Back to 1979: Sending the Educated Youth’s Wife Back to the City

Chapter 4: Calculating Money
Father Fang nodded and said "hmm".

Fang's mother said, "Why are you faking a divorce when everything is fine? You're already married and you want to go back to your parents' home. When you get married, you belong to your husband's family, right?"

The two old people live at home, four kilometers away from the village primary school.

The news was only sent back in the afternoon, so I hurried over to ask what was going on.

Anyway, there is no work in the fields at this time of year, so we can just leave.

When I got there, I saw my son cooking and my granddaughter playing with a ball beside him, smiling.

The son told them that it was a fake divorce, and asked his daughter-in-law to go back first and get a Beijing hukou.

He will take the college entrance examination again this year and try his best to be admitted to BJ.

How can a divorce be fake? The commune's official seal was stamped on it, so it was a real divorce.

Fang's mother was reluctant to part with her daughter-in-law Lin Yan, who had a stable job and received a monthly salary.

Such a daughter-in-law earns more and spends less! Her parents' home is far away, so there is not so much trouble. Besides, both her husband and wife are workers, so they don't need subsidies from the young couple. They just need to be careful about their brother-in-law. It will be a big deal when he gets married and buys a house.

But these two people acted first and reported later, and completed all the procedures.

She wanted to ask how their money was divided, but her son was busy cooking and asked her to watch her granddaughter. Anyway, she would ask later.

Humph, Lin Yan can become a teacher only because of her relationship with the Fang family.

And Mingche actually earns more.

She should be kicked out of the house!
Just to prove that her divorce was really fake, she had to leave the house with nothing.

Fang Mingche had already fried shredded potatoes with green peppers, double-sided yellow tofu, and scrambled eggs with green onions, and he would serve the mushroom and shredded pork soup on the table.

Two pots, one for cooking soup and one for frying vegetables. This way, the first pot will be cold when the second pot is ready. In this weather, it gets cold as soon as the wind blows.

There were quite a few people, so he made more portions for each dish. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough to eat!

People at this time have less fat in their stomachs, so they can eat more.

I definitely don’t eat this good at ordinary times.

But isn’t it that Ayan is about to leave, and her parents are here too?

"Mom and Dad, wash your hands and eat--" Fang Mingche said, then turned around and went to the steamer to add a few bowls of rice.

Nowadays, we use coarse bowls and are reluctant to spend a lot of money to buy beautiful fine porcelain bowls.

Fang's mother looked at the white rice and asked, "Do you guys usually eat it all?"

Life was too good. The old man and the eldest son were the only ones who worked hard in the family and only ate rice during the busy farming season.

"No, we usually mix it with sweet potatoes. Aren't your parents here?"

Fang Mingche put eggs, tofu, meat and mushrooms in his daughter's bowl. These would be his job from now on.

Yanyan took her own small bowl and took it.

Her bowl is unbreakable, a real "iron rice bowl". It has been left to dry for a while, so it is not hot to the touch.

The little girl smiled happily, "Let's have a good meal tonight!"

Fang Mingche felt a pang in his heart.

He came from a later era of material abundance.

Seeing my daughter like this made me so happy that I became more determined to earn more money.

Lin Yan used chopsticks to cut the food into small pieces for her daughter to make it easier for her to eat.

Fang's mother also hurriedly picked up some meat for Fang's father. Half a pound of meat, so many people to eat. If you are slow with your chopsticks, you will suffer!

After divorce, she is an outsider, so why do you keep feeding her so well?
Fang Mingche wanted to buy more meat, but he only found a meat ticket for half a pound. This was the ration for the three of them for the first half of the month, and they bought it all today.

Families also need to plan so that they can get through the end of the month in a relatively clean manner. There are too many people and too little food, so everything is subject to purchase restrictions.

Moreover, the meat processing factory has a time limit for supply, unlike the supermarkets of later generations where you can buy whenever you want.

After eating, Lin Yan cleaned up the dishes and went to wash them. Yan Yan followed her. Fang's mother pulled her son into the inner room and asked, "How did you divide the family?"

Fang Mingche knew what she wanted to ask, "Give her one-third of the family savings. The rest of the things must be left to me."

Mr. Fang felt that this division was fine, but if he really kicked the person out with nothing, he would definitely be criticized.

So he stopped Fang's mother from talking, "You already have a child, so we can't control you. It's fine for you to go to college, anyway, you can work and prepare for the exam at the same time. If you can't take care of Yanyan, send her back."

"I'm going on a long trip later, so Yanyan will have to be entrusted to the care of the two elders. But usually when I'm at home, she can just stay with me."

Father Fang asked, "Where are you going?"

"Go to Guangzhou and help Brother Mingfeng drive and deliver goods."

After Fang Mingche calmed down, he thought carefully about what he could do to make money.

In his previous life, he was a retired rural teacher with no special skills.

There were only a few ways to make big money in 1979.

They don't have the conditions to live by the mountains and by the water.
As for writing, he is not cut out for it.

He couldn't plagiarize the works of Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Jia Pingwa and others. He also didn't memorize the whole works and only read them superficially.
Then all that’s left is business.

However, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee had just begun, and not only in their small place, but even in the big cities there was no movement.

If you want to make your first pot of gold, you still have to take an unconventional approach. This is risky!

But he couldn't wait any longer, as he felt uneasy without money.

When Ayan returned to the city, she must have subjectively wanted to wait for her daughter to reunite with her. But objectively, everything might not be as they expected.

Long nights and many dreams!

Moreover, if you can get your first pot of gold as soon as possible, you will have a first-mover advantage in doing business.

After much thought, he concluded that he stood out from his contemporaries in one aspect: he could drive!
His cousin Fang Mingfeng from the next room is a driver who drives goods for a big boss in the black market.

Originally, he worked with his brother-in-law. When the two uncles were away from home, they could help each other when they encountered problems.

But last month they were robbed by someone who had forced their car to stop. His brother-in-law was seriously injured and needed to rest for a while.

It's not easy to find someone to partner with you temporarily. Nowadays, few people can drive.

Besides, if you are not familiar with someone, would you dare to turn your back to him when something happens?

Also, I have to save space for my brother-in-law to come back.

But this time he was buying goods for the New Year, which was very important. He didn't dare to turn it down, for fear that if he did, there would be no next time.

After all, everyone knows that these days, drivers who can drive everywhere are the ones who make the most money.

Fang Mingche definitely wasn't after the hard work pay.

He planned to ask his cousin to lend him 700 yuan and bring some goods from Guangzhou to sell.

Drivers make money, in addition to high salaries, by selling goods along the way.

My cousin's family lives better than anyone else in the village. That's how they live a good life.

Although it is still dangerous to be on the road now, it should be much better than it was two years ago.

Father Fang asked, "Can you drive?"

"Yes, I learned it when I accompanied Yan back to her parents' home."

Father Fang thought for a moment and said, "Your cousin is worried sick. Since you can drive, you can give him a hand. But you must pay attention to safety."

My nephew has been driving for several years, and he has only encountered accidents once or twice.

"Dad, I know. You told him to come see me after the fifth."

(End of this chapter)