Chapter 68 A Bustling and Dazzling Scene
After selling two more radios, Gu Qinglang and the others finally returned.
"I brought you a basket of xiaolongbao (soup dumplings). How did it go? How many did you sell?" Li Mengxin handed the bag of xiaolongbao to Gu Yin.
Gu Yin took it, picked up a piece with her chopsticks, and quickly took a bite. The aroma of meat instantly wafted out.
"Delicious! We sold three radios, and that cell phone too."
"Great! It seems we underestimated the purchasing power of the people in our town. We should have brought back more phones back then; maybe we could have sold them during the New Year," Gu Qinglang said happily.
Gu Yin thought it was uncertain. There were still few people with cell phones now, but there would be more next year. In her previous life, when she was in the second year of junior high school, more and more students had cell phones. By the time she entered high school, almost everyone had one, and there were power strips everywhere on the teacher's desk, and universal chargers everywhere on the power strips.
"Let's get the cell phone next year. This year, let's get the radio sorted out first."
Hearing his daughter's words, Gu Qinglang nodded; he was just expressing his feelings.
After everyone sat for a while, the old lady and the others came over with firecrackers.
"Our family made some money this year, so we bought three rounds of firecrackers! We'll set them off as much as we want! May we prosper in the coming year!" The old lady opened the sack, revealing the firecrackers inside.
Gu Shu looked at it, then grabbed the old lady's arm: "Grandma, I want to buy some firecrackers to play with, and I also want to buy a toy gun, the kind with plastic bullets, is that okay?"
Gu Hua stepped forward and said, "Grandma, I want to buy balloons, big ones, and caterpillar ones, and little bunny ones."
My wallet is bulging this year, and my eldest grandson has indeed been busy for a while, so I nodded and said, "Buy, buy, buy! Buy everything! Just be careful! Ah Yin and Ah Le, what do you want?! Let's go buy them together later!"
Gu Yin blinked, momentarily forgetting what toys were suitable for her mature soul to play with right now. After thinking for a moment, she still spoke up: "I want to buy an iron rack, the kind you can use for barbecuing, so we can have a barbecue in the yard during the New Year."
Gu Le didn't know what toys were available for the New Year, but he was curious after hearing what his older cousin was talking about: "I want to buy the same ones as my brother!"
After they had agreed on the terms, the old lady took them to the toy stalls and got the things they had agreed on.
When they returned, Li Xiang and the others had already bought a lot of fruit and melon seeds to eat during the Chinese New Year.
The New Year's goods have been mostly purchased, so Gu Qingming and his brother are keeping an eye on the stall while the others take their things home.
On New Year's Eve, starting at 2 p.m., the sound of firecrackers began to ring out in the village.
The Gu family also started cooking, stewing meat, killing chickens and ducks, and preparing fresh fish.
After the whole chicken was cooked, Li Xiang took a basin, put it in a basket, and then added a bowl of rice, three cups, a bottle of wine, paper money, and a piece of firecracker. After packing it up, she took it to the village temple, and Gu Hua went with her.
Li Mengxin then took out the stewed lean meat and began to worship her family's ancestors.
By the time everything was finished, it was already past four in the afternoon.
The men were all busy in the kitchen; the sounds of knives clattering against the cutting board never stopped, and the aroma of stir-fried duck never faded.
Gu Le was frequently seen going in and out of the kitchen.
"Sister, the duck meat is ready! Uncle gave me a duck leg! Hurry up and go in! I'll go call Big Brother and Sister Hua!" Gu Le, her face covered in sauce, said to Gu Yin with bright eyes, then quickly ran into the house.
To be honest, Gu Yin was also craving it, and when she heard him say that, she went into the kitchen as well.
Gu Qingming was stir-frying the blood duck when he saw her come in. He handed her a duck leg and said, "Try it and see if it's flavorful!"
Gu Yin quickly took it, smelled the sour and spicy aroma, and couldn't help but take a big bite. It was oily but not greasy, fragrant with sweetness, sweet with spiciness, and spicy with a hint of sourness. It was smooth and refreshing, just like the old taste! She especially loved this dish. Every year during festivals and New Year, her hometown would make this dish. Later, when Gu Yin was filming outside, she rarely got to taste such an authentic flavor.
"Delicious! Very flavorful! It smells amazing! It's ready to serve!" Gu Yin told her uncle while eating. Seeing that her uncle had already served it, Gu Yin smiled. She figured that letting her taste it was just an excuse, and that his real purpose was to let them eat it ahead of time.
Gu Shu didn't eat the duck leg, but instead picked up two duck heads and started gnawing on them. Seeing the duck heads, Gu Yin remembered that the best parts of a duck are its head and feet!
Gu Hua, who was standing next to her, was already gnawing on a duck's foot.
Seeing that they were all still in the kitchen, Gu Qinglang quickly shooed them out: "Eat and then get out. Don't stay in the kitchen, or your grandmother will start nagging again when she comes in. Come on out!"
At 5:30, their New Year's Eve dinner was finally ready.
Looking at the table full of dishes, Gu Le's mouth watered: "It smells so good! It looks so delicious! I'm going to eat my fill tonight!"
The old lady laughed heartily: "Nobody's going to steal it from you!" Then she looked at the old man: "Let's say a few words first."
The old man nodded: "In summary, our family had a significant increase in income in the second half of this year, thanks to the suggestion made by our daughter, Ayin, which helped us break through the million-yuan mark in savings! Everyone in our family deserves credit for this huge sum! Your grandmother and I have thought about it, and we'll buy four houses in the county, one for each of the four children. If they want to live in the county, they can stay in Ashu's or Ale's houses, and Ahua and Ayin's houses can be rented out. They can keep the rent for themselves, so that we'll have a solid financial foundation when they start working or get married in the future! Do you have any objections to this?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Seeing that the old man was satisfied, he continued, "Our family has achieved this, but we shouldn't be arrogant. Just because we have it now doesn't mean we'll always have it. So, we should remain the same as before. Don't think that just because we have some money, we can gamble, play around, not work, or leave the land empty. If anyone has such thoughts, I will beat them up and kick them out! I mean what I say!"
Gu Qingming and Gu Qinglang nodded quickly: "No, Dad, don't worry!"
The old man nodded: "We can't just sit around and live off our wealth. We need to go out and explore, see if there's any long-term business we can do, a stable source of income. After that, you can go wherever you want, your mother and I will always be there for you! We won't let you go hungry!" He then looked at the child.
"A-Shu will be taking the high school entrance exam next year. Your goal is to get into the county's top high school. Don't forget that. You need to work hard next semester and focus on your studies. I'm not worried about A-Hua's grades. She'll definitely get into the county's top high school. If possible, we can try for a school in the city. As for A-Yin, there's even less to worry about. Just keep up her good grades. A-Le is still young. Just make sure she eats well, sleeps well, and grows up healthy. Okay, I'm done talking. Let's eat!"
After he finished speaking, he and the old lady picked up some food first, and then everyone else started to eat.
Two plates of stir-fried chicken with wood ear mushrooms, two plates of blood duck, one plate of braised fish, one plate of sausage, one plate of stir-fried beef with celery, and in the middle of the dish was pork tripe and chicken soup, as well as two large pork knuckles that Gu Le had been longing for for a long time.
After dinner, Gu Shu and Gu Le quickly took a shower, changed into new clothes, and then went out to play with firecrackers and toy guns.
Gu Yin followed Gu Hua out to eat.
When I arrived at the convenience store, I was surrounded by children, from high school students to those who hadn't even started school yet, all showing off their new toys.
Gu Hua was having a blowing contest with the village girls, holding a caterpillar-shaped balloon. As the balloon grew bigger and bigger, Gu Yin quickly walked away, worried that her mouth would hurt if it exploded.
"Sister, do you play with firecrackers?"
Gu Yin turned around and saw Gu Le holding a match, but dared not light it.
Gu Yin took it: "Just swipe it hard against this, and when you hear a 'poof' sound, throw it far away. Don't be afraid." After saying that, she swipeed it hard, saw smoke coming out, and hurriedly threw it far away, only to find it landed in a pile of cow dung not far away.
Before she could warn the people, the excrement exploded. Gu Yin grabbed Gu Le and hurriedly ran to a distance, then pretended not to have seen what was happening.
As expected, there was an uproar over there, with everyone searching for the culprit.
Seeing that no one had noticed, Gu Yin breathed a sigh of relief: "When playing with firecrackers, you have to pay attention to your surroundings. Don't be like me, or you'll get yelled at to death."
Gu Le covered her mouth to suppress her laughter, nodded, then took the firecracker and, imitating her older sister's actions, threw it away as soon as it melted. Gu Yin followed the trajectory of the firecracker and saw it go into the pocket of a village girl who had just walked by. With a bang, it smashed. The girl was stunned, and Gu Yin was also stunned. Gu Le hugged Gu Yin tightly, and was also stunned.
For a moment, Gu Yin's mind was filled with a chaotic and bewildered feeling. What a damn coincidence!
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