Reborn at 80: From Village Scoundrel to Billionaire

Upon hearing the sound, Liu Bei went outside.

Zhao Chunyan held onto the back seat of the bicycle, Panpan stepped on the pedals, and Niannian and Liu Bao squatted to the side clapping and cheering. The three children took turns getting on the bicycle, none of them giving way to the others.

Zhao Da'e leaned against the door frame watching the commotion, while Lin Wanqiu stood in front of the clothesline with a basin of washed clothes, glancing back every now and then.

"Daddy! Look at me!" Niannian ran over and tugged at Liu Bei's pant leg. "I want to ride too!"

"Your legs aren't even as long as the pedals, what are you riding for?" Zhao Chunyan scooped Niannian up and tucked her into her waistband, complaining but protecting her tightly with her hands.

"Xiao Bei! It's good that you're home!"

Fan Shuanzhu's voice came again, and Liu Bei came back to his senses and looked over.

Fan Shuanzhu and his son, Li Dazhuang, and Fan Erhe all came. All four of them had an irrepressible excitement on their faces, especially Fan Shuanzhu, who couldn't suppress the urge to smile.

"Uncle Shuanzhu, come in."

The four people filed into the courtyard.

Fan Ha'er's eyes were fixed on the old-fashioned bicycle, and he muttered, "Brother Bei, this bike is really nice..."

"I'll let you ride it later."

"real?"

"I'd be a dog if I lied to you."

Fan Ha'er grinned and obediently stood to the side.

Fan Shuanzhu glanced at the old-fashioned bicycle, then looked at Liu Bei, and tentatively asked, "This bike must be expensive, right? Are the Ganoderma lucidum selling well?"

"Not bad." Liu Bei didn't elaborate, but instead asked, "How about your side? How many did you sell?"

Fan Shuanzhu cleared his throat, took a bulging cloth bag from his pocket, placed it on the stone table, and untied the rope.

"Leopard, two hundred."

"A whole Reeves' muntjac, sixty."

"Black Panther—" Fan Shuanzhu paused, swallowed, and raised his voice by half an octave, "1,500."

"What? Black Panther sold for 1500? Is it possible to sell for that much?" Liu Bei was astonished.

"Yes. The people on the black market said that black leopards are rare in the entire province. The pelt is in perfect condition, it's a male leopard, the fur is pure black, and it's of the highest quality. They initially offered only eight hundred, but after more than two hours of haggling, we finally settled on fifteen hundred."

"A total of 1,760 yuan."

"..." Liu Bei was stunned.

A total of 1,760 were sold.

He knew the black panther was valuable, but he didn't expect it to be worth this much.

Two hundred leopards were expected.

Sixty for a small deer is also reasonable.

But the black panther cost 1,500, double what he had estimated.

With the addition of the 1,700 for the Ganoderma lucidum, this time I've really struck it rich.

"As we agreed beforehand, it will be divided among the four families." Liu Bei came to his senses. "Four hundred and forty per family."

"Um!"

Fan Shuanzhu nodded and neatly divided the money into four portions, 440 yuan for each family.

Fan Erhe paused for a moment as he took the money, then looked at Liu Bei and said, "Isn't this... a bit too much?"

Liu Bei glanced at him: "Manager, it's a deal."

"Well... okay..."

Fan Erhe put it in his pocket.

Li Dazhuang held the stack of money and counted it three times, his hands trembling.

Fortunately, he made the decisive choice to sever ties with Fan Xibei and follow Liu Bei.

Otherwise, how could there be so many as 440? Following Liu Bei is a promising career path!

"Brother Bei." Li Dazhuang looked up, his expression changing.

"From now on, when we hunt, you can say where we go, and you can say what we hunt. Even if it means going through fire and water, I won't even flinch."

Fan Shuanzhu didn't say anything, but the way he looked at Liu Bei was exactly the same as Li Dazhuang's. Following this kid would definitely be a good choice.

"It's late tonight, so I won't keep you all for dinner," Liu Bei said. "But you all have to come tomorrow at noon. It's on me. If you don't come, you're disrespecting me."

"Okay!" Fan Erhe was the first to respond.

"I'll definitely come!" Li Dazhuang nodded in agreement.

Fan Shuanzhu patted Fan Ha'er on the back of the head. "Let's go. Come back for dinner tomorrow."

"Brother Bei! You said I could ride the bike! You can't go back on your word tomorrow!"

"Get lost, you bastard!"

As soon as the four people left and the courtyard gate closed, Zhao Da'e was the first to rush over.

"Tell me quickly! How much did you make in total this time?"

Lin Wanqiu's hand remained on the clothesline, but her ears had already turned.

Zhao Chunyan stood to the side holding Niannian, pretending not to care, but her eyes kept glancing at the cloth bag in Liu Bei's hand.

Liu Bei placed the cloth bag on the table.

"I sold the Ganoderma lucidum for 1,700. I spent 200 on the car. I have 1,500 left. Adding what I just received and deducting miscellaneous expenses on the way, I'll have nearly 1,900 in hand."

"One thousand nineteen?"

Zhao Da'e's mouth opened into a big circle.

"Say it again?"

"Nearly 1,900 yuan."

"hiss!"

Zhao Da'e stood there stunned for a full five seconds.

Then she turned and ran towards the main room.

"Mother, where are you going?"

Liu Bei paused for a moment, then followed.

On the long table in the main room, there is an old wooden plaque with the words "The Position of My Late Husband Liu Shouyi" written on it in brush.

Half a bowl of cold rice was placed in front of the memorial tablet, and three half-burnt incense sticks were stuck in the incense burner.

Zhao Da'e stood in front of the memorial tablet, her two rough hands clasped together in front of her, her knuckles clenched tightly.

"Old man."

"Did you hear me?"

"One thousand nine hundred yuan. It was all earned by our son himself."

"He risked his life to go into the mountains and fired every single shot."

At this point, Zhao Da'e's voice suddenly broke.

"The year you left, Xiao Bei was only fourteen. I raised him all by myself. He was a disappointment. I hit him, I scolded him, and I wished I could put him back in my belly and give birth to him again."

"His three daughters-in-law divorced him, and his three grandchildren cry whenever they see him. When I lie in bed at night, I feel that the Liu family line is probably going to end."

She wiped her face with her sleeve, then wiped it again.

"But look at him now, he's changed. He's really changed. He can hunt now, he can earn money now, he can love his wife now, he can take care of the children now. Panpan is willing to call him Dad now, Niannian takes his hand now, and even Liu Bao, that taciturn guy, is willing to talk to him now."

"Old man..."

"Our hard times are over."

Liu Bei stood at the entrance of the main room, his throat choked with emotion.

He turned his head to the side and blinked hard twice.

Behind her, Lin Wanqiu stood in the courtyard, wringing out water from the wet clothes in her hands.

Zhao Chunyan held Niannian with her back to the main room, her head down, so that no one could see her expression.

……

into the night.

The children went back inside, and the yard became quiet.

Liu Bei counted out four hundred yuan from the cloth bag and put it in his pocket, then handed the rest to Lin Wanqiu.

"Keep these."

Lin Wanqiu took the money, counted it, and looked up: "You only keep four hundred? Is that enough for tomorrow's dinner party and shopping?"

"enough."

Zhao Da'e chimed in from the side, "It's just a dinner party, why leave four hundred? You're not treating the county magistrate to dinner."

"Tomorrow I'm not just buying groceries. There are other purposes too."

"What is it for?"

Liu Bei smiled but said nothing.

Zhao Da'e grew anxious and turned to Zhao Chunyan: "Chunyan! You need to control him!"

Zhao Chunyan shrugged and said, "The money isn't in my hands, so what's the point of asking me?"

"..."

"Mother," Lin Wanqiu spoke up, "Since he says he's useful, let him go. What has he done wrong these past few days?"

"Fine." Zhao Da'e conceded, but poked Liu Bei's forehead with her finger. "Come back tomorrow and give me a clear account of every single expense. If you're short a single penny, I'll spank you."

"Yes, sir!" Liu Bei stood at attention and saluted.

Zhao Da'e couldn't help but turn her head away and laugh.

……

The next day, just as dawn broke, Liu Bei rode his old-fashioned bicycle out of the village and headed straight for the town.

Smoke, two Hongtashan cigarettes.

Five catties of pork, ten catties of spare ribs, two live chickens, and one grass carp.

Everything was provided: rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, a packet of brown sugar, and two bottles of safflower oil.

Three zhang of blue floral fabric, two zhang of dark red khaki fabric, and one zhang of navy blue cotton fabric.

……

Finally, he turned into the only silversmith shop in town.

"Master, do you have silver bracelets? The most common kind."

The old silversmith pulled out several pairs of plain silver bracelets from under the counter.

"Twelve pieces a pair."

"Four pairs, please."

"Four pairs?" The old silversmith looked up, sizing him up. "Young man, how many daughters do you have?"

"Three daughters-in-law, plus one mother."

"amazing."

The old silversmith wrapped up the four pairs of silver bracelets without any expression.

On the way back to the village, four bags were hanging from the handlebars of the old-fashioned bicycle, two bundles of cloth were on the back seat, and a box of bottles and jars was tied to the frame. The whole vehicle swayed and rocked like a camel carrying a heavy load.

When I entered the village, I happened to see several young women from the village drawing water from the well.

"Look! Liu Bei bought something again!"

"How much stuff is that?"

"You bought cloth too? You bought firewood, rice, oil, and salt too? That's... Hongtashan cigarettes?"

Soon the whole village knew.

When they arrived at the door, Panpan was the first to run out.

"Dad! You bought so much stuff!"

Liu Bao followed behind, his eyes fixed on the new cloth shoes on the car. His lips moved but he didn't make a sound, but his toes had already quietly twitched inside the old shoes.

Niannian is the most direct; she pounces on the bag, rummages through it, finds brown sugar, and stuffs it into her mouth.

"Don't eat raw food!" Zhao Chunyan rushed over and snatched the brown sugar away, cursing as she went, but her eyes had already fallen on the bundle of dark red khaki cloth.

Liu Bei carried the items into the house one by one.

Just put down the last bag—

"Bang!"

Zhao Da'e closed the courtyard gate tightly.

Then, a hand precisely grabbed Liu Bei's ear.

"You spendthrift!"

"Mother, be gentle!"

"What do you mean 'lightly'! Bringing loads of stuff and riding around town like this, as if you're afraid the villagers won't know we're rich now? Don't you understand the saying 'don't flaunt your wealth' these days? What if people get jealous and try to trip us up?"

"Mother, I—"

"Tell me! How much did it cost in total?"

"Please let go first."

Zhao Da'e let go of her hands and waited with her hands on her hips.

Liu Bei wasn't in a hurry to report the expenses. Instead, he took out a small package wrapped in red cloth from his pocket and handed it to Zhao Da'e.

"Mother, please take a look at what this is."

Zhao Da'e suspiciously untied the red cloth.

A pair of silver bracelets lay inside.

The plain noodles, round and polished to a shine, gleamed softly in the light of the main room.

"this……"

"This is for you. You've worked hard all your life and never even had a decent piece of jewelry to wear. Your son is unfilial, and I'm only making up for it today."

Zhao Da'e held the pair of silver bracelets, her lips trembling several times.

She wanted to scold him for being a spendthrift.

She was thinking, "Why would an old woman like me wear a bracelet?"

But he couldn't utter a single word.

She lowered her head and slowly rubbed the surface of the bracelet with her thumb, rubbing it again and again.

After a long pause, he muttered, "How much?"

"twelve."

"Can't you make it any cheaper?"

"This is already the cheapest one."

Zhao Da'e put the bracelet on her wrist.

Her hands were rough with large knuckles, and the silver bracelet got stuck between her thumb and forefinger and couldn't be pushed in.

Liu Bei walked over, took her hand, and gently pushed it inward.

"Click".

The silver bracelet slipped onto her wrist.

Zhao Da'e raised her hand, her eyes reddening.

Outside the main room, Lin Wanqiu leaned against the door frame, her gaze fixed on Liu Bei's back, and the corners of her mouth curved up.

Zhao Chunyan stood behind her, pursed her lips, snorted, and turned away.

But after taking only two steps, she couldn't help but turn back to glance at the cloth bag that Liu Bei was still holding, which seemed to contain something.