Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 16: A parent's decision

The weather finally cooled down. After finishing her daily tasks, Mei Qiuping had a rare

few sleepless nights, while Feng Zhenchang next to her slept soundly. Every night,

Feng Zhenchang would drink some shochu brewed by the village craftsman. He didn't drink much,

but one cup a night is enough to help him sleep.

Mei Qiuping tossed and turned, and finally sat up. Feeling very hot, she patted Feng Zhenchang, who was snoring, awake.

'What is it now?' asked Feng Zhenchang, groggily.

Mei Qiuping didn't bother arguing with him. 'You sleep soundly every night! What do you think of the fried chestnuts that Yiping mentioned?'

Hearing this, Feng Zhenchang also woke up. 'I think of course we can do it. I'll go to the village power station dam and pick up a few loads of sand when I have time. The sand there is even in size and clean. When the chestnuts are harvested next month, let's try frying them first, just as Yiping wrote on the paper. At worst, we'll just fry a few catties of chestnuts and always be able to make that taste. Then we'll go to the provincial capital!'

Mei Qiuping complained to him impatiently, 'You're also a careless person. Yiping has never even been to Lian County, and you just believe what your classmates say?'

'No matter what, Yiping wouldn't lie to us about something like this!' Feng Zhenchang was actually a bit hesitant, but what he was thinking was to just fry it first and see what happens.

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Mei Qiuping is impatient and wants to settle the matter quickly. 'In that case, tomorrow you don't need to go up the mountain, just fix the chicken coop at home and mend the fence in the vegetable garden behind the house. I'll go back to my parents' home and talk to Dad. The day after tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Yiliang will definitely call home, so I'll ask him to come back for a visit and sort this out!'

Mei Yiliang is her youngest brother, still single and living in the provincial capital.

'Fine, the sooner you find out the sooner you can rest in peace.' Feng Zhenchang knows his wife's temperament well: she is hot-tempered and if she keeps things bottled up inside, she won't be able to sleep peacefully.

Like Mei Qiuping, Mei Jianzhong also suffers from insomnia. These days, he also has trouble sleeping. He is also impatient, and in this respect, his daughter is like him. His grandson had already sent the things off half a month ago, and although when he sent them, his grandson repeatedly told him that he would not hear back for at least a month, he was still a little worried.

Thinking about when his grandson mailed the letter, he confidently told him that one of the two places would adopt his work. Of course, his grandson probably also felt that this was a bit too optimistic in front of him, and later added that if neither place adopted it, he could still submit it to other magazines. He doesn't know how well his grandson's article is written. After listening to his grandson read it, he felt that it was quite close to life and it also moved him a bit.

He also knows that his grandson has never had any pocket money, and has never asked the family for anything, so he is somewhat confident that he will be able to ask for a few yuan to send a letter.

In the ten villages and towns around here, he has never heard of anyone who can turn their handwriting into lead type and have it published in a book published by the state. Imagining that his 12-year-old grandson could be the first person to do so, he is a little excited.

These days, whenever he sees a postman at the post office, he asks if there is any mail for him. He also repeatedly tells the postman that if there is any mail for him, especially if there is a money order, he must not make a fuss and must quietly give it to him. He will give the postman a good cigarette as a reward. The postman is puzzled by all this.

This noon, Mei Jianzhong was carrying a hoe home to prepare dinner when he saw his eldest daughter come back. He was helping her wash the quilt.

'Why are you here? Is there something wrong?'

Mei Qiuping poured him a cup of tea and said, 'Yiping told me when he came back that you've been feeling well these days, right?'

'I'm still quite healthy,' said Mei Jianzhong, sitting in the courtyard and looking at the clothes that were drying on the bamboo poles. 'You don't need to wash them for me every time you come here, I can do it myself.'

Mei Qiuping laughed, 'I know you well, you just put the clothes in a basin, pour in some washing powder, stand on them and give them a good stomp, and you think you've washed them, right!'

Mei Jianzhong changed the subject, 'You're here at an odd time of year. Is there something wrong?'

'Yes, there is something. Has Yiliang called back yet?'

'No. Over the years, I've only received five letters from him. He doesn't usually call much either, but the Mid-Autumn Festival is in two days, so he'll call. Do you need to talk to him about something?'

'Yes, there is something I want to ask him,' Mei Qiuping said after a moment's hesitation.

'Oh, in that case, shall I tell him to call you up?'

'Yes, call the village office.'

Mei Jianzhong didn't ask what it was about, and he was relieved when he heard that it wasn't about Feng Yiping's article for the magazine, which his daughter had told him she wanted to ask him about.

The father and daughter didn't chat for long before the eldest son's family returned. The eldest son carried two hoes, his daughter-in-law was carrying Rui Rui in her arms, and in a short while, Rong Rong also returned home from school.

Of course they had lunch at their brother's place. Guosheng, the eldest brother, said he was going to the town to weigh some meat. Mei Qiuping stopped him, saying that it was a long way to go to the town, and besides, there was no knowing if there was any left by this time, so there was no need. Guosheng told his wife to get the money, but who knew that his daughter-in-law went into her room and didn't come out for a long time, which made him feel quite embarrassed. Thinking that the family didn't have much money, and not long ago his nephew had come to visit, he went to the butcher's to weigh some meat. Then he went to scoop up a litre of soy beans and asked Rongrong to take his younger brother and go to the village tofu shop to exchange them for tofu.

Mei Qiuping had hurried down today because she had something to do. She kept thinking about the hundreds of dollars that the man who sold fried chestnuts made every month. Otherwise, with her temper, she would have argued with her brother's wife. Even so, for this meal, only the two little ones were happy to eat tofu and eggs.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Feng Yiping went to his first homeroom teacher's house for the first time. Mei Qiuping was also distracted that day. At noon, the village women's director came to the house to tell her that her younger brother Yiliang would call the village office in an hour. She was very happy and didn't care about waiting for Feng Zhenchang to come home for dinner. She took one yuan, locked the door, and went to the village with the women's director.

The village office was more than three li from Feng's home, and she had to pay one yuan to the village office for making the trip to notify the recipient of the phone call.

When Mei Qiuping arrived home in high spirits after answering the phone, Feng Zhenchang had already returned and had set the table, which was rare, as he was waiting for her to eat.

'Did you ask Yiliang?'

'Yes, I asked him if he had eaten fried chestnuts with sugar in the provincial capital. How much is a catty? Are there many people buying them?'

'What did Yiliang say?'

Mei Qiuping gulped down half a tank of coarse tea in one go and beamed, 'Yiliang also said it's six yuan a catty, not many people sell it, but at least 20 catties can be sold a day.'

'Haha,' Feng Zhenchang also laughed, 'Okay, you can rest assured, you can sleep soundly tonight! Hurry up and eat.'

'Yiliang said he'll be back when the chestnuts are harvested.'

'That's even better, we'll stir-fry some and let him taste it to see if it's the right taste. If he thinks it's okay, we'll ask him to find us a house in the city after he returns, and get the stove and other things we need to buy.'

Mei Qiuping took a few mouthfuls of rice and said, 'What about all the things at home after we leave, like the pigs and chickens, and what's in the fields? Also, the most urgent thing is money, for travel expenses, renting a house, and buying tea oil and sugar, which adds up to several hundred, so where will we get it?'

Feng Zhenchang had already thought of a solution: 'The millet has been harvested, and the peanuts have been pulled. There isn't much left to do in the fields, just the rapeseed. Tu Er'er and the others can look after it. As for the chickens, we can give the key to Weidong's house and ask them to feed them. It's not a big deal, just a matter of scattering a few handfuls of grain a day. As for money, there's no need to worry, we can just sell the pig.'

'You mean kill the pig? Will people buy meat at this time of year? The day before yesterday, the neighbours next door killed their pig, and it's Mid-Autumn Festival today, otherwise they won't be able to sell it all.' Mei Qiuping did not think this was a good idea.

'It's fine. I'll go around the village tonight and ask if anyone wants to buy it. If no one wants it, I'll go to the town and find a pig seller. Our pig, which has not eaten any feed, can sell for 1.8 to 2 yuan per catty. If we do the math, we can get at least 500 yuan. If that's not enough, Yiliang can pay the rent for us. He's been away for so many years, he should have a few hundred yuan. We can pay him back when we get the money from selling the pig.'

'Okay, then. Let's eat early tonight. You go around and kill the pig yourself and sell it. The price of meat will be higher, and we can at least keep some of the lard and offal.'

Mei Qiuping was a little unwilling. She had had good luck this year. The twenty-odd kilograms of piglets she had bought in the second half of last year had never been sick and had been able to eat. They still weighed more than 250 kilograms. She had worked the hardest. In the middle of summer, in addition to her daily tasks, she had to gather at least two large baskets of pig grass every day, otherwise the pigs wouldn't have enough to eat. Although she had sold most of the pigs in recent years, she had to keep some. She really felt a little upset that she had not kept any.

'Alright, alright,' Feng Zhanchang gave her a chopstickful of meat. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a big holiday, and they had also bought a catty of meat. Their nephew, who manages the fish pond, had caught fish today and, knowing that they were short of money, had given them a grass carp and five small crucian carp. So the meal was considered sumptuous. 'Just think, if you calculate it per ping, you can make several hundred yuan a month, so you can buy a pig in a month, can't you?'

Well, when it comes to earning a few hundred dollars a month, Mei Qiuping is happy.