Xiao Shanshan ran to the gate, peeked around, and seeing no one on the street, quickly went home, closed the gate, and bolted it shut.
Then he ran back into the house looking nervous.
"Brother, where did you get so much money?"
Xiao Weiguo pulled out a Hongtashan cigarette from the pack, put it in his mouth, and said nonchalantly, "You saw it all, of course it was earned from selling socks."
"You can make this much money selling socks? You're not kidding me, are you?"
There was a huge pile of colorful banknotes on the kang (a heated brick bed), and Xiao Shanshan could hardly believe her eyes.
In an era when people with 10,000 yuan were extremely rare, many people never saw so much cash in their entire lives.
Now, a pound of pork costs less than a dollar, and rice is only 14 cents a pound. This amount of money is a huge sum for anyone.
What's more, their family couldn't even afford a bottle of soy sauce just half a month ago.
Xiao Wei lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and then exhaled a long breath, the thick smoke instantly billowing from his lungs.
Seemingly having vented all his frustrations, Xiao Weiguo replied easily, "What's this money? In the future, I'll help you earn even more money and give you all a good life."
Xiao Shanshan glanced at her brother with her clear eyes.
A mist quickly blurred her vision.
My brother is really different now. He's no longer the good-for-nothing he used to be. Everything he does now is for the sake of this family.
Xiao Weiguo pushed a large pile of banknotes in front of his sister.
"Shanshan, keep this money safe. When your brother earns more money, we'll build a few big houses for our family. I'll make sure you live in a house that's even more impressive than the village chief's."
Xiao Shanshan frantically waved her small hands.
"Brother, I can't take so much money."
"What's there to be afraid of? This is all money I earned through hard work. There's nothing shameful about it. You can take it without worry. I only trust you. I can only feel at ease when the money is in your hands."
Xiao Weiguo persisted in pushing the money in front of his sister.
Seeing his insistence, Xiao Shanshan didn't say anything more. She carefully gathered the large pile of money together and wrapped it in a small cloth bag.
After looking around for a while, he finally hid the money in the bottom layer of the broken wardrobe in the corner.
"Brother, I'll leave the money here. You can take it whenever you need it."
After working so hard for so many days, Xiao Weiguo was genuinely happy to finally gain his sister's trust.
However, the money they have now is not enough to make her sister give up farming. She is always frugal, and the small harvest from her fields each year is the hope of the whole family.
No matter how hard or tiring it is, she will never give up.
Sigh, I still have to keep working hard. When will I be able to stop my silly little sister from suffering like that?
The next day, Xiao Weiguo and Liu Ye each rode a bicycle towards Wu County.
As dawn broke, the cool and fresh morning air, mixed with the scent of crops, made Xiao Weiguo feel incredibly relaxed.
"Weiguo, look, what's wrong with that old lady?"
Liu Ye, with her sharp eyes, stopped the car and called out to the spirited Xiao Weiguo.
Xiao Weiguo then noticed that not far behind him, there was an elderly woman in her sixties sitting alone by the roadside.
Her face was flushed, she was breathing heavily, and she kept wiping the tears from her forehead with a small handkerchief.
Logically, with such cool weather in the morning, people shouldn't be sweating so much when walking outside.
Xiao Weiguo was also a little confused. He squeezed the brakes and jumped off the bicycle.
Out of curiosity, Xiao Weiguo propped up his bicycle, walked up to the old lady, and wanted to ask her what was going on.
This era is the one where the spirit of Lei Feng is most prevalent, unlike in the previous life when no one dared to help someone who had fallen down.
Although Xiao Weiguo had experiences from his previous life, his young body was also affected by this era.
"Grandma, why are you here all alone? Are you alright?"
Xiao Weiguo asked tentatively.
The old woman looked up, and her face surprised Xiao Weiguo.
Her entire face was abnormally flushed, as if she had a high fever, and her eyes were bloodshot.
“Young man, I’m from Liuzhuang over there. I wanted to take advantage of the cool morning to go to the county town to see my son, but I didn’t expect to be unable to walk any further here.”
She was panting as she spoke, as if she was having a great deal of effort.
Seeing her like this, Xiao Weiguo's heart skipped a beat, and a huge wave of emotions surged within him.
"Grandma, are you feeling dizzy, have eye pain, or feel sore all over?"
Xiao Weiguo's voice trembled slightly as he spoke due to nervousness.
"Yes, I caught a cold yesterday and took some medicine and felt much better. But I didn't expect to feel so bad again after just a short while outside today. I was so dizzy that I could barely stand."
The old lady's words further confirmed Xiao Weiguo's thoughts. His expression immediately became tense.
"Grandma, I'm afraid you don't have a cold."
Based on the current symptoms, the old lady has been infected with hemorrhagic fever, also known as plague.
Why was Xiao Weiguo so certain?
That's because his parents died of the plague four years ago.
In his previous life, Xiao Weiguo had studied this disease extensively. He had learned about the symptoms of the five stages of the plague, as well as medication and care, and methods for prevention and eradication in the early stages.
The pandemic that claimed his parents' lives left a deep impression on him; if it weren't for that, none of the five siblings would have become orphans.
But fearing that the old lady would worry, he didn't dare utter the word "plague".
"Grandma, is there anyone else at your house? I'll go and call them for you."
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