"Old man, old man, come here quickly!" The old lady opened the door of Qian Xiao's house and called out to the yard.
Old Man Qian thought something had happened, so he dragged his shoes over without even putting on his coat and came running over: "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
The old lady pulled the old man into Qian Xiao's room: "Come and listen, our Erdan really fixed that radio, listen!"
The old lady's shout alerted everyone in the family, and in an instant, Qian Xiao's small room was packed full.
Second Aunt slapped her thigh: "My goodness, our Erdan is amazing! The people here speak so nicely."
Qian Sanbao wiped his hands on his clothes before carefully touching the radio's casing: "My dear niece, you're amazing! You actually fixed it. We really made a fortune this time. We only spent two yuan to buy such a big item."
Qian Erbao was also very interested in it, but he didn't dare to touch it. What if it stopped talking after he touched it?
"By the way, didn't Uncle Baozhu say that if you repair it, the village will pay for it, and we can make extra money that way?"
The old man objected: "Sell it? What are you talking about? Erdan fixed it himself, we'll keep it for ourselves," as if none of you wanted to hear this.
The old man had only heard of it once when he was young in the city. Why would he sell such a big item?
Qian Sanbao's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Really, Dad? We can really keep it ourselves?"
"What's the difference between real and fake? This is our stuff." That's a ridiculous question, considering the money's already been paid and it's not even ours.
"That's great! Now we won't feel so stuffy even if we stay indoors in the dead of winter."
The old lady had a different idea from the old man: "Why keep it? This thing consumes batteries, and batteries are hard to sell. These two were bought by our eldest son last year. What's the point of listening to it without batteries?"
"Mom, our supply and marketing cooperative should sell batteries, right? Let's keep it for ourselves." Uncle San was really reluctant to part with it. A radio! In their village, only his family had one. How awesome was that?
"I don't know if our supply and marketing cooperative sells it, but I do know that you need an industrial ration coupon to buy this stuff. Can you get me an industrial ration coupon?"
If industrial ration coupons were so easy to obtain, many families in the village would have patched up their iron pots repeatedly, reluctant to buy new ones, because they couldn't afford new pots without industrial ration coupons.
Upon hearing that tickets were required, Sanbao immediately fell silent. Where was he going to get tickets?
Seeing that everyone in the family liked Qian Xiao, he pleaded on her behalf: "How about this, Grandma? We can keep it at home for the winter and sell it to the village in the spring. Grandpa promised to give me some tickets or something, so we can make a profit and also prevent others from coming to listen and wasting electricity, okay?"
"Can you buy batteries, or are you saying these two batteries will last you all winter?"
She had no idea how long those two batteries would last.
"Well, let's see if the supply and marketing cooperative sells batteries first, then we can make a decision, okay? Let the family have these two batteries for now, and we'll talk about it again when they run out of power, is that alright?"
"That's such a waste," the old lady said, feeling sorry for the battery. If she had been willing to use it, she could have kept it hidden away for over a year.
"Grandma, you don't know, these batteries will lose power if they're left unused for too long. You'll be even more upset if they run out of power before you've even used them. It's better to use them now."
The old lady asked suspiciously, "Are you telling the truth?"
"Of course it's true. I read it in a book. Don't believe me? Let me find it for you."
The old lady waved her hand, still trusting her eldest granddaughter: "No need, then just use these two batteries for now. If you can buy more, you can continue listening; if not, they'll just be decorations."
Of course, even if you can't hear it, having something like this at home is enough to make others envious.
Qian Erbao looked at it for a long time and said, "Erdan, this shell is broken. It looks like it's made of wood. How about I make you a new shell?"
Qian Xiao looked at the radio casing, which clearly had several cracks from being dropped: "Okay, Second Uncle, just make it to the original size. I'll replace it after you finish it."
"Sir, why don't you take it to the main room to listen? I've heard that sometimes they play opera songs and such."
Qian Sanbao immediately picked up the radio as if it were a family heirloom, and in an instant, the whole family disappeared from their room, leaving only Qian Xiao and his two youngest brothers on the kang (a heated brick bed).
No, you all left, why didn't you take these two little ones with you?
After thinking for a moment, she got out of bed, put on her shoes, picked up one child in each hand, and took them directly to the main room. She was practically a kindergarten teacher now, having to look after the children the moment she opened her eyes.
Seven Eggs and Eight Eggs thought their eldest sister was playing with them, and they laughed heartily.
Qian Xiao wasn't very interested in listening to the radio. She went straight back to her room, tidied up, and lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed): "Oh my god, I can finally lie down properly."
"Host, don't you feel a great sense of accomplishment?"
Qian Xiao took a moment to assess the situation: "No, but I just feel that this thing is definitely not something an ordinary person can do."
The two eggs, who were trying to persuade the students to study, were immediately speechless. They looked at the big shot next door, who had already started studying high school courses on his own and said he wanted to take the college entrance exam next year and become a scientist.
Why is my own so much worse? It has such convenient conditions. It has a huge amount of learning materials and advanced technology from the future. Even if my host wants to become a scientist, he can avoid a lot of detours.
"Don't you ever dream of becoming a scientist?"
"No, I just want to be a rich kid who can live a life of leisure and idleness." Am I stupid? Why should I work hard so that the next generation can enjoy a life of luxury?
"But if you want to be a second-generation rich kid, your parents have to be self-made millionaires, right?"
Qian Xiao sighed, her tone tinged with unspoken regret: "That's right, so it can only be an ideal. What is an ideal? It's just something to dream about when you have nothing to do. How many people can actually realize their great ideals?"
Double Egg... You really think your ideal is so great? Isn't studying hard and serving the country the only great ideal?
No, it tried to persuade it again. How could its dual-egg host be so unambitious? "Scientists are so great; they can change the world."
"I'm not cut out for that. Changing the world is out of the question. I'm lucky if I can change myself. I just want to go to university as soon as possible, get my degree, and find an office job with a secure job."
The next twenty years will be fraught with trouble; many capable and educated people will suffer. Workers will be the safest. Her family doesn't have any powerful background, and she's not one to suffer losses easily. If she really runs into a villain, she probably won't even survive a single episode.
She's good with actions and words, but don't come to her with anything that requires thinking.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com