the short one, resting his head on her lap.

“Don’t move, okay? If it hurts, just say something.” With that, Xiulan gently pulled on his ear to look inside, carefully using the ear pick to clean it.

Lin Heng closed his eyes. Her touch was gentle and delicate—there was no pain at all. She leaned over, her chest pressing against his head, soft and warm. It was so comfortable it made him sleepy.

“All done, switch sides,” Xiulan said after a while.

“Okay.” Lin Heng opened his eyes, glanced up at her smiling face, then turned to the other side.

“This one’s done too!” A few minutes later, she spoke again.

“Do it a bit longer, it feels really good.” Lin Heng didn’t want to get up.

Xiulan looked down at him resting on her lap, her gaze indulgent, and continued cleaning his ear for a while longer.

“All done now,” she said.

“Okay.” Lin Heng sat up and looked at her. “Now let me clean yours.”

“Alright, but be gentle—I’m scared it’ll hurt.” Xiulan hesitated but decided to trust him.

She switched to the short stool and laid her head on Lin Heng’s lap.

Lin Heng had never cleaned her ears before, so she was nervous. But the moment he started, she realized her fears were unfounded. His touch was very gentle and there was no pain at all.

When he finished both ears, Xiulan felt so relaxed she didn’t want to move. Looking up at him, she said, “Let me just rest here for a bit. I don’t want to move.”

“Hold on.” Lin Heng smiled, then brought over a small stool for her to rest her legs on, so they wouldn’t cramp from being bent too long.

Xiulan felt warmed by his gentle gesture. She blinked at him and asked, “Why are you so good at cleaning ears?”

Lin Heng stroked her cheek and smiled. “You’re wondering if I’ve done this for someone else, right? Of course not. I was just afraid of hurting you, so I was extra careful.”

Xiulan pouted slightly and closed her eyes, dozing off without another word. Who knew what she was thinking.

Lin Heng rested his hand on her leg, playing with a lock of her hair, leaning back in his chair and staring at her in a daze. The more he looked, the more beautiful she seemed.

Xiaoxia, tired from playing on the mat, had fallen asleep there too.

After lying there for half an hour, Xiulan opened her eyes, pulled out a White Rabbit candy from her pocket, unwrapped it, and fed it to Lin Heng. “Here, your sister bought this for you.”

Lin Heng blinked but didn’t open his mouth.

“Not giving face to your sister?” Xiulan glared.

“Is it sweet? You try it first, then I’ll know. Mainly, I want to see whether the candy is sweeter or you are,” Lin Heng said with a grin.

Xiulan froze, her cheeks turning rosy. “You’re so bad!”

It was too much for her—her heart skipped faster.

Lin Heng took the candy and popped it in her mouth. After she ate it for a while, he leaned in and “tasted” it properly himself.

Xiulan didn’t resist—couldn’t resist—her whole body melting into the stool.

“My wife’s sweeter,” Lin Heng said cheerfully after a long while.

“You’re the worst!” Xiulan glared at him and shyly walked away.

Lin Heng went inside and picked up Xiaoxia to put her on the bed. But she opened her eyes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and trembled slightly. “Daddy, I dreamed the big bad wolf was going to catch me.”

“Don’t be scared, Daddy’s here. And Xiongba too. That big bad wolf wouldn’t dare step into our house.” Lin Heng comforted her, then took her to see Xiongba.

Soon she was running around playing with Xiongba again. The dog hadn’t gone hunting lately and used up all his energy playing with her instead.

That same afternoon, more villagers than usual had gathered under the big ginkgo tree, all talking about the soaring price of sanghuang and how much money Lin Heng was going to make.

Some said 3,000, others 5,000 or 7,000, and some even guessed 9,000. Regardless of the amount, it was clearly more than any other household in the village.

Someone asked how much 5,000 yuan really was. No one had a clear concept until they heard it could buy thirty to forty thousand jin of rice—and then everyone fell silent.

The door to Lin Heng’s home remained shut, and no one dared disturb him. But it was different for Father and Mother Lin—people kept coming by to chat and ask questions.

At first, the couple was cheerful, but they quickly grew tired of the endless flattery. Still, they truly understood what it meant to be “rich.”

After dinner, Lin Heng read a story to his daughter. The more he read, the more he longed for electricity. Without it, even reading at night was hard—everything was inconvenient.

The next morning, Lin Heng had just finished breakfast when a group of workers showed up to dig the pond. It wasn’t even seven yet.

“You’re here so early,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“Not early at all.” Everyone smiled kindly, their eyes filled with respect.

In the villagers’ eyes, anyone who could earn that much money was clearly capable. And staying close to capable people might mean earning something themselves.

“Alright, let’s go,” Lin Heng nodded, not surprised.

As they walked toward Red Maple Mountain, Yang Zhaotao couldn’t help asking, “Lin Heng, how much sanghuang did you hoard this time?”

Lin Heng turned back and saw everyone looking at him, clearly curious.

He grinned. “Don’t worry, there’s more than enough to cover your wages.”

Everyone fell silent. It was clear Lin Heng didn’t want to answer, so they didn’t press him.

When they arrived at Red Maple Mountain, everyone quickly got to work.

As they worked, someone asked curiously, “Lin Heng, are you just building this two-mu pond?”

“I’m planning to turn all twenty mu of this land into fish and shrimp ponds,” Lin Heng replied with a smile.

“Twenty mu? That’s going to take a massive investment…”

“My god, buying all those fish and shrimp fry must cost a fortune, right?”

Everyone was stunned—Lin Heng’s ambition was shockingly big.

If he had said something like this a few days ago, people would’ve laughed at him for being delusional. But now, they were just amazed at how bold his ambitions were.

“Before the New Year, we should at least dig out ten mu. I’ll need everyone’s help again by then,” Lin Heng said with a smile. Now, showing a bit of grand vision, finally no one was mocking him.

“Haha, that’s no problem. If there’s money to be made, we’ll make sure the job’s done beautifully.”

“Yeah, guaranteed satisfaction.”

Everyone chimed in. With those words, even if Lin Heng left now, no one would dare slack off.

After all, this was just a small project. There were bigger ones coming. If anyone slacked now, they’d miss their chance to earn later.

In this era, rural residents couldn’t just go to the city and find proper jobs—making money as a farmer was extremely hard.

It took them another three days to finish. By noon on August 30th, it was finally done. The second fish pond had way more rocks than expected, and clearing them took a lot of effort.

That afternoon, Lin Heng directed everyone to do some work around the mountain stream—partly to prevent future floods from washing into the pond, and partly to dig a canal at the innermost side of the pond to make water diversion easier later.

They also leveled the ground, fixed the edges, and built up the stone embankments.

By 5 p.m., everything was done. Everyone gathered and looked at Lin Heng.

“You can all go home and rest now,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

Everyone froze. We’re not resting, are we?

Lin Heng laughed and added, “I meant go home, drop off your stuff, freshen up, and then come to my place at six to collect your pay. Bring some small change—like thirty cents—since I might not have enough.”

“Got it!” The moment they heard that, everyone beamed, scattered, and ran home excitedly.

Back at home, Lin Heng flipped through the work log. They’d spent twenty-four days digging the two fish ponds—far more than he’d expected, mostly because of all the rocks in the second one. Sometimes just one rock would take half a day to deal with.

“Wife, in a bit I’ll read out the names, and you count the money. Nineteen yuan and twenty cents per person,” Lin Heng said.

“Okay.” Xiulan pulled the money out of the bag and started counting.

It wasn’t even 5:30 yet, but people were already crowding outside the courtyard, eager but too shy to come in.

“Since you’re here, come on in. We can start handing out the wages now—just line up properly,” Lin Heng said, stepping outside.

“Alright!” Smiles bloomed on everyone’s faces as they entered one by one.

Lin Heng understood how they felt. After sitting down, he pulled up the work log for the person at the front and said, “Check it—24 days, 24 workdays. If it’s correct, sign and leave a thumbprint, and you’ll get your money.”

“Alright!” Uncle Li from the Li family didn’t even glance at the log—he just signed and stamped his thumbprint.

Xiulan had already placed his pay on the table. He counted it, smiled, and said, “All there, thanks.”

“This is what you earned, no need to thank me,” Lin Heng said with a wave of his hand.

It took half an hour to pay everyone. Twenty workers—total of 384 yuan in wages.

“Digging ponds really takes a lot of investment,” Xiulan remarked.

“That’s just the beginning. Next year when we start raising shrimp, feeding them will really cost money,” Lin Heng said with a laugh.

“Then we have to take good care of them and manage everything properly, or we’ll lose money,” Xiulan nodded. She knew a bit about fish and shrimp farming and could help out.

“Exactly. You don’t come across money-making opportunities like Sanghuang very often. We still need to rely on farming,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“Oh, right—day after tomorrow is September 1st. I’m going to enroll Caiyun in school. Want to come?”

“I also want to do some fishing while I’m at it. Last time ended badly, and I didn’t even get to fish,” Lin Heng said, looking at Xiulan.

As for selling Sanghuang and opening a Acquisition Station, Lin Heng planned to do that after Caiyun started school.

Once the Sanghuang was sold and he had finalized an agreement with a state-owned store in the city, he could open the Acquisition Station.

There were a lot of complicated details involved—Acquisition Stations weren’t something just anyone could set up.

He hadn’t wanted to deal with all that at first, but now he had changed his mind. A bit of trouble was no big deal.

“Forget it. The sun’s been brutal these days. If I go, no one would be home to watch over Xiaoxia,” Xiulan shook her head.

“Alright.” Lin Heng thought it over and agreed—it wouldn’t be good if his wife and daughter got sunburned.

“Then on your way, stop by the blacksmith in town and have him forge me a kitchen knife. The one we have now just doesn’t cut it,” Xiulan added. Now that money wasn’t tight, she wanted a decent knife.

“No problem. I’ll ask the blacksmith to make you one from refined steel,” Lin Heng promised with a pat to his chest.

There wasn’t much to do in the afternoon, so the family of three went out and gathered some grey greens for dinner.

That night, Lin Heng and Xiulan caught some cicada nymphs—these were the last few days before they were gone.

Too bad they didn’t have a fridge—any cicadas they caught had to be eaten the next morning, or they’d go bad.

The next day at noon, Lin Heng went to the old house to find his parents.

“Dad, Mom, I want Caiyun to go back to school. I’ll pay for her tuition,” he said.

Caiyun sat beside him, eyes filled with hope.

Father Lin looked at her, then nodded. “We didn’t have the money before. Now that you do, we’ve got no objection to her going back.”

“More schooling is a good thing. With education comes a future,” Mother Lin agreed with a nod.

Lin Heng wasn’t surprised. His parents were open-minded. If it hadn’t been for poverty, they wouldn’t have let Caiyun drop out in the first place.

Now that Lin Heng was offering to pay, they had no reason to object.

“Thank you, Dad! Thank you, Mom!” Caiyun choked out, tears welling in her eyes.

In this era, people in the countryside still favored sons over daughters. Some parents didn’t even want to send their sons to school—let alone their daughters.

So with such enlightened parents, Caiyun was deeply moved.

“You silly child, what are you crying for?” Father Lin said with a smile.

“Your dad didn’t stop you from going to junior high because he looked down on you. The burden on the family was just too heavy,” Mother Lin said gently, taking her daughter’s hand.

“I know, Mom. I’m just happy—I can go to school again,” Caiyun said through her tears.

“Study hard. Don’t let your brother’s efforts go to waste,” Father Lin said with a sigh as he patted her shoulder. If he’d had the money, he wouldn’t have let her drop out either.

Thankfully, his second son had made something of himself.

“Don’t worry, Mom, Dad. I’ll study really hard,” Caiyun nodded earnestly.

She wiped her tears, looked at Lin Heng and promised, “Second Brother, I won’t let your money go to waste. I’ll make you proud.”

Lin Heng smiled, patted her shoulder with one hand and wiped her tears with the other. “Don’t feel pressured. Just study well if you enjoy it. Whether or not you ‘make it’ doesn’t matter. Your second brother’s got your back, so don’t be afraid.”

He’d worked so hard since his rebirth just to give his family a better life. Whatever future Caiyun had didn’t matter—her happiness did.

Even if she failed in her studies, he’d still be her safety net. That was the whole point of his efforts.

“Mm! I’ll work hard, Second Brother,” Caiyun nodded.

“Alright, get your things ready today. Tomorrow morning, I’ll personally take you to school,” Lin Heng said with a smile as he got up to leave.

Outside the old house, he saw his eldest brother pacing back and forth.

Seeing Lin Heng come out, Lin Yue looked a little embarrassed and guilty. “This is something I should’ve done as the older brother, but I just didn’t have the ability… sigh.”

“Big Brother, we’re family—brothers. It doesn’t matter who does it. Besides, it’s not that you’re incapable, you just didn’t get the opportunity.

Once I’ve got the hang of fish farming, you and Mom and Dad can join me. Then we won’t have to worry about any of this,” Lin Heng said with a smile, gripping his brother’s shoulder.

He wasn’t just saying that to comfort him. There were many people like his big brother—spending their whole lives working hard to survive without ever getting a chance to start a business. Naturally, there was no talk of success or failure.

The reason he got to attend junior high school at all was partly because his big brother gave up that chance for him.

Not to mention all the help his brother gave him during those years in his past life when he was deep in debt.

“Alright, then I’ll wait for you to lead the way. If there’s anything you need help with, don’t hesitate to ask,” Lin Yue said seriously, looking at his little brother.

The two chatted for a while, and then Lin Heng headed home and told Xiulan about the conversation.

“Wife, is there anything you’d like to learn?” Lin Heng asked her.

Xiulan looked puzzled. “Even if I wanted to study, I can’t go to school anymore.”

“That doesn’t matter. No matter what you want to learn—music, chess, calligraphy, painting—I’ll hire a professional to come teach you one-on-one someday,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

Xiulan had only finished fifth grade before her family stopped her from studying. Lin Heng figured she must have her own regrets, and he wanted to help make up for that—give her something she could enjoy for herself.

Xiulan blinked and thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I haven’t thought of anything yet.”

“That’s fine. You’ve got all the time in the world to figure it out,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“Okay,” Xiulan replied brightly.

The next morning at exactly six o’clock, while Lin Heng was still eating breakfast, Caiyun arrived with an indigo cloth backpack she had sewn herself.

Her hair was tied into two ponytails that hung over her shoulders to her chest. She had straight bangs, wore a red shirt on top and a pair of faded indigo pants on the bottom. On her feet were the yellow rubber hiking shoes she’d gotten when they sold the ginseng.

Her pretty face, bright watery eyes, and lips glossed with balm gave her otherwise plain outfit a simple, elegant charm.

“Second Brother, I’m ready,” Caiyun said excitedly.

“We’ll leave as soon as I finish eating. Did you eat already?” Lin Heng asked.

“I did,” Caiyun nodded. She’d had steamed cornbread and potato dumpling soup.

“Have a bit more.” Xiulan handed her a bowl of sauerkraut noodles.

She knew Lin Heng’s parents wouldn’t splurge on food, so breakfast probably wasn’t much.

“Thanks, Sis-in-law.” Caiyun sniffed the noodles and, not being shy, took the bowl and sat down to eat.

After breakfast, Lin Heng grabbed a purple bamboo fishing rod, along with a hook and line, and set out for Huangtan Town with Caiyun.

(End of chapter)