Zhou Shuhuan was rarely at home and ignored her and her son. Without a husband to rely on and no capital to earn money, she could not hold her head high in her husband's family.

However, her humble behavior did not calm Ma Sufen down. Instead, she felt that she was a coward, and her words became more sarcastic.

"We are from the same village, but why is there such a big difference? He runs a business and a factory, and it is booming. He even bought a big house, but you can't even find a job. It's embarrassing to tell others about it!"

The lethality of these words is no different from stabbing Shen Baolan in the heart with a knife.

Not only did Shen Mingzhu not care about their fellow villager relationship and refused to help her, but even her in-laws looked down on her and thought she was no match for Shen Mingzhu.

Shame and resentment burned fiercely in Shen Baolan's chest.

She must make money. She wants everyone to see that she, Shen Baolan, is no worse than Shen Mingzhu!

…

A few more days passed, and Shen Baolan still hadn't found a job.

Even those jobs that she used to look down upon, such as washing dishes and cleaning, are now fully staffed.

Ma Sufen's patience was completely exhausted and she was unwilling to help her take care of the baby anymore.

The main problem is that Zhou Fu, also known as Yuanbao, is too troublesome. He starts crying when things don't go his way, and he won't stop crying. He has to be held in arms to be coaxed.

Yuanbao has been strong since birth, and now he is a little fat boy, weighing 17 or 18 kilograms. Ma Sufen is old after all, and she does not have the energy and strength to hold Yuanbao and comfort him every day.

Shen Baolan had no choice but to send Yuanbao back to her parents' home and asked Liu Cuihua to help raise him.

Liu Cuihua is taking care of her grandchildren anyway, so it doesn’t matter whether she takes care of one child or two.

However, sister-in-law Tian Wenfang was not happy with Shen Baolan's decision to send the child to her parents' home.

Liu Cuihua usually has to work in the fields, so the task of taking care of her nephew falls on her.

It was hard to take care of her own baby, so who would be willing to help her sister-in-law take care of the baby? But she was unwilling to do so, because from her mother-in-law to her father-in-law and her husband, the whole family doted on her sister-in-law.

After settling the child, Shen Baolan returned to the city to continue looking for a job.

That day, Ma Sufen had a backache, so Shen Baolan went to help pick up her stepson Zhou Hao from school.

As soon as he walked out of the school gate, Zhou Hao started asking Shen Baolan to give him pocket money so that he could buy soda.

A bottle of soda cost 1.5 cents, and Shen Baolan only had five cents after searching all her pockets.

She had no job and the financial power of the family was in the hands of her mother-in-law, so she saved these five cents from her own pocket.

You can't buy a soda for five cents, but you can buy a glass of cold water.

Cold water is made by mixing cold boiled water with pigment and saccharin. The drinking water with beautiful colors is served in a transparent round glass cup and is very popular among children.

Summer is here and the weather is getting hotter. After a day of playing in school, the children will enjoy a glass of ice-cold sugar water or soda after school.

Looking at the sweet soup stall surrounded by children, Shen Baolan suddenly had an idea.

"Mom, lend me some money. I want to start a sweet soup business..."

In the evening, Shen Baolan excitedly told Ma Sufen her idea, "The cold water business is very profitable. With a little pigment the size of a pea and a few grains of saccharin, you can make a large bucket of cold water. Sell it for five cents a cup, and a bucket can be sold for at least two dollars."

Business is a good business, but Ma Sufen has suffered great losses and is unwilling to let Shen Baolan get involved in the business, nor does she believe that Shen Baolan can make money from business.

Seeing that Ma Sufen refused to lend her the capital, Shen Baolan ran back to her parents' home.

Although Liu Cuihua was not optimistic about Shen Baolan's dessert business, she was her own daughter after all, and she could not resist the constant persuasion and lent Shen Baolan twenty yuan.

Shen Hao learned carpentry, so he went to the mountains to cut down trees and made a cart and a wooden box for Shen Baolan.

There is a round hole on the top of the wooden box, which is covered with thick foam and covered with a thick quilt to hold popsicles.

…

By the time Shen Baolan closed her stall and returned to the family compound, it was already 8 o'clock in the evening.

Ma Sufen had finished dinner early and was chatting with someone in the staff quarters.

Seeing her coming back pushing the cart, many people laughed and joked, saying that the Zhou family also needed a female boss.

Ma Sufen glanced at her daughter-in-law who was struggling to push the cart into the carport. She had no intention of stepping forward to help. Instead, she said sarcastically, "It's just her. Come on, I'll be grateful if she doesn't cause trouble for me."

After a while, Shen Baolan came out of the carport carrying a wooden box and some unsold soda.

Seeing her sweating profusely from exhaustion, someone joked, "Baolan, how's your business going? Did you make any money?"

Shen Baolan wiped her sweat and said with a sad face, "What kind of money can I make? It's just enough to break even."

After hearing this, everyone did not laugh at her. Instead, they all tried to persuade her.

"It's okay, take your time, you will make money eventually."

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"Business is not that easy to do. If it were easy to make money, everyone would go into business."

Shen Baolan sighed repeatedly, with a regretful tone, "That's right, if I had known earlier I would have gone to work, business is so difficult to do."

Hearing her sigh, everyone couldn't help but feel sympathy and pity.

"Mom, please come back early. I have something to tell you."

After hearing what her daughter-in-law said, Ma Sufen's face immediately turned gloomy.

She didn't think there was anything good about Shen Baolan. She might have lost money and wanted to borrow money from her.

There was no way she would lend money to this spendthrift daughter-in-law! Ma Sufen deliberately lingered until almost 10 o'clock before going back.

As soon as she entered the door, Shen Baolan came up to her happily, "Mom, why did you come back just now?"

Ma Sufen glanced at her and said, "It's none of your business. I can come back whenever I want. What's it to you?"

Shen Baolan didn't care about her bad attitude, "Mom, I have something to tell you, come with me to the room."

"I'm not going, and I don't want to listen."

Seeing this, Shen Baolan had no choice but to close the window of the living room and draw the curtains, then she took out a bulging cloth bag from the room.

"Mom, look at this."

Ma Sufen stared at her suspiciously and refused to take it, probably because she was afraid that there was something bad inside.

Shen Baolan opened the cloth bag neatly, revealing the contents.

All those colorful things are actually banknotes.

Ma Sufen's narrowed eyes suddenly widened to the size of copper bells, "Where did the money come from?"

"Mom, this is all what I earned from selling sugar water and popsicles today!"

Ma Sufen's face was full of disbelief. "You, didn't you say you didn't make any money?"

Shen Baolan said proudly: "If I don't say that, everyone knows that selling cold water can make money, so what should I do if they all come to steal my business?"

As if she couldn't accept such a reversal, Ma Sufen was stunned for a long time before she came to her senses. The tone of her voice when she spoke again was very different from when she entered the door, revealing friendliness and enthusiasm.

"Baolan, how much did you earn today?" (End of this chapter)