Chapter 20 Who knew it was a crematorium?
"The peanuts are ripe. Let's go harvest them tomorrow." Gu Jianguo arranged tomorrow's tasks while eating. "Sanjing and Xiaosi, go too. You can help with harvesting the peanuts."
The two sisters nodded quickly. Even though Gu Sanjing was playful, she knew that it was time to go to the fields and help with the work.
"The land on the riverbank is far away, so we won't be back for lunch tomorrow. Bring your food with you." Wang Yueju said, "Let's get up early tomorrow morning, boil some eggs, and make some pancakes to take with us."
Gu Yimin and Gu Erhui both nodded in agreement. The riverbank was far away, an hour's bike ride away. If they went home for lunch, the round trip would take two hours, which was quite time-consuming.
Gu Siqing felt that the food she cooked in the morning would be cold by noon. She thought for a moment and said, "Don't we have a small cooking pot at home? Let's take that pot with us. We can make noodles in the field at noon."
Everyone else at the table looked at her after hearing this, and Gu Siqing thought she had said something wrong.
"Xiao Si, what's wrong with your little head? I find that you are getting smarter and smarter." Gu Erhui said as she touched her little head curiously, as if to confirm whether her head was made of flesh.
Gu Siqing squinted her eyes and smiled, looking at Gu Jianguo, waiting for his praise. Gu Jianguo saw the little girl looking at him with her big eyes twinkling, and couldn't help but smile, "Well, Xiao Si is very smart."
This is exactly what Gu Siqing was waiting for.
"It's not that I'm smart, it's that I read a lot of books and newspapers and listen to the radio. I know a lot, so of course I can come up with good ideas."
Gu Jianguo graduated from junior high school and received several years of education in the army. He knew the benefits of being educated, so he hoped that his children would also be educated.
Yimin and Erhui were born during the worst of times. They were in school during the Great Movement, when classes were mostly closed and students went out every day to play sports. He was afraid it would be dangerous for the two children to go out and play, so he sent them home.
Thinking about it now, I feel a little regretful.
Thinking about this, he echoed his daughter and said, "What have you learned from the newspapers and the radio?"
"A lot," Gu Siqing said quickly, "Newspapers and radio often say that now that reform and opening up have taken place, there are no more restrictions on people doing business."
Gu Siqing looked at her father's expression carefully again. Seeing that he didn't care much about what she said, she was a little discouraged, but still said, "Dad, why don't we do business too."
Gu Jianguo thought she was just saying it casually. He drank some corn paste and said, "Don't worry about making money. Study hard with Sanjing and try to get into university in the future."
Gu Siqing: ""
What could she say? She was only eight years old.
But if she wasn't only eight years old and had only thirty cents in savings, she would be ready to take off now.
Forget it, kids don't have a say. Let's take our time.
After dinner, Gu Yimin and Gu Erhui washed the dishes while Gu Siqing and Gu Sanjing helped their parents pack the supplies for tomorrow's peanut harvest: hoes, baskets, sacks, and a small wok.
After packing up, everyone went to bed early because they had to get up early the next day. After lying down, Wang Yueju said to Gu Jianguo, "Is business really done now?"
Wang Yueju was somewhat moved by Gu Siqing's words. Everyone wanted to make more money, but they just didn't have the means. Furthermore, she was somewhat skeptical of the current policies.
Wang Ermaizi from their village was arrested for selling rat poison a few years ago, and some people still say that he is a labor camp prisoner.
"The policy should be fine, but how can business be that simple? We've never done business before." Has Gu Jianguo ever considered starting a business? Yes, he has. But he prefers to be sure of success, and how can there be such a thing as a sure thing in business?
There were no business people around him who could learn from their experience, so he wanted to go out and work instead of doing business.
Wang Yueju was a little unwilling, "How about we try doing business?"
"What business?" Gu Jianguo asked.
Wang Yueju fell silent. She thought running a business would bring in more money for the family, but if you asked her what it was, she honestly had no idea. After all, her family had been poor farmers for eight generations, and business wasn't in her genes.
"Go to sleep." Gu Jianguo patted her back. "We'll talk about making money later."
The couple closed their eyes and tried to sleep, but they couldn't fall asleep, as they were both thinking about business.
Gu Siqing had no idea her parents were already showing signs of interest; she was still feeling down about her first attempt. But if she thought about it, it was understandable that her father wouldn't be so quick to accept the idea of a business venture.
Just three years ago, private business was still defined as speculation and profiteering. The crime of speculation and profiteering was so serious that many people are still afraid to do business.
Besides, their Gu family didn't even have a peddler in their ancestors, so they didn't have any business genes at all! She wanted her father to have a "gene mutation" later in life, but was that an easy thing to do?
In fact, not only Wang Yueju and Gu Jianguo, but also Gu Yimin and Gu Erhui were thinking about doing business. No one wanted to be poor when there was a chance to change.
That night, Gu Sanjing was probably the only one who slept soundly in the family.
The next day, Gu Jianguo and Wang Yueju got up at around five o'clock. Gu Yimin and Gu Erhui also got up quietly in the dark after hearing some noise outside.
After washing up, the two sisters went into the kitchen and made breakfast with Wang Yueju, as well as lunch to take to the fields. It was almost six o'clock when Gu Siqing got up. She pulled Gu Sanjing out of the quilt. When the two sisters got dressed and came out, the meal was already ready.
After washing and eating, the family set out for the riverbank at around six o'clock.
Wang Yueju, Gu Yimin, and Gu Erhui rode their bicycles first, while Gu Jianguo walked to the fields, pulling a cart. The village chief's family was the only one in their village who owned a horse, and it was said to be the horse from the production team. When the production team was disbanded, he paid for it.
Gu Siqing and Gu Sanjing sat on the cart. Gu Sanjing was still half asleep and soon fell asleep again. Gu Siqing wanted to talk to her father about business to stimulate him, but she was afraid of going too far and didn't say anything.
After all, she was only an eight-year-old and slept a lot, so she fell asleep soon.
Gu Jianguo turned around and saw that his daughter had fallen asleep. He stopped the car, covered both of them with a blanket, and continued on his way.
He was tall and strong, so pulling the two children on the cart was no problem at all. Halfway through the journey, sweat broke out on his head. As he wiped the sweat off his face, he thought, "They say life is hard, working in the fields." But the most difficult part isn't the hard work, but the inner anxiety of wanting to change but having no way to do so.
When they were almost at the field, Gu Siqing and Gu Sanjing woke up. They hurriedly got out of the car to lighten the burden on Gu Jianguo.
As soon as I got off the bike, I saw Deng Shuangping and Zhao Fenglan riding their bicycles together. Deng Shuangping was riding a bicycle with sweat on his head and a little short of breath, obviously very tired.
Zhao Fenglan was sitting on the back of her bicycle. When she saw them, she smiled and said loudly, "Shuangping, ride faster so you can get to the fields and start working soon."
It feels so good to show off.
Zhang Shuangping nodded and put more strength into his sore legs.
Gu Siqing looked at Zhang Shuangping's somewhat tense back and sighed in her heart: It felt so good to rob someone, but who knew it would turn out to be a crematorium.
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