Siheyuan: Five mouths waiting for food at the beginning

"Let's do a major overhaul. We should just tear it down and rebuild it. We should replace all the desks and blackboards with new ones, and replace the playground with cement. How much do you think it will cost, village chief?"

The village chief was extremely annoyed. He knew that Zhao Tong had been taken to Sijiu City by his nephew to enjoy a good life. Now, not only did he want to repair the ancestral hall, but he also wanted to build a school. How much money would that require?

"Brother Shanhe, you have to think this through. Although building a school is a good deed, it will cost a lot of money according to your method. Why don't you discuss it with your family first? After all, it will cost a lot of money."

"It's okay, Village Chief, just tell me directly, how much money do you need? I have some money, and I can also make decisions about family matters."

It has been several years since the reform and opening up, and he has been doing business for several years. Excluding the operating expenses, Zhao Shanhe has earned over one million in dividends over the years. There is at least one million in his family's savings account.

Last year, the clothing business developed rapidly and was sold all over the country. High-end brands have been exported to Southeast Asia. The profit from clothing alone has exceeded 10 million.

“Repairing the school is a bit complicated. We have to report it to the town and see if they can allocate some money. We need a professional to calculate it.

There is also the ancestral hall, which will probably cost about that much money. If we build the square as you said, the stage will also need to be expanded and some land will be needed, and we will also have to report this to the town."

"Village chief, do you think this will work? We brothers can't stay here for a few days. We have to go back tomorrow, or tomorrow afternoon at the latest. It will take you a few days to report. Please give us a rough estimate.

After you have calculated it, I will call home and ask your village committee to prepare an account and transfer the money to me. The rest will be up to you."

The village chief's hands were shaking as he smoked. "No, Shanhe, it's such a big deal, with so much money, why don't you keep an eye on it?"

"Village chief, you can't write two Zhaos with one stroke. Since the village has chosen you as the village chief, they must trust you. Why shouldn't I trust you?

We have jobs in the old city, so we definitely can’t stay here.”

"I'll go get the village accountant and have him do the math in front of you. We'll settle all the accounts one by one."

He was sixty years old, but his legs moved very fast. He quickly went to find the accountant.

The second uncle pulled Zhao Shanhe over and whispered, "Shanhe, you did a good job. I, your second uncle, have saved some money over the years, but not much, just a few thousand yuan. When the time comes, I will give it all back as a token of my appreciation."

Zhao Shanhe knew that his second uncle was upright and selfless. He heard from his second aunt that he used money to help the orphans of his comrades in the early years. It was only in recent years that those people grew up and saved some money.

"Uncle, there's no need. You're going to retire soon, so save some money for your retirement. To be honest, I have at least a million in my savings account. I've been busy lately and haven't checked it, so there may be more than that. I can definitely pay for this amount by myself."

A few minutes later, the village chief came with the accountant. The two of them ran out of breath. Zhao Shanhe poured them some tea and said, "Hurry up and drink some water. There's no need to be so detailed. Just give me a rough figure."

"No, you donated money to build a school and an ancestral hall in the village. This is a good deed. No one's money comes from the wind. We must make sure you get the money."

The accountant held an abacus and wrote quickly in a small notebook. He and the village chief calculated item by item, including how many bags of cement and wood were needed, how much a bag of cement cost, and how much a brick cost, all of which were calculated in great detail.

"My dear uncles, we are sitting here anyway, why don't you tell me about the development of the village in recent years."

Several old people were talking about the development of the village over the years.

Zhao Shanhe then realized that although people were not starving to death in these years, they were not very rich either. There was not even one person with an annual income of 10,000 yuan in the village. Only those who went out to work and earned some money could renovate their houses.

"Have you ever thought about buying a boat together and going out to sea? We are so close to the sea."

"Who would I sell the fish to if I bought a boat? Fish are not worth much in this place. I can only earn a little extra money by picking up small fish and shrimps. It would be better to go out and find a job."

When Zhao Shanhe came to his third uncle's house for the first time, he planned to let his third uncle's family deal in seafood after the economy was reformed in the future. However, he later took over his third uncle's family in advance. Now that he has the ability, he can indeed invest in building a factory in the village.

“Shanhu, life in the village is still too hard, why don’t you send a team over to investigate and we build a factory in the village.

When the time comes, we will provide the money, and the villagers will provide the land and people to build a factory to trade seafood. There will be a market in the mainland.

We can also build a canning factory to produce canned fish or something like that. Life will be better if the village has an enterprise.”

The village chief who was originally settling accounts suddenly became excited, "Shanhe, you said you wanted to build a factory in the village? To be honest, last year a boss saw that our place was good and wanted to build a factory, but I don't know what happened in the end and it was left unfinished.

Shanhe, let me tell you, if you have a truck, it will be totally worthwhile to build a factory here. I've heard that the people who come here to collect dried fish every year make a lot of money.

They charge 1.5 cents for it, and sell it somewhere else for at least 80 cents, and the price gets higher the further you go in.”

"Okay, village chief, I've got it in mind. We'll send someone over when we get back to start a business with the village. We'll give the villagers dividends and they'll have a place to work."

"Shanhe, if what you said is true, I promise to open a family tree for your family and introduce your deeds separately."

Uncle San was so happy. Only those who made great contributions to the family could have a family tree. However, his nephew was repairing the ancestral hall, building a school, and setting up a factory to make the villagers rich. That was definitely a great contribution.

The third uncle was afraid that Zhao Shanhe would refuse, so he quickly said to the village chief, "Village chief, you must keep your word. My nephew grew up in the city of Sijiu. He always misses his hometown and the villagers. You can't lie to him."

"Uncle Yao, don't worry. I guarantee that all the old people will bear witness to what they have done."

These old men also said one by one, "Brother Zhao Tong, don't worry, we will guarantee you when the time comes."

Seeing that his third uncle had made up his mind, Zhao Shanhe didn't say anything. As someone who had never experienced this in two lifetimes, he had no idea about opening a family tree. His family in his previous life didn't even have a family tree, and the names were just randomly chosen.

It was not until dinner time that the accountant calculated the amount of money needed. The village chief read out the items one by one, calculating clearly how much money would be spent on each item.

Zhao Shanhe listened roughly and only paid attention to the final total, which was 88,636.5 yuan.

"No, Village Chief, this is to build a school. According to what I said, excluding the money for the ancestral hall, there is only a little over 40,000 yuan. Can it be built?"

"Shanhe, this is calculated item by item. I applied for some money from the town, and then asked other villages to contribute some money. Our village also contributed some money, and it came to more than 40,000 yuan. This is calculated based on the best schools. You two brothers should just take the lion's share.

You guys got more than 80,000 yuan at once, which means you are now 80,000 yuan rich. How are you going to explain it to your families when you return home? "