At noon, at Song Yue's house.
The kitchen was filled with the aroma of food.
Lin Fan ate his meal absentmindedly, his mind still racing to find solutions.
"Even if the house frame is up, that's at most half the job done."
"Sister Xue, you should rest now. The renovation is the truly grueling part."
Song Yue, holding her child, spoke with the confidence of an insider.
"Renovation is that exhausting?"
Xia Xue sounded doubtful.
When she married Lin Feng, there was no renovation to speak of; they had lived in the old house ever since.
"Isn't it!"
"Sister Xue, think about it. Building a house involves dealing with cement, sand, bricks, and the like, right?"
"Then during renovation, you'll definitely be dealing with tiles, pipes, wires, lights, sofas, appliances..."
Song Yue ticked off a long list of items on her fingers.
After listening, Xia Xue's face became worried.
How much would all that cost?
Lin Fan paused then.
That's right!
How could he have not thought of this?
Lin Fan swallowed a mouthful of food and said to Xia Xue, "Sister-in-law, do you have a handle on these things?"
Xia Xue sighed, "I haven't dealt with renovations before, how could I possibly know?"
"That won't do!"
Lin Fan turned to his sister-in-law and continued, "Sister-in-law, look, at the pace our house is being built, it should be mostly done by next spring, at most two months."
"Then, the renovation will have to begin. We can't move back until the house is completed."
Xia Xue thought for a moment and nodded, "How about I go to the town in the next couple of days to have a look?"
Lin Fan shook his head, "Going to town isn't really feasible. We're spending hundreds of thousands on building this house. The shoddy goods sold in town would only fool rural folks."
He then looked at Song Yue and asked, "Sister Yueyue, what do you think?"
Song Yue replied without much thought, "Actually, the town isn't entirely without good things. Shimen Town's administrative district is at least a prefecture-level city."
"Of course, if you want to buy big brands, it's indeed hard to find. You'd have to go to the city."
Lin Fan smiled, patted his sister-in-law's shoulder, and said, "Sister-in-law, see, I told you the renovation materials sold in town aren't good!"
Xia Xue pondered for a moment, hesitating, "Then what should we do? Can we really go to the city to buy them?"
"Just the cost of hiring transportation back will be a lot of money!"
Lin Fan waved his hand magnanimously, "It's not like we're out of money!"
"We're only building this house once in a lifetime. If we use low-quality materials that break in a couple of years, how disheartening would that be!"
"If we buy, we buy good ones!"
Song Yue sized Lin Fan up, looking suspicious, "Xiao Fan, do you have money on hand?"
Lin Fan chuckled, "I earned quite a bit from treating a wealthy patient last time."
"Sister-in-law, since it's the end of the year and things have slowed down, you should go to the city first to get a sense of things."
Xia Xue frowned, "But, I don't understand any of it!"
Ever since Lin Feng had vanished, she hadn't even left Luofeng Village.
She had completely forgotten what the outside world was like.
"You don't understand, but there's someone who does."
Lin Fan said, then turned to look at Song Yue.
Song Yue was taken aback and stammered, "I, I only heard about it from… from others."
Lin Fan rolled his eyes and laughed, "At least you've heard something. My sister-in-law and I are completely in the dark!"
"This matter, we have to rely on you. We can't trust outsiders!"
Song Yue thought for a moment and mustered her courage, "Alright, then I'll do it."
After all, once the house was built, she would be living in it too. She was part of the family and should contribute.
Seeing that Song Yue was willing to help, Xia Xue breathed a sigh of relief.
Lin Fan saw that the timing was right and proposed, "Sister-in-law, let's not delay. Let's go to the city tomorrow."
"And Sister Yueyue, you'll accompany my sister-in-law. You two don't need to do anything else but shop."
"It's best if you visit all the building material markets in Yunqing City."
"If you want to buy clothes or anything else, go visit the department stores too."
"Ah?" Xia Xue was quite surprised, "Do we need to go to such lengths?"
Lin Fan held up his index and middle fingers in front of Xia Xue and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, my renovation budget is over two hundred thousand!"
He turned to Song Yue with a smile and added, "It's fine to spend money, the point is to spend it wisely!"
"I heard from others that there are many hidden pitfalls in renovations!"
Song Yue nodded in agreement, "That's true. Good materials and bad materials look similar, but the price difference can be tenfold. Don't let the merchants cheat you."
Lin Fan was secretly pleased, "She's indeed my good lover!"
They are cooperating seamlessly!
Song Yue tugged at Xia Xue's sleeve and continued, "Sister Xue, just take tiles for example, there are at least ten thousand brands."
"Looking at the brand alone isn't enough, you also have to consider the origin and quality. A ten-dollar tile is the same as a hundred-dollar tile."
Xia Xue tidied her hair bun, suddenly feeling the weight of responsibility.
Two hundred thousand!
For an ordinary family, it would likely take a lifetime to save that much!
If she wasn't vigilant and got cheated out of eighty or ninety thousand, she would want to jump into the river!
"Cough, cough."
Lin Fan coughed twice and said sternly, "Sister-in-law, Sister Yueyue, I happen to have a patient who is quite wealthy. He has a vacant house in town that no one is living in for now."
"The address of this house is on the outskirts of town, very close to the city. I'll ask if you can temporarily stay there for a few days."
Xia Xue immediately shook her head in objection, "That's not appropriate, absolutely not!"
Lin Fan shrugged, "There's nothing inappropriate about it. Wealthy people have houses everywhere. They don't have enough time to live in their city apartments. If you help tidy it up, they'll be grateful to you."
"That's right, it's like that." Song Yue giggled, "Besides, it's almost Chinese New Year. We can buy new clothes then too."
Xia Xue was also happy inwardly, though she didn't show it.
She hadn't bought new clothes in a long time.
On the third day after Lin Fan woke up, because the family had no money, she had bought him a few items from the market, but she hadn't bought anything for herself.
Now that Lin Fan could earn money and the family's conditions had improved, she thought buying a few new clothes wouldn't cost much.
Lin Fan stood up, glanced at Song Yue, then looked at his sister-in-law and said with a smile, "Then it's settled. I'll contact them later and tell you the address."
"I can manage everything at home alone. You two, just go shopping and buy whatever you want."
Xia Xue and Song Yue nodded almost simultaneously, their faces blooming with joy.
No woman dislikes shopping and buying things, especially clothes, jewelry, and good food, with cosmetics coming last.
Seeing this scene, Lin Fan's anxious heart finally settled.
Taking his sister-in-law and Song Yue to the city, and then having Wang Ying come over, this problem was solved beautifully!
After dinner, Lin Fan pretended to make a phone call to the landlord, who was himself.
All set!