As soon as Zhou Huaian entered the courtyard, Zhou Jiakang and others surrounded him and asked, "Dad, what kind of candy did you buy?"
Zhou Xiaolin pulled his trouser leg, "Dad, I want some candy."
"Little guys, my pants are going to fall off." Zhou Huaian took out a handful of candies from his military bag and gave two to each of them. "How come you all know I bought candies? Do you all have dog noses?"
Several kids looked at him and smiled innocently, "Hehe!"
"Wow! Crispy candies, this is the best." Zhou Jiakang chased him inside, "Dad, did you make a lot of money today?"
Zhou Huaian rubbed him and said, "What a ridiculous amount of money. I bought it for you because I saw you guys were doing well these past few days."
Zhou Xiaowen said softly, "Dad, we will behave like this every day from now on, can you still buy us some candies?"
Zhou Huaian thought for a moment, then stopped and looked at the others. "If anyone gets 100 points in a test in the future, I will buy him a pound of crispy candies."
Zhou Jiakang pulled him and asked, "How many pieces of crispy candy are there in a pound?"
Zhou Huaian opened the bag and said, "This is half a catty. How many yuan is a catty?"
Several kids looked at the candies in the bag with shining eyes, "So many!"
Zhou Huaian clapped his hands and said, "More than a pound. If you want to eat crispy candies, you must get 100 points in the exam."
Several kids nodded their heads, "Yeah yeah!"
Zhou's mother came out from the kitchen and asked, "Why are you back so late?"
Zhou Huaian put down his backpack and said, "I bought more than 100 kilograms, but there are still a few dozen kilograms left. The retail sales took several hours."
“It’s good as long as it’s sold out.”
"That's right." Zhou Huaian grabbed a handful of candy and gave it to her. "The crispy candy is delicious."
"Why are you buying such good candy?" Zhou's mother frowned and looked down at the meat in the bamboo basket. "We just ate meat yesterday, and you bought more meat. Let me tell you, even the landlords in the past wouldn't spend money like this."
"You are already in your twenties, and you will soon be considered an old man. You should be frugal and save more money. You will need money to find a daughter-in-law in the future."
Zhou Huaian looked at her with a playful smile, "Even if I have one more child in the future, it will only be two at most. I will save all the money I earn for him. What if I spoil him and he becomes a lazy and second-rate person?"
"Bullshit!" Zhou's mother glared at him. "How could you become a second-rate lazy guy if you took good care of him? You are like this because of you..."
"Let's not talk about it now." Zhou Huaian interrupted her. Seeing that her face was as dark as a rainy day, he stuffed the money into her hand and said, "Don't be angry. Yiding will buy some candy to go to my mother-in-law's house. I thought this candy is crispy and grandpa can chew it, so I weighed half a pound."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother continued, "Yiding is different from us. When he takes over his father's job, he will be a state-owned household and receive money every month. You should save some money while you are young, and when you are old..."
"Okay, I get it. I will save all the money I earn from now on. I'd better learn from my dad, who is a miser and never spends a penny. He and his wife would hide their meat under the covers when they eat it."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother was both angry and amused, and slapped him, "Son of a bitch, where did you hear that?"
"Grandpa told my grandma." Zhou Huaian said, "Brother Huang opened a restaurant with someone else and asked you to grow a few more varieties of vegetables and raise more chickens and ducks. You can get them from us in the future."
Mother Zhou nodded happily after hearing this. "Yes! The grey hen has just started to brood. I'll go get the eggs and put them in the nest."
Zhou Huaian looked at the kitchen, "Where's Chunyan?"
"She went to the back mountain to check on the Chuanxiong she planted. I asked her to pick some vegetables for her as well." After saying that, Zhou's mother took the money and walked towards the main room.
Zhou Huaian went back to his room, put the money away, locked the box and went out. Before he reached the vegetable garden, he saw Yang Chunyan coming over with two cabbages. "Did you cut the beef heart white?"
Yang Chunyan nodded and said, "Look at how good the vegetables my mother grows are."
Zhou Huaian took the cabbage and said, "My mother's ability in growing vegetables is beyond doubt, and her ability in reading Taoism is also not bad. I just heard it at home."
"That's how it is with older people. Is the price of venison good?"
"Not bad, including the honey, I sold more than 800 yuan. I think every time I sell herbs, every penny is..."
Yang Chunyan agreed after hearing this, "Yes, some people don't even give a penny to their brothers. Friends like Yiding are really rare."
"I hope the truffle business will be successful." Zhou Huaian stopped and looked at her, "Otherwise we will give him a share of the red mushroom business."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Don't worry, I think the truffle business can be successful."
"I hope so!" Zhou Huaian said, thinking of the Chuanxiong, "How are the herbs growing?"
Yang Chunyan pointed at the carrots in the vegetable garden and said, "The leaves look very similar to this, more than an inch tall."
Zhou Huaian said happily after hearing this: "It looks like we can really grow it. Wait for my sister-in-law and the others to come back, and then go up the mountain tomorrow morning to dig up the Amomum villosum and plant it in the fields."
Yang Chunyan: "Yes! The old man and grandpa helped us cut it..."
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian said with a headache: "If there is enough manure, there is actually no need to raise so many animals and make yourself so tired."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "You used to herd cattle when you were a kid. You drove them down the mountain every day. After going a few times, they knew to come back by themselves."
"Well, if you want to raise it, then raise it!"
"Also, we can't rely on Big Brother and his help for everything. We should ask someone to cut bamboo and sticks to fence off the mountain, so that others can't just come in and dig herbs."
"When Yiding and I go to see the new house this afternoon, we'll ask a few people to help us." Zhou Huaian thought for a moment, "When we eat later, let the old man know so they don't nag us again."
"I'll tell the old man when the time comes."
When they returned home, they saw the old man sitting at the door of the main hall smoking leaf tobacco. Zhou Huaian walked up to him with a smile and asked, "Grandpa, how are the cows?"
The old man exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "I looked at two houses and they both weren't very good. They said that fewer people would buy yellow scalper in the second half of the year, so they asked me to go and have a look later."
Zhou Huaian went to the main room and took out a handful of tobacco leaves, then pulled a straw stool and sat next to him. "Where are the oxen plowing the fields? How do you think they are doing?"
The old man said, "I saw one. The teeth were good in all aspects. He asked for 520. You old man gave him 480. He said at least 500. I think the skeleton is a little small. I want to go and have a look later."
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian was furious: "Damn Xiong Dahai, he extorted 500 yuan from my family for a dead cow. Luckily I got that thing, otherwise I would have lost a lot of money."
He felt that the Xiong family thought that he was an honest man and easy to bully, otherwise why would they dare to ask for so much.
"Yes, thanks to Chunyan for recognizing me, otherwise I would have suffered a lot." The old man shook his head and said, "People! You should still act according to your conscience. Sometimes, suffering a loss is actually gaining an advantage."
Zhou Huaian rolled the tobacco leaves and put them into the pipe. "I have ordered three pigs. We will buy the cows next year. You will be responsible for helping us drive the cows to the big pit."
The old man nodded happily, "If you want, I'll help you herd cattle." (End of this chapter)
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