Chapter 51 Counting Money
When Li Mingfang returned from the fields, some old men at the village entrance greeted her: "Mingfang, why hasn't Lao Gu come back from his odd jobs in the city? It's almost Chinese New Year, aren't you going to slaughter your pig?"
Li Mingfang went to the pond to wash her hoe and called out, "Not yet. They said they wouldn't be back until the 28th of the lunar year. Don't worry, I already told the village chief that they'll come to my house to help after they slaughter their pig. Everyone should come over later for a pig-slaughtering feast and have some fun."
Everyone nodded: "Okay, but don't refuse us entry when we all go!"
"Mingfang wouldn't do that, Mingfang is very generous!"
After washing the hoe, Li Mingfang got up and said, "Okay, everyone come on over. There's plenty of meat, and you can bring your own wine! None of the men in the family are here this year, so there's no one to brew wine. We'll have to buy some to worship our ancestors during the festival."
"We'll bring our own drinks! You don't need to worry about that!"
Li Mingfang nodded: "Then remember to come over. I haven't fed the chickens and ducks at home yet. I'll head back now. You two can chat all you want!" After saying goodbye, she walked home.
Just as I reached the intersection near my home, I saw Juanzi and Li Fengni carrying corn stalks as they walked from the foot of the mountain.
Juanzi saw her too, stopped, put down the corn stalks, took a breath, and greeted her with a smile: "Where are you going, Auntie?"
"Going back from the field? You're harvesting corn stalks, are you just the two of you? Where's Da Hu? Why didn't he come with you?!"
Juanzi looked distressed upon hearing this: "He went to drink in other villages. It's alright. Fengni and I are used to it anyway. We can carry this little bit of stuff a few times."
Li Mingfang sighed, "Sigh, this can't go on like this. I'll have your uncle talk to him another day. The kid is almost graduating from junior high. Are you going to pay for his high school tuition all by yourself? You're just too easygoing and spoil him too much!"
Juanzi smiled bitterly: "Who doesn't talk about it? Many people in the village talk about him, but he won't listen to a word. Back then, the old Party Secretary even bought wine and came to our house to drink with him, trying to kindly persuade him at the dinner table. But as you saw, he directly hit the old Party Secretary. If the old Party Secretary hadn't been so magnanimous, he would have been in jail long ago!"
Li Fengni, who was standing nearby, kept her head down and remained silent. However, after hearing what Juanzi said, she picked up her bundle of corn stalks and quickly left the area.
Li Mingfang assumed that Fengni left because she felt ashamed, so she didn't say anything more. After all, the incident had indeed caused quite a stir back then. Li Genzi had been hit on the head and ended up accepting his bad luck because Li Dahu's family didn't have the money to treat him.
"Your child is suffering inside, don't say anything to her. Once she graduates from university, you'll be able to relax. Just endure a few more years of hardship! Go on, go back."
Juanzi nodded upon hearing this, smiled apologetically, and then carried the corn stalks away.
Li Mingfang watched her departing figure, sighed, shook her head, and then turned and walked towards the Gu family's house.
Li Mengxin was cooking dinner, and Li Xiang was cutting rope. In a few days, they would need to tie the rope and cut it into sections to make sausages. Gu Le and Gu Hua were helping her. When they saw the old lady return, Gu Le got up and ran over, took the hoe, and put it behind the door.
The old lady smiled and patted his head, then looked at Li Xiang: "The eldest and second eldest sons are coming back tonight. Have you cooked enough dinner?"
Li Xiang nodded: "My sister-in-law is cooking inside, there will definitely be enough food, Mom, don't worry!" After saying that, she put the cut rope into the basin to wash it.
While washing, she worriedly said, "I wonder how they are doing."
They clearly remembered their home phone number, but they didn't call back at all the past two days, causing everyone a lot of worry. They just called to say they were almost home and to remember to cook for them. They hung up before they could ask anything else.
No sooner had she finished speaking than a bicycle bell rang outside the door. Gu Hua and Gu Le got up and ran towards the door. A moment later, the four people, looking travel-worn, followed them in.
After entering the house, Gu Shu closed the door. Gu Qingming looked at Li Xiang, smiled, and then looked at the old lady: "Mom, we're back!"
The old lady nodded: "It's good that you're back. It's good that you're back."
Hearing the noise in the kitchen, Li Mengxin ran out and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the four of them standing safely in the yard: "Are you alright on the way?"
Gu Yin went over and hugged her, reassuring her, "It's alright, I had a safe journey. I'm sorry to have worried you."
Li Mengxin patted her hair, then looked at Gu Qinglang: "That's good. Are you hungry? Would you like to eat something to tide you over? The dishes haven't been cooked yet!"
Gu Qinglang shook his head: "Not hungry!"
After drinking a large glass of water, Gu Shu excitedly exclaimed, "We're so excited that nobody's hungry! Hehe!"
Hearing him say that, the old lady's eyes lit up and she stared intently at her eldest son.
Seeing this, Gu Qingming smiled and nodded, patting the backpack on his back: "Let's go inside and talk!"
Gu Shu immediately grabbed Gu Le: "Come on, let's find a good spot to watch!"
Everyone went into the old lady's room together, where Gu Shu and Gu Le were already sitting on the bed waiting.
Seeing this, Gu Qingming took a few burlap sacks from behind the door and laid them down. After everyone had come in, he closed the door and turned on the light.
Seeing this, Gu Shu couldn't help but laugh. Did this sense of ceremony have to be so heavy?
However, the others became nervous because of Gu Qingming's actions.
Gu Qingming sat down on the ground, took off his schoolbag, glanced at everyone, then opened the zipper and emptied out all the money inside.
As he moved, gasps of surprise rose and fell throughout the room.
The gasps from inside the room only stopped after he shook his schoolbag and found no more money.
"Ouch! Tsk! Grandma, why are you pinching me!" Gu Shu's exclamation brought everyone back to their senses.
The old lady slapped him, then sat down on the ground, looked at the pile of money on the ground, and then looked at her two sons: "Did you earn all of this?"
Gu Qingming nodded: "That's right!"
"My God! I've never seen so much money in my entire life! How much is here?"
Gu Qinglang shook his head: "I'm not sure, we haven't counted them yet! Let's all count them together now, and separate the ones with different amounts, one thousand to a dozen."
After he spoke, everyone gathered around, and even Gu Le joined in counting.
Gu Yin had seen far more money in her past life than this, but she had never been this happy. In her past life, it was just strings of numbers; counting cash was much more exciting!
After counting for over half an hour, and then checking and summarizing repeatedly, Gu Qingming looked at everyone and said in a trembling voice, "There's a total of 58,900 yuan here! Four bags of radios, each with 600 radios! That's 2,400 radios at 20 yuan each, sold for 48,000 yuan! 300 tape recorders at 35 yuan each, sold for 10,500 yuan! 400 headphones, sold for 400 yuan each! So the total profit is 58,900 yuan! Ayin didn't put the money she earned here; the travel expenses, food, lodging, the commission from helping others, and the 5,000 yuan Mom gave us, plus the 2,000 yuan from the two of us, totaled 9,490 yuan! Our total profit is 49,410 yuan! Qinglang and I each contributed 12,000 yuan of our profits, so Mom got 25,410 yuan! But since Mom gave us extra for the travel expenses, my brother and I plan to give her 2,000 yuan, so Mom got 29,410 yuan!"
The old lady's breath caught in her throat. She had given out five thousand and received back over twenty thousand! And she had only been gone for three days, yet she had earned so much in just three days! Good heavens!
Gu Yin took out her money and counted it: "I brought ten MP3 players and one MP4 player, which cost 600 yuan. I sold the MP4 player for 180 yuan and the MP3 player for 1100 yuan. The total profit was 1280 yuan, and the profit was 680 yuan." The gift for Gu Hua was not included.
The rest of the family was stunned by the huge number and couldn't process it for a moment.
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