Chapter 105 104: Awakening

After Yang Chunyan and the others left, Zhou Huaian cut the Polygonum multiflorum vines and dried them in a winnowing basket. Seeing that no one brought eels, he said hello to Zhou's mother and went back to the house to lie down.

Xu Erchun was standing at the gate of the courtyard holding a basket of peaches. Seeing Zhou's mother on the steps, he hesitated for a moment and asked, "Auntie Zhou, is Huai'an here?"

"Yes!" Zhou's mother's attitude towards him was better than before. "Come in and sit down. I'll go and call for you."

Xu Erchun walked into the yard flattered and handed over the bamboo basket, "The white peaches at home are ripe, I picked some, you can try them!"

Zhou's mother took it happily and said, "Thank you very much! Your white peaches are famous in the team for being delicious."

"Grafted ones taste good too. Now is the time for grafting. If you like, I'll cut a few branches for you to graft."

"Yes! Ask the youngest to come to your house and cut them someday." Mother Zhou put down the vegetable basket and walked to the door of Zhou Huaian's room. "Youngest, Erchun is here to see you."

Zhou Huaian immediately got up after hearing this, put on his shoes and came out, "You didn't go to catch the eel?"

"Tell me to come over this afternoon!" Xu Erchun asked in a low voice, "Have you told your wife about buying a gun?"

"I said, I'll give you the money, and you go get it for me."

Xu Erchun looked at his legs and said, "Did you walk? Old Xiazi said that if you want, he'll call you over and teach you. I think he loves that gun more than his son."

"You can walk, but you can't use any force."

"What are you afraid of? If you can't walk, I'll carry you on my back!" Xu Erchun said this and glanced at Zhou's mother who was washing clothes by the well. "Have you asked about your sister-in-law for me?"

"Not yet. I'll find a chance to ask for you."

"Don't worry, brother, I'm still waiting!"

Zhou Huaian glanced at him and said, "I think you'd better not get your hopes up!"

"It won't hurt to ask. What if your sister-in-law is willing to take a look?"

"I'll help you talk to him!" Zhou Huaian stood up. "Wait for me. I'll go get some money and go to Lao Xiazi's house with you."

"Um!"

After a while, Zhou Huaian came out with the money and said to his mother, "Mom, Erchun and I are going out to get some things and will be back soon."

Zhou's mother remembered that Yang Chunyan said she wanted to buy a gun, "Ask Erchun to help you, don't tear the wound on your leg."

"I understand." Zhou Huaian leaned on a wooden stick and left the house with Xu Erchun. "Cai Qing came to my house today to sell eels. He said that the agency store behind the brigade's drying yard was jointly opened by my second sister and widow Ye. Did you know about it?"

"Opened in partnership?" Xu Erchun was stunned for a moment. "Son, where did he get the money to open a sales agency? He borrowed 50 yuan from me last year and hasn't paid it back yet. I sent him the money from selling eels, but he never mentioned it."

"Oh!" Zhou Huaian looked at him sideways, "Tell me the truth, how much private money have you saved?"

Xu Erchun said with some pride: "More than three hundred, almost four hundred!"

After hearing this, Zhou Huaian said dejectedly: "Second sister has money and opened a consignment store with others. You also have a few hundred private money. Old man Yi Ding is a worker and has no worries about having no money to spend. Among us, I am probably the only one who is really a pauper!"

"You are different from me. Your brother and sister-in-law are not picky people, and your mother and husband don't ask you for money. My family, my brother and his family have long been separated, and my husband can't do heavy work. The family depends on me and my mother."

Xu Erchun sighed and said, "If I don't work hard to save some money, my mother might not be able to give me a penny when I ask for money for my wife's engagement."

Zhou Huaian thought so too, and after thinking about it, he asked curiously: "At least half of the year, we are together. Tell me, how did you save so much money?"

"I catch eels, fish and sell them, find wild bees, pick mushrooms and sell them! Sometimes I also go to my sister's coal mine to carry coal. I can do anything! Didn't you go with me to sell honey? You also got a share of the money. You saved a lot of money?"

Zhou Huaian felt mixed emotions after hearing this, "I didn't save a single cent. It seems that I am the only one among us who is like a caterpillar, only knowing how to find fun and delicious food."

At this point, he suddenly remembered what Yang Chunyan said, not everyone is as innocent as you, only thinking about how to have fun! One of us has to be sensible...

Thinking of this, he wanted to slap himself a few times...

"Youngest, to be honest, you are the most generous among us, and Cai Ermei is the stingiest. Every time we go to town to watch a movie, he would wait for us to buy tickets when we were almost at the ticket office, but you were always the one who paid the fastest.

When Xu Erchun said this, he realized that his face looked like a dyeing factory, changing from red to white. "Youngest, what's wrong with you?"

"Alas~" Zhou Huaian sighed, "I just realized today that I am the only one among us who is a serious second-rate person and a lazy guy!"

Xu Erchun smiled and said, "It's not that serious! You've been doing well recently, and you even found a way to sell eels in the city. Brother, I'm counting on you to help me in the future."

"Brother, don't comfort me. I know my own limitations."

Zhou Huaian no longer had the complacency he had in the morning. It turned out that everyone was carefully planning for the future, but he was the only one who still thought that he was helping his wife.

Seeing his frustrated look, Xu Erchun didn't know what to say, so he supported him and walked forward.

The two of them hadn't walked far when they saw Cai Ermei coming over with a bucket on her shoulder. She gave him a sideways glance and said, "Youngest, Cai Ermei is here."

Cai Ermei walked closer and looked at Zhou Huaian's legs, "Youngest, why are your legs so lame?"

Zhou Huaian didn't answer, "Where are you going?"

"I'm looking for you." Cai Ermei put down the wooden barrel, "When you go to Ning'an, please help me take the eels in the barrel to sell."

Zhou Huaian looked at the eels in the buckets. The eels in the two buckets together weighed at least 50 to 60 kilograms. He frowned and was about to speak.

Xu Erchun spoke up, "Second sister, I just brought your eels to the youngest to help you sell them. When did you go and take pictures of so many eels?"

Cai Ermei said with a smile: "Give me the money at noon. Some of my brothers heard about Ning An's price and asked me to ask the youngest brother to help sell it!"

"Second sister!" Zhou Huaian looked at him unhappily. "If it's the eels from our group, I'll sell them to you without hesitation! If anyone else wants to sell them, my family charges 0.28 yuan per pound. Cai Qing also came to sell them yesterday."

Xu Erchun took over the conversation and said bluntly: "That's right, among us brothers, the youngest one didn't make a penny from us. Why do you care about those outsiders? Besides, it takes more than six hours for the youngest to go to Ning'an and back. You can't let him work like a workhorse for others!"

Cai Ermei ignored Xu Erchun's words and looked at Zhou Huaian with a sullen face: "Youngest brother, the brothers came to you for help today, and you really don't give them any face at all?"

He had already made a promise to several of his poker friends that as long as he showed up, he would help them sell the cards at a good price! He could also make some money.

Zhou Laoya, since you don't give him any face at all, don't blame him for being disloyal.

(End of this chapter)