Qian Yu was silent for a long time before he slowly said, "Your brother-in-law...he wasn't like this before."

Qian Qing watched Qian Yu's expression become dazed, immersed in memories of the past.

"He used to be a very enthusiastic person, always willing to lend a hand to anyone in trouble. At that time, I had just arrived in the countryside and couldn't do farm work, so I always failed to complete my tasks. He would come to help when he had free time, but he didn't talk much to me to avoid suspicion. He would always quietly finish his work and leave."

"Later, the house where the educated youths were staying started leaking, so the brigade said they would move them to another place."

"I remember that day very clearly. Everyone was temporarily placed in the homes of fellow commune members. I applied for a leave to visit my family in the city two days before, but the team leader was not there when I returned, so I was not given a place to live."

“So I lived in the educated youth camp.”

"It was raining in the middle of the night, and I suddenly felt moisture around my head. I reached for the oil lamp and bumped into someone."

"I was so scared that I screamed and reached for the lamp, but the man didn't move and just stood there."

"Only after I lit the oil lamp did I see that the man was an old bachelor from the brigade. He just stared at me straight, and I was so scared that I kept screaming and wanted to run away."

"Then your brother-in-law rushed in with a heavy flashlight in his hand. He thought I was being bullied, so he came up and started fighting with the old bachelor."

"I don't know where he got twisted, but the old bachelor's leg hit the fire poker in the house, and his thigh was pierced through."

"He thought he was going to be captured and eaten, so he told me that he liked me and hoped he would have another chance in his next life."

"That night he was out looking for a chicken that had escaped, and he happened to run into this incident. He was so panicked that he asked me to pack my things and move to another room in the Youth League Center, saying that he heard the noise and found it, and it had nothing to do with me."

"I know you're going to say that gratitude is not the same as love. But I didn't marry him out of gratitude. Maybe I had already liked him earlier. Even though he was almost arrested for forced labor and reform because of this incident, and was scared of losing money, and gradually became less and less like the person he used to be, I still felt that he would definitely change in the future."

Qian Qing felt upset. As soon as she heard her sister's opening words, she was filled with anger. She thought that Huang Sanping had deceived her sister and staged a "hero saving the beauty" act to win her sister's unwavering love.

But the truth is this.

"So how was it resolved?"

"I hid in the next room while he went out to call for help to take the old bachelor to the hospital. He was later taken away and locked up. The captain had already asked the militia to take him to the court for trial. The old bachelor also wanted to eat in the wooden warehouse and asked the Huang family to pay for it. The old bachelor's legs were not disabled, but they were a little less flexible. But he asked for 1,000 yuan right away, and the Huang family couldn't afford it."

"After thinking it over, I finally stood up and said that it was the old bachelor who sneaked into the youth camp that night. I heard him rummaging around in the next room and got up to check. The old bachelor wanted to harm me, so he brought your brother-in-law here."

"In the end, the captain came up with a solution, which was to have the Huang family pay the old bachelor 100 yuan, and both sides would be done with it."

"Huang Sanping's mother couldn't scrape together a hundred yuan, so Huang Sanping used his work points to exchange for the money and gave it to the old bachelor."

"My reputation in the brigade was bad because of this incident. At that time, your brother-in-law almost signed up to go to the west to open up wasteland. So we just got married directly."

Talking about the past, although it was tortuous, Qian Yu had a nostalgic smile on his face.

"Your brother-in-law is different from Zhou Hao. Zhou Hao and you have been in school together for many years, and you two have similar personalities. Your brother-in-law was literally locked up for three or four days. He was not very courageous to begin with, and now he was even more frightened and retreated. Later, I also quarreled with him and broke pots and bowls in anger, but I still couldn't bear to let him be alone like this."

"He was bullied by his brothers at home before. After this incident, his mother disliked him even more."

Qian Qing had never thought that Yuan Yuan would be like this back then. She didn't know what to say for a moment. Her brother-in-law's current appearance didn't show any sign of him having the youthful spirit he once had.

"...Sister, I don't know if it's appropriate for me to ask this, but...did my brother-in-law really just pass by by chance that day?"

Qian Yu burst out laughing: "Why are you the same as our mother? When I said I wanted to get married, our mother asked me the same question right away."

"How could it be false? Although your brother-in-law is a coward, his character is still acceptable. Besides, even if it was just an act, there wouldn't be a large group of people accompanying him. And he was really locked up and suffered. It is said that he was even beaten. In the end, he lost a hundred yuan. If he really wanted to marry a wife, he could marry a good one with a hundred yuan as a betrothal gift in the countryside. He didn't want to scheme against me."

Qian Qing sighed: "I never knew my brother-in-law had such a capable side."

Qian Yu raised his eyebrows and said, "No, he has been frightened these years. He has never committed a crime since he was born, but he was suddenly imprisoned for a few days. After he recovered, he was inevitably overly cautious."

Qian Qing's opinion of Huang Sanping had changed a little at this moment. According to what her sister said, there was still a chance to save the man. She just hoped that her brother-in-law would stand up as soon as possible and not waste her sister's kindness.

As soon as the two sisters finished talking, Ding Jie's suppressed excited voice was heard from outside.

"Sister! Sister! I sold six bottles!"

Qian Qing and Qian Yu each sorted out their emotions and put on smiling faces.

"Not bad, how do you sell it?"

Ding Jie brought Huang Sanping in, and then told his sister in a very emotional way how the two of them were sold out.

"I put the steamed buns we brought out in hot water for a while, then asked my brother-in-law to take a small bag and pretend that he couldn't buy a ticket with a seat. He picked people who looked comfortable sitting in hard seats with their children and went to the side so that my brother-in-law could eat the sauce. I pretended to buy some, and sure enough, someone else followed suit and wanted to buy. We sold six bottles at five yuan a bottle!"

Ding Jie patted Huang Sanping on the shoulder and said, "Brother-in-law is good! He was very steady when he spoke just now, with no expression on his face. If you didn't know him, you would think he was a veteran, hahahaha."

Huang Sanping: ...

He was not calm at all, he was clearly frightened! Ding Jie's acting was so poor that it was almost as if "I'm just asking you to buy some chili sauce" was written on his face. If he hadn't held on, the two of them might have been caught and scolded by the train conductor.

Qian Qing praised him, then turned to Huang Sanping and asked, "Brother-in-law, how do you feel about this? Do you want to try it yourself during dinner?"

Huang Sanping didn't know what to feel. Ding Jie asked for five yuan a bottle. Those who wanted to buy rarely even asked for the price. They just paid directly. After walking from the sleeper car to the hard seat car, Huang Sanping realized how much the outside world had changed.

There are so many different kinds of people here, totally different from the countryside.

Some are carrying bags, some are carrying children, some are wearing fashionable clothes...

Five dollars is not enough to save in a month in the countryside, and most people who farm the land only have a few dozen dollars left in their hands in a year. But on the bus, these people can easily spend five dollars to buy a bottle of chili sauce that he thinks is not worth it at all.

What's so special about chili sauce? Every family in the countryside can make it. Even if my mother-in-law makes it delicious, so what? In the countryside, there are even wives who deliberately make meals taste bad, just because they taste good and the whole family will inevitably eat more.

How come people out there are so well-off that they ignore price for the sake of taste?

Qian Qing saw Huang Sanping seemed to be moved, so she quickly pushed him: "Life is better now, who doesn't want to make life easier? A bottle of sauce costs more than two yuan in the supply and marketing cooperative, but we sell it for five yuan. Don't think we are expensive, the meal set in the dining car is only fifty cents downstairs, and it triples once you get on the car. It's not too much for us to double it. Besides, a bottle of sauce can last for a long time, and they can continue to eat it for half a month after getting off the car. We are selling it conscientiously enough."

"Xiao Jie did a good job just now. Let's think about whether there is a better way to be faster and less labor-intensive. Take some time to look at those people who are mixed in with the trains to resell goods and see how they sell their goods."

Huang Sanping did not refuse this time, but looked at Qian Yu.

Qian Yu just recalled their past and now he felt relieved: "Just give it a try and sell as many bottles as you can."

Huang Sanping nodded. Ding Jie, who was so jumpy, could sell it, so why couldn't he? He was much more stable than Ding Jie. He could earn two yuan for each bottle he sold. Even if he had to deal with people, he would accept it!

At dinner time that day, Huang Sanping sold seven bottles and Ding Jie sold five bottles.

Ding Jie sat aside with his head down and a sad look on his face. Qian Qing couldn't help laughing.

The boy suffered from the face reading! Huang Sanping looks like an honest man, and such a person is more likely to win the trust of others. Ding Jie is a little young after all, and his performance is not up to standard.

The more than 20 bottles that Qian Qing brought out were basically emptied at this point, leaving only one bottle for herself.

Huang Sanping held in his hand the fourteen yuan that Qian Qing had given him, feeling mixed emotions.

No wonder Qian Yu started spending lavishly after returning from a trip to the provincial capital with Qian Qing. It turns out that money is so easy to make outside that he can earn a month's salary for others just by transferring money on the train.

Ding Jie calmed down after a while and pulled Qian Qing aside to talk about what he had just seen: "Sister, just now someone asked us which factory we got the goods from! I couldn't say it was made at home, so I gave him a fake name. Why don't you say my aunt make a label for herself? Let's be more formal. Just now a woman wanted to buy it at first sight, but she didn't buy it because the bottle was bare..."

Qian Qing also had a new respect for Ding Jie. Traveling outside really does train a person, and even Ding Jie's rusty brain has started to work.

This is indeed a problem. Her mother’s sauce is good, but some people just don’t like the packaging and will go back to change the packaging. Even if they know that the origin of this thing is not genuine, at least they have to make the surface look pleasing to the eye.

"I'll do it when I get back! Then we can give it a name, and we'll be legitimate products in the future."

It was inevitably a bit cold on the train at night. When Qian Qing woke up in the middle of the night, she saw Huang Sanping putting clothes on Qian Yu. He was very careful and cautious, and after putting clothes on, he shrunk back to the lower bunk to sleep.

Qian Qing turned over and closed her eyes, hoping that her sister's wish would not be dashed.