Zhong Zijun and Ji Linhai were in charge of grilling, and the others were in charge of eating.
Gu Qinghuan also iced watermelon to go with it, the double taste of ice and water made it simply irresistible.
The spicy crayfish and spicy fried snails received great praise from Master Ji.
"I never thought that the big bugs that bother everyone the most in the fields could make such delicious food. It smells so good."
The pot of lobsters was soon empty.
Gu Qinghuan wrapped the noodles in the lobster sauce, it was so delicious.
After the family had eaten their fill, Gu Qinghuan began to talk business.
"My friend wants to buy a batch of crayfish and snails recently. He offers 1.5 cents per pound. Do you want to do it?"
"One and a half cents?" Zhong Zijun immediately became interested. She had made a lot of money from the last mud eel and yellow eel trade, and she had been thinking about it all the time.
"There are these things everywhere in the fields. They are no different from picking them up by hand. Why don't we do it together?"
Everyone agreed.
This time, Gu Qinghuan deliberately started the crayfish business because he wanted to take care of his family, so they didn't do it together.
Zhu Chunlin is currently taking care of a pregnant woman while working, and has to earn work points when he has a little free time. He has no time to earn this money.
Xu Huainian and his family of three also have to take care of factory affairs and have no time to deal with these things.
Gu Qinghuan, together with Zhong Zijun and Ji Linhai, soon wiped out all the crayfish and snails in the nearby villages.
It happened that the summer was too hot and there was little work to do in the fields, so I had time to relax.
She quoted Zhong Zijun 1.5 cents, but actually sold it to him for 2.5 cents.
In the end, Zhong Zijun and Ji Linhai won the stall and made nearly three hundred yuan.
Gu Qinghuan earned four hundred.
Dabao and Beibei also joined in the fun. The two fought very well and each won more than ten yuan. Gu Qinghuan gave it all to them for safekeeping.
Of course, they are using their free time, otherwise they could earn more.
During this period, Lin Xiaomeng was also very busy and rarely returned home, often leaving Dacheng at Gu Qinghuan's house.
Gu Qinghuan simply arranged for the two little boys to sleep on another kang.
Later, I heard from Xu Huainian that Lin Xiaomeng had privately asked him for a few bars of soap, also at the wholesale price of 0.15 cents.
Gu Qinghuan probably knew what she was doing.
Lin Xiaomeng had a new life and had some vision. She asked Xu Mingshan to write a note to prove that these products were the collective products of the village.
Then take these soaps to bigger and more places to promote them. Because the places are relatively far away, Yujie soap business has not yet covered them, so Lin Xiaomeng can be said to have taken advantage of the loophole.
She wholesaled it to department stores or supply and marketing cooperatives at a price of 1.8 cents.
She could earn three cents for each bar of soap. In one summer vacation, she sold five bars of soap and made a net profit of 150 yuan, which was more than her salary for several months combined.
But this is only her, no one else can do it.
First of all, she has good eloquence and vision, and can persuade others to buy.
Secondly, she had the space, which was why she was able to carry so many soaps on her back. If it were someone else, this would also be a hassle.
Gu Qinghuan told Xu Huainian to just turn a blind eye and follow her.
There is no end to making money. Although Lin Xiaomeng did this to make money for herself, it did generate income for them and increased their influence, bringing the products to more places. It was a win-win situation.
If placed in the future, Lin Xiaomeng would be a typical gold medal salesperson with a silver tongue, but it would be a waste of talent if placed in today's world.
One day at the end of July.
The weather is hot, and everyone likes to go to the shallow water area by the river in the evening to take a dip to cool off.
Gu Qinghuan brought her four children back from bathing and playing in the river and passed by Xu Meiling's house.
A group of people carried the big-bellied Xu Meiling on door panels.
Gu Qinghuan was startled when he saw the body lying on the door.
How did Xu Meiling become like this?
Although I was a little fat before, it didn’t affect anything.
Now he is as fat as a pig, lying on the door panel, his belly is almost as thick as the door panel.
His face was full of fat, bigger than the large bowl that the boys in the family used to eat noodles, and his eyes were squeezed into a slit.
She was holding her stomach in pain and had lost her voice.
Liu Guifang cried out her daughter's name, as if she were dead.
"My poor Meiling!"
"My dear, hold on!"
"Grandpa, please save her!"
Chen Jianghe, Xu Mingshan, Xu Huaiyu and a young man from the village worked together to lift her up and walked to the commune with difficulty.
The village midwife, Mrs. Yang, came out but did not follow after him. She prepared to go home on her own.
"Mrs. Yang, what's going on?" asked the one who was watching the excitement.
Mrs. Yang shook her head helplessly.
"I have been delivering babies for many years, but I have never seen anyone so fat. She is too proud, eats a lot and doesn't exercise.
The child was too big to come out, and I couldn't use my energy, so it was stuck and there was nothing I could do.
Let’s send it to the commune and see if it works. If that doesn’t work, we can only save the big one first.”
Everyone sighed.
"If you ask me, this woman shouldn't be so accustomed to this. When I gave birth to my eldest son, the village was rushing to harvest corn, so I gave birth to the child directly in the cornfield. It was as fast as an egg.
Look at my daughter-in-law now, she is still working even with a big belly.
This Xu Meiling is as lazy as a pig. She likes eating but is lazy. She has grown so much flesh for nothing and can’t even give birth to a baby.”
"That's right, she is the laziest in the whole village. All other daughters-in-law work hard.
This is the same as marrying Chen Zhiqing. If she were another man, he would slap her to death."
"Chen Zhiqing is really unlucky to have found such a woman."
"Do you think Xu Meiling can give birth?"
"It doesn't look good!"
"You say, if the daughter of the Xu family died, would Chen Jianghe be able to find her?"
"It's not your turn to find it..."
…
The group of Xu Jiatun's mothers-in-law criticized Xu Meiling harshly from top to bottom, and even seemed to be looking forward to the show.
Of course, this was only because Xu Mingshan and Liu Guifang were not there, otherwise they would not dare to be so presumptuous.
Gu Qinghuan felt sad as he listened to their criticisms.
No matter how bad Xu Meiling is, as women, they should not say such nonsense when their parents are going through a life-and-death situation.
She coughed twice and said, "Some people should be more careful with their words. Karma will always come true.
I heard that those who always sow discord and slander him behind his back will go to hell where their tongues will be pulled out after they die.
Everything else will disappear, only karma will remain. If the karma you have spoken is serious, it will bring disaster to your descendants, and if it is serious, it will backfire and kill your descendants."
Gu Qinghuan had a serious expression and spoke as if it were true, which frightened these gossips. Thinking of their own words and deeds in daily life, they couldn't help but feel their hearts pounding and shuddered.
Although people now say not to blame gods, most people still believe in them.
After a while, everyone dispersed quickly.
"Mom, what is verbal karma? Is there really a hell where people are punished by having their tongues pulled out?" Dabao asked curiously on the way home.
"Speaking with a happy heart is the most auspicious thing.
There are several types of verbal karma.
One is confusing right and wrong, making false and untrue remarks, saying things that are inconsistent with the facts, slandering, sarcasm, attacking, cursing, and invisibly hurting others' self-esteem.
The second is to use foul language regardless of whether it is true or not.
The third is to sow discord and spread rumors, destroy the relationship between them, and spread rumors to cause mutual suspicion and slander.
Fourth, they say some embellished words, which may sound nice on the surface but actually contain deception and inflammatory words.
Anything related to these is considered verbal karma.
As for the hell of tongue-pulling, mom doesn’t know either, but as long as we don’t hurt others, we don’t have to be afraid of that.”
"Mom, I understand. Those grandmas were just gossiping. That's not right." Dabao said thoughtfully.
Beibei reached out and covered her mouth: "Mom, will the tongue-pulling hell pull out your tongue? It should be very painful, right?"
Gu Qinghuan was amused by her cute look and scratched her nose gently.
"Mom, is my aunt really going to die?" Dabao nervously tugged at Gu Qinghuan's clothes.
"She seems to be in a lot of pain. Is giving birth so scary?"
Gu Qinghuan didn't know how to answer the child for a moment. Intellectually, she didn't like Xu Meiling very much, but as a girl, she didn't want to belittle her at this time.
Giving birth to a child is like walking through the gates of hell for a woman.
"Your aunt will get through this, because there is a saying that goes, a mother must be strong.
Giving birth is a scary thing, but every mother is willing to do it. "
Really? Dabao suddenly felt relieved.
As he got older, he naturally became more thoughtful. Sometimes he would wonder, who is his biological mother? Why did his father never mention her?
Is she still alive? Does she love her sister?
At this moment, he was suddenly relieved. No matter who she was or where she was, he should be grateful, because she had given him her life with all her heart.
It was not until the next morning that news came that Xu Meiling had given birth to a big fat girl, weighing a full ten kilograms, and both mother and daughter were safe.
Last night they sent Xu Meiling to the commune, but the doctors there were helpless and had no choice but to send her to the county hospital overnight.
A female doctor at the county hospital happened to encounter this situation. She tried various methods to help the baby. Finally, she squeezed the belly with her hands to help the baby give birth to a daughter.
The child was still breathing, but he had been holding his breath for too long, so he was a little short of breath and his face was blue and purple.
Mother and daughter are safe, this is already the best result, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
On the way here just now, Xu Meiling was completely unconscious, without even a groan, and everyone thought her child was dead.
Liu Guifang held her granddaughter in her arms and said with some regret, "It's a pity that it's a girl. I thought Meiling was pregnant with a son."
If it was a son, she would be able to be a legitimate concubine.
Chen Jianghe has never told his family until now, isn't it just that he doesn't like Meiling?