After Shi Zhen got busy, his condition actually improved, at least his appetite returned.
This is also related to the fact that Zhao Meiyun's leg has recovered well.
According to the doctor, her injured leg may have some minor aftereffects in the future, but she will definitely be able to walk without any problems.
This is so much better than amputation.
He doesn't even know the contractor who had a grudge against him in his past life, so there's absolutely no need for him to be paranoid.
Shi Zhen kept telling himself this, and the heavy weight on his heart was finally lifted, making him more attentive to his work.
He runs around every day, and whenever he comes across a construction site, he goes up to ask about the situation and writes down all the information he finds in a notebook.
He would jot down some information in that small notebook almost every day.
He also listens to local news on the radio and keeps up with current affairs.
After all, it's easier to get things done if you know all the local policies.
He only learned about many of these things later in his life. In the early stages of his business in his previous life, he really didn't know anything and just relied on his own hard work to break through the barriers. Although he eventually managed to break through the barriers, he ended up with a bloody head.
It was the weekend again, and Guan Baiyu's school was having a short weekend.
Early in the morning, Shi Zhen and Shi Xingchao had breakfast and then opened the door to Guan Jian Guo's house to start receiving and distributing sweaters.
Guan Jianguo's mother moved a bamboo chair, took her needle and thread, and came over to Shi Zhen to do some work. She also said to Shi Zhen, "My son Jianguo is going to partner with someone to buy a boat and set sail."
"Sailing a boat? Uncle Jianguo can sail a boat?"
"When he was sixteen or seventeen, he worked on a tugboat. You know what a tugboat is? It's a boat with a bow and a long line of boats towing it... He worked on tugboats for several years! Those tugboats mostly went to Shanghai. Every time he went, he would bring a lot of eggs with him, and then use the eggs to exchange for grain coupons there. He would bring them back and exchange them for grain... He made money by doing this back and forth."
Grandma Guan spoke with great pride about her youngest son: "From a young age, he loved to find ways to make money everywhere. When the family divided the property, he wasn't married yet and didn't have a house, but he made money to build one himself."
As Grandma Guan chatted, she inevitably brought up things like how expensive the boat was and how profitable it was to run a boat now.
Shi Zhen also knew that sailing was very profitable.
In 1992, the eastern part of Shanghai was developed, and the entire city began to lack building materials. At that time, countless ships loaded with goods were heading to Shanghai on the Yangtze River.
By loading a boatload of goods over there, one can make a fortune.
However, the boat-driving business... is not easy to do.
Shi Zhen recalled that because it was so profitable to buy a boat to transport goods to Shanghai at that time, countless people bought boats to "go down the river".
This resulted in a surplus of ships, and many people loaded their goods and sent them to Shanghai, only to find that they couldn't sell them at all, and even had to sell them at a loss!
Many people borrowed money to buy boats, hoping to make money from them, but ended up losing money on every trip... Some couldn't take it and jumped into the river.
However, it's 1994 now, and this business is just starting to take off. If Guan Jianguo were to do it now, he could still make money in the next year or two, and maybe even a lot.
Of course, Shi Zhen still decided to find an opportunity to mention this to Guan Jianguo, saying that there were too many people buying boats and that it might not be profitable to operate them in the future.
Actually, he thought it would be more cost-effective for Guan Jianguo to buy a car, mainly because in the next ten years, anyone who owns a car and knows how to drive will never have to worry about not making money.
But Guan Jianguo might not listen to him.
And no matter what Guan Jianguo chose to do... in his previous life, Guan Jianguo did quite well.
He doesn't need to worry too much.
Shi Zhen noted this down and mentioned it when Guan Jianguo came out for a stroll.
Guan Jianguo didn't take Shi Zhen's words seriously. He had already made arrangements with his friends and even inquired about the industry. Right now, he was really excited.
Shi Zhen didn't offer much advice, lest he be seen as jealous and deliberately speaking ill of others.
But really... in this era, everyone is chasing profits. Whenever a chance to make money appears, countless people rush in... Under marketization, many people lose everything.
Guan Baiyu's adoptive father's family is one such example.
At first, they could barely break even by raising chickens, but recently, they've been having trouble even selling them.
But Shi Zhen couldn't offer any help either.
Given the current situation, those individual farmers who just started raising chickens are likely to go bankrupt. If Guan Guangguo stops raising chickens in time, it will be equivalent to cutting his losses and not losing too much.
If he can persevere... once the price of chicken drops to a certain level and many people stop raising them, the price will rise again, and he might just make a fortune.
Shi Zhen had talked with Guan Jianguo, and whenever he had free time, he would take out his notebook and write or draw on it.
He's been busy for a week and has chosen a target, planning to try it out this afternoon.
It would be best if we succeeded, but if we didn't... it wouldn't matter.
While Shi Zhen was writing and drawing, Shi Xingchao leaned over and said admiringly, "Zhen, you've been practicing calligraphy since you got out? Your handwriting is amazing!"
He remembered that Shi Zhen's handwriting used to be like his own, a scrawled mess, but now it looked... completely different?
"I practiced a lot," Shi Zhen said. After saying that, he took out a piece of white paper, grabbed a ruler, and started drawing on it.
Shi Zhen drew a floor plan.
He built many houses for people in his past life and saw many floor plans, so he can still draw them.
At this moment, Shi Zhen drew three floor plans on a piece of white paper, representing the first, second, and third floors of the villa.
After finishing his drawing, he thought for a moment and then began to draw the house he had imagined.
In his past life, he learned not only English, but also calligraphy and painting from Liang Qinxuan.
He didn't learn English, but he was decent at calligraphy. As for painting... he learned a little traditional Chinese painting and a little sketching, but he only scratched the surface of both.
Actually, Liang Qinxuan learned even better back then. He even bought a phone with a built-in stylus, and wherever he went, he would draw a few strokes on the phone with the stylus.
Liang Qinxuan paints everything: portraits, landscapes, and famous sites.
Shi Zhen wasn't as skilled as him, but at least he had some basic knowledge, and he was able to draw a villa that looked pretty good.
It was drawn with a pencil, and it looks very simple. It would be better if it were colored.
Shi Zhen didn't have any watercolor pens at home, so he couldn't color, but Shi Ting did... Shi Zhen packed his things and planned to go to town to borrow some watercolor pens from Shi Ting.
He also delivered the sweaters they wanted, so that Zhao Qiujuan and the others wouldn't have to make a special trip to his place carrying the clothes.
Shi Zhen checked the time and found it was 10 a.m., so he pushed out his tricycle and prepared to set off.
Before he could even leave the house, Zhao Dongjuan suddenly arrived.
Zhao Qiujuan and Shi Ting often visited Shi Zhen's place. Before Zhao Meiyun broke her leg, she came every day. Even Shi Dalin came once to see where Shi Zhen lived.
Zhao Dongjuan was the only one who had never come before, but she has finally arrived now.
Zhao Dongjuan, her face full of indignation, said as soon as she saw Shi Zhen, "Shi Zhen, why did you try to harm me?"
"I harmed you?" Shi Zhen was speechless.
He probably knew why Zhao Dongjuan came, but that absolutely cannot be said to be him harming Zhao Dongjuan.
"Whatever you do, I haven't bothered you, have I? What do you mean by gossiping to my boyfriend?" Zhao Dongjuan said angrily. Shi Zhen sized up Zhao Dongjuan.
Zhao Dongjuan and Zhao Qiujuan both have ordinary looks, but Zhao Dongjuan is more beautiful.
People who avoid sun exposure and rain will definitely have better skin.
Not to mention... Zhao Dongjuan was wearing light makeup at this moment.
She probably only applied a little whitening powder and a little lipstick, but her complexion already looked much better.
As for where the lipstick and powder came from, they were probably given to him by the man who came to see him.
The man seemed to come from a well-off family and probably had a job, so giving the young girl a small gift was nothing.
If you look closely, Zhao Dongjuan's looks surpass those of that man.
"Who is it, me or you who are talking nonsense in front of your partner?" Shi Zhen asked. "Go ahead and play the victim, but don't smear your family. We haven't done anything to wrong you."
"How could you do this to me? Then why did you give the rice ball stall to my sister? And why did you ask Shi Xingchao to handle the sweater distribution?" Zhao Dongjuan sneered, "You're just a hypocrite."
She disliked Shi Zhen from a young age. For example, when she first arrived at the Shi family... she didn't believe that Shi Zhen was genuinely welcoming them. Yet, Shi Zhen was able to feign a harmonious relationship with her mother.
“I gave you the stall, and you’re going to sell rice balls so early in the morning? I invited you over, can you help me do the job well?” Shi Zhen looked at Zhao Dongjuan, “You know me, I won’t change my mind, making a fuss here won’t do you any good.”
Zhao Dongjuan was even more furious. There was another reason why she disliked Shi Zhen: when she met other people, they would go along with her if she cried and made a fuss, but with Shi Zhen... it was okay when they were young, but it became completely ineffective later on.
"Zhao Dongjuan, how dare you be angry? How dare you call Shi Zhen a hypocrite... Why don't you just call yourself an ingrate?" Shi Xingchao couldn't help but say. Zhao Dongjuan was actually coveting his job, it was simply intolerable! "How old are you? Do you expect Shi Zhen to support you? And what if Shi Zhen doesn't give you a stall? Does that mean you can't make money? If you want to make money, why don't you come and get a sweater to embroider?"
Zhao Dongjuan's expression changed. She hadn't had much contact with Shi Xingchao before, and she hadn't expected him to be so rude.
Shi Xingchao continued, "What's the use of blaming us when you can't even keep your own man? You lied and got caught, so what does that have to do with us? If you come here again, be careful, I'll ruin one of your future partners!"
Zhao Dongjuan dared not stay any longer and left in a hurry.
Shi Xingchao said to Shi Zhen, "Shi Zhen, I only knew your sister was a bit lazy, but I didn't expect her to be so wicked. She actually went around talking badly about you guys in order to seduce men!"
“If she didn’t act pitiful, people wouldn’t have bothered with her in the first place,” Shi Zhen said.
“That’s true. She’s not a celestial being. Someone like Tingting is a fairy,” Shi Xingchao said.
Shi Zhen: "..." There's no need to call Shi Ting a fairy, she's a huge spendthrift!
Shi Zhen went to town as planned. When he arrived at the Shi family's house, Zhao Qiujuan was cooking. She was about to bring the dishes to him after the meal was finished.
Shi Zhen unloaded the sweaters he had brought from the vehicle, put the embroidered sweaters into the tricycle, and then borrowed watercolor pens from Shi Ting to paint.
"Brother, who drew this? It's so beautiful! I want a house like this too," Shi Ting said.
Shi Zhen glanced at her and said, "If you want a house, study hard and make money."
Shi Ting: "..." Her brother is getting stricter and stricter with her!
Shi Zhen put away the papers and went home.
This afternoon, his job was transporting bricks again, and the person buying the bricks was a nouveau riche from a village a bit far from Guanbaiyu Village.
He was a leader at the village's shoe factory. In recent years, many enterprises have undergone reforms, and he acquired some shares in the shoe factory.
Shi Zhen had already inquired about it, and based on the information he had gathered, this person was building the house simply to show off in the village.
He's actually quite young, and he works in sales at the shoe factory. He's very knowledgeable and therefore easily accepts new things.
Shi Zhen specifically chose Sunday to deliver the bricks, and the man was indeed home. Shi Zhen struck up a conversation with him: "Mr. Wang, are you building a house? Have you decided what kind of house you want?"
"I haven't decided yet," said Mr. Wang.
“You’ll definitely build a really beautiful house, right? It’ll be even more beautiful than those villas in the city,” Shi Zhen said.
"A villa?" the man asked, puzzled.
In the local dialect, there is no word for villa yet. Shi Zhen laughed: "It's the kind of house that looked like a Western-style house back in the Republic of China era. People in the city call it a villa. I have a classmate who studied architectural design. He lives in Shanghai and he designs houses for foreigners. He showed me the villas that people built. They were really beautiful."
Mr. Wang initially looked down on Shi Zhen, but Shi Zhen mentioned villas, Shanghai, and foreigners... He immediately asked, "What kind of house did he show you? Can I take a look?"
Deep down, Mr. Wang wanted a house that was unique, but he didn't know how to make it unique...
Shi Zhen immediately took out the paper he had brought: "That's it. He drew several diagrams for me back then, and I just happened to bring one with me. It's said that these are design drawings that came back from abroad. The exteriors of those buildings are all very beautiful, and the kitchens inside have a whole row of cabinets. The main room, which they call the living room, is furnished with sofas and televisions. It's very grand..."
Shi Zhenxuan's design drawings weren't particularly trendy, but they were still quite different from houses of that time.
He introduced him to Mr. Wang, who took a liking to him almost immediately.
"This house looks nice!" This is the style of a house that foreigners live in; it really looks quite different from the houses here.
“That’s right,” Shi Zhen said.
Mr. Wang immediately asked, "Can this house be built?"
Shi Zhen replied without hesitation: "Of course!"
This is just an ordinary self-built house in the countryside! At most, it looks a bit grand from the outside and the interior design is a bit more exquisite.
Actually, if we wait another three or four years, the houses here will become more and more beautiful, and in another seven or eight years, houses like these will appear.
This era is developing incredibly fast.
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