Chapter 188: How to leave Du Jianguo unscathed.
At Deng Xiuzhu's urging, Du Jianguo quickly began filing for divorce. Because Wang Hui's disappearance had been filed with the Public Security Bureau, the court accepted Du Jianguo's case. Once the court process was complete and the verdict was issued, Du and Wang Hui's marriage would be over.
Police and court officials approached the Wangs and their spouses to inquire about Wang Hui's situation, and they told them the truth. After learning about Du Jianguo and Huanhuan's current situation, there was no dispute over Huanhuan's custody, and Huanhuan's household registration would be transferred to Wang Ying's home.
Du Jianguo told his father, Du Weimin, that he was divorcing Wang Hui. Du Weimin didn't say anything. After all, Wang Hui was definitely not coming back, so it was good to have a woman with him. Then he thought about himself. He didn't know why his health had suddenly declined this year, and he felt a little discouraged. He felt that he was destined to have no descendants, so having a fake grandson to carry on the family line was not a bad idea.
The day before Du Weimin left home to return to the construction site, he found Du Jianguo and said, "I'll work one more year this year, and then I'll apply for medical retirement next year."
"Dad doesn't want to work anymore?" Du Jianguo was stunned. His father's annual salary and allowances were much higher than his. If he didn't go to work, he wouldn't get much from his pension.
Du Weimin said, "Well, I don't know what's going on this past year, but I've always felt weak in my hands and feet, especially my legs. I'm always climbing high places on the construction site, and it's too much for me."
Du Jianguo fell silent. He knew why his father's legs were weak. It was because he had given him drugs... Perhaps he hadn't gotten the dosage right, and now not only was his sexual function failing, but his health had also deteriorated. This wasn't what Du Jianguo had imagined.
"Can I change my job?" Du Jianguo asked.
Du Weimin's face darkened. "Why can't I just come home and enjoy my life? Why do I have to go to work? Don't worry, I have a pension, and I won't be using it on you!"
"Dad, that's not what I meant..." Du Jianguo said hurriedly.
Seeing Du Jianguo like this, Du Weimin became even more disheartened. His two daughters' families were in turmoil, and he couldn't rely on anyone for support.
Seeing his father's stern face, Du Jianguo didn't dare to say anything more and returned to his room.
"What's wrong?" Deng Xiuzhu wanted to know all the big and small things in the family. When she saw Du Jianguo returning to his room with a stern face, she immediately asked.
"Dad wants to apply for medical retirement." Du Jianguo said.
Deng Xiuzhu immediately calculated in her mind how much the family's income would be reduced if Du Weimin applied for medical retirement, but she remained gentle and considerate as she said, "Dad is old, and he has to climb the career ladder, which is very dangerous. It's okay for him to retire two years earlier. After all, this family still depends on you."
Du Jianguo liked to hear this. He shook Deng Xiuzhu's hand and said, "After the divorce procedures with Wang Hui are completed, we will get married and give you and your child a home."
"You gave me a home two years ago." Deng Xiuzhu said affectionately.
"Xiuzhu, you are so nice." Du Jianguo only hated that he could not give his whole heart to Deng Xiuzhu.
Deng Xiuzhu was thinking in her heart that if Du Weimin didn't go to work, not only would she have less money, but she would also have one more person to serve. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart.
If she had any other options, why would she be here serving strangers? She'd endured so much scorn from her neighbors over the past two years. Since her husband's death, she'd endured so much hardship at her in-laws', her own family, and the Du family's. Only she knew, and no, her two children knew it too. The children...it was all for the children.
Du Jianguo and Wang Hui's divorce case was still going through the motions, and because Wang Hui had disappeared, the case was being processed a bit slowly. Du Jianguo had gone to press the issue several times, but was always told to wait for further news.
One evening at the end of January, Deng Xiuzhu took her youngest son to pick up her eldest daughter from school. As they passed the cotton mill, she saw a crowd of people gathered at the factory gate around a fashionably dressed woman. They were holding money and buying things from her. The woman was accompanied by a little boy, who was carrying a schoolbag and must have also just finished school.
Deng Xiuzhu, for some unknown reason, stopped her bicycle and walked toward the group. As she approached, she realized the fashionable woman was selling small accessories. She had a leather suitcase spread out on the back of her bicycle, which had been fitted with a kickstand. Inside, she was wearing a number of accessories herself, including hair ornaments, hairpins, and hair ties. She also wore a number of them on her head and body, and she was selling them. If someone liked something from her head, she would take it off, sell it, and then put another one on her head.
Deng Xiuzhu stood outside the crowd and watched. Every time the fashionable woman sold an item, she would calculate the price in her mind. In just ten minutes, she sold a headband, two hair flowers, three hairbands, two handkerchiefs, and two hairpins, and received a total of five yuan and thirty cents.
Five dollars and thirty cents! Only ten minutes!
These employees of the cotton mill all came together. After they left, Deng Xiuzhu was the only one left.
"Sister, would you like to buy a hair ornament for your child? It's a fashionable item from the south that department stores don't sell." Zhao Yunfang had long noticed the woman who had been staring at her. Now that all the other customers had left, she called out to her.
Deng Xiuzhu's daughter pulled her hand and said, "Mom, I don't want it. It's too expensive."
"Oh, what a sensible daughter." Zhao Yunfang praised.
Deng Xiuzhu took a few steps closer, parked her bicycle, and walked to the suitcase. These small accessories were indeed beautiful, and she liked them herself.
"How about it? Pretty, isn't she? The child is so sensible. Buy her a flower to wear, and buy yourself a headband to wear. It will definitely look good on you." Zhao Yunfang took off the headband on her head and put it on Deng Xiuzhu's head. She took out a mirror and looked at Deng Xiuzhu. "It looks good, right?"
"It looks good." Deng Xiuzhu said, looking at herself in the mirror.
"Look, these are my last few. They will definitely be sold out tomorrow. You can take them. I don't buy them every day, so if you buy one, you can wear it for a long time." Zhao Yunfang said.
"Let me take another look and pick out a hair ornament for the child." Deng Xiuzhu said as she rummaged through the suitcase.
"Okay, take your time to choose. Everything here is beautiful." Zhao Yunfang said with a smile.
Mingjie, who was standing by, saw that his mother was no longer so busy, so he walked over to her and said, "Mom, can you buy me a roast chicken later?"
"Didn't we just eat it yesterday?" Zhao Yunfang glared at Mingjie.
"I want to eat it again today, Mom, please buy it for me." Mingjie said coquettishly with a smile.
"Okay, okay, you can eat it several times a week and never get tired of it." Zhao Yunfang was still very accommodating to Mingjie.
Deng Xiuzhu picked out a pink hair flower from the suitcase and put it on her daughter's head.
"Mom, let's not buy it... Fifty cents is too expensive." Deng Xiuzhu's daughter has been sensible since she was young and is reluctant to spend a penny.
Zhao Yunfang saw that Deng Xiuzhu and her two children were dressed fairly well and looked clean. Could it be that their conditions were not good? Or were their children just particularly sensible?
"This child is so well-behaved!" Zhao Yunfang praised.
Deng Xiuzhu smiled bitterly: "The child has no father, and it's difficult at home. She understands me."
When Zhao Yunfang heard this, she cried out in regret, "Sister, you don't look very old, so why is she..." a widow?
Deng Xiuzhu took off the headband on her head and took out the flower she bought for her child. She smiled bitterly and said, "My life is so hard, I can't help it. I will buy a flower for my child. As a widow, it doesn't matter to me."
"It's not easy for you either, you have to take care of two children. I'll charge you a penny less, just the cost price," said Zhao Yunfang.
"Thank you." Deng Xiuzhu handed Zhao Yunfang 40 cents, then looked at the various small accessories in the suitcase with reluctance. She said, "Do you usually sell goods here, sister? I've never seen you before."
"It's not fixed," Zhao Yunfang said, patting her bicycle. "I ride it everywhere. I go to the clothing factory, the county center, and the North City Park. I go everywhere."
"It is convenient, but is there no one in charge?" Deng Xiuzhu asked again.
"No one cares. There are so many stalls in the North City Park." Zhao Yunfang said as she started packing her things, preparing to take Mingjie home.
Deng Xiuzhu didn't remember how she got home. She was absent-minded and burned the rice for dinner and put too much salt in the dishes.
"Why is the rice burnt today? The dishes are a bit salty. Xiuzhu, you are good in everything except your cooking skills." Du Jianguo said.
Deng Xiuzhu looked at Du Jianguo, smiled and said, "I'll pay more attention next time."
That night, Deng Xiuzhu lay down, unable to fall asleep. Her mind raced over the scene she had witnessed that day. Ten minutes, five yuan and thirty cents. Even if the profit was 20%, that would still be a net profit of more than one yuan.
If she could do this business, she wouldn't have to worry about supporting herself and her two children! Deng Xiuzhu's heart surged. The woman selling goods today looked good. Her son could eat roast chicken several times a week, and the clothes he wore and the backpack he carried were all high-end goods. She was likely making all this money from selling goods.
In order to take care of this fake mother-in-law, she stayed at the Du family every day, not daring to take a single step. She didn't even notice the changes outside! She was so stupid! Deng Xiuzhu felt that she had finally seen the light and was on the right track.
Deng Xiuzhu's heart was restless. She imagined her life with her two children after leaving the Du family. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn't fall asleep.
The next day, Deng Xiuzhu took some time to go to Chengbei Park. She saw many people setting up stalls and the fashionable woman who had been selling goods at the entrance of the cotton mill yesterday. Her stall had the most people.
Deng Xiuzhu appeared in front of Zhao Yunfang again, and Zhao Yunfang immediately recognized her: "Isn't this the elder sister from yesterday? Do you want to buy a headband? This is the last one, so I'll give it to you at a discount."
Deng Xiuzhu looked at Zhao Yunfang and mustered up the courage to ask, "Can you take me with you to sell goods?"
"What do you mean?" Zhao Yunfang asked.
"Don't be angry, I am like this. You know I am a widow and I don't have a job. It is very difficult for me to live with two children. I think I can take some goods from you and sell them somewhere else. Is that okay?" Deng Xiuzhu said.
"Buy goods from me and sell them?" Zhao Yunfang was stunned by the question.
"Well, I definitely won't compete with you for business. I can sell it farther away," said Deng Xiuzhu.
Zhao Yunfang hadn't thought about this yet. Seeing that Deng Xiuzhu was a widow with two children, she felt very sorry for her. She didn't reject her outright, but said, "I need to go back and discuss this with my family."
Deng Xiuzhu was very satisfied to see that Zhao Yunfang didn't reject her outright. She wiped away her tears and said, "Thank you! It's really, really hard for me."
Seeing her crying, Zhao Yunfang asked, "Now that your husband is gone, your in-laws won't care about your two children?"
"I don't care," Deng Xiuzhu said. "My parents-in-law live with my brother-in-law and don't see a cent from him. And they still want me to pay for their retirement."
"What about my mother's family?" Zhao Yunfang asked again.
"My parents told me to leave my two children to my husband's family and find someone else to marry." Deng Xiuzhu couldn't help but burst into tears as she spoke, because these words were the truth and she felt really sad when she thought about it.
Zhao Yunfang handed Deng Xiuzhu a handkerchief and said, "Stop crying! I'll go talk to my family. I think your two children are sensible. You're in a really difficult situation, too."
"Thank you." Deng Xiuzhu wiped her tears with a handkerchief. "Both children are doing well. They are my life."
Zhao Yunfang felt sorry for her when she saw how sincerely she was crying, especially since she was a mother like herself.
That night, after picking up Mingjie, Zhao Yunfang went straight back to her parents' home to discuss the matter with Wang Ying.
Wang Ying was in a meeting at work today and came back a little late. As soon as she got home, Chen Xiuqin said, "The military advisor is back, you should ask him quickly."
Zhao Yunfang told Wang Ying about this.
"Second sister, do you know her?" Wang Ying asked, "What's her name and where is she from?"
"Oh, I forgot to ask. Mainly because she kept crying and I didn't want to ask too much," said Zhao Yunfang.
"If the facts are really as she said, and she is a poor and helpless widow, there is nothing wrong with asking her to be your distributor. But she can only be your distributor, and you cannot give her any information from your upstream," said Wang Ying.
"I've seen her two children, they don't look fake," Zhao Yunfang said. "Then I'll go back to her house and verify her personal situation."
Wang Ying nodded: "Of course we have to do this. At least we have to know everything."
"Yingzi, I understand what you mean. If I let someone distribute the products for me, it will also be beneficial to me, right?" Zhao Yunfang said.
Wang Ying smiled and said, "Of course, you are just a middleman. If you have more and more distributors under you, you can just give them the goods and sit back and collect the money without doing anything."
"There is such a good thing!" said Zhao Yunfang.
"You will understand it if you think about it. The premise is that only you can get the unique goods, and no one else can bypass you and contact your upstream." Wang Ying said.
"I understand, I understand," Zhao Yunfang said. "So, if that young widow's identity is legitimate and she hasn't cheated me, I could give her some of the goods to sell. That's fine. But what price should I give her?"
"There are two options. One is that she buys the goods from you and sells them at your price. You give her a commission for each sale. The other is that you give her a wholesale price. By the way, it's not your own purchase price, but the wholesale price you give her. Let her sell it herself, and it's up to her how much she sells for." Wang Ying said.
Zhao Yunfang nodded: "I understand, I understand, thank you so much Yingzi, what would I do without you!"
Wang Ying smiled and said, "This source of goods was found by Second Sister herself. Second Sister is quite capable."
Zhao Yunfang chuckled and said, "I'm lucky. I didn't know anything when I first ran away. It's thanks to you that I learned a lot."
Zhao Yunfang didn't stay for dinner and took Mingjie back home.
Wang Ying didn't take this matter to heart. After all, no one expected that the person Zhao Yunfang met would be the woman of Du Jianguo.
Deng Xiuzhu received a reply from Zhao Yunfang that they should go home to discuss the matter, and she felt that this matter should be able to be done. She began to think about how to leave Du Jianguo unscathed.
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