Chapter 23: The first pot of gold

In the next few days, the educated youth were busy with their assigned work. Li Meng continued to herd sheep and tell stories to the children. "Sister Mengmeng, Grandma Huang's sister is getting married the day after tomorrow. Are you going?" Little Dazhu raised his head and asked Li Meng who was sitting on a tree branch. Li Meng spit out the dogtail grass in her mouth and jumped down. She touched Dazhu's little head and said, "If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten about it. Of course I have to go. I will also dress up your Grandma Huang's sister beautifully! We will go together then."

At this time, Li Meng remembered that she had to give the scarves she promised to the ladies. She would find a chance to go to Aunt Huang's house tonight, take care of the matter, and then pretend to take half a day off to get the package. Otherwise, where would she get the scarves from?

At the end of the night, Li Meng found Captain Huang and said that she wanted to ask for leave to go to the town to pick up a package. Her family had sent her something and she had to go early to pick it up. Captain Huang looked at her and said, "You little girl are lazy again. I have never seen anyone like to ask for leave as much as you do. Okay, go early and come back early. Don't worry, uncle. I will definitely go early and come back early so as not to delay coming back to work in the afternoon." After saying that, Li Meng went back skipping.

After dinner in the evening, Li Meng went back to the room after washing up and asked Wu Ruirui if she wanted to bring anything. She would go to the town to pick up a package tomorrow, and she could bring it to her on the way. That would be great. Please bring me 2 kilograms of egg cake. I have been craving for some egg cake recently. Hehehe, Wu Ruirui said happily: Here, this is the money and the ticket. Take it. If it is not enough, come back and tell me. Li Meng took the money and the ticket and put it directly in her pocket and said, don’t leave me lunch at noon. I will just eat something by myself later.

Well, Wu Ruirui nodded in agreement, and they both fell asleep soon.

At dawn the next day, Li Meng packed up and set off. She got on a bullock cart, driven by Uncle Chen, and swayed all the way to the town. When she got back at the agreed time, Li Meng went to the supply and marketing cooperative. Passing by an empty alley, Li Meng looked around and turned into the alley. She took out the prepared scarf and cosmetics from the space, wrapped them in a piece of floral cloth, and walked out to the supply and marketing cooperative.

There were more and more people at the door of the supply and marketing cooperative. Most of them were there to buy things. After entering the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Meng went straight to the second floor and found Sister Wang.

Sister Wang also saw her at this time, and said, "Little Li, you came early today. If you want to buy anything, I'll get it for you." Sister Wang still remembered Li Meng's generosity last time and greeted her enthusiastically.

Sister Wang, I really need to trouble you today. Please help me. My sister who I get along very well with is getting married and I want to give her something. Can you help me think of something? I don’t know what to give her, so I’m looking for you to give me some advice, Li Meng said with a smile.

That's just a matter of words. I'll take you to have a look. Sister Wang brought Li Meng to the counter for buying bed sheets. Take a look. Why don't you give her a bed sheet or a quilt cover? There are some specially made for weddings, which are very festive. After that, Sister Wang asked the counter attendant to take out a bright red embroidered quilt cover.

Li Meng took it and looked at it again and again, and felt that it was quite good. After thinking for a while, she decided to get me two pillowcases and a bed sheet. In this era, there are no four-piece bedding sets, so it should be good to put them together like this.

Hey, Xiao Li, it seems that you and your sister have a really good relationship. This is a generous gift. OK, I'll pack it for you. Go pay first and come up to get it later. After saying that, Sister Wang took Li Meng downstairs to the first floor to pay.

When they reached the corner, Li Meng pulled Sister Wang and said mysteriously to her that she wanted to talk to her about making money and asked if there was a place to talk. When Sister Wang heard that it was about making money and saw that no one was paying attention, she and Li Meng went into the backyard of the supply and marketing cooperative.

There is no one here, Xiao Li, just tell me what you want to say. What is it about making money? Talk to me about it. Sister Wang rubbed her hands and said

It's like this, sister. My relative got me a few wool scarves. I saw that you didn't have any, so I wanted to give them all to you. Can you help me sell them? I'll give you one and you'll get 2 yuan as commission. You don't need to do anything. You just need to wear the scarf when you go to work every day. If someone asks you about it, just tell them. And here, Li Meng took out a lipstick from her bag. This lipstick was also got for me by my relative. They said it's the most popular cosmetics out there. You can see the red one on my lips. After saying that, she pouted her lips to show Sister Wang.

You know what, girl, it looks pretty good on you. Sister Wang looked at the lipstick in her hand curiously.

You look good in it, sister, this one is for you, and this scarf, Li Meng took out a bright red cashmere scarf and handed it to sister Wang,

These are all given to me. Sister Wang asked in surprise: This is not good, I haven’t started selling them yet, how can I take your things? This is not okay, take them back quickly. Although she said this, she was stroking the red scarf in her hand and was reluctant to give it away.

Sister Wang, please don't be polite. I'm just letting you display it. If you don't wear it or apply it, how can others know that it's a good thing? Take it quickly. I'll put a few more in it if you sell them to me later. Sister Wang was so excited that she nodded and agreed without any hesitation.

Li Meng then took out 10 scarves and 10 lipsticks and handed them to Sister Wang. The colors of the lipsticks and scarves were different. She also told her the prices and asked her to sell them according to her wishes. Then she told her how to apply the lipstick to make it look the best and that it could also be applied on the face as rouge. After explaining the usage and sales techniques, Li Meng planned to go back and she would come again next week. Sister Wang smiled and agreed. She was ready to go to the counter immediately, put on lipstick and tied a scarf and started working hard. It was so high a commission, and she was happy just thinking about it.

After paying, Li Meng went back to the counter on the second floor to get her things and bought an egg cake for Wu Ruirui. Then she waved goodbye to Sister Wang.

I walked to the alley and did the same thing again, taking out a scarf and cosmetics from the space, and also took some fruits and biscuits and put them in my bag, and then I sat on the cow and prepared to go back.

Whose little girl is this? She is so pretty. A sharp-nosed and monkey-faced woman tried to touch Li Meng's face, but Li Meng turned her head away.

What are you doing? Old Chen, who was driving the cart, quickly spoke up to stop her. "I just think my little girl is pretty. What can I do?" the old lady said to the old man in a bad mood. Then she smiled at Li Meng and showed her big yellow teeth. "How old are you? Which village are you from? You haven't arranged to get married yet. I have a son who is handsome, capable, and very upright. Do you want to go with me to take a look?"

Li Meng glanced at her and said coldly: "No, I already have a partner. Thank you for your kindness, Auntie." Then he turned around, took out a scarf and wrapped his head to avoid looking at her.

Wow, this scarf is so beautiful. It looks expensive, right? Young girls nowadays don’t know how to save money. Why buy it? The old lady with a pointed face and monkey cheeks looked Li Meng up and down. She was wearing a dark blue cotton coat, black and white checkered pants, and a pair of black leather shoes. It can be seen that her family conditions were good. If she was not from the village, then she must be an educated youth who had been sent to the countryside. If she married her son, wouldn’t she have the final say in everything?

Hey, little girl, why are you ignoring me when I’m talking to you? That’s rude. This is how your family raised you! Seeing that Li Meng ignored her, the sharp-nosed and monkey-faced lady became even more excited.

Uncle Chen, can we go now? I still have to go to work in the afternoon, Li Meng asked Old Chen, "Okay, sit tight. If we go now, I guess we can get another ride back."

You little girl, the old lady was so angry that she tried to pull Li Meng's scarf, but Li Meng grabbed her wrist and said sternly, what do you want to do? Do I know you? Are your ears not good at your age? You are a psychopath because you keep talking too much.

Let go of me now, you little girl, it hurts me so much, and then she cried out "ouch, ouch", and Li Meng pinched her even harder, "Let go..." I won't say anything, is that enough? The pain became more and more severe, and the old woman finally couldn't stand it anymore.

Li Meng threw her hands forward, and the old lady almost fell off the ox cart. People sitting around wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. Finally, someone could deal with her.