Chapter 30 Cursing in Person

Sure enough, as soon as Hu Meili mentioned having other options   Hu’s father’s attitude immediately became more resolute.

“I definitely support building a house ourselves. Here’s the plan, later tonight you siblings can get together and discuss it. Once you’ve decided, just send a telegram to Lao San to inform him.”

Hu Sanxi was working with a construction team out of town, leaving his wife and children at home. His wife could make decisions on such matters.

Lin Xiangnan had dinner at Hu’s house that night. There were too many people, so Lin Xiangnan only got one meatball.

Lin Xiangxi had praised this meatball many times, Lin Xiangnan took a bite with anticipation, the smile on her face instantly faded.

How could she have forgotten, with Hu Meili’s terrible cooking skills, she must have learned it from her mother. Grandma’s skills were only slightly better than Hu Meili’s, the saltiness was just right, but other than that, there were no other advantages.

It wasn’t Grandma’s meatballs that Lin Xiangxi liked, he liked any meat.

After dinner, Hu’s family held a small family meeting about the house.

The cost of building a house wasn’t fixed, a smaller house with fewer rooms could be done for about 1,300 or 1,400 yuan, but a bigger house could cost up to 2,000 yuan.

Hu Meili was the first to speak, “I want four rooms. It’s not easy to build a house, we’ll live in it for at least twenty or thirty years. I need to prepare rooms for Xiaodong and Xiaoxi to get married. Xiaoxi’s father left her some dowry money, she should have a room too. If her future partner’s family doesn’t have enough space, they can live here.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she was showered with looks from the Hu family.

“Why are you looking at me?” Hu Meili said with some annoyance, “I don’t favor boys over girls. Whatever my sons have, my daughters have too.”

“We know you love Xiaonan. You even planned to buy Xiaonan a job. We’re just wondering where you got so much money.”

“Yeah, Big Sister, you’re so tight-lipped, for so many years, I haven’t noticed a thing.”

Old Man Hu tapped his pipe, reminding them, “Let’s talk about the main thing, don’t go off topic. Whether we build a house or not, how many rooms to build, how much it will cost, let’s discuss it quickly.”

Once they decide, he would go to the Housing Management Office and pester the director until he gets the permit, which would take a lot of time.

Because they were three generations living together, Hu’s house was more crowded than Lin’s, each partitioned room was very small.

Younger children slept with the adults, older girls could share a room, older boys slept on floorboards, every morning they had to put their blankets away in the cabinet.

The pharmaceutical factory’s business wasn’t as good as the steel factory’s, they only had two apartment buildings, and it didn’t seem like they would be building any more in the next couple of years. Even if they did build, it would be difficult to get a unit.

Everyone wanted to live in a free house, but waiting was a real drag, and it would delay their children’s marriages.

In terms of the need for a house, Hu’s family was in a more urgent situation.

Before they hadn’t considered building their own house, now that Hu Meili had brought it up, all three families agreed to build a new house.

The problem was that they didn’t have enough money, they might have to borrow a lot.

“Don’t worry, if we really can’t borrow enough money, we can build the house in stages, build the first floor first, and add the second floor later when we have more money.”

“That’s right. We have a lot of people, if we don’t hire anyone, we can build the foundation ourselves, which should save us a lot of money.”

Since everyone was determined, Old Man Hu took on another important task, “Tomorrow I’ll go to the Housing Management Office and find the director, I won’t leave until I get the permit.”

Hu Meili quickly flattered him, “You’re the best, this will definitely work out.”

Building a house couldn’t be rushed, not to mention running around to the Housing Management Office to handle the paperwork, there would be a lot of other things to do later. So today they just discussed it roughly, and the family meeting ended. Other matters could be discussed later after the paperwork was done.

When they went back to Hu’s house, it was not completely dark yet. Usually at this time, everyone would have already washed up, chatted for a while, and then prepared to go to bed.

But tonight half of the people in the courtyard were missing.

Hu Meili directly asked loudly, “What’s going on? What happened in the courtyard?”

“Aunt Hu, you just came back from outside, have you seen Honghe brother?” A child in the courtyard said, “Honghe brother didn’t come back tonight, he’s missing, my parents went out to help look for him.”

Hu Meili was also worried after hearing this, “Oh no, something must have happened to him. He was so angry when he ran out this afternoon.”

After all, she had watched him grow up, even raised him with her own hands. Even though Hu Meili didn’t like the child, she didn’t want him to have an accident at such a young age.

“Alright, let’s go look for him too.”

Hu Meili took the initiative to take Lin Xiangnan and the others to help look for him.

Lin Xiangxi asked with some suspicion, “I saw him by the river this afternoon, could he have jumped in?”

“How is that possible, does he look like someone who would jump in the river?” Lin Xiangnan kicked a pebble by his feet, “I guess he’s just making trouble, trying to get attention. Who knows what he’s capable of doing for a job.”

Hu Meili didn’t agree with this statement, “Honghe is a mischievous kid, but he doesn’t have that kind of heart.”

Lin Xiangxi retorted, “No, he even said he would threaten… with rat poison by the river this afternoon.”

“Cough!” Lin Xiangnan interrupted him, “Why are you talking about this? Let’s go find him.”

The three of them searched around the neighborhood, only bumping into two aunties from the courtyard, they were also looking for him, but no one had seen Liu Honghe.

Lin Xiangnan suggested, “It’s getting dark, maybe he’s already back home. Let’s go back and see.”

When they returned to the courtyard, Liu Honghe had indeed been found, he was found at his mother’s grave.

This situation made everyone feel awkward to discipline him. They all started to reprimand Liu Laohei, the father.

“The child must have been so wronged, he went to cry to his dead mother, he cried until his eyes were swollen. When we found him, my tears just flowed.”

Everyone had helped look for the child, what could Liu Laohei say, he could only thank everyone, “I really caused you all a lot of trouble.”

“What trouble, we’re all in the same courtyard. I’m not saying this to you, don’t argue with your child, talk things out properly. Otherwise, when you’re gone, how will you face your child’s mother?”

“Yes, yes, I’ll pay attention from now on.”

Seeing everyone gathered together, criticizing Liu Laohei, Hu Meili rolled her eyes and directly scolded him in front of everyone.

“Liu Honghe, you stupid fool. It’s a good thing I divorced Liu Laohei, otherwise I would have been a wicked stepmother. I was so worried about him, I looked for him for hours.”

Liu Laohei quickly said, “I know you have a kind heart. It’s just that Honghe is not sensible.”

Since she had already said what she wanted to say, Hu Meili felt relieved, she didn’t even look at Liu Laohei, she turned around and went back to her room.