Hunting 81: Gathering Goods in the Mountains, I Spoil My Ex-Wife to the Extreme

After returning from the county town, Li Yunshan intended to rest at home for two days. However, on the morning of the second day, after having breakfast with Lin Xiulan at home and preparing to stroll over to his elder brother's place to visit Huang Zhifang, Zhang Sange came to find him, and his expression was not very pleasant.

"Brother Zhang, what's wrong? You look terrible."

"Sigh, people are afraid of becoming famous, just like pigs are afraid of getting fat."

Zhang Sange grabbed a stool and sat down, propping his elbows on his knees and rubbing his face vigorously with both hands: "We just finished dividing the money yesterday, and last night some neighbors came to my house saying they wanted to borrow some money."

"This person asked to borrow 50 cents, that person asked to borrow 1 dollar, and others asked to borrow 2 or 3 dollars... At first, I thought they were all neighbors and fellow villagers, and I didn't want to offend them, so I lent them the money."

"Well, this is great. Someone came to me first thing this morning to borrow money, asking for ten or twenty yuan at a time. Sigh..."

"Hehe, Brother Zhang, you're just too embarrassed to admit it."

After listening to what Zhang Sange had to say, Li Yunshan couldn't help but smile.

"Those people are taking advantage of your honest and kind nature, and your reluctance to refuse. How much did you lend out in total?"

"Yesterday I borrowed four or five yuan. Some families were really struggling, so I lent them fifty cents or a yuan. I didn't lend to others. This morning, I was lying on the ditch sleeping when someone came to borrow money from me. They asked for ten yuan right off the bat, which startled my wife. I didn't sleep well and didn't feel like eating breakfast, so I came here."

Zhang Sange said with distress.

It's true what they say, "People are afraid of becoming famous, just as pigs are afraid of getting fat." When his wife was sick and the family was so poor they could barely afford food, he had to humbly beg his neighbors to lend him money. But instead of lending him money, they mocked him, saying things like, "If you don't have money, why did you get married?" and laughing at him for not having enough money to raise so many children.

Back then, Zhang Sange was thoroughly humiliated.

Now that they know Zhang San has made a lot of money, they're all shamelessly coming to his door to borrow money.

"It's fine if you lend out three or five yuan, but if you lend out thirty or fifty, or even three or five hundred, then you're in trouble. You won't be able to get the money back when you ask for it."

Li Yunshan smiled.

As the saying goes, it's easy to borrow money but hard to repay it.

When someone asks you for money, you can use all sorts of nice things to persuade them, but once you lend the money, the borrower becomes the boss.

In his previous life, after Li Yunshan became wealthy, he once lent out a sum of money.

Back then, when people borrowed money from him, they would fawn over him, smile obsequiously, and say all sorts of nice things.

However, when Li Yunshan needed money later and asked that person to repay it, the other party made excuses and kept delaying.

It's not that I don't have money in my pocket, it's that I'm having cash flow problems, and in the end, the other party just lays their cards on the table: I'm not paying you back, what can you do about it?

Li Yunshan was furious at the time, but he eventually had to hire a debt collection company and use some methods to get the money back.

Of course, although the money was recovered, the debt collection company also took 30% as a service fee.

Although the losses were not devastating, they taught Li Yunshan a lesson he would never forget.

So, for someone like Brother Zhang, lending out five cents or a dollar only adds up to a few dollars in debt, and if he brakes in time, the losses won't be too severe.

"If you feel like those people are asking you for money, you might as well just put the money in the bank."

"You should divide your money into two parts, one in the bank and the other at home for everyday use. Banks offer pretty high interest rates these days, usually around 0.8%. If you deposit 500 yuan, you can earn 48 yuan in interest in a year."

Li Yunshan suggested.

In the early stages of reform and opening up, in order to attract private funds to support the country's economic development, banks generally offer higher interest rates to depositors.

"Is this...reliable?"

Brother Zhang hesitated.

Nowadays, most people are still only at the stage of having enough to eat, and they don't have much money in their pockets.

Even if they have some spare money, they usually save it themselves and rarely take their hard-earned savings to the bank to deposit.

Zhang Sange's family has only managed to save a little over 170 yuan over the years because his wife is frail and often ill, and they have several children to raise.

Now, he made a lot of money because he killed that tiger.

This money wasn't easy to earn, and Brother Zhang was afraid that if he deposited it in the bank, he would lose everything.

"I've saved a lot of money in the bank."

Li Yunshan said with a smile.

"I'll think about it."

Zhang Sange hesitated.

"Anyway, don't lend money. It's better to offend people than to lend money."

"Okay, I'll listen to you. I'll think about saving money again."

Zhang San agreed and was about to get up to leave when a figure flashed at the door of the main room, and Gao Hongmei walked in.

"Hey, Hongmei, you've come to see Yunshan!"

Upon seeing Gao Hongmei, Zhang Sange greeted her.

"Hey, Brother Zhang, what are you doing here?"

Gao Hongmei hadn't expected there to be outsiders in Li Yunshan's house, so she just smiled and agreed.

"Hehe, I had some things to discuss with Yunshan. We just finished discussing them and were about to head back."

After saying this, Zhang Sange left Li Yunshan's house.

After Zhang Sange left, Gao Hongmei asked Li Yunshan curiously, "What did Zhang Sange want from you? To go hunting?"

"No, we killed that tiger and made some money. People found out that Brother Zhang San was rich, so they went to him to borrow money, which annoyed him. So he came to me to vent and complain."

As Li Yunshan spoke, he ushered Gao Hongmei into the house: "It's so cold outside, why aren't you staying home? What are you doing here?"

"I've come to see Xiulan and Doudou, what, you're not allowed?"

Gao Hongmei glared at Li Yunshan and said irritably.

"Sure, of course, it's up to you."

Seeing Gao Hongmei's carefree manner, Li Yunshan had no choice but to nod and agree.

"That's more like it." Gao Hongmei's expression softened slightly. If this bastard dared to say "no," she would make Li Yunshan pay.

After saying that, Gao Hongmei went inside to find Lin Xiulan and Doudou.

"DouDou".

As soon as she entered the room, Gao Hongmei saw Dou Dou playing with a rag doll by herself, and a smile instantly appeared on her face.

"aunt."

Dou Dou called out, her soft, sweet voice melting Gao Hongmei's heart.

"Big sister, please sit down."

Lin Xiulan quickly moved aside so that Gao Hongmei could sit on the pit.

"DouDou, come to Grandma's."

Gao Hongmei opened her arms.

Dou Dou, clutching her doll, snuggled into Gao Hongmei's arms.

"DouDou, your aunt hasn't come to see you lately. Do you miss her?"

"Yes, Auntie, I miss you so much."

Dou Dou responded in her childish voice, then crawled out of Gao Hongmei's arms and ran to the wooden box at the head of the pit. She opened the box and took out the bag of preserved plums that Li Yunshan had bought from the supply and marketing cooperative yesterday.

"Auntie, have some preserved plums. Dad bought these for my mom. They're sweet and sour, and they're delicious."

DouDou clumsily opened the package, took out a preserved plum, and held it to Gao Hongmei's lips.

Gao Hongmei opened her mouth, and Dou Dou stuffed the preserved plum into it.

"Auntie, are the preserved plums delicious?"

Seeing Gao Hongmei with a preserved plum in her mouth, Dou Dou tilted her little burlap sack and asked.

"Delicious, delicious, everything DouDou gave me is delicious." Gao Hongmei smiled so much that her eyes narrowed.

"Father said that Mother can eat this when she has morning sickness, and then she won't vomit anymore."

DouDou said earnestly.

Gao Hongmei paused subtly for a moment, then smiled and pinched Dou Dou's little face, her eyes glancing at Lin Xiulan's lower abdomen.

Although Lin Xiulan's pregnancy was still in its early stages, and the weather was cold with her wearing thick winter clothes so her pregnancy wasn't showing, Gao Hongmei couldn't help but feel a little envious whenever she thought about Lin Xiulan's pregnancy.

However, after a brief moment of envy, Gao Hongmei also felt a sense of loss and disappointment.

When she was with Li Yunshan, she also dreamed of having several children of her own one day.

However, that bastard Li Yunshan was blinded by greed at the time. Just because she advised him not to loaf around with Yu Ergou and the others, but to find something worthwhile to do, that bastard wanted to divorce her.

In fact, after the divorce, Gao Hongmei did consider remarrying, and even a matchmaker came to her several times.

However, the men that the matchmakers introduced to her were either vulgar in appearance, pot-bellied, or addicted to drinking and gambling; she didn't like any of them.

Moreover, she is an only child in her family, and she is worried that if she remarries and marries someone far away, her father, Gao Zhankui, will have no one to take care of him when he gets old.

Later, when Gao Zhankui broke his leg and was hospitalized in the county hospital, Gao Hongmei secretly rejoiced that she hadn't remarried in a less desirable way.

If she really gets married, who will take care of her father?

However, seeing that Lin Xiulan is doing well, that Li Yunshan treats both Lin Xiulan and Dou Dou well, and that Lin Xiulan is pregnant with her second child, Gao Hongmei couldn't help but feel envious.

"It's all that bastard's fault. If he had listened to me and hadn't hung out with those street thugs like Yu Ergou, we would never have gotten divorced. We might even have several kids by now."

While Gao Hongmei was talking to Lin Xiulan, she was thinking to herself.

"By the way, eldest sister, I heard second sister is preparing to return to the city?"

Just as Gao Hongmei and Lin Xiulan were having a lively conversation, Lin Xiulan suddenly remembered what Li Yunshan had told her and casually asked about it.

"Yes, her parents used to be cadres in the city, but they were wrongly criticized and sent to a labor farm for reform. It is said that they were exonerated two months ago and have returned to the city from the labor farm. They are waiting for the state to arrange jobs for them."

"Once her parents have been assigned jobs, she should return to the city. If things go smoothly, it will be before the Lunar New Year; if not, it will be next spring."

Gao Hongmei didn't hide it from Lin Xiulan. After all, she, Lin Xiulan, and Su Lihua had become like sisters over the years because of their similar experiences. Sooner or later, she would tell Lin Xiulan that Su Lihua was preparing to return to the city.

However, at this point, Gao Hongmei smiled and glanced at her: "What's wrong, Xiulan? Are you reluctant to part with Lihua?"