Chapter 131 Damn it, it really was a robbery...
With nothing to do at the brown sugar factory, Tang Mingmei was forced to stay home and rest.
With her taking care of the child, Li Hong would rush out after making breakfast every day, not returning until almost lunchtime. After lunch, she would hurry out again, as if she were busy with something.
At first, Tang Mingmei didn't think anything was wrong. She assumed that her mother was just bored from taking care of the child at home for too long and was eager to go out since she could finally get some free time.
However, after several days of this happening, she began to feel something was wrong. Moreover, her mother seemed very tired every day when she came home, and today even her voice was hoarse.
What kind of conversation can make your voice hoarse?
No matter how Tang Mingmei asked, Li Hong wouldn't tell the truth.
Tang Mingmei had no choice but to follow her mother after she rushed out again after lunch that day, carrying her child, hoping to find out what her mother had been doing these past few days.
After circling a few street corners, Tang Mingmei followed the trail to a market near her home.
Since individuals were allowed to do business, more and more people have set up stalls and sold goods on this street.
But today, she could hardly believe her eyes.
She was surprised to see her mother and a neighbor selling socks at a stall there.
Having lived half her life, my mother, who has always been proud, actually put on a smiling face and tried her best to drink.
Tang Mingmei was immediately overcome with grief.
If it weren't for the brown sugar factory's poor performance, her mother wouldn't be in this situation... However, after watching from a corner for a while, she was surprised to find that business was quite good, and she had made several purchases in just a few minutes. But thinking about how her mother was already this age, still having to work so hard to set up a stall and sell things, her heart ached terribly.
It must be because they were worried about the pressure of raising her child that such a proud mother would risk her reputation to earn money.
Tang Mingmei could no longer hold back and walked toward her mother's stall with her child in her arms.
Li Hong was squatting down, sorting socks, when she sensed someone approaching. Thinking it was someone buying socks, she smiled and looked up.
Upon seeing that it was his daughter, his smile froze on his face.
"Why are you here?" Then, seeing the child in her arms, he quickly added, "Shouldn't the child be sleeping at this time? Why did you bring him out?"
Tang Mingmei didn't answer her mother's question, but instead asked her, "Mom, these past few days you've been leaving early and coming home late, just to set up a stall here selling socks?"
Now that she's been discovered, Li Hong has nothing left to hide.
“That’s right, your aunt and I have been setting up a stall here these past few days. Actually, your aunt and I had this idea a long time ago, but we were always hesitant. These past few days, since you’ve been resting at home, we discussed it and decided to give it a try.” As she spoke, she pointed around: “Look, there are so many people setting up stalls here, and most of them are young people.”
"Mom, you're already this age, how can you be like those young people?" Tang Mingmei wasn't blaming her mother, but was just worried that she was working too hard.
Li Hong no longer agrees with this statement: "At around fifty years old, it's the perfect age to be a leader."
He then recounted his experiences setting up a stall over the past few days to his daughter, saying with a proud look, "When it comes to eloquence, those young people are no match for me."
Tang Mingli does not deny that her mother is eloquent; when she was young, few could win an argument against her.
"But setting up a street stall is hard work, exposed to wind and sun. Can your body handle it?"
Touched by her daughter's concern, Li Hong softened her voice and said, "Your aunt and I just took a little bit of goods to test the waters; we haven't decided to do it long-term yet."
At this point, the neighbor aunt, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.
"Yes, we hesitated for a long time before deciding to give it a try. Mingmei, your aunt knows you're worried about your mother, but this job really isn't tiring, and you earn quite a bit."
After a few days, they were still selling cheap socks, but they had already earned several tens of yuan.
When it came to making money, Li Hong became even more excited, and whispered to her daughter, "We estimate that once this batch of goods is sold out, after deducting the cost, each of us can get more than thirty yuan."
"So much?" Tang Mingmei was surprised when she heard the amount.
If you can earn so much in just a few days, wouldn't you be able to make a fortune in a month if you set up your stall every day?
The thought of so much money tempted Tang Mingmei.
Before she could think about it further, a few more guests arrived.
Tang Mingmei had no choice but to step aside and watch her mother and neighbor aunt sell her socks to people.
Customers came one after another, and Tang Mingmei was thrilled. Before she knew it, she had stayed there until evening, when her mother and aunt were preparing to pack up.
As they sorted through the unsold socks, the two women excitedly chatted about how much money they had made that day.
The more I talked, the more excited I became, and I couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.
but……
Looking at the few socks left, Li Hong sighed that they wouldn't last many more days.
The aunt's eyes also seemed to hold a lingering sense of satisfaction.
Back downstairs in the tenement building, Li Hong handed the bag of socks to her neighbor, and the two smiled and agreed on what time to leave the next morning before parting ways.
Tang Mingmei watched, feeling powerless and helpless.
No wonder I couldn't find them; the socks were all at my aunt's house.
With her hands free, Li Hong immediately reached for her sleeping granddaughter, feeling a pang of tenderness as she wanted to take her in her arms.
Tang Mingmei also felt sorry for her mother working so hard, so she wouldn't let her hold the baby.
"Let's go home first, so we don't wake her up."
“That makes sense.” Li Hong put down her hand, and the mother and daughter went upstairs.
Back home, Tang Mingmei put the child on the bed and covered him with a blanket before coming out to the living room. Before she could ask any questions, Li Hong confessed in detail why she was selling socks at a stall.
“That day, your dad and I were talking about what would happen if the brown sugar factory went out of business. I remembered Mingli saying that opening a clothing store is quite profitable, and I thought that if that day ever came, we could open a clothing store. After all, Mingli has experience, and we could ask her for advice. But your dad was worried about what would happen if we lost everything. Opening a clothing store is indeed a bit risky, so I took a batch of socks from your aunt and sold them, just to give it a try. I figured it would be best if we could make money, but even if we didn't, we could still learn how to do business.”
Tang Mingmei knew that her mother was doing this for her own sake.
She said with a mix of heartache and annoyance, "Mom, why do you think about so many unnecessary things? Don't you ever think about how old you are?"
Li Hong: "I used to think that people had to accept getting old when they turned fifty, but after setting up a stall, I realized that fifty-something is not old at all, it is the age to be active."
"Then you can't at least keep it from us."
"If I had told you beforehand, would you have supported me?"
Tang Mingmei was stumped by the question.
Even if her mother had told her beforehand, she would most likely still have objected.
In fact, if she hadn't witnessed firsthand how well the stall business was doing today, she probably would still have strongly opposed it.
Seeing that her daughter remained silent, Li Hong said, "See, I was right."
She took out the money she had been given that day from her pocket, counted it out one bill at a time, and then waved it in front of her daughter.
"Look, I've earned twelve yuan today. Adding what I earned the other two days, it's almost a month's salary for you. Daughter, setting up a stall really can make a lot of money."
As Li Hong spoke, her eyes unconsciously lit up.
She had never earned so much money in her life, and she was truly thrilled.
Only after experiencing it firsthand did she fully understand what Mingli meant when she said that reform and opening up were good.
Reform and opening up are great; they allow people to sell things and make money.
As for Tang Mingmei, all she could think about was that she had only been selling for a few days and it was already worth a month's salary. The brown sugar factory was taking holidays all the time and not paying wages on time. Should she also find another way to make a living?
Mingli has experience in doing business; should we ask for her opinion first?
...
After agonizing for two days, Tang Mingmei became increasingly restless and actually went to her neighbor's house to borrow a phone to call Tang Mingli.
However, when I called her, I found out that she had gone to Shenzhen.
On the other end of the phone, Mrs. Fu said apologetically, "It was only yesterday. If you had called a day earlier, that would have been better."
After saying that, he asked with concern, "Did Li Dazhu come to see you again?"
"No, no, I just have a question I want to ask. It's nothing serious, I can wait until she comes back."
"Oh, is that so?"
After exchanging a few pleasantries, I hung up the phone.
Tang Mingmei paid for her neighbor's phone call and left as if she had lost her soul.
Mingli went to Shenzhen, probably because she was eager to get pregnant.
Sigh, everyone has their own troubles. She worries about money, and Mingli worries about her child; neither of them has it easy.
However, Tang Mingmei had no idea that she was wrong.
Tang Mingli's trip to Shenzhen had absolutely nothing to do with her pregnancy.
At the end of last month, Fu Ci secured a major foreign trade contract. The end of the year is always busy, but this has made him even busier.
However, even more than being busy, there is an even bigger problem: the factory clerks don't know how to communicate with people in Hong Kong.
As a result, Fu Ci was extremely stressed.
Tang Mingli couldn't bear to see this big order go wrong, so she offered to help.
When she was a corporate slave in her previous life, she had a lot of dealings with people from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
After she expressed her thoughts, Fu Ci naturally didn't object; in fact, he was very happy. However, he was still worried about her traveling alone and thought he could find some time in a couple of days to go back and pick her up personally.
Tang Mingli knew that the station was chaotic at this time, but it shouldn't be so chaotic that people were afraid to leave.
By the time Fu Ci returns, the round trip will be too much trouble, and she's afraid things will be too late. Besides, Fu Ci has traveled between the two places so many times without encountering any problems, so this route must be relatively safe.
So, under her insistence and assurances, Fu Ci was forced to compromise. After a quick packing, they set off the next day.
The Fu family personally escorted her to the station and watched her board the train before leaving with a sense of relief.
Tang Mingli thought the train station was the most chaotic place, but she didn't expect a little incident to happen on the way, which almost made her regret not listening to Fu Ci.
At this time, intercity minibuses can pick up and drop off students along the way.
As we passed the entrance to a village, three young men came up to us.
Perhaps it was a sixth sense, but when Tang Mingli saw the group of people coming up, she thought of some unfriendly scenes from period movies she had seen before.
She had been on edge ever since the group got on the bus.
Robbery is fine, but please don't kill anyone... please don't cause any personal injury.
The tension remained high until we were almost in Shenzhen, and nothing happened on the bus.
She thought she was overthinking things and was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when the young men suddenly stood up from their seats, took out a folding knife from their pockets, unfolded it, and pointed it at everyone.
"Don't move, take out all the money you have."
Tang Mingli's heart sank.
Damn it, it really was a robbery.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
