Chapter 17: Xiaozhen’s First Earnings

“Wow, your buns are really delicious, I’ve lived for half my life and I’ve never eaten such delicious buns. But they’re delicious, they just don’t seem very big.”

“That’s why they sell for seven cents each, and we’re selling them for five cents.”

“Let me try another piece.”

Lin Xinghua broke another piece for her, she ate it and smacked her lips, saying, “It’s a bit like the cake my grandson let me try.”

Lin Xinghua: “Yeah, it’s made according to the cake method.” He just said whatever came to mind.

“Oh, cake is so expensive, it’s not even as big as a bun, it costs one yuan a box.”

“Hehe, that’s right. Liu Da Jie, do you want some?”

“Yes, give me two mao.” The old lady said, and then she pulled a rope from her waist.

The other end of the rope was attached to a cloth bag, and the bag contained money.

Cents, dimes, the largest was ten yuan, and there were several of them.

The old lady still had money.

She gave two mao, and Lin Xinghua gave her four buns.

“Here, these are four buns, take them.”

“Oh, my hands are dirty. Forget it, it’s okay, it’s not clean, but it won’t hurt to eat it.”

Liu Lao Tai took the four buns herself.

Once someone started buying, they sold quickly.

Xiaoxigou Village was a large village, with dozens of households living on several slopes, each family bought a few, and soon the two baskets were empty.

“You’re out of buns?”

“Yes, we have more at home. If you want to buy more, come with us to get them.”

“Okay, okay, we’ll go with you to get them.”

The neighbors took their money and followed them back home.

Ye Xiaozhen quickly brought out the steamers.

These rural steamers could steam about ten buns each, ten steamers could steam about one hundred.

They kept one steamer for themselves, which meant they needed to sell one hundred and eighty, just their own village could sell them all.

Soon, Liu Lao Tai, the first person to buy buns, came back, holding a basket and saying, “Give me ten more.”

Lin Xinghua: “Liu Da Jie, why do you want so many?”

“I have a big family, the four I took home weren’t even warm before the kids ate them all.”

“Okay, Xiaozhen, give Liu Nai Nai ten more.”

While waiting for the buns, Liu Lao Tai curiously asked, “Lin Laogui, why are you suddenly selling buns?”

“Sigh! It’s all because of poverty. I have two children to raise, and our family has always been struggling. Now I’ve married a granddaughter-in-law, and we haven’t even had a wedding banquet, I need to make some money so we can invite everyone to the wedding banquet.”

“You’re still going to have a wedding banquet? I thought you were just going to skip it.”

“How can we skip it? We can’t wrong the girl. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely have a wedding banquet.”

“When are you going to have it?”

“We haven’t set a date yet, we have to wait until my Lin’an finishes his work at the dam.”

Another person asked, “Does your Lin’an make a lot of money from that work?”

Lin Xinghua shook his head, “Not really, it’s just enough to support the family.”

“You’re too modest, I heard Sun Qing say you promised her family a thousand yuan dowry. If you didn’t have the money, would you have agreed?”

Lin Xinghua said, “Half of that thousand yuan was borrowed from Lin’an’s boss, luckily we didn’t spend it, otherwise, we would have to pay it back next year.”

“That’s right, you’re really lucky to have married this granddaughter-in-law, I heard it only cost five thousand yuan, right?”

It didn’t cost five thousand yuan, but Lin Xinghua didn’t say more, he just said, “About that.”

“Will Ye Zhengguo and Sun Qing be happy about that?”

“They won’t be happy. They made such a fuss yesterday, they came to ask me to pay the rest of the dowry, saying I should give them another nine hundred.”

“Huh, nine hundred? Why don’t they just rob us? I heard from the village head that when Xiaozhen needed one hundred yuan to save her life in the hospital, they would rather watch her die than pay, it was Lin Laogui who couldn’t bear to see it and paid one hundred yuan to save her life.”

Lin Xinghua nodded with a smile.

Then, a few old ladies in the neighborhood said to Ye Xiaozhen, “Xiaozhen, your parents don’t treat you like a human being, don’t acknowledge them. Lin Laogui saved your life, you have to be filial to him.”

Ye Xiaozhen smiled foolishly and said, “Be filial to Grandpa.”

“See, how obedient she is? The money was well spent. Lin Laogui, you’re enjoying the good life.”

“Haha, enjoying the good life, enjoying the good life.”

“This child is silly, but she’s honest, kind, and beautiful. Oh, I should have told my grandson to come.”

“Go, go, go, stop talking nonsense, I won’t sell you buns anymore.”

Lin Xinghua and everyone else were praising her, and Ye Xiaozhen was busy selling.

One hundred and eighty buns in total, they were all sold out in no time.

Lin Xinghua counted the money, one cent and one dime, and calculated the total.

One hundred and eighty buns sold for a total of nine yuan.

“Kid, this is the nine yuan you earned from selling buns today, here, take it.”

This was the first time this body had ever touched money.

Ye Xiaozhen happily took it and counted out four yuan to give back to Lin Xinghua.

She took a few pounds of flour, four yuan was just enough.

Lin Xinghua was puzzled, “Why are you giving it back to me?”

She didn’t say anything, she took the remaining money and ran into the house.

There was a wooden box in the bedroom, she saw Xie Lin’an put important things in it, so she also put the money in the box.

Although it was only one yuan, it was the first money she had earned in this strange world, she was happier than earning hundreds of thousands from a live broadcast.

“Grandpa, I want to eat buns.”

Ye Xiaozhen heard a strange voice from inside the house.

She stood by the window and saw a child of seven or eight years old standing around Lin Xinghua.

She remembered this child, he was Xie Lin’an’s cousin, the son of Xie Lin’an’s third uncle.

Lin Xinghua was surprised, “Why are you here? Aren’t you in school?”

“I’m only in first grade, it’s break time, there’s no class now. I heard that my older brother married a wife, so my mother brought me to see them.”

“Did you and your mother come together? Where’s your father?”

“My father is still in class, he’ll be back in a few days.”

“Where’s your mother?”

“My mother is talking to people at the entrance of the village.”

Lin Xinghua saw that his grandson was so happy, he quickly went into the house to get him some buns.

Ye Xiaozhen also knew about their family affairs, they were all from the same village.

Lin Xinghua’s father-in-law used to work at the supply and marketing cooperative, after he passed away, the job was taken over by Xie Lin’an’s father, which made the second and third brothers unhappy.

After the elders of the previous generation all passed away, Xie Lin’an’s grandmother also passed away, leaving only Lin Xinghua, the brothers decided to split the family.

Because Xie Lin’an’s father took over the job, the only lame old father had to be supported by their family.

Whoever took the job would support the old father, everyone agreed, and they split the family.

But later, Xie Lin’an’s father also passed away, Xie Lin’an was still young at the time, he wasn’t old enough to take over the job, so the job went to the second brother.