118 Not for sale!

After returning from the Zhuoyue Garment Factory, Guan Yuehe realized that she had done a lot of things that day, but as she fanned herself at home, she felt somewhat depressed.

He sighed three times, threw the palm-leaf fan aside, and decided to do a thorough cleaning of the house.

As soon as Aunt Fang returned to the alley, she heard that Guan Yuehe had returned home, so she picked up her cloth bag and headed towards Guan Yuehe's place.

Then I saw that the wooden basin in front of her house was piled with bed sheets and pillowcases, and the long bench by the door was covered with curtains and tablecloths from the house.

"Mom, are you back from shopping?"

If Guan Yuehe remembered correctly, the fabric of the clothes Fang Dama was wearing was a gift from her at the end of last year, and Jiang Guiying also had the same piece of fabric. The two old ladies were quite fashionable; they specifically told her to send them some brightly colored fabric so they could make shirts.

"Your Aunt Wen's family is having a happy occasion, and I just got back from dinner. Why have you taken everything down to wash?"

"I have nothing better to do."

Aunt Fang: "......"

Seeing that Guan Yuehe was serious, she finally believed that she was just bored and looking for things to do.

Aunt Fang wasn't in a hurry to go home either. Guan Yuehe wouldn't let her help, so she sat down and chatted with her.

Suddenly, a loudspeaker blared from outside the yard: "We're collecting scrap and junk!"

Aunt Hu, who lives in the back-facing room, ran out in her slippers, calling out, "Jiawang, I have some chairs I don't need, do you want them?"

"Please move it out and let us see."

"I'm too old to move this. Come in and see if you can take it. If you can't, I'll just burn it as firewood."

Wu Jiawang was speechless. This Aunt Hu was one of the most capable women in Ginkgo Alley. And she was considered old and frail?

But he still followed me in with good temper.

"Sister Yuehe." When Wu Jiawang saw Guan Yuehe washing quilts at her doorstep, he instinctively straightened his back and quickened his pace to Aunt Hu's house.

It ended with Aunt Hu cursing and swearing.

Wu Jiawang came out empty-handed, looking rather unwell. It was just an ordinary chair; even the recycling station would complain it took up too much space, and wouldn't even take it for a penny, let alone a dollar or two.

Just as Wu Jiawang was about to leave, he suddenly remembered what Hai Ban'er had told him, and turned back towards Guan Yuehe.

"Sister Yuehe."

"I can tell something's up from that smile. We don't have any unwanted chairs in my house." Guan Yuehe glanced at him. "So, what is it?"

Wu Jiawang used to call her Aunt Yuehe, but later she disliked that title because it made her sound old, so she asked the children in the No. 2 courtyard to call her Sister.

Seeing that his little scheme had been exposed, Wu Jiawang awkwardly touched his nose, squatted down next to Guan Yuehe, and whispered, "Uncle Hai asked me to ask you if you want to sell the desk your family bought from the scrap yard? It's good wood, and you could get a thousand for it..."

Aunt Fang's brow twitched, and she immediately looked warily at the other two families to see if anyone was listening.

Fortunately, it's the hottest time of day right now, and the people in Aunt Hu's and Zhou Hongqi's families who aren't working are all staying inside with their doors open.

Guan Yuehe was also taken aback by the price, but she wasn't blinded by the money. "What's the deal with that table?"

Wu Jiawang was honest and told everything he knew when asked.

"Uncle Hai said the table is made of rosewood and was moved from the former prince's mansion. Now someone wants to ask Uncle Hai to find some good furniture, and Uncle Hai remembered that you have a good table here."

Guan Yuehe knows nothing about antiques, let alone wood, but according to this, sandalwood must be a particularly good type of wood?

"No wonder I find it convenient to use." She couldn't quite explain it herself, but she just felt that the table was better than the one Lin Yiku was using.

Indeed, there's a reason why things are expensive.

Guan Yuehe was finally able to let go of the fifty yuan she had spent on the table, and immediately felt refreshed.

Seeing that she was happy, Wu Jiawang tentatively asked, "Then, shall I talk to Uncle Hai and ask him to raise the price for you a little more?"

Guan Yuehe shook her head, "I won't sell! I'm used to it, I'll keep it and continue using it."

Although she and Lin Yiku don't have much savings right now, they are not short of money and have no plans to buy anything big for the time being.

She asked around and found out that single-tub washing machines cost around 300-400 yuan, while twin-tub ones cost around 600-700 yuan. If they save up a bit more, they should be able to buy a twin-tub washing machine by the end of the year without any problem.

"Huh?" Wu Jiawang was very disappointed and still couldn't understand.

Aren't all tables the same? Selling this one would net you a thousand dollars, enough to buy dozens of new tables!

If it were him, he would definitely sell the table to get money, and maybe even buy a small house outside...

Ever since they saw Guan Yuehe spend a fortune to buy a house, his parents have been thinking about saving up to buy a couple of rooms elsewhere. They don't lack housing right now, but all four of them believe that Guan Yuehe is capable and wouldn't have bought a house for no reason.

Buying a house is definitely a good thing!

Undeterred, Wu Jiawang pressed on, asking, "Are you really not selling? I can ask Uncle Hai to help me negotiate a price."

"Yes, it's really not for sale!" Guan Yuehe said with certainty. "You should look for other people; they must have some too."

Wu Jiawang didn't insist on persuading her anymore. It would be such a waste to miss out on a considerable referral fee! He hung his head and muttered to himself, "It's not like there's an endless supply of cabbages."

He also talked about the gossip he heard while collecting recyclables.

“The trust store used to have a lot of good stuff. A few years ago, some people went there to pick up bargains. They bought it for a few dozen dollars and can now resell it for hundreds or thousands.”

Aunt Fang was initially stunned by the "hundreds or thousands" of dollars, but she quickly realized that this way of making money was something that ordinary workers like her could not learn.

"Who would spend tens of yuan on something that's neither edible nor drinkable? Don't just look at what others earn; hard work is the most reliable thing to do." Out of respect for Wu Erni, Aunt Fang couldn't help but offer more advice, as she felt that Ding Laowu's current earnings were not reliable.

A few years ago, an ordinary worker's salary was twenty or thirty yuan. Even if someone earned fifty or sixty yuan a month, few people would be willing to spend tens of yuan to buy something.

Besides, most people don't have the eye to find good deals. What they buy for tens of dollars might only be worth a few dollars after a few years.

Guan Yuehe felt guilty; she was the kind of person who would spend tens of yuan to buy something that was neither edible nor drinkable.

After thinking about it, Wu Jiawang realized that what Aunt Fang said made sense.

His family's life has only improved in the last few years. Even if he had known earlier, could he have persuaded his parents to buy antiques from the trust store?

Forget it, I'll just listen to Aunt Fang and stick to collecting recyclables.

"Aunt Fang, Sister Yuehe, I'm going back to collecting recyclables."

"Hey." Guan Yuehe called out to him, warning, "Keep your mouth shut, don't tell anyone."

Wu Jiawang glanced at her clenched fist, shrank his neck, and raised a finger to assure her that he would never tell anyone.

As the sound of the scrap collector's loudspeaker faded into the depths of the alley, Aunt Fang discussed with Guan Yuehe, "We can't tell your father about this."

If they find out how amazing it is, they might try to find bargains like others. They don't have much cultural knowledge; do they really think they have supernatural eyes to distinguish antiques?

It's all about giving money away to others.

Guan Yuehe nodded, "Okay!"

But Guan Yuehe didn't hide it from Lin Sitian.

Upon hearing that the desk in the bedroom was worth thousands of yuan, Lin Sitian's eyes widened. She went into the room to knock on and touch it, and even squatted under the desk to look at it.

Lin Sitian looked at it for a long time, and finally had the same expression as Guan Yuehe: "I can't see anything special about it."

If she had to name something special, Guan Yuehe could only think of one thing: "It's much heavier than an ordinary table."

Especially when compared to Lin Yiku's desk, her desk seemed even heavier.

"You're just lucky," Lin Sitian said, covering her mouth and laughing for a while before continuing, "Grandpa Xu went to collect antiques like others and brought back two vases for Ding Laowu to help him resell. He got those two vases for thirty yuan, but Ding Laowu said they were worth at most three yuan. Grandma Xu stood at Ding's door for days cursing, insisting that Ding Laowu was deliberately trying to lower the price."

Aunt Xu was quite resourceful; she rallied people from other courtyards to go to Police Officer Song and accuse Ding Laowu of swindling money. This resulted in a whole group of people ending up at the police station.

"The vase that Grandpa Xu bought is probably fake; he got ripped off outside. But Old Ding really did deliberately drive down the price to take away the good stuff from the other neighbors."

Lin Sitian snorted, "He lives outside now, just so he won't get beaten up by the neighbors when he comes back."

As always, Aunt Ding showed favoritism, walking a distance every day to Ding Laowu's house outside to cook for him and clean the house, while ignoring all the affairs at home.

"Oh, and Ding Xianguang too. Ding Laowu put him in charge of collecting scrap metal, so he's out there every day."

The other neighbors in courtyard number three were happy to see this happen; with those two troublemakers gone, the neighbors could finally have some peace and quiet. Nobody wanted to see the Ding family's chaotic antics every day.

It was a rare treat for Guan Yuehe to be back, and once Lin Sitian started talking, she couldn't stop.

The news was just starting on TV when Lin Sitian mentioned the stall selling roasted melon seeds in the alley.

"They got a color TV. I went to see it, and it's definitely much, much better looking than our black and white TV."

The two instances of "a lot" are enough to express the difference between color TVs and black-and-white TVs.

“But it’s also very expensive.” Lin Sitian pointed to the table in the bedroom. “That table is almost worth the price of a color TV.”

Guan Yuehe said enviously, "So expensive! I can't afford it."

"Many of the educated youth who returned to the city from the hutongs went to sell roasted melon seeds, and the number of people who went to the factories to protest about job assignments was reduced by half."

"So profitable?"

"Of course! Otherwise, why wouldn't everyone go and cause trouble? As soon as they get back to the alley, they start pretending, saying they're just trying to earn a living. Who would believe that?"

Lin Sitian also cited the example in the news of a small workshop that grew into a large factory by selling melon seeds, saying, "The family that started selling color TVs early may not have earned a million, but they certainly made tens of thousands."

Especially now that the wind has shifted, people outside are turning a blind eye to individuals doing small businesses, and some are even planning to set up stalls, while others are thinking of going to other provinces to buy goods to sell.

"Transportation teams are the most popular right now."

Some people hire drivers from transport teams to help transport goods, bringing back rare items from other places so they can resell them.

Guan Yuehe could only sigh, "There will always be people who are exceptionally good at making money."

"Who's making the money?" Lin Yiku pushed open the door and came in, then asked why the curtains and tablecloth had been taken down and washed. Only the curtains in their bedroom remained untouched.

"I have nothing better to do."

Lin Yiku gave her a serious look; it seemed she was in a bad mood and was looking for something to do.

Lin Sitian answered his first question by saying that she now makes money by setting up a street stall.

Lin Yiku has been getting close to Song Gong'an recently and knows a lot about the situation, so he said, "It depends on what's on the stall. There are at least a dozen people selling roasted melon seeds in front of the movie theater at the car factory. The more people do it, the less money they make. Some people even try to lower the price to sell more. Just last Sunday, there was a group fight in front of the movie theater, and the security department arrested more than a dozen people."

"so much?!"

Lin Yiku also mentioned Liu, the matchmaker who sells steamed buns at the entrance of the alley every morning. "Last month, Sister-in-law Xu was also selling steamed buns at the entrance of the alley. The two got into a fight and were taken to the police station by Officer Song."

Lin Sitian looked bewildered. "Isn't Aunt Chen the one selling steamed buns at the alley entrance?"

"...That means there's another steamed bun vendor at the entrance of the alley."

Only Guan Yuehe was shocked. She hadn't been home for a whole semester, and Ginkgo Alley had changed so much!

The next morning, Guan Yuehe was woken up by a loudspeaker blaring, "Selling steamed buns, hot steamed buns!"

Lin Yiku finished washing up and went into the room to change clothes, and sure enough, she saw her rolling around on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Courtyard No. 1 is closest to the entrance of the alley. Their house is in the east wing of Courtyard No. 1, and the ginkgo tree is right outside the wall. It is even closer to the entrance of the alley than the other houses in the courtyard.

These people are really something else! Selling breakfast is one thing, but to make a big fuss about it so early in the morning is quite another!

"I want to see how delicious their steamed buns are!" Guan Yuehe sat up. "Lin Yiku, hand me a piece of clothing."

Lin Yiku, drawing on her own experience, advised her: "You'd better buy the buns made by Aunt Chen. The buns made by Matchmaker Liu have stale fillings, and the buns made by Sister-in-law Xu have thick skins and thin fillings."

Guan Yuehe went out with him and saw four people selling steamed buns not far from the ginkgo tree. Guan Yuehe went straight to Aunt Chen's table, hesitated for a moment, and then only bought two steamed buns to share with Lin Yiku.

Aunt Chen's enthusiasm instantly halved, and she stared at Guan Yuehe's actions of taking out money with disdain.

This couple, one a deputy regimental commander and the other a future state cadre, their combined salary must be at least a little over a hundred, if not two hundred! Yet they stingily only ordered two steamed buns!

Guan Yuehe quickly ate a steamed bun, savored the taste for a moment, and then decisively sat on the back of Lin Yiku's bicycle.

"Let's go to the state-run restaurant to buy some."

The steamed buns at the entrance of the alley were cheap, but they didn't taste good, so she felt like she had wasted her money.

When Guan Yuehe returned with a paper bag of hot steamed buns, a large crowd had gathered around the four steamed bun stalls at the entrance of the alley, all of them workers rushing to their early shifts.

But it's also clear that the fewest people go to Liu the Matchmaker to buy steamed buns, even though Liu the Matchmaker's steamed buns are the cheapest.

When she went to deliver the steamed buns to Courtyard No. 3, Guan Aiguo kept waving his hands and frowning. "Last time I bought two steamed buns at the entrance of the alley, I spent the whole morning running to the toilet. I almost got a complaint from a customer that I ran away halfway through getting my hair permed."

How pitiful.

"I bought them at a state-run restaurant. If you're not eating them, then give a couple more to Dad and Mom..."

"Hey, hey, I'll eat! Second sister, why didn't you say so earlier? The steamed buns at the state-run restaurant are different."

Not long after Guan Canghai and Guan Aiguo left for work, Lin Yufeng returned to Courtyard No. 3 with her three children.

Seeing Guan Yuehe at home, Lin Yufeng felt a little awkward. After exchanging pleasantries for a while, she didn't say why she had suddenly returned. If she said she brought three children back to see their grandmother, probably not many people would believe her.

Guan Yuehe noticed that she was there, and her sister-in-law, feeling embarrassed to speak, tactfully got up and went home.

She wasn't curious about what her sister-in-law had said. But when she went to the Zhuoyue Garment Factory yesterday, Gu Mannian specifically spoke to her and gave her a few words of advice, reminding her that if her sister-in-law asked for her help, she shouldn't pay any attention, as her eldest sister had already made arrangements.

As for what was arranged, Gu Mannian didn't say much.

The calendar was torn to July, and Lin Yiku also got leave to go back to his hometown, Fengshou Brigade, with Guan Yuehe.

"Second Sister, wait a minute." Guan Aiguo chased after her, hanging a bulging cloth bag on the hood of Lin Yiku's car. "This is for Juanjuan. Second Sister, remember to tell her it's from me!"

Tsk! Could she possibly take credit for his work?

They left early, taking the bus for the first half of the journey and cycling for the second half. Guan Yuehe didn't drag Lin Yi into a "cycling race," but instead pedaled slowly, as if they were going on a picnic.

The road back to my hometown is better than it was a few years ago; the road surface is wider, and one section is even a gravel road.

Coincidentally, they ran into a fellow villager who was returning to the brigade from the commune. Someone recognized Guan Yuehe, and two bags of things appeared on the back of their bicycles. They helped carry them back to the brigade.

"Auntie! Auntie!"

As soon as Guan Yuehe entered the brigade, she suddenly saw a familiar chubby girl jumping around and waving at her next to a sand pile by the roadside.

Guan Yuehe let out a long, disgusted sigh.

Gu Yu was covered in sand, and the pretty little clothes her sister had made for her were so dirty that they were unrecognizable. Luckily, her sister didn't have time to pick her up, otherwise she would definitely have lost her temper and given Gu Yu a beating.

How disgusting!

Guan Yuehe immediately rode over, not giving the dirty children a chance to pounce on her. Lin Yiku could only stop her bike and wait for Gu Yu to rush over with a group of children also covered in sand.

Surrounded by children, the uncle came over with a stern face and criticized them: "Who started playing in the sand? An adult should take them home and spank their hands!"

This sand was meant for road construction, and it was piled up here because this area was spacious. Since no one was assigned to oversee it, these little rascals came and wreaked havoc.

Gu Yu put her hands behind her back. "It wasn't me."

He even helped Juanjuan prove, "She's not the older sister either."

Uncle: "......"

A bunch of kids, none of them would admit it, so the uncle could only scold them all with a stern face, send them home one by one, and tell their parents, "Tell your kids not to play in the sand at the village entrance!"

Finally, they brought their two children home. When their aunt saw them, she was both annoyed and amused. "They went out to cause trouble in the blink of an eye. They deserve a spanking!"

After disciplining them, I still had to rush to boil water for them to bathe.

It wasn't until Lin Yiku called out that her aunt noticed the person outside the door. She exclaimed in surprise, "You too! You're already home and you don't even come inside! Where's Yuehe? Why hasn't Yuehe come back?"

"I'm here." Guan Yuehe delivered the things from the back seat to the villager's house, where she chatted with him for a while before returning.

As soon as she returned, Lin Yiku hurriedly went to deliver things to her fellow villagers.

"Auntie!"

"Don't come any closer!" Guan Yuehe was truly afraid of her and took a detour. "Go take a shower first. You're too dirty... Gu Yu, stand there, Auntie will take a picture of you, and I'll let your mom deal with you when we get back."

Guan Yuehe didn't forget to bring her camera back and took a picture of the two dirty babies.

Guan Yuehe and her aunt were giving the two a bath in the backyard, but Gu Yu kept trying to dodge, saying, "I don't want Auntie to bathe me!"

Her aunt glanced at her and forbade Guan Yuehe from doing anything more, laughing and scolding her, "Are you washing a child or scrubbing an adult's skin? You've scrubbed it all red."

When Guan Yuehe mentioned Guyu and Juanjuan, her aunt said that she was the same way when she was a child.

“I wasn’t watching you for a second, and you and your second brother ran into the river. Your uncle was so angry that he said he was going to tie you up and beat you up.”

"By the way, where are my second brother and sister-in-law?"

“You went back to your second sister-in-law’s family home. They’ve contracted a piece of land to grow fruit trees. The brigade in your second sister-in-law’s family is setting up a collective orchard and has invited experts to come and provide guidance. Your second brother and sister-in-law went to hear what the experts had to say. The little one went along too, and we went to visit relatives at Grandma’s house.”

With Gu Yu as her new playmate, Juanjuan refused to go with them and stayed at home.

"Are we the only ones in the production brigade who grow apple trees?"

“A few other families also plant trees, but they don’t have much land contracted. Our family is the main one. Your second brother and sister-in-law do most of the tree planting work. They’re so busy every day that they don’t have a moment to rest. Juanjuan has said several times that she wants to go to the city to play, but they can’t get away.”

“However,” Auntie said happily, “life is more promising than before. It’s good to be busy. When there’s a harvest, most of it will be in our own pockets.”

After finishing talking about things in the brigade, her aunt asked her when she would go to work.

"In a few days, Lin Yiku and I will come back and stay for one night, and then we'll take Guyu back with us."

"Your uncle said the Ministry of Foreign Trade is a big organization, and in our family, only you and your sister are successful and well-known." Aunt laughed, "Your dad asked your uncle to burn more paper money for your grandparents, but your uncle criticized him, saying it was just superstition. Your uncle then secretly went to burn incense in the middle of the night."

Guan Yuehe laughed heartily, never expecting that her serious uncle was also a bit superstitious.

Guan Yuehe also brought her aunt the latest good news: "After reporting for duty, I will be receiving the benefits of a full-fledged department head. Please tell your uncle to burn more next time."

"Really?! Oh dear! I'll ask your uncle to kill a chicken later."

The two adults chatted and laughed, which Gu Yu and Juan Juan in the bathtub couldn't understand, but that didn't stop them from laughing and joking along, splashing half the water out of the tub.

Having a rare opportunity to stay an extra day in their hometown, Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku followed their aunt to work in the vegetable garden, where they were given a lot of green vegetables by the village aunties and older women.

"This year looks like it's going to be a bumper harvest!" Guan Yuehe squatted on the edge of the field, holding a bright red tomato in her hand, her body sweating profusely from the sun.

The aunt found it amusing; she had never done farm work, so how could she tell if it was a bumper harvest or not? But seeing that she was happy, she went along with her and said yes.

Guan Weiguo and Li Qiuyue chased back as the sun set. "Yuehe, you didn't even tell me you were coming!"

The sun had set, and the lights in the house weren't bright enough. Guan Yuehe almost didn't recognize her second brother; he was much darker than the last time she saw him.

Guan Weiguo chuckled and scratched his head, "I have a lot of work now, and I'm under the sun every day, so I'm much darker than before."

"Yuehe, Yiku, move the table out into the yard; it's cooler eating outside."

"Let me do it, let me do it." Guan Weiguo rushed to lift the table and called Guan Yuehe to get the bowls and chopsticks.

Several bottles of soda appeared on the table; Guan Yuehe had taken her two children to the brigade's supply and marketing cooperative to buy them.

Laughter and congratulations filled the table. Guan Yuehe was getting a promotion, and she would be able to contract land in her hometown to work on her own, so she wouldn't have to worry about "having enough to eat" anymore.

After dinner, the second brother and sister-in-law shared what they had learned about planting fruit trees with everyone at the brigade headquarters. Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku stood at the back of the crowd, with gusts of evening breeze blowing from behind them.

How pleasant!

—

It's also a real headache.

When Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku returned to the city, they brought just as many things as when they came, with vegetables and fruits being the most abundant items.

There were also two noisy children.

Gu Yu was having so much fun here that she didn't want to go back, and Juan Juan also wanted to go to the city to watch TV. On the way back, one of them cried loudly, while the other laughed heartily.