Chapter 66 Preparing for the New Year, the annoying stuff is back again!
When they arrived in the village, it was already eleven o'clock. In three days it would be Lunar New Year's Eve, so the villagers were busy with spring cleaning and making tofu. When they saw them coming back with big bags and small packages, everyone gathered around them.
"Brother Gu, where have you come from? You've bought so much New Year's goods!"
Gu Qingming didn't hide anything and said with a smile, "I brought back some goods from another province. I plan to sell them on the street during the Spring Festival to earn some tuition fees for the children next year!"
Hearing this, everyone became even more curious: "What kinds of things are there?"
Gu Qingming opened the bag: "It's all radios and tape recorders."
Upon hearing that it was an electronic product, some people lost interest and left, while some younger people were curious: "How much does this cost?"
"A radio costs 20 yuan, a tape recorder costs 35 yuan, and you get a free pair of headphones with every purchase. If you buy headphones separately, they're 2 yuan a pair!" When they left yesterday, Boss Xia gave them two bags of headphones.
A slight commotion arose in the crowd. Some people, tempted by the low price, asked, "Could you save one for me? I'll use my New Year's money to buy one!"
However, some people felt that since it's Chinese New Year, could the price be lowered a bit: "It's Chinese New Year, could the price be lowered a bit? How about 10 yuan? If so, I'll buy 3!"
Gu Qinglang ignored those who wanted to take advantage of the situation and instead looked at those who were interested: "Sure, you can come to my house during the New Year! I won't say much more now, I haven't slept for two nights and I'm very tired. You can ask me any questions later!"
After saying that, he picked up his bag and left the crowd.
When they got home, the old lady had just finished cooking. Some of them took a shower, some ate, and then they all slept until the next day.
When Gu Yin woke up the next day, she saw the old lady grinding soybeans, and Gu Yin went over to help put the soybeans in.
"Grandma, how much are we making this year?"
The old lady hung the ground soybeans into the bucket and said with a smile, "I haven't made stuffed tofu in years, so I have to make three batches! How about we skip cooking lunch and just have tofu pudding instead?"
Gu Yin said indifferently, "It's fine."
After a while, everyone got up. Some started a fire, some washed the molds, and Gu Shu took out peanuts to grind them, so they could be added to the tofu pudding later.
Gu Yin couldn't eat much tofu pudding, but she did drink two bowls of soy milk.
After everything was finished, children from the village started coming over one after another in the afternoon to ask about the radio.
The old man carried a radio with him when he went out, which contained a cassette tape that Gu Shu had bought before. The old lady rolled her eyes at his smug look.
"Showing off like this is unbelievable! At your age! Aren't you ashamed!"
Gu Yin quickly smiled and said, "Grandma, Grandpa can advertise our tape recorder by going out like this, which is a good thing!" When she returned to the village in her previous life, not all of them, but 90% of the elderly people had a tape recorder or small speaker hanging from their waists, which they would put down wherever they went!
When her granddaughter mentioned that she could advertise, the old lady stopped complaining.
On the 29th of the lunar year, the whole family goes to the market. The old lady and her family go to buy firecrackers, paper money and other things needed for worship, while Gu Qingming and Gu Qinglang set up a stall. Li Mengxin and Li Xiang take the four children, Gu Shu and Gu Yin, to buy new clothes. This is a tradition for the Lunar New Year.
The only time they can buy new clothes all year round is during the Chinese New Year, but that won't happen anymore, because their family is rich now!
To secure a good spot for their stall, the Gu family members set off for the streets at eight in the morning.
They secured a spot three meters long and one meter wide in the center of the street. After paying a five-yuan stall fee, Gu's father and the others laid out the burlap sacks they had brought on the wooden board. Then, everyone started taking out their goods and arranging them neatly. Gu Yin took a watercolor pen and wrote the prices on a piece of white paper, then posted it in front of the stall. This way, those who were hesitant to ask the prices would see them and come up to buy if they were interested.
"Alright, I'll stay here by myself. You guys go buy your things first!" Gu Qinglang sat in the stall looking around, while Gu Qingming went with the old lady and the old man to buy firecrackers.
Gu Yin and the others headed towards the clothing store.
There is a clothing store in the town with seven rows of iron racks, each about ten meters high. Each row of racks has six stalls, and all the clothes are hung on the racks, which are about four or five meters high. They sell both men's and women's clothing.
Gu Yin and the others went to check on the girls first.
Gu Yin thought the clothes were really ugly; the material was bad, the style was bad, and in short, they had no unique features.
"How about buying jeans? I see a lot of students wearing these kinds of jeans now," Li Mengxin showed Gu Yin a pair of jeans with a megaphone and lots of flowers.
Gu Yin shook her head: "Jeans are too stiff, I don't like them. I'll buy sweatpants instead."
Gu Yin picked out a navy blue tracksuit for winter, and then picked out a spring outfit with a white top, black sleeves, and black trousers. In the end, Li Mengxin couldn't stand it and said that wearing these colors during the New Year was not good-looking.
So they got her a red cotton coat and a pair of jeans. In the end, Gu Yin swapped the flared jeans for dark blue straight-leg jeans. They also bought her a pink and yellow striped hooded sweater and a pair of black leather shoes. The shoes looked a bit like loafers from later generations, but they were still acceptable.
Li Mengxin and her friends bought much simpler things, either red or fuchsia. In their opinion, what kind of New Year is it if you don't wear red?
Seeing that Gu Yin's clothes looked good, Gu Hua changed the color of her clothes to match. Gu Yin didn't mind; after all, they were matching outfits!
Gu Shu and Gu Le both bought sportswear. There aren't many styles of clothing for boys; they're either sportswear or those flashy, tight-fitting jeans. Not to mention Gu Shu himself, even Li Xiang wouldn't buy him those!
After buying clothes for the whole family, everyone returned to the stall.
It was already noon. After putting everything down, Li Mengxin and Li Xiang took them to eat. The noodle stall was too crowded, so Gu Yin didn't want to go. She asked Gu Qinglang and the others to go with her, while she watched the stall and waited for them to come back and bring her some food.
Seeing her insistence, everyone agreed.
After everyone left, Gu Yin noticed that the stall was a bit messy, probably because someone had bought or looked at things. Gu Yin got up and tidied it up, and just as she sat down, someone came over to the stall.
"Hey beautiful, selling something? What a coincidence!"
Gu Yin looked up and saw the man who had stopped her and tried to chat her up at the internet cafe earlier.
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