A short while later, Zhou Meimei discovered that Zhou Bingqiang and his wife were gone.

"Mom, look at my eldest brother and sister-in-law, they're always shirking their responsibilities, leaving us two in the hospital. And my second brother and sister-in-law, they must have gone home a long time ago, right?" Zhou Meimei complained to Ding Ermei.

"It's good that they left. It would have been inconvenient for my daughter and me to have a heart-to-heart talk here," Ding Ermei said nonchalantly.

"Mom, give me five yuan. I took three days off for you this time, and I also had to pay for the round-trip transportation. You should at least reimburse me for that." Zhou Meimei spread out her palms towards Ding Ermei.

"I don't have any money in my pocket right now, I'll give it to you when I get home," Ding Ermei agreed.

"Mom, why are you being so generous this time? In the past, when I asked you for money, I would have to go through several rounds of back and forth before you would give it to me." Zhou Meimei looked suspicious.

“Meimei, Mom just got through that brush with death. I’ve finally figured it out: money is something you can’t take with you when you die. All these years, I’ve been desperately trying to squeeze money out of Bingchen so I could leave it for Bingqiang and Bingxing to spend. And what happened? I got swindled out of my money this time, and instead of comforting me, they keep blaming me,” Ding Ermei sighed.

"Mom, you spoil my eldest and second eldest brothers too much. Both of them combined aren't as good as my third brother..."

Before Zhou Meimei could finish speaking, Ding Ermei covered her mouth.

"Have you forgotten what your father said? You dare to blurt out anything!" Ding Ermei scolded sternly.

"Ugh~! Ugh~!" Zhou Meimei shook her head violently.

Good heavens, didn't her mother just have her stomach pumped not long ago? How come she still has such strong hands?

I almost smothered her to death.

So what if my third brother brought her here? It's not like she was kidnapped. Why can't we even mention her?

"Meimei, remember, you must keep this to yourself for the rest of your life. You can't tell anyone, or our whole family will die." Ding Ermei moved her hand away and, seeing Zhou Meimei's unconvinced expression, hurriedly warned her.

"Mom, I know. I won't say it again." Zhou Meimei pouted and reluctantly agreed.

When Zhao Zhenzhu returned home, He Bo was already waiting for her at the Zhao family home.

"Sister Pearl." He Bo stood up quickly and called out awkwardly when he saw Zhao Zhenzhu.

"Pearl! Xiao Bo from Granny Hua's family needs to talk to you. You two chat, I'm going to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some ribbonfish. Yunyun is digging for earthworms in the backyard with Qingshan, keep an eye on her." Wu Meiyun said, carrying a basket, and then went out.

In the past few days, Zhao Qingshan has been catching fish one after another, and he is very interested in them.

Every morning, Zhao Qingshan would go to the backyard to dig up a dozen or twenty earthworms to use as fish bait.

Zhou Yunyun likes to join in the fun.

Whenever they see Zhao Qingshan digging for earthworms, they'll grab a small shovel and dig here and there, mainly just participating.

Right now, Zhao Qingshan's hearty laughter and Zhou Yunyun's cheers are coming from the backyard!

After Wu Meiyun left, He Bo hurriedly took out a wad of cash from his pocket and handed it to Zhao Zhenzhu, saying, "Sister Zhenzhu, this is the money for the watch. It's 1,950 yuan in total. Please count it."

"Sold out?" Zhao Zhenzhu asked with a smile.

"Yes, it's sold out." He Bo's face was full of excitement.

After deducting the share given to his friends, He Bo made a net profit of two hundred yuan from these ten watches.

Earning two hundred yuan in two days was something He Bo never dared to dream of before.

Zhao Zhenzhu accepted the money without any hesitation and started counting it.

Money should definitely be counted in person.

Zhao Zhenzhu would never say things like "I believe you" or "No need to count."

Zhao Zhenzhu counted the items twice, and only put them away after confirming the numbers matched.

"Sister Pearl, do you still have any stock? There are still about twenty people who want to buy. I've already collected two thousand yuan in deposits," He Bo asked.

"Aren't they afraid you'll run away?" Zhao Zhenzhu asked in astonishment.

Two thousand yuan is a huge sum of money these days.

“My friend Liangzi acted as guarantor. These dozen or so people are all Liangzi’s relatives and friends. Liangzi trusts me, which is why they gave me the money first,” He Bo explained.

He Bo took the earliest bus to the county town yesterday to visit his friend Yu Mingliang.

Thanks to Yu Mingliang's matchmaking, the ten watches were sold to customers who arrived one after another in less than two hours.

Those who came later failed to buy any and refused to leave Yu Mingliang's house.

Yu Mingliang was extremely anxious. Of the ten watches, he had only notified ten people.

Unable to resist, those people called their relatives and friends to buy more, some buying two at a time, as if the money were free.

Seeing that He Bo wanted to leave, Yu Mingliang quickly grabbed him.

Yu Mingliang asked He Bo to think of a way to get another batch of watches to sell.

He Bo didn't know if Zhao Zhenzhu still had any goods, so he didn't dare to agree.

Yu Mingliang gritted his teeth and suggested that everyone could pay first and then take the goods.

The dozen or so people were a little less close to Yu Mingliang, and since they hadn't seen the goods, they didn't dare to pay first. Otherwise, He Bo would have brought back even more money this time.

When He Bo handed the two thousand yuan to Zhao Zhenzhu, Zhao Zhenzhu smiled and asked, "I haven't given you the goods yet! Aren't you afraid I'll take the money and then deny it?"

"Sister Pearl, please don't belittle me. I took ten watches from you the other day without paying a single penny. How could you possibly have swallowed my two thousand yuan?" He Bo said with a grin.

Zhao Zhenzhu felt comforted.

He Bo really knows how to talk; it was worth the trust she placed in him.

Zhao Zhenzhu went back into the house and brought out thirty watches.

He Bo's eyes lit up.

"These are all the watches left. Once these are sold out, we probably won't have any more in stock for a while," Zhao Zhenzhu said.

Although Zhao Zhenzhu still had watches in her storage space, she didn't want to sell them in Qingshan County.

Qingshan County is too small.

If a small place ships too much at once, it's easy for others to target it.

Zhao Zhenzhu only wanted to make money secretly and didn't want to be watched.

"Huh? Haven't we been able to get watches lately?" He Bo asked, somewhat worried.

If Zhao Zhenzhu has no goods, He Bo doesn't know what to do next.

“I’m out of watches for the time being. But I have other business opportunities. I wonder if you’d be interested?” Zhao Zhenzhu said with a smile.

“Sister Pearl, you say so, I’m willing to do anything.” He Bo nodded vigorously.

Zhao Zhenzhu took a hair tie out of her pocket and placed it on the table.

The hair tie was a simple scrunchie, made of polyester fabric with a floral print. Zhao Zhenzhu had inspired her to make it after seeing the hair clip on Zhou Yunyun's head.

In Zhao Zhenzhu's previous life, this kind of hair tie only became popular in the mid-1980s.

Upon its release, it led the trend of the times.

Whether in the city or the countryside, young women and married women alike wear all sorts of hair ties in their hair.

"What is this?" He Bo didn't understand.

"This is called a hair tie, it's for tying up hair." After Zhao Zhenzhu finished speaking, she realized what He Bo meant when she saw his blank expression.

At that time, the women were still very simple, with hairstyles ranging from short bobs to two braids. The hair ties they used were yellow rubber rings that could be bought at the supply and marketing cooperative, costing two for one cent.

Only a very small number of girls who love beauty would buy two red ribbons to tie their hair.