After the young lady ran away, Shi Zhen went for a walk.
He distributed all the tin foil he had and brought back some wheat straw.
The local area mainly grows rice, which can be planted twice a year. However, if two rice crops are planted, the first crop often has to be harvested before it is fully ripe, and the second crop has to be planted and harvested in a rush...
The final product, "double-cropping rice," had a poor taste, and the yield per acre was less per season than that of single-cropping rice.
Therefore, after rice production increased in recent years, few people plant two crops a year. However, in winter, people will plant rapeseed or wheat in the fields.
Guan Baiyu's adoptive father's family would grow some wheat every year.
When Shi Zhen went to deliver tin foil, he casually asked to buy some wheat straw from him. This time, he didn't ask for money and gave Shi Zhen a bundle for free.
Back at Guan Baiyu's place, Shi Zhen picked out the more exquisitely folded ingots, then took out a needle and thread to string them together, and even threaded a piece of wheat stalk between the two ingots.
The wheat stalks are hollow. Cutting them into sections and stringing them through the middle of the ingots not only makes the strings of ingots look much better, but also makes them appear high-end and classy.
If you string ten gold ingots together like this and sell them, they'll definitely be popular.
Shi Zhen, along with Shi Xinghuo and Guan Baiyu, packed the ordinary folded ingots into plastic bags in groups of fifty, while the beautifully folded ingots were collected together and strung together in groups of ten with needle and thread.
He had someone fold ten packs of tin foil, which should have earned him ten thousand gold ingots. However, the old ladies who folded the ingots would keep some for themselves, so his total amount should be less than ten thousand.
But the cost of these gold ingots is only thirty!
Looking at the room full of gold ingots, Shi Zhen felt like a despicable capitalist who was exploiting those old ladies—the wages he paid them for folding gold ingots were really too little.
However, these days, old women in the countryside don't have much to do, so folding paper ingots isn't tiring work for them. After folding a lot, they can chat with people while folding, so they are happy to do it.
Shi Zhen packed 150 bags of gold ingots in packs of 50 each, and stopped making strings of 10 gold ingots after stringing them together a few dozen times, planning to string them together while setting up his stall the next day.
They worked until 10 p.m. before going to sleep.
The next day is Monday, which is also the day before Qingming Festival, locally known as "Qingming Night". Many families will pay respects to their ancestors and sweep their tombs on this day.
Factories and schools would also have a day off on this afternoon. Even the construction site where Shi Xinghuo worked would have two days off, Monday and Tuesday.
Shi Zhen got up very early that day, as usual.
On Qingming Festival, people in the countryside usually kill chickens and buy meat. Their pig head meat doesn't sell very well, so Shi Zhen only prepared two pig heads, but prepared a lot of dried tofu and eggs.
After moving the stall to town, Shi Zhen hurriedly returned home. It was only seven o'clock, and Guan Baiyu, whom he had instructed, had not yet left for school.
Seeing that Guan Baiyu had already packed his crumpled book into his clean schoolbag, Shi Zhen asked him, "Xiaoyu, you said before that you don't pay much attention in class anymore and do your own homework, is that true?"
Guan Baiyu nodded: "Brother, we've finished our new lessons, and now the teacher just goes over the problems every day... I can totally skip school, brother, I'll help you set up a stall!"
"I'll go to the school today to ask for leave for you. You don't need to go to school anymore, so that Yan Jiangtao won't cause you any trouble. But you can't come with me to set up the stall... You can go to the Xinhua Bookstore in town to read books for the next few days. After I'm done with these busy days, I'll see if I can find a retired teacher for you to study with! Also, I remember there are English after-school classes in town, I'll sign you up for one too." Shi Zhen didn't intend to raise Guan Baiyu to be someone who only knew how to study and had everything done for him, so he would let Guan Baiyu do any chores when he was home.
But he couldn't let Guan Baiyu follow him around the stall all day.
With so much work to do, how could Guan Baiyu possibly have the time or energy to study?
Moreover, junior high school is just the beginning. Guan Baiyu will have to go to high school next, and high school will be even more difficult!
Therefore, it would be best to find someone to help Guan Baiyu recover.
"Brother, you don't need to find me a teacher, and I don't need any training classes. I can do it myself."
"The English I'm learning is very simple. I can learn it well if I put in a little effort. If I don't understand something, I can just go back to school and ask the teacher." Guan Baiyu was surprised to hear Shi Zhen's words. He had never even heard of tutoring classes before!
Whether it's hiring a teacher or sending him to tutoring classes, it all costs money, which he feels is completely unnecessary.
"We'll talk about that later. Let's go, I'll take you to school to ask for leave first," Shi Zhen said.
Shi Zhen disliked Guan Baiyu's homeroom teacher, but when he arrived at the school and approached her, he still managed to suppress his temper and spoke to her politely.
No matter what, Guan Baiyu is still a student at this school, and he doesn't have the ability to transfer Guan Baiyu to another school right now.
As for Yan Jiangtao and Guan Baiyu's matter... there's no internet at this time, so even if he wanted to make a big fuss, he couldn't!
Even if things escalate... Guan Baiyu is perfectly fine now, with no injuries, so he can't do anything to Yan Jiangtao. The teacher can completely shirk responsibility by saying "I didn't pay attention to the conflict between the students."
Shi Zhen told the teacher that Guan Baiyu didn't have the money to go to high school and wanted to work for the next few months to earn some tuition fees, so he needed to take a long leave of absence. Of course, he would definitely take the high school entrance exam.
Many of the junior high school students in Xiaqiu do not usually attend classes, especially the girls. They are all literate and learn quickly. Those who turn sixteen in their final year of junior high school go to work in factories early.
But Guan Baiyu was different from them; he had good grades!
The homeroom teacher felt that there were only a few months left, so it would be better to let Guan Baiyu come to school.
Although Guan Baiyu did well in the league exams, it's still uncertain whether he can be recommended for admission. We'll have to wait until the admission decision is made before making any further decisions.
“Teacher, you said it yourself, the league exam is already over, whether he’s at school or not won’t affect his grades.” Shi Zhen insisted on asking for leave for Guan Baiyu.
The teacher eventually agreed to let Guan Baiyu not come to school, but also said that Guan Baiyu should come to take any important exams.
Shi Zhen had no objection to this and told the teacher that if Guan Baiyu needed to come to school, she could tell Guan Jinjin, who was in the first year of junior high.
After taking leave, Shi Zhen took Guan Baiyu home, and then took him and Shi Xinghuo to deliver the bags of gold ingots to the town.
Shi Zhen knew how to ride a bicycle in his previous life, so he could use the bicycle that Qian bought immediately.
Qian Qi was a very brave person. He wasn't afraid of falling. Once he got the bicycle, he jumped on and rode it without a care in the world. He learned to ride it in no time.
However, Shi Xinghuo and Guan Baiyu couldn't ride a bike. Shi Xinghuo tried to learn, but after nearly falling because he was unsteady, he refused to continue. As for Guan Baiyu, he was too short to even sit on the bicycle seat, so he simply didn't learn.
Shi Zhen asked Guan Baiyu and Shi Xinghuo to set up a stall in town, while he rode his bicycle home to transport goods back and forth.
There are many more people setting up stalls in town today than usual. Many rural people have brought their own chickens to sell in town.
Others sell sweet wheat cakes and Qingming dumplings, or catch small crucian carp from the river to sell.
In recent years, people's living conditions have improved. When worshipping ancestors at home during Qingming Festival, they will prepare a piece of pork, a chicken, and a fish. When visiting the graves, they will also prepare fish and eggs, as well as some cakes and fruits.
In the countryside, you can bring back food from graves to eat, but you can't use food from one grave to visit another. So it's not appropriate to buy big fish to visit graves. People are used to buying small crucian carp, about the thickness of two fingers, and seven or eight of them are enough.
The town was crowded, and as soon as their stall was set up, many people came to ask about the prices.
Most people care about their image, especially people of this generation—they all had a very hard life in the past.
If the neighbors put up artificial flowers when they sweep the tombs, then we can't be without them when we sweep our own tombs. If others burn a hundred paper ingots, then we should burn two hundred.
Some families would buy tin foil and fold it into paper ingots at home, chanting Buddhist prayers as they did so, or they would buy some paper ingots from elderly women who chanted Buddhist prayers.
But many people don't know how to fold or don't have the time, so when they see Shi Zhen's fake ingots and flowers, they like them.
Shi Zhen needed to go home to get something, and Guan Baiyu was initially watching the stall. Guan Baiyu was a little embarrassed to call out to him at first, so he wrote it down on a piece of cardboard.
He put the prices in front of his stall, but then realized that many of the older people couldn't read, so he gritted his teeth and started shouting: "Anyone want silver ingots? One pack is 50 cents, three packs are 1 yuan! These ingots strung together are 30 cents a string, two strings are 50 cents!"
There's only one Qingming Festival a year. If people don't see anyone selling gold ingots, it's fine not to buy them. But if they do see them, they'll buy some.
Buy one dollar, whether you buy a bag or a string of them, it'll be enough to take home!
Those with more money might also buy a bouquet of artificial flowers or some decorative ribbons.
Shi Zhen's stall was doing very well. Some of the customers brought their children to buy things. While their parents were buying gold ingots, the children saw the small toys that Shi Zhen had casually bought the day before and started clamoring to buy them.
Parents who are short on money are reluctant to buy things for their children, so they coax them by saying they'll have meat when they get home and take them home. But there are also many parents who don't mind spending a few dollars to buy their children a toy.
When Shi Zhen moved all his belongings to town, he discovered that a lot of things had already been sold.
He had nothing else to do and could watch the stall himself, so he let Guan Baiyu go to the Xinhua Bookstore to read books.
Guan Baiyu was reluctant to go, but Shi Zhen said, "If you get good grades in the high school entrance exam, it will make me proud! When I'm in town, I can tell people how many points my brother got, and I'll feel really proud."
With Shi Zhen and Shi Xinghuo at the stall, there was really no need for him to stay on the side... Guan Baiyu thought for a moment and went to Xinhua Bookstore.
The employees at the Xinhua Bookstore in town were particularly cold to people. They ignored those who bought books and those who read books in the bookstore.
That's good, at least people will feel much more comfortable reading in the store.
Guan Baiyu had never been to Xinhua Bookstore before. He didn't dare to go in because of how upscale the store looked from the outside.
Now that he's inside the store, he realizes how many books they have!
Shi Zhen had sent him here to study. Guan Baiyu didn't know anything about novels, so he started by looking at the exercises. As he looked, he came across a book on composition.
Once Guan Baiyu opened the book, he couldn't close it.
This is an ordinary composition book, but it contains many things he didn't know.
For example, after reading an essay written by a northerner, he learned that people in the north used to sleep on kangs (heated brick beds) and would light a fire underneath them.
That's amazing!
While Guan Baiyu was reading in the bookstore, Shi Zhen used his superb customer-attracting skills to quickly sell his goods.
These kinds of businesses that can't last long generally have very good profits. The fake flowers and ribbons he bought yesterday will at least double in price, not to mention the gold ingots, which have very, very low costs.
While Shi Zhen was selling, Shi Xinghuo was right next to him, threading the gold ingots with a needle and thread. He couldn't calculate the money, but he knew how to do the job.
Business was so good that Shi Zhen didn't even have time for lunch until Shi Xinghuo told him he was hungry. He went to a nearby shop to ask about the time and found out it was almost 12 o'clock.
They didn't cook lunch today, so Shi Zhen gave Qian Qiqi, who had a stall not far away, two yuan and told him to go buy something to eat. He also asked Shi Xinghuo to go to the Xinhua Bookstore to find Guan Baiyu—they would eat together when Guan Baiyu returned.
Shi Xinghuo quickly found Guan Baiyu and brought him back. When he returned, Guan Baiyu looked a little embarrassed: "Brother, I was so engrossed in watching that I didn't notice the time..."
"It's okay, me too... Xiaoyu, we're eating in town today, what do you want to eat?"
Guan Baiyu said, "I can do anything!"
Shi Xinghuo also loves to eat everything... Shi Zhen said, "Then let's go eat xiaolongbao, one basket of xiaolongbao and one bowl of soy milk for each person."
Noodles are Guan Baiyu's favorite food, and as for Shi Xinghuo, there's no way he wouldn't like meat buns.
Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) cost 1.5 yuan per basket, with ten dumplings per basket.
Locally made steamed buns have thick dough, which keeps them full for a long time. The steamed buns at this shop are also very large; many people can eat five and that's enough.
Soy milk costs five cents a bowl. It comes in a large bowl and is topped with soy sauce, pickled mustard greens, fried dough sticks, and chopped green onions. It looks very full.
Shi Zhen recalled that around 2000, he often brought Guan Baiyu to the same restaurant to eat.
steamed stuffed bun.
Back then, a basket of xiaolongbao cost two yuan, but the buns were smaller than they are now. Soy milk was still five mao a bowl, but it had been replaced with a smaller bowl, and the fried dough sticks inside were gone.
Shi Zhen didn't leave the stall. He asked Shi Xinghuo to bring the steamed buns and soy milk to the stall to eat. When someone came to ask about the price, he put down his bowl to greet the customer and told him to wait a bit before eating.
Before he could finish eating, Guan Baiyu returned and gave him five steamed buns in a plastic bag: "Brother, five is enough for me, these five are for you."
Shi Zhen accepted it with a smile, planning to heat it up and give it to Guan Baiyu for dinner that evening.
By two or three in the afternoon, there were hardly any people left in the town, and those who had set up stalls had all gone home.
They all still had to go to sweep the tombs and prepare dinner.
Everyone will have a good dinner tonight for Qingming Festival.
Shi Zhen had sold all his silver ingots, leaving only a few fake flowers and some toys.
As for Qianqi, the braised eggs and braised tofu were sold out, but half of the pig's head meat was still left.
Many people buy braised eggs and dried tofu to offer as sacrifices at graves, but no one uses pig's head meat to offer sacrifices at graves. As for eating it at home... today every household buys meat, so there's no need to buy pig's head meat anymore.
Shi Zhen told Qian Qi to get up and help him pack up the stall so they could go home early.
Qian Qi wanted to go home to visit the graves, and he also wanted to accompany Guan Baiyu to see his grandmother.
Even if Guan Baiyu's grandmother probably didn't want to see him.
They got home after 3 p.m. Qian got up, rode his bike, and rushed home, while Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu prepared the offerings together.
He bought some water chestnuts in town, and also specially cut off a piece of meat, plus some braised eggs and braised tofu that he had set aside, making a total of four items, which was barely enough.
Of course, gold ingots and candles were essential; he had prepared them yesterday.
The land in the countryside belongs to the village collective. For convenience, each village here sets aside a piece of land as a cemetery, where Grandma Guan Baiyu's ashes are buried.
It was quite late when Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu arrived. Many families had already finished their grave-sweeping ceremonies. Guan Baiyu's grandmother's grave had already been cleaned and the weeds removed.
The grave was covered with clods of earth, and there were ashes in front of it.
Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu placed the items in front of the grave, lit candles, and after paying their respects, Shi Zhen burned paper money next to the grave.
He used to disbelieve in ghosts and gods, but after Guan Baiyu passed away, he couldn't help but want to believe.
At that time, he hoped that Guan Baiyu could be reborn into a better family.
Now that he's been reborn, he can't say whether he believes or not, but he feels that it's always right for people to do good deeds.
Throughout his life, he did not pursue a luxurious life or fame and fortune. He only wished for the happiness and well-being of his family and loved ones, and he was willing to do good deeds and accumulate virtue for this purpose.
You must wait until the candles have burned out before you can leave the grave.
While Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu were sitting on the ground waiting, other people came to pay their respects at the grave.
Among them was an old lady who folded tin foil from Shi Zhen.
When the old lady came to pay respects at the grave, she brought a bag of folded silver ingots. She was quite embarrassed when she saw Shi Zhen.
Shi Zhen knew that most of those gold ingots were folded and kept by the old lady, so he didn't argue with her and just pretended not to see them.
The old lady breathed a sigh of relief.
Shi Zhen has been extremely busy these days, and sitting by the grave right now, without having to do or think about anything, is a rare moment of relaxation for him.
There were many trees planted here, blocking out the sunlight and making the wind that blew in cold, but Shi Zhen was still somewhat drowsy.
Finally, Guan Baiyu called out to him, "Brother, let's go!"
As Guan Baiyu spoke, he deftly put the offerings into the bamboo basket and poured a bowl of yellow wine in front of the grave.
He didn't seem sad at all. After getting up with his bamboo basket, he even asked Shi Zhen, "Brother, do you want some braised eggs?"
"Hmm." Shi Zhen took a braised egg that had just been offered as a sacrifice and ate it.
He and Guan Baiyu walked slowly back in the afterglow of the setting sun. Tomorrow would be another new day.
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