Chef Tang from the county town restaurant hired a truck to drive to the foot of the mountain.
Song Yinhua hired more than a dozen villagers to help pick fruit. Some people would take the opportunity to steal some, and the Song family and Luo Tianba's brothers came uninvited to supervise them.
It's as if this orchard belongs to them.
Many villagers came to see what was going on.
As Song Caixing walked through the orchard, she saw baskets of large, beautiful fruits being weighed and loaded onto trucks. She wondered to herself how much money these would sell for!
Song Yinhua and Chef Tang were responsible for weighing the items and keeping the accounts, respectively.
They were busy from morning till night, and only left after the truck was fully loaded.
The next morning, the truck came again to deliver fruit.
Song Yinhua saw a shoe that had fallen off in the orchard.
Last night, the black wolfhounds guarding the orchard kept barking, and occasionally we could hear people screaming.
This shoe must have been dropped by the villager who stole the fruit.
Song Yinhua didn't say anything more and continued to weigh and record the picked fruit with the head chef of the restaurant in the county town.
Song Caixing couldn't help but ask, "Chef Tang, can the restaurant possibly have that much fruit?"
"Our restaurant has many branches in the provincial capital, and many customers have expressed their desire to buy more fruit after trying it. Among them are large domestic fruit merchants, one of whom is even involved in export sales," Chef Tang said with a smile.
Listening to Chef Tang's words, Song Caixing felt even more envious and envious.
She and her older sister planted these fruit trees together, but now that they've borne fruit and sold for money, she has no share in it.
Song Caixing felt very resentful, so she went to the convenience store and made a phone call.
Guo Rui accompanied her back to her parents' home, but did not appear in front of the Song family. Instead, he spent his days gambling at a card-playing den in Hanjiacun and returned to the hotel at night.
The owner of the small shop in Hanjiacun received a phone call and called out Guo Rui's name several times.
On the phone, Song Caixing complained to her husband that she had also contributed to planting the fruit seedlings, but now her older sister was pocketing all the money from selling the fruit.
"Wife, your older sister should rightfully give you half of the money."
“But I can’t bring myself to say it,” Song Caixing said hesitantly. “Honey, why don’t you come and talk to my older sister?”
"It's not appropriate for me to step in. Your older sister might think I'm trying to embezzle her money. You're the one who has to handle this!" Guo Rui coaxed her over the phone. "Honey, don't be afraid. You and your older sister planted those fruit trees together back then. It's only right that you get half the money. It's what you deserve. Your older sister has no reason not to give you a share!"
Around four or five in the afternoon, most of the fruit in the orchard had been picked, and Song Yinhua distributed the remaining fruit to the villagers.
The truck was completely full, and Chef Tang was doing the accounting on a calculator.
Song Caixing called Song Yinhua aside and said, "Big sister, these fruit trees were planted by you and me back then. Now that we've sold them, you should give me half of the money."
“Caixing, according to you, I raised you when you were little, so you have to give me half of all the money you earn in the future? And when I get old, you have to take care of me?” Song Yinhua retorted.
“I’m not your daughter, so it’s not my place to be filial to you,” Song Caixing blurted out. “Mom asked you to take care of me when I was little, so it’s not my fault.”
Song Yinhua stared at Song Caixing expressionlessly for a few seconds, which made Song Caixing lower her head guiltily and stop mentioning the matter of dividing the money.
That evening, Guo Rui left the gambling den in Hanjiacun and incited Song Caixing to go to her parents to seek justice for her.
"Your older sister is using the past to pressure you. She raised you just to get something in return!" Guo Rui said angrily. "Your older sister is a hypocrite, a deceitful little person, too selfish. Go to your parents and ask them to stand up for you and get back half of the fruit money that is rightfully yours. Remember to give your parents some money. As a girl, you should be filial to your parents, not to your older sister!"
Qiao Guilan and Song Erzhuang saw the fourth sister crying her eyes out and advised her not to have such thoughts.
"Back then, you helped your older sister plant fruit seedlings, which was considered helping out! In the past, during the busy farming season, it was common for families in the village to ask neighbors and relatives for help. Nobody would say that if you helped with some work in the fields, you would get half of the harvest from them! That's not how it works!"
“My husband said that I also contributed to my older sister’s orchard, so I should get half of it. He also told me to give some of the money to you as a way to show filial piety, saying that I should show filial piety to you, not to my older sister.”
Song Caixing relayed her husband's words to her parents.
Song Erzhuang said, "We are your parents, so of course you should take care of us!"
Qiao Guilan chimed in, "You and your eldest sister are sisters, but you have no filial duty to your eldest sister."
Upon hearing that the Fourth Sister and her husband were going to give them money, the old couple discussed it and decided to stand up for the Fourth Sister.
"I'll go talk to Yinhua first and try to persuade her." Qiao Guilan got up and left. "I'll come back and let you know as soon as I have any results."
Song Yinhua had just finished helping the crazy old woman wash up when she fetched water to wash her daughter's feet.
When Qiao Guilan arrived, she first inquired about how much the fruit had sold for, and then talked about how difficult it was for parents to raise four children.
"Mom, just say what's on your mind. I'm your daughter, so don't beat around the bush with me."
“Xiao Si’er is your own sister. She planted the fruit trees with you back then. Now that the trees have borne fruit and you’ve made money from selling them, you should share some with Xiao Si’er,” Qiao Guilan said.
After washing and drying her daughter's feet, Song Yinhua carried her into the inner room to sleep.
After settling her daughter in, Song Yinhua returned to the main room.
"Mom, people in the village used to often ask you to help with planting rice seedlings and harvesting rice. Shouldn't they share half of their grain with you?"
"Yinhua, you're not young anymore, why are you still so stubborn?" Qiao Guilan advised. "Your husband is dead, and you have no children, only Xiaohua, your adopted daughter. When you get old, won't you be relying on Baogen and Caixing's children to take care of you? Why can't you share some with them?"
"Mom, you're right."
Qiao Guilan felt that there was hope in this matter after hearing Song Yinhua's words.
"I'm your own mother, and you're my own daughter. How could I harm you?" Qiao Guilan pressed on while the iron was hot, "Then you promised to give half of the fruit sales money to Caixing?"
Song Yinhua looked at Qiao Guilan and said, "Mom, as you just said, I don't have any children of my own, and my husband is dead. People in the village are saying that I am a jinx who brought my husband to his death. I guess no decent family will dare to risk their lives to marry me in the future. When I get old, I will have to rely on Baogen and Caixing's children to take care of me in my old age."
“That’s right! So Yinhua, now that you have money, give some to Caixing and help Baogen out as well.” Qiao Guilan didn’t forget to speak well of her son.
“I understand this principle, and I’ve always done it this way.” Qiao Guilan didn’t understand what Song Yinhua was saying.
"Then why did Cai Xing say you wouldn't share half with her...?"
"Why should I share half with her? I only have one adopted daughter, Xiaohua. When I die, everything I leave behind will belong to Xiaohua, right?"
"You're going to leave all the money to an adopted daughter?" Qiao Guilan exclaimed anxiously. "Yinhua, what are you thinking? Caixing helped you plant the fruit seedlings, so you should give Caixing half of the money from the sales, not an outsider!"
“Xiao Xiaohua is not an outsider!” Song Yinhua looked at her own mother. “She is Caixing’s own daughter!”
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