◎Two in One◎
Liang Baozhen listened to her daughter's words and felt that she seemed to have some misunderstandings about school.
"School is a place to learn. Of course, you can also meet many classmates. You can study and play together."
"Yes, let's play together!"
Shanshan grasped the point very well. School is so much fun. There are more kids and it’s more fun than in the alleys!
She wants to go to school every day!
After dinner, Shanshan went to see her sisters next door and told them about her school experience.
Liang Baozhen was really impressed by her young lady's vigorous energy.
"You weren't so studious when you were a child, were you?" Xu Shengjie also found it unbelievable. Shouldn't most children have some resistance to going to school?
Is it like mom?
"No, I actually didn't want to go to school when I was little because I had to get up early, which was so annoying." Liang Baozhen remembered that when she was little, her second brother even took her to skip classes.
As a result, his father found out and gave him a beating, of course it was him who was beaten.
"That's really strange."
Xu Shengjie looked at his daughter who had just entered primary school and had already begun to dream that she would be admitted to Peking University like her mother, and then the postman would come to the yard with the admission letter to congratulate him.
The old father's pride has already surged in his heart.
"We can set up a few tables and celebrate then."
"How many years from now will that be?" Liang Baozhen admired this man for thinking too far ahead. "Comrade Xu Shengjie, let me remind you that it will be more than ten years before your daughter takes the college entrance examination."
Ten years or so sounds like a long time.
Xu Shengjie put aside the celebration banquet for his daughter-in-law and asked his daughter-in-law, "What good things do you have today?"
"Hey, how did you know?" Liang Baozhen sat down at the table. She hadn't told anyone yet that she was going to be a news anchor.
"Look at your face, there are three big words written on it, good news!"
Liang Baozhen stroked her face with both hands and smiled sweetly, "There is indeed good news!"
"What happened to your job? Do you want to be transferred?"
"How do you know?" Liang Baozhen was shocked again. Could this person be the worm in his stomach? He could guess it without saying anything.
"How could I not know what's going on at home? Besides, if you're so happy, it must be because of work."
At this moment, Liang Baozhen was wearing a round-neck, long-sleeved Dacron floral dress, with a smile on her face, and that smile seeped into her eyes.
"You're pretty awesome! Yes, I'm going to host the Midday News!!"
"The one with the face showing?" With Liang Baozhen's introduction, Xu Shengjie was very familiar with the programs of Beijing City TV Station. He knew exactly which programs were on every day, what time they started broadcasting, and who the hosts were.
"Yes!" Liang Baozhen nodded frantically like a chicken pecking at rice, her excitement visibly evident.
"Amazing, Comrade Liang Baozhen!" Xu Shengjie knew that his wife would have such a day. "When will it be broadcast? We will watch it!"
"It's still early. The previous host will retire next month. I still have a month to prepare. I tell you, I have to choose new clothes. They have to be dignified and elegant. You know, this represents the image of our station."
"You have a good image!" Xu Shengjie looked at his wife. Is there anything else to complain about the image of such a beautiful and generous girl?
"Don't come on, forget it. I won't tell you. You won't understand even if I tell you."
"I don't understand. We have a lot of clothes in our store. Why don't you go and have a look? If you don't find anything suitable, you can go to the department store."
"Well, I'll find time to ask Caili out. I haven't seen her for a long time."
"OK."
Xu Shengjie was also happy for his wife's work, and he had an idea, "How many tables should we set up?"
"What are you setting up the tables for?"
"Congratulations on becoming a news anchor." Xu Shengjie said, and then blocked his wife's mouth with words, "Shanshan had to wait ten years for the college entrance examination, but you have it right in front of you."
Liang Baozhen was helpless. Did this guy just want to set up a few tables?
Temporarily stopping the man from setting up a few tables, Liang Baozhen actively prepared her attire for her job as a news anchor.
The safest clothing is still a suit. On Sunday, she made an appointment with Cheng Caili to go to the department store to buy clothes.
The reason is simple. There is no shopping experience in Xu Shengjie's clothing store. Everything is taken by yourself and the money is charged to Xu Shengjie's account.
Besides, she planned to buy some other things and go shopping in the department store.
"Baozhen, you are really amazing. You are going to host the news!"
Cheng Caili's family hasn't bought a TV yet. They have some savings, but no TV ticket. Now they can only go to the big courtyard next door which has bought a TV to watch TV.
"I haven't officially started my job yet. Tell me, I'm really nervous."
"You have to believe in yourself! I am definitely the best host on your TV station."
Liu Nianhua was at work today, so it was a pity for the two of them, so they had to go shopping. There were a lot of things in the department store, so they each picked out a few clothes. Liang Baozhen specially picked out a gray women's suit, which was a perfect fit, and matched it with a pair of black waisted skinny trousers. She chose a white shirt as her inner lining, which made her look professional and energetic. She also bought a red large lapel button-down shirt, which matched it with a black skirt, which made her look playful and elegant.
Cheng Caili naturally also bought two sets of clothes. After buying clothes, the two of them went to show them to their children. Shanshan and Chuchu were about the same age, so they each bought a top.
After buying clothes, I went to the second floor of the department store. There were many household appliances on the second floor, among which the washing machine was the most eye-catching.
Next to the washing machine area, brands and prices are listed. On a piece of paper, there are rows of words: Beijing Bailan single-cylinder washing machine 199 yuan; Bailan VI washing machine 385 yuan; Japanese Toshiba 2KG semi-automatic double-cylinder washing machine 470 yuan; Xishi Little Swan automatic plastic sleeve 390 yuan; Guangdong Weili double-cylinder aluminum shell 428 yuan. ①
"This thing is really expensive? But does it really work? I've never seen anyone use it." Cheng Caili was quite curious. She could understand that a TV was expensive, but how many fun things could you see inside it? How useful could this washing machine be? Could it really be better than hand washing?
"It must be useful." Liang Baozhen looked at the increasingly popular home appliances with some envy. The price was not so bad. Working families could not afford it, but business families could afford it. It was just that it was difficult to get industrial coupons.
In the past, Xu Shengjie could receive several industrial coupons every month when he worked at the National Cotton Mill. Now that he is out on his own, he can no longer receive them. He can receive two coupons every month when he gets his salary at the TV station, but it is not enough because he has already spent most of them.
She found out that it takes twenty industrial coupons to buy a washing machine.
"Do you want to buy it? I'm sure you can."
"We don't have enough industrial coupons." Liang Baozhen also wanted to buy some.
"Then try again. If not, go and buy some."
The two of them each weighed a pound of chicken cake at the counter on the first floor and left. The weather was fine and there was a gentle breeze, so it was a good time to walk to the bus stop.
Walking down the streets and alleys, the two saw a vendor selling newspapers at a stall on the corner. Two men stood in front of him. One of the men had a red monkey stamp in his palm and was asking about the price, while the other man seemed to be watching the excitement.
"There is no shortage of these eighteen!"
"This is too expensive. I bought it for 80 cents, but now you're selling it to me for 18?"
It turns out that someone is collecting stamps! Cheng Caili has heard that some people like this, but she doesn't understand what's so good about collecting stamps, and why such a small stamp is sold for eighteen yuan?
This is outrageous!
"Baozhen, look over there, it's just such a small stamp, 18 dollars? No one is stupid enough to buy it, right?"
As soon as Cheng Caili finished speaking, the newspaper vendor paid for the stamps. Liang Baozhen wanted to join in the fun, so she pulled Cheng Caili over there.
When I got to the stall, the man selling stamps had already left.
"Comrade, what is the price of the Monkey Stamps now?" Liang Baozhen has never paid attention to the price since he bought two editions of the Monkey Stamps. The price will go up anyway, so he will wait until it reaches the peak before he decides. It was just a coincidence that he came here today, so he decided to ask.
"Twenty-five."
"Hey, wasn't it just eighteen?" Cheng Caili heard it clearly.
"Just now there was one price, and now there is another price. The price of this monkey stamp changes every minute." He held the monkey stamp he had just received and stroked it with care. The vendor has been doing the Teng stamp business for half a year. Sometimes he is lucky and can sell it and make a few dollars. Isn't this better than doing business? Isn't it better than working?
If he was not in urgent need of money, he would have put it aside and prepared to make a bigger profit later.
It’s just that monkey stamps are not easy to collect, you have to ask around.
"Why, you two ladies are also interested? Want to buy the Monkey Stamp?" He took great pains to introduce it to the two of them. "This is the fastest-rising stamp on the market right now. If you want to buy it, you'd better hurry up. If you miss this opportunity, you'll never see this shop again."
"Thank you, but we don't want to buy them." Liang Baozhen listened to his words, as if she had seen the two editions of 160 monkey stamps in her drawer, shining with golden light. Are they stamps? They are money.
After seeing the rapid price increase of the Monkey Stamps, Liang Baozhen went home and prepared to take out the two versions of the Monkey Stamps she had bought to appreciate them again.
It turned out that there was a missing piece in the upper right corner of a set of monkey stamps!
At this time, Shanshan was holding a red monkey stamp and sticking it on her book.
"Mom, how do I stick this on?" Shanshan wanted to stick it on the Chinese textbook. She couldn't send or write letters, but she could stick it on the book.
"What are you doing here?"
"This way my book will be different from others." Shanshan blinked her big eyes.
"Mom will get you some paste." Liang Baozhen felt mixed emotions as she watched her daughter stick more than twenty yuan on the book. The book suddenly became expensive!
Very good. The two sheets of stamps, totaling 160 stamps, were originally reserved for the young lady. It's okay for her to use one in advance, but it's a bit of a waste of resources.
But seeing the young lady so happy as to carefully stick the monkey stamp on and blow the breeze with her little mouth, it was worth it.
Money can't buy a child's happiness.
When Xu Shengjie came home, Liang Baozhen mentioned the industrial coupons and planned to buy a washing machine.
"Washing machine?" Xu Shengjie thought of the big guy. He had never used it, but he heard it was quite powerful and didn't require hand washing. "Then buy one."
"Can you get an industrial voucher? I have another one at home."
There is no shortage of money, but coupons are hard to come by.
"I'll go and take a look."
Xu Shengjie spent a week on this and finally got it done.
The two went to a department store and bought a Guangdong Wei Li twin-cylinder one-piece aluminum shell washing machine for 428 yuan.
The huge washing machine is placed in the middle of the courtyard. It is all white and has two tubs, the washing tub on the left and the spin-drying tub on the right.
Zhou Yun had never seen such a good thing before. He said it could free his hands and kept looking at it.
Not only her, Xu Shengwei and Xu Shengya were also curious. They touched here and there, and even poked their heads into the tank to look.
Only Shanshan, who is still short now, is worried because she can't see anything.
"Uncle, I want to see." Mom and Dad were reading the instructions and fiddling with the machine. She aimed at the strong uncle and asked him to hold her.
Being held by Xu Shengwei, the little girl could finally see that this big guy was really amazing. "Do you want to use this to wash clothes?"
"right."
"How to wash? It has no hands." Shanshan has seen people at home washing clothes, and it requires two hands.
"Let's take a look." Xu Shengjie pulled the water pipe over, connected it to the water outlet of the washing machine, and then connected the water pipe to the water inlet above the washing machine. Everything was ready.
Liang Baozhen studied the instruction manual, put a few clothes into the washing tub, turned on the faucet connected to the water inlet, and everyone saw water pouring in.
"Wow! Mom, there is water. The water is going in." Shanshan was excited when she saw the vertical tank filled with water.
Zhou Yun also watched intently, it was so magical, he saw his granddaughter-in-law turned a knob, and the washing machine actually started to turn.
"It's done." Liang Baozhen thought it was simple. She followed the instructions and it was all right. "When it finishes washing, it will drain the water automatically. After draining, we open the faucet and let the water run for the second wash. After washing twice, take out the clothes and put them in the spin-drying tub next to it. Just press this knob."
Half an hour later, everyone watched the spin dryer spinning rapidly, and when it gradually calmed down, they took out the slightly dry clothes without a drop of water. They just thought it was amazing!
"We have to spend a lot of time and effort to wash clothes by ourselves. This is really convenient."
"Washing clothes will be much easier in the future." Xu Shengya had only seen washing machines in books and had never used one, so the feeling would naturally be different when she used it in person.
On this day, everyone in the family wanted to play with the washing machine, and they took out the clean clothes to wash. Two long ropes of clothes were hung to dry in the Xu family's courtyard, which was a spectacular sight.
"This money is well spent. There is a reason for its high price." Zhou Yun was originally reluctant to spend the money, but when he saw how convenient the washing machine was, he nodded in approval.
A new large appliance was purchased at home. Zhou Yun prepared some delicious food for his family and took Xiaoya out to buy groceries.
Nowadays, many people come from the villages to the city to sell things, and many of them come to make money. On the one hand, they are dealing with the surplus agricultural products in the countryside, and on the other hand, they can also make money.
"I want fifty eggs for an old hen." Zhou Yun fell in love with a chicken seller at first sight. The eggs were of good quality and relatively large in size. The old hens had shiny feathers, and it was obvious that they were well fed.
After buying the chicken, I went to the side and picked out a duck.
The two of them returned home with a full load, spending a total of twelve dollars without having to pay for a single ticket. How convenient!
"Grandma, how about this cold chicken?" Xu Shengya likes to eat her grandma's cold chicken the most.
"Okay, mix it if you like!"
In the evening, the dining table was filled with dishes.
Chilled chicken, stewed duck soup, stir-fried water spinach, braised eggplant and beans, and large white flour steamed buns.
After dinner, Xu Shengwei and Xu Shengyaru washed the dishes, while Xu Shengjie wiped the table and asked his wife.
"Is Baoling coming into town?"
It is much more convenient to go to the city now. Xu Shengjie still remembers what his wife had told him before, that his younger sister should go to the city to sell clothes.
"My mother called me yesterday and told me that Baoling has been trying to sell agricultural products recently and has even discussed cooperation with a food processing factory in town."
Xu Shengjie raised his eyebrows, thinking that this sister-in-law was quite capable, "That's fine, Baoling is smart."
"Yeah, I think so too." Liang Baozhen was quite proud of her sister. "She also asked me what the city needed most and how to sell things easily. I chatted with her for a while."
"It's not bad to let her do it, but she's just a little girl, she needs to be careful."
"Yes, I told her."
After graduating from university, Xu Shengya found an internship as a junior high school teacher and now teaches mathematics at Hongxing Junior High School.
When I heard my sister-in-law talking about Baoling selling agricultural products, I just thought she was amazing.
"Sister-in-law, I heard our school's logistics teacher say a few days ago that he wanted to buy pigs, chickens, ducks, fish and eggs. Is Baoling selling these? I can go ask."
"real?"
Liang Baozhen knew that the village had no shortage of these things, especially since the policy had been relaxed and everyone could raise them themselves. Every household started raising pigs, chickens and ducks. There were many opportunities outside now, but they had to find markets, otherwise hard work would not make them rich.
"Then please ask and call Baoling later."
Xu Shengya used the phone installed in her home to call the brigade headquarters of Damian Village and asked someone to call Liang Baoling.
When Baoling arrived, Xu Shengya briefly explained the matter.
Liang Baoling had never thought that there would be such a great opportunity. In the past six months, she had been taking pork, old hens, ducks from her home, and fish caught from the river to the county town to sell. They were all small businesses, but she could earn more than ten or twenty yuan per trip, which was much better than in previous years.
Liang Zhigao and Song Chunhua are already very satisfied. They now have a good income. It is no longer the case that they could only earn 20 or 30 yuan a year after working.
“How much does your school need?”
"It should be quite a lot. We, the faculty and staff, and one thousand students all eat in the cafeteria. I heard before that everyone eats several pigs every month."
Right now, supplies are in short supply, and even if you have money you can’t buy so many things, so everyone has to find other ways.
"Okay, you ask specifically what you want and how much you want. We have a lot of things in our village, but it's not enough. There are also some in the neighboring villages."
"Okay, I'll go ask."
"Thank you, Xiaoya!" Baoling was a little excited, as if she had already seen the scene of herself selling more than ten pigs and dozens of old hens. That was all money.
After a trip to the city, she discovered that there were so many opportunities to make money out there, so she returned to Damian Village to look for opportunities.
"Why are we being polite?"
Two days later, Xu Shengya found out about the needs of the school logistics department and called Baoling again when she got home.
"Baoling, our school wants to buy five pigs, twenty chickens, and twenty ducks. Do you have any fish? Forty to fifty kilograms of fish will do."
Baoling hung up the phone with an excited look on her face. Is it true?!
However, the school also has requirements for the ingredients it purchases, and they cannot be sick or rotten pigs. Liang Baoling naturally guaranteed this.
Every household in Damei Village feeds their pigs with great care. After all, everyone is poor, and a sick pig is more worrying than a sick human!
A week later, Liang Baoling bought pigs, chickens, ducks and fish from other families in the village. The family of three borrowed a small truck from the commune to go to the city and delivered the goods to the director of the school's logistics department.
A pig cost 230 yuan, a chicken cost 6.5 yuan, and a duck cost 6 yuan, for a total of 1,400 yuan.
This trip was a great harvest. Liang Zhigao and Song Chunhua had been doing farm work all their lives, and they never thought they would experience such a scene!
After returning to the village, after deducting the cost of raising their own pigs, chickens and ducks and the purchase price of two pigs and more than ten chickens and ducks, the Liang family earned more than four hundred yuan!
"Baoling, you did a great job selling these!" It was the first time that Song Chunhua made so much money. She wanted to sell more, but...all three pigs at home were gone, and the pigpen was empty.
Liang Zhigao made the decision, "I will go to the breeding station right away to pick up a few piglets."
"Let's get a few more. The director just said that he wants to buy more. If our stuff is good, he can buy it for a long time!"
Those three pigs were treasures of the family and were carefully raised by the Liang family. The school logistics director noticed the quality of the pork as soon as he saw it and naturally wanted to make an appointment to continue the cooperation next time.
Liang Baoling's mind was working fast. She remembered that someone in the neighboring commune was running a large-scale breeding farm, so she thought about doing the same. "Dad, why don't we run a breeding farm? We can only raise a few pigs in the pig pen at home, which is not enough to supply them."
Liang Zhigao and Song Chunhua thought about it all night and were still tempted! However, they were still a little hesitant and wanted to hear the opinions of their children. Who knew that a phone call was made to Baozhen's home, and the daughter was very supportive.
Liang Zhigao and Song Chunhua saved some money, but not much. Together with what they earned from this trip, it was only about 600 yuan in total. The children also gave some more as gifts to the family. It was definitely not enough to run a farm.
Liang Baozhen had never thought that her family wanted to do something big and open a farm. She naturally supported it, and it was just the right time for the gold bars underground to come in handy. On the phone, Baozhen told them not to worry about the money, saying that she had just dreamed about her grandfather recently, and something big was going to happen!
The next day, Liang Baozhen took a leave and went back to Damian Village with Xu Shengjie. She originally wanted to call her eldest sister and second brother, but her second brother had something to do at work and couldn't leave, and her eldest sister wanted to go back to her husband's home with her brother-in-law. It was not a big deal, so Liang Baozhen thought she could explain it to them when she got back.
On the way back to Damian Village, Liang Baozhen briefly told Xu Shengjie about her family's gold bars.
"From this perspective, your family is still a hidden 10,000 yuan household." Xu Shengjie estimated the weight of the twelve small yellow croakers, "It should be worth more than 20,000 yuan, but I don't know how good it is."
“It’s really worth the money.”
The two of them walked along the country road and soon saw the Liang family's house.
Liang Zhigao and Song Chunhua are thinking about opening a farm. Baoling is out looking for piglets and is in high spirits. She hasn't returned home yet.
"Opening a chicken farm sounds good, but it costs a lot of money up front." Song Chunhua and Liang Zhigao went to the next village yesterday to ask about it. There is a chicken farm. It's not big, but they have invested more than 2,000 yuan. "If there is a chicken plague or something, they will lose everything."
"Mom, don't worry, the money is ready."
"What is this girl thinking about?" Song Chunhua thought about it, pulled the girl to the other side, and whispered, "Are you going to pay for it with Xiaojie? That won't work. Usually, you and Xiaojie give some money and food to our family as a sign of filial piety, and Mom will accept it. It's your good intention, but now it's different. It's so much money, I can't live in peace if I spend it."
Liang Baozhen knew that her mother was mistaken. Song Chunhua had always valued legitimacy and did not like to take advantage of others, especially because she was worried about being criticized.
"Mom, it's really not true." Liang Baozhen took her mother to her and her father's room, walked to the closet and gently pushed it, revealing the earth and rocks underground.
Song Chunhua was originally wondering why the young lady was rummaging through her own closet, but she watched Baozhen push away the dirt and rocks underneath the closet, and a flash of golden light instantly blinded her eyes!
"What...what is this?" Song Chunhua's eyes suddenly widened, as if her eyeballs were about to pop out. How could there be gold bars buried under her house!!!
"Mom, these are what grandpa left behind." Liang Baozhen took out twelve glittering "small yellow croakers". They felt quite heavy in her hands, and perhaps because they had not seen the light of day for a long time, they were a little cold.
Song Chunhua looked around and found that she didn't even call her husband Liang Zhigao and son-in-law Xu Shengjie into the house.
She covered her chest, her heart beating non-stop, as if she was pinching her throat and saying, "What's going on? Tell me quickly."
It was shocking at first. Anyone would almost faint at the sight of so many gold bars. Song Chunhua was just an ordinary person, but she calmed down in an instant. It was too scary.
Is it true that money is falling from the sky? No, is it true that money is buried underground?
The author has something to say:
① From "Beijing Price Yearbook"
Thanks to the little cutie who irrigated the nutrient solution: 1 bottle of Qianmo Hongchen; 1 bottle of Zhaiahazhai; 6 bottles of reading special;
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