After returning home, Jiang Shuya found the business card and took out a box of liniment for sprains and bruises that she had bought earlier from the medicine box. She thought that she would encounter some bumps and minor injuries while building the house, but she didn't need it. After dinner, she took the medicine and the business card and gave them to Zhang Xiaohui.
Zhang Xiaohui was so moved that she didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell her how embarrassed she was and how she couldn't afford extra medicine. Even when she was injured or sick, she would endure it rather than waste money. Besides, she really didn't have any money right now. She didn't have the confidence to call and ask about the business card Jiang Shuya gave her. But she still told her that building the house would have to wait. The grapes would be on the market soon, and they could only plan to build the house after selling the grapes.
When the topic of selling grapes came up, Shuya asked another question: "Where did you sell your grapes in previous years?"
Zhang Xiaohui pursed her lips and said, "They're all delivered to the Xiaguan Fruit Wholesale Market! This year is better; we don't have to rush to catch the ferry early anymore, making delivery much more convenient."
"Is it also wholesaled to street vendors?" Jiang Shuya asked.
Zhang Xiaohui: "Of course! If we sell them little by little, we won't be able to sell them all!"
Jiang Shuya: "Will the price offered for shipping it over there be reasonable?"
Zhang Xiaohui didn't hide anything and said, "When it first came on the market, the price was good, and it could reach 2.5 yuan per jin. But it wouldn't sell for many times. When it came on the market in large quantities, the price would drop to 2 yuan, and then to 1.5 yuan. Many people would ask vendors to come and pick the fruit, but I didn't want to. They only cut the ones that were already cut. Some of them were not honest and would hang the ones that they were not satisfied with on the branches. That would be a loss. I would rather work harder and deliver them myself than have vendors come to my door."
The price was indeed about the same as what my mother-in-law had mentioned.
"What kinds of plants do you have at your house?" Jiang Shuya asked with a smile.
Zhang Xiaohui scratched her head and said, "Kyoho, Xiahei, Ping Pong, Sunshine Rose, Golden Finger, Kyoho makes up the majority, the others are fewer."
Jiang Shuya looked slightly surprised: "How many grapes did you grow?"
She secretly praised her, thinking, "What a hardworking woman!"
She raised her eyebrows and said, "Less than six acres? You have that much land? The barren plot next to my house is yours."
Jiang Shuya was completely bewildered by her question; she had never heard her mother-in-law mention that her family owned a piece of wasteland.
With these questions in mind, I went home and asked my mother-in-law. She told me that she used to work every day and had two vineyards, but she couldn't manage them all, so she abandoned the larger one. She figured she wouldn't make any money there, so working a regular job was more worthwhile and she gave it up.
Jiang Shuya was speechless at her words.
A few days later, Jiang Donglai and Jiang Shuhuai finished installing all the doors and windows of the house, and also paved the cement road on the slope that Grandpa had mentioned before. Looking at the cement house with proper doors and windows, Jiang Shuya was very satisfied. She then mentioned the matter of dividing the homestead into separate households to Grandpa. Grandpa smiled and said that he had already spoken with the village secretary and that he would bring people to measure the dimensions in a couple of days. The homestead would be opened again. He just asked about the separate households and the head of the household...
Jiang Shuya suddenly realized that it was already past the Ghost Festival (July 15th of the lunar calendar), and Huang Minghao still hadn't returned. How should she fill out the separate household registration form? She had her father and younger brother stay for lunch, and after seeing them off, Jiang Shuya sent Huang Minghao a message asking when he would return, but received no reply.
I didn't see Huang Minghao's reply until the next day. He changed his return date to August 18th. He only had a month-long vacation, and if he came back now, he wouldn't be able to attend his cousin's wedding. He changed the date to make it to his cousin's wedding banquet.
The matter of separating the households couldn't wait. If they waited for him to come back, it would be too late. They were counting on him to help sell grapes, but by then, most of the grapes would have already been sold. This clueless person, I really wanted to slap him a few times. Jiang Shuya felt helpless and sighed.
The next morning, at Grandpa's request, she waited early on the big ridge. Sure enough, the village secretary came with several people to measure the dimensions. Grandpa asked Jiang Shuya to buy a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from a roadside shop. Shuya immediately understood and handed them over with a smile after buying the cigarettes.
It took the group about fifteen minutes to measure the house upstairs and downstairs. One of them drew up the blueprints, stamped them, and then asked them to go to the village to get a building permit and blueprints, along with their household registration book, to the township government to obtain a property ownership certificate. Then, they took the property ownership certificate, their ID card, and their household registration book to the police station to obtain a separate household registration book.
That afternoon, Grandpa accompanied Jiang Shuya to the brigade office and they got the building certificate. When they came back, he mentioned that Huang Minghao was not at home and needed to be present to sign the certificate, so it was difficult to fill in the head of household information.
Grandpa didn't take it seriously, thinking that they could just wait for Huang Minghao to come back before processing the separate household registration. Jiang Shuya couldn't tell Grandpa the truth, so she lied and said that a classmate of hers worked at the township government and that the separate household registration certificate could not be processed after August 10th.
Grandpa was surprised and nodded. Although he hadn't heard of it, he preferred to believe it rather than not, and said he would come to Huang Guohua's house that evening.
After dinner, Grandpa arrived home and immediately looked for Huang Guohua. Jiang Shuya went to the vineyard to call the old man. He had been behaving well lately, going to work diligently and then working in the vineyard after get off work. The house was much quieter. People are more fulfilled when they are busy.
When they got home, the old man, sweating profusely, picked up a glass of cold water from the table and started drinking it. His grandfather looked at his filthy appearance with disdain and said gently, "Since Haohao isn't in a hurry to come back, we can't wait to process the household registration. You go with Haohao's wife to the township government and change the name of the homestead owner to Haohao's wife."
Jiang Shuya looked at her grandfather in surprise, then saw that her old man almost spat out the water he hadn't finished drinking. She exclaimed in surprise, "What? What did you say?"
Huang Guohua looked at the silent Jiang Shuya, puzzled. He asked incredulously, "This change of homestead land means a change of head of household, are you senile?!"
The old man jumped to his feet and said, "The homeowner is nothing! Don't you know who paid for this house? You've wasted all these years at the mahjong table. Look at the house you live in now, who paid for it? Where did all your money go? You haven't even done your part in building this front yard. Where has all your ability gone? It's just a pretty face now."
After his words, Huang Guohua stammered nervously.
Jiang Shuya understood that the old man had been criticized by her grandfather, and said vividly, "Dad, I've inquired about it. It doesn't matter who the householder is. Legally, it's all marital property. The house you live in now, although the land is registered in your name, you are a legally married couple. According to national law, half of it belongs to Mom. You can't deny that. The marriage certificate is the best proof."
That's right. Even if Jiang Shuya paid for the house on the big plot, Huang Minghao would still get half of the demolition compensation after the household registration was changed.
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