One twenty-yuan note, three ten-yuan notes, totaling fifty yuan.
You can tell from the house alone that Chen Feng's family is not well-off.
Liu Ping makes a living by raising some poultry and farming some land. Sometimes when others hire workers, she will work for a few days and earn fifty yuan a day.
Even if you're constantly busy all year round, your income is only around 15,000 yuan.
Besides daily expenses and what Chen Feng spent, there wasn't much left.
"Um... Mom, I want three thousand." Chen Feng took the fifty yuan and said with some difficulty.
"What? How much do you want?" Liu Ping's eyes widened in shock at Chen Feng's words, and she looked at him in disbelief.
"Sanqian, what are you going to do? You might as well take my life."
Liu Ping's face clearly showed her refusal; there was no way she would give it to him.
Giving him fifty is not a small amount; it's enough for him to live on for several days.
If I really gave him three thousand, he probably wouldn't come home for the next two weeks, and wouldn't come back until he'd squandered it all.
"No, Mom, I want to go pan for gold with the villagers, but I need to buy some equipment."
"All the odds and ends together, it's estimated to be around three thousand."
Chen Feng knew that Liu Ping was shocked because she thought he was going to squander the money. After saying that, he added, "Consider this three thousand as a loan to you. I'll give it back to you when I make money."
Upon hearing this, Liu Ping looked doubtful and said, "Really? You're really going to pan for gold, not just squander it?"
"Of course it's true, I also think we can't keep squatting like this anymore," Chen Feng nodded seriously.
"Gold panning..."
When the topic of gold panning comes up, Liu Ping can't help but hesitate.
Some villagers are indeed panning for gold, but due to the poor economy, there aren't many temporary workers available.
So they came up with a shady way to make money: they took a metal detector and went to the abandoned gold mine next door to pan for gold.
Everyone dreamed of finding a gold brick and becoming rich overnight, but unfortunately, almost everyone came back with scrap metal every day.
Occasionally, someone might find a gold nugget, and that would be enough to excite them for half a month.
In reality, the average monthly income of a gold prospector was only three or four hundred yuan.
But because everyone is dreaming of striking gold tomorrow, many people are still happy to do this job even though the income is very low.
“Son, this line of work is too unstable. It’s no different from gambling. Why don’t you find a stable job? Many people in our village bought equipment, but they quit before they even made back their investment.”
Liu Ping was afraid that Chen Feng's enthusiasm would only last three days, and that he would eventually quit and lose several thousand yuan. Besides, this industry was too unstable. It sounded like you could strike it rich, but in reality, it was a no-brainer and not a long-term solution.
"Mom, trust me this time. I'm serious this time. I'm definitely not just going through the motions."
Chen Feng knew what she was worried about; after all, three thousand yuan was no small sum for her family.
Those were all earned little by little by my mother, who worked odd jobs, weeding and planting in the fields during the sweltering summer heat.
Seeing that Chen Feng didn't seem to be joking this time, Liu Ping pursed her lips and hesitated for a long time before finally going to her room and taking out a red cloth bag.
When she returned, she opened the red cloth in front of Chen Feng and counted the hundred-yuan bills inside.
Two thousand nine in total.
She took out some change from her pocket, making a total of one hundred yuan.
Clutching the three thousand yuan tightly in her hand, Liu Ping looked at Chen Feng and said with deep concern.
"Eldest son, make your mother proud. Don't waste money, work hard."
“You know how painful it is for me every time your uncle talks about you in front of me.”
“I also want to hold my head high in front of him, and in front of all my relatives.”
"But I can't do anything about it. I know you're feeling bad too, so I usually don't say anything to you."
"I dare not eat or drink anything every day, but what is it all for?"
"Isn't it just so I can hold my head high in front of my relatives?"
“They always say we shouldn’t have spoiled you; we should have just left you at the factory.”
"But I always felt that my son wouldn't be so despondent, that one day he would be successful and able to support this family..."
"you……"
As she spoke, Liu Ping's eyes welled up with tears.
No one knows how difficult it was for her, a woman practically a widow, to raise Chen Feng; the hardships she endured are beyond comprehension.
As Chen Feng listened to Liu Ping's words, his eyes also turned red.
When the whole world thought Chen Feng was a failure, only his mother, Liu Ping, still foolishly believed that Chen Feng would one day wake up and become successful.
"Mom, don't worry, I won't let you down this time."
Chen Feng spoke softly, but his words revealed an unprecedented firmness.
"Okay, take this money. Mom trusts you." Liu Ping's voice was a little choked up as she stuffed the money into Chen Feng's hand and turned her head away.
She didn't want her son to see her vulnerable side.
Upon receiving the three thousand yuan, Chen Feng had never felt money so heavy. He stepped outside, took a deep breath, and faced the sunlight.
The woman who had been cursing at the entrance must have gotten tired and went home by then.
Chen Feng subconsciously reached into his pocket, wanting to grab a cigarette, but found it empty; he had no cigarettes left.
He shook his head and went to the village's farm machinery shop.
Upon entering, I saw several villagers chatting around the bar, while the owner, Han Jianguo, was smoking behind the bar.
Han Jianguo has a classic village-style buzz cut and wears a loose gray collared t-shirt. He looks to be around forty years old.
It must be said that he was quite good at seizing opportunities; he seized the business opportunity when gold prospectors first appeared in the village.
He sells tools to gold prospectors, regardless of whether they actually find gold or not, because he's guaranteed to make a profit selling the tools.
"Hey, Xiaofeng, what brings you here? Are you buying farm machinery?" Han Jianguo greeted Chen Feng with a smile, somewhat surprised.
"I came here to buy a metal detector. Do you still have any?" Chen Feng asked, looking at the various farm tools on his counter as he walked in.
"Yes, why did you buy a metal detector? Are you going to pan for gold too?" Han Jianguo said in surprise.
"Nothing much to do, just exploring for fun," Chen Feng smiled and didn't say anything more.
"Okay, gold panning is good, look at the village next door, I heard someone found a gold nugget a while ago, holy crap, he sold it for over 20,000!"
"You heard he struck gold, so you wanted to try your luck, right?"
Han Jianguo smiled, as if he knew exactly what Chen Feng was thinking.
The villagers nearby were surprised to hear this and began to speak up.
"How much? It sold for over 20,000! My God, that kid's made a fortune!"
"Damn it, I'll go shopping tomorrow too. How much do I make from farming all year?"
"If I could find such a big gold mine, I'd stay here for a year and get a license. My wife wouldn't dare utter a sound."
Seeing that Chen Feng didn't speak, Han Jianguo started rambling on again.
"Let me tell you, you've come to the right place to buy from me."
"Do you know whose metal detector that kid used to find such a large amount of gold?"
"Damn it, if it weren't for my metal detector, he could never have found such a huge amount of gold. He can only dream about it."
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