Chapter 3 Contracting a Clay Kiln

"Sister, can you give me more oil?"

"I want to give you more, but look at this oil tank. The oil in it will last us until the end of the year. If we don't use it sparingly, how can we last until the end of the year?"

When Deng Shirong returned home, he saw his eldest daughter Deng Yunzhen frying dried radish in the kitchen, and his second son Deng Yunheng was helping to light the fire while staring at the oil tank on the stove.

Deng Shirong understood instantly that today was Sunday and his second son, who was in high school, would have to go to school soon. Because his high school was in Songshan Commune, it would take more than three hours to walk there, so he had to set off after lunch.

Now, the eldest daughter is preparing pickles and a bottle of fried radish for him. These will be the food for the second son at school for the next week.

Deng Shirong walked closer and saw that the dried radish in the pot was almost done. Because his eldest daughter was reluctant to add oil, the dried radish looked dry and unappetizing.

"dad!"

Seeing Deng Shirong approaching, the brother and sister greeted him together.

Deng Shirong hummed, then picked up the spoon from the oil can, scooped a ball of lard about the size of an egg and threw it into the pot.

As the clumps of lard were put into the wok, they melted quickly in the high temperature, making a sizzling sound. A rich aroma of oil instantly spread, shocking both the brother and sister.

Deng Shirong took the spatula from his eldest daughter and stir-fried it quickly a few times, then put the fried dried radish into a glass bottle that had been prepared.

Looking at the juicy dried radish in the glass bottle, Deng Yunheng said in disbelief, "Dad, are you really bringing this dried radish for me to eat at school?"

Deng Shirong hummed again, then took out two yuan from his pocket and handed it to him, saying, "It's not a good idea to eat dried radish every day. Take this money and buy some other dishes in the school cafeteria to change your taste."

Deng Yunheng was completely dumbfounded. He had been in high school for almost a year, and this was the first time he enjoyed such high treatment.

Deng Yunzhen's eyes were full of shock. She was already amazed that her father suddenly put so much oil into the fried radish, but what she never expected was that her father actually gave her brother two dollars as living expenses. This completely subverted her imagination.

Has father made a fortune?

Seeing his children's shocked faces, Deng Shirong reached out and patted his second son on the shoulder, and said something earnestly: "Yunheng, you must study hard in school. Now the country attaches great importance to education, and studying can be said to be the only way out for us rural people.

You will graduate from high school in a year. If you fail to get into college, you will have to come back to do hard labor. If you can get into college, your future will have unlimited possibilities.

I am not sure how much you can take into account what I am saying now, but I will do my best to ensure that you have enough food to eat and eat well at school so that you don’t have to worry.

As for whether you can get into college, it depends on you. No one else can help you. Everything depends on your own efforts. "

In his previous life, except for his eldest son who died young, the one that made Deng Shirong most sad among his other four sons was the development of his second son.

After graduating from high school, Deng Yunheng failed to get into college, so he had to return to his family's tile factory to learn the craft of making large jars from his father.

Because Deng Yunheng was smart, flexible and extremely talented, it would take an ordinary person at least two or three years to become a big vat master. However, he learned it in just over a month and became a big vat master overnight.

In the 1980s, the big jar master was still very powerful in the countryside.

In the division of labor of the entire tile factory, there are people who are responsible for picking up mud, people who are responsible for stepping on mud, people who make fine goods, and people who make large goods...

Among them, the pure physical work of carrying mud has the lowest wages. You can earn about one dollar and fifty cents by carrying mud from morning to night and working hard all day. Even so, it is not known how many people are rushing to do this. After all, there are too few jobs that can make money in rural areas in this era.

The second is mud-treading, which requires a little technical skill, so you can earn about two dollars a day.

Making fine goods means making small items such as basins, bowls, jars, and pots. The technical content of this is much higher than treading mud. If you work hard, it is not a problem to earn five or six yuan a day.

Those who make big products are called big vat masters. This is the technical ceiling of the vat factory. An average big vat master can earn seven or eight yuan a day by working hard. However, Deng Yunheng, the big vat master, not only does his job beautifully, but also does it much faster than other big vat masters. He can earn about eleven or twelve yuan a day.

This income is very good even in a big city, let alone in rural areas. It is definitely a lucrative career.

If there had been no changes in the jar and tile market, Deng Yunheng in his previous life might have worked as a jar maker for his entire life until the day he could no longer do it.

Unfortunately, the tile factory began to decline after a few years.

After doing less work, some people gradually started gambling in the tile factory. It was at that time that Deng Yunheng stepped into the quagmire of gambling and eventually became a professional gambler.

Now that he has a new life, Deng Shirong naturally doesn't want his second son to go back to the old path of gambling, so he said these words earnestly, urging him to study hard and get into university, which would be the best, but if not, he can arrange for him to do other things.

In short, try to prevent him from going down the path of no return of gambling.

Deng Yunheng was originally smart. He looked at the bottle of greasy dried radishes on the stove and the two yuan in his hand, nodded with a heavy heart, and said, "Dad, I understand. I will study hard."

…

For lunch, Deng Shirong's family ate sweet potatoes.

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The Naye Production Team where Deng Shirong was located was affiliated to the Bangjie Brigade of Songshan Commune, Bobai County, Guangxi. This was the southern part of the south. The basic food they ate in the morning and evening was white porridge, and at noon they had whole grains such as sweet potatoes, cassava, and taro.

Of course, this is how they basically eat, but whether they can get enough to eat depends on their family conditions. For poorer families, the white porridge is thinner than the mung bean water, and it will be gone in the stomach after being urinated.

As a vat maker, Deng Shirong's family had decent living conditions in the early years. However, after his wife passed away, he had to support his children's education, so his living conditions became much worse.

But the white porridge and whole grains for three meals a day can still feed the whole family.

After lunch, Deng Yunheng carried a small bag of rice, took the bottle of greasy dried radishes, put the two dollars given by his father in his pocket, walked out of the house amid the envious eyes of his brothers and sisters, and strode towards the school dozens of miles away with his head held high.

Deng Shirong saw the longing in his children's eyes.

Last night before going to bed, he counted his assets and found that his total net worth was only one hundred and thirty-six dollars.

One hundred yuan of the money was used as the contract fee for the tile kiln, and two yuan was given to the second son as living expenses, so only thirty-four yuan was left.

Originally, this money was to be used to pay tuition for the four sons. The tuition for the second son who was in high school was the most expensive, at 19.5 yuan per semester.

The third son, Deng Yunsong, will be in junior high school next semester, and the fourth son and the youngest son are in elementary school. Although their tuition fees are much cheaper than high school, they still add up to a large sum of money.

If it were Deng Shirong in his previous life, he would have held on to the thirty-odd yuan tightly and would not dare to spend a penny easily. After all, it was very difficult to make money in the countryside in this era.

Before the tile factory had any income, all expenses were saved as much as possible.

However, Deng Shirong, who had been reborn, had a different idea because he had a plan in mind. He told his eldest daughter, "Ah Zhen, cook dinner tonight. I'll make you and your siblings some scrambled eggs with green peppers."

After these words were spoken, even Deng Yuntai, who was already 20 years old, couldn't help swallowing his saliva, not to mention the little guys Yunsong, Yunhua and Yunheng, who jumped for joy.

(End of this chapter)