Chapter Seven: Worrying Oneself Sick Just for a Bite to Eat

Qin Feng’s girlfriend was truly a decent person, but her mother was a bit difficult to deal with. This left Qin Zhihe feeling rather helpless. Putting himself in their shoes, he knew that if he were the girl’s parent, he would naturally hope for his daughter to find a partner with better family conditions.

Qin Jun, naturally, observed his father’s behavior. However, he had already realized that his second attempt at life—this "rebirth" journey—would inevitably involve putting his own family to work. For Qin Jun, building a house didn't actually have to cost money.

"Dad, I’m serious. If you let me take charge of the household, the house for my second brother’s wedding can be built by next spring."

"Heh, you want to take charge? Go ask your eldest brother, your sister-in-law, and your second brother first to see if they agree," Qin Zhihe retorted dismissively.

Qin Jun chuckled, "What if I can build the family five large tiled rooms?"

"Are you looking for money? Tell me what this is for first. In any case, we don't have enough money to build a house, but if it's for university, I’ll give you the funds," Qin Zhihe said bluntly, not even blinking.

"I only finished primary school; what kind of university would I go to..."

This was one of Qin Jun’s regrets. He had returned too late. After all, who wouldn’t want to test into a good university after being reborn? But it was already the end of 1979, and 1980 was just around the corner. If he were to take the college entrance exam, it would be in 1980, the fourth iteration since the exams were reinstated; the questions certainly wouldn't be simple. While Qin Jun possessed nearly sixty years of memories, he had never studied systematically. He had only learned bits and pieces of useful information, which didn't form a coherent system capable of handling a college entrance exam. His foundation was too thin, limited to only five years of primary school.

"You know you only finished primary school, and yet you still want to build a house with a little over a hundred yuan? How?"

The conversation had hit a dead end, and Qin Jun fell silent.

An hour later, the three of them walked into their home. Watching his mother busy at work, he noticed that although she looked much younger, her face was already etched with wrinkles, and her hair was streaked with gray. She was only in her forties. Twenty years into the future, a woman her age would be in her prime—not necessarily in her youth, but certainly not looking like the elderly woman she appeared to be now. This was the difference between city and rural life; the state of existence alone was worlds apart.

While helping his mother clear the table and serve bowls of thick porridge, Qin Jun slowly edged back toward his father.

"I don’t want your money. You keep holding the purse strings, but I want to take charge. I guarantee we’ll have five large tiled rooms by spring. If you don’t believe me, we can start and you can see for yourself. You don’t have to pay anything anyway."

"Really?" Qin Zhihe plopped down at the table, picked up a bowl of sweet potato porridge, and began to sip it slowly. It was authentic sweet potato porridge, devoid of any additives, so it tasted like pig feed. In the nineties, this stuff would only be used for pigs, and calling it "pig feed" was no exaggeration. Boiled sweet potato flour with maybe a dash of salt—it was hardly a delicacy. A pair of chopsticks stuck into the bowl would stay upright for a while; this was the standard for disaster relief in ancient times, and it applied here, too. This was their breakfast: a bowl of pig feed—no, sweet potato porridge—per person.

"Really!" Qin Jun started to eat as well.

The eldest brother, sister-in-law, second brother, elder sister, second sister, and younger brother all began to eat. With nine adults in the household, having a bowl of sweet potato porridge every morning was considered not bad. To eat their fill, they would likely have to wait until the land was divided.

After a brief moment of chaos, everyone sat down to eat. As for Qin Jun’s claim about taking charge of the household, no one paid it any mind, as there was nothing worth managing. The family was so poor they were jingling with emptiness; whoever took charge would just end up with white hair from the stress.

However, the current head of the household was slightly tempted. Qin Zhihe looked at Qin Jun, curious to hear his reasoning. He had been losing sleep over the house-building issue lately. Now that his third son claimed he didn't need money and could still get it done, he was interested, regardless of whether it was true or not.

"Interested? Listen to me. I can burn the lime for those five rooms starting now."

Looking at his third son's face, Qin Zhihe grew serious. "You know how to burn lime?"

"Not just that, I can build a lime kiln, too!"

Qin Jun knew exactly what would entice his father, so he went straight to the point. This was the disadvantage of having no "cheat" or special ability; to survive in this era, he had to rely on genuine skills. Since he couldn't use a cheat, he had to rely on the techniques he had accumulated in his past life to earn a living.

Burning lime required a kiln. While the commune had one, none of the surrounding villages did. There was a brick kiln in their village, built under the leadership of a "sent-down youth" years ago. Unfortunately, after that, society became too chaotic, and the brick-making ceased. When the youth returned to the city, there was no one left who knew how to operate the kiln.

Thinking back, the last decade had been tumultuous, but some things remained. The brick kiln in the dirt field at the east end of the village and the small blast furnace for steelmaking at the west end—if utilized well, these could be the path to quick wealth. But the timing wasn't right yet; 1984 was a turning point, and it wouldn't be until 1991 that one could fully let go and conduct business.

He would have to wait. For now, Qin Jun could only exploit his own family to ensure everyone was fed. Money sitting idle didn't grow, so it was best spent on food. His reasoning was ready: although family members would be helping with the building, it was heavy labor, and they had to be well-fed. Even if the labor was free, the food had to be provided, and it had to be decent—not necessarily white flour buns, but at least mixed-grain buns.

In this era, it didn't cost much to eat. Qin Jun calculated that a full meal for heavy manual labor cost about thirty cents. Ten people working for twenty days, at thirty cents per person per day, would cost three yuan a day, totaling sixty yuan for the project. That was a necessity, and he couldn't afford to run up a tab since the workers needed to eat. Qin Jun’s calculation was merely to ensure everyone was full.

"You really don't need money? Just meals?" Qin Zhihe looked at his fourteen-year-old son, still feeling it was unreliable.

"No money, just meals. You’d have to provide food for whoever you hired to build, wouldn't you?" Qin Jun said with a serious expression.

"That’s true. How about you try for a day and let me see?"

Qin Zhihe was tempted. Even if his son seemed unreliable, the prospect was too alluring! Most importantly, he couldn't buy lime even if he wanted to. Remembering his frustrations from earlier that day, Qin Zhihe made a firm decision. It was better to rely on oneself than others; he’d try it out and see. It wouldn't cost anything but some effort. What if it worked?

Qin Jun said, "Let's be clear: since it’s mid-winter and this is heavy labor, I need mixed-grain buns for everyone to eat their fill, starting this noon."

"Mixed-grain? What kind of family are we? We have to eat mixed-grain buns? And eat our fill? How much would that cost per day?"

"One jin per person," Qin Jun conceded.

"That's not impossible, but for the first day of the trial, there will be no provided meals. If it works, we’ll start providing food from the second day!" Qin Zhihe was certainly no fool; he wouldn't release the hawk until he saw the rabbit.

"Fine!" Qin Jun was determined to win for the sake of those daily mixed-grain buns. He was probably the most pathetic "reborn" person ever, bowing down for a jin of mixed-grain buns! But he had no choice. It had been fifteen days since his rebirth, and he woke up shivering every morning. That was bad enough, but the lack of work in winter meant the diet was abysmal. He was not just eating poorly; he was not getting enough to eat. Like today, a single bowl of watery sweet potato porridge. He could eat five bowls of that with some pickled vegetables. Sadly, the daily ration was one bowl per person—after all, those "hibernating" in winter didn't earn work points.

Since his father had agreed, Qin Jun decided to start. As long as he showed results, getting enough to eat wouldn't be a problem. As for eating *well*, that would require more effort.

With Qin Jun's promise, Qin Zhihe, who had been dejected and worried, perked up. After the meal, the family didn't scatter but instead kept their eyes on Qin Jun.

Qin Jun had already planned this, so he immediately said, "Grab the pickaxes and shovels. We’re going to dig for bluestone."

Bluestone was a local round rock primarily composed of calcium carbonate, the perfect raw material for lime. The family understood this; in previous winters, the village had organized people to dig it because it could be sold. A ton of bluestone could sell for three yuan, but the commune’s lime kiln didn't accept much, and only squads with connections could sell to them. The small river brigade had organized digging a few times, but eventually gave up when it became difficult to sell. Besides, their area wasn't a major limestone producer; there were only a few scattered deposits, likely formed by water currents.