He stared at her, somewhat lost in thought. He dared not tell her that ever since he met her, she had often appeared in his nighttime dreams. She was his angel. He had once told her that she was the kind of girl he admired. But she was Huang Minghao's wife, and according to seniority, he had to call her sister-in-law. This was an unchangeable fact. He could only watch helplessly, not daring to do anything out of line.
Not long after returning home, Jiang Shuya paid her mother-in-law two months' worth of expenses, two thousand yuan. Her mother-in-law was overjoyed. Now that she had this money and her son's thousand yuan, which came in so steadily, she was naturally very happy, especially since she had no income at the moment. She was even more willing to talk to Jiang Shuya a few more times.
She told Jiang Shuya that the bridge now restricts the transport of building materials into the island, and many families are still building houses. After the bridge opened, the previously abandoned ferry terminal on Jiang Island came in handy again. It was said that it was contracted by a certain boss to transport bricks, cement and other materials at night. All the materials were piled up on the open ground behind the fishpond by the river, covered with tarpaulins, which was relatively hidden. People on Jiang Island could buy materials by going directly to the old man who looked after the fishpond, and he would contact them. After agreeing on a price, the boss would deliver the materials to their door. However, the price was naturally 2-3 times that before the bridge was closed.
Even with such high prices, it couldn't dampen the enthusiasm for building houses across the island. Some families were in a hurry, afraid of missing out, and worked day and night. In no time, all the private plots on those deserted islands were covered with illegal houses of varying heights.
However, some families have different ideas. For example, the eldest uncle's family in Dageng is an exception. They didn't build a single brick or tile. The eldest sister-in-law, Liu Zi, always looked down on those who built houses, claiming that she would never take advantage of the country and would take whatever was offered. Now that land prices for building houses have risen, someone has taken over her private plot of land. Knowing that she didn't plan to build, someone came to inquire. After hearing that the person offered a reasonable price, she actually sold her four acres of land to someone else to build a house. When the neighbors heard about it, they scoffed and said that she had no sense of propriety.
According to my mother-in-law, my grandfather's family has been building a house recently. She takes Tangtang to the big hill every few days. My aunt and her family have been handling the construction of my grandfather's house. The construction team they hired all know my son-in-law well, so they didn't ask for high prices. The house is being built on the land where my grandfather usually grows vegetables. When my aunt heard that my uncle's family's private plot by the fishpond had been sold, she went to persuade my sister-in-law Liu Zi. She even offered to help buy building materials, but my sister-in-law refused without a second thought.
The house next door, belonging to my uncle, was completely enclosed, with the front and back walls covered as well. The walls were built high, with two layers, and even the nearby cemetery was encroached upon. When they were about to start construction, they were afraid of being scolded. My eldest uncle was buried in the cemetery, and for some reason, he was buried next to my uncle's house. Moreover, this place is not a cemetery, and only my eldest uncle was buried there. It is obviously very creepy and really makes people puzzled.
According to my mother-in-law, my uncle died fifteen years ago, not from illness, but from an accident.
The reason was that my aunt had seven brothers in her hometown, and she was the only girl in the family. She had a younger brother whom she raised single-handedly, and they had a very deep bond. After my aunt married into the Jiangdao family, she often brought her brother to her home to take care of him. Later, she asked someone to arrange a marriage for her brother in their hometown. The girl was fair-skinned and pretty, and they got married quickly. Because she had several older brothers and the family's land was limited, the couple had almost no place to stay. So my aunt found them both jobs in Nanjing and brought them to live in her home in Jiangdao. From then on, her brother would leave early and return late, and sometimes he would go out for a few days for work. Later, his wife became pregnant and gave birth, and the child needed someone to take care of him, so he stopped going out to work.
My uncle was a plumber on Jiangdao Island. He had a lot of free time and was quite restless. He would often invite my aunt and sister-in-law over to play cards. Over time, the two of them got together and often appeared in the reeds by the river. They were even seen by Old Chen, who was watching the fishpond by the river. Old Chen was on good terms with my uncle and exposed the affair. Seeing that the affair had been exposed, my mother-in-law taught my sister-in-law a lesson and told her to take her child and go back to her hometown. She also went to my uncle's house and made a scene. However, due to the disparity in strength, she was beaten by my uncle.
When the younger brother returned after being away for a few days and heard about the incident, he took a sharp knife he had brought from his hometown and went to find his uncle. The two men were filled with hatred upon meeting, and the younger brother stabbed him in the chest, causing him to bleed profusely. The older woman, who had just returned from the fields, saw him lying in a pool of blood and hurriedly found Huang Guohua to take him to the hospital. However, before they even reached the hospital, he bled out and stopped breathing. He could not be saved. After committing the crime, the aunt and brother fled the scene without taking a ferry. It is said that they swam to the other side of the river and have been on the run ever since. They have not returned and there has been no news of them. The police sealed off the entire island at the time, investigated the whole story, did not recognize it as an accidental homicide, determined it to be intentional homicide, and launched a nationwide manhunt.
After her uncle's cold body was brought back, the murderer had already fled, and the matter remained unresolved. The aunt was devastated. She had lost her husband, and her son was only a teenager. She had not received the financial compensation she was entitled to. With a heavy heart, she buried her husband's body next to her uncle's house, hoping to kill him and make them remember his existence forever.
Seeing her sister's actions, Chen Niang was angry but dared not retaliate. She could only watch helplessly as her uncle's coffin was buried next to the wall of her own courtyard, the high mound of earth visible from within the yard. After her brother fled, her sister-in-law, who had been driven away, reportedly returned to her hometown and remarried, taking her children with her.
The woman lost her husband's source of income and started working long hours, while also managing the family's vineyard. She was so busy that she was constantly on the go. Her son was left unattended and spent his time associating with a bunch of unreliable people. He dropped out of school early and spent his days idly chatting, boasting, and swindling.
These days, every family is building illegal structures. My uncle went to his house to mediate, asking his nephew to move the gravesite outside his yard. But his nephew wouldn't give him any face. So my uncle had to go to my grandfather to persuade him. The old man has always been quite authoritative. Although he's not my biological grandfather, my nephew still respects him. My grandfather advised him that since the man is dead, he should move his uncle's grave to Daishan to reunite with his parents. Jiangdao will be demolished soon, and they'll have to go there sooner or later.
Although my eldest nephew is a scoundrel, he is still relatively filial. His grandparents live in Daishan, and my father is going there to reunite with them, which is also a way of showing his filial piety as a son. The day after my uncle was taken away, my aunt called her son-in-law to find someone to buy building materials, planning to build a house on that plot of land to make up for the loss of not buying the neighboring house plot.
Sure enough, so many people who built illegal houses naturally started thinking about obtaining homestead certificates. The government had already issued a notice that, starting from August 10th, no more certificates of ownership of self-owned land would be issued, and households would be divided naturally according to the existing household registration.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
