Chapter 12 Dandelion
Wang Yunyun was confused.
Jian Li stopped the car and asked Wang Shuai to turn on the flashlight to illuminate the road ahead.
After getting on the bike again, Jian Li began to explain breathlessly.
"They open their doors to do business, isn't it to reduce costs and sell at a high price? They just want to make money. They are not bargaining against us. Even if my uncle went there today, she would still bargain. Besides, didn't I bargain too?"
"She wants to buy at a low price, and I want to sell at a high price. Whether the transaction is successful or not is up to each of us."
"If you always take people's rejection as a denial of your personality and take people's consent as a compliment, then what kind of business are you doing?"
Wang Yunyun sat in the car in a daze.
Jian Li's words were like a crack in her mind, causing her heart to tremble violently.
Wang Yunyun didn't react until the three of them arrived home.
Jian Li secretly parked the car outside, then dragged the two of them to squat behind a pile of straw.
A handful of banknotes, Jian Li divided into five parts.
She and Wang Yunyun each took two copies and gave one to Wang Shuai.
Marshal Wang was surprised at first, but then he was dissatisfied.
"Why should I have one?"
Jian Li didn't even raise her head: "Catching crabs, cooking crabs, and selling crabs. You didn't participate in either of them. You are just lucky if I give you a share."
Under normal circumstances, a huge sum of nearly five dollars would be enough to make Wang Shuai so happy that he would be at a loss.
But today, with the ten yuan from Jian Li and Wang Yunyun as a comparison, he was immediately dissatisfied.
"…Then I'll go catch crabs with you tomorrow."
Jian Li was very satisfied.
Wang Yunyun was worried: "I didn't help at all, I don't deserve so much..."
She caught more crabs and shared the crabs with him, but it was mostly Jian Li who was responsible for selling the crabs alone.
Jian Li: "If you don't want it, don't catch crabs tomorrow. Wang Shuai and I will be the only ones selling crabs together."
Wang Yunyun felt uneasy, thinking that Jian Li was angry.
Jian Li was not angry, because she knew that Wang Yunyun had such a temper.
"Sister, if you want to participate, you have to follow my distribution method."
Wang Yunyun didn't say anything about whether they were worthy or not. She was under too much shock today and she needed some time to think about what Jian Li said.
Although there was a difference of several months, Wang Yunyun inexplicably felt that Jian Li's words sounded more convincing than her parents' instructions of "being filial, obedient and sensible".
Jian Li distributed the money, and then extended her hand as a matter of course.
"Come on, everyone, hand over your money."
Wang Shuai collapsed: "Why?"
Why would he take the money out of his pocket after it has already gone into his pocket?
Jian Li rolled her eyes: "Doesn't it cost money to do business? And the oil and salt used today, don't you need to replenish them? Don't talk nonsense, keep one for yourself and give the rest to me!"
Wang Shuai looked reluctantly at the small change that hadn't even warmed up yet being taken away by Jian Li. Even though he still had one dollar left, he felt as if he had lost his soul.
Jian Li smiled and said, "Look at you. We still have one summer vacation. As long as you are willing to work hard, I will give you some money. But first of all, each person will only get one piece a day. The rest will be kept with me. We will settle the bill at the end of the summer vacation."
Neither of them objected.
After dividing the money, the three of them pushed their bicycles into the house and were naturally caught by the adults.
Wang Yuedong went to the city to work as a laborer, earning one cent for each brick, and could earn twelve or thirteen yuan a day. Sun Cuifang made dumplings in a noodle shop owned by a relative of her natal family, and could earn only five yuan a day.
After a busy day, they returned home and saw the cold pot and stove, and none of their children were at home. They almost froze in their hearts.
Asking her mother, Grandma Jian Li felt very guilty.
"How would I know? I was at home when I woke up in the morning, but these kids insisted on running outside. How could I control them?"
"You are so fierce and evil? Are you blaming me? Did I tell them to run away? You two were only concerned with making money and didn't care what my old lady had for lunch at home. Now you come back with a sullen face."
"My life is so hard. Your father passed away early, so you are unfilial, right?"
…
She was also nervous. This morning Wang Yuedong asked her to cook for the three children. She agreed and turned around to go to her youngest son's house.
She doesn't want to cook for a girl!
Besides, Jian Li and Wang Yunyun are already so old, won’t they take care of their younger brother?
The old lady went to her youngest son Wang Yuexi's house and came back after a busy day.
I thought it was nothing serious, but now several children are missing!
Wang Yuedong was in an even worse mood after being pestered by his mother.
"I didn't say that. The main thing is that the children are missing. What should we do now?"
The old lady was speechless. What should she do? She had no idea what to do.
Sun Cuifang was still calm and made a prompt decision: "Go out and ask some people, and find some people to look for it together."
The couple made up their mind, but before they even went out, they ran into the three children sneaking back.
Everyone's face was covered with black and gray marks from sweat.
Wang Yuedong: …
Then start looking for a stick.
"Wang Shuai, you bastard, did you take your sister out for a walk? I'll beat you to death!"
Wang Shuai: ...
It’s unfair!
Jian Li hurriedly said, "Uncle, don't do anything. Don't worry about Wang Shuai. I took my sister and Wang Shuai to the county."
Jian Li quickly recounted her trip to the county town to sell crabs today, and then Ji Ci concealed the income, saying only that it was some pocket money.
Wang Yuedong's furious mood dropped to 50% when he heard that it was Jian Li who advocated going. After hearing the rest, he was completely out of temper.
"Why did you think of going to the county town? Fortunately nothing happened, otherwise how can I explain to your mother? Listen to your uncle and don't go. If you need money, I will give it to you."
As he said this, he was about to take money out of his pocket and give it to Jian Li.
Wang Shuai: !!!
Jian Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Uncle, it's really nothing. The county town is so close, we just took the main road, and we went there and came back after selling everything. The teacher also said that we can't just study hard, and going out for a walk can also broaden our horizons."
Sun Cuifang elbowed the man and said with praise: "I think Xiaoli is right. It's better for the children to do it themselves than running around outside. It doesn't matter how much money they make. The most important thing is to exercise."
Sun Cuifang stood on Jian Li's side, and Wang Yuedong naturally had no objection.
The whole family was running outside, and everyone was starving. Sun Cuifang immediately asked them to cook.
Jian Li and Wang Yunyun also went to help.
Wang Shuai was the only one standing there in the family.
Very aggrieved.
No, why shouldn’t her sister pay back the money without getting beaten?
Dinner consisted of pancakes with cold cucumber and fried potato chips. The two plates of crabs that Jian Li had left behind were brought out. She poured some liquor for her uncle and stewed a pot of dandelion tea.
Wang Yuedong was drinking wine and eating crabs. On that summer evening, the draft blew in from the front door, and his beautiful eyes narrowed.
The crab is spicy and flavorful, and it is intoxicating when paired with a glass of wine.
Jian Li drank several bowls of slightly bitter dandelion tea. She had been running around everywhere these days and was irritated by the sun.
After dinner, the adults were busy cooling off, while the children picked up their buckets and prepared to go out to catch crabs.
Perhaps because of the issue of dividing the money, Wang Shuai was particularly serious tonight and even borrowed two buckets from others.
After one night, we caught four buckets of crabs!
The three men were exhausted and poured the crabs into a large red plastic basin at home.
Jian Li was a little worried: "Will it run out?"
Wang Shuai: "No, the edge is so high."
Wang Yuedong and Sun Cuifang came back from outside holding palm-leaf fans and carrying stools, and were also surprised.
“That’s too much.”
Jian Li: "Aunt, I'm running out of oil in the kitchen. I'll go to town and buy some tomorrow."
Sun Cuifang: "What are you buying? We still have some at home. We still have plenty of rapeseed this year. When you're done eating them, ask your uncle to carry a sack to the town to squeeze them."
In previous years, when oil was scarce in every household, Sun Cuifang might not have been so generous.
But in recent years, the life of every household has been better. Although most people are still short of money, there are not many families who are short of food.
Wang Yuedong and his wife are willing to work hard. Every year after planting wheat, they plant corn, rapeseed and peanuts. The small vegetable garden at home has everything.
Jian Li did not refuse and planned to give her aunt a big red envelope before leaving.
At night the whole family slept on the roof.
The Wang family’s house was built a few years ago and has only one floor.
At night, they put up a ladder and carried the quilt to the roof and spread it out. Sun Cuifang also used bamboo poles to prop up a mosquito net and sent Jian Li and Wang Yunyun to sleep in it.
"You little girls have thin skins, and mosquitoes love to bite you the most."
Jian Li lay on the soft quilt and could feel the warmth of the floor when she stretched out her hand.
At that time, the power supply in the countryside was unstable, and almost everyone slept outside. Those in bungalows slept on the roof, and those in old houses put a bamboo bed in the yard, with the door open and the draft blowing through. If you didn't cover yourself with a blanket, you'd easily catch a cold.
Perhaps because there weren't so many lights, the stars in the sky seemed a little brighter, and with the naked eye one could see a river of stars shining brightly across the sky.
“It’s so beautiful.”
Jian Li fell into a deep sleep.
******
Jian Li's small business quickly took off.
Fried crabs are hard to get even if city dwellers want to eat them. There isn't much meat, but the crabs soaked in red oil taste special and are perfect for drinking.
The female stall owner who bought the crabs from Jian Li smiled brightly when she saw Jian Li again, and took the initiative to raise the price to one yuan per pound.
"I'll take as many as you have."
She has a refrigerator, so even if she can’t sell out all the food in a short time, there’s no need to worry. She can just put it in the refrigerator and put it back in the frying pan when someone wants to eat it.
She took all the 60 kilograms that Jian Li brought this time without blinking an eye.
Sixty yuan suddenly went into her account. It was still early, so Jian Li took Wang Yunyun and Wang Shuai to spend the money.
Wang Yunyun went straight to the bookstore, and after searching for more than ten minutes, she finally picked up a copy of "The Old Man and the Sea" reluctantly.
Seeing how much she wanted to read, Jian Li suggested, "Sister, why don't we go look for a library in the county."
Jian Li knew that there was a library in the city. She could get a library card for ten yuan, which allowed her to borrow three books at a time.
Wang Yunyun subconsciously wanted to refuse, but she had not slept most of the night before, and had been thinking about what Jian Li said, so she forced herself to suppress her usual "forget it" and instead asked herself what she was thinking deep down.
"Okay, let's go ask."
The three people found out that the library was in the Children's Palace, so they went straight to the Children's Palace.
When she came out again, Wang Yunyun's face was already red, and she looked at the three books in her arms with great cherishment.
"Dream of the Red Chamber", "The Old Man and the Sea", and "Floating".
Everything was like a dream.
Jian Li satisfied her cousin's wish and turned to ask Wang Shuai what he wanted.
"I've agreed to advance my money for the next ten days. You can also take an advance."
Yes, Jian Li did it on purpose.
One yuan a day is not much, but Wang Shuai is still a young man who is only growing in height but not in brains. This little money is enough for him to travel around the village.
Jian Li didn't want him to mess around, so she thought about how to find a reason for him to spend the money first.
Who knew that Wang Shuai covered his pocket and was extremely alert.
"Sister, I don't spend money."
As if he was afraid of being forced to spend money by Jian Li, Shuai Wang shook his head like a wave drum.
"I won't spend a penny!"
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