"I just thought that there are only ten days left until the Chinese New Year. There's nothing to do at home, and I was worried that you guys would be too busy, so I came up to see if I could help.
"Second brother, what are you and Qiu Rui whispering about? I heard something about making money and giving more?" Gao Erping asked, scanning the two of them.
"The day before yesterday, we picked 100 kilograms of mushrooms. My second brother took them to the black market and sold them for 20 cents per kilogram. He said he made a lot of money.
As the Chinese New Year draws closer, wealthy families want to stock up on New Year's goods, like vegetables, which are more expensive than usual. "Zhang Qiurui replied with a smile, not suspecting that Gao Erping knew something.
"Is that so? Okay, second brother, can you tell me if there is any work for me to do?" Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of the question, Gao Erping didn't ask any more questions and took the initiative to take on the work.
"Sister-in-law, you came at the right time. The mushrooms haven't been watered yet, so you should water them first.
Mom and Linzi went to the commune to buy some New Year's goods. Mingqi and Qiurui will go out to play with their classmates later. Wenmin has something to talk to me about, so I will be going out soon.
Mingduo and Mingxia are the only ones left at home, so please take care of them and water the mushrooms!" After giving his sister-in-law a few instructions, Zhang Wenfu hurried out.
Gao Erping saw that she couldn't get anything out of them, and after they left, she went to the backyard to water the mushrooms in anger.
After working for most of the day, Gao Erping finally finished watering the mushrooms and cleaning. At this time, no one else in the family had returned yet, so Gao Erping sat on a chair in the main room to rest.
"Sister, eat slowly. It tastes good!" Mingduo's voice came from the room on the right.
"Of course the things my aunt bought are delicious! I've finished my White Rabbit candy. Do you have any left? Give me one."
"I have two left. Let's take one each."
Gao Erping, who was resting in the main room, heard the voices of Mingduo and Mingxia talking in the room. She didn't know what she was thinking about. Gao Erping stood up suddenly, walked quickly to the door on the right, and gently pushed the door open. She saw Mingduo and Mingxia sitting at a table, eating with relish and laughing happily from time to time.
"Aunt, do you want to eat it?" After seeing Gao Erping, Mingxia raised the unfinished egg cake in her hand with some reluctance.
"If your aunt doesn't want to eat, you can eat it by yourselves. Does your aunt often bring you snacks?" Gao Erping said with a smile.
"Yes! My aunt is very nice to us." The young Mingxia answered innocently, her eyes turning into crescent shapes as she smiled.
Mingduo, although a few years older than Mingxia, nodded in agreement with her sister, her eyes revealing her liking for her aunt.
"Oh! By the way, Mingxia, your mother asked me to take the money to buy something. Do you know where your parents put the money?" Gao Erping asked casually, while observing the reactions of the two children out of the corner of her eye.
"My father counted the money last night and put it under the pillow, but forgot to hide it. How much money do you want, aunt?" Mingxia quickly lifted the pillow they slept on.
There were two five-yuan notes, four one-yuan notes, two fifty-cent notes, and a few other notes scattered under the pillow. The total amount of the scattered notes was about ten or twenty yuan.
They don't manage the household, and the money in the family is controlled by their mother-in-law. Even if they have dowry, subsidies from their parents' home, etc., they simply cannot save so much money.
My second brother's wife has always been in poor health. At the end of the year, she had to go to the clinic for treatment, and the money she spent was paid by my mother-in-law, not to mention being able to save a dozen or twenty yuan.
After seeing this scene, Gao Erping became even more certain that her uncle and sister-in-law had conspired to sell mushrooms and secretly embezzled part of the money.
..........
"Old man, you're here." Not long after, Zhou Guihua and Xie Lin came back from the commune with a lot of things in their hands.
Melon seeds, peanuts, and fruit candies are basic items, and there are also cloth, cotton, wine, sugar, etc.
"Mom, you have to take charge of us. If I hadn't come to the county today, I wouldn't have known that my second brother had done such good things." When Gao Erping saw Zhou Guihua and her second brother's wife both came back, she started to complain directly.
"What did the second son do?" Zhou Guihua saw that her eldest daughter-in-law was full of resentment. Thinking back on these days, the second son didn't seem to have done anything either.
The eldest and his wife and the second and his wife do not live together, so there will be no conflicts between them.
“I discovered that the second brother’s family had secretly saved a dozen or twenty yuan.
Mom, my second brother and sister-in-law can’t save so much money with their dowry and subsidies from her parents’ home. My second brother and sister-in-law is in poor health, and you pay for their medical treatment. How could they save so much money?
It must be that the second brother helped sell the mushrooms and secretly took some of it.
"Mom, what the second son did is unfair to us and the third son." Gao Erping found an excuse and reason to get angry, and she didn't care.
However, she was also careful not to drag her sister-in-law into this.
Because the mushrooms were cultivated and sold for money all by the sister-in-law. If the sister-in-law is dragged into this, the mother-in-law might favor the second son and the sister-in-law.
"Second sister-in-law, did you go into our room and rummage through things?" Xie Lin asked with an ugly look on his face when he heard it.
"Mom, it was our aunt who lied to us, saying that you asked her to come back and get the money to give to you. Mingxia then turned over the money that she put under the pillow yesterday." Mingduo, who was older, said quickly.
"Sister-in-law, how could you lie to a child?
And you two girls, do you believe everything others say? Be careful that you are sold and then help others count the money.
You think everyone else is like your parents, open-hearted to you? Remember this next time." Xie Lin was tricked by her sister-in-law, and she started to criticize her two daughters indirectly.
Mingxia was a little scared when Xie Lin scolded her, and quickly hid behind Mingduo.
"Why are you so loud? You scared the kid.
Mingduo, take Mingxia to the room first. Grandma and auntie will talk about something.
"Second brother's family, so what the eldest brother said is true?" Zhou Guihua asked in a low voice after seeing the two little granddaughters enter the house.
“No, absolutely not.
Mom, you know how many pounds of mushrooms we pick each time and how much they can be sold for.
Even if we secretly embezzle some of the money, can we save so much in such a short time? " Xie Lin hesitated for a moment, but still did not tell her that his sister-in-law had money and asked Wen Fu to go get it and give him five yuan.
The sister-in-law had said before that they wanted to keep it a secret, and they had also received money from her, so they should keep it a secret.
Even if I had to say it, it would come from my sister-in-law.
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