Chapter 161 Employment Is So Difficult

**Chapter 161: Job Hunting Is Tough**

Liu Ting's words only intensified the already heated conflict.

Wu Yanhua lost her temper completely. The Chen family had truly crossed the line.

They came asking for help, yet still acted this way? There was no need to be polite anymore.

She rushed into the house, grabbed a broom, and stormed back out, swinging it furiously at Liu Ting’s feet.

"Go cool off somewhere else!" she shouted, literally sweeping Liu Ting away like trash.

Liu Ting was wearing sandals—her feet and shoes were instantly covered in filth.

"What are you doing?!" she screamed angrily.

"Can't you see I'm driving people away? Oh right—the last time this broom was used to clean up the mess on you. It hasn’t even been washed yet."

Liu Ting was heartbroken, shrieking in rage.

She glared at Chen Qiang, her eyes filled with grievance. "Aren’t you going to do something?"

He ignored her and instead turned to Fu Dajun. "Fu Dajun, must you be so ruthless?"

"It was your family who went too far first," Fu Dajun replied calmly.

"If that's how you feel, don't blame us if Wan Er ends up suffering," Chen Qiang threatened.

He was certain Fu Yanju wouldn’t dare ignore her own daughter’s fate.

The Fu family fell silent.

Did the Chens really not know that Chen Waner was missing—or were they hiding it to maintain their leverage?

Either way, they were utterly cruel.

"She's your own granddaughter," Fu Dajun said, his voice trembling with sorrow.

"But she would sacrifice herself for her father. I believe she wouldn’t want to see him go to jail."

"Don’t let the door hit you on the way out," Fu Dajun snapped, done wasting words on someone willing to threaten his own blood.

"You... the Fu family will regret this!"

Seeing more villagers from Shangyao Village gathering around, Chen Qiang growled before storming off.

"Dad, it seems they still don’t know that Wan Er came here," Fu Guoqing whispered once the Chens had left.

"Even better. Once the divorce is finalized and custody is given to Yan Ju, we won’t have to worry about them taking Wan Er back."

The Chen family staying quiet about her disappearance was almost understandable.

After all, Shanglin Village was a day’s walk from Shangyao Village.

Chen Waner was just a child who ran away. In those times, the chances of survival were slim.

If anything happened, revealing it now would only cost them leverage—and might push Fu Yanju to outright reject the reconciliation agreement.

Compared to his sons, that girl meant nothing. Of course his sons came first.

So he coldly kept the fact that Chen Waner was missing a secret, continuing to pretend she was still with the Chen family, leaving this as leverage.

But for all Chen Qiang’s scheming, he never expected Chen Waner to be so lucky—escaping from the Chen household and even finding her own mother.

......

After finishing breakfast, Su He asked Fu Yanju to watch the two kids while she went to the trading market to find a contractor.

She’d already planned to get all the renovation materials from her space, choosing floor tiles that most closely resembled those of this era.

When she got to the market, Su He was totally stunned.

The market square was crowded with workers waiting for jobs.

There were people hiring for all sorts of tasks—clearing construction debris, hauling bricks on job sites, cleaning yards, and washing clothes for wealthy households.

But there were way more workers than jobs available.

Many waited all day without finding work and went home with nothing.

And pay was dirt cheap back then.

Looking around at what other employers offered, Su He saw that most jobs paid only seven or eight bucks a day.

Remember, this was the city—the most expensive place in the region—and even then, seven or eight bucks was only for backbreaking labor.

Lighter work, like yard cleanup or laundry, earned just three or four yuan daily.

Su He figured her job required skill, so she couldn’t offer too little.

She figured she’d start at seven bucks, maybe bump it up another two for experienced workers.

She put out feelers, asking if anyone had remodeling experience. Seeing that she might be hiring, a bunch jumped at the chance.

But when Su He asked if they knew how to lay floor tiles, most clammed up right away.

Back then, you couldn’t just talk your way into a job by claiming experience.

If a worker didn’t meet expectations or messed up the materials, they had to pay for it.

That’s why most avoided remodeling jobs if they could.

If the employer wasn’t satisfied after inspection, they wouldn’t get paid at all and would have to do it all over again.

Yes, hiring practices back then were totally rigged against workers.

But what could they do? Folks needed to eat, and finding any work at all was already a blessing.

That’s why most stuck to grunt work.

It didn’t require much thinking—just muscle through it.

Payment was same-day, unlike remodeling jobs, which only paid after inspection.

As for the tiles Su He mentioned, most hadn’t even laid eyes on them before—how could they install them?

Who could even afford tiles back then?

So after asking around, once people realized she needed someone to renovate a house and lay floor tiles, most bowed out before she finished talking.

Su He was fed up. Were these guys even serious about finding work?

Why is it so hard for me to find just two handymen?

Sigh, there just aren’t enough skilled workers these days.

She couldn’t possibly do it herself, could she? She might find some tips online about laying tiles or painting walls, but figuring it out on her own would waste too much time—it wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

Just as Su He was stressed about not finding the right contractor, a voice suddenly spoke up beside her.

"Are you looking for a contractor?"

Su He turned toward the source of the voice and found the boy before her weirdly familiar.

"You... don’t you remember me? Last time—I stole an egg and got yelled at by a vendor at the market. You were the one who stepped in and stopped him. Thank you."