When Zhou's mother came back, she happily told them that the fortune teller said the child had a very good horoscope and was born with great fortune and luck. He would never have to worry about food and drink since childhood. The only shortcoming was the lack of water in the five elements, so just give him a name containing water!
Yang Chunyan felt that naming was much easier this way. "Huaian, think about which characters contain water?"
Zhou Huaian thought for a moment, "There are many words with water in them, Zhou Jiatao, Zhou Jiaqing, Zhou Jiahe, Zhou Jiahai, Zhou Jiayang..." After he listed a bunch of names with water in them, he looked at the two of them and said, "Which one do you think is the most suitable?"
"Both Zhou Jiatao and Zhou Jiaqing are fine!" Yang Chunyan said to the two of them, "We'll use whichever one you think is better!"
"Hello Zhou Jiatao!" Zhou's mother and Zhou Huaian said in unison.
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan also thought Zhou Jiatao was good. She smiled and touched the child's face, "Then our little Jiuer's name will be Zhou Jiatao!"
Zhou Huaian also happily picked up the child, "Xiao Jiuer, Xiao Jiatao..."
Mother Zhou saw that it was time to cook dinner, "Huaian, go to the old house and help your old man and grandfather carry a few buckets of water to water the vegetables, then call them back for dinner."
"Mom!" Zhou Huaian hurriedly called her, "My mother-in-law and her family will come tomorrow to give us the three-day ceremony. They have two tables of people. We have to go to the county town to buy some wine and food tomorrow morning."
Zhou's mother didn't expect them to arrive so quickly. "If we go back to the county town, we won't be able to make lunch in time!" She thought for a moment and said, "There will be a market in Xinhe Town tomorrow. We have chickens and ducks at home. Let's go there and buy some meat.
I'll calculate how many tables we need to prepare, and then call the chef to help prepare a few tables for the banquet."
"Okay, let's go buy it in Xinhe!" Zhou Huaian put the child next to Yang Chunyan and followed Zhou's mother out of the room.
Mother Zhou saw that there were more eggs in the basket. "Youngest, get a notebook and write down the names of the people who gave gifts for the confinement period today so that you can return the gifts later!"
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian sat down in front of the coffee table, "The notebook is right here, tell me and I'll write it down."
Zhou's mother said, "At your third uncle's house, there are fifty eggs, two hens, and a sweater, hat, and shoes for the child. It's the same at your uncle Datian's house.
After you left, Secretary Xu's family also came. Their gifts were very heavy, including fifty eggs, two cans of malted milk, and two cans of milk powder... Zhou Huaijin's family, Li Wu's family, Li Guangming's family, and Li Guanghui's family all came."
Zhou Huaian didn't think much of it when he heard that Li Wu had come, but when he heard that Li Guangming and Li Guanghui's families had also come, "They're here too!"
Mother Zhou nodded angrily, "Yes! Even their two families came, but there was not a single person in your father's family. Your third aunt came to discuss the matter of giving your aunt a confinement gift, and guess what she said!"
Zhou Huaian smiled nonchalantly and said, "No matter what he says, I would rather they didn't come!"
Mother Zhou curled her lips and said, "Your aunt said that their family is poor and can't afford such an expensive confinement gift, so they won't compete with your third aunt and her family. Wait until the chickens at home lay eggs for another two days, and then gather ten eggs before giving it to them!"
Zhou Huaian: "When Zhou Huaixing's wife gave birth, didn't you also give her ten eggs?"
"Can the ten eggs from a few years ago be the same as now?" Zhou's mother glared at him in dissatisfaction, "At that time, our family could only raise five chickens, and among the chicks we caught that year, two were roosters.
I took care of the three hens like I was taking care of my ancestors, and I gave most of the eggs they laid to the supply and marketing cooperative. The ten eggs I gave to Huaixing’s family were the ones I borrowed from other families and sent to them!”
Zhou Huaian: "Then why don't you think about the fact that his family only has one son, while we have four!"
“You idiot!” Zhou’s mother was so angry when she thought of the past that she pinched him and said unhappily, “When his girls get married, don’t we have to send them off for three days?
The most abominable thing is that when your third sister-in-law gave birth to Xiaolin, his family only sent five eggs, and three of them were incomplete eggs!"
"It's a loss, so let it be!" Zhou Huaian advised, "Look, the old man doesn't care about their family now. When he comes back later, don't mention the confinement gift. Just keep the nominal uncle relationship like now."
Mother Zhou thought that ever since Zhou Dachun said those words at the beam-raising wine party, and after Yumei came home and Li Yinfu said those unkind words outside that hurt the old man's feelings, he had never paid any attention to the people in the first wife's house again, and she thought that this was a good thing.
"Okay, let's not talk about that. We could afford the loss even when we were that poor before, let alone now!"
Zhou Huaian smiled and praised: "No wonder I'm so generous, it turns out I inherited it from my mother!"
"You have such a greasy mouth!" Zhou's mother happily got up and went to cook.
Zhou Huaian rode his bicycle towards the old house. When he reached the main road, he saw Xiong Laoyao coming out of the field road leading to the old house, and then he walked onto the main road towards the Xiong family.
He always felt something was wrong. "What is this bastard doing over there? It seems like he doesn't have any land here."
Zhou Huaian arrived at the old house and found the gate closed. He locked his bicycle at the gate and turned to go to the vegetable garden behind the house.
When I walked to the edge of the field, I saw the old man and Zhou's father still squatting and planting vegetable seedlings. "Grandpa, old man, are you done planting?"
"Go!" Father Zhou pointed to the field under his feet, "This is the only field. Go fetch some water to water the vegetables first. I'll help you fetch more water after I'm done planting them."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian picked up the dung bucket on the edge of the field and walked towards the ditch. He scooped up some water and brought it back to water the vegetable field. He then went to the ditch to scoop up some more water. When he was carrying it back, he saw Li Yinfu coming out of the yard.
He pretended not to see it and walked forward without looking around.
Li Yinfu saw his eyes light up, forced a smile and walked forward, "Youngest is really different now, you are so diligent that your mother would wake up laughing even in her sleep!"
When will the sarcastic Li Yinfu ever speak properly? If you are too attentive to others, you are either a traitor or a thief!
Zhou Huaian glanced at her and said, "If you don't work harder, what will you eat? No one will send you money!"
"Yeah! The youngest one is really awake now!" Li Yinfu smiled awkwardly, "Is your Chunyan giving birth?"
"It's born!" Zhou Huaian walked straight forward carrying the dung bucket.
Li Yinfu thought about it and chased after him, "Youngest, wait a moment, I want to ask you something!"
Zhou Huaian put down the bucket and looked at her impatiently, "Auntie, don't you see I'm carrying such a heavy load? Please tell me everything you want to say at once."
You are such a dog that looks down on others, I will tolerate you!
Li Yinfu smiled and said, "Auntie, I want to ask you, are you still harvesting the red mushrooms this year?"
Zhou Huaian suddenly saw the image of the youngest bear in front of his eyes, and an idea suddenly flashed through his mind. He smiled faintly and said, "What's the matter? Auntie, you have red mushrooms to sell so early?"
Li Yinfu couldn't help feeling guilty when he heard his tone, and he laughed dryly, "It's not mushroom season yet, where did you get the mushrooms, Auntie? I thought if you want to harvest them this year, we should go up the mountain to pick them earlier, so that we can pay back the money we owe to your third sister-in-law."
Zhou Huaian sneered: "Then I have to tell my third brother, so that he won't get so angry about the two hundred yuan that he will go to fight with my third sister-in-law!"
Li Yinfu smiled awkwardly and said: "If you dare to tell the third brother, I will remember it. You can return it to him after selling the mushrooms this year!" The stingy man, who has earned so much money, still remembers the two hundred yuan!
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian felt more and more that they were up to something. "Okay, I'll tell him when I get back!" Then he pretended to leave.
"Youngest brother!" Li Yinfu hurriedly called him, "Are you still buying red mushrooms this year? Is the price the same as last year?"
Zhou Huaian stopped and shook his head, "This year! Even if we want to collect it, it won't be the same price as last year!"
"What's wrong?" Li Yinfu looked at him in surprise, "Are you going to raise the price again?"
Judging from her expression, she is not happy at all to hear about the price increase! If she hadn't hooked up with that bastard Xiong Laoyao and was trying to steal my red mushroom business, I would have written my name backwards.
"Just raise the price!" Zhou Huaian said indifferently, picked up the dung bucket and left without looking back.
You bastard, why don’t you tell me clearly whether the price has increased or decreased?
Li Yinfu looked at him, spat inwardly, and cursed in a low voice, "What a piece of shit! He just made a few bucks, but he even forgot his last name!"
Zhou Dachun came out and saw her standing there looking at the second room. "Why are you still here? Your family is waiting for you to buy salt and cook."
Li Yinfu turned and walked up to him, "Let me tell you, I just met the youngest brother, and he said..."
Zhou Dachun glared at her and said, "Go back and tell me!"
"Oh!" Li Yinfu followed him back to the yard, walked up to Zhou Huaixing who was half-lying on a chair with his legs crossed, and repeated Zhou Huaian's words to him, "What do you think he meant by that? Is it a price increase or a price decrease?"
After hearing this, Zhou Huaixing asked her to repeat the conversation between her and Zhou Huaian. After thinking for a while, he said with certainty, "What the second-rate guy meant is that they are going to lower the price of red mushrooms this year!"
Li Yinfu nodded and said with a curled lip, "It's worthless stuff in the first place. I charge two or three cents per pound. Those people are running away, but I still charge one dollar per pound. What a loser!"
"A price reduction is good!" Zhou Huaixing stood up excitedly. "If we charge the same price as last year, we can only charge 500 to 600 kilograms at one yuan per kilogram with our limited capital. Even if we form a partnership with Xiong Laoya..."
"Huai Xing!" Zhou Dachun called out to him, "Do you really want to join forces with the youngest bear to collect herbs, and tell him about the youngest bear collecting red mushrooms?"
The youngest Xiong had come to see them several times, saying that he wanted to partner with them to collect and sell herbs, and that he had already found a boss.
Huaixing, however, felt that since they could not recognize a few kinds of herbs, it would be better for them to seize the youngest brother's business of collecting red mushrooms. That business should be as profitable as collecting and selling truffles.
Huaixing had left Xiong Laoya out in the cold several times, and only today did he tell him that he knew Zhou Laoya had another way to make money.
Ask him to take him to meet the owner of the drug store. Once he is sure that there is a boss behind the scenes and has signed the agreement with him, he will tell him what other business Zhou Laoyao is that is as profitable as collecting truffles.
After what happened last time, Huaixing became much more experienced than before, but he always felt that the Xiong family were not good people, and he was afraid that in the end all his efforts would be in vain.
Not only will I be punished by the old man, but I will also be laughed at by the second and third wives! (End of this chapter)
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