Chapter 14

Zhou Sen still has confidence in himself, but he also understands that there are always people who are better than you. So in this critical period, he dare not be too lax and does exercises whenever he has time.

Every time Zhou Pingguo went to the county town, she would go to Xinhua Bookstore for a stroll. If she saw suitable teaching materials, she would buy them for Zhou Sen. Therefore, Zhou Sen still has some advantages over others, especially in today’s era of free reading.

“Sister-in-law, you should have a good rest in the next two months. I’ve never seen you stop. You must have worked so hard.” Most of the money earned now is contributed by Zhou Pingguo. Zhou Sen, this shrewd brat, no longer dares to treat Zhou Pingguo the same way he treated the nanny before.

So, women still have to know how to make money. If they make money, their status in the family will be different.

You can’t blame Zhou Sen for being too realistic. The magic of money is always beyond imagination.

After Zhou Pingguo sent Zhou Sen away, she began to count her current small treasury. Since she just started the leek business, she has sold about 2,000 yuan in total, and received a deposit of 2,000 yuan from Tao Zaishan, which makes a total of 4,000 yuan.

But this kind of leek is not without cost. The carbon for burning and keeping warm is the biggest expense. In order to ensure a constant temperature, Zhou Pingguo dare not use the poor quality honeycomb coal he made himself, but buys good quality honeycomb coal made by others, which cost him more than 500 yuan.

In order to avoid suspicion from the villagers, they secretly went to other places to buy them. Now there are still some left. Once they are all used up, this year’s leek business will come to an end and we will have to wait until next year to continue.

In addition to honeycomb coal, fertilizers also had to be purchased with money. Fertilizers are not cheap nowadays, and it cost nearly 100 yuan.

The remaining bamboo racks, bamboo baskets, etc., if you spend less, will cost at least 70 or 80 yuan, so the total cost is almost 700 yuan.

The three rooms at the back were just renovated. Originally, Zhou Pingguo thought that the harvest would not be ready until the 15th day of the first lunar month, but now it seems that the harvest will be ready around the 8th day of the first lunar month. The fruit can probably be sold until the 20th day of the first lunar month. The price may drop significantly, but the quantity has increased. If we can sell it once a day, 100 yuan a day will be enough, and we can still earn more than 1,000 yuan.

Zhou Sen just said, “Sister-in-law, it was you who came up with the idea of ​​selling chives, and it was you who went out to sell them, so you can keep the 5,000 yuan when the time comes.”

Zhou Pingguo looked at him with a half-smile, “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll run away now?”

“Don’t be afraid. You are not that kind of person.” Zhou Sen said this with increasing confidence. He had been somewhat reluctant when he said it before, but now, he really regarded Zhou Pingguo as a member of the family.

“Okay, I’ll keep it myself.” Holding the money in her own hands will definitely make her feel more at ease. Zhou Pingguo plans to open a passbook and save the money next time she goes to the county. Otherwise, she won’t keep it at home, as she doesn’t have as many keys as Zhou Sen to lock it up inside and outside.

Money can only be put under the bed. It is not safe to put so much money under the bed. You may worry about cockroaches or rats biting it. It is better to deposit it in the bank. You can withdraw it when you need it.

We went to the Red Star Hotel again, and Zhou Pingguo brought back someone, Sister Liu, who wanted to learn how to grow leeks from her.

The rooms upstairs were used to grow leeks. Sister Liu was not a pretentious person, so Zhou Pingguo prepared a bed for her and she slept in the living room.

Every day she followed Zhou Pingguo around, she could read, and when Zhou Pingguo showed her the notes they made, she could understand them all, and she would also take notes when the children were doing their homework at night. She was quite an amazing person.

After teaching for more than half a month, Zhou Pingguo felt that there was nothing more to teach her, so she took her back to the Red Star Hotel. It happened that Liu Jie also came here by bicycle, so she could help her carry more, one trip was enough, unlike Zhou Pingguo a few days ago, when she had to carry her twice a day.

After bidding farewell to Sister Liu and Tao Zaishan, Zhou Pingguo took the last batch of money home. She counted the money herself and kept a record of the account, and then waited until everyone finished dinner in the evening. She explained the matter to her three children openly.

“The price of coal is still high during this period. We spent 150 yuan on coal, plus the 720 yuan we spent before, a total of 870 yuan. I put all the money from each sale into a metal cabinet and kept a record of it. It is separate from our food and drink, a total of 4,874.2 yuan.” After all, sister-in-law is not mother. It is conducive to family harmony to keep things like money clear, so Zhou Pingguo has never been vague about this, even if the other party is three underage children.

“We agreed that half of the money would go to the family and half to me. I took 2,000 yuan, and the rest was kept in the public school as food for us and for you to eat while you were studying.”

“Okay, does anyone have any opinions? Let’s vote by raising our hands. If you agree, please raise your hands.”

Everyone raised their hands. Lei Lei, the little conspicuous boy, even got up from his chair and stood up, raising his feet high, for fear that Zhou Pingguo would not see him.

“It’s definitely not okay to keep so much money at home. I know your brother left a passbook for you, Zhou Sen, you take it with you. We have to withdraw the money and put it into your own account.” Zhou Pingguo said.

Zhou Sen pouted, “Can’t I put it in my brother’s account?”

Zhou Pingguo sighed. Whenever something happened to Zhou Xin, Zhou Sen couldn’t be as decisive as he was at other times.

Zhou Pingguo said, “Sesen, I know you want to keep a memory, but in the future, the account management will definitely become more and more strict. Without the household registration book and ID card, you will not be allowed to withdraw money. Your brother has already closed his account. If you are willing, you can open another account by yourself, withdraw the bulk of the money and put it in your account, and put the remaining one or two hundred yuan in your brother’s passbook. What do you think?”

Zhou Sen nodded reluctantly, “Yeah.”

The atmosphere was a little dull for a moment, and Zhou Pingguo could only change the subject, “This time, the whole family will go to the county town. I have already made an agreement with Zhou Yu’s family. They will lend us a bicycle. Zhou Sen, you take Lei Lei and I’ll take Jing Jing. Let’s go get our ID cards.”

In 1984, the first generation of ID cards were issued. Those who needed to work outside the village had to apply for an ID card as the first thing to do before leaving. Zhou Pingguo had no intention of leaving the village for the time being, but just wanted to apply for one first, just in case.

“Okay.” Zhou Sen nodded.

“I’ll go get a letter of introduction from the village chief tomorrow. I’ll also get some stamps for other things that need stamping. You guys can take Saturday afternoon off and we’ll go there at noon.”

The two-day weekend was implemented in May 1995. Now, there is only one day off on Sunday, so primary school students have to go to school on Saturday. The government handles these affairs on weekdays, so they can only ask them to take leave.