Chapter 47: Factory Director Bao Kun
Zhu Shunyao fell silent for a moment before nodding. "I heard about this from A Chan too. Dad slipped up during the banquet and mentioned he intended to build a two-room house for Xiangyao, which is why he used those bricks. I’ll figure out a way to get the bricks we need; it can be resolved." Zhu Shunyao knew he couldn’t argue with his father over the discarded bricks. He simply had to accept that he’d been one step behind and make other arrangements.
"If it really comes down to it, I’ll borrow money from Jinfeng," Xie Xinlian said. "Aunt Lian said that building a house with discarded bricks isn’t sturdy."
Zhu Shunyao replied, "I heard from Brother Lei Yao too, and I heard how he tried to persuade Dad, but Dad still insisted on using them. I originally thought they were free, so I didn’t consider this issue. But now, it’s a blessing in disguise. We won’t use discarded bricks; we’ll use good ones. Even broken bricks are better than discarded ones. I’ll go to the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow to inquire. They probably have bricks from demolished buildings. I’ll transport them over first. If there aren’t enough, we’ll buy more. I can borrow money from the factory director."
"Alright." Xie Xinlian had no objections. The house had to be built; the details of how it would look could be discussed later.
The next day, Zhu Shunyao went to see Factory Director Cheng Baokun as soon as she started work. Cheng Baokun was unassuming in appearance, but she had considerable vision and could see through phenomena to the essence of things. In her eyes, Zhu Shunyao was stubborn but capable. It was rare and commendable for someone with only a primary school education to self-study and master mechanical knowledge.
"Director, I have something I’d like to ask your advice on. Could you give me some guidance?" Zhu Shunyao respected Cheng Baokun greatly and was familiar with his personality. He knew that getting straight to the point was best; beating around the bush would only earn his disdain.
Cheng Baokun smiled and pointed to the seat opposite him. "Sit down. Take your time."
Zhu Shunyao naturally brewed two cups of tea first. Brewing tea nowadays wasn’t like the elaborate Gongfu tea ceremony; it simply meant putting tea leaves into a cup and pouring hot water over them. Zhu Shunyao respectfully placed one cup in front of Cheng Baokun, then took the other, sat down, and began speaking. "Director, as you know, my current house is a thatched mud hut. It’s cold in winter and hot in summer, and the space is small. It was already insufficient for us, but now my wife is pregnant with our third child. By the time the baby is born next year, we’ll have even less room. So, I want to build a house. It doesn’t need to be fancy; I just hope it can keep out the winter cold and summer heat, providing a shelter from wind and rain."
Cheng Baokun pondered briefly. "How large is your foundation?"
Zhu Shunyao thought for a moment and said, "About eighty square meters. Back then, we didn’t have money, so my thatched hut only took up thirty square meters, leaving fifty square meters empty."
"So, how large do you plan to build this time?" Cheng Baokun asked.
Zhu Shunyao replied, "I originally thought just building a modest single-story house would suffice. My wife and I don’t have enough money to build anything large."
Cheng Baokun shook his head. "Your thinking is wrong. If you hadn’t come to talk to me about this, I wouldn’t have known. Since you’ve brought it up, I’ll give you some serious advice: either don’t build at all, or go all out and build the full eighty square meters. With eighty square meters, you can partition it slightly to create a two-room layout. With further careful division, you can have two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a storage room. This way, it will be sufficient for your family to live in for now. When the children grow up, they’ll eventually need their own allocated land anyway. By then, if you sell this house, it will still be a considerable sum of money. Don’t you think so?"