Chapter 198 197: Make up for the losses
After hearing this, Yang Chunyan thought about it and felt that this was really possible, "Mom is like this, she has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Seeing that my dad's family is really hopeless, she still can't bear to ignore it.
I’m afraid that she doesn’t know what’s good for her and might think that I want to use her things to pay off the debt!”
Zhao Huifang thought it was possible. "My father would probably agree to sell it to us. He has more than a dozen chickens and ducks, and grows a lot of pumpkins, potatoes, and taro."
Yang Chunyan recalled that Zhou Huaixing and his wife had not returned for several years in their previous life, and they were probably hiding away. "Even if Zhou Huaixing and his wife came out of the police station, they probably wouldn't dare to return to the village.
If I hide away, I don’t know when I can come back! There are only two old people and three children, so it’s just right to sell the leftovers.”
"What's just right?" Zhou's mother came in carrying a backpack and a bamboo basket.
"We were saying that you must have gone to your grandfather's house to collect eggs..." Yang Chunyan smiled and walked forward to take the basket. She saw that it was full of eggs, and the backpack was filled with potatoes and a few green peppers.
Zhou's mother wiped her sweat and was a little angry. "Qiuyue, that money-grubber, was cheated out of 200 yuan by his family. I went to his house to collect some things and make back all the money they cheated me of."
Yang Chunyan gave a thumbs up, "Brilliant!"
Mother Zhou laughed after hearing this, "You have also learned bad things from the youngest, you are so smooth-talking." Then she asked, "Did the youngest go to cut rapeseed?"
Yang Chunyan took the green peppers out of the basket and said, "No! I saw that his eyes were dark, so I let him take a nap and eat before going."
Zhao Huifang took over the conversation, "Mom, the youngest child is really tired these days, let him get some sleep and recuperate."
Mother Zhou rolled her eyes at the two of them in reproach, "I don't even know what kind of person my son is! You're the only ones protecting him!"
Yang Chunyan smiled and asked, "Is Third Dad feeling better?"
"Much better. Your third aunt dug some herbs and sent them home these days. I gave her three cents per pound. Huai Zhong and Huai Gang brought back fifty yuan and insisted on returning it to me, so I took it. She said she would return the remaining thirty to us next month."
Zhao Huifang said: "Huai Zhong and Huai Gang are both hardworking people. They can earn back their money by carrying coal in the coal mine for two months."
"As long as you're not lazy, you can find food wherever you go." Zhou's mother said as she walked out. "The sun is very strong. I'll go get the little ones back so they don't get heatstroke."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan responded and turned around to see that the rice pot was boiling. She quickly lifted the lid and shoveled a few times. "Sister-in-law, I'll go wash the taro. You can light a fire and filter the rice."
"Okay!"
Yang Chunyan walked out of the kitchen carrying the taro, fetched two buckets of water to wash the taro, and walked towards the kitchen.
At this time, a little boy of about seven or eight years old came to the gate of the courtyard, pushed the door open a crack, and looked at her cautiously, "Madam, I'm here to sell herbs."
"Come in!" Yang Chunyan looked at his big head and couldn't remember who the child belonged to.
"I dug up some plantain and water chestnuts and washed them clean." The boy pushed open the door, hunched his back and walked in with a basket full of things on his back.
Yang Chunyan quickly put the basket on the stone slab, walked over quickly to take his backpack, lifted it up to the steps and put it down. She saw that it was mostly filled with plantain and sticky grass. "Why is it so heavy? If it's damaged, it won't grow taller."
The boy looked at her sheepishly and said, "It's not heavy. I carry this much every day when I mow the grass."
Yang Chunyan took one look at the child with tanned skin, a big head, a thin body, and a pale face. She couldn't remember who the child was from and why he looked so thin like a refugee.
He said to him, "Wait a moment, I'll get the scale."
"Okay!" the little boy agreed happily.
At this time, Zhou's mother brought several children into the yard. Zhou Jiakang ran up to the little boy and asked, "Brother Xiaoping, are you here to sell herbs too?"
Yang Chunyan came out with a beam scale and remembered who he was after hearing it. He was Li Xiaoping, the son of Li Wu in the team. His mother had passed away due to illness three or four years ago, right?
Li Wu remarried two years ago, and his stepmother brought a girl who was about his age to marry into the Li family.
I heard that he was a cruel person with a cruel heart. He was never good to his children. Later, when he had another child with Li Wu, he treated him even worse.
It seemed that he was admitted to the county middle school later, but for some reason he dropped out after two years and went home. After a big fight with Li Wu, he ran away from home and never returned to Funiu since then.
"Grandma Chen!" Li Xiaoping greeted Zhou's mother and then said, "Jiaming said your family was collecting herbs, so I went to dig some when I was cutting grass this morning."
"Take it. Send it to me when you find it later." Zhou's mother looked at him with pity, "Didn't you go to school today?"
Li Xiaoping nodded, "There is only one math class in the morning, I asked for leave and will go in the afternoon."
Mother Zhou: "Your husband and stepmother didn't pay your tuition?"
Li Xiaoping smiled shyly, "I talked to my teacher, and he told me to go to Secretary Xu and ask him to help me register as a poor household. I don't have to pay tuition in the future, only miscellaneous fees."
Mother Zhou sighed and patted his head, "Study hard, and you will have a bright future!"
"Yeah!" Li Xiaoping nodded heavily.
"Okay, let your aunt weigh you!" After saying that, Zhou's mother carried the sleeping Zhou Xiaolin to the main room.
Yang Chunyan separated the Houttuynia cordata and Plantain, and saw that both herbs were washed clean.
After weighing, there were a total of fifty jin, but there was a few taels missing. At 1/3 of a jin, it was only 1.5 yuan.
Mother Zhou took out the money for the herbs and handed it to Yang Chunyan. She also took out a few candies and gave them to Li Xiaoping, "Eat some candy."
Li Xiaoping looked at the candy in his hand and swallowed his saliva. "Thank you, Grandma Chen."
Zhou's mother rubbed his head and said, "Study hard, and you will be fine when you grow up."
Li Xiaoping: “I understand.”
Yang Chunyan gave him two pieces and said gently, "Xiaoping, the herbs you dug were picked and washed very cleanly. They can be rated as first-class. Auntie will give them 4 cents per pound."
She paused, "There are fragrant and stinking peonies at the foot of the mountain. We also want to harvest them. We cut the fragrant flowers whole, pick the leaves of stinking peonies in summer and dig up the roots in autumn, and we can also harvest the chicken shit vine."
"I remember it!" Li Xiaoping nodded happily, "Thank you, Aunt Yao, thank you, Grandma Chen, I'm going back now."
Zhou's mother nodded and said, "Go ahead, dig it up and send it back when you have time."
"Oh!" Li Xiaoping walked a few steps and turned back. He looked at the two people and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Grandma, Auntie, I have to give the money from selling herbs to the teacher. Please don't tell my husband and stepmother."
Mother Zhou nodded without hesitation, "Grandma and Auntie didn't say anything, and Jiakang and Xiaoru didn't say anything either."
"Brother Xiaoping, we won't tell you." Zhou Jiakang and others also said.
"Thank you, Grandma Chen, and thank you, Aunt Yao!" After Li Xiaoping expressed his gratitude, he hurried away with his backpack on his back.
Yang Chunyan looked at him and felt that this child had a promising future and would live a good life after running away from home in his previous life.
(End of this chapter)
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