2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 9 Making up for regrets
With economic development and the relaxation of policies on migrant workers, fewer and fewer young and middle-aged people are staying in their rural hometowns.

The same was true at my maternal grandmother's house; several of my uncles, who were younger than my mother, had gone to work in other places and did not come back for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The reason why Uncle Zhang Qingfeng was at home was because he was over 50 years old, but Tan Jincheng didn't know exactly how old he was.

I only remember that the last time I went home before my rebirth, my uncle had already turned 70. He must be over 50 now.

In cities, people in their fifties are already waiting to retire and enjoy life; however, in rural areas, it is very normal for people in their fifties to be working in the fields.

Because of the pregnant woman, Zhang Qingfeng drove his electric tricycle very steadily and at a slow speed.

Along the way, Zhang Qingfeng chatted with his sister and brother-in-law from time to time, and occasionally asked Tan Jincheng some questions.

However, Tan Jincheng's thoughts had already wandered off at this moment.

Upon seeing his eldest uncle, Tan Jincheng finally remembered his mother's second brother, his fourth uncle Zhang Qingliang.

There are many children in the family. Apart from the youngest uncle who went to high school, the other uncles didn't receive much education. They only knew a few words before going out to work.

My fourth uncle, Zhang Qingliang, is currently working in Northeast China, doing renovation work.

In September 2005, Zhang Qingliang was accidentally electrocuted and died at the construction site. He was only 36 years old when he died, and his second cousin had just turned 10.

Tan Jincheng couldn't remember the exact date in September, but at this point in time, it had been less than a year since his fourth uncle's accident.

The unexpected death of my fourth uncle was a major blow to my grandmother and mother. My mother had the best relationship with this younger brother, and even in 2023, when she was reborn, she had not completely emerged from the shadow of this event.

As far as I can remember, when my fourth uncle passed away, the construction site paid out 70,000 or 90,000 yuan in compensation. My fourth aunt never remarried and instead supported the family on her own.

Although she had many brothers who could help each other, the strong-willed fourth aunt was mostly unwilling to accept direct financial assistance from her brothers, making life quite difficult for her and her son.

Since then, my second cousin has also developed a taciturn personality. Apart from having a good relationship with Tan Jincheng's cousin, he is unwilling to talk to anyone else.

"No matter what, we have to stop this from happening," Tan Jincheng thought to himself.

My fourth uncle works in the renovation industry; we must persuade him to go to Ningbo no matter what, to prevent a repeat of this tragedy.

Anyway, I'm planning to set up a factory next year, and I'll need to renovate it then.

Tan Jincheng knew that even if the inertia of history could not be stopped, he had to give it a try.

For the sake of her mother and family, she would not complain even if the accident happened again in the future, and she would take the risk herself.

Moreover, her uncles were really good to her, especially her fourth uncle, who was closest to her mother.

Reborn in 2003, besides making money, isn't the only purpose to make up for all the regrets of my previous life?
Fourth Uncle will be home for the Chinese New Year. We'll try to lure him to Ningbo first, but Tan Jincheng hasn't figured out how to do it yet.

After all, my fourth uncle has done quite well in Northeast China. My fourth uncle and aunt are honest, hardworking and diligent people, and they have saved a lot of money working over the years.

According to what my mother said in her previous life, if nothing unexpected happened, her family should have started preparing to build a new house by the end of 05 or the beginning of 06.

How can a young man under 20 years old trick a stable adult into moving to another city?

"What are you thinking about? Your uncle is asking you a question."

Just then, Tan Lihua's voice rang in Tan Jincheng's ears.

"Huh? What?" Tan Jincheng replied after a moment of surprise.

“Your uncle just asked you a question, what were you thinking about so intently?” Zhang Suzhi was more observant; her son had been spacing out in the car and wouldn’t answer her questions.

"I was thinking about what I talked about with Pengya last night. What did my uncle ask me?" Tan Jincheng asked, trying to cover up his thoughts.

“Your uncle asked you what you’re planning to do now that you’re not going to study,” Zhang Suzhi said.

Zhang Suzhi only learned last night that her son didn't want to study, and he's going back to his parents' home today, so she hasn't had a chance to discipline him yet. She'll have her older brother teach the boy a lesson later; he's been away for a year and his mind's all wandered off.

How can you get by without reading these days?

"That's exactly what I was thinking about. I talked to Pengya about our future plans last night," Tan Jincheng said with a grin.

Judging from Mom's expression, I knew this matter wouldn't be so easily dismissed.

In fact, people in Yicheng attach great importance to education. Yicheng has produced many famous figures throughout history and has a thriving literary culture. Families with some means will do everything they can to support their children's education.

Tan Jincheng's grades were already quite good, and he was capable of getting into university, yet he didn't study, which was seen as somewhat unconventional by the locals.

Influenced by Tan Lihua's admission to a vocational school and his subsequent job at a large state-owned enterprise in the city, the Tan and Zhang families had a relatively good academic atmosphere.

Apart from his older cousin who was a bit older than Tan Jincheng, all the younger ones were passionate about studying. In his previous life, many of his younger siblings had gone on to attend prestigious universities like 985 and 211.

If it weren't for the fact that his business did quite well later and he made some money, Tan Jincheng really wouldn't have had the face to go back to his hometown.

However, the oldest of these younger brothers and sisters is only fourteen or fifteen years old; they are all just little kids.

Especially on my maternal grandfather's side, there are five uncles with a very wide age range, the oldest being over 50 years old and the youngest only 26 years old this year.

My older cousin is a year older than my younger uncle. He had a child when he was 18, and his son is already 9 years old, while his uncle only got engaged this year.

With uncles and other relatives added together, the family is actually quite large, and no one in the village dares to bully them.

Although the new century has brought significant changes compared to the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, the rural environment has remained largely unchanged.

Families with large numbers of members have a certain advantage in the local area, and it is common for them to swarm each other when reasoning fails.

Tan Jincheng, who was sent back to the countryside during winter and summer vacations when his parents had to work, witnessed this scene many times.

Even Tan Lihua, who was educated, had to personally take charge of many tasks before being officially assigned a job.

After entering the village, the road conditions were noticeably worse than in the town, and Zhang Qingfeng reduced the speed of his tricycle once again.

Pedestrians passed by from time to time, mostly elderly people. Zhang Qingfeng and his wife Tan Lihua greeted the pedestrians from time to time.

Tan Jincheng didn't know many people in his grandmother's village, so he wisely chose to keep quiet to avoid calling them by the wrong name.

A short while later, the car stopped in the courtyard of Zhang Qingxuan's house, Tan Jincheng's uncle. The youngest son was not married, and the two elders were living with him.

Chinese people all have a strong attachment to houses. People in cities dream of buying houses, and so do people in rural areas. Building a house that they are satisfied with on their homestead is the dream of most farmers.

My uncles' families weren't very well-off, but they weren't poor either. They would owe some money if they built a small house with red bricks and prefabricated panels, but they could afford it.

My uncle graduated from high school and went out to work after graduation. He had no children to hold him back, so he was the best off among his brothers and was also the first to build a house.

The building is a small, one-and-a-half-story building with three rooms on each floor; the layout of the master bedroom, living room, and secondary bedroom is the same on both floors, with the top half floor used for storage.

Next to the small building is a row of three small bungalows, which are the kitchen and the living quarters for the maternal grandparents. Another room is designed as a pigsty and toilet.

There were no pigs in the pigsty, but there were a lot of chickens.

The white walls and gray tiles are very much in line with the style of Hui-style architecture, except that there are no horse-head walls or stone carvings.

However, these can also be seen in the ancestral halls in the village.

"Uncle, Sister; the family of three has arrived!" Zhang Qingfeng shouted towards the small house after parking his car.

(End of this chapter)