Zhao Meiyun was very concerned about Zhao Qiujuan's marriage. Whenever someone wanted to act as a matchmaker for Zhao Qiujuan, she would speak to them politely and kindly.
However, after what happened with Shi Zhiqiang, and with Zhao Dongjuan having married into a very unreliable family, Zhao Meiyun is now hesitant to make decisions on her own. Whenever someone introduces a potential partner to Zhao Qiujuan, she immediately tells Shi Dalin and Shi Zhen and asks for their opinions.
Shi Dalin was unfamiliar with the situation in Anshan Town and couldn't offer much advice. When it came to Shi Zhen, Shi Zhen rejected all of his suggestions.
The matchmakers who came to introduce Zhao Qiujuan suggested three candidates, none of whom Shi Zhen considered good.
Whether it's him or Zhao Qiujuan, their personal circumstances are considered very good in their hometown, and also quite good in the surrounding rural areas of Anshan Town.
But in the eyes of the townspeople... they are outsiders, without education or formal employment. Even if their income is good, they can only barely keep up with the young men and women in the surrounding rural families.
The men they introduced to Zhao Qiujuan were all from the town who weren't well-off and couldn't find partners.
In the 1990s, no one would introduce a man from a well-off town to a woman from out of town who ran a stall; that would be considered offensive.
The same applies if the genders are reversed.
Of course, in the nearby rural areas, whether it's Shi Zhen or Zhao Qiujuan, as long as they show any interest, there will still be many people willing to take a look.
In a few years, the situation will be different again. As more people in rural areas make money by doing small businesses, the saying "rural people are rich" will gradually emerge.
“Sigh, my Qiujuan is still young, I don’t want her to get married so early…” Zhao Meiyun rejected another person.
The people here are different from those in their hometown. The matchmaker first sounded out Zhao Meiyun's side, and when they said she wasn't willing, the matter was dropped.
After Zhao Meiyun and the others left, Zhao Qiujuan and I cracked the hard-boiled eggs together to make tea eggs.
Zhao Meiyun doesn't prepare many tea eggs each day. If there are any left over, she eats them herself and doesn't waste any.
In addition, she also started selling vermicelli soup.
Vermicelli is cheap; you can cook a big pot of it for very little money.
Salt and MSG were already in the pot. If someone wanted some, I would scoop out a bowl, add a little lard, some chopped green onions, some pickled mustard greens, and some chopped ham, and sell it for 50 cents.
Every day after school, Zhao Meiyun would put the vermicelli soup in a disposable cup, add a disposable spoon, and sell it to the students who were leaving school for 50 cents a cup.
The profits are still quite good.
Once the tea eggs were cooked, it was lunchtime, and Zhao Qiujuan was in charge of cooking.
Shi Dalin went out to buy goods on his tricycle, while Zhao Meiyun sat behind the counter watching TV. Just then, someone came in.
"What do you want to buy?" Zhao Meiyun asked subconsciously, then looked over and her expression froze.
It was Zhao Dongjuan who arrived.
"Mom, you've been lying to me all along! You told me we had no money, but you actually had enough to open a shop!" Zhao Dongjuan accused as soon as she came in.
Zhao Meiyun hadn't seen her daughter for a long time, and the little bit of longing that had arisen within her vanished in an instant.
"You two only know how to help the Shi family, working like slaves for them, but you don't care about me at all," Zhao Dongjuan said again.
Zhao Meiyun didn't want to hear these things.
Before, when she didn't know what to do, she would coax Zhao Dongjuan into not saying anything.
However, now that Shi Dalin and Shi Zhen know what her youngest daughter is like, she no longer cares.
Zhao Meiyun asked, "What are you doing here?"
Zhao Dongjuan reached out to grab the dried tofu on the counter.
This is a type of dried tofu packaged in transparent plastic bags, containing small pieces about the size of a fingernail. It tastes great, costs three cents a pack and five cents for two packs, and is one of the most popular and best-selling snacks in the store.
Zhao Meiyun quickly stopped Zhao Dongjuan's hand and asked, "What exactly are you here for?"
Zhao Dongjuan's expression stiffened, but her attitude softened a bit: "Mom, where did Uncle and the others buy that pork tenderloin from?"
Zhao Meiyun was extremely disappointed.
Zhao Dongjuan then said, "That rib must have been found by Shi Zhen, right? He's so good to my uncle and his family! He gave them the fried food stall and got them this stuff... He's so considerate of the Shi family!"
Zhao Meiyun said, "You can go now."
"mom!"
“Aren’t you always looking out for your in-laws? You even let them steal your father’s business… Don’t come here again!” Zhao Meiyun said.
Shi Dashan and Chen Xiaofen bought the fried food stall from Shi Zhen, but they didn't take advantage of him.
Moreover... Shi Dalin was being robbed of his business by others, and he couldn't sell his stall anymore, so he sold it to someone else!
Chen Xiaofen and the others were grateful and would bring them food from time to time, such as fried chicken legs and fried quail, which she had eaten.
Her daughter had never bought her any food, and when she came today, she didn't bring anything.
Zhao Dongjuan was stunned to see Zhao Meiyun like this.
Zhao Meiyun then said, "Qiujuan, have your sister go out and keep an eye on her. Don't let her take anything from the store."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Qiujuan stopped cooking and stared at Zhao Dongjuan.
Zhao Dongjuan was furious and turned to leave: "Do you think I'm a thief?! If you don't want me to come, I won't come again!"
Zhao Meiyun finally breathed a sigh of relief after Zhao Dongjuan left.
That evening, the Shi family ate at the restaurant as usual.
After all the students from each grade of elementary school left, Zhao Qiujuan and Zhao Meiyun started cooking.
They usually stew the meat dishes in the afternoon, and they also prepare the rice in advance. The so-called rice dish is just stir-frying two vegetables.
While they were cooking, Shi Zhen and Shi Ting returned.
As soon as Shi Ting returned, she took Zhao Qiujuan's bicycle and started learning to ride it.
Zhao Qiujuan learned to ride a bicycle very quickly, but Shi Ting was short and her feet couldn't quite reach the ground when she sat on the seat. In addition, she was timid, so she dawdled for a long time and didn't learn to ride.
Today is another day that Shi Ting hasn't learned to ride a bicycle.
And so it was another day when she was drooling over all the snacks in the store.
However, after Shi Dalin told her to spend money to buy it, she didn't dare to just take it and eat it.
Shi Zhen also noticed that... his sister now seemed only interested in the food in the store, and didn't seem to care much about the toys, pens, and the like.
In her past life, she had more than just a love for eating.
However, this is normal, as most toys at this time do not have packaging on the outside.
She can just pick up and play with the things in the store, including the pens; she can handle them as she pleases.
That's roughly it; she felt it didn't matter whether she bought it or not.
Food is different; it's something you can actually eat.
What Shi Ting wants most right now is a bicycle. Shi Dalin promised her that if she can get into the top 30 in her class at the end of the semester, he will buy her one.
She goes to school every day, and having a bicycle would make things much more convenient.
Shi Ting has a good appetite now, and she eats much more rice at dinner than Zhao Qiujuan.
Seeing her eating so quickly, Shi Zhen suddenly noticed... his sister seemed... a little chubby?
In her past life, Shi Ting was never fat from beginning to end.
She fell in love and got married not long after she came out of the mountains. Her first husband's family was very stingy. They wouldn't let her eat anything she wanted. She didn't gain any weight during her pregnancy and childbirth.
Later, she learned to care about her appearance and started to control herself to prevent herself from gaining weight.
Shi Ting is still quite short now, but her legs are much thicker than they were in her previous life.
Of course, Shi Zhen would prefer her like this; in his previous life, he always thought Shi Ting was too thin.
In her previous life, Shi Ting was 1.65 meters tall and weighed just over 90 kilograms...
Shi Zhen felt that at this height and 110 jin (55 kg), it was just right, a standard weight.
After Shi Ting finished eating, she went to the attic to do her homework.
Shi Zhen then returned to Guanjia Village to help Guan Jianguo.
Lately, he's been making himself something to eat in the morning, having lunch with Shi Daniu and the others, and going to Shi Dalin's place for dinner. He's been spending less time at home lately.
He didn't really want to stay home alone; it was too lonely.
Shi Zhen went to Guan Jianguo's country and met him.
"Uncle Guan, when did you get back? How many days are you staying this time?" Shi Zhen greeted Guan Jianguo.
After Guan Jianguo stopped driving tractors last year, he partnered with someone to buy a boat, which was completed and launched at the beginning of this year.
Then Guan Jianguo spent far less time at home, often going out for ten days or half a month at a time.
In those days, without cell phones or anything like that, every time he went out to sail, Grandma Guan would be at home worried sick, mentioning him more than ten times a day.
Guan Jianguo's wife works three shifts, which is very tiring. As a result, she used to rarely go out and would sleep at home all day. Now she goes out more often and often chases after her daughter, making sure the daughter wears a cotton-padded coat and so on.
"I came back last night, and I'll be leaving again in two days," Guan Jianguo said.
"How's business with your boats?" Shi Zhen asked. As far as he knew, they should have been making quite a bit of money in 1995.
Unexpectedly, when Guan Jianguo heard him ask this question, he poured out his grievances: "I can make money, but those plagues have robbed me of all my money!"
"What's wrong?" Shi Zhen asked.
Guan Jianguo then began to talk about things that happened on the way to the boat, saying that there were always people blocking their way on the river and demanding money.
Some of them were government employees, and some were pretending to be government employees. They couldn't tell the difference. Anyway, if they were stopped, they wouldn't be allowed to leave unless they were given a hundred yuan.
In addition, there are many other messy things like ships competing for business with each other.
Guan Jianguo added, "When I went out this time, a small boat was hit and capsized. The big boat that hit it sailed away. The couple on the small boat climbed out of the river and kept crying, but they couldn't find the person who hit them."
With a sigh, Guan Jianguo continued, "Many people from Jiangbei live on boats with their entire families. I've even met people whose children are missing... On the river, where else could they go? Sigh!"
When Guan Jianguo went to sail the boat, he was not only stopped by people on the way who asked for money, but he also had many other expenses at the dock.
A shipload of goods can generate a considerable profit, but what actually ends up in his hands is not much.
He earned far less money than he had imagined.
But since we've already bought such an expensive ship, we definitely have to get the job done.
Guan Jianguo went on to talk about other things, such as how some ship owners were too greedy and loaded too much cement, even though the ship wasn't much higher than the river surface. As a result, a big wave caused water to enter the cabin and soak the cement...
Shi Zhen had seen many things in his previous life and knew that there were many unfortunate people in this world.
Guan Jianguo is old and has been traveling a lot, so he remains calm when talking about these things.
Shi Xingchao, however, listened with a sigh.
Even so, it didn't stop him from sewing buttons onto shirts—their recent job was sewing buttons onto women's shirts.
In Shizhen's area, besides receiving and sending sweaters, they also sell yarn, as well as some substandard products from wool sweater factories and garment factories.
After acquiring these stones at a low price, Shi Zhen resold them to Shi Xingchao at a slightly higher price, and then Shi Xingchao sold them to the villagers...
Shi Xingchao earns a salary of three hundred yuan, and by selling secondhand clothes and embroidering sweaters, he can make about a thousand yuan a month.
But he was still wearing tattered clothes.
He used to have to spend money from time to time, but now that Mr. and Mrs. Shi Dashan have come... he uses his parents' laundry detergent, soap, and toothpaste, and doesn't spend a single penny.
Despite his appearance, many older women in the village liked him very much and competed to introduce him to potential partners.
Unfortunately, he doesn't find most women attractive.
Only those as eccentric as him can share his ideals.
Thinking of this, Shi Zhen suddenly remembered that in his previous life, Shi Xingchao had come out with him in this very year.
Not long after, Shi Xingchao met his wife.
Shi Xingchao fell in love and got married very quickly. In 1997, his wife gave birth to his son.
Now... should he help with the introduction? Shi Zhen thought about it for a moment, but quickly put the matter aside.
Shi Xingchao only met his wife at the end of this year, and he will wait until then to introduce her to someone.
As for now... Fang Changming's younger brother's house has been renovated and is ready to live in, and he also needs to speed up the renovation of Fang Changming's house.
Previously, Mr. Wang's house was not in Fang Changming's village.
Fang Changming's younger brother built a three-story house, which was very rare in their village. Many people went to see it, and Shi Zhen also went to see it.
Then I was speechless.
The exterior of the house was modeled after his, built in a grand style, but the interior decoration... well, let's just say there was no decoration at all.
It was just tiled and plastered with white paint, nothing else.
Fang Changming's side was different; Shi Zhen arranged everything, including wallpaper and curtains.
He also built a beautiful wall around the house with bricks and covered it with red tiles. He also made two parking spaces for him in the yard with small square tiles.
As for the interior... a floor-to-ceiling wardrobe, a luxurious ceiling, all kinds of lights... everything was arranged.
Fang Changming paid extra for these.
As a result, Shi Zhen earned a lot more money.
The more complicated the renovation process, the more money the person in charge can make...
Shi Zhen even found a large, transparent glass window to install in Fang Changming's house...
In order to finish the house renovation as soon as possible, Shi Zhen hired several carpenters and other craftsmen.
Finally, in mid-May, Fang Changming's house was completed.
Next, all that's left is for him to buy furniture and such; Shi Zhen can't do that for him.
Fang Changming took buying furniture very seriously.
In the neighboring city of Changxi, there are several factories that specialize in making furniture. Fang Changming took his wife there and brought back a truckload of European-style furniture.
When Shi Zhen first talked to Fang Changming, he found that Fang Changming was somewhat trendy, so he didn't do Chinese-style decoration for Fang Changming. The wardrobes and other furniture were all white.
With this kind of decoration and European-style furniture, Fang Changming's home looks bright and grand.
During the later stages of renovation, Shi Zhen forbade anyone to come in and watch, fearing that Fang Changming's younger brother would follow suit. Now that it's finished, there's no problem...
That day, when Shi Zhen went over with Shi Daniu and the others to help Fang Changming clean the house, Fang Changming arrived with his younger brother, along with some of their relatives and neighbors.
They saw Fang Changming's house from afar and thought it was a beautiful house.
Once inside the house...
The living room they saw as soon as they entered stunned them.
European-style sofas, TV cabinets, televisions, wallpaper, ornate lights, beautiful ceilings... everything was unlike any house they had ever seen before!
The toilets and kitchen inside are also quite different; there are even wall cabinets installed in the kitchen!
Even the stair railings are different from the usual ones, looking like something out of a television.
Many of these items were specially selected by Shi Zhen from Changxi City.
Fang Changming's younger brother's three-story house was copied from someone else's, but Fang Changming's house is absolutely unique.
Previously, many people wanted to build a house like Fang Changming's younger brother's, but now everyone is focused on Fang Changming, wanting to know how the house was built and how much it cost.
Shi Zhen smiled and went out to hand out his own handwritten business cards.
He won't have to worry about his business going forward.
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