Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 124 The Hong Family is Busy with Business

Lin Qin understood her anxiety and helped Huang Yuezhen load her luggage onto the ship, watching her leave.

Huang Yuezhen took some of the goods back with her this time. When the bus bumped its way to the countryside, she asked two passing villagers for help to carry her luggage back.

Along the way, everyone couldn't help but inquire about their situation outside.

Huang Yuezhen didn't hide anything and told the truth.

The salary was described somewhat vaguely, but it's still enough to make everyone envious.

The group arrived at Huang Yuezhen's house.

Huang Yuezhen's mother-in-law, Lin E, was sweeping chicken droppings in the yard. When she saw her daughter-in-law return, she quickly put down her things and went over to help, asking happily, "Why are you back so early? Where's Weimin? Wasn't he with you?"

Huang Yuezhen shook her head and explained, "Weimin works in Nangang and won't get a holiday until Lunar New Year's Eve. I work in the city. The weather has been bad this year, so the project has stopped. The boss gave us an early holiday. Mom, I'll stop here for now and carry these things inside."

Lin E looked puzzled, but still carried the large sacks inside as Huang Yuezhen had instructed.

After the villagers left, Lin'e immediately closed the door and went inside before asking, "What are all these?"

Huang Yuezhen didn't hide anything and told Lin E about their experiences over the past year in detail. "My little cousin's family is really doing well. My uncle is now living with my little cousin and her husband, and he's also helped us out. Weimin works in Nangang and earns 45 a month, plus some benefits. They eat and live there, so there's no need to spend any money."

I cook at the construction site for 30 yuan a month. In the afternoons, I help my uncle farm, also for 30 yuan. Occasionally, my uncle will give me some money after selling the produce from the land. I saved about 1,000 yuan that year.

I saw my older cousin get her stock and pay off her debt of over two thousand yuan in just one month, so I took a gamble and borrowed money from my younger cousin to buy some goods. If we can sell them all before the Lunar New Year, we'll be rich!

Upon hearing this, Lin E didn't dare to delay and immediately said, "What do you want to do? I'll help you!"

Huang Yuezhen shook her head. "Mom, it's almost the end of the year, and we're still counting on you for things at home. I'm planning to take Shaoyang, Shaohua, and Shaorou to town to set up a stall. Shaoyang will mainly help me sell, and the two younger ones will assist and keep an eye on things to prevent them from being stolen."

Hearing this, Lin E was somewhat worried. "No! I'll go too, just for a little while. I'll come back to work when I'm not busy. Anyway, there's not much farm work to do in the fields right now."

Without further ado, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law inventoried the goods, then called their three children back and explained in detail that they would be setting up a stall in town the next morning.

For the three children, town was the farthest place they had ever been, a place they might not even visit once a year. Now that their mother said she would take them there, the three children were overjoyed.

The eldest, Hong Shaoyang, is a bit better, since he's about to start dating and is relatively more mature.

Early the next morning.

The whole family tidied up their old handcart, loaded it with their goods and set off for their stall.

Their village is far from the town; there are more than a dozen villages in one town, and it's even poorer than the town where Xujia Village is located.

Considering their local conditions, Huang Yuezhen didn't dare to stock expensive items; instead, she stocked only pretty, fashionable, and inexpensive items at affordable prices.

As soon as the goods were hung up, people gathered around.

Huang Yuezhen and Hong Shaoyang immediately greeted the guests, leaving the rest to Lin E and the two children to tidy up.

The first wave of customers mostly asked about the price, but some really liked it, bargained a bit, and then happily bought it.

After all, it's Chinese New Year, and it's all about gifts, so pants and clothes have to match, and an outer coat is a must. Bright red is especially festive, and orange-red is also nice, understated yet bright, with some sparkly plastic pieces sewn together to create patterns, which is particularly fashionable.

Once someone made a purchase, others, not wanting to be outdone, launched wave after wave of price-cutting attacks on Huang Yuezhen and her son.

The two of them shouted until their voices became hoarse.

When I came to my senses, good heavens, it was almost noon! They'd been busy all day!

Huang Yuezhen quickly turned around and asked Lin'e, "Mom, how much of our goods are left?" Lin'e was so tired that she couldn't straighten up and sat on a rock, panting, "The goods you brought back are almost all sold. I'm dizzy!"

The two younger children, mimicking Lin E, nodded wryly, "Mom, there's only a little bit left, should we still set up the stall?"

Huang Yuezhen thought for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, "You go home with Grandma. Your older brother and I will sell the rest. Don't just play when you get back. Do your homework first. We'll have to come back and help again tomorrow morning."

"We want more!" Hong Shaohua and Hong Shaorou looked at each other, their faces instantly falling.

After they left, Huang Yuezhen asked her eldest son to watch the stall while she ran to the grocery store to call Gao Lei's warehouse and ask them to send another batch of goods over.

Since Huang Yuezhen wanted to continue running her stall, she asked the other party to deliver the goods to the town.

The other party was very efficient; three hours after I hung up the phone, a shipment of goods arrived on a passenger bus.

Huang Yuezhen and Hong Shaoyang carried the goods to the stall, intending to inspect them as they sold.

Unexpectedly, another wave of people came to buy clothes, and we were so busy that we had to pack up and go home at 5 p.m.

By the time the mother and son returned to the village, it was almost dark.

In the dead of winter, there are few idle people wandering around the village, and even fewer come out during mealtimes.

The mother and son pushed the cart into the yard and carried everything on it into the house.

Lin E asked her grandchildren to help bring dinner into the house.

After a long day, Huang Yuezhen and Hong Shaoyang were starving and wolfed down their food.

Huang Yuezhen finally recovered after eating two large bowls of sweet potato porridge.

She quickly took her eldest son back to their room to settle the accounts.

After careful counting, the two of them sold more than a thousand yuan worth of goods today, which was even better than Huang Yuezhen had expected.

Hong Shaoyang was stunned by the amount, as if he had discovered a new world.

The mother and son put the money away and went outside to tell Lin E.

Lin E's eyes reddened with joy. She lowered her voice and reminded her, "You must keep this money carefully. Don't lose it, and don't tell anyone that it will make others envious. If anyone asks, just say that you earned some hard-earned money and that you want to share it with them. Don't say anything else."

Huang Yuezhen and Hong Shaoyang nodded repeatedly and solemnly agreed.

Lin E smiled with satisfaction and said with emotion, "After this busy period is over, I'll go to the city with you during the Spring Festival to pay my respects to Uncle Weimin."

Since she was sent to the Hong family as a child bride, her relationship with her maternal family had become so distant that she had almost no contact with them. She never expected that her maternal brothers would still care about her and help her son so wholeheartedly.

She's not ungrateful; naturally, she'll reciprocate.

As she spoke, Lin E remembered that she had a younger brother and turned to look at Huang Yuezhen, "Where is Uncle Weimin?"

Huang Yuezhen shook her head honestly, her face not looking too good. "I haven't met my daughter-in-law, but my cousin said that my second uncle is not someone to be trifled with. Just because my eldest uncle doesn't have a son, my second uncle has always coveted my eldest uncle's house and land, and he says very unpleasant things."

As the old saying goes, no one gets up early without a reason. Now that my eldest uncle and second uncle have fallen out, I suggest we avoid mentioning my second uncle when we go over, lest we upset my eldest uncle and cousin.

Lin E sighed and nodded.

(End of this chapter)