Huang Jianguo sat on the edge of the bed, grabbed a handful of melon seeds and started eating them, pointing at the melon seed candies he had bought while eating.

"What should we do with these things?"

"Whatever, we'll keep it for ourselves!"

Peng Fang loves eating melon seeds the most. Seeing her husband eating them enthusiastically, she couldn't help but grab a handful of them.

For a moment, the room was filled with melon seed shells flying everywhere.

"Then I'll deposit the 200 yuan back into the passbook tomorrow? It's New Year's Day, it's not safe to keep so much money at home."

"No need to save it. I have a use for the 200 yuan. Leave 50 for Xiaowen's living expenses, and the rest for Xiaozhao as his travel expenses. I'll also buy something for Huang Yao's mother. You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child. We must get hold of the Yun family's cash cow no matter what."

Huang Jianguo nodded repeatedly, "You are right, let Xiao Zhao bring some bacon, Huang Yao will definitely like it."

"That's right. Huang Yao loved bacon the most when she was little. She once came to our house and secretly ate half a bowl of it. I gave her a good beating."

Peng Fang said with some emotion, "If I had known she would be so lucky, I would have been more gentle."

—

The bamboo weaving factory's recruitment was even more popular than Yunmo had imagined. Even until New Year's Eve, there were still people coming to apply for the jobs.

This is mainly due to the salary and benefits set by Yunmo.

In this age when food and clothing are a problem, providing food and accommodation, a fixed salary plus piecework wages plus bonuses, various benefits, and being close to home are very attractive to rural people who want to make money.

In previous years, when everyone got together during the Chinese New Year, they would discuss how much money each family earned and where to work next year.

These days, everyone is talking about the bamboo weaving factory run by the Huang family.

Huang Qinghe also took the opportunity to talk to her husband Yang Jiayong about this matter, but was rejected by Yang Jiayong.

Yang Jiayong worked as a cutter in a garment factory, which was a technical job that paid much more than sewing, ironing and packaging. It took him several years to become a skilled cutter technician.

In the past two years, the clothing industry has been booming, and the bosses of clothing factories in Zhejiang Province are almost going crazy to recruit workers. Last year, several clothing factory bosses tried to poach him, offering him a salary of up to 40 yuan a month.

The treatment in the bamboo weaving factory sounds good, but what’s the use of learning bamboo weaving?

Huang Qinghe is different from Yang Jiayong. She is just an ordinary seamstress. Her monthly salary is at most 30 yuan. Taking into account travel expenses and other things, it would be good if she could save 20 yuan a month.

If you work in a bamboo weaving factory, you can save at least 25 yuan a month as long as you work hard.

But Yang Jiayong was unwilling to work in the bamboo weaving factory, and she didn't want to be separated from her husband, so she was in a dilemma for a while.

Today is New Year's Eve. After lunch, Huang Qinghe tied an apron on and started frying meatballs, glutinous rice cakes, and tofu cakes.

Of the three brothers in the Yang family, two brothers have moved out and only Yang Jiayong lives with his elders.

After dinner, Yang Jiayong went out to play cards with others. His mother and father also went out to have fun, leaving Huang Qinghe the only one busy at home.

When the aunties and grandmas in the countryside chatter, they are nothing more than discussing how much money each family has earned this year, who has married a new wife, who has a new baby, and so on.

The Yang family is considered to be relatively well-off economically in the village.

The eldest brother is a bricklayer and built a brick house several years ago. The second brother is a carpenter and also built a small bungalow last year. The third brother, Yang Jiayong, is the only one left.

Yang Jiayong is not as well off as his two older brothers, but he can still earn a lot of money working outside every year.

Everyone in the village envied Yang's mother.

"That's right. Although your daughter-in-law is usually not at home, she is busy running around when she comes back, leaving you alone. It's not easy to find such a diligent daughter-in-law nowadays."

When talking about the eldest and second sons, Yang's mother was quite happy. But when she mentioned the third son's wife, her face suddenly fell.

"Being diligent is useless. It's been three years and she hasn't laid a single egg yet! Look at the Liu family's daughter-in-law. She got married half a year later than the one in my family, and she's already pregnant with her second child!"

Someone advised Yang's mother to be more open-minded, "Having a child depends on fate. If fate is not right, you won't get pregnant for several years. If fate is right, it's common to have two children in three years, and three in five years."

Someone suggested to Yang's mother, "Why don't you take your child to Niutou Village to pay homage to Grandmother Ma, she's quite effective. The one from the Liu family went to pay homage to his wife just two days after getting married. Look, isn't she pregnant with her second child now?"

Mother Yang was eager to try, "Is it really that effective?"

"Why would I lie to you? Many people have already gone there to worship."

"Then I'll take her there tomorrow."

When Yang's mother returned home, she went into the kitchen. When she saw what was on the stove, her face suddenly became longer than a horse's.

"Why are these meatballs fried black?"

Huang Qinghe quickly explained: "The fire in the stove was too strong just now, and I didn't have time to scoop it out, so some of it got burnt."

Mother Yang's eyes were like a knife cutting towards Huang Qinghe.

"Tell me what's the use of you? You can't even do such a small thing. I raise a few chickens and they know how to lay eggs every day. What about you? You have been married into our Yang family for three years and you haven't achieved anything. I really don't know what bad luck Jiayong has to have to marry such a useless thing like you..."

Yun Mo didn't expect that when she came to deliver some gifts during the New Year, she would hear Huang Qinghe being insulted by her mother-in-law.

Huang Qingning clenched his teeth, his eyes flashing with anger. If Yun Mo hadn't held him back, he would have rushed in long ago.

"It's hard to settle family affairs after customs clearance. Let's give them the things first. If there's anything to say, we can talk slowly after my cousin comes home."

With Yun Mo's whispered comfort, Huang Qingning's emotions slowly calmed down.

Yun Mo reached out and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

Mother Yang opened the door angrily, and when she saw Yun Mo and Huang Qingning outside, her expression suddenly changed 180 degrees and she smiled.

"It's Qingning, come in and sit down."

"My mother asked me to bring you something."

"Hey, Qingning, are you crazy?"

Huang Qingning was still young after all, with a straightforward temper and an aggressive tone. It didn't seem like he was coming to give a gift, but rather to collect a debt.

It was New Year's Day, and Yun Mo didn't want to make things awkward, so she took over the conversation and explained, "Auntie, when we came here, we were frightened by a barking vicious dog, and Qingning hasn't recovered yet."

After saying that, without waiting for Yang's mother to respond, Yun Mo handed over the things in her and Huang Qingning's hands.

"There's half a braised goose, some meatballs and tofu cakes, and another bag of peanut candy, which we made ourselves. Bring it over for you to try."

Mother Yang took the gift with a big smile on her face. "Oh, my parents-in-law are really generous. They always think of our family when they have something good. Qingning, thank your parents for me."

(End of this chapter)