"What other ways are there to make money?" Chen Jinhua knew that Xiao Wu must have a reason for wanting 10,000 yuan. "How about I borrow some from Sister Xiao Lan?"
Chen Xihua waved her hand and said, "Never mind, let's not worry about it for now. Third sister, it's your turn to cook today, it's almost eleven o'clock!"
"Oh no, it's already eleven o'clock! Mom will be back for dinner at eleven-thirty, and then she has to go and relieve Dad! We're running late, big sister, please help me!" Although Chen Meihua was anxious, she still pitifully pulled Chen Chunhua to the kitchen!
"Xiao Wu, you know, every time we're on vacation at home with nothing to do, Mom won't let us help out at the pastry shop. Actually, we could help sell the pastries!" Chen Jinhua suddenly had a brilliant idea!
"Second sister, you're overthinking it. The money in the pastry shop is one of Mother's lifelines, and so is Xiaobao. She would never let us sell pastries!" Chen Xiuhua pointed out the truth in one sentence!
"Who? What lifeline!" Chen Baohua had finally finished writing two pages of large characters when he walked in and heard his fourth sister say something about his mother's lifeline!
"Little Six, not bad! Your handwriting has improved a lot these past few days. I'll buy you a fountain pen next semester!" Chen Xihua interrupted Chen Baohua.
"Thank you, Fifth Sister!" Chen Baohua stood up straight and saluted, but her face was full of fawning smiles! "And the basketball, Sister, you must always remember that!"
"Okay, remember, when you salute, do it properly, don't slack off!" Seeing his salute, Chen Xihua immediately recalled the essay Chen Xiaoliu wrote in third grade that she had accidentally read, titled "I Want to Be a Soldier When I Grow Up." Last year, he said he wanted to be a policeman to catch bad guys; who knows what he'll want next year!
Catching bad guys... Suddenly, Chen Xihua seemed to think of something. It flashed through her mind, but what was it? She thought for a long time but couldn't remember.
"Xiao Wu, what are you daydreaming about? You're already bored after only two days of vacation?" Chen Jinhua saw his fifth sister standing still, as if she was thinking about something or just spacing out!
"Second sister, what did you say next?" Chen Xihua suddenly seemed to have thought of something, but couldn't quite grasp it.
"You're already bored on your first day of vacation!"
"No, that's not what was said!" Chen Xihua exclaimed anxiously!
"You're already bored after only two days of vacation? What's wrong? Is something the problem?" Chen Jinhua wanted to touch Xiao Wu's forehead to see if he had a fever or if he'd gone crazy!
"Two days off, two days off! I remember now, second sister, I'll take you to play games tonight!" Chen Xihua finally remembered. What had just flashed through her mind was the story from the original book, when Chen Chunhua was seventeen years old, and the school had just given two days off at the end of the year, which happened at the gate of the Second Middle School.
In the original book, because the restaurant was very busy that day, Chen Chunhua was washing dishes and cleaning up a bit late, around nine o'clock. When she was walking home from the West Street restaurant to her residential area, she was surrounded by two thugs, and then she was rescued by the eldest brother of the Zhou family.
It's very quiet around here because the school has been closed for two days!
At that time, there was no conflict between the two sides. After scaring the people away, the eldest brother of the Zhou family took Chen Chunhua and left, without paying any more attention to the two thugs.
One of the two thugs, known as Brother Huang, was a local from Gaoyang County, but he had joined the Green Gang, a relatively large gang in Jiang City.
Within the Green Gang, Brother Huang was a low-ranking member, but upon returning to the county, he gathered a group of unemployed youths and petty thugs, engaging in all sorts of bad deeds such as fighting, extortion, intimidation, and deception.
Later, Chen Baohua also followed their bad example and was lured into the gambling trap. Then, her second sister had a conflict with them and accidentally killed someone.
As for Brother Huang, it is mentioned later in the book that the Green Gang was involved in the illegal trade of drugs. Later, the Green Gang leader was arrested and the gang was disbanded. The participants were also arrested, including Brother Huang, who stayed in Gaoyang County to continue this business.
I was near the No. 2 Middle School when I ran into Chen Chunhua, an older woman who was walking home alone!
Chen Xihua went through it in her mind. She had two days off, which meant tonight. Her older sister wouldn't be passing by there tonight, but those two bastards would probably be there. She needed to check tonight and do a good deed while she was at it!
She pulled Chen Jinhua aside and whispered, "Second sister, do we have any burlap sacks? Let's find two, and tonight we'll take you to play a fighting game!"
Upon hearing about the fight, Chen Jinhua immediately became agitated, shouting, "Fight...uh..."
"Keep your voice down!" Chen Xihua quickly covered her second sister's mouth!
Chen Xiuhua and Chen Baohua looked at them with strange eyes. What game were they playing? Why were they so excited and keeping it a secret?
In the afternoon, Chen Xihua practiced calligraphy for two hours and then began to think about what to do that evening, making preparations for all possible situations!
After dinner, around 6 p.m., Chen Jinhua and Chen Xihua went out, saying they were going to a classmate's house to play.
Li Yumei looked at them like they were idiots. In this freezing weather, they were still going out to visit each other!
Chen Xihua pretended not to see it and left the door one after the other with Chen Jinhua.
It wasn't that they wanted to leave so early, but rather that they didn't want to wait until 8 PM. It wouldn't be appropriate to say they were going to a classmate's house at 8 or 9 PM, since nobody stays up all night in winter!
For the first two hours, Chen Xihua and Chen Jinhua had planned to stroll around the textile factory and the residential area, but even in the south, it was very cold in winter, so they sneaked back to the corner of the stairwell on the first floor, where there were two burlap sacks!
"That's about enough, Second Sister, let's go!" Chen Xihua looked around at the houses and the brightness of the lights inside, took out a flashlight, picked up the sack, and walked towards the Second Middle School. There were still a few shops open on both sides of the road, so there was no need to use a flashlight!
A dozen minutes later, they arrived near the Second Middle School. Chen Xihua was very familiar with the area, and when she came to pick up her third sister, she wandered around.
When Chen Xihua and the other person arrived at the school gate, they turned into the small path on the left and hid behind a plant fence that was more than 100 meters long.
After waiting for about twenty minutes, a young man in his early twenties sneaked up to the school gate and walked from the left side of the road outside the school wall into the alley. He stopped about 100 meters away, right in front of where Chen Xihua and the other man were hiding!
About five minutes later, another man with dyed yellow hair walked in. His face was obscured. The two met but didn't say a word. The blond man handed the first man a small package, and then the two started smoking cigarettes.
As they finished their cigarettes and were about to leave, a tall, well-built man with a steady gait walked by on the main road. He looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old. Chen Xihua thought, "This must be the eldest brother of the Zhou family!"
At this moment, the two young men who were about to leave immediately stopped and waited until the people outside had gone far away before peeking out to take a look before leaving!
At that moment, Chen Xihua and Chen Jinhua exchanged glances, and the two rushed up from behind, putting sacks over the heads of the two men respectively, and then violently beating their heads, followed by their bodies and legs.
"Who, ah, it hurts, bastard..." Two men's painful voices rang out. Chen Xihua immediately chopped them down, striking each man on the back of the neck and knocking them unconscious! Then he kicked the two men a few more times.
Chen Jinhua had been instructed by her fifth sister beforehand not to use too much force, as her extraordinary strength was quite well-known in the county, so she only hit her a few times!
Chen Jinhua asked with his eyes: And then?
Chen Xihua gestured with two fingers: Let's go! Let's leave first!
After walking a long way, Chen Xihua changed direction and took Chen Jinhua to the police station in the northern part of the county.
As they approached the police station, she took out a piece of paper from her pocket, on which she had written "Second Middle School, bad guys" in advance with her left hand. She picked up a stone, wrapped it in the paper, and threw it forcefully. The stone hit the iron gate outside the police station with a clang. A policeman on duty came out to check, and Chen Xihua had already pulled Chen Jinhua and run two hundred meters away.
After running for a while and walking for more than ten minutes, Chen Xihua and Chen Jinhua finally got home after 9:30!
At this moment, Chen Chunhua was waiting for them at the door. Chen Lao Er and his wife had already returned to their room. Although the light was still on, they were probably getting ready to sleep. After hearing the door open, the light in Chen Lao Er's room was turned off a moment later.
As I tiptoed through the dining room, Chen Baohua was already fast asleep on the sofa bed.
After a quick wash, Chen Xihua and Chen Jinhua went back to their room. It had been quite cold outside for several hours, but thankfully, they were both physically fit and warmed up quickly once they got into bed!
Over the next few days, nothing unusual happened in the county, and the Chen family began preparing for the New Year, mainly preparing candies, biscuits, melon seeds, peanuts, and other snacks.
Everything else on the family's table, including meat, vegetables, rice, and noodles, was bought by Chen Lao Er. Over the years, he had been going to the market more often to buy ingredients for making pastries, so he was familiar with the prices there.
Two days later, the county police were frequently dispatched to investigate and conduct interviews, and many unemployed youths were taken in for questioning. What happened after that, Chen Xihua had no idea!
Until the Lunar New Year, on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Chen Xihua and Chen Jinhua went to the bus station early in the morning to take a bus back to Shanghe Village.
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