The two brothers got up early in the morning, each ate three boiled eggs, and had a bag of fruit candies in their pockets. They even had candies in their mouths, but they were still asking Xu Honglian for pocket money.
"I want to buy soda, I want to drink soda."
Gu Jindan spoke.
Gu Baodan chimed in, "I want to buy some too! You promised to buy us soda every day, but you haven't bought any today."
Xu Honglian, who had just gotten up and prepared breakfast for the father and his two sons, hadn't had time to wash her face or comb her hair, and her face was still covered in eye boogers.
Hearing her two sons' words and seeing their two chubby sons, she scolded them as debt collectors while reaching into her pocket for money.
"Fifty cents per person, that's all."
She took out a handful of change, pulled out two 50-cent bills, and handed them to Gu Jindan and Gu Baodan.
But how could the two brothers be satisfied with just five cents? When they saw the money in Xu Honglian's hand, they grabbed it without saying a word.
"Give them all to us."
"We want to buy some soda."
The two brothers were very resourceful. One of them grabbed Xu Honglian, while the other snatched the money from her hand. After grabbing the five yuan, they made a face at Xu Honglian and ran away as fast as they could.
"You...you two brats..."
Xu Honglian stood there with her hands on her hips, her face showing slight anger: "What's the point of robbing your old mother's money? If you're so capable, go rob some strangers outside! I really owe you two debt collectors."
Xu Honglian cursed and turned to walk into the house.
She glossed over the matter of Gu Jindan and Gu Baodan robbing each other of money.
Gu Changqing, who came out of the house, frowned upon hearing Xu Honglian's words: "Did they rob you of your money?"
Xu Honglian scoffed, "It's only five yuan. I was originally planning to buy them soda anyway, just to have some fun with them."
Five yuan...
If this had happened in the past, let alone just last month, Xu Honglian would have felt heartbroken for a long time.
But things are different now.
She's rich now; they sell the mountain produce they find to city businessmen and make a lot of money.
With the additional compensation they gave them for their hard work, Xu Honglian calculated last night that her family now has two thousand yuan in savings.
Two thousand! That was a huge sum of money in the 1980s.
With so much money, Xu Honglian naturally looked down on those five yuan.
Besides, the money she and Gu Changqing worked so hard to earn was originally meant to build up a family fortune for their two sons. If they don't spend it on them now, they'll have to spend it on them later. So it's okay to spend it a little earlier now.
Gu Changqing frowned, feeling that Xu Honglian's way of educating her child was problematic.
“We can’t let them run wild like this anymore. There should be a limit to how much pocket money we can give them. If we’re too ostentatious, it’ll cause trouble if other people in the village see it.”
His words immediately aroused Xu Honglian's dissatisfaction.
"What's wrong with that? Who dares to object to me spending money on my son? If they have any objections, they can spend money on their son too. Why are they envious of others?"
Xu Honglian spoke very loudly, as if she was deliberately saying it so that others could hear.
Gu Changqing was somewhat troubled by Xu Honglian's unreasonable behavior.
"I'm doing this for your own good. Don't wait until you suffer the consequences before you regret it."
"What loss could I possibly suffer? Boss Ye said that as long as we work hard for him, we'll make endless money in the future, and our days of enjoying life will begin. What loss could I possibly suffer?"
As Xu Honglian spoke, she thought of Gu Changhe and his family next door. She sneered and said, "Do you think I'm as stupid as Lao San and his family? Why am I so afraid of everything? To put it nicely, they're cautious; to put it bluntly, they don't know how to seize opportunities."
"It's normal for them to not know how fast things are changing in the city, since they live in the countryside every day. But if they don't know and won't listen to other people's opinions, then they're just idiots."
Xu Honglian thought she was extremely clever, all thanks to her second marriage to someone from the county town.
Although she only stayed in the county town for a few months before divorcing her husband because he was disabled, she learned a lot from their conversations.
She could be considered a semi-city dweller.
Seeing that Xu Honglian was unmoved by his words, Gu Changqing shook his head, sighed, picked up his wood-chopping knife and basket, and went out.
Where are you going?
"Go to the ground."
Gu Changqing agreed without turning his head. Xu Honglian said "oh" and then realized something was wrong. Why would Gu Changqing wear clothes without patches when he went to the ground?
Could it be that he's using the excuse of working in the fields to go and have sex with that wild woman in the woods again?
It wasn't that Xu Honglian was overthinking things, but Gu Changqing did indeed have a criminal record, and Xu Honglian couldn't put her mind at ease.
They were poor before, but Gu Changqing never gave up on having affairs with the educated youth in the village. Now that they have some money, won't even more women throw themselves at Gu Changqing?
Xu Honglian felt increasingly uneasy, so she went back to her room to change her clothes and tidy herself up before going out herself.
She wanted to see if Gu Changqing had really gone to the fields or if he had gone to meet with other women.
Gu Changzheng was riding his bicycle back to the village from the town when he encountered a group of children bullying two little girls at the village entrance. Gu Changzheng was very familiar with the two fat boys who were in the lead.
Gu Changzheng was also very familiar with the two girls who were being bullied.
It was Gu Changshan's eldest daughter and second daughter.
Daya and Erya are also eleven or twelve years old. They have been studying in town for the past two years and have grown taller than before.
But he was still very thin.
Compared to Gu Jindan and Gu Baodan, who were as fat as balls, Daya and Erya were practically bamboo poles.
The two sisters were stopped by Gu Jindan and Gu Baodan, and were pushed to the ground. Daya protected Erya and prevented Erya from being hit.
Gu Baodan looked at the two sisters lying on the ground with a big laugh, not feeling that she had gone too far at all. On the contrary, she was laughing very happily.
"Brother, it's time to teach these two good-for-nothings a lesson. I have a great idea."
As Gu Baodan spoke, he pulled down his pants and peed on the dirt next to him. Then he squatted down, mixed the urine with the dirt, and brought it to Da Ya and Er Ya.
"You worthless wretches, eat the meal I specially prepared for you, and I'll spare you today."
Gu Baodan was arrogant and haughty, not like a child at all, but like a hooligan.
After he finished speaking, the other boys watching burst into laughter.
"Eat up, eat up! Aren't you studying in town? This meal was specially made for you. Eat up, eat up and show us!"
"Yes, eat up. Let's see if the way those money-losing kids who go to school in town eat is any different."
"Haha, you probably eat this often in town, right?"
"Or do you not want to eat this but want to eat shit? I need to take a dump right now."
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