◎First update◎
A few days later, Song Jianguo and Liang Baoying returned to their parents' home. Today was the day they had agreed to pool money to buy a TV for Qin Yuxiu and her husband.
The eldest brother Song Jianhuai and the third brother Song Jiandang have both worked in the factory for some years and have gradually saved some money. Song Jianguo has been back to the city for a short time, so logically speaking, the conditions at home must be worse. But Qin Yuxiu knew that Liang Baoying had saved some money when she was doing a business that she looked down upon, so she asked directly.
"Your father and I are getting older, and we want to buy a TV to have something new. Mom doesn't let you three brothers pay more or less. We all pay the same, 120 yuan each."
Among the three brothers, Song Jiandang paid the money the fastest and also said a few flattering words to make Qin Yuxiu smile.
Her youngest son has always been the apple of her eye.
The eldest brother was a little unhappy. Even if he gave back half of his family's money, he still had to pay 60 yuan, which was not a small amount. The couple had saved some money as both part-time workers, but it was painful to pay it. However, the third brother was so enthusiastic. Song Jianhuai handed the money to his mother, "Mom, you take it."
"Hey, Jianhuai is a thoughtful person." After saying that, Qin Yuxiu looked at her second son and his wife, raised her chin, and then looked at Song Jianguo.
"Mom." Liang Baoying stepped forward and took a few steps to take out a handful of bills from her pocket, which had already been counted. "Mom, this is for you. This is also a little gift from Jianguo and me."
Qin Yuxiu took it with a smile, but she felt something was wrong in her hand. This handful of bills was obviously less than the ones given by the eldest and third brothers. She counted them carefully and found only sixty yuan.
"Second son's wife, what do you mean? Didn't we agree on 120 yuan? Why is it only 60? Did you count wrong?"
"Mom, you counted correctly. Jianguo and I will give sixty." Liang Baoying was very calm.
Qin Yuxiu's expression changed immediately. "Jianguo, look at what's wrong with your wife. Is she treating us like this? We agreed that each of you three brothers would pay 120 yuan, but now the eldest and third brothers' families have each paid 120 yuan, and you are the only one who paid 60? I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone about this!"
When Song Jianguo heard that the eldest and third brothers' families had given 120 yuan, his face twitched and his heart was blocked. He opened his mouth but couldn't say what he had heard accidentally that day, "Mom, you know the situation between Baoying and me. Baoying is unemployed now, and I have been back to the city for a short time. Our family conditions are definitely not as good as those of the eldest and third brothers. We can really only afford 60 yuan."
"Jianguo! What are you talking about!" Qin Yuxiu glared at him, her eyes bloodshot, "Don't be like a mother and don't know. You guys have made a lot of money in business. Baoying's sister's family even bought a courtyard house."
"Mom, don't you always look down on people doing business outside? Why are you thinking about this? Besides, it was Baozhen's ability to buy the courtyard house. Can we go to her house to get money?"
Liang Baoying saw through her mother-in-law. When she first came to the city, she was never in a good mood and found fault with her everywhere. Liang Baoying was too inferior to dare to talk back. Later, she followed Baozhen to do business and made money. Her mother-in-law didn't like it and let her enjoy all the benefits.
"It's embarrassing to set up a stall and do business. It's good enough that our Song family didn't say anything to you. But when the neighbors found out and made fun of our family, I got really angry! Now that you two have made money, you still don't know how to be filial to your parents? Jianguo, you should learn from your elder brother and younger brother. Don't forget your mother just because you have a wife! Especially Baoying, since you are in the city, don't go out and do embarrassing business. Now it's okay, right? Speculation is being strictly cracked down on. The store has also been closed. It's a bad thing in the first place."
"Mom." Song Jianguo heard his mother trying to get another 120 yuan from his family, and repeatedly said that it was shameful for Baoying to set up a stall to make money. His heart was tormented, as if he was being roasted on the fire. He could no longer hold it in. "Baoying makes money with her own hands. What's shameful about it? She didn't steal or rob. Every penny she earned was earned through her own labor. Working for the people is the most glorious. No matter how you look at it, it's true. As for investing... "Mom, you said that your daughter-in-law is for our own good? Or do you want Baoying and I to quarrel every day? I have been in the countryside for a few years. If it weren't for Baoying and the Liang family, I might have died in the countryside a long time ago. Why can't you see us doing well?"
"You!" It was the first time Qin Yuxiu heard her second son talk to her like this. She pointed her finger at him, furious. "Is this how you talk to your mother?"
Song Huaqing, the father of Song, was so annoyed by the quarrel between the mother and son that he said, "Each of you should say less."
"Song Huaqing! Look at what your son has become. He sides with his wife in everything and doesn't even recognize me as his mother."
Song Jianguo felt depressed when he saw his own mother's angry expression. If he had not heard the conversation in the room that day, he would have compromised with his mother because of those words.
"Mom, Baoying and I are not unfilial people. We give you and dad five yuan every month, and we also give you gifts and money during festivals. This time you said you and dad wanted to buy a TV, and we all wanted to chip in. We will give sixty, the same as the eldest brother and the third brother. There is no more."
After Song Jianguo finished speaking, he took Baoying away, leaving everyone in the room looking at each other in bewilderment.
"What do you mean, second brother? What do you mean by turning sixty is the same as us?" The third brother's wife always felt that there was something wrong with what he said.
Song Jianhuai heard it and said, "Jianguo seems to know about this. Did one of you let it slip?"
Qin Yuxiu's face froze, and she stormed back into the house, clutching the sixty yuan.
Song Jianguo and Liang Baoying returned home and confessed what they had heard a few days ago.
"Why didn't you tell me that day?" Liang Baoying knew that he must be feeling bad. After all, when he was in Damian Village, he was an educated youth who was looking forward to returning to the city and reuniting with his family.
Even though she could usually tell that her mother-in-law favored her eldest brother and third brother, Song Jianguo didn't know about it. Or maybe he saw it but pretended not to know. But this time, he heard it directly. How could he feel good?
"I don't know how to start." Song Jianguo knew from a young age that he was not as favored by his parents as his older brother and third brother. He was always ignored by his family, but he didn't care too much. As long as the family could be reunited, it was enough. Who knew that this time he would hear his own mother plotting against him like this.
He has been feeling uncomfortable these past few days and has been holding a grudge.
"Forget it, we'll just give what we should give in the future and not care about the rest." Song Jianguo sighed. After all, they were his parents who gave birth to and raised him, and his eldest brother and third brother had also lent him money to help him get through the door before. The family was connected by bones and tendons, but he would never be the same as before.
Liang Baoying held his hand and said, "Let's just live our own lives!"
Liang Baoying just heard the man who had never supported her selling things to make money defending her in front of her mother-in-law and saying that she had not stolen or robbed anything. Liang Baoying felt sweet inside when she thought about it. Song Jianguo had never said these words to her. "Then next year, when the limelight is over, Baozhen and I will go out to sell things again. You won't object, right?"
Song Jianguo has come to terms with it now. He used to care about his reputation and was always worried about being looked down upon. In fact, in the end, it made life difficult for those around him. "If you want to go, go ahead. We all make money by working hard. It's not shameful, it's glorious!"
"Okay!" Liang Baoying was even more motivated with the support of her family.
"Just a little bit, don't let anything happen. I was also worried when they caught speculators before."
"Don't worry! There are still people selling things outside now, it's not that strict anymore."
Liang Baozhen and Liang Baoying reopened their shop in the spring of the following year.
The crackdown on speculation and profiteering mainly targeted some bigwigs, while small businesses were not too affected. In addition, once the reform and opening-up policy was launched, many people tasted the sweetness of doing business, so how could they resist?
Gradually, some small stalls and businesses started to open again, and the street gradually became lively.
Liang Baoying finally started to keep accounts again. Every day he would stay in the shop and write down what was sold that day and the quantity. This time, the catalogs of all the goods were written for him by a man named Song Jianguo. Song Jianguo had practiced beautiful and vigorous handwriting when he was in school. Liang Baoying remembered the first time he heard of Song Jianguo in Damian Village. It was when the team leader was posting a notice for the team headquarters. Liang Baoying could not recognize a few words, but she saw that the words on the notice were neat and majestic, and much more beautiful than previous notices.
She listened to the team leader and the members talking, praising the educated youth who helped write the notice, who was a new educated youth named Song Jianguo.
Now, Liang Baoying wrote her slightly neater handwriting next to Song Jianguo's. She wrote it stroke by stroke, and her lips curled up as she looked at it.
Liang Baozhen watched her elder sister become more and more skilled and run the shop in an orderly manner. She also became the hands-off manager and was busy preparing for graduation, while worrying about her younger sister Baoling.
After Baoling's failure, she stayed at home to help Liang Zhigao and Song Chunhua. Last time Liang Baozhen and her friends went back to the village, she also talked to Baoling in private. But from what her younger sister said, she hadn't made up her mind. In fact, a half-grown girl like this has reached the age of finding a husband in the village, especially if she didn't have much education. She stopped studying at the age of twelve or thirteen. In a few years, she will almost have to get married and have children.
For those who finished high school like Liang Baozhen, it is considered late to get married.
However, Liang Baozhen felt that her younger sister was still young. Xiaoya, who was one year older than her, was still in college. Baoling still had to learn more and there was no need for her to get married too early.
In the past, the legal age for marriage for men and women was 20 for men and 18 for women. The new law promulgated in January last year raised the age, which was also for the purpose of family planning. Late marriage means later childbirth. Now, the age is 22 for men and 20 for women.
However, these age regulations were not a problem in rural areas in the past. Most people who were under the age limit did not get a marriage certificate. Setting up a wedding banquet was considered a marriage. Otherwise, there was no wedding banquet at all, and everyone knew that they would just sleep in the same room.
Things are different in the past two years when family planning has been vigorously promoted. Even the walls of every household in Damian Village have been used and painted with red slogans. The brigade also held meetings to promote the policy, and the family planning office and the director of the women's department gave speeches, encouraging everyone to marry and have children later.
Therefore, someone who wanted to introduce a partner to 17-year-old Baoling was rejected by Song Chunhua. The reason was very simple: it was to comply with the family planning policy.
Song Chunhua wanted to keep Baoling for a few more years. She pulled Baozhen aside and said in private, "Baoling is the most naughty among the four of you. She still has the mentality of a child. Our family is getting better and better, but we can afford to raise a daughter. I'm thinking of waiting a few years before deciding."
Liang Baozhen naturally agreed, "Yes, now the country advocates family planning, and the legal age has been changed to 20. Baoling should think about what she wants to do in the future now."
"What else can she do? Feed the pigs with her mother like me!" Song Chunhua now takes care of the fields, private plots and chicken coops every day, but her favorite is still the pigpen.
There is a pigsty behind the Liang family's yard, where four piglets are raised. After more than half a year, they have grown into four sows, all fat, thanks to Song Chunhua's careful feeding.
"Raising pigs is good! This year we can kill one, hand in half, and still have the other half for ourselves." Song Chunhua's favorite thing now is these pigs, which are full of white meat. "Why not let Baoling follow us and raise pigs well, and try to catch two more next year."
Liang Baozhen blinked her eyes as she watched her younger sister Baoling, who was wearing an apron and chopping pig grass to feed the pigs skillfully. She wondered if Baoling would become a pig farming tycoon in the future.
The author has something to say:
Liang Baozhen: Oh no, my sister won't become a pig-raising Xishi, will she?
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