Five years of marriage, always separated [1970s]

Zhang Xiaojun had to give half of the money he earned from selling couplets to his father-in-law. If the price dropped to 50 cents per pair, he and his wife would have worked in vain. Zhang Xiaojun watched Ye Fan's customers come one after another, and he was so angry that he packed up his couplets and went to another park with his wife.

The old man and woman who were chatting with Ye Fan waited until the couple walked away and said, "Your neighbors are not polite."

Zhang Xiaojun was not afraid of losing face, so why should Ye Fan be afraid? So Ye Fan told the uncles and aunts that they were none other than Xiao Ming's brother and sister-in-law, who drove a car to sell vegetables.

In recent months, Zhang Xiaoming has been selling vegetables around Ye Fan's home. The elderly people in the park are also people nearby, and almost all of them have come to Xiaoming to buy pork, mutton, eggs and duck eggs.

If the old men and women were not in a hurry, they would chat with Xiao Ming for a while, and they knew that the car was bought by him and Ye Fan. Xiao Ming also told the old men and women that Ye Fan would go to the park to sell couplets during the winter vacation.

Upon hearing this, the aunt thought that Zhang Xiaoming had a share in the Spring Festival couplet business: "So he is stealing his brother's business?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "You can't say that. If he doesn't sell couplets, there are others who will. But they shouldn't deliberately be around me."

The old man couldn't help but nod his head: "Yes! The park is so big, they can sell it anywhere, but they have to sell it near you. I think they are deliberately trying to annoy you."

The aunt asked: "What are you going to do?"

"If you don't bother me anymore, I'll pretend I don't know. If you dare to cause trouble for me, I'll write to their leaders and use my working time to buy red paper and brushes to write couplets."

The couplet business is booming now. After today's work, Zhang Xiaojun and his wife will go back to do some accounting. One day's work is equivalent to a week's work in the factory. They must want to sell couplets every day. Someone must take a leave by then.

If the company receives Ye Fan's letter and investigates, they will definitely fire the person who asked for leave for personal gain.

Zhang Xiaojun can't do business every day without a car, and he will be starving if he loses his job. He will be more angry than angry.

Ye Fanxin said, he has a dirty mind but he dares to make trouble for me, what kind of brain do you have?

The old man and the old woman were shocked when they heard this, and asked in unison: "Do they have jobs?"

Ye Fan nodded: "Zhang Xiaoming has been in the countryside for ten years, and his father thought it was not easy for him, so before retiring he asked him to take over. Before retiring, the second brother said that Zhang Xiaoming did not know anything about farming for ten years, and it would be difficult for him to adapt to the factory. Zhang Xiaoming was easy to talk to, so he gave the job to his brother. Otherwise, he would not have to get up early and work late to sell vegetables."

The old men and women love to listen to gossip, and they seem to be waiting for Ye Fan to continue before she finishes talking.

Ye Fan added: "Uncle Zhang used up all his savings to buy me a car, and Zhang Xiaojun is getting married. Xiaoming feels that he has no partner, and his brother has one, so he should prioritize his brother. Look, Zhang Xiaojun got married, and he is still single in his thirties."

The relatives and neighbors of the grandpa and the grandma who were going through life had children of this age. The grandpa and the grandma could not help but sympathize with Zhang Xiaoming.

The old man asked: "Does Zhang Xiaojun's father know that he sells couplets?"

Ye Fan hadn’t heard Zhang Xiaoming mention this: “I don’t know. His calligraphy is not good, so he asked someone else to write it. I think he got it from someone else’s house after breakfast.”

The aunt asked curiously, "Can it be sold?"

Ye Fan nodded: "It can be sold."

The situation this year is similar to last year. People like Huihui's grandmother, who has excellent calligraphy, still disdain to show up. Except for Ye Fan's family, the calligraphy of others who dare to sell couplets is the same, which can only be considered neat and beautiful. If there are many people writing Spring Festival couplets, the latter will not have much business. But the same problem still exists, many people are too embarrassed to do so, resulting in few people in this park this year.

There are fewer sellers than buyers, and when there are so many people, there are all kinds of people, so there is naturally no shortage of people who want to get a bargain.

The auntie couldn't help but say, "He got a good deal! If it were me, I would be embarrassed to be next to you." She added, "Don't worry if you laugh at me, he just said it was 80 cents a copy, I wanted to take a look at it for a bit, but it's not as good as Erbao's."

Ye Fan said: "I taught Erbao calligraphy step by step. He has written one or two pages almost every day in the past few years."

The old man couldn't help but say, "No wonder. I'm retired now and don't have time to practice every day. So I'd rather buy two pairs from you than post what I wrote and embarrass myself."

The aunt asked: "Who wrote in your family before?"

"I did write them. But at that time, everyone's couplets were ugly, and no one looked down on anyone else." The old man took a look at the couplets in his hand, "It's not possible now. Walking down an alley, my couplets are the ugliest. I can't stand it."

Geng Benben asked: "Aunt, should I go home and get a sign?"

Ye Fan shook his head slightly: "No need. How petty!"

Geng Benben: "Then I'm going to play table tennis?"

"Can we play table tennis here?" Ye Fan asked.

The old man said: "There are two ping-pong tables in the park. They might have been put there by the street."

Ye Fan asked Geng Benben if he had a table tennis racket. Geng Benben nodded and said he had brought one from home.

The story of the table tennis racket started during the summer vacation. Geng Benben loved to play table tennis with others, but every time he would just use other people's rackets and return them before he even started sweating. He was not satisfied, so he discussed with his grandmother about buying a racket.

Yu Wentao asked him to play with the balls as often as Dabao did, and not to leave them to collect dust. Geng Benben agreed, and Yu Wentao bought him two sets to use alternately, and also bought him many balls, so that he could play with them at home on a regular basis.

Ye Fan smiled and asked, "Who helped you get it? Why didn't I see it?"

"Two treasures."

Ye Fan: "No wonder."

Erbao and Dabao ran out first. Ye Fan came out with a wallet and Spring Festival couplets, and the two kids were almost at the park.

Having said that, Ye Fan considered that there were many people in Xicheng learning to write Spring Festival couplets from her, and there were probably two or three in each park. So Ye Fan told her mother-in-law to ask Zhang Xiaoming to go to Dongcheng to sell couplets after he came back from selling vegetables.

Zhang Xiaoming never doubted Ye Fan's decision. At around ten o'clock, he came back, cleaned the car, and loaded the Spring Festival couplets that Ye Fan had packed into the box into the car.

This box is also a wooden box used to store popsicles in the summer. Ye Fan took out the quilt inside, washed it, dried it, and put it away. He also tied pairs of Spring Festival couplets with hemp ropes and placed them in the box.

Zhang Xiaoming put a sign that said "Selling Couplets" on the car and asked, "Aunt Yu, who wrote these?"

Yu Wentao: "Everyone has it. What's wrong?"

"Who will I give the money to after I sell it?"

Yu Wentao was just as confused as him a few days ago about how to settle the bill for all the Spring Festival couplets after putting them together. "Fanfan said he had already bought them from a few kids. Don't worry, sell them. Two cents a pair. It's all yours, no matter how much you sell."

Zhang Xiaoming felt a little embarrassed to earn money from his child, but he was used to being obedient, so he drove out.

Last year, Ye Fan became famous in Dongcheng. The citizens there also recognized Zhang Xiaoming's car. When they saw his car, they went over. But when they got closer, they saw that it was a pair of Spring Festival couplets and were very disappointed.

Zhang Xiaoming explained with an apologetic smile that the pork had been sold out. If there were many people who needed it, he would ask the villagers to go to his relatives' house to catch pigs tomorrow, because there was limited food to feed the pigs in the village, and almost all the big pigs raised this year had been slaughtered.

I learned this half-truth from Ye Fan. The citizens believed it - they subconsciously thought that no one would be willing to feed pigs with grain. It was true. However, there were many things in the village that could be used to feed pigs, such as sweet potato vines in summer and crushed wheat straw in winter. If you add a little wheat bran and stir it with water from washing pots, the pigs can also grow meat.

Maybe because Zhang Xiaoming looks likable and honest, the citizens who were disappointed were not angry. Those who had not bought red paper but thought their handwriting was not good came to him to buy one or two pairs of couplets.

When the citizens received the couplets and opened them, they found that there was also a piece of paper with four auspicious words on it. It was a pleasant surprise for the people who bought the couplets, so they were very happy.

Zhang Xiaoming was not expecting any surprises, but after working in business for a year he was not stupid, so when he heard people praising his business skills, he smiled and nodded, and did not say stupidly "I didn't know about buy one get one free either".

In the past, Zhang Xiaoming was too embarrassed to go into a crowd and ask people if they wanted any. Now, when he sees a crowd, he stops his car and goes there. The car moves fast, and in more than an hour, he has visited many places and all the Spring Festival couplets are sold out.

Zhang Xiaoming arrived at Ye Fan's house. Ye Fan had just arrived home. Seeing that he had returned before lunch time, he asked, "Are you sold out?"

"Sold out." Zhang Xiaoming smiled and nodded vigorously.

Ye Fan: "Then let's take another 100 pairs and try them around Zhengyang Gate at 2 or 3 pm?"

Zhang Xiaoming thought it was okay: "Many people in Dongcheng want pork."

Ye Fan: "You want to sell pork this afternoon?"

Zhang Xiaoming thought that he could sell both pork and couplets at the same time, so he planned to sell the vegetables in the morning and then go back to the village with the people from Yujia Village, come back to sell pork at noon, and sell couplets in the afternoon.

Seeing that he was hesitant to speak, Ye Fan asked, "Has Hongwei returned from vacation?"

Zhang Xiaoming didn't understand why she asked this, but he nodded obediently anyway.

"Let Hongwei go to his relatives' villages to buy pigs. He can only pay 1 or 5 cents more than the meat processing plant. He won't make any money if he pays more. If someone asks why he needs live pigs, he can say he needs them for a wedding. He can't admit that he killed the pigs and sold them. It's easy for jealous people to accuse him of speculation."

Zhang Xiaoming nodded and waited for Ye Fan to continue.

Ye Fan: "We will join the pork business in a week. I calculated that at the current speed, the Spring Festival couplets will be sold out in a week. If you start now, running three times a day in the morning, noon and afternoon, your body will not be able to bear it, and it is easy to have an accident while driving."

Zhang Xiaoming said: "If we are like Hongwei and the others, we can take turns with two people in the morning and two people in the afternoon."

Ye Fan: "We split the profits between the two of us, and they split the profits between the four of us."

Zhang Xiaoming woke up as if from a dream.

Ye Fan was speechless but wanted to laugh: "Forgot?"

Zhang Xiaoming smiled embarrassedly and gave the wallet to Ye Fan.

Ye Fan counted out twenty yuan to him directly, "There's no money of your own in the bag, right?" Seeing Zhang Xiaoming shook his head, "That's all mine."

Zhang Xiaoming was embarrassed, "How about I get a 10 cent commission from selling one pair next time?"

Ye Fan: "The ink and brushes I bought are all cheap, the cost is so low that you can't imagine. Go home and rest, you have to go to Zhengyangmen in the afternoon."

Zhang Xiaoming instinctively turned around, then stopped and handed ten yuan to Ye Fan, "Keep it for me."

Ye Fan took it, and Zhang Xiaoming went home with ten one-dollar bills. Yu Wentao was picking vegetables in the yard, and when she saw this, she asked, "Have you learned how to hide money?"

Ye Fan: "Zhang Xiaojun asked him to borrow money and he was embarrassed to refuse so he asked me to keep it for him."

Yu Wentao nodded: "If it's Zhang Xiaojun, the money should be given to his partner. You say Zhang Xiaojun is stupid, but he only knows to ask his brother and father for money. You say he is smart, but he gives the money to outsiders."

Geng Zhiqin couldn't help but retort: ​​"Zhang Xiaojun is married, but his partner is an outsider?"

Ye Fan: "Zhang Xiaojun's girlfriend is very clear-headed, so the money can be given to her. If she gives the money to her family, Zhang Xiaojun will be a long-term worker in his mother-in-law's family."

Geng Zhiqin couldn't help but think of the two hundred yuan his girlfriend asked for on the day of Zhang Xiaojun's wedding. If the Zhang family had to eat cabbage and radish every day to pay for the two hundred yuan, wouldn't she and Zhang Xiaojun have to eat too?

Geng Zhiqin couldn't help but say: "It seems that Zhang Xiaojun's wife is too smart."

Ye Fan counted the money and found that it was exactly the same as expected: "It's still easier to cooperate with Zhang Xiaoming."

Yu Wentao saw her counting the money and understood why she said that: "If Xiao Ming keeps doing this, I'll bring him along when I have a profitable business in the future. You don't have to work so hard."

"Let's talk about it later. We know him but we don't know Dong Ying. Being honest in the first half of life doesn't mean you will be honest after you marry. The person next to you has a great influence." Ye Fan said and went back to the room. He saw Dabao and Erbao lying on the bed, "What are you doing?"

Dabao: "Sister Huihui bought it."

Ye Fan didn't see it clearly, and when he walked up to it, he saw a pocket watch: "No wonder she said she had something to do when I asked her to go to the park with me this morning. Did she buy it with Lei Lei?"

Dabao nodded: "But it's broken. I'll try to fix it."

Ye Fan wanted to say that clocks were delicate work. But then she thought, since they were already broken, it couldn't get any worse. "Do you have any tools?"

Erbao: "Brother Zhang has tools at home, so we borrowed them from him. He said that Uncle Zhang used them before."

Ye Fan said, "Then you two can repair it. By the way, where's Huihui? Did she leave her things at home and go out again?"

Dabao looked towards the north and said, "Put the furniture in Brother Leilei's house."

More than a month ago, Geng Leilei heard that Dabao and Erbao didn't have to go out to sell couplets themselves, and they would charge 30 cents for writing a pair, so Geng Leilei wanted to write couplets.

Geng Leilei could not come back often to write, but he still earned 20 or 30 yuan. The school subsidy was enough for him, and he did not use the pocket money Ye Fan gave him. Together with the money he earned, he had more than 100 yuan. Since they did not need to write Spring Festival couplets from today, Geng Leilei had some free time to buy furniture and decorate the house.

The roof originally had a leak, so Geng Zhiye took advantage of the summer vacation at home and asked Yu Hongwei to go to the village to get a few people. He watched the villagers clean up his nephews and nieces' houses.

The two yuan a day also provided a meal, so the village bricklayer felt that he had gotten a great deal and would be sorry if he didn't repair it, so he checked it carefully and repainted the wall. Otherwise, Geng Leilei couldn't put the furniture in now.

Ye Fan asked: "Leilei didn't buy new furniture, did he?"

Dabao nodded: "I bought it at the flea market. That's why Sister Huihui came across the pocket watch. Don't worry, Mom, Sister Huihui bought it very cheaply. People told her it was an antique, but Sister Huihui said she didn't know much about antiques, she just thought it looked nice, and she could sell it for fifty cents if she wanted."

Ye Fan looked at the pocket watch. It didn't look like gold, nor did it have any colored gemstones. It was also broken. "If it's fixed, it's worth 50 cents. If it's not fixed, it's just a piece of scrap copper and iron."

Dabao: “So I have to fix it.”

Ye Fan didn't know where his confidence came from, but seeing that he was very sure, he stopped bothering him.

Ye Fan went to the kitchen to see that there was not much rice and noodles left, so she asked her mother-in-law where the food allowance was.

Geng Zhiqin went to Yu Wentao's room and took it out, and asked, "Sister-in-law, let's go to the village and buy a few pounds of lard so that we can make fried fruit."

Ye Fan stuffed the food book into his pocket and said, "Just tell Xiao Ming about this. I'll drive to buy rice and noodles, do you want to come?"

Yu Wentao wanted to cook cabbage noodles, either dried noodles or dried noodles, on the stove. She didn't need Geng Zhiqin's help. She just put on a scarf and a hat and took a small stool and got in the car.

Aunt Li next door was free and threw the snow from both sides of the road to the intersection, one shovel at a time, and she didn't mind the trouble. Seeing Ye Fan driving out, Aunt Li retreated to the wall and asked, "Where is Dabao's mother going?"

Ye Fan: "Buy rice and noodles. Have you bought them? If not, I'll bring them for you."

Aunt Li smiled and said, "My family bought everything a few days ago."

Ye Fan wanted to say something, but he turned his head instinctively when he heard footsteps. Zhang Xiaojun’s wife Wang Aihe ran out and said, “Sister Ye Fan, are you going to the vegetable market? I just want to buy something. Let’s go together.”

Neighbors should live in harmony with each other. After all, we will meet each other sooner or later. It would not look good if there is a quarrel.

However, Ye Fan was not included. "I'm not a good driver. I can't afford to pay for knocking you over."

Wang Aihe was stunned. She didn't expect Ye Fan to be so rude in front of Aunt Li. Then she smiled and said, "It's okay."

"I have something to do!" Ye Fan said, started the car and left.

Wang Aihe was speechless for a while before she came to her senses and said to Aunt Li, "Why is she so petty?"

Aunt Li thought to herself, you are not popular. "What you said is true. She can use her car however she wants."

Wang Aihe sneered: "That car is not even half as good as mine?"

Little brother Zhang came out at some point, leaning against the door frame and asked leisurely, "So you not only want to be my second sister-in-law, but also want to be with my eldest brother's family?" Wang Aihe's head buzzed, and she was so angry that her vision went dark: "You - bullshit! Zhang Xiaoguo, don't think that the whole family loves you? I don't spoil you!"

Zhang Xiaoming ran out: "What do you want to do?"

There was no chance of winning against two people at one, so Wang Aihe didn't dare to move forward. She snorted and turned back to the house.

Aunt Li said, "Xiao Ming, don't take it seriously, or I'll make you angry to death."

If it were in the past, Zhang Xiaoming would not have been angry and would have said a few words to comfort both sides.

Just a while ago, Zhang Xiaoming heard a neighbor who was taking his children to the park say that his second brother was selling couplets next to Ye Fan.

When Zhang Xiaoming got home, he asked Zhang Xiaojun if it was true. Zhang Xiaojun admitted it without hesitation and said that the park did not belong to Ye Fan and he could sell it anywhere he wanted.

Zhang Xiaoming still stubbornly believed that he was led astray by his younger siblings. Zhang Xiaoming was angry, but he felt that as a big brother he shouldn't argue with his younger siblings, so he swallowed his anger.

Wang Aihe actually wanted to fight with the younger brother. The two things added up, and the honest man also wanted to make a fuss: "Aunt Li, you don't know what's going on here." It was rare for him to speak quickly and tell Zhang Xiaojun and his wife everything they did.

Zhang Xiaodi didn't know about this yet: "When?"

Zhang Xiaoming: "I went there after breakfast."

Aunt Li frowned: "How can this be possible?"

Wang Aihe came out again: "Does the Spring Festival couplet belong to Ye Fan, or does the park belong to her? Why can't I sell it?"

Zhang Xiaoming was so angry that he was speechless. They were truly a couple, saying exactly the same things.

Zhang's younger brother: "Who said you can't sell? No one will stop you if you go to the roadside and hawk your wares now."

Wang Aihe had nothing in her hands, so what could she sell on the street? Wang Aihe thought about it for a moment and her face turned red with anger, "You are so mean, have you read so much that you can't even remember it?"

Zhang Xiaodi didn't want to be so foul-mouthed. He said something else that would not hurt Wang Aihe and would only make him angry. "Yes. It's a pity that you are worse than a dog."

Wang Aihe raised her finger and pointed at Zhang Xiaoming. Zhang Xiaoming glared at her, "What do you want to do now?" Wang Aihe put her hand down and shouted into the house, "Xiaojun, your brother and your brother are bullying me, do you still care?"

Even though Aunt Li had already experienced her power, she still felt enlightened at this moment.

Zhang Xiaojun ran out, and Aunt Li immediately said, "Your wife wants to beat me!"

Wang Aihe suddenly turned to her and almost said directly, "What does it have to do with you, you old fool!"

Aunt Li shoveled snow and walked towards the entrance of the alley, pretending that the girl didn't exist.

Wang Aihe stomped her feet in anger when she saw this.

Zhang Xiaojun was afraid of his younger brother, so he grabbed his wife's arm and coaxed him back into the house.

Zhang Xiaoming whispered, "Stay away from her in the future."

"You can't beat me." Zhang Xiaodi went back to the house. Seeing his brother following him in, Zhang Xiaodi asked, "Did Sister Ye say anything about my second brother selling couplets?"

Zhang Xiaoming shook his head.

Zhang was very surprised: "You are you and he is he? Sister Ye is very reasonable." Thinking of his brother's soft heart, "Don't promise anything to the second brother. He has a stable job, and he can go to work if his business doesn't make money. You were abandoned by Sister Ye because of him, and you have to do odd jobs everywhere."

"I'm not stupid." Zhang Xiaoming looked outside and saw that no one was coming, so he took out a dollar and said, "Leave it for you to buy some candy."

Brother Zhang was speechless. I'm not some little kid like Geng Erbao who's always thinking about candy.

Zhang Xiaoming thought his brother didn't want it, so he stuffed it into his hand and said, "Put it away quickly, don't let your second brother see it."

With an extra troublesome person at home, Zhang didn't dare to leave the money anywhere. He opened the bedside table and found a small locked box to put the money in.

As for Ye Fan, when she returned home and heard her mother-in-law talking about the lively atmosphere in the Zhang family after she left, she was speechless but also wanted to laugh: "This is just the beginning. There will be more noise in the future."

Yu Wentao: "If it were anyone else, I would have to go out and take a look. But now I get annoyed whenever I see Zhang Xiaojun and his wife."

Ye Fan handed her the braised meat: "Cut it and put it in the bowl with noodles."

Yu Wentao took over: "If I had known it would be so troublesome, I would have - annoyed, in two years when you graduate we won't have to live here anymore, just transfer Dabao and Erbao to another school."

Ye Fan laughed: "That's not necessary. Just bear with me for a few more years. When I make a lot of money, I'll buy two plots of land and build two buildings. I'll equip them with toilets, water heaters, and air conditioners like the ones on TV. You can live wherever you want in the future."

Yu Wentao asked: "Are air-conditioned toilets expensive?"

Ye Fan: "If we have money, it won't be expensive, right? We'll move back in two years and live in the same environment as now. There's really no need. If you're annoyed with Wang Aihe, just ignore her."

Geng Benben couldn't help but ask: "Aunt, there are four people in your family, including grandma and aunt, there are only six people, why build two buildings?"

Ye Fan raised his eyebrows: "What do you think?"

Geng Benben said with a smile: "There must be a room for us, Lei Lei, and Brother Sen Sen."

Yu Wentao also wanted to live with the child she raised, but seeing his smug look, she couldn't help but say, "You're too smart."

Geng Benben went back to the room with a smile on his face to watch his cousins ​​repairing the pocket watch.

Yu Wentao prepared the dishes and hot water, and would cook noodles when Huihui and Leilei came back.

After lunch, Ye Fan took the Spring Festival couplets to the park and asked the children to do their homework at home. Geng Zhiqin was about to graduate, and she did not plan to go to graduate school. Since her schoolwork was light this semester, she went with Ye Fan.

Ye Fan asked her to buy couplets and give her a commission of 20 cents like Xiao Ming. Geng Zhiqin was embarrassed: "Sister-in-law, you don't have to help me like this."

Ye Fan took out the wool from his bag and said, "I'm going to knit hats for Dabao and Erbao."

In her previous life, Ye Fan didn't have this skill. Now, wearing gloves doesn't hinder her from sewing. Geng Zhiqin saw that her sister-in-law really had something to do, so she accepted the kindness.

The old men and women had nothing to do, so they were gossiping about other people's affairs, so that many people knew what Ye Fan said in the morning by the afternoon. The old men and women who didn't like to go out in the cold weather also went to the park to watch Ye Fan sell couplets, but they actually wanted to see if Zhang Xiaojun would come.

Zhang Xiaojun didn't show up, but the old men and women took one or two pairs of couplets back with them. But they still couldn't sell as fast as Zhang Xiaoming who went from street to street.

Ye Fan and Geng Zhiqin arrived home at four o'clock. Zhang Xiaoming had returned early and was ready to go to the village in half an hour. It was getting dark when they arrived in the village, so they prepared dinner at their uncle's house.

Because the capital is not a special economic zone, few people dare to be middlemen, and Yu Xiaojiu wanted to find someone to buy live pigs, but he didn't dare to take action. Zhang Xiaoming told Yu Xiaojiu what Ye Fan had said, and said that as long as he didn't admit that he bought the pigs from someone else, the relevant departments would not pursue it, so Yu Xiaojiu felt relieved and bold.

In the morning, two pigs were slaughtered, one for Zhang Xiaoming and one for Yu's family, and they were loaded with vegetables and eggs bought from villagers and taken to the city. After Zhang Xiaoming finished selling, he went home and took a rest before pulling the Spring Festival couplets out. When Yu Hongwei got home, his cousin took over and pulled the pigs. There was a big shortage of pork, so Yu Wentao's family came to the city three times a day, and the last two times they pulled two pigs.

On the afternoon of the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhang Xiaoming and the Yu family were washing cars. Ye Fan and Yu Hongwei were doing the accounting at their respective homes.

In addition to the money for the car, each family in the Yu family received nearly 1,000 yuan. Since the money was kept by the women in the family, Uncle Yu didn't know how much he earned. When he heard that he had made a net profit of more than 900 yuan this year, he was shocked.

Uncle Yu was silent for a while, then said, "Let's buy another car next year."

Yu Wentao's cousin nodded without hesitation.

Yu Hongwei: "You should ask Sister Ye Fan about this."

When Ye Fan asked them to buy a car, they were unsure and even thought Ye Fan was too much of a hassle. If it wasn't for Yu Wentao's dislike for them not knowing how to pick up the money when it was in front of them, they would not be able to buy the car.

Uncle Yu heard what his nephew said: "We have to ask her. We can only see the present, but she has a long-term vision."

Afraid that he wouldn't be able to meet Ye Fan during the Chinese New Year, Uncle Yu went to Ye Fan's house on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.

Fortunately, we went there on the sixth day of the New Year, because Ye Fan and Geng Zhiye went to his uncle's house on the fifth day of the New Year.

Yu's eldest son drove him here. Yu brought a lot of things with him, and gave two yuan as New Year's money to each child, including Geng Leilei and Geng Huihui. The two college students were embarrassed to accept it, so Yu pushed it in their mouths: "You are not married, so what kind of adults are you?"

Because he is not his biological uncle, Uncle Yu has never thought of giving his children New Year's money. Geng Zhiye raised his eyebrows at Ye Fan, saying that he must be so polite to you.

After dinner, Uncle Yu asked Ye Fan if he could buy another car. Ye Fan said yes, but business would definitely not be as good as this year. However, the village is large, so he can plant more crops and raise more livestock. He can rest while the car does not, and he can earn enough money to buy a car after the summer vacation.

With Ye Fan's words, the uncle felt relieved. When he got home, the eldest uncle told his brothers that they could buy a car, and the youngest uncle would bring his daughter and son-in-law with him. However, his daughter and son-in-law had brothers, and he would bring his brothers with him, so would he have to buy another car?

My uncle's daughter and son-in-law wanted to do the same thing. In the end, my aunt decided not to bring her daughter and son-in-law. Her family had no money, so they would find a chance to give her money. If her son-in-law wanted to do it himself, they would not stop him and could tell him where to sell what.

Everyone thought this idea was feasible, so they went to the city a few days later to ask someone who knew about cars to estimate the price. The eldest and second uncles sold their current cars, and the two cousins ​​used the money from the sale of the cars and their earnings last year to buy a new car.

The people at the motorcycle factory knew Ye Fan, so Ye Fan went there to try first. If that didn't work, he asked the director of the supply and marketing cooperative to step in, and it worked, too, at the same price as last year.

On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, three vehicles came into the city to sell pork, mutton, vegetables, eggs and duck eggs.

Zhang Xiaoming works half a day. There are many members of the Yu family, so he takes over at noon when he gets home. The family makes a net profit of 20 yuan a day.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, several families brought their homemade dishes and steamed buns and dumplings to Uncle Yu's house for a dinner. When talking about the money they earned yesterday, they lamented, "I never knew money was so easy to make."

Yu Hongwei has a ticket for tomorrow's train and is also at home today. Upon hearing this, he said, "We have the upper hand. There were also people selling vegetables and eggs in the city yesterday, but they carried them themselves, and their poles were not bent as much as we did."

This made the people in Yujia Village feel a sense of urgency. When Hongwei went to school, several families decided that the elderly would go to the surrounding villages to collect goods, and the young people would set up stalls, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. However, Zhang Xiaoming was still only busy for half a day in the morning.

Dong Ying was also worried that he would exhaust himself, so she supported him in working half a day and resting half a day.

On May 30, the weekend, Zhang Xiaoming brought his parents to meet Dong Ying's parents at the restaurant. Zhang Xiaoming, a member of Dong Jiatu, did not make any excessive demands, except that he wanted to move out after marriage.

Uncle Zhang was counting on his eldest son to support him in his old age, and his face fell when he heard this.

Zhang Xiaoming quickly explained that he was not marrying into the family, and that he would move to Dong Ying's place first, and move out after buying and renovating the house. Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang only then knew that their son wanted to buy a house, and they thought that it was also instigated by their daughter-in-law, and they looked at Dong Ying with a bad look.

Dong Ying said: "The house belongs to both of us. We will buy it after getting the marriage certificate. I don't want to cheat Xiao Ming of his money."

Zhang Xiaoming nodded: "Dad, that house is a good deal. Sister Ye didn't buy it before, but now it can be bought for only 9,120 yuan."

Uncle Zhang: "Ye Fan also knows that you bought a house?"

Zhang Xiaoming nodded honestly: "If she hadn't said we could buy it, how could we dare to buy it when the house is so expensive."

Uncle Zhang: "Since Ye Fan also supports you, then buy it."

Aunt Zhang couldn't help but ask: "Where can I get so much money?"

Zhang Xiaoming never said his mother was partial, but Dong Ying could hear it. She suspected her mother-in-law wanted to leave the money to the second child: "Just borrow some from my brother."

Zhang Xiaoming: "Sister Ye has calculated for us that we can pay it off by the end of the year."

Aunt Zhang didn't need to pay a penny, so she had no reason to refuse. However, Dong Ying was worried that things would get complicated, so when she saw Zhang Xiaoming the next morning, she asked him to send a telegram to the owner of the house. She got the marriage certificate with Zhang Xiaoming on June 1st, and took over the house three days later. No one knew about the house except Ye Fan's family and the Dong family, including Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang.

On the weekend, Zhang Xiaojun and Wang Aihe had some time to chat with their family. They learned from Aunt Zhang that Zhang Xiaoming was going to buy a house. Wang Aihe was so angry that she yelled, saying that she also had a share of the old woman's money.

Ye Fan was so frightened by her sharp voice that he dropped his shoes into the basin.

Dabao and Erbao hurriedly ran out of the house and asked, "Mom, what happened to someone?"

Geng Zhiye waved his hand: "It has nothing to do with you."

Geng Huihui glanced towards the east: "Xiao Ming's house. Luckily Xiao Ming hasn't come back from selling vegetables yet, otherwise that woman would have scratched Xiao Ming's face."

Dabao and Erbao were not interested in what Wang Aihe was doing, so they went back to the room to study the pocket watch.

Last year, Dabao fixed the pocket watch that Geng Huihui bought, and Dabao himself didn't know how he fixed it. Geng Zhiye didn't understand the internal mechanical structure of the pocket watch, so when his second brother Geng came back from vacation, Geng Zhiye asked his second brother to find some books for Dabao.

Geng Benben is not interested in engineering, and Geng Huihui studies at a normal school, which is like "students all over the world, but only bitter melons at home" to Geng Zhihui. It was rare that his nephew was interested, so Geng Zhihui immediately asked his friends, colleagues and classmates to send hundreds of books to Dabao.

Dabao thought pocket watches were so complicated, so he flipped through the books and saw that they were books on weapons manufacturing research, many of which were university textbooks. Fortunately, there were a few books related to watches.

While Dabao was studying those books, Geng Huihui used her pocket money to buy broken clocks, repaired two of them and gave one to her cousin as repair fee.

The brother and sister were happy to work together and continued to work together. Geng Dabao was worried that his grades would decline, so his mother stopped him from doing it. He didn't dare to use class time to tinker with it, but he had to do his homework during the weekdays, so he could only do maintenance on the weekends.

Erbao likes to be with her brother. Since she is not interested in watches, she helps her brother.

Geng Huihui asked her aunt again, "I'll go to the intersection to wait for Xiao Ming and ask him to go to Dong Ying's place and go directly to the village in the evening?"

Ye Fan nodded.

Zhang Xiaoming was not a smart person, but knowing Geng Huihui well, she would not stop him from going home for no reason. Not wanting to upset him, Xiaoming did not ask what happened at home.

Dong Ying was interested in making money, so after lunch she went to the popsicle factory with Xiao Ming to buy a box of popsicles. The weather was not too hot, so they could only sell a little more than one box in half a day. When they got to a crowded place, Xiao Ming rested in the car while Dong Ying sold popsicles. The money earned was still divided equally between the two families.

The next morning, Zhang Xiaoming found out what had happened when he got home. It turned out that Wang Aihe was not happy that he did not use his parents' money, and she also asked his parents-in-law to pay for the house.

Aunt Zhang's implication was that the daughter-in-law's uproar yesterday was caused by her eldest son's desire to buy a house. Zhang Xiaoming was too lazy to care about his biased mother, so he hid at Ye Fan's house.

Ye Fan was at school, and Yu Wentao was the only one at home. Yu Wentao said, "Your mother is illiterate, and the money is saved by your father. It's useless for the second son's wife to make trouble every day, because your father won't give it to her."

"But I'm taking the college entrance exam this year. By the way, is Benben the same as me? He makes a fuss every day, so how can Benben and I concentrate on studying?"

Yu Wentao subconsciously said, "Benben is only in his second year of high school..." Suddenly remembering the two-year high school system in recent years, "Oh no, I forgot. Save me a few ribs and a few dozen eggs tomorrow, and I will give him a good nourishment."

When Zhang Xiaoming heard the phrase "tonify the body", he immediately stopped worrying about his mother's attitude. In the evening, he asked Yu Xiaojiu to kill a pig when he got to the village.

This year, the Yu family had two big fat pigs every day - they found someone to buy them, and if citizens needed them, they would kill the pigs early the next day. They braised the pig's offal and pig's head meat themselves, and sold them in the afternoon. They were cheaper than state-owned restaurants and had a very good sales.

Zhang Xiaoming saw his elder brother bringing back meat for several days in a row, so he asked him what was wrong. Zhang Xiaoming said, "You will take the college entrance examination next month, so take good care of yourself." Then he said with a look of annoyance, "It was Aunt Yu who reminded me of this." Then he went out to drive his car to sell vegetables.

Younger brother Zhang has been very confused about his college entrance examination choice recently. He doesn't want to leave home as he is worried that his second sister-in-law will bully his parents and his older brother and younger sister. But he has had enough of this home and wants to take the exam in a place far away.

Zhang Xiaodi didn't know who to ask. Because of Zhang Xiaoming's words, Zhang Xiaodi thought of Geng Benben, who was in the same grade. Calculating the time when Geng Benben would go out, Zhang Xiaodi left home and went to school with him and Dabao.

Halfway through the journey, Zhang casually asked Geng Benben which school he wanted to apply to.

(End of this chapter)