In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 22 Auspicious snow heralds a good harvest

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, Yu Dawei wanted to eat Laba porridge again, so he went to the village store to buy some.

I bought a lot of New Year's goods this year, including fruits, candies, peanuts, and melon seeds.

Xiao Fang and Er Yan, those two girls, would come over to see their sister-in-law whenever they had time. Then Xiao Fang would go into the next room and play with the puppies that Da Bai had given birth to.

Every time he said he wanted to take Cuihua away, Yu Dawei would always retort by saying that his mother wouldn't allow him to keep her.

In the two days leading up to the Lunar New Year, the sound of firecrackers can be heard incessantly in the village, and those who are supposed to put up couplets have already done so on their front doors.

Yu Dawei also cooked a small pot of paste, spread it on the back of the couplet paper he bought, and pasted it on both sides of the door frame. In addition to the couplets, there were also the character "福" (fortune) and hanging scrolls, all pasted in the most conspicuous places.

In addition, there is a plastic image of the God of Wealth pasted on the east wall.

Two days before the Lunar New Year each year, a person carrying a thin wooden stick, a white cloth bag, and a scroll of images of the God of Wealth would come from the west and walk from village to village in the east, knocking on the door of each house.

The old man stood at the gate of the courtyard. When he saw someone come out to "welcome" the God of Wealth, he started to say a bunch of New Year's greetings.

Finally, the family that "welcomed" the God of Wealth happily hung the statue somewhere in the house, while the old man hurriedly stuffed five yuan into his pocket and left.

He doesn't usually go out of the mountains, but when he does, he lives off the land for a year. The reason for this is not something that can be explained to outsiders.

Yu Dawei sorted through the household supplies: rice, oil, salt, various seasonings, and so on. He needed a bucket of soy sauce and vinegar, a few bags of salt, garlic, ginger, and some dried shrimp.

After asking the two maids to look after his sister-in-law, Yu Dawei turned and went to the small shop in the middle of the village.

The owner of the convenience store is Yu Dazhi, the youngest son of his great-uncle Yu Quan.

Before getting married, Yu Dazhi lived with his elder brother and his wife and his elderly father. After getting married, the two families were always at war.

Old man Yu Quan couldn't bear it any longer, so he paid out of his own pocket to build a two-room hut for his youngest son and his wife on the south side of the courtyard, near the street.

Yu Dazhi and his wife then used one of the rooms to open a small shop.

Previously, people in the village had to go to the supply and marketing cooperative in Xinglong Village to buy things, which took at least an hour round trip. With this small shop, it has become much more convenient for people in the village to buy things.

In the past two years, Yu Dazhi and his wife have also saved up some money and are living much better than their elder brother's family in the backyard.

Logically speaking, the two companies are separate, but they are still on the same piece of land.

So every time Yu Quan's eldest daughter-in-law went out, she would pass by Yu Dazhi's family next to the door. Seeing how prosperous their lives were, the eldest daughter-in-law's eyes would turn red with envy. When she got back, she would fight to the death with Yu Dazhi's older brother, Yu Dacheng.

At this time, Grandpa Yu Quan, who was sunbathing under the eaves, would look at the sun with a smile and listen to his fierce daughter-in-law scolding her good-for-nothing eldest son.

A person's fate is predetermined. Once you've made a choice, don't regret it, and don't be afraid of ruining the rest of your life.

Whether it's Yu Laonian or Yu Quan, both families who look down on their daughters-in-law have completely different styles and attitudes in handling matters.

"Dazhi, get me a bucket of soybean oil, a bunch of soy sauce, a bunch of vinegar, and half a pound of garlic and ginger." Yu Dawei pulled open the iron gate with its spring hooks, lifted the windproof curtain, and released his grip; the gate closed automatically under the spring's action. (Author's note: "A bunch" is a measure word, used as an example; "a bunch of liquor" could mean five to ten liters.)
"Oh, what a rare guest! It's been so long since I've seen you in the village. What have you been up to?" Yu Dazhi greeted him with a smile when he heard someone come in, but when he looked up and saw that it was Yu Dawei, his expression showed a bit of surprise.

“We’re almost starving at home, what are we still doing in the village? Go out and find some manual labor to earn some hard-earned money.” Yu Dawei chuckled sheepishly.

"Brother Dawei, stop pretending. The other day I saw you and your grandfather getting off the bus with loads of stuff going home. Everyone in the village is saying your old man's found another way to make a fortune?" Yu Dazhi chatted casually with a touch of gossip while buying soy sauce for Yu Dawei. That's how life is in the village; as long as my windows are kept clean, there's no gossip I can't see or news I can't hear.

"Nonsense. If I really found a way to get rich, I would have moved to the city and lived in a mansion long ago. Why would I come back?" Yu Dawei replied, taking out a wad of crumpled change from his pocket.

He didn't understand anything in his past life, let alone how to be low-key. His grandfather told him countless times, but he wouldn't listen.

Now Yu Dawei has learned his lesson. Even when he goes to the convenience store to spend money, he only uses small change that he has broken in town. Even if he has a hundred-yuan bill, he won't take it out to show off.

I'm going to play it safe! Play it safe until you can't get a single piece of gossip out of me.

You can be all talkative, but go and try to steal other people's daughters and wives.

When the conflict between Yu Dawei and Han Jingfan escalated, how could it not have been fueled by these gossipy people?

Yu Dazhi isn't a bad person, and he has a knack for business, but he's just as talkative as a pair of cotton waistbands.

His shop has only been open for less than two years, so people don't really feel it yet. But once Yu Dazhi's shop becomes the gathering place for all the village's news, everyone will know how terrifying Yu Dazhi's mouth is.

There's a reason why Yu Quan dislikes both his eldest and youngest sons, and why he always has a sour face towards them.

"Tsk tsk, it's like the sun has risen in the west. Even someone like Yu Dawei can become so composed." Yu Dazhi walked to the window, looking at the other person's broad back and muttering to himself.

"What's wrong? What happened?" A square-faced girl came out from the inner room and looked at her husband curiously.

"Yu Dawei, I don't know if it's because of the agricultural machinery, but this kid has become much more composed." Yu Dazhi smiled. "Maybe those two bastards from the Gao family did something good and made silly Dawei a little smarter."

"How can you talk about your own clansmen like that!" The woman rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction.

“I’m telling the truth! When Yu Dawei was a kid, he had his grandma backing him up, so he was like a little devil. Now that he’s grown up, he doesn’t even use his brain, all he does is act recklessly.” Yu Dazhi crossed his arms and tried to defend himself. “Do you know how angry Dawei made my Uncle Jiu once? He almost drove such a shrewd man crazy. He took a stick and beat him all over the village.”

"That's so strange?"

"Pshaw, that's nothing. When Yu Dawei was a kid, which of us older brothers didn't get beaten up by him?" Yu Dazhi was reminded of a memory and chuckled bitterly. "Those who weren't related to him had it even worse; they had to call him 'Grandpa' every day."

This time, the woman didn't say anything, as if she was shocked, but when she thought of Yu Dawei's strong physique, she felt that her husband must not be lying.

"Oh dear, you want all this change too?" The woman said with displeasure, picking up the pile of change from the counter.

"Honey, isn't this the kind of money we make? This was all paid for by Dawei. I reckon he hasn't made much money these past few months." Yu Dazhi felt a little smug thinking about his comfortable life now.

Yu Dawei was wearing a dog-skin hat when a snowflake fell on his nose as soon as he got home.

The smoky snow that stopped yesterday seems to have changed its pattern today.

He gazed at the slowly falling snowflakes, smiled faintly, and turned to go inside.

A timely snowfall promises a bumper harvest; next year will surely be better than this year.

(End of this chapter)