Swiss Roll Cake

Ji Yuan held the phone and said in a baby voice: "Wow, I want to pick up grandma from home..."

The lady boss of the canteen munched on sunflower seeds while watching the excitement: "I guess the call won't go through. Who would still be working during Chinese New Year?"

As expected, Song Dongdong took the phone and put it to his ear, and all he heard was the busy line sound.

He looked disappointed: "The call didn't go through, what a pity."

Ji Yuan turned around and asked his brother, "Why didn't grandma answer the phone?"

Ji Yang held his brother's hand and said, "Because the person in charge of the phone went home for the New Year."

Song Shixia found it funny to hear that the kids wanted to call their grandparents. It was indeed inconvenient not having a mobile phone in this day and age.

Several children came to the house to pay New Year's greetings. Song's mother had already wrapped up a dime red envelope for her to distribute to the children. This was an experience Song Shixia had never had before. It turned out that a large group of people could interact like this.

The children all picked the delicious ones, and the snacks prepared by Song Shixia were taken by the children first. They may not know what Swiss rolls are, but to them, even corn buns and brown sugar buns with sugar are very attractive.

After lunch, the village became lively. The entrance of the village was occupied by the gossip group and there were also people from the neighboring village who came to sunbathe and play cards. There were five card-playing stalls in the sunbathing area, all of which were men from different villages. The women sat around and chatted about gossip.

Song's mother did not go to the village entrance because there were too many people there and there would be too much gossip. She chatted with people at the brigade's photo booth.

Song's father was wandering behind his house with his hands behind his back, not knowing what he was doing.

Song Shixia and Ji Weiqing moved chairs to the yard to bask in the sun. The little guy came back and ran out to play with his uncle again.

I thought that the house would be much more relaxed without anyone at home, but there were many guests who came to visit Song Qiu Sheng. They were the same age as Song Qiu Sheng, so Song Shixia had to call him brother when he saw them.

They were embarrassed to see Song Shixia, and pulled Song Qiusheng outside to talk. Song Shixia vaguely heard "spring", "recruitment", and "earning money", and guessed that he wanted to ask his brother if he could introduce a way to find a job.

Song's father found a piece of vacant land behind the house. He nodded with satisfaction, thinking that this place would be a good place to build a farm.

The captain found him and said, "Heping, Uncle wants to discuss something with you."

On the day of slaughtering the pig, he left the Song family and went to the brigade. The brigade expressed support for the idea of ​​making money. After all, everyone saw Song Qiu Sheng pulling back a cart of New Year gifts from outside. Maybe next year would be the one to make a lot of money.

It’s just that there are some disagreements in the village, so I came to ask what to do.

Song's father did not immediately agree to look for his son, but asked: "Second Uncle, what do you think of this piece of land under your feet?"

The captain was puzzled: "It's okay, but it can't be used for farming, and it's a bit big to build a house." Land is not worth much money everywhere in the village. What does Song Heping want to do?

Father Song considered and said, "Uncle, I want to open a farm. We discussed it last night and we think it's feasible. We want to buy this piece of land."

The captain's eyes widened: "What? Open a farm? What about the team's farming and fruit tree business?!"

Song's father quickly explained: "We run the farm ourselves, not with the brigade. There is no conflict in growing vegetables and fruit trees. Qiu Sheng is in charge."

The captain patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief: "You scared me to death. I have already told this to the team leader, and our team agrees with both hands. Even if the village disagrees, our team will still do this!"

Song Qiu Sheng saw off the last group of guests. He stood at the door and his voice was hoarse. Before he could catch his breath, his father and his second uncle came to visit.

"Dad, my second uncle."

Father Song smiled and said, "Qiu Sheng, come in with your sister and sit down. Second uncle has something to tell you."

Old Mrs. Huo sat there sewing shoe soles while listening to the women chatting. Most people in Huojiaba lived on the mountainside, and Huo Kai's family lived at the end of the village, connected to the sunbathing field of Chenjia Village, and usually interacted more with the people of Chenjia Village.

At the beginning, the protagonist of the gossip was Song Qiu Sheng. Ever since people knew that Song Qiu Sheng bought a refrigerator and a washing machine for his family, no one anymore said that doing business was not as steady and stable as growing crops.

Even though the business was not stable, it was a fact that Song Qiu Sheng made money to improve his family's conditions, not to mention that he must have given a lot of money to his parents.

The people who had previously disliked Song Qiu Sheng pretended to be casual and wanted to introduce their cousin from their mother's side to Song Qiu Sheng. The people who helped with the pig slaughtering that day said,

"Qiu Sheng has a date, a city girl, and she even bought a gift for the old couple of the Song family and brought it back, saying that she would be brought home to visit after the New Year."

Someone suddenly said something sarcastic: "Song Qiusheng is so lucky. He failed in business and went home to farm. How come he suddenly became so successful?"

"Isn't this just business? The more you earn, the more you lose. We ordinary people should just farm honestly. Only the brave can do business."

That's what I said, but it's a lie to say that everyone is jealous. The refrigerator and washing machine must have cost nearly 1,000 yuan, which means Song Qiusheng earned at least 1,500 yuan. They can't even make 500 yuan from farming all year round.

The neighbor next door to the Huo family lowered his voice: "You don't know, the man the Song family's daughter married is a professor."

"What? Professor? Aren't professors usually old men in their seventies or eighties? How could her man, who looks so weak and frail, be a professor?"

The neighbors finally had a chance to share the gossip they had been holding back for a day and a night.

"Of course not, this news is guaranteed to be true. Chen Jiao and Song Shixia's man both teach at the same school. Chen Jiao said it herself!"

Everyone was immediately amazed: "Is he really a professor? How can there be such a young professor?" The professors they had met before were all older people, and the youngest was in his 40s or 50s.

The neighbor added, "He is not only a professor, but also a native of the capital." She was the first to know this news, and she felt a sense of pride when she said it herself.

Everyone came to Mrs. Huo to verify it. It was the first time that Mrs. Huo was being praised by so many people. She deliberately said, "Yes, it's true. Chen Jiao told me that Song Shixia's mother-in-law has money and can eat meat every day."

Everyone took a sip of saliva at the same time.

Some people enviously said: "What kind of family is it to eat meat all the time?"

"It is said that she is a high-ranking intellectual. She is worried that her daughter-in-law will not have enough meat to eat, so she sends a few kilograms of meat every now and then. She is well-known in the school and family district."

Someone urged Mrs. Huo: "Your son also teaches in that school. Why don't you go with him to see the world and come back to tell us about it."

"Yes, old lady, please go and take a look. Check for us to see if Song Shixia is really doing so well. Could it be that your daughter-in-law is seeing things wrong? Is there so much chicken to eat every day in the city?"

"That's the capital. If we had relatives there, we would go and see them. Unlike your son, who can work in the capital, you are enjoying a good life."

Old Mrs. Huo was very proud and wanted to live in the city for a few days if someone persuaded her to do so. However, she had a psychological fear of the unknown big city.

Eventually, she was overcome by panic: "I'd better not go. My family hasn't planted the land yet. If I go to the city, I'll just cause trouble."

Everyone's disappointment was reflected on their faces. Old Mrs. Huo was really useless. They really wanted to verify whether Song Shixia really turned into a phoenix after flying from a sparrow to a tree. In fact, after knowing that Song Shixia married a professor, this news was 90% likely to be true, but they were unwilling to believe it. How could someone from the same village be so lucky, marry a professor and eat meat every day?

In order to collect opinions from team members, Song Guozhu asked his wife to deliberately reveal in the showroom that Song Qiu Sheng wanted to do vegetable business. After a while, the team members who were still chatting idly turned the topic to Song Qiu Sheng.

Song's mother left when there were many people around and met her husband at the edge of the show floor.

"Why are you squatting here?"

Father Song stood up and rubbed his knees: "I'm waiting for you to go home, but I'm afraid that too many people will squeeze you and prevent you from going back."

Song's mother didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and she supported her husband: "We are a group of people, so we shouldn't surround me. If we were to look for someone, we would look for Qiu Sheng. I don't understand anything."

"Not necessarily. Second Uncle said that our team was jealous of Qiu Sheng's success and wanted to make money with him. You are Qiu Sheng's mother, so they will definitely look for you."

Song's father's guess was correct. Under the propaganda of the captain's wife, everyone immediately looked for Song's mother who had just been at the scene, only to find that she had already left.

Song's mother thought of the red envelope she had prepared for her son-in-law: "How much do you think is appropriate for us to give in a red envelope? I am embarrassed to give it, for fear that if I give too little, my mother-in-law will look down on me."

The mother-in-law gave her daughter a red envelope of a thousand yuan. The woman does not need to give more than the man, but how much to give is also a problem.

Song's father was also thinking about the question, "How much money is left at home?"

"I made four hundred from selling the pigs, plus the miscellaneous money we got from them, so I can give out a thousand dollars."

Father Song frowned and said, "My in-laws mean that they can't come to our house for New Year's greetings this year, so they gave a lot more. Let's just give them 500. It may be a bit tight at home, and we have to save face for Xia Xia in her husband's family."

Five hundred yuan is enough for a normal family, and sometimes even less than that. But if a family wants to run a farm, they have to spend money on contracting land, repairing the farm, and buying chickens, ducks, and pigs, so five hundred yuan is definitely not enough.

After careful consideration, Song's mother thought it was feasible: "Okay, if not, ask Qiu Sheng to borrow some money and pay him back after the pigs are sold."

Song Shixia finally waited for her parents to come home, and she pushed her mother into the house mysteriously.

"I was supposed to give you two filial piety money last night, but you gave me the New Year's money first, so I saved the money and gave it to you today."

She took out a red envelope from under her mother's pillow and said, "I wanted to give you a surprise, but I felt that if I didn't tell you, you probably wouldn't be able to see it after the New Year. This is a little gift from him and me, so don't refuse it."

Since she talked it out with her daughter, Song's mother no longer objects to taking money from her daughter, but she is worried that she will spend money lavishly.

She held the bulging red envelope and said with a tone of complaint and joy, "How much did you put in this?"

Song Shixia smiled and said, "It's not much, just a small profit I made before the New Year. Even if you and my dad open a farm in the future, don't work too hard on yourselves. The reason you two make money is because you two don't want to accept the money from me and my brother. I can only find a business for you to do at home that can make a lot of money. You can rest assured, and so can we."

Song's mother wiped her eyes and said, "Look at what you said. Your father and I can still move. We have hands and feet. Why would we ask you for money? Your brother hasn't married yet, and you have a family to run. Your mother-in-law and her family are not ordinary people. You must not let them look down on you."

Song Shixia hugged her mother and said, "I know. My mother-in-law is a very nice person. You will know when you meet her in person. I know how to spend money. Our family is not bad either. We are a peasant family for three generations. Whose ancestors are not from peasant families?"