Struggle Life in the 1970s

Two days later, the four men ran all the way from the vegetable market to the seafood market. They stood in front of the stalls, bowed deeply, and said that they had taken the wrong road and would change for the better. Then, when the stall owners were stunned and at a loss, they handed over the protection fees they had collected before with both hands.

When she arrived in front of Chu Ye, she looked at the few people leisurely. The leader was still Brother Peng. They apologized and gave money according to the procedure. After that, Brother Peng looked at Chu Ye with a complicated expression, with regret and sadness in his eyes.

"...No, if you had told us earlier that you are Brother Han's woman, we would not have taken your money." Brother Peng endured it again and again, but finally said what was in his mind.

Alas, this was the first time in my life that I fell in love with someone, but I didn’t expect that she was already taken.

Chu Ye rolled his eyes and explained unhappily, "What nonsense are you talking about! Han Zhao is my shareholder."

Brother Peng was not quite sure what the term shareholder meant, but knowing that they were not in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, he felt happy.

He hesitated for a while, then spoke coquettishly like a young wife, "Well, we will go to the factory to work in a few days. I can help you here in the next few days."

Chu Ye raised his eyes and looked at him inexplicably, "No need."

After thinking about it, in order to avoid future troubles, she added, "I don't like people younger than me."

Brother Peng's eyes became lonely. After a long while, he muttered "OK" like a lost soul and turned to leave.

In the next few days, Brother Peng would still come over. When he found that he really could not help much, he came less and less frequently, and Chu Ye never saw him again after that.

It was not until the middle of the year, when Chu Ye went to give Han Zhao dividends, that he found out that they had been classmates with Han Zhao before, but dropped out of school after a few years. Since they could not find a job due to their low education, Han Zhao arranged for them to work in his father's factory to make a living. Later, Boss Han immigrated abroad with his concubine. Han Zhao was unwilling to take over those factories, so he simply sold them together with the workers.

Originally this person had been working well in the factory in the past few years, but unexpectedly the factory changed its leader some time ago and the management became stricter. Several of them were not doing their work efficiently, and after being scolded a few times, they became unwilling to do their job. In a fit of anger, they packed their bags and ran away without even writing a letter of resignation.

Han Zhao held his forehead helplessly. "I gave the four of them a good lecture that day. I wanted to send them back to the factory, but they didn't want to, saying it was embarrassing. In the end, I had no choice but to ask someone to send them to Hong Kong and ask the boss there to arrange for them to work in the factory."

After saying that, he sighed, "It can be said that out of sight, out of mind. What a horrible thing. He dared to collect protection money when he could do something wrong. I have never done such a heartless thing."

Chu Ye was silent. What to say?
Although Han Zhao was dressed like a gangster boss, especially when I first got to know him, he was mentioned by Uncle Li as the gangster who gambled in Hong Kong, but after knowing him for a long time, I found that he had never done anything harmful to the world. In fact, when he lent me a lot of money after the New Year, he was like the God of Wealth who had descended to earth.

Seeing that Chu Ye didn't respond, Han Zhao looked at the calendar and thought for a while before asking, "Will the crabs be fat in a few months?"

Nonsense, you are a local, how could you not know?
Chu Ye rolled his eyes and didn't want to respond.

Han Zhao chuckled and continued, "Okay, I'm a shareholder after all. When the crabs are fat, you can pick a few for me so I don't have to buy them."

"Okay." Chu Ye readily agreed to the God of Wealth's small request.

At the end of this month, Pan'er and Xiaoya submitted their resignation letters to the factory, so on the first day of June, there were two new faces at Chu Ye's stall. What she didn't expect was that Xiaoya looked weak, but she was very neat and tidy when she picked up the knife. She cut the fish pieces in just a few clicks.

"I didn't expect that Xiaoya, you really are a hidden talent." Pan'er praised from the side, and Chu Ye couldn't help but nod repeatedly.

Xiaoya put down the kitchen knife and became embarrassed again. She said, "When I was young, my family also did this business. Sometimes my parents were too busy, so I would help them. After killing so many fish, I am no longer afraid."

Chu Ye couldn't help but praise her a few more times, and then looked at Pan'er with a playful look. In fact, in her mind, Pan'er was the most ideal person to take over the stall. Pan'er was talkative and sweet, and Chu Ye felt relieved when she was around.

But Pan'er was really afraid of killing fish, especially when she touched the layer of mucus on the fish's body, she would get goose bumps all over her body. Seeing this, Chu Ye simply let both of them stay here, and he would go back and forth to look after the fish pond.

"Okay, you two have each other's company here, and you know what needs to be said. I will pick you up in the evening to close the stall and make something delicious to celebrate that the three of us are together again!" Chu Ye smiled. Looking at the two young and lively faces in front of her, she was really happy.

I still remember last month, when I just told them that I was too busy, they both said that they could quit their jobs in the factory to help her. At that time, their faces were full of worry, and they only wanted to come to help, and they didn't even care about whether they had money, where to eat and where to live. They were definitely full of enthusiasm to help their friends.

Chu Ye didn't say much at that time, until yesterday when she rode a tricycle to bring the two of them and their luggage to the newly built dormitory and told them that the three of them would live here in the future. The two of them hugged Chu Ye ecstatically and called Sister Chu a very good person.

At that time, Chu Ye hugged them both and secretly retorted in her heart that she was not a good person. She just met two very good girls, so good that she would not let down this friendship if she treated them with all she had.

The three girls hugged each other tightly. In this small room, everyone felt happy and joyful.

When it was night, Chu Ye cooked two dishes by himself. On the way to pick up Pan'er and Xiaoya, he went to a restaurant and bought two meat dishes and three bottles of beer.

In the small house beside the fish pond, a small dining table was set up on the ground, with three girls sitting at each end. "Cheers!" Pan'er held up the bottle of wine, her eyes full of light.

"cheers!"

"Cheers!" The glass bottles collided with each other, and white foam overflowed with a "bang". The three of them smiled at each other, raised their heads and took a big sip.

"Sister Chu, you are so kind! Not only did you give us a job, but you also thought of a place to stay." Pan'er's eyes were so bright, how could she not see that the house was built recently? Sister Chu had never mentioned this before, and they only found out about it when they came today.

Good sister, she was so attentive that she wanted to cry.

Xiaoya nodded beside him, her eyes full of dependence.

"Nonsense, it's not as good as you say. It's not easy for you two to leave your hometown and come here to work. I don't allow you to work with me, and you don't have a place to live, right?" Chu Ye defended softly.

"I don't care! Sister Chu is the best in the world!" Pan'er drank again, closed her eyes and shouted at the ceiling regardless.

"Yes! Sister Chu is the best sister!" Xiaoya was also infected. She took a sip of wine and imitated her by shouting towards the ceiling.

Chu Ye laughed in silence. It seemed a bit unsociable not to do something at this time. She really wanted to shout, so she imitated them and shouted while drinking, "Pan'er and Xiaoya are the cutest sisters!"

The sound was so loud, its echo reverberating. The three of them couldn't hold back, and they looked at each other in tacit understanding and started grinning.

"Go! Let's make our business bigger and stronger! Let's all become wealthy women!" Chu Ye pretended to casually wipe the moisture from the corners of her eyes, then raised the wine bottle. Pan'er and Xiaoya also clinked their glasses tacitly, with a "clang".

"Go! We will get better and better!"

"rush!"

Just like that, the lives of the three of them got back on track. Pan'er had a lively personality to begin with, and now as a small stall owner she was like a fish in water. All the customers who patronized the stall would leave in a daze with a smile on their faces. Whenever they came once, they would always want to come again, even if not to buy things, they would want to talk to this round-faced girl.

Xiaoya, on the other hand, is a calm person. She doesn't talk much, but works efficiently. While Pan'er is talking to the customers, she cuts the fish in no time. When she finally packs the fish pieces in the bags, they are clean and free of dirt, which makes the customers very happy.

Anyway, any customer who comes to this stall will leave unhappy. With the two of them, the business here is booming and the monthly profit is much higher than before.

In July, Chu Ye bought three more fish tanks and placed them on the stall. At the same time, she began to expand the types of fish she sold. She caught some sea bass, black carp and bighead carp that she had raised for almost a year and put them in tanks for sale.

To this end, the three of them came up with a promotion: anyone who buys sea bass on July 7th can get a red ticket, and in September they can use the ticket to get a free crab.

Once the news came out, the already busy stall became even more lively. On that day, Chu Ye made three trips back and forth just to keep up with the pace of selling the sea bass.

In the evening, the three people who had been busy all day were already exhausted. Pan'er was thirsty and drank water from the bucket as soon as he came back. Xiaoya and Chuye had been killing fish non-stop today and were lying on the bed, not wanting to lift their hands.

After a long while, Pan Er recovered and sat down at the table to look through the account book. After ten minutes, she covered her mouth in surprise and found that she had sold more than 130 sea bass today, not to mention the sales of other fish!

"Great! We're rich today!" All the previous fatigue was swept away. Pan'er counted today's income and couldn't help but exclaimed, "Sister Chu, today we earned 451.31 yuan!"

"Oh my God! If I were working in the factory, this money would be enough for me to work for four months!" Pan'er's face was full of excitement, her cheeks were red and her eyes were shining.

Xiaoya was standing aside, and although she was very tired, she also nodded excitedly. No one expected that they could sell so much money today!
"There's something even more exciting," Chu Ye struggled to count them, counting out a thick stack each, and then solemnly put them into their palms.

"This is today's hard work pay, fifty yuan per person, and the salary will be paid as usual at the end of the month." Chu Ye said with a smile.

"How can this be?" Xiaoya was the first to react. She refused and put the money back on the table. Pan'er also reacted and said she didn't want the money.

"Sister, you pay us a lot every month, we don't want any hard work pay." Pan'er replied, and Xiaoya nodded repeatedly.

"You deserve this money. You two quit your jobs at the factory without saying a word to come and help me. I was so touched that I made up my mind right then and there that if I made any money, I would give it to my two younger sisters first! You are all so tired today, but no one complained. This is what you deserve." Chu Ye said earnestly.

"No way." Pan'er was unwilling again, "You give us this because you don't treat us as sisters. We are willing to follow you even if we are tired."

Xiaoya nodded, "That's right, Sister Chu is also very tired today, the three of us share the joys and sorrows together! Don't do this again in the future."

How could there be such a good girl in the world? Chu Ye's heart softened, and she reached out to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes. Ever since these two people came over, her eyes were always red. Pan'er and Xiaoya knew her feelings, and without saying a word, they came forward and hugged her. The three of them hugged each other, crying and laughing like three little fools.

She couldn't give the money away, so the next day she went to the department store and bought an imported skirt for each of her two sisters, dressing them up beautifully.

(End of this chapter)