Chapter 2 Regrets of the Past Life

The next day, Deng Shirong woke up at daybreak.

In his previous life, after he turned 60, Deng Shirong slept less and less, and basically got up at this time every morning, which had formed a biological clock.

After getting dressed and walking out of the room, Deng Shirong immediately saw his eldest daughter Deng Yunzhen, who was cooking breakfast in front of the kitchen stove. He was not surprised because his wife had passed away due to illness five years ago. Before his eldest daughter got married, she was responsible for the family's three meals a day.

Deng Yunzhen heard the noise, looked up and saw that it was her father, and said, "Dad, you're up too, why don't you sleep a little longer?"

"I can't fall asleep after waking up." As he spoke, Deng Shirong looked at his eldest daughter.

Before Deng Shirong was reborn, his eldest daughter was already in her sixties. Because she had married poorly and had worked hard for most of her life, she looked as old as a woman in her seventies or eighties.

Nowadays, even though Deng Yunzhen is wearing patched old clothes, her skin looks a little rough due to wind and sun, and her palms are calloused from various farm work, she is still in her prime and has the vigor of a young person.

Moreover, Deng Yunzhen was 1.62 meters tall. This height is nothing in later generations and is also common in the north, but it is definitely rare in rural Guangxi at that time.

Perhaps it is because the average height of Guangxi people ranks last in the country. Whether in this era or in the future, when men and women talk about marriage, height has always been valued by parents of both sides. Being tall adds points, while being short deducts points.

With Deng Yunzhen's height of 1.62 meters and her decent looks, she was originally qualified to marry into a well-off family. Unfortunately, Deng Shirong in his previous life did not pay enough attention to his children's marriages, or he believed the matchmaker's words too much, which resulted in none of his six children living a happy life after they got married.

Deng Shirong was naturally affected by the discord between his son and daughter-in-law. However, he was not short of money in his later years. His children and grandchildren would give him money during the holidays, and his sons would also give him several thousand yuan in living expenses every month, which he, an old man, could never spend all.

But he has never had any family members by his side. He stays alone in his rural hometown, and his children and grandchildren only come back to see him occasionally.

Until the day Deng Shirong closed his eyes completely, he lived alone. It was impossible to say that he had no regrets in his heart.

Now, God has given him another chance. This time he must control himself well and find a suitable partner for his children. He must not let them go back to the old path of their previous life.

Deng Yunzhen said, "Dad, go brush your teeth and wash your face first, the porridge will be ready soon!"

Deng Shirong nodded, then went to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Half an hour later, the other children also got up.

In those days, there was no electricity in the village and there were no entertainment activities at night. Everyone went to bed early and got up early, unlike the young people in later generations who would sleep until the sun was shining on their butts.

For breakfast, I had white porridge with cucumber peel.

The white porridge here is quite different from that in other places. Even if you only want to cook a few ounces of rice, you have to put a large pot of water in it, and the rice soup can be used as boiled water.

When Deng Shirong was in the most difficult time of his life, he would put countless amounts of porridge and rice at the bottom of his bowl, and then drink the rice soup desperately. Only when his stomach was almost full would he eat the last two mouthfuls of porridge and rice.

The cucumber skin is not fresh and crispy, but has been dried and is very difficult to bite. However, it tastes good as a pickle to go with porridge.

After breakfast, Deng Shirong went to Deng Yungui's house. Although he decided to be a matchmaker in the future, he could still make some money from the tile factory in the next few years, so he had no intention of giving up.

In less than two minutes, they arrived at Deng Yungui's house.

After greeting each other, Deng Shirong got down to business and said, "Yungui, I can partner with you to contract out the vat kiln, but I don't plan to continue to be the vat master. If we partner up to run a vat factory, I plan to let my son Yuntai be the vat master. What do you think?"

Deng Yungui was a little surprised when he heard this. There were hundreds of people in the entire production team, but he only chose Uncle Jiu as a partner. There were three reasons for this:

First, Uncle Jiu had a high generational level. The first ancestor of their Ye family, the Dengs, moved here from Guangdong in the middle of the Ming Dynasty (around 1500 AD) to settle down. Starting from the twelfth generation ancestor, the generations of characters were arranged as follows: Ancestors' Merits, Wanshi Yunchang, Sven Pizhen, Li Pin Duanzhuang, Dunren Bingzheng, Tiandao Huiguang, Chaoting Ximing, Yuanshi Chengfang.

Uncle Jiu is of the Shi generation, and is currently the highest generation in the Naye Deng family. In places where clan concepts are strong, even if Uncle Jiu is not a team leader, he still has a certain say in the team.

Second, Uncle Jiu is a well-known big vat master with extraordinary skills. The big vats he makes are better than those made by other big vat masters.

Third, Uncle Jiu is quite courageous and not as timid as other members.

Now, Uncle Jiu no longer plans to be the big vat master, which will naturally have a significant impact on the vat and tile factory that is about to be contracted out.

After all, the big vat master represents the highest technology of the vat factory.

"Uncle Jiu, why do you suddenly not want to be a big vat master?"

Deng Shirong naturally wouldn't say that he wanted to change his career to become a matchmaker, so he found an excuse and said, "I'm old, my physical strength can't keep up, and my hands and feet are not as fast as young people. Anyway, my Yuntai has already learned this craft, so just let him do it."

Deng Yungui hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying, "Okay, then let Yuntai be the big vat master. However, if we really contract out the vat kiln, one big vat master will definitely not be enough, so we have to hire another one."

"This is easy. Just let my apprentice make up for it."

"That's fine."

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After deciding on the candidate for the big vat master, the two of them then discussed the contract period for the vat kiln.

Deng Yungui had already asked the brigade cadres before. If he wanted to contract out the brick kiln, it would cost 100 yuan a year. If he contracted it for ten years, it would be 1,000 yuan, and if he contracted it for twenty years, it would be 2,000 yuan. It was that simple and crude.

The contract price was not expensive. Deng Yungui was inclined to contract for twenty years. However, Deng Shirong knew the development trajectory of the tile factory and naturally did not want to waste the money like in his previous life, so he insisted on contracting for only ten years.

Deng Yungui advised: "Uncle Jiu, I think we should take a long-term view. Anyway, the money doesn't have to be paid in one lump sum. Isn't it a bit too short to contract for only ten years?"

Deng Shirong smiled and said, "Ten years is not a short time. After all, society is changing rapidly now. We don't know what the world will be like in ten years. Maybe some new products will come out to replace the tiles. Then wouldn't it be a waste of money to contract for twenty years?"

In their previous life, they signed a twenty-year contract. Even in the first few years when the business was still doing well, the two of them foolishly paid the twenty-year contract fee in advance.

As a result, after a few years, the tile factory began to decline. The two men barely managed to hold on for ten years before they had to declare bankruptcy, losing a thousand yuan in contract fees in vain.

That one thousand yuan may not be a big deal in later generations, but in the early 1980s, it was definitely a huge sum of money.

Deng Yungui laughed and said, "Uncle Jiu, you are overthinking it. We have been using jars and tiles for generations. How could they be replaced by other products in just ten or twenty years?"

Deng Shirong also smiled, and his smile was meaningful: "Yungui, everything is possible in this world. Let's take over the contract for ten years. If everything goes well, we can just renew the contract then!"

Although Deng Yungui felt that Uncle Jiu's worries were unnecessary, since Uncle Jiu insisted, he did not want to disagree with Uncle Jiu on this issue, so he nodded and said, "Okay, ten years is ten years."

ps: In the period of new book, it is very important to follow the books, please don’t keep the books idle, thank you!

(End of this chapter)