Chapter 30 (Exclusive on Jinjiang Literature City): This person is insane, absolutely insane! ...
Su Ruyi and Wang Huiting got up before dawn to prepare to go to the provincial capital to sell things.
Tong Dahua got up even earlier than them. After the two finished washing up, she cooked all the dumplings she had made yesterday.
Before leaving, he also gave the two of them some flatbread and boiled eggs for them to eat at noon.
Su Ruyi and Wang Huiting did not refuse her kindness and accepted it.
The two needed to walk to the plastics factory and then take a bus to the provincial capital.
Su Ruyi had already found out that the earliest bus was around 7:30, so they should try to get there around 7:00, otherwise they would have to wait for two hours if they missed it, as there were very few buses each day.
The two men, carrying the boxes that Zhang Dagui and Zhang Shitou had made overnight, along with most of the goods, set off before dawn.
"Sis, I only dare to go out this early because I'm with you. If I were walking alone on the street, I'd be scared to death."
Wang Huiting followed closely behind Su Ruyi, hunching her shoulders and looking around.
After leaving the village, the road was desolate, and a long stretch of it was a dirt road.
The road is very narrow; two cars could block it completely. The grass around the road is also very tall. If someone were to pop out of the grass and drag someone in, it would be impossible to get help.
"Just a few years ago, a girl was dragged into the wilderness, raped, and murdered! Her body was dumped in a ditch and wasn't discovered until it started to decompose. It's said that the murderer hasn't been caught yet."
Wang Huiting trembled with fear whenever she thought about it.
Su Ruyi was also startled when she heard this, "Really? The murderer hasn't been caught yet?"
"Anyway, when I heard my dad say it, they hadn't been caught yet. During that time, my dad would pick up my sister from evening self-study and pick her up from school."
Although the incident happened here, her mother was still frightened.
Moreover, there are quite a few hooligans loitering around in their county at night, and part of the road from junior high school to home is also wild and dark.
"Whether we catch them or not, let's be careful," Su Ruyi said cautiously.
She's been a bit arrogant lately, but she doesn't have much combat experience, so it would be troublesome if she were ambushed.
The two were lucky; after waiting for a while at the plastic factory, the bus arrived.
Last night, the two discussed it and finally decided to set up a stall near the department store.
That's the city center, the most bustling part of the provincial capital.
Their goods don't take up much space; they can set up a stall anywhere and quickly leave if they encounter urban management officers.
When the two arrived at the department store, it was almost noon, and there were already a lot of people there, with many vendors setting up stalls along the roadside.
Some vendors pushed tricycles, while others simply laid a thin film on the ground and placed their goods on it.
The two found a spot, opened the wooden box, and displayed the goods they had brought.
Wang Huiting spent a lot of time decorating last night; it's not only easy to see but also looks very exquisite.
Yesterday, she specially bought some silk fabric to decorate the inside of the wooden box, which would better complement the ornaments.
The two had only been standing there for a short while when a passing girl stopped.
It must be said that Wang Huiting has a knack for selecting products, which has attracted quite a few people.
However, girls from the provincial capital are obviously more worldly than girls from small towns, so they are more picky. Most people will stand in front of the stall for a long time before picking out their favorite, while some people will look at things for a long time but not buy anything.
Wang Huiting wasn't annoyed at all, and continued to smile and chat.
Yesterday, someone spent ages haggling with her over the price and kept belittling her things, but the old lady ended up not buying anything. Wang Huiting was able to keep her temper in check.
Su Ruyi was also busy, helping some girls who were clearly struggling with their outfits.
Today, both she and Wang Huiting had their hair braided, which was noticeably different from what they usually wear.
Most girls in the provincial capital are fashionable and willing to try new things. Some people are very interested in her braided hairstyle. What was originally an ordinary hair accessory becomes very eye-catching because of the matching.
Su Ruyi is especially skilled at using headbands; her headbands are brightly colored and simple in design, making it very easy to create a striking effect.
Sometimes Su Ruyi would choose one or two people to demonstrate. She had a skill in choosing people. She wouldn't choose those who were already dressed up, but rather those who had changed a lot after a makeover. This would create a stark contrast and make them more attractive.
Hairstyle greatly influences a person's overall temperament and can sometimes even change their appearance.
Su Ruyi wanted to create the best effect in the shortest amount of time, so the contrast between the selection of people before and after was even stronger.
Sure enough, both the person who bought it and the onlookers were very impulsive after seeing the before-and-after results, and they felt that they could also replicate it.
This action attracted many girls to stop and watch, and they sold quite a few items as a result.
Because Su Ruyi doesn't just wear a single outfit, but almost always the whole set, many people buy it as well.
Wang Huiting also likes to dress up and has a lot of talent in this area. She just didn't expect to be able to do it this way before. Yesterday in the small town, everyone found it novel and didn't really need Wang Huiting to attract customers with this.
Their business was always good, and there were always people at their stall.
Because the location they chose didn't conflict with the nearby stalls and the area they occupied was very small, their business was booming. Some people were envious, but no one deliberately came to cause trouble.
But during his spare time, the man selling socks next door said with a hint of sourness:
"Women's money is so easy to earn; such a small thing is sold for such a high price."
Su Ruyi and Wang Huiting pretended not to hear.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, the two took out pancakes and eggs and started eating.
Wang Huiting: "So selling things in the provincial capital isn't such a big deal after all."
It wasn't much different from living in a small town, which had worried her a lot before.
Su Ruyi looked around; the nearby vendors were watching them closely.
The stalls here have clearly become a fixed pattern; if the space they wanted weren't small enough, there simply wouldn't be room for them.
It was obvious that these people did not welcome them.
Today is Sunday, and there are a lot of people around. People are stopping in front of each stall one after another, so they just look and don't say anything.
"Let's be careful, and run if things look bad."
Su Ruyi said cautiously that although she was not afraid of fighting, it would be difficult to do business if something happened.
Fortunately, they were not bothered by anyone.
As expected of the city center, the two had sold almost all their goods before the agreed time to leave. They even packaged up the last few items and sold them at a discount.
Not to mention Wang Huiting, even Su Ruyi had never sold out so completely; there were always some leftover stock.
Wang Huiting was extremely excited, "Sister, as expected of the provincial capital! Business is much better here than in town!"
Although most people in the provincial capital are picky, there are also many generous people who buy several items at once.
So even though she seemed less busy than when she was in town, she sold her goods much faster.
Su Ruyi glanced at her watch. This watch was a reward her mother had given her when she performed meritorious service. She had given it to her after Su Ruyi entered high school.
"It's probably too late to get the goods now. Let's go get them again tomorrow. We can also see how Qiaoqiao and Xiaotao are doing. If they're doing well, we can have more capital."
Wang Huiting said excitedly, "Sis, I'll treat you to KFC!"
The place where the two sold their goods was very close to KFC, and at its busiest, the line would stretch all the way to them.
Some people, bored in line, even took the time to get their hair done and bought a lot of things from them.
Wang Huiting had seen this fast food on TV and longed to try it.
Su Ruyi's lips twitched; she really couldn't avoid KFC.
"Let's forget about it for now. With that money, we'd better buy more meat to eat. If you really want to try it, we'll buy a chicken, and I'll teach you how to cook it."
Su Ruyi is about to be in debt, and she is not as generous with her money as before.
Wang Huiting also came to her senses. She didn't have much money on her and still needed to buy more goods.
She previously thought she had stocked up on a lot of goods and could sell them for a long time.
Only after actually doing business did she realize how easy it could be to sell. The little stock she brought was simply not enough to meet demand. No wonder people looked down on her small business when she went to buy goods before.
The two returned to the village before sunset, and as they were passing through the village, they were stopped by an older woman.
The woman had triangular eyes and high cheekbones; she looked like someone you didn't want to mess with.
"You must be Tong Dahua's niece?" The aunt looked Su Ruyi up and down, her expression ambiguous.
Wang Huiting immediately switched to battle mode, "We are, what do you want to do?"
The older woman completely ignored her, her gaze fixed on Su Ruyi, then she smiled:
“I’m your Aunt Zhao. I usually get along well with your aunt. Why don’t you come and sit at my house? My house is just up ahead. I have two daughters, who are about your age.”
Wang Huiting was stunned, completely unexpected that things would turn out this way.
"No need, we need to go home quickly." Su Ruyi pulled Wang Huiting and tried to leave.
Aunt Zhao quickly jumped into the middle of the road to block them, saying, "What's the rush? I haven't finished talking to you yet."
"Come on, let's go that way, I have something to say to you."
Aunt Zhao looked around to make sure no one was nearby.
This sight made Su Ruyi frown, and her gaze darkened as she thought of the rumors circulating outside.
He gave Wang Huiting a wink and followed Aunt Zhao a few steps to the side.
Aunt Zhao waved in one direction: "Hurry up and come out. What are you hiding for? I went to great lengths to invite you here."
A patch of dusty gray clothing peeked out from behind the big tree, which immediately put Su Ruyi on her guard.
But the person was clearly unwilling to come out, so the auntie stepped forward and pulled him abruptly before she could see who it was.
A girl about the same age as Wang Huiting was thin with a slightly dark face. She kept her head down, so her expression was not visible.
“I know you are all capable people with connections outside, so please help out my third sister.”
Su Ruyi then realized that Aunt Zhao had such a plan.
"We're a small business, we can't bring any more people with us."
Su Ruyi readily agreed to bring Jiang Xiaotao yesterday because the Jiang family and her aunt's family have a good relationship and often help each other out.
Especially during the busy farming season, although everyone helps each other, their family has more labor, so the aunt's family benefits the most.
Aunt Zhao is nobody, and no matter how generous Su Ruyi is, she won't just bring people in casually, lest she cause herself a lot of trouble.
"Oh, you're being too polite. Having more people means attracting more business. My third sister is very capable and hardworking; she's not picky about anything she does."
Su Ruyi didn't want to waste time, so she pulled Wang Huiting and prepared to leave.
Auntie: "Oh dear, can we take a little loss and pay less? My daughter may be a bit dark-skinned, but she has a big butt, and with some training, her breasts will grow big too. She'll definitely be fine."
Su Ruyi sensed something was off and immediately stopped listening.
"What do you mean?"
Seeing her interest, Aunt Zhao blinked and smiled:
“I know what you do. Bring my third sister along too. My fourth sister is actually quite nice, prettier than the third. She just looks a bit young now, but she'll grow into a young lady in a few days. Look at that bottom, she looks like she can give birth to a son. Men will definitely like that.”
"It would be best if we could find them a big boss who would give them a car in return. Then my son wouldn't have to worry about not finding a wife. If we really can't find one, it shouldn't be hard to earn a thousand or two a month in the south, right? I heard from the neighbor that you can earn at least a thousand yuan working for someone in the south."
Su Ruyi and Wang Huiting were so shocked that they didn't know how to react. They stood there dumbfounded, forgetting to refute.
"What nonsense are you spouting!" Wang Huiting snapped out of her daze, furious. "Do you think we're human traffickers?! Are you even her mother? How could you be such a mother?!"
Wang Huiting was almost incoherent; this was too much of a shock for a high school student like her.
How can a mother be like this?!
Yao Sanmei, standing beside her, kept her head down and trembled, her hands constantly clutching her faded, patched-up clothes.
The fabric of the clothes is very thin; it's almost worn through.
These days, not many people wear patched clothes anymore. Although Xinghua Village is a rural area, the standard of living is quite good, so even fewer people wear them. Even if some do, they are mostly mischievous boys.
Moreover, the clothes worn by the woman in front of me weren't tattered at all; they were neat and tidy, without any patches.
Aunt Zhao curled her lip: "Still pretending with me? I didn't say anything to you. I'm not like those ignorant people. A girl's youth only lasts a few years. Why can't she make good use of it to her advantage? What's wrong with you helping her out? She's working for the big boss now. Why are you still so stingy?"
Su Ruyi was so angry she laughed; she had never been so speechless before.
Su Ruyi had previously guessed that the rumors would have an impact on her, such as some hooligans hearing the rumors and actually believing that they were prostitutes, and wanting to come and "patronize" them.
She had already planned how to teach such a scoundrel a lesson.
To encounter this situation so unexpectedly, Su Ruyi felt as if a thousand horses were galloping through her mind. What the hell was going on?!
Is this even human?!
"You're the stepmother, aren't you?" Su Ruyi couldn't help but ask.
“Mom, this girl is the one I carried for ten months and raised with great care. It’s time for me to give back. I didn’t make her work forever. She can earn money outside for a few years and then come back to get married. Who cares what happened before?”
Aunt Zhao felt that Su Ruyi was unwilling to help people get rich, which was why she was making excuses.
“If you take my daughter with you, you can earn money too, it’s not like you’re working for free. How about this, you can have all the money you earn in the first month?”
Wang Huiting was going crazy and quickly pulled Su Ruyi away.
"Sis, we have to go! This man is insane, absolutely insane!"
"How can you be so selfish? What's wrong with taking care of my daughter?"
Back at their aunt's house, the two were still reeling from the shock.
Seeing their disheveled appearance, Tong Dahua asked worriedly, "What happened? Were you bullied outside?!"
Su Ruyi waved her hand: "Aunt, no, it's just that I met a madman."
Wang Huiting: "Auntie, do you know an aunt surnamed Liu? She has a daughter named Yao Sanmei."
"You just ran into her?" Tong Dahua immediately became nervous. "Don't take anything she says to heart. She's a loose tongue."
Su Ruyi: "Aunt, do they treat their daughter particularly badly?"
"You saw her hitting the child again?" Tong Dahua frowned. "I've never seen anyone like that family. No matter what, she's still their own flesh and blood. How can they treat their daughter like she's not human?"
Wang Huiting: "Auntie, what happened?"
"They had four girls before they finally had a boy. The girls were like grass in their family, trampled on at will, while the boy was like an emperor, not having to do anything. That's not all, the whole family is lazy and good-for-nothing. They make sure the daughters do everything. Oh, you didn't see it, the four sisters started working at such a young age. They were so little, they were boiling water and carrying buckets to the river to fetch water. They were barely taller than the buckets."
Tong Dahua had a lot to say about this family. Ever since Liu Meizi gave birth to her son, she has especially liked to come to their house to show off, as if she was taking out all the anger she felt about not having a son before on them.
"That's not all. The eldest and second daughters are only fifteen years old, and they've already been married off for dowry money. It's called marriage, but it's really selling them. They either choose an idiot or someone older than their father."
Although Tong Dahua regrets not having a healthy son, she truly loves her two daughters and finds it hard to imagine how such heartless parents could exist.
If it weren't for the fact that all the children were born at home, I would have thought they had been switched.
Su Ruyi finally understood. No wonder this man sold his daughter so easily; as long as the price was right, he didn't care what his daughter did.
Wang Huiting angrily brought up what had just happened to Tong Dahua, who slammed her hand on the table in anger.
"No way, I have to go to their house and demand an explanation. Aren't they afraid of retribution for making up such nonsense!"
As Tong Dahua spoke, she stood up. What angered her more than Liu Meizi wanting to sell her daughter was that Liu Meizi had already made a scene yesterday and was clarifying things in the village today, yet she still slandered people.
These people said they knew, but no one actually believed her!
Su Ruyi pulled Tong Dahua back: "Aunt, we can't explain this to each other."
Once such a rumor spreads, it is very difficult to prove, and there will always be people who view her with prejudice.
Why is it that people don't spread rumors about others, but instead target you?
"Then I can't let those people slander you!" Tong Dahua said angrily.
"I didn't say I didn't care, it's just that our explanations won't work."
Tong Dahua's eyes turned red with anger: "How could these people be so vicious? We didn't do anything to them."
"Mom, Mom." Zhang Shitou entered the yard and saw Tong Dahua looking like she was about to cry, so he rushed over.
"Who's there? Hit me!" Zhang Shitou clenched his fist.
Tong Dahua was interrupted by him and didn't dare to bring it up again. "Mom is fine. Shitou, go chop some firewood. We'll make something delicious today."
Upon hearing that there was something delicious to eat, Zhang Shitou immediately forgot everything else and hurried off to chop firewood.
Tong Dahua didn't know how to face Su Ruyi. She asked around today, but no one knew who had spread the gossip.
Anyway, everyone started saying that overnight.
Su Ruyi pulled Tong Dahua back, and she managed to swallow her anger and not cause trouble for Liu Meizi, but she clearly wasn't going to let the matter rest.
Liu Meizi was also very frustrated. She originally thought it was a sure thing, but she didn't expect the other party to not even respond.
"It's all because you're so stupid, girl. You don't even know how to be sweet-talking. You're so dark-skinned and have no sense of propriety. How are you going to make money!"
Liu Meizi kept poking Yao Sanmei's head with her finger, furious.
She felt that it was because Yao Sanmei was not qualified that Su Ruyi was unwilling.
Yao Sanmei kept her head down, letting her mother hit and pinch her, like a wooden doll.
"I really don't know what sins I committed. I looked pretty when I was a child, how did I end up like this?"
Liu Meizi felt extremely sorry for Su Ruyi. She was now convinced that Su Ruyi's dissatisfaction was all Yao Sanmei's fault.
If Su Ruyi is willing to take Yao Sanmei with her, she can definitely make a lot of money.
If they happen to meet someone driving a car, their family will become rich along with them.
"No way, we can't miss such a great opportunity. Even if I can't help you find a rich man, we can do something else."
Liu Meizi was different from the others; she believed that Su Ruyi was not a prostitute, but rather someone who was being kept by a sugar daddy.
If someone is a prostitute, no one would drive her to the village; she must be someone's mistress.
Su Ruyi has fair and clean-cut looks, which is what some big bosses like.
She stopped Su Ruyi directly because she was worried that if Tong Dahua found out, she would worry that her daughter would steal her daughter's opportunity.
"Mom, please don't make me go, I'll work hard," Yao Sanmei pleaded.
Liu Meizi looked at him with exasperation: "Are you stupid? No matter how capable you are, how much money can you earn? If you work for that guy, you can earn the same amount of money you work hard for a month just by sleeping with him! If you were more ambitious, got pregnant, and gave birth to a big, healthy boy, maybe you could even rise to a higher position."
Yao Sanmei was in despair. She had guessed her fate from looking at her eldest and second eldest sisters.
But she never expected that her mother would be even more terrifying this time, treating her daughter like a human being for the sake of money.
Other mothers would be furious if they knew their daughters were doing dirty work, but this mother shamelessly wanted to send her daughter to do that kind of thing.
That evening, the sisters and Jiang Xiaotao started counting and calculating money again.
The Zhang sisters and Jiang Xiaotao also sold out their goods. The first batch of goods they received sold out in just two days, with only a few spoiled items remaining.
Having learned from yesterday's experience, I was calmer today and no longer felt like I wanted to run two miles as much as I did yesterday.
"It's a pity there's no stock tomorrow. I've only just started to make a profit," Jiang Xiaotao said regretfully.
At first, she was overwhelmed and needed Zhang Qiaoqiao's help, but later she was able to sell the goods independently.
There are still many places in town where I could sell my goods, but unfortunately, they're all gone.
"I'll go to get the stock tomorrow. This time I'll pick out some nicer styles. Last time I didn't have enough money, so I didn't get many styles."
Jiang Xiaotao: "But all the ones you picked were so beautiful, not one of them was hard to sell."
Wang Huiting was pleased with herself, but said aloud, "It's alright, I guess."
Just as they were about to calculate the money, they heard a commotion outside. Several girls were curiously peering out the window to listen to what was happening.
The sound grew louder as it approached, and the group quickly recognized it.
"Someone jumped into the river! Someone jumped into the river!"
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