Chapter 48 Targeting

"Perhaps there were too many people, and he simply didn't get around to coming by the house to call you."

"Once you've eaten, you can just head over with me. He's paying ten yuan a day. From the look of those fifty-odd mu of greenhouses Erhu is putting up, it's going to take at least a month or so to finish. Once they're done, that's three or four hundred yuan in hand right there. That should cover half a year's expenses in one go," Wang Lixian suggested.

"Working for over a month and making three or four hundred yuan a person—is Erhu really that rich now?" Wang Susu asked in surprise.

She did a quick calculation in her head and realized that Chen Erhu must be spending at least thirty or forty thousand yuan just on labor for these greenhouses, considering there was the construction team in addition to the villagers.

Not to mention the costs of contracting other people's arable land and buying building materials for the greenhouses.

There was no way he could pull it off with anything less than a hundred thousand yuan.

Back in the day, Chen Erhu's old man had been one of the rare ten-thousand-yuan households in the village, but she never expected Erhu to be even more formidable than his father, aiming straight for a hundred thousand.

Wang Lixian smiled. "He just makes a lot of money skimming from the sand quarry in the county town. Not to mention his lover runs the bus station—how could he not be rich?"

"Our village just finished dividing up the farmland, and every household is getting ready for the spring ploughing. The moment they heard Erhu was paying high wages, the whole Seventh Production Team practically flocked over there."

"So I'm telling you, Fugui, once you finish eating, come along with me. Erhu isn't short on money; we should grab as much of it as we can."

In truth, seeing Chen Ling idling around at home day after day with nothing to do and no source of income, Wang Lixian simply wanted to urge him to come along now that the opportunity had presented itself.

Otherwise, if Chen Ling's lazy streak flared up and he refused to work, wouldn't this golden opportunity to make money be wasted in vain?

Yet, he never imagined that Erhu hadn't even bothered to ask Chen Ling to help out in the first place.

"Forget it, Brother Xian. Erhu didn't even ask me. What would it look like if I went crawling to him on my own accord? Chances are he didn't intend to use me at all."

Chen Ling waved his hand, signaling that he wouldn't be going.

Hearing this, Wang Lixian assumed Chen Ling's laziness was acting up again. He stared wide-eyed and said, "Why wouldn't he use you? Old Brother Guoping is over sixty and he's going. You're young and strong—how could they not use you if you went?"

Chen Ling, however, inwardly disagreed.

Didn't he know what kind of temperament Erhu had?

Right now, the guy simply felt he had made a fortune and had come back to the village to show off.

Never mind the extra money spent on hiring labor; when contracting other families' arable land, he had paid thirty or forty yuan more per mu than other villages did.

As the old saying goes...

Returning home wealthy without showing off is like walking in embroidered robes through the dark night.

If he didn't flaunt how rich and capable he had become right in front of the elders and villagers back home, he would feel thoroughly uncomfortable all over.

Yet precisely because of this, the more of a showman someone was, the narrower their mind tended to be.

Last month in the county town, when Chen Ling hadn't agreed to work as his subordinate, Erhu must have felt his pride had been wounded and his face slapped.

Judging by Wang Lixian's words, this time Erhu had returned and summoned practically everyone from the entire Seventh Production Team—even Chen Guoping, a man well into his sixties, hadn't been left out—yet he was the only one who hadn't been called.

It was clearly a deliberate attempt to humiliate him.

At the same time, Erhu likely wanted to watch him stand by and look on while everyone else made ten yuan a day, unable to rake in a single penny himself.

If he grew envious and also wanted to earn some money by helping out, he would have to lower his pride and personally beg Chen Erhu, which would inevitably require swallowing his dignity.

Chen Ling chuckled at the thought, realizing that a person with such a warped mentality from the very root was best kept at arm's length in the future.

He said to Wang Lixian, "Brother Xian, I know you mean well and want me to make a bit more money, but this time it really isn't my laziness acting up. Do you really think Erhu called every single household in our Seventh Production Team without exception, and simply forgot about me?"

Wang Lixian was instantly choked into silence.

After a brief moment of stunned quiet, he suddenly stood up and said, "If that's how it is, then I'm not going either."

Chen Ling was taken aback and hurriedly urged, "Don't be like that, Brother Xian. If he doesn't want me to go, then I won't go. He invited you, so since it's paid daily labor, you should go as you planned. This isn't any major crisis for me—you shouldn't fall out with him on account of my little grievance."

With the Sun-Moon grotto-heaven in his possession, he wasn't short on money at all. Wang Lixian, on the other hand, was entirely different; he had a family of seven to support, and missing out on such a rare money-making opportunity would be a terrible pity.

Besides, Erhu had a personal grudge against him, not Wang Lixian.

How could he let Wang Lixian lose a chance to earn a living just because of his own affairs?

He also knew that Wang Lixian valued old ties, holding onto the distant kinship between their families and always treating him like a younger brother, having helped him out countless times in the past.

That made it all the more reason not to let Wang Lixian suffer losses for his sake.

"That's right, Brother Xian. If Erhu doesn't want to call our family, then he doesn't have to. We just finished swapping farmland with him, so when he leaves us out, the villagers won't point fingers at us anyway. You should go ahead and work."

Wang Susu added her persuasion as well.

With the young couple chiming in one after another, Wang Lixian's expression finally softened considerably.

"I already gave my word yesterday, so I'll go help him out this once. But no matter how much he pays next time, I won't go."

Then, he asked, "Why on earth didn't he come to call you? Did you offend him somehow, Fugui?"

Wang Lixian was no outsider, so Chen Ling didn't hide it from him. He recounted the incident of running into Erhu in the county town last time.

Upon hearing the whole story, Wang Lixian furrowed his brows tightly. "That son of a bitch was trying to play you for a fool! That stinking military brat from the township is actually the head of the construction team I worked with. His eldest nephew got into the sand quarry last autumn specifically because Erhu pulled strings for him."

"His lover has solid backing in the county, and he himself is a manager at the sand quarry. Getting someone squeezed in there is as easy as eating and drinking for him."

"Using the sand quarry to trick you into doing this and that—it's plain as day that he saw you as honest and took advantage of you."

After cursing angrily for a moment, he warned Chen Ling, "You should have as little to do with him from now on. The way I see it, sooner or later that fellow is going to end up locked behind bars."

"All day long it's either dance halls or gambling dens; what good could ever come of that?"

Chen Ling naturally nodded in continuous agreement.

...

After Wang Lixian left, Wang Susu said in a soft, gentle voice, "A-Ling, I'm sorry. I used to think you were just messing around aimlessly when you went to the county town, but I had no idea you were actually trying to get on good terms with Erhu so you could get into the sand quarry..."

Hearing this, Chen Ling couldn't help letting out a silent sigh inwardly, thinking to himself that his silly wife was mistaken—the former Chen Ling really *had* been a reckless good-for-nothing idiot, so she didn't need to apologize at all.

Just the mere fact that he used to raise a hand against her made him utterly unforgivable.

Yet, he didn't say anything out loud. After all, the former Chen Ling was also another version of himself in this parallel world.

The dark history and messy baggage of the past were his to shoulder now, whether he wanted them or not.

After finishing the meal, Chen Ling washed the pots and bowls, swept the courtyard clean, and then spoke to Wang Susu about his plan to plant fruit trees on their newly acquired land.

"Plant fruit trees? I heard people say that back when Erhu's father first cleared that wasteland, he intended to plant fruit trees too, only to set up a lime kiln later instead..."

Wang Susu pondered for a moment before continuing, "Ever since the lime kiln accident, that land has lain barren for over a decade, and only recently has grass finally started growing on it again."

"Even though we've plowed it over once, it's just starting to show a bit of life. If we just go ahead and plant fruit trees directly like this, who knows if they'll even be able to grow?"