Gao Shufang and Lou Xinyu haven't been together for very long, so she naturally wouldn't tell him about the bad things happening at home.

But now Lou Xinyu discovered it himself, which made Gao Shufang feel a little embarrassed.

Just as he was hesitating about what to say, Lou Xinyu said sympathetically, "It's common for parents to be partial to one another. I was just asking."

Gao Shufang glanced at him, thought for a moment, and briefly told him about her family situation.

As you say, their family is so bad, but that’s not the case. It’s just that their parents like my older brother more.

But the eldest son is different. Many people in their village like the eldest son. Some people like the youngest son at most. The middle child is like weeds, as long as he can survive.

Gao Shufang emphasized again and again: "Even though this is the case, my four brothers all went to junior high school. In this regard, our family still treats us equally."

Gao Yuanjian used to work in the village committee. He was skilled in steaming wine and cooking. He could support his family and was willing to pay for his sons' education. If any of the four brothers had the potential to study, he would continue to support them.

Unfortunately, how good can the teaching quality be in a village? In addition, the four brothers of the Gao family were not academic masters, so they only studied until junior high school.

After hearing a lot of gossip, Lou Xinyu felt that the people from his future father-in-law's family looked at him differently.

After hearing Gao Shufang mention her studies, Lou Xinyu asked curiously, "Your four brothers all went to junior high school, so why didn't you go? Did your family not allow you to go?"

Gao Shufang's face suddenly turned red, and she lowered her head slightly, feeling a little embarrassed.

When she lived in the village before, she didn't know the importance of academic qualifications. Now she knows it, but it's too late.

Seeing that Lou Xinyu was about to suspect that her parents didn't want her to go to school, she stammered, "It's not that they don't want me to go to school... None of the girls in our village go to junior high school. Many boys from poor families don't go to junior high school either."

"The nearest primary school to our village is Xing'anling Primary School, but students there can only study up to the third grade. If you want to study in the fourth or fifth grade, you have to go to another place, which is very far away. It takes an hour to walk there every day! If you want to go to junior high school, you have to go even further away. It's best to live near the school and only go home during holidays."

"After I finished primary school, other girls of the same age in the village stopped going to school. My parents asked me if I wanted to go to junior high school, but I said I didn't want to. Later, my father said it was better not to go, because it would be inconvenient for a girl like me to live in school. My mother also said that other girls didn't go to school and were helping with housework. She had to do a lot of things every day, and with my help, she could relax a little."

Talking about the past, Gao Shufang sighed.

At that time, she was still young and playful. Since her cousins ​​didn't want to go to school, she didn't want to go either. And because she was a girl, her family didn't try to persuade her, so she just decided it.

However, Gao Shufang still believed that it was her own problem. She thought that if she had been determined to study and insisted on going to junior high school, her family would have agreed.

Thinking this way, Gao Shufang felt more comfortable.

Lou Xinyu saw Gao Shufang's regret for not continuing her studies, so he shook her hand and said with a smile, "It doesn't matter if you didn't go to junior high school. You know as much as those junior high school students now. Seeing how much you know, I will also read more books when I have nothing to do."

Good relationships drive people forward.

After realizing that her academic qualifications were her shortcoming, Gao Shufang has maintained a good habit of reading. When no one is in the store, she always picks up a book to read.

On their street, some business owners would set up a card table at the door when there was no business in their store, and call their friends to play cards to pass the time.

But Gao Shufang never participated in such activities. At most, she would chat with others about the latest news in the county when she was bored.

After getting along with Gao Shufang, Lou Xinyu found that Gao Shufang had a wide range of knowledge and did not look like an uneducated person at all.

In addition, because of work reasons, he went to Xinhua Bookstore to buy some books to read. Later, after he started dating Gao Shufang, he also took books from the clothing store to read.

The two walked and chatted. When they saw the police station's family quarters in front of them, Lou Xinyu stopped and Gao Shufang also stopped and looked towards the family quarters in front.

At this time, most people stay at home. The lights are on in every house, and all kinds of sounds are coming from different rooms.

There were sounds of laughter, parents scolding their children, and even the sound of television.

Gao Shufang was stunned for a moment, then said, "You go back and rest, I'll go back too."

She was just about to let go of Lou Xinyu's hand and turn around to leave, but she saw Lou Xinyu also turned around, still holding her hand, with no sign of letting go.

"Let's go. I'll take you back." Lou Xinyu said naturally. Before leaving, he had promised his second brother that he would take Gao Shufang back.

Gao Shufang was silent for a few seconds, feeling that Lou Xinyu was being overdosed, yet her heart was pounding.

It was nine o'clock in the evening when Lou Xinyu sent Gao Shufang back to the clothing store. At this time, Gao Mingcheng had already returned to his new home with his wife and children. Zhang Jinling was mopping the floor in the store. When she saw Gao Shufang coming back, she hurriedly asked Gao Shufang to step on the mop and wipe the soles of her shoes clean before going in, so as to avoid dirtying the floor that had just been mopped.

Gao Shufang followed instructions and stepped on the mop a few times.

Zhang Jinling looked at Lou Xinyu's back as he left and laughed at them for being so clingy.

Although it was a joking tone, Zhang Jinling felt a little envious in her heart.

She and Gao Mingli got married through a blind date. They didn't spend much time together before marriage, and at the beginning of their marriage, they lived in different places and could only see each other once a week.

It was not until she was taken to live in the county by her second brother that her relationship with Gao Mingli gradually eased. Now, although it cannot be said to be very good, at least there are no problems.

The married life is dull, just like that of all our parents' generation.

But people are always greedy. When Zhang Jinling saw that her second brother treated her second sister-in-law well, she felt envious. Now that she sees that Gao Shufang and Lou Xinyu also have a good relationship, she will naturally feel envious as well.

Gao Shufang blushed at the teasing and said immediately, "Brother will be off next Thursday, ask Fourth Brother to take you out to play, so you won't laugh at us!"

Speaking of which, after Zhang Jinling came to the county, she had never gone out for fun alone with Gao Mingli.

Zhang Jinling subconsciously wanted to refuse, but before she could say the words of refusal, she said: “Where can I find time to go and play!”

Gao Shufang smiled. It seemed that her sister-in-law was interested, so she said, "When she's free, Sister Luo Li has already finished her confinement. Ask her to come here to work, and I'll ask Xinyu to come over to help, and that will be about it."

Zhang Jinling became more and more excited, but still did not agree immediately because she was not sure whether Gao Mingli would be willing to take her out to play.

So she said vaguely that she would talk about it later.

It was getting late and the floor of the clothing store had been mopped, so the two of them closed the rolling shutter, tied the trip rope, and prepared to go upstairs to sleep.

Last year, there was a group of thieves in the county who specialized in stealing things from stores. At that time, Gao Mingcheng made a trip rope. Although the store had not been visited by thieves, the trip rope was still in use.

As soon as the door was closed and the lights were turned off, the first floor fell into darkness, but the lights on the second floor came on, breaking the darkness a little.

The next day, Gao Shufang saw Luo Li coming over with her child to visit and chat.

She was joking with her fourth sister-in-law yesterday and mentioned Luo Li in the conversation, but after chatting with Luo Li, she found out that next weekend is the 20th, which is the big day for Luo Li's family to hold a wedding banquet.

As a result, Luo Li naturally couldn't go to the store to help with work, and her second brother and his wife had to go to Luo Li's house for a drink.

When Luo Li heard Gao Shufang talking about that, she smiled and said, "What's the big deal? There's no need to rush for one or two days. After the wedding, I'll go back to the store to work. Then Mingli and Jinling can go out to play again. That's fine."

Gao Shufang nodded and said seriously, "That's true."

Zhang Jinling next to her was speechless and retorted: "You said that, I didn't say we must go out and play!"

A few women laughed and took advantage of the fact that there were no customers in the store to chat about the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

After Luo Li and Huang Dazhi got married, they didn't get along much with their in-laws, so Gao Shufang and the others were quite curious about how Luo Li was getting along with her in-laws now.

Luo Li smiled and said, "My parents-in-law and my brother-in-law are all very nice people. Xiaoguai is also a sensible and well-behaved child. The stitches on her mouth have been removed, and she looks better now than before."

The surgery was well worth it. Although Xiaoguai still has a scar on his mouth, at least he looks like a normal person now. If he has another surgery before starting elementary school, the features of cleft lip and palate will be even less obvious.

Luo Li talked about some things about how her family got along with each other, and overall they got along well.

The newly built house has three floors. There is a kitchen, living room, bathroom and two bedrooms on the first floor. The bedrooms are for her parents-in-law and brother-in-law respectively, while she and Huang Dazhi live on the second floor with their children.

As for the third floor, it has not been renovated yet. I plan to renovate it when I have money and need to live there in the future.

Although everyone lives under the same roof, the relationship between people living upstairs and downstairs makes getting along more harmonious.

After hearing some gossip, Zhang Jinling's expression revealed a bit of envy and anticipation.

She didn't get along well with her parents-in-law, but now that her family has started building a house, her parents-in-law and grandmother will live on the first floor, and she and Mingli will be able to live on the second floor. This way, when she returns to the village for a short stay in the future, she will be more comfortable.

When women get together, all they do is gossip. The only ones who can stop them from gossiping are the customers!

When customers come to the store, the staff tacitly stop talking and serve the customers with a professional spirit, helping them choose clothes that suit their tastes, praising them for looking good in them, and persuading them to buy other clothes and pants together, thus increasing sales.

By the time the customers left the store, dizzy and dazed, carrying large and small bags of things, the store had earned more than 200 yuan.

Gao Mingcheng has seen the professionalism of the employees.

He has been quite relaxed these days, and as the saying goes, when you are too still, you will want to move. He decided to come up with some new gadgets.

Gao Mingcheng first asked someone where he could buy white-feathered chickens, and then bought a few white-feathered chickens.

White-feathered chickens are broiler chickens with white feathers that eat only feed. If the breeding environment is good, they can be slaughtered in about 40 days.

In 1986, my country introduced white-feather chickens from the United States, and will later embark on the path of independent breeding.

The breeding cycle of local chickens in China is very long, and most people seldom eat chickens. They are raised for laying eggs, so there is a huge gap in the domestic broiler market.

The introduction of white-feather chickens will be able to fill this blank market.

In terms of taste, white-feather chickens are definitely not as good as native chickens, but because they are marketed in a short time and have low costs, their prices are also relatively low. The market price of a white-feather chicken is around five yuan, and if you buy in large quantities, it can be even cheaper.

Many beauties saw him buy two white-feathered chickens and frowned, saying, "Why did you buy this kind of chicken? This kind of chicken can't be stewed in soup, it can only be fried."

Gao Mingcheng slaughtered the chicken himself and said, "Didn't I tell you last time? There's a fast food restaurant in the capital that sells very popular fried chicken, so I'm going to make some fried chicken for you to try."

When many beauties heard that it was fast food from the capital, their eyes lit up instantly and they asked hurriedly, "Can you really make it?"

It's no wonder she was suspicious. The main reason was that although Gao Mingcheng could cook, he was the kind of person who would never do anything unless he had to.

Now when they saw him buying chickens, killing them, and saying he wanted to make fried chicken for them, many Americans felt a little skeptical in their hearts.

Gao Mingcheng said: "That must be true! But this is my first time making it, so I'm not sure if I can do it well. If I can do it well, I can even set up a stall to sell fried chicken!"

As he spoke, Gao Mingcheng had already cleaned the chicken. He picked up the knife and first cut off the chicken's neck and feet, and then began to cut the chicken.

After cutting the chicken wings, chicken wing roots, chicken legs, chicken breasts, and chicken skeletons, you can put them in bowls separately and marinate them with seasonings.

The purpose of marinating is to make the meat flavorful, but if you want to make KFC-style fried chicken, you also have to prepare fried chicken batter.

In later generations, this kind of fried chicken breading could be bought directly from the supermarket, which was very convenient, but now Gao Mingcheng has to make it himself.

He didn't particularly understand it, but after all, he had experienced the Internet information explosion in later generations. There was a time when many Americans also learned how to cook some dishes from the Internet, including fried chicken legs.

The coating for fried chicken is mainly made of starch and flour in a 1:1 ratio. Add a little baking powder and eggs and you have it.

As for the specific proportions, you have to try and grasp them slowly.

Gao Mingcheng was quite confident about this. At most, it would just be a waste of some food!

He bought two chickens at once and cooked them in two flavors based on his feeling, one spicy and one non-spicy. The non-spicy one was naturally prepared for the children.

Gao Mingcheng spent the entire day on these two chickens. After they were marinated, he began to coat the chicken with fried chicken batter and prepared to fry them in the pan.

There is a little secret to frying chicken, which is to fry it again so that it will be crispy and delicious.

Seeing Gao Mingcheng washing the pot and pouring oil, the eyelids of many Mei people surrounding him immediately twitched.

"Second brother, why did you pour so much oil?" Gao Shufang shouted in surprise. Many Mei nodded in agreement and looked at Gao Mingcheng with condemning eyes.

Prodigal Son! (End of this Chapter)