Chapter 43 I am deeply saddened

Rutang earned more than 60 million yesterday. Hao Mei dreamed that her daughter was dragged to a commendation meeting by the village. She was wearing a big red flower and holding a sign that read "Ten Thousand Yuan Household". She was so honored!

As a result, she only earned more than 30 yuan today. Hao Mei's eyes went dark and her dream was shattered.

Although over thirty is not a small number, she will feel bitter if you feed her with vegetables after eating meat.

"We had chili sauce yesterday, but not today, so we sold it for a few dollars less."

"It should be over fifty. How come it's only thirty left all of a sudden? Is business bad and everyone has had enough to eat?" Hao Mei was worried about her daughter's sudden drop in income and her high expenses in the city, which would cause trouble for her daughter. She thought that if things really didn't work out, she should go back to farming.

It’s better to endure the Chen family’s anger than to cause trouble for your daughter.

Rutang smiled and hugged her arm.

"Mom, we made a lot of money. Although the cash was only over thirty, we also received over thirty cans of food. Brother Yaoyang took the cans back, so we didn't lose anything."

When Yu Yaoyang returned home, he took all the more than 30 cans with him. He sent Rutang to her doorstep and then went back, so Hao Mei didn't see the cans.

"More than 30 cans? What's going on?"

"The news of us exchanging canned food yesterday spread, and many people used canned food to exchange."

“Ah…I am deeply saddened.

You can exchange the canned food for a bottle and keep it for yourself to eat when you are sick. But now there are so many at once, how long will it take to finish them all?

"Brother Yaoyang took that can of food back to sell, and he didn't keep it for himself." Seeing that she cared so much about this matter, Rutang explained it to her.

"Ah? What's going on?"

Rutang told her.

The last time she and Yu Yaoyang went to her grandmother's house, when they were buying gifts, the supply and marketing cooperative didn't have any canned food.

Yu Yaoyang asked casually and was told that the cannery's delivery cycle was too long and the township supply and marketing cooperatives looked down on them, so they only delivered goods once in a long time.

But it is the change of seasons now, the temperature is fluctuating, many children have caught colds, and there is a great demand for canned food.

As one of the few coastal cities in the north, City D has many similarities in customs with other northern cities, such as eating canned food when sick. It is firmly believed that canned yellow peaches will bless every northern child.

If they couldn't buy it at the supply and marketing cooperative, they had to ask someone to bring it from the city. Seeing this opportunity, Yu Yaoyang and Rutang agreed that the cannery workers could exchange cans for beer.

"Oh, so that's how it is. How much are you selling it for?" Hao Mei was relieved to hear that the money wasn't going to be spent on her own business.

"We calculated that the cost price of canned food is less than 1.5 cents, so we sell it to the villagers at 50 cents a can, which is 50 cents cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperative. This way we make a profit and the villagers don't lose out."

Hao Mei was a little confused and was counting on her fingers to figure out that the cannery paid the workers with cans, each one was fifty cents, and her son-in-law sold the cans outside, which was also fifty cents. Wasn't that making no money?

Rutang smiled and shook her head. With her mother's level of arithmetic, it would be better for her not to do business.

"Oh, I finally figured it out." Hao Mei slapped her forehead, "The workers come to us to exchange seafood for about 50 cents, but the cost of our seafood beer is low, so we can make more than 30 cents per person. Yangzi can make another 10 yuan this time, right?"

Rutang gave her a thumbs up and said, "Oh, not bad."

Hao Mei was very happy, but after a while, she was confused again.

"Canned food is in short supply in our village. Why is the canning factory so unprofitable? It can't even pay the workers' wages?"

This shouldn't happen.

"This has something to do with the managers. The cannery must have run out of raw materials. The raw materials were in short supply, and the output value could not be increased. Several production lines were idle, and they could not pay wages. They could only use canned goods to pay off debts."

"Why don't you bring the canned goods to the countryside? It would be much better if you buy them and pay everyone a salary. And speaking of raw materials, don't we have yellow peaches in the village next door? Last year, the yellow peaches rotted in the orchard and no one picked them. How did they end up without raw materials?"

Hao Mei was full of questions again.

Rutang shrugged.

"It sounds simple, just sell what is needed to those who need it, but the policy has been changing over the past two years, and timid factory managers don't dare to do this. After all, they are paid a fixed salary, and they get the same salary regardless of whether they do a good job or a bad job. Who is willing to risk being punished to seek benefits for the workers?"

In the past, it was a planned economy. There were clear numbers on how much to produce, how much to sell, and to whom to sell to. If there was more or less, the owner had to take responsibility.

Policies have been gradually relaxed in recent years, but not all factory managers have the courage to do this. They would rather the peaches rot in the fields and the factory cannot produce anything than lose their iron rice bowl.

"Oh, what a sin..." Hao Mei sighed. Her daughter's analysis was so right.

Rutang smiled and said nothing more. She set up a stove in the yard, boiled some water, and prepared to wipe her mother's body.

It's hot and it's easy to sweat. Both mother and daughter like to keep clean and can't sleep without wiping themselves. Her mother is unable to move around easily now and has to rely on Rutang to take care of her.

Rutang just wanted to finish it quickly as she had to go to the tailor shop to get clothes later.

The fabric was the gray one she had picked out earlier. She gave it to the tailor, paid a little more money, and shortened the production period, just so she could wear it when she got her marriage certificate tomorrow.

The kettle at home was too small, and it took several attempts to boil water with it, so Rutang went to the main house to find Li Hua to borrow a bigger one.

After knocking on the door twice, there was no response from inside. Rutang thought Li Hua was not at home. She turned around and was about to leave when Li Hua's husband, Lao Zhang, came out.

"Who is it... Oh, it's Sister Rutang." The impatience on Lao Zhang's face turned into surprise after seeing Rutang, and he looked Rutang up and down with his eyes.

This kind of male gaze is very greasy. If Rutang was just a little girl, she probably wouldn't be able to understand the malice in it. But her mental age is that of a mature rich woman after all, and she has long developed a pair of sharp eyes.

As soon as the sight of the excessive oil content came out, Rutang noticed it.

"Is sister-in-law at home?" Rutang asked.

"She's out. Would you like to come in and sit down?" Old Zhang moved half of his body aside, but his eyes fell on Rutang's bulging chest.

Rutang was wearing a simple red plaid short-sleeved shirt today, a very common style that many girls on the street were wearing.

Rutang is tall and thin, but her breasts are not small. Ordinary styles have different effects on her. She can be called a walking clothes rack.

"No, let's wait until my sister-in-law comes back." Rutang turned around calmly, with a hint of distance in his politeness.

She didn't look back, but she could feel two greasy gazes falling on her back. Those salty gazes were like the damp and sticky feeling in the air before a heavy rain. The nausea didn't disappear until she entered the house.

Rutang leaned against the door and let out a long sigh. She didn't want to spend even a second with Lao Zhang. She really didn't understand why her sister-in-law, such a good person, married such a greasy man?