Chapter 118
Selling gold
After searching the farm in the evening, Chen Lina didn't find her sons and had to go home first.
When they arrived at the base, before entering the big iron gate, Chen Lina saw the foreigner Edward standing under the worker statue, pacing back and forth.
Edward stopped Chen Lina and waited for her to roll down the window. He then said, "Ms. Chen, I need to talk to you. I don't deny that your husband is a very good man, but the way you educate your children is really abnormal. Do you know that your children are in a very dangerous situation now, and you know nothing about it?"
Chen Lina had been on the farm all day and had no idea where her sons had gone.
But at the same time, he also felt that this foreigner was being too rude to him.
He looked at her just like the British when they first crossed over to America and looked at the Native Americans.
Xiao Chen put her hand on the car window and stroked her lips with her fingers, thinking that this foreigner was a little hard to conquer. However, she was more curious about what the children had done.
This foreign devil was very arrogant, as if she had not educated her child well.
"You know, someone wants to kidnap women, and your sons are going to secretly catch the bad guys who kidnap women."
Edward explained to Chen Lina in a fierce manner what happened in the mining area today.
Outside the base, five kilometers ahead, new workers were digging earth to build a new office building. Twenty kilometers ahead was the mining area.
From now on, with rapid development, the entire Umayee, from farms to mining areas to bases, will be connected into a very, very large industrial city.
Now Chen Lina wants to turn it into the most prosperous city at the intersection of Europe and Asia by her own efforts. To others, it may just be a joke, but she thinks she can do it.
"So, you're saying that Lu Baili, using her brother Xiao Lu, wanted to lure Sun Duoyu from our farm to the mining area and then kidnap him, and my sons are now preparing to obtain evidence and bring Lu Baili to justice?" Chen Lina thought about it and understood. This should be the general situation.
"Your government has a special tolerance for the trafficking of women and children. Even after many abducted children are found, their biological parents become relatives with the abductors. And in most cases, abducted women will accept rape as natural and will obey the men who rape them. Am I right?" Edward said.
Chen Lina thought about it and realized that this was the reality and she couldn't refute it.
"You didn't give your sons a carefree, happy childhood. You let a genius boy pick pig grass on the farm. You are a failed mother." Edward showed the Rubik's Cube in his hand. "You know, Wei-chan can solve this Rubik's Cube in ten minutes. His brain power is superhuman. If they follow you, they won't get a good education at all. By the way, Wei Min plans to show personal heroism and catch a criminal. I will follow him the whole way. I have to say that Wei-chan's brain is invincible."
Chen Lina thought to herself that when Nie Weijiang becomes a hacker in the future, he might even be able to hack into all the portals in your country.
"Mr. Edward, you think I am not a competent mother, and I also think I am arrogant and presumptuous, selfish and prejudiced. Let's not change our opinions for now, okay? So, what do you want to eat tonight?" Chen Lina turned around and walked back and asked.
This silly but beautiful oriental mother with flowing black hair is an excellent cook.
Edward thought for a moment and said, "I want to eat Four Joy Meatballs, which is a very delicious Shanghainese dish. I just don't know if you can make it?"
"Sure, but we don't have pork here, only mutton. Do you eat mutton?"
Edward followed behind angrily. Could he still say he didn't want to eat?
After a while, Lao Nie also came back.
The three sons were studying the Rubik's Cube together. Nie Weimin and Sandan were already very good at it, but Erdan, no matter how many times Sandan taught him, he would just yell and stare. No kidding, he would get a splitting headache just by seeing these colors.
"Mr. Nie, can you play this?" Edward asked.
Nie Gong took the Rubik's Cube and looked at it for a while. He said, "It's not that difficult, but it takes time. I won't waste time on such meaningless things."
Edward gave a thumbs up and said, "Your wife's meal is delicious and very good."
The worker smiled and went into the kitchen.
Miss Chen took out all her anger at the arrogant foreigner on the mutton.
After chopped up the mutton and added spices, Chen Lina had run a restaurant in her previous life, so she knew the tastes of foreigners and also knew what kind of Chinese food foreigners liked, but in fact, she was just confused.
Blanch the tomatoes, add sugar and boil in a pot until it becomes a sweet juice. Then start frying the meatballs and then steam them.
The mutton from the border areas, no matter when it is cooked, actually has little fishy smell and is tender. It is so delicious when steamed.
Plus the tomato sauce she fried, it's so delicious compared to the stuff produced on the industrial assembly line in foreign fast food restaurants, which only uses essence to create a taste that tastes like motor oil if you eat too much.
"You look unhappy." The worker said, handing Miss Chen something. "This is from Manli. She said she didn't treat you well last time at Hongyan, so she brought it to you when she went abroad to perform."
Chen Lina saw that it was a black plastic box. She opened it and exclaimed, "I absolutely love Bao Manli. She bought me ten shades of Chanel lipstick. What is this? Next time I will give her a big kiss while wearing lipstick."
"So, Bao Manli is actually a nice person, quite straightforward. I have already remitted the money to her. These lipsticks are considered as gifts from me. You can keep them."
Chen Lina put her lipstick back in the master bedroom. Seeing the worker lighting a fire for her in the kitchen, she took the fire stick and said, "Go, go and entertain the foreigners. I'll be alone in the kitchen."
"Why are you still unhappy? It turns out that if I gave you a tube of lipstick, you would be happy for three days," asked the worker.
Originally, he wanted to say that he didn't know what Leng Qi was doing. If he ran things for himself, it seemed that he would be transferred to the mining area's armed forces department to be a leader.
But seeing that Xiao Chen was so unhappy, he suppressed the news.
Chen Lina said, “I also feel that I am very sorry for my children because I cannot give them a better education or let them enjoy a more materially prosperous life.
But that foreigner just criticized me in front of me, and I already felt guilty about your sons. Now, after hearing what he said, I feel even more ashamed. "
"You didn't give birth to them. I think it's good enough that you have achieved what you have today. There is nothing to blame yourself for. It's our common problem that we can't give them a better education. Okay, I'll help you light the fire, or you can go for a while?"
"There has been a lot of unrest in our mining area recently. There were a few women in the mining area, widows, women with dull brains, who disappeared inexplicably. I have always suspected that it was the wife of Section Chief Feng, that Lu Baili, who was responsible because we all had jobs.
Moreover, if there is no evidence for trafficking women, the public security team will not impose a heavy sentence, so I have not taken any action. But today, I heard from the foreign devils that Lu Baili wanted to kidnap Sun Duoyu, and your sons probably wanted to play the hero and catch Lu Baili and find evidence. "
After digesting the answer for a long time, the worker asked, "In your opinion, how should this matter be handled?"
Chen Lina said, "I want to follow quietly and let Nie Weimin go out and let him handle this matter alone. Do you think it's okay?"
"Although he is almost twelve years old, he is just a child. Do you think he can get evidence against Lu Baili?" Nie Gong asked back.
"Nie Gong, we can't give our children a good education and material life. That's a matter of the general environment. But the same thing is true. Children of poor families have to take care of themselves early. Erdan and Sandan are not to mention. Weimin's ability to handle things is calmer than that of ordinary adults. Edward is too arrogant. Doesn't he think there is something wrong with my education?
I will follow him all the time, but I won't show up. I want him to see which country's children are truly outstanding and excellent, China or the United States, when put in a real storm. "
This is what reality teaches him about being a good person.
Nie Gong chased Xiao Chen away and stood in the kitchen looking at his lover for a long time before saying, "You know, Wang Lei wrote a letter saying that his life was not easy, but as long as he remembered the song "Yesterday Again" you sang, he would have new hope for life. Miss Chen, your infectious power is really invincible. I believe that as long as Edward stays for a few more days, he will get rid of his prejudice."
"Well, sooner or later he will kneel at my feet and call me mommy," said Chen Lina.
As a result, when it was time to eat, Erdan took a bite of the large plate of four-happiness meatballs, frowned and shook his head and said, "Mom, it's too sweet." Then he started to eat rice and said, "But I like it."
"Mom." Edward tasted the sauce with a spoon and called out directly.
"Mom, this is the taste you made for me in the alleys of Shanghai." He was so excited that he ignored etiquette and directly brought the plate in front of him like an old child.
Nie Gong whispered, "Sure enough, he really called me mom."
Chen Lina chuckled, and just looking at Edward's lion-like mouth, she thought to herself, "What a little brat."
She had seen all kinds of storms and waves. Last year, when Nie went to New York to discuss the listing, an old Jewish man kept talking about her delicious four-happiness meatballs. He said that he was the Greek shipping king, a thousand times richer than Nie, and wanted to marry her and give her a large fleet.
Conquering these foreigners isn’t her strong point?
In the evening, the two adults were doing their homework in the living room, and Chen Lina sat beside them and calculated her own accounts.
Sandan had less homework, and it was said that he finished it at school. He then went outside to pick carrot strips for the old rabbit to eat.
Edward had nothing to do and ate too much, so he wandered around the family area of the base.
Needless to say, some people were afraid of him, while others were curious and wanted to invite him into the house to sit down.
Edward declined all of them. After all, he knew that in the eyes of these people, he was just a giant monkey. They looked at him like an animal.
However, after walking around for a while, someone gave him two eggs and asked Manager Chen to cook them for him.
Someone also gave him some black potatoes, saying that Director Chen should stew them for him. Another Kazakh mother insisted on giving him a chicken, but Edward refused after much persuasion.
When I returned to Nie's house and opened the door, the yard was quiet. Obviously, all the children had gone to bed.
They were so poor that there were only two kangs in the family and there was no privacy at all between the children.
When Edward saw this, he couldn't help shaking his head. A little genius like Nietzsche shouldn't live in such a place.
Edward stood outside the window and saw the mechanic couple sitting inside the window.
Manager Chen looked worried. "I went to the credit union and asked. They also accept gold, but they only give me 200 yuan per pound. They only gave me 160 yuan for such a big yellow croaker. It's too cheap."
The last time Edward saw old-fashioned yellow croaker was when his father left Shanghai. They were packed in boxes, all bright yellow.
He didn't know how his father got those big yellow croakers, but for many years after the war, it was those big yellow croakers that supported his family's wealthy and leisurely aristocratic life.
So, Edward's eyes suddenly lit up.
"If it doesn't work, just go out with Xiao Chen in private. He's not willing to give you ten yuan for a big yellow croaker. One fish costs at least three hundred yuan. If you give him ten, it should be enough to complete what you want to do now, right?" Nie Gong said.
Chen Lina is still worried, "If I had 5,000 yuan, I could start a business. A large yellow croaker only costs 300 yuan, which is not enough for me to start a business."
The worker had to go back to the study to work. He patted his wife on the shoulder and said, "Then sell 20 pieces. That's it. I will support you in whatever you want to do."
The engineer got up and went back into the study, and Edward followed him in.
Of course Miss Chen was afraid of being seen, so she put the big yellow croaker in her pocket.
"China has been a country with abundant wealth since ancient times. Of course, this is probably why the Eight-Nation Alliance wanted to knock on the door of the ancient Qing Dynasty." Edward was still very arrogant. He scooped a glass of raw water from the kitchen and drank it. He said, "I just saw you holding a gold bar outside. It seems that you want to sell it."
"Yes, I originally planned to put 5,000 yuan into the credit union, and then lend it to my members so that they could buy small cotton looms and weave cloth, thus becoming rich.
But I only had a salary of 200 yuan a month and I had to raise a child. I didn’t have any extra money, so I wanted to sell some of my ancestral property to get rich. I did nothing wrong.”
"For your members?" Edward was a little surprised. "I thought you wanted to invest in a better education for your children, so you moved to a big city."
"Of course the education in big cities is good, but for now, children only receive basic education. Moreover, I have always firmly believed that talent and virtue are separate. They still have many years to learn knowledge, but virtue needs to be cultivated over time. So, for now, I have no plans to move. You foreigners may be accustomed to moving to a place that is more suitable for you, but we Chinese prefer to make our homes the way we want them." Miss Chen said neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"So, you want to become rich with the people on the farm."
"Yes, I loaned them money so they could buy machines to weave cloth. When they made money and repaid my loan, we would become rich together. When this place becomes rich, then excellent teachers and good educational resources would come along, right? Mr. Edward?"
Edward pointed to her pocket and asked, "You can sell your yellow croaker to me. I promise I can give you a higher price."
Miss Chen turned around and immediately smiled like a flower.
The world is bustling with people, all for the sake of profit. The world is bustling with people, all for the sake of profit. She thought to herself, the ancients were not deceiving me.
Once the bait was cast, the man was hooked.
"You are a foreign journalist. It is difficult to bring yellow croaker out of our country, right?"
"Don't worry about this. I have my own way. I just want to ask, if I give you three hundred dollars for one strip, are you willing to give it to me?" Edward said.
Chen Lina went into the worker's study, pulled out a copy of Time magazine from his bookshelf, and threw it in front of Edward. "Mr. Edward, it says the US gold price. Three months ago, it was $200 an ounce. As a messenger of justice and the son of a pastor, do you think it's fun to deceive an oriental peasant woman whom you look down upon?"
Now, because of the Cold War, gold is in an unprecedented bull market, but by 1976, the price of gold will fall back, but even if it falls back, it will still be $100 an ounce.
Edward's nose turned red first, and then his face also turned red.
Touching the tip of his nose, he revealed his cunning and profiteer side. "200 dollars, that's the price in the United States. Don't forget that you are just a Chinese peasant woman, and if you sell it to your fellow countrymen, the price will be much cheaper than mine."
Just as Chen Lina was about to retort, the laborer came out and said, "Xiao Chen, stop negotiating business with this foreign devil. We Chinese have never colonized any country, nor do we have the habit of taking advantage of others' misfortunes. But they do. Have you forgotten how these white people got America?"
At this moment, Lao Nie was 2.8 meters tall. When facing Edward, who was of similar height, he showed the simplicity of a republican intellectual and the iron will. "We Chinese can drive away the colonizers and make ourselves rich and powerful. We don't need an arrogant and rude person like you to point fingers here. You are not welcome in my house. Get out now."
"Mr. Nie, I was just joking, why are you angry?" The foreigner even knew to use "you" when respecting people, which shows how well he knows Chinese culture.
"Okay, okay, I apologize to Miss Chen, that's okay. Please allow me to stay for a few more days, okay? Your sons and I have formed a very deep friendship, and I don't want to leave them, okay?" Seeing that the host did not agree, Edward said again.
The worker stood behind his wife, looked at her coldly for a long time, then pulled Chen Lina into the study, leaving the guest in the living room.
"He's a guest after all, a foreigner at that. Don't you think it's too crowded for the two of us to just sit there and watch him squeeze into the small study?" Miss Chen and the worker were squeezed on the single bed in the small study, unable to even turn over.
Nie Gong frowned, held Xiao Chen's hand, and said, "The body odor of foreigners is like that of a horse. It makes me unable to sleep. If you don't talk about this, how can I find that if I don't sleep with you, I will always feel uneasy."
Sighing, Nie Gong thought, that apricot tree fork was probably just like me, entangled in the spider web of this woman little by little.
It would be even more wonderful to lie side by side with her on a smaller bed and have her snuggle up to him like a little rabbit.
Nie Gong feels that he is becoming more and more in love with his wife, which is not a good thing, but he can't help it, because she is always so fragrant and charming.
If Leng Qi really goes to the Armed Forces Department, Nie Gong will be filled with jealousy again.
The anxiety that Ye Gong felt at this moment was probably as exaggerated as that of Chen Lina when she first dug up that box of big yellow croaker.