“Uncle, the supplies that the village committee gets back can’t be divided equally among the villagers. They have to use their own work points to trade for them. Otherwise, if they are distributed equally among the villagers, problems will definitely arise in the long run.”
Seeing that everyone was having a good time, Lin Chengyu still had to say something that would spoil the mood.
Song Jingtao agreed with Lin Chengyu's words: "Xiaoyu, you're right. There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. We have to let the villagers know that supplies are hard to come by, and if they want supplies, they have to work hard to earn work points."
At this moment, Song Jingtao also took a serious look at his cousin Song Jingwei, who had found him as a son-in-law. He looked at him with a very kind gaze and asked, "Xiaoyu, you've been here on Hainan Island for two days now. Are you getting used to the climate here?"
"It's alright, but it's much hotter than in Shanghai. We might need less fabric in the future than in Shanghai."
Lin Chengyu smiled and replied, as he was experienced in chatting with the elderly, having been raised by his grandparents since childhood.
Song Youjun laughed out loud, "Xiaoyu, you're not a local, so you don't know how hot it is in Hainan. It's summer for at least half the year. With such a long summer, wearing short sleeves every day and sweating a lot, it uses up a lot of fabric. The demand for fabric will only increase!"
"It's alright. We bought a lot of fabric in Shanghai before we went to the countryside. We mailed it directly. If we run out of fabric, we can ask our friends in Shanghai to help us buy some defective fabric from Huaiguo Old Town."
Lin Chengyu was well aware of the weather conditions in Hainan. He had lived there for a full twenty years, longer than his current age. He had spent half of his life trapped in Hainan, and although he didn't like it there.
But it's hard to hate him either, since he was abandoned by Shanghai and Hainan Island is where he finally found refuge.
However, he couldn't quite put his finger on how much he liked this place. Although it was a tropical city, the frequent typhoons and torrential rains were what he disliked the most.
In such extreme weather, he felt that he was really too insignificant to face nature alone.
He felt so insignificant that he felt inferior, even less than a speck of dust.
Even after his rebirth, Lin Chengyu was much more mature and no longer felt inferior or self-pitying because of his insignificance.
When Song Youying heard the two talking about Huaiguo Old Town, she asked with longing, "Auntie, did you often go to Huaiguo Old Town before? I heard that there are a lot of daily necessities there. I would like to go there if I have the chance. After all, it is really rare to have supplies that do not require coupons."
In their town and county supply and marketing cooperatives, you needed coupons to buy anything, and items that didn't require coupons were very expensive. Just thinking about it made Song Youying yearn for the Huai Kingdom's old shops that didn't require coupons.
“I didn’t go to Huaiguo Old Town much before. Those places were full of defective goods and crowded with people. I don’t like going to crowded places. You know my family didn’t lack money or coupons before. I went to the supply and marketing cooperative and department stores more often.”
Song Ziqing could tell that Song Youying was just an ordinary young girl who longed for big cities and for places like Huaiguo Old Town, which had abundant resources.
She spoke casually, with a nonchalant expression, but those who heard her felt a pang of sadness: "Auntie, you don't lack tickets, but we country folk really do."
"That's why I said the villagers can't just stare at their small plots of land all day long; they need to find ways to generate income! If you develop your dried seafood workshop well, you won't be short of money or coupons!"
Song Ziqing wouldn't indulge the villagers just because they were well-off. She wouldn't let them readily spend money and effort to do good deeds just because they were well-off. That kind of outcome was not what she wanted to see.
Only when villagers work hard and reap the rewards will they understand how to be grateful and cherish them.
After hearing Song Ziqing's explanation, Song Youying looked at her grandfather with a happy expression and asked, "Grandpa, when will our dried seafood workshop start? I can't wait! By the way, Grandpa, there's a purchasing station in our village. Next time I go to school, I'll stop by the purchasing station and ask if they buy dried seafood or something like that."
Song Youying loved shopping. Before going to school each time, she would like to wander around the county, walking through every street several times, and she knew the county very well.
Song Ziqing admired her hobby; she was practically a living map.
"I plan to hold a meeting at the village committee tonight to discuss it, and we'll start tomorrow. The weather's pretty good right now; it's the perfect time to dry seafood!"
Song Jingtao was a straightforward person; good things should be done quickly. After all, the farm work had just been finished, and the villagers were so idle they were practically growing mold. It would be better to find more things for everyone to do.
That evening, the Song family all left, leaving only Song Ziqing and Lin Chengyu in the courtyard.
Song Ziqing went directly to the bathroom in the backyard to take a shower. The Song family's old house was renovated by Song Jingwei. Because they had studied abroad, the couple felt that it would be better to have a bathroom at home, especially in a tropical environment like Hainan where you have to shower every day, so a bathroom is very important.
Song Ziqing carefully examined the separate bathroom and found that it was quite spacious and had a bathtub. She asked Lin Chengyu to bring two more buckets of hot water so she could take a bath and relax.
After washing for a while, feeling that her skin had become somewhat pale from being soaked, she quickly got up to dry herself and changed into a sundress.
This slip dress was something she made herself at her home in Shanghai, using fabric and a sewing machine. She felt uncomfortable wearing her original undergarments all the time.
This slip dress may look simple, but it's made of Suzhou silk, which is very smooth and has a nice drape. If this slip dress were in modern times, it could not only be worn as a nightgown, but also as an outerwear piece, since the straps are specially made with wide shoulder straps.
"Ah—" Just as she was about to go out, she saw a snake crawling out of the bathroom windowsill. She screamed in fright. She never imagined that there would be a snake in her house.
Song Ziqing's body went limp with fear. If it weren't for the little strength he still had in his hands, he would have instinctively grabbed the handrail next to him.
At that moment, Lin Chengyu heard her scream and rushed in. Seeing her slumped against the wall, he asked, "Ziqing, what's wrong?"
"Snake! There's a snake! There's a snake on the windowsill! How could there be a snake in the house?"
Song Ziqing was most afraid of these reptiles; they were slippery and disgusting to look at!
"This is the seaside. Although my home is quite far from the sea, there are always many animals by the sea. This snake obviously came from the sea. It's a sea snake. It doesn't look very big, so it should still be a juvenile."
Lin Chengyu had spent half his life by the sea and was much more familiar with the village than Song Ziqing was.
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