Chapter 14

The dirty plastic bottle contained scorpions that were still rustling!

It was unclear how the child had caught them, but the bottle was filled to the brim.

Jian Li felt her scalp tingle and panicked, saying, “Hold it steady!”

The toothless child tilted his head, somewhat timidly confused: “What… what’s wrong?”

Did that mean he wouldn’t take them?

The child was a bit discouraged. His scorpions were much harder to find than cicada shells. Many kids in the village looked for cicada shells, but fewer looked for scorpions. He had spent several days to catch a full bottle.

Jian Li’s face went pale: “It’s not that I won’t take them… Where did you find so many old ones?”

These were scorpions!

Jian Li had a traumatic experience with them. When she was little, she was stung by a scorpion while sleeping soundly, and the pain made her cry out in the middle of the night. Her father quickly killed the scorpion, but the sting remained in her flesh. Her mother spent a long time carefully removing the stinger. Even now, Jian Li could still feel a faint pain in her hands just thinking about it.

The child honestly replied, “I just used a flashlight to look for them on the earthen walls at night.”

Scorpions liked to hide in the cracks of those old houses, and as long as one was careful, they could catch quite a few with a flashlight.

Some adults in the village also caught a few occasionally and threw them into the homemade liquor to treat rheumatism and joint pain.

Jian Li asked a few more questions before reluctantly allowing the child to put down the plastic bottle filled with scorpions.

“Just put it there for now.”

With her saying that, the child dazedly set the bottle down and ran out.

Jian Li took a glance at the scorpions in the bottle and still felt uneasy.

“Hey! I’m going to the city, are you coming?”

Wang Yunyun had been reading books so much lately that she had completely stopped watching TV at home, spending all her time either helping Jian Li or reading.

Wang Shuai whispered to Jian Li, “Is my sister crazy? Last night I saw her crying while reading.”

Jian Li gave him a tap on the back of his head, warning him not to disturb her.

Wang Shuai scratched his head, feeling wronged. If it were before, he would not have listened to Jian Li. It wasn’t that he wanted to disturb anyone; he just liked to go against people.

When Jian Li wasn’t home, he would annoy his sister. When she was back, he unconsciously tried to act up a bit.

It seemed like he couldn’t resist being naughty for those three days without getting scolded.

But this year was different.

Jian Li had changed. Although she didn’t argue with him as much, she had become more intimidating.

Most importantly, Jian Li gave him money!

Thinking about money made Wang Shuai feel lighter.

As soon as Jian Li mentioned going to the city, he immediately responded, “I’ll go too!”

Wang Yun Yun came out of the room: “I’m going to return some books to the city.”

Jian Li noticed her dark circles and kindly reminded her, “Sister, take it easy. You can’t finish reading them all.”

She had only been borrowing books for a short time, but Wang Yunyun had already read almost ten.

She could read a book in a day and a half, barely paying attention while eating.

Wang Yunyun smiled sheepishly. “I want to read more books during the summer vacation.”

After school started, it wouldn’t be so convenient.

Wang Yunyun looked at Jian Li with some envy. She was in the second year of junior high school at a town school, the same grade as Jian Li. But there were no bookstores in the town, only a small shop outside the school, where teachers often printed pages from unknown sources.

If it weren’t for Jian Li, she wouldn’t have known that there was a library in the city.

Wang Yunyun began to think deeply, realizing how big the difference between herself and Jian Li was…

Stop!

Suddenly, Wang Yunyun snapped out of it and pulled her wandering thoughts back, reminding herself not to compare herself to Jian Li. She should be grateful to Jian Li for opening up a window to her world.

Wang Yunyun’s face shifted through several expressions before settling on calm acceptance.

“There are a few books I think are great. I’ll write down the titles for you, and you should read them when you go back.”

Jian Li said “okay,” and as the three of them rode their bikes to the city, she belatedly realized that Wang Yun Yun seemed a little different.

There weren’t many Chinese medicine stores in the city, and Jian Li had a hard time finding two.

One of them had its own supply partners and refused to accept anything.

The other one accepted but offered a low price: 40 cents per pound for cicada shells and only 5 yuan for a bottle of scorpions.

Before Jian Li could speak, Wang Yun Yun spoke first.

“Cicada shells are bought for 12 cents in the countryside, and scorpions usually get a higher price. Five yuan is too little.”

Jian Li said, “I also think it’s too little… Let’s go ask at the traditional Chinese medicine hospital.”

The three of them ran to the hospital, leaning against the small window of the pharmacy to ask if they wanted to buy any herbs.

The nurse on duty, seeing it was a group of kids, directed them to an office.

“You can ask there.”

In recent years, herb planting had been gradually developing, so traditional Chinese medicine hospitals usually didn’t accept external supplies. However, some things weren’t grown in the fields, like snake gall, centipedes, scorpions, hedgehog skin… these materials were not consistently available, so the hospital occasionally took some.

Sure enough, when the doctor on duty heard that they had scorpions, he agreed to buy them.

“Bring them over so I can take a look.”

Wang Shuai took out the bottle of scorpions from his bag and handed it over.

The doctor found a large basin and poured the scorpions from the bottle into it.

The kids who were catching scorpions didn’t care about the size, so the ones they caught were of different sizes.

The doctor examined them for a while, set aside the ones that were not suitable, and in the end, only half of the scorpions were kept.

“Live scorpions are 15 yuan per jin, dead ones are 8 yuan. Altogether, it’s less than one jin… that’s 11 yuan.”

“The cicada shells are 60 cents per jin, and this batch totals 1.9 yuan.”

“I’ll round it up for you, 13 yuan.”

When she held the 13 yuan, Jian Li was a bit surprised.

She hadn’t expected to make this much money selling bugs.

By the time she returned, she deducted the hard work fees for herself and her two companions, then gave the remaining money to the two kids. The next morning, she found several kids squatting at her door.

They were all eager, holding things she didn’t recognize.

As she was about to leave, Wang Yuandong smiled, “Our little Li is going to be a boss.”

Jian Li’s grandmother snorted.

“A little boss? She’s just a slippery one.”

She subtly asked Jian Li’s mother how much she earned every month, but Jian Li kept tight-lipped and wouldn’t say a word. Instead, she kept asking her grandmother how much money she had saved over the years for her filial duties. Her grandmother was too annoyed to talk.

Jian Li’s grandmother gave her disobedient granddaughter a glare, and after Wang Yuandong and his wife left, she went off to help her younger son and daughter-in-law. At least they had a sensible eldest grandson there.

After washing her face, Jian Li told Wang Shuai to find a high chair while she sat on a small stool. The high chair separated them, and Jian Li, sitting like a real boss, called out one by one.

One couldn’t help but marvel at how energetic rural kids could be.

They brought in all sorts of strange things—live rabbits, field mice, small shrimp, centipedes…

One child even brought in a freshly dead snake, which scared Jian Li so much that her face changed color.

There were many things Jian Li didn’t dare touch, so she had Wang Shuai take care of them.

So, the weighing job was left to Wang Shuai.

As expected, Wang Shuai made a mistake.

“Five plus seventeen… twenty-three centipedes.”

“Two and a half jin, at three yuan per jin… that’s 6.5 yuan.”

“One rabbit weighs four jin two liang, two rabbits… that’s eight jin six liang.”

Jian Li:…

This kid must have been taught math by a PE teacher!

They were about to start first grade, and he couldn’t even do basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division?

Jian Li didn’t hold back and complained. That night, Wang Shuai was chased around by his dad in the yard.

Jian Li spat out watermelon seeds.

Serves him right!

Who told him not to care about learning math? He had even said that he didn’t need it.

Did he get what was coming to him?

After being scolded, Wang Shuai became completely obedient.

Jian Li gave him a piece of paper, and if he couldn’t figure out the math in his head, he had to write down the formula. If he made another mistake, she would deduct his money.

As soon as she mentioned deducting money, Wang Shuai, who hadn’t cried when he was beaten, now looked at her with tearful eyes.

“I’ll learn, okay?”

Thus, Jian Li completely became the supervisor.

She just sat behind, watching Wang Shuai accept the goods one by one, weigh them, and calculate the money…

In just a few days, Wang Shuai had memorized the multiplication table he hadn’t remembered for years.

Meanwhile, Wang Yunyun officially declared that she wouldn’t participate in the new business cycle.

“I haven’t done anything, so don’t count my share of the money.”

She said this, but Wang Yunyun still went to the county with them every time. Then, while Jian Li and Wang Shuai were selling herbs, she would spend half a day at the library.

Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, it was the second half of August.

Jian Li had been busy for over a month and had managed to tan a bit. The good news was that she had lost some weight. When she entered the city, she specifically stood on the hospital’s weighing scale.

158 jin.

She had lost 22 jin since her rebirth.

No wonder—running around in the scorching sun every day, it’s no surprise she lost weight.

Jian Li happily tallied her earnings, which amounted to 350 yuan this summer!

This amount may not be huge, but for Jian Li, it was a good start.

According to the usual practice, her mother would come to pick her up around August 20th.

So Jian Li started spreading the word that she wouldn’t be accepting any more goods.

This summer, because of Jian Li’s involvement, the kids in Wangjia Village had earned quite a bit.

The older kids earned 20 to 30 yuan a month, and the younger ones earned several yuan.

What would the kids spend their money on? Eating or spending it on something else.

There were also one or two incidents that made people unhappy.

Some of the kids’ family members came to complain to Wang Yuandong, saying that Jian Li shouldn’t give the money to the children.

“Several yuan! What did she give it to them for? They just ate and spent it, completely wasting it.”

One girl’s father was the harshest.

The skinny little girl, who had come most often, brought in earthworms, beehives, centipedes…

Naturally, she earned the most. Jian Li had given her over 20 yuan.

The girl’s parents were frustrated: “I was wondering why she wasn’t doing any chores at home this summer and was always running outside. Turns out she was doing this. Fine, she did it, but she didn’t even tell us she earned money. I had to dig the money out from under her blanket. I’m telling you, Yuandong, you shouldn’t let your niece give all the money to these kids. They only think about eating and don’t understand how hard it is to make money.”

Wang Yuandong frowned. He hadn’t asked Jian Li how she was doing business.

After all, to him, it was just kids’ small play.

It was like when they were young, always going out to forage for wild food, and if they found something, they would ask passing people if they wanted it.

Jian Li had been busy with Wang Shuai and Yunyun, and he had originally been worried, but later, he supported it.

At least this year, Wang Shuai didn’t run wild outside, and Yunyun wasn’t cooped up at home watching TV all the time.

As for the money the kids earned, he never thought of taking it.

That was money Jian Li earned with the two kids herself, and for this, his plump niece had gotten sunburned, her hands had been stung by a wasp, and her legs were covered in mosquito bites.

Wang Shuai was so tanned that his eyes couldn’t be seen, and he was so tired at night that he didn’t make a fuss and just lay down to sleep.

Even Yunyun, who was usually quiet, was so tired from selling crabs that her legs ached during that time.

The kids worked hard to earn some money, so how could the parents feel good about taking it?

Meanwhile, the other parents were still talking incessantly.

Wang Yuandong could only brush it off, feeling strongly disapproving of the idea of taking money from the kids.

After working all day, Jian Li heard her uncle say this at night and was immediately speechless.

To be fair, the money the kids earned wasn’t much. Even all the things she sold didn’t amount to much at the Chinese medicine hospital and couldn’t even be considered a big client.

With just that little money, the parents still wanted to take it.

Just thinking about it made Jian Li feel frustrated.

But even though she was upset, there was nothing she could do. Jian Li could only secretly adjust the accounts for the “troublesome” parents’ kids.

For things that should cost two yuan, she only charged fifty cents, and for the remaining one and a half yuan, she asked what they wanted in return, whether it was toys, snacks, or books, which she would bring from the city.

After all, spending it was better than having it hidden at home where it could be discovered.

She continued with this little trade until August 23, when Jian Li didn’t wait for her mother to return but instead waited for her aunt.

Her aunt came in holding expensive “San Zhu Oral Liquid” and a big bag of chrysanthemum crystals.

She dropped a bombshell as soon as she walked in.

Her aunt’s daughter, Qian Ping, was about to go abroad.