"Sis, you're amazing! Your business has definitely improved since you moved to a different location."
Chu Yu smiled and said, "Business is static, but people are dynamic. If there's no business, you have to find it. You can't just sit here and wait for business to come to you, can you?"
It was the first time Chu Xiang had heard her sister talk about business, and she was quite willing to learn.
"What if business in Yongding Lane doesn't go well?"
"If business in Yongding Lane isn't good, we'll move to another place in Deyang and try again. If Deyang doesn't work out, there are other cities. If one path doesn't work, we'll try another. As long as you're hardworking, you can always make a living."
Chu Yu is only two years older than Chu Xiang. Before Shu Hui and Zhou Jian'an divorced, Jiang Meifeng treated Chu Xiang badly, but Chu Xiang had an older sister and younger brothers and sisters, so she always treated herself like a half-grown child.
Now, seeing her sister supporting the family by setting up a street stall, and even saying she'd buy her and Chuchu a house so they could have a respectable family home.
Chu Xiang felt that she should grow up and learn to take on the responsibilities of the family, instead of letting her mother and sister suffer.
Helping her sister collect money and keeping her sister constantly engrossed in her books gave Chu Xiang a great sense of accomplishment; she felt she was finally of some use.
Chu Yu spent most of the day reading, and as usual, went to Chen Baifu's place in the evening to borrow some buttons to take home. It was only after arriving home that she heard about Shu Jiandang's matter.
"Is there anyone in the world who acts like this as an older brother, a brother, or an uncle? If Shu Jiandang had any shame at all, he wouldn't have done such a thing!"
Deng Fangping grew angrier the more she thought about it. She was straightforward and never wanted to put up with things. It was Shu Aiguo who said that if the two brothers became estranged, the villagers would laugh at them.
Deng Fangping was also a person who cared about her reputation. She had married into Shanguan Village from outside the village. Married-out wives are always afraid that if their reputation is bad, it will bring shame to their family when the news spreads back to their parents' home.
When the family divided their property, Shu Jiandang took the land and savings, leaving them only a few thatched huts, which Deng Fangping tolerated.
When building the house, Shu Jiandang built it on her land, and the roof was made with a pointed end facing her house, which ruined her family's feng shui. Deng Fangping tolerated it.
Whenever Liao Xiumei bought meat and watermelon, she would always show off in front of Xiao Jiang, and Deng Fangping tolerated it!
Now, Shu Hui and her three daughters have been kicked out of their home and are staying with them. Their family is so poor, and they have finally started to improve their situation. Yet Shu Jiandang has the audacity to follow them and try to sell roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) like them!
Deng Fangping had reached her limit!
Deng Fangping turned around and knocked on the door of Shu Jiandang's house. The large vermilion iron gate was pounded loudly, but no one from Shu Jiandang's family came out. Instead, it alerted the villagers in the front and back rows.
"Xiao Jiang's mom, what are you doing?"
"Patriotism, huh? Why is Xiao Jiang's mother knocking on the door of the Jian Dang family's house? What happened between your two families?"
There are good and bad people in the village. Some people are friendly to you on the surface, but they are waiting to see you make a fool of yourself behind your back.
Deng Fangping knew the villagers' nature, so she didn't argue with them.
Shu Aiguo, however, replied with a dark face:
"Everyone knows that my sister divorced that man surnamed Zhou and came to Shanguan Village to stay with me. Seeing that the family was so poor that we couldn't even afford to eat, I thought of having my sister and Xiao Jiang's mother go to Deyang to open a pancake stall! It's a small business that doesn't make much money. We work hard in all kinds of weather, not to get rich, but just to make a living and support our family!"
Recently, Shu Aiguo has been pushing a cart to Deyang every day, which has caused quite a stir among the villagers. When they run into each other while working in the fields, they find it strange that Shu Aiguo is now running his own business.
If rural people weren't forced into it, who would want to go to the city to make a living?
It is true that Deyang is Rongtai's superior city, but as the saying goes, different accents every ten miles, different customs every hundred miles.
The dialects of Deyang and Rongtai are worlds apart. If you speak Rongtai dialect in Deyang city, you'll be laughed at.
Shu Aiguo used to live a simple life guarding his home. After the land was distributed to individual households, he contracted several acres of land, working under the sun during the day and under the moon at night.
After paying the grain tax and retaining the grain purchased by themselves, the remaining grain was kept for their own consumption.
If someone in the family gets sick and they don't have enough money, they have to go to the city to sell some grain. Life is very tight!
An honest man was forced to become a self-employed individual, but instead of envy, jealousy, or hatred, the villagers felt great sympathy for him, thinking that Shu Aiguo was being dragged down by his sister and niece! An ordinary person would be in trouble if they took in just one child, but Shu Aiguo took in four!
The girl named Chuchu has lost sight in one eye. She said she was going to Deyang for surgery, but it's unknown whether she can be cured. If she can't be cured, Shu Aiguo will have another burden.
However, as much as it is a burden, they are my own sister and niece. No matter how heavy the burden is, I can't just push them away when they have nowhere to go.
Shu Jiandang was clever, but that night, when Shu Hui brought her daughter back and knocked on the door, everyone heard the noise and knew that Shu Jiandang and Liao Xiumei hadn't opened the door. They all cursed the couple behind their backs for being immoral!
Aunt Tong stepped forward and said, "Da Guo, we all know you're running your own business, but what does that have to do with the founding of the Party?"
Shu Aiguo took a few deep drags on his cigarette:
“Everyone saw how Shu Jiandang bullied our family before! I, Shu Jiandang, am not a coward, and I am not afraid to fight him! But we came from the same mother's womb, and our parents have only been working in the fields for a few years. If things really turned out like that, how would I face my parents after I died? I thought I would just endure it! But Shu Jiandang is something else. He actually followed us and asked someone else to buy our family's cakes for him!”
Aunt Tong never expected this to happen.
"The founding of the Party is getting people to buy your cakes? Is this... trying to copy your cake-selling business?"
Shu Aiguo remained silent, his neck stiff, while Deng Fangping and Shu Hui both looked displeased.
The villagers then realized that Shu Jiandang was truly ruthless! He wouldn't even leave his own brother a way to survive!
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