Hua Wanjiang, his wife, and their two sons looked at Hua Kai with confusion. They all knew that Hua Kai would not be willing to help them. What did she mean?
Hua Kai earnestly said to Hua Wanhe, "Second Uncle, now that the country is starting to promote individual businesses, it really is an opportunity. Since Second Uncle doesn't have any skills, why don't you collect scrap metal?"
"Collect scrap?" Hua Wanhe repeated, then jumped up: "What? Collect junk? You want me to collect junk?"
Upon hearing the words "collecting scrap," Zheng Shuzhen angrily grabbed a broom from the kang (a heated brick bed) and lashed out at Huakai, yelling, "You heartless girl! How dare you curse like that! I'll beat you to death!"
This was the effect Hua Kai had envisioned. She knew these people had shallow understanding and inexplicable pride.
That's exactly the effect she wanted—to create a scene, to embarrass them in front of more people, and then to put an end to the matter forever so she could feel at ease not being home after school starts.
She was fast; she ran straight out the door, and as she ran towards the group, she shouted, "Grandma, don't hit me! I'm really doing this for your own good!" She wanted to attract more attention.
Zheng Shuzhen was furious. This time she was in the right, so she grabbed a broom and chased after him.
Hua Chongzhi, his face also flushed purple, chased after them.
Hua Wanhe felt that his self-esteem had been trampled on, and when he ran away, he was determined to make Hua Kai pay.
Hua Wanjiang and Gu Lanyan were truly bewildered. What was this child up to? Wasn't he just looking for trouble? They quickly ran out as well. Although they trusted the child, they really couldn't guess what he meant, and all they could do was worry.
As Hua ran towards the main group, Zheng Shuzhen chased after her with a broom, and the people on the street also joined in to watch the spectacle.
When she arrived at the village committee compound, she saw the village secretary in the yard. She quickly ran behind him and said, "Uncle Zhou, my grandma is going to beat me to death! You have to stand up for me!"
The village party secretary's surname is Zhou and his given name is Kang. Ye Yifan had spoken to him and asked him to take care of Hua Kai's family. So he had spoken to Hua Kai a few times. He was two years younger than Hua Wanjiang, so Hua Kai politely called him uncle.
At this moment, the village secretary quickly stepped in front of Hua Kai and said to Zheng Shuzhen, "What's going on now? What's the big deal? Why are you chasing after a child and hitting her like that?"
Zheng Shuzhen was out of breath and furious. With snot and tears streaming down her face, she complained to the village secretary, "Secretary Zhou, you have no idea how wicked this child is! In front of us elders, she insulted her second uncle, calling him a ragpicker. What kind of child is that?"
Hearing this, the village secretary looked at Huakai and asked, "Huakai, is what your grandma said true?"
He was supposed to take care of their family, but it couldn't be too unfair; he needed to find out what was going on.
Hua Kai nodded and said to the village secretary, "Uncle Zhou, I meant to have my second uncle collect recyclables."
Hua Wanhe's face turned red with anger: "Isn't collecting scrap just collecting junk? Isn't that what it means, even if you put it nicely?"
At this point, the crowd that had come to watch started whispering among themselves. In their minds, the scrap collector and the scavenger were basically the same. The old man who collected scrap drove a donkey cart, collecting and picking up scrap as he went. The village children had even made up some rhymes about scavenging scrap. In the minds of these people who hadn't seen much of the world, this was indeed considered an insult.
The village secretary also looked embarrassed: "That's really not a nice thing to say. You probably said that because you were being bullied by them, right?" He tried to save face for Hua Kai.
Hua Kai shook her head, then said to the village secretary, "Uncle Zhou, I'm really doing this for their own good. Collecting recyclables is a profession. The township supply and marketing cooperative has a collection station, right? Isn't that for collecting recyclables? If this is an insult, then why does the supply and marketing cooperative have this department? Their purchasing station even has a manager!"
At this point, the village secretary realized his mistake: "I was narrow-minded just now. Collecting scrap is just a job, how could I have thought of it as a bad thing? I need to reflect on this."
Hua Kai continued, "My grandma and her family always think the worst of us. They won't listen to my explanation before they start hitting me. Today, my grandma came to my house, trying to steal our family's pancake-making skills, but that's a recipe passed down from my maternal grandmother's ancestors, and my mother can't teach it to anyone else. I meant well, thinking of helping my second uncle find a way to make money, to help him negotiate a price with the supply and marketing cooperative's purchasing station, and then make a profit from the difference. Isn't that a good thing? But before I could even finish speaking, my grandma chased after me and started hitting me. If only they could listen to me a little more like Uncle Zhou did! But in front of them, our family is always so humble and bullied."
When it came to her sad parts, Hua Kai was truly heartbroken, her eyes reddening. Thinking about how her parents had been mistreated in the past, she was genuinely distressed.
Once this was said, the onlookers understood what was going on and started whispering among themselves. Of course, at this point, they didn't say that Hua Kai was wrong, but rather that Zheng Shuzhen and her group were heartless, that they were just bystanders, and that their thoughts were swayed by public opinion.
Hearing what Hua Kai said, the village secretary looked at Zheng Shuzhen and said, "Auntie, you've really gone too far. Shouldn't you let the child finish speaking?"
Zheng Shuzhen hadn't thought of any of this, and even though she was in the wrong, she still tried to stir things up: "There are so many ways to make money, why choose this one? Isn't it just to smear us?"
Hua Kai looked at Zheng Shuzhen and smiled: "Grandma, if I asked my second uncle to get an ice cream box to sell ice cream, would you also think I was insulting you? Making my second uncle an ice cream seller? There is no such thing as a high or low profession. Earning money with your own hands is honorable. My parents are just pancake sellers, but they can support my education, and they are honorable."
After saying that, Hua Kai addressed the onlookers, "My parents really do make money at the market, and they've seen a lot of business opportunities. Maybe you think selling popsicles doesn't make much money, but please do the math. They make three cents per popsicle, and if they sell two hundred a day, that's six yuan, which is one hundred and eighty a month, right? Even if we exclude cloudy or rainy days, they can still make one hundred and fifty a month, right? It doesn't even interfere with their own work. In winter, they can also sell some candied hawthorns. During the peak season before and after the New Year, they can easily make two hundred a month, right?"
As Hua Kai calculated the profits, the onlookers were in an uproar. They had no idea that doing business could be so profitable; they had never even considered it.
Seeing everyone's interested discussion, Hua Kai continued, "Things with lower profit margins often sell the most, so don't give up just because they seem to make less money. Besides, low-profit items usually require less capital, making them suitable for any family. The more you go out into the world, the more business opportunities you'll see. My parents wouldn't know about these things if they didn't go to the market, right? You might sell popsicles today, and tomorrow you might think of selling socks. After selling socks for a few months, you might find other sourcing channels and start selling clothes. After selling clothes, you might know how to sell fabric. Becoming a millionaire isn't difficult, right?"
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