Back to 1978: Getting rich starts with treasure hunting

Chapter 262

Today is Sunday, a rare weekend off, so He Chunru got up an hour later than usual.

When I left the bedroom, I found that my daughter's room door was open, there was no one in the room, and the quilt on the bed was neatly folded.

He must have gone to work.

Thinking that it was the weekend and fearing that all the fresh vegetables in the market would be sold out, He Chunru washed her face and hurried out with her basket.

Chunjingfang Farmers Market is the largest vegetable market nearby. Every day from three or four in the morning, many trucks transporting vegetables stop at the market to unload goods.

Five or six in the morning is the time when various vegetable stores come here to deliver goods. Later on, citizens come to the market to buy vegetables.

Today is the weekend and the state-owned farmers' market is crowded with people. Before entering the market, I found many vegetable stalls on the roadside at the entrance.

The vegetables sold at these stalls are picked in the dark by villagers from nearby villages.

The vegetables were all grown in their own private plots, and the leftovers were taken to the city to be sold in exchange for money for oil and salt.

"Hey, why are there still little river shrimps?"

"Comrade, how much are the river shrimps?"

Two inquiries sounded at the same time.

He Chunru turned her head to look at the person who came, and unexpectedly found that she knew this person and they were somewhat related.

"Aunt, how do you have time to come to the market to buy vegetables? You usually help your brother and sister-in-law take care of the children. Isn't there a nanny at home who buys vegetables?"

"Oh, it's my sister-in-law. Are you here to buy vegetables too?" Liu Xiao'e was also surprised to find that the person who had just picked out the river shrimps with her was Gu Jiu's sister-in-law.

He Chunru explained: "Yes, today is the weekend and I am off. I came here to buy some food to cook at home."

"It's the weekend today, Jiu Ge'er and his wife are at home, so I left the child to them. I heard that this vegetable market is the largest one nearby, so I took the opportunity to come and take a look."

Liu Xiao'e seemed to have thought of something and asked, "Sister-in-law, you usually don't cook at home, but eat in the company cafeteria?"

"I don't have time to cook, so I just eat in the cafeteria."

What He Chunru didn't say was that when she lived in the old house before, she didn't have to do any basic housework, and there was even a nanny who cooked the meals.

Now that she has moved out, she has to do all the shopping, cooking, laundry and housekeeping by herself. It is too tedious and takes up too much of her rest time.

I don't want to take care of it at work.

Liu Xiaoe nodded: "It's normal to be too busy at work to take care of the family."

Then he asked, "After your eldest brother got married, he didn't live with you, right?"

Mentioning Gu Youtao, the smile on He Chunru's face faded a little. "They didn't live together. They lived in the company dormitory after they got married. I only went to take care of her during the confinement period when she gave birth."

"No wonder, young people don't know how to live. They just can't do without elderly people around to take care of them." Liu Xiao'e shook her head regretfully.

Seeing her indescribable expression, He Chunru's heart skipped a beat. "Aunt, what did you mean by that just now? Are the eldest brother and his wife hiding something from me?"

Liu Xiao'e looked embarrassed. She didn't know how to bring up the matter and wanted to squat down to pick some river shrimps.

But Gu Chunru was already worried, so how could she not find out?

She held her and dragged her to a less crowded place on the side of the road. "Aunt, just say whatever you want to say. Your hesitation makes my heart beat fast. It's so uncomfortable."

Liu Xiao'e looked embarrassed, and looked around at the passers-by, as if she wanted to run away, "I shouldn't say this, sister-in-law, aren't you making things difficult for me?"

He Chunru stretched out her hand and grabbed her sleeve, anxiously urging her: "Hey, aunt-in-law, if you have anything to say, just say it directly. You are making my heart unbearable."

Seeing that she couldn't run away, Liu Xiao'e gritted her teeth and told Gu Youtao about the several times Gu Youtao had asked Gu Jiu to borrow money, especially what happened last night. He actually borrowed money to give a gift for his mother-in-law's birthday. Wasn't this just a pretense?

"Sister-in-law, I think you shouldn't let these two young people live outside. They are too young and have too little money. They can't save the money they have and spend it all every month. Now they have a family and children. The family's food and clothing, as well as social interactions, also cost a lot of money. They always think of borrowing money when they need something. This is not a problem in the long run."

These words were like a slap in the face to He Chunru, and her face turned blue and red.

She had always been very concerned about her reputation and was strong in everything, but she ended up giving birth to such an unpromising son, which made her so angry that she almost died.

"These two damn kids are such a hassle. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you. I didn't expect that they both get paid but don't have any savings. So, let's put it this way..."

He Chunru took out her pocket and went out to buy groceries. She didn't have much money in her pocket. "I don't have enough money, aunt, please tell Brother Nine that I will send the money that the eldest brother borrowed from him this afternoon.

"In the future, my eldest son and his wife should not lend money to him if they go to him to borrow money. Since he didn't worry us when he got married, and he chose his partner himself, it's his own fault for how he lives after marriage. He has to bear with me if he has no money!"

"Sister-in-law, please don't misunderstand me. I told you about this today because I want you to take care of those two young people. I don't mean to urge you to pay back the money. If Brother Jiu knew about this, he would think that I was trying to alienate the relationship between you relatives."

"I'm telling you this out of kindness. I'm worried that these young people may have too much money. I really don't have any other intentions."

Liu Xiao'e's eagerness to distance herself from the matter dispelled any doubts in He Chunru's mind.

It seems that this aunt-in-law is just a gossipy rural woman, with no other intentions, and it was not Lin Shu who instructed her to come here and meet her by chance.

"I know, but I still want to thank you for tipping me off about this."

He Chunru bought all the small river shrimps on the roadside and wanted to give them to Liu Xiaoe to take home.

How could Liu Xiao'e be greedy for such a small advantage? She refused to accept it no matter what.

Finally, the two of them discussed it and divided the river shrimps into two portions, one for each of them, and they stopped being polite.

Liu Xiao'e looked at the back of the person walking into the farmers' market, looked down at the small river shrimps in her hand, smiled and shook her head, then walked home.

The reason why she met He Chunru here today was not a coincidence, but Liu Xiao'e was waiting for her here on purpose.

Whenever Gu Youtao has problems, he doesn't go to his biological parents but always goes to Gu Jiu. Once or twice, Lin Shu can be magnanimous and not make a fuss about it.

If he had any problems in the future, he would come to Gu Jiu, spending money and worrying about him. If this happened more often and over time, Liu Xiao'e would be afraid that a rift would arise between Gu Jiu and Lin Shu, which would be bad.

"Mom, where did you buy the river shrimp?"

Lin Shu saw Liu Xiaoe coming back from outside with a lot of small river shrimps in her hands, which looked quite fresh.

Liu Xiao'e put the shrimp in the kitchen, washed her hands and came out. Not seeing Gu Jiu, she asked, "Where is my son-in-law?"

"I went to the company." Lin Shu answered casually. She seemed more interested in the river shrimp. "Mom, let Sister Chen fry the river shrimp for lunch, and then stir-fry them with chili peppers and fermented black beans. It goes very well with rice."

"Okay, I'll let Xiao Chen arrange lunch. Let's go to the vegetable market today. When I saw the river shrimp, I knew you liked it."

Liu Xiao'e sat down to play with Dabao and Erbao, and casually said, "I met your sister-in-law at the vegetable market today. She didn't go to work today and happened to be buying vegetables there."

"Oh, it's the weekend today and she doesn't have to go to work. She didn't buy a seat in the cafeteria and it wasn't open. She couldn't get any food in the cafeteria even if she wanted to." Lin Shu didn't think much about it.

Liu Xiao'e knew that Gu Jiu was not at home at the moment, so she whispered, "Today I mentioned that You Tao borrowed money from you, and she said she would come over to pay it back in the afternoon."

After that, Liu Xiao'e observed Lin Shu's expression and saw that she looked calm, so she asked, "I said too much today, won't you be angry?"

After hearing this, Lin Shu's lips curled up slightly. "You are defending me, why should I be angry with you? Just say it. There will be a day when this matter cannot be concealed. It's good for my sister-in-law to know in advance. I can't let us worry about my own son all the time if I don't care about him."

"You are my daughter, so I naturally know that you are on my side. I am afraid that my son-in-law will have a problem with this. He can't lose his temper with me. What if he has a problem with you?"

Liu Xiao'e was a little worried, but not too much, otherwise she wouldn't have made this trip so early in the morning.

"I'm his wife. If he doesn't stand by me in such a small matter, then what's the point of having him?" Lin Shu comforted her, "Don't worry. He doesn't dare to do anything to me."

Liu Xiao'e asked, "I saw you didn't talk to him during breakfast this morning. Are you two not in a cold war?"

Speaking of this, Lin Shu was furious: "I was in the cold war alone, and he didn't feel it at all."

"Men are careless. How can he feel your subtle cold war?" Liu Xiao'e laughed in her heart.

I want to be angry with someone, but unfortunately the other person doesn't feel the same way. Isn't it a waste of anger?

Before twelve o'clock, Gu Jiu came back from outside and smelled the spicy aroma downstairs.

Coming up from downstairs, as soon as I entered the door, I asked, "What delicious food did you make for lunch? I smelled the spicy aroma downstairs."

Liu Xiao'e was looking after the two children in the living room. When she heard his question, she smiled and said, "I bought some river shrimp this morning and asked Xiao Chen to stir-fry them with chili and black beans. Do you think they are delicious?"

"This is a good dish to go with rice. My father-in-law and I will have a drink at noon."

Lin Dashan, who was looking for a bottle of wine in the restaurant, heard what he said and laughed, "Okay, I'm just worried about having no one to drink with."

Gu Jiu came back from the bathroom after washing his hands. He picked up Erbao who was hugging his thigh tightly and glanced at the dishes on the table. "Wow, they even made stewed steak today."

Lin Dashan explained with a smile: "I was helping them get ingredients into the store today, and I found steaks, so I bought two extra ribs."

All the dishes were served on the table. Lin Shu picked up Dabao and asked Liu Xiaoe to eat first while she took care of the two children.

Gu Jiu helped Lin Dashan pour the wine, "Thank you for your hard work, Dad."

"You don't need to thank me as a family." Lin Dashan pointed to the plate of river shrimps with chili and black bean sauce, "Your mother accidentally found these river shrimps today. Otherwise, you might not be able to eat them if you want to."

Gu Jiu asked casually: "Where did you buy this river shrimp?"

Liu Xiao'e glanced at her daughter and replied, "I bought it at Chunjingfang. I also ran into your sister-in-law at the farmers' market over there."

"It's the weekend today, my sister-in-law must be going out to buy groceries and cook for herself."

Liu Xiao'e nodded and used a serving chopstick to pick up a piece of beef ribs for each of the two grown men: "Yes, she also went there to buy vegetables. She also bought a lot of river shrimps today. We haven't seen each other for a long time, so we chatted a little more today. As a result, I couldn't control myself and mentioned Youtao's borrowing money yesterday..."

Gu Jiu raised his eyes to look at her and asked calmly, "Now that you mentioned it, what did my sister-in-law say?"

Liu Xiao'e looked at Gu Jiu's face and didn't see any anger on her face. "She said that she would come to you this afternoon to pay you back the money since she's not at work today."

Without waiting for Gu Jiu to speak, Lin Dashan put down his wine glass and criticized harshly: "What did you tell your sister-in-law about this? The money that Youtao borrowed was borrowed by Youtao. When you told your sister-in-law about this today, she thought you were going to collect the debt."

The corner of Liu Xiao'e's mouth twitched. She went there to collect debts. Why should they worry about her son when she herself didn't?

However, she couldn't show what she was thinking, and she blamed herself by saying, "It's my fault. I was so nosy. Maybe my sister-in-law really misunderstood, otherwise she wouldn't have said she would come to pay back the money in the afternoon."

"Look at you. Didn't I tell you to control your mouth? Now you're in trouble." Lin Dashan sighed in anger. This matter made it difficult for his son-in-law.

Gu Jiu was afraid that the two old people would start quarreling, so he hurriedly advised: "Dad, please don't blame Mom. This is the truth, so just tell it."

Lin Dashan sat back down, turned around and began to reason with Gu Jiu in a serious tone, "Brother Jiu, if this hadn't happened today, I would have had something to say to you. It's a good thing for you to take care of your family, and a good man should take care of his family and take responsibility. But, what matters are different, and your eldest nephew came to you to borrow money for such a trivial matter, you should have refused."

Lin Dashan picked up the cup and motioned for Gu Jiu to do the same. The two of them clinked their cups carefully and continued, "I'm not asking you to ignore your family when I ask you to refuse. It's because the more you worry about her, the less she will worry next time. The friendship between you will also fade due to this endless borrowing. After all, there will always be a day when friendship will be offset."

Gu Jiu didn't take it seriously at first, but after hearing what happened next, his expression became more serious. "Dad, you're right. It's time for my brother and sister-in-law to take care of You Tao and his wife."

Lin Dashan glanced at his wife and daughter, then laughed and said, "Since you've figured it out, I won't worry anymore. Let's continue drinking."

When He Chunru came to the house in the afternoon, she had been paying attention to the expressions of Lin Shu and his wife since she entered the door.

Seeing that they were no different from usual, I felt a little uncomfortable for some reason.

"Sister-in-law, what are you thinking about? You're so absent-minded. You must be thirsty after the journey. Come and have some tea." Lin Shu was unaware of the selfish thoughts in He Chunru's mind and motioned for her to have some tea.

He Chunru smiled and said, "Okay, thank you for your hard work. Please sit down and let us have a good chat."

Speaking of the fact that Gu Youtao always comes to them to borrow money, there are actually some misunderstandings.

"Youtao is an immature kid. Even though he got married and became a father, he still lacks in handling household affairs. At the beginning, your eldest brother and I disagreed with his marriage to Niu Xiaoqin, and he stubbornly resisted. Later, we were in charge of the betrothal gifts and other things. We thought he used his own savings, but we didn't know that he borrowed all of it from you."

This matter is only explained now. As parents, it is a bit unreasonable to be careless about the marriage of their children. Lin Shu did not say much about this, but just smiled and nodded.