60s: I have a store

Chapter 640 Generous Spending
Soon it was evening, and the news that movies could be shown in Zhoujiazhuang had spread throughout the nearby villages.

The villagers who lived far away set off for Zhoujiazhuang without even having dinner, hoping to get there as soon as possible and secure a better spot.

So, before it even got dark, the Zhoujiazhuang threshing ground was already surrounded by a lot of people.

After having dinner at Zhou Yimin's house, Lu Guofu slowly walked towards the threshing ground.

When the crowd saw Lu Guofu, they all made way for him.

Zhou Yimin and Zhou Xuqiang's family followed behind.

Because I arrived late yesterday, there were no good seats available, so I could only stand at the back and listen to the sounds, but I didn't get to see the movie.

This time, Lai Fu and his friends were clever; they went directly to Zhou Yimin's house and went with him.

Seeing this, Zhou Yimin simply shook his head helplessly and didn't say anything more.

Moreover, before going, the old man asked Zhou Yimin to make more popcorn from yesterday so that he could eat it while watching the movie, which he felt would be a unique experience.

Zhou Yimin did not refuse, and before setting off, he made a whole bunch of other things.

They also shared some with Laifu and the others.

Zhou Yimin and his companions hadn't expected so many people to come tonight; it seems the allure of watching movies is still too great.

The movie started soon, and the previously noisy environment instantly became quiet.

Everyone stared intently at the screen, afraid of missing even the slightest detail.

All I can say is that happy times pass by incredibly quickly.

The movie at the Zhoujiazhuang threshing ground was just coming to an end.

When the words "The End" appeared on the screen, the villagers were still in a daze. They paused for a few seconds before clapping. The children were especially reluctant to leave, surrounding the projector and asking Lu Guofu if he would come again next time.

"If you want to see it, I'll come again next time!" Lu Guofu agreed with a smile and began packing up the equipment.

They're just kids, you can't just refuse them outright!
However, Lu Guofu knew that unless something special happened, he probably wouldn't come to Zhoujiazhuang again in the short term.

After all, there are still many villages that need to show movies, and everyone is queuing up to wait.

It's fine once or twice, but if you keep doing this, people from other villages will definitely have complaints.

The villagers then reluctantly got up and walked home in twos and threes, still discussing the plot of the movie.

As Zhou Yimin was helping Lu Guofu organize the film box, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye: Village Chief Wang from Shangshui Village. He was standing at the edge of the threshing ground, holding a cloth bag in his hand, glancing over every now and then, as if waiting for someone.

Zhou Yimin was puzzled. Why was Village Chief Wang here? Could it be that there was still a problem with the greenhouse?

However, he didn't go forward. Maybe he wasn't looking for him?

After most of the villagers had left, Village Chief Wang quickly walked over, a somewhat restrained smile on his face, and leaned close to Zhou Yimin, lowering his voice to say, "Yimin, can we talk for a bit? Just a few words."

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Seeing his mysterious demeanor, Yimin became even more puzzled, but still nodded: "Okay, let's go over there and talk."

He greeted Lu Guofu and then walked with Village Chief Wang to a haystack in the corner of the threshing ground, a secluded spot where no one would hear them.

As soon as they stood still, Zhou Yimin spoke first: "Village Chief Wang, what brings you here?"

Village Chief Wang asked cautiously, "Yimin, I wanted to ask if you could invite Projectionist Lu to show a movie in our Shangshui Village as well?"

After saying that, he looked at Zhou Yimin with a nervous expression. If Zhou Yimin refused, there would be nothing he could do.

Zhou Yimin was stunned for a moment; he really hadn't expected that Village Chief Wang had come to him about this matter.

He frowned, quickly calculating in his mind. Yesterday he had already asked Lu Guofu to stay an extra day and add an extra performance for Zhoujiazhuang. Now he was asking Lu Guofu to go to Shangshui Village, which was equivalent to making demands one after another. It was indeed a bit ungrateful. It would be bad if he made things difficult for Lu Guofu.

Out of consideration for the good relations between the two villages, Zhou Yimin did not refuse directly, but could only say tactfully, "Village Chief Wang, it's not that I don't want to help. As you know, Uncle Lu is the projectionist at the steel factory. I already asked him to show an extra film yesterday. It would be inappropriate to ask again now, and I'm afraid it would make things difficult for him."

Village Chief Wang's eyes dimmed instantly, his face filled with disappointment.

Seeing this, Zhou Yimin added, "But if you really want to invite him to Shangshui Village, why don't you talk to Uncle Lu yourself?"

Village Chief Wang hadn't expected things to take such a turn for the better. He had just thought there was no hope, but after hearing Zhou Yimin's words, he felt there was still some hope: "Alright! We'll do it your way."

After saying that, they couldn't wait to pull Zhou Yimin to Lu Guofu's side.

Zhou Yimin interrupted softly, "Uncle Lu, this is Village Chief Wang from Shangshui Village! He has something he'd like to discuss with you."

Village Chief Wang was very enthusiastic and went up to shake Lu Guofu's hand.

This action stunned Lu Guofu: "Hello, Village Chief Wang!"

After saying that, he subtly withdrew his hand.

Village Chief Wang knew he was being too excited: "Comrade Lu, I'm sorry, I got a little excited."

Lu Guofu saw that Zhou Yimin had brought him over: "It's nothing. I wonder what brings you here, Village Chief Wang?"

Village Chief Wang then revealed his request: "Comrade Lu, I would like to invite you to our Shangshui Village to show a movie. I wonder if that would be alright?"

Lu Guofu looked troubled. If it had been said yesterday, he could have agreed. They had already stayed in Zhoujiazhuang for an extra day. If they postponed it for another day, he probably wouldn't be able to explain it to the section chief.

"Village Chief Wang, I'm really sorry, but I really can't agree to this."

Village Chief Wang looked disappointed, but still wanted to try: "Comrade Lu, are you really not going to make an exception?"

When Lu Guofu saw that Zhou Yimin had brought him over, he didn't want to be too blunt: "It's really impossible to release it this month. How about this, let me see if next month is possible?"

"If possible, I'll have Yimin inform you, Village Chief Wang?"

There was no room for choice for Village Chief Wang: "Okay, thank you, Comrade Lu."

After saying that, he left Zhoujiazhuang.

Zhou Yimin squatted down and continued to help pack things up.

Fortunately, there weren't many things, so in less than half an hour, we packed everything up and carried it back.

On the way back, Zhou Yimin asked, "Uncle Lu, do you want to go back tonight or tomorrow morning?"

He wanted to take Lu Guofu back to Beijing tomorrow, as it was too dark and unsafe to travel now.

After hearing Zhou Yimin's words, Lu Guofu thought about it carefully. He wanted to go back as soon as possible, but he thought that it was not safe to walk at night.

"Yimin, please take me back tomorrow!"

Zhou Yimin nodded, it seemed that it was the same as what he had thought.

The next morning, Zhou Yimin got up very early.

I opened the store and saw today's flash sale items. Without a moment's hesitation, I bought them all. There were 100 jin of Chinese sausage, 100 jin of high-gluten flour, 100 jin of rapeseed oil, and 100 jin of salted fish.

Just then, I was thinking about what to give Lu Guofu, so I took ten catties of high-gluten flour, two catties of sausage, and two catties of salted fish and put them all into a bag.

Then he took it out of the room, and just in case, hung it on the front of the motorcycle.

Soon Lu Guofu woke up and came out of the guest room. As soon as he came out, he saw a sumptuous breakfast on the table.

I couldn't help but swallow hard; I never imagined that Zhou Yimin's family ate so well every day.

For the past two days, Lu Guofu has had meat with every meal, and he's even a little reluctant to leave.

I don't know when I'll be able to eat meat again.

After breakfast, Zhou Yimin drove his motorcycle to take Lu Guofu back to the city.

On the way, the villagers of Zhoujiazhuang saw him and greeted Lu Guofu warmly.

Lu Guofu responded to each question. After all, he had been there for two days and had a good impression of Zhoujiazhuang, so he didn't put on airs.

There was no conversation on the road. Motorcycles are fast, and if the road hadn't been so bad, they could have gone even faster.

After safely delivering Lu Guofu home, the two Lu brothers, Lu Xuezheng and Lu Guofu, had already gone to class, so Zhou Yimin could only help carry their belongings inside.

After moving everything inside, Zhou Yimin quietly placed the things he had prepared in advance on the table as well.

Then he quickly left, afraid that if he was even a little slow, Lu Guofu would find out.

Just after Zhou Yimin left, Lu Guofu noticed the bag on the table and found it strange, as he didn't know he had such a bag at home.

Then I opened it and was immediately shocked by what was inside.

The bag contains ten pounds of high-gluten flour, two pounds of sausage, and two pounds of salted fish.

Lu Guofu didn't even need to think; it must have been Zhou Yimin who gave it to him. Otherwise, who else could afford to give such things?

It can only be said that Zhou Yimin is too polite. It's just one extra day of movie screenings, yet he gave so many gifts.

To know that these things could be enough to marry a wife today, you can see how precious they are.

However, he didn't think much of it. He knew that these things were nothing to Zhou Yimin, who had eaten more than these things at Zhou Yimin's house in the past two days.

After returning to the courtyard house, Zhou Yimin felt that he had gotten up too early today and hadn't had enough sleep, so he was about to take a nap.

The sound was soft but clear.

"Who is it?" Zhou Yimin walked to the door and asked through it.

"Yimin, it's me, Sister Ma." Widow Ma's voice came from outside the door, sounding somewhat reserved.

Zhou Yimin opened the door and saw Widow Ma standing there, clutching a blue cloth bag tightly in her hand. The bag was wrinkled from being squeezed, showing that she was very nervous.

"Sister Ma, come in!"

Seeing the widow Ma's expression, Zhou Yimin knew that she wanted to talk to him about something.

Widow Ma didn't say much, and only relaxed after entering Zhou Yimin's house.

Zhou Yimin spoke first: "Sister Ma, what brings you here today?"

As Widow Ma passed by, she struggled for a moment before slowly speaking: "Yimin, I've come today to plead with you... Our food supplies are almost gone, and I was thinking, could I trade something for some food with you?"

Zhou Yimin found it a bit strange. Last time when they exchanged grain, they said it was a family heirloom. Did they have several more family heirlooms?
Although it was a bit strange, she still said, "Sister, how about this, I'll get you some food to tide you over!"

Widow Ma quickly said, "Yimin, take a look at this first?"

As he spoke, he handed over the blue cloth bag he was carrying.

Zhou Yimin took the blue cloth bag, opened it, and found a palm-sized blue and white porcelain vase inside. The vase had a warm luster and was decorated with a faint lotus scroll pattern. Although there were some minor scratches on the mouth of the vase, they did not detract from its overall elegance.

He could tell at a glance that this was a good item, and couldn't help but ask, "Sister Ma, how did you get this?"

Widow Ma was a little embarrassed: "Yimin, I bought this from an old man from the old regime. It used a pound of cornmeal."

She knew that Zhou Yimin liked these things. Last time, when he exchanged grain, he used his family heirloom. So this time, he went to exchange for something nice first.

"Yimin, I wonder if we could exchange it for ten jin of cornmeal?"

After saying that, they were a little embarrassed to look at Zhou Yimin.

Zhou Yimin never imagined that such a precious item could be obtained in exchange for just one pound of cornmeal. In later generations, such a treasure would be impossible to buy without tens of millions of dollars.

"Sister Ma, you're so lucky. This treasure isn't just worth ten pounds of cornmeal, it's worth at least a hundred pounds, plus another ten pounds of wheat flour."

Widow Ma was immediately shocked, and asked tremblingly, "Yimin, are you telling the truth?"

Zhou Yimin nodded: "Sister Ma, I would never joke about something like this."

Looking at Zhou Yimin's serious face, Widow Ma understood that Zhou Yimin wouldn't joke like that: "Thank you, Yimin."

She understood that Zhou Yimin was helping her; otherwise, he could have exchanged the item for ten kilograms of cornmeal.

Widow Ma knew absolutely nothing about these things; this whole thing involved a gamble, and she clearly won.

With 100 jin of cornmeal and 10 jin of wheat flour, there's no need to worry about food shortages for a short period of time.

Zhou Yimin smiled and said, "Sister Ma, we're mutually beneficial, there's no need for such formalities."

"It's daytime now, so it's not very convenient. How about this, tonight, I'll deliver 100 jin of cornmeal and 10 jin of wheat flour to your house?"

Widow Ma quickly thanked him, "Yimin, there's no need to go to so much trouble. I'll come and get it when the time comes!"

Zhou Yimin waved his hand: "It's nothing, we're all neighbors, it's only right that we help each other."

He just hadn't expected Widow Ma to be so lucky, managing to get such good things with just a casual exchange.

Widow Ma did not insist and could only do as Zhou Yimin said.

Zhou Yimin was thinking that he might take this opportunity to exchange the treasures held by the old guard and their descendants.

Otherwise, once the wind picks up, many of these things will be damaged. These are all treasures of China and cannot be destroyed.

However, these things need to be considered carefully. If we rush to make the change, we might get caught and cause trouble.

They quickly escorted Widow Ma out. It wouldn't be good if a man and a woman alone in one place for a long time, especially with the door closed, got into trouble if word got out.

To avoid such a thing from happening, the door is not closed unless it is to discuss something that cannot be known to outsiders.

(End of this chapter)