Su Weiguo and Xu Guixiang were eating with mixed feelings, while Old Lady Su kept nagging beside them.
They complained that they were stupid and spent all their money on an ungrateful person, saying that they had raised more than a dozen people but got nothing out of them...
No one dared to say a word at the dinner table, and everyone finally finished their breakfast amid the cursing of Old Lady Su.
After Su Wan helped carry the rice bowls back to the kitchen, she said to Xu Guixiang, "Mom, you have to go back too. You only took a half-shift with someone else today, so you still have to go to work in the afternoon."
Xu Guixiang was not too surprised to hear this. Everyone in the family knew that her daughter had a job, and they could not delay her work no matter what.
She wiped her hands on her apron and took Su Wan to the room where she lived.
"Wanwan, tell me the truth. After Lili returned to the city, did your parents in the city still treat you the same as before? And did Lili bully you?"
Su Wan's eyes flickered. After all, she was her own mother, so she would care about whether she was having a good life in the city.
Now she and Qin Li have basically torn their faces apart. Qin Li did not succeed, and Qin's father and mother did not get what they wanted either. This time when she goes back, she will most likely be chased away by the three of them.
So she would return to this home soon, and Su Wan no longer planned to hide it.
"Since Qin Li went back, their attitude towards me has definitely become worse day by day."
Xu Guixiang's eyes suddenly turned red when she heard this. She patted Su Wan's hand gently, then turned around and rummaged in the bedside cabinet.
After searching for a while, I finally took out a small bag.
Opening the layers one by one, a roll of money was revealed.
Xu Guixiang carefully opened the roll of money and counted the bills one by one.
There was a big Tuan Jie in it, and the rest included a five-yuan note, a few one-yuan notes, and a few dimes and cents.
The total amount was only 24 yuan, 70 cents and 4 cents.
After Xu Guixiang counted out three pieces of money from it, she rolled them up again, then wrapped them up again with the small bag, took Su Wan's hand, and stuffed the small bag into her hand.
"Wanwan, I discussed this with your father yesterday. He said that if you can't make it in the Qin family, he will let you rent a house outside. No matter how poor we are, we won't let others bully us.
I just arranged a marriage for your eldest brother, and we have this little money now. We'll keep three dollars for Sangou's enrollment fee and to buy school supplies, and you can take the rest and rent a house for yourself first."
Su Wan looked at the small bag in her hand and felt a little sad. They had given her all their family fortune.
"Mom, you have money, you don't want it."
Su Wan said this as she prepared to return the small bag in her hand to Xu Guixiang.
"Hurry up and take this, kid. Your mother gave birth to you but didn't raise you. You've grown up without ever drinking a sip of milk or spending a penny from us. Consider this little bit of money as compensation from your parents.
Your dad said that once you have rented a house, your salary should be enough for you to live on your own, and you can find a husband in the city after a while, and we will both feel relieved after you get married."
Xu Guixiang stuffed the small bag into Su Wan's hand again. Fearing that Su Wan would give it back to her, she ordered in a serious voice:
"Hurry up and put it on. Don't let your grandma see it, or she'll start nagging your dad again."
"Mom, I have money and I don't plan to rent a house."
"What? They treated you like that, and you still want to live in the Qin family?"
Xu Guixiang's tone was a little anxious, and it seemed that she really loved her daughter and didn't want her child to be bullied by others.
After that, without waiting for Su Wan to reply, she said earnestly: "You saw how Lili treated you yesterday. The Qin family is her biological parents' home, she will definitely not be polite to you. If your parents in the city continue to indulge her, how can you live a good life? Wanwan, we are poor but we cannot be short-sighted. When I think about my child being looked down upon by others in their home, I feel..."
As Xu Guixiang spoke, she couldn't help but choked up.
She really couldn't bear to see her daughter being bullied by others. She couldn't stand the thought of it.
"Mom, you misunderstood. I won't rent a house, and I won't live in the Qin family, because I plan to come back and live with you."
She had already thought about it. If she came from the Qin family, she would not be able to find a place to stay in the city for the time being.
Because the living conditions of city dwellers at that time were also very difficult, and some were even worse than those in the countryside. Usually, several people from a family would squeeze into a tube-shaped building of about 30 square meters.
The Qin family can live in a spacious house thanks to their ancestors, otherwise they would be no different from those city dwellers.
According to the memories of the previous life, Su Wan knew that there would be some major changes in China's policies in the second half of this year.
After the conference, the spring breeze of reform and opening up will soon spring up across China.
Those educated youth from the city will also return to the city one after another according to the policy.
The model of collective management of rural land will also be transformed into a household-based system, with production quotas assigned to each household and each household responsible for its own profits and losses.
Their Shiqiao Village was used as a demonstration site by Fugou County and became one of the earliest villages to benefit from the household contract responsibility system.
It was also during this period that the policy of private economy began to take root and those state-owned enterprises began to be gradually replaced.
Now her job as a salesperson in a department store seems to be quite popular, but it will lose its advantage in a few days.
Rather than waiting to be eliminated by society, it is better to sell it now and make some money.
Besides, Qin Li has always coveted her job. After the Qin family fell out with her, they will definitely not care about her anymore.
If they did something bad behind her back, her job would be ruined and nothing would be gained. That would be a big loss.
It would be better to sell them for a good price and go back to the countryside to live before they know about it.
With her experience of living a second life, she believed that she would be able to make her life better than when she was in the city.
What's more, Lu Chengchuan promised to marry her, and she would be a rural daughter-in-law in the future. Both her parents' and her husband's families were in the countryside, so it would be a long time before she returned to live in the countryside.
"Ah? What did you say?" Xu Guixiang was delighted at first, but soon she thought of something and the smile disappeared immediately.
"But, Wanwan, you still have to go to work every day, and our home is so far away from the county town..."
"Mom, I don't want to work anymore. I don't want that job anymore. I want to come back to you."
"Wanwan, you... do you know what you are saying? You are a salesperson in a department store, a job that many people would beg for. How can you just say you don't want it anymore?"
Xu Guixiang was startled and stood up from the bed.
Su Wan smiled and pushed her back onto the bed, "Mom, don't be anxious. Just listen and I'll tell you slowly."
Next, Su Wan told Xu Guixiang her thoughts.
Of course, when she mentioned the national policy, she made up a lie, saying that one of her classmates' parents was a county leader and she heard it from that classmate.
She didn't mention anything about her relationship with Lu Chengchuan. There was really no way to mention it now. She felt that she had to wait until Lu Chengchuan returned from his leave in the army before announcing their relationship.