After dinner, He Na and her sister, He Shan and her sister, also came to He Wenlin's house to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
He Wenlin's father used to be an appliance repairman, so her family had an old black and white television.
Even black and white televisions were still rare in rural areas at that time.
Aunt He placed some snacks and melon seeds on the table, and under the table was a brazier. In case the fire went out too quickly, she also added a small piece of tea dregs cake to the brazier (a cake made from the residue after tea seeds are pressed for oil; it is used to make firewood in winter, it burns very long and produces no smoke).
He Wenlin hadn't watched the Spring Festival Gala for many years, and even watching it again was much more exciting than the later ones.
By 11 o'clock, everyone was exhausted.
He Shan and her sister, He Na, took their flashlights and went home.
He Wenlin also climbed into bed, but even during the Lunar New Year, she couldn't expect to get a good night's sleep.
Because at midnight, every household sets off firecrackers.
He Wenlin earned a couple of cents this year and bought a lot of fireworks to set off.
In those days, in her hometown, unless the family was wealthy, no one would be willing to buy fireworks unless it was a happy occasion.
As a boss, how can a boss not set off fireworks at home during the Chinese New Year?
The sky is full of Mars, how beautiful!
It all smells like money.
No one slept much that night, as the sound of firecrackers kept going off.
Lying on the bed, Xia Lijuan kicked He Wenhua: "Wenhua."
"What? Thinking about it?" He Wenhua flipped over and pressed down on him.
Xia Lijuan pushed him away and said irritably, "What are you thinking about? I'm talking to you about serious matters!"
"Isn't having a baby a serious matter?" He Wenhua said, his hand already reaching inside Xia Lijuan's clothes.
Xia Lijuan slapped the paper away: "Listen to me carefully!"
"Okay, okay, I'm listening."
"Next December, I plan to bring my parents and siblings over for a visit. We haven't registered our marriage yet, but I'll come with you to spend the New Year this year. My parents almost disowned me. Next winter, you must come back to my hometown with me. Then, I'll bring them over for a few days. I need to let them know where their daughter has married, right?"
"Yes, you're right. We don't need to wait until the twelfth lunar month. I'll go back with you next Mid-Autumn Festival or Dragon Boat Festival. We'll have a few tables of food and drinks then, and we can get the marriage certificate when we reach the appropriate age."
Neither of them is old enough yet; one is twenty after the New Year, and the other is nineteen.
At this time, many people in this age group buy tickets after boarding, or even board without buying tickets.
“When my family comes, there’s nowhere for them to stay. Your family has to build a house for them,” Xia Lijuan said.
“Building a house, even without renovation, will cost tens of thousands of yuan. We don’t have the money. We’ll start saving next year. No, we should say this year. We’ll start saving this year.”
“You don’t have it, but your brother does!” Xia Lijuan said. “Your brother has such a large sum of money. Go and borrow it, and we’ll build the house. Once the house is built, when my family comes, I’ll have face, and you’ll have face too. Otherwise, when my family comes here next year, you won’t even have a place to stay.”
He Wenlin withdrew her "working" hands and said, "Several thousand yuan can't build a house."
"I won't go into detail about your brother's situation, but he definitely has five thousand. They've been doing business together, and they put up several thousand in capital. After selling all the goods, they made a little extra. Your sister Linlin definitely has some too. She's so young, and she already has a mobile phone. Neither of us has one yet. Your sister already has a mobile phone, so your uncle and aunt must have made a lot of money. Borrow some more from them, and your dad must have some from working outside. By piecing things together, you'll have a house."
He Wenhua remained silent.
Xia Lijuan pinched him and asked, "Did you hear me?"
“I heard you,” He Wenhua said. “But my uncle and aunt still owe a lot of money to the credit union and the bank. We can’t help them. It’s not good to borrow money at this time. Besides, they’re already in debt, where would they get the money to borrow?”
“My mom says businessmen don’t always tell the truth. If they say they owe money, do they really mean it? Your uncle and aunt can’t possibly be broke. Why wouldn’t they be able to afford to pay your brother such a high salary? Go ask them tomorrow.”
"Tomorrow is the first day of the lunar month. Who asks for money on the first day of the lunar month?"
"Then ask in the second year of junior high."
"We'll see when the time comes." After saying that, He Wenhua yawned, turned over, and prepared to go to sleep.
...
The next day, everyone got up early to have breakfast.
During the Chinese New Year, there's a lot of oily food and snacks, so I can't eat any rice at all.
He Wenlin drank half a bowl of brown sugar wine and ate some sweet potato noodles cooked in chicken soup, and then she felt full.
"Grandma, do you have a lot of vermicelli at home? Bring some more when you go to Shaoxing, I love it."
These sweet potato noodles have a great texture because they are made from real sweet potatoes grown at home, unlike the ones sold in supermarkets.
Chicken soup is delicious; add a few egg dumplings, and the taste is absolutely amazing!
“So much! We know you love sweet potatoes, and we’re not home, so last year’s sweet potatoes, your Aunt Jinfeng dug them up and processed them all into sweet potato vermicelli. It filled a whole snakeskin bag,” said Grandma He. “We also dried a lot of sweet potatoes.”
"Aunt Jin Feng was a great help."
"Of course. She'll be here next year—no, let's say this year—because her family is building a new house this year, so she's taking over all the land."
The land cannot be left barren, so it is given to others to cultivate, but they only provide a token amount of grain.
Although her father was the youngest among her siblings, her grandmother was the only surviving elder in her generation.
So around 9 o'clock, He Wenlin's uncle and his children came to wish her a Happy New Year.
He Wenlin's mother quickly poured tea.
The conversation inevitably touched on He Wenlin's fast food restaurant business and food factory business.
Outsiders wouldn't believe that He Wenlin was the one who spearheaded these businesses.
Mr. He used to be resentful that he couldn't "ascend the throne as emperor," but later he found that when others envied him for having a daughter who resembled Wu Zetian, he felt that it wasn't so bad.
And here he is, sitting in the center position, bragging...
“My daughter Linlin is indeed smart, just like me. At first, she was selling boxed lunches at a stall with her younger brother Xiaojun. Her mother and I thought she was just joking around and didn’t take it seriously.”
They thought as long as the children didn't run around, it would be fine, but they couldn't keep up with demand every meal because everyone in the factory loved to eat it.
Later, she rented a mud-brick house and called over Lin Fei, the son of Shan Shan and Lan Ying, to help her, and they started a business in a proper manner.
At that time, I was afraid she would lose money. I thought this girl was really bold, renting a house and starting a business without saying a word. Who would have thought that business would be so good?
He Xing, that son of a bitch, tried to copy my business, but he was unlucky and not as capable as my Linlin. His boxed lunch business failed, and he even offended the factory's customers, so in the end he had to set up a stall.
"He only made so much money by setting up a stall because of Linlin's influence; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to earn so much."
When it comes to He Xing making money, He's father still feels a bit resentful. Who would want their enemy to be doing well?
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