Hard work after winning the lottery

The next morning, Hua Yun carried a bag of fruit and knocked on the door of her uncle Hua Shi's house.

Hua Shi was chopping firewood in the yard when he saw Hua Yun arrive. He smiled憨厚ly, revealing two rows of teeth that were slightly yellowed from smoke.

"Yun girl, what brings you here? Come in and sit down."

"Uncle, I've come to you because I need your help." Hua Yun got straight to the point.

"What is it? Tell me!"

"My online store is getting a lot of orders every day, and my dad is overwhelmed with all the slaughtering and processing of sheep by himself. I'd like to ask you to come over and lend a hand every day, mainly to handle the heavy lifting like slaughtering and initial processing. I'll pay you 150 yuan a day. Is that alright?"

One hundred and fifty yuan a day!

That's four thousand five hundred a month!

This is a high salary that people in the village would never even dare to dream of.

Hua Shi's wood-chopping axe fell to the ground with a clatter. He stared blankly at Hua Yun, speechless for a long time.

He couldn't believe his ears.

"Yun girl...you...you're not kidding, are you?"

"Uncle, how could I joke about something like this?" Hua Yun's tone was incredibly sincere. "We've all seen how efficient you are. I trust you completely with this job."

Hua Shi's eyes immediately reddened, and he rubbed his calloused hands, his voice choked with emotion.

"Sure! Of course! Don't worry, Yun'er, your uncle may not be good at much else, but I'll definitely handle this strenuous work of slaughtering sheep perfectly for you!"

He doesn't need the money.

It's about the sense of value that comes from being needed and trusted by family members at this age.

With Hua Shi's involvement, the Hua family's Xishan Muyun Workshop began to operate efficiently and smoothly.

As soon as the sky began to lighten, the lights in the courtyard were turned on precisely on time.

Hua Shi walked in steadily, carrying his ancestral butcher knife, still carrying the chill of the early morning.

"Brother, we have sixty-two orders today, so we need to slaughter six sheep." Hua Shu handed over a cup of boiling hot water.

Hua Shi took it, drank it down in one gulp, exhaled a puff of white breath, and said with great energy, "Alright!"

The "swish, swish" sound on the whetstone is the earliest symphony of the day in Baixi Village.

The stench of blood mixed with the fragrance of fresh grass was quickly dispersed by the flowing mountain breeze.

The morning sunlight streamed through the window and into the yard.

Hua Shu and Hua Mutou, father and son, one as the chief butcher and the other as the assistant, meticulously cut the whole sheep into parts such as the legs, ribs, and scorpions.

Every cut was incredibly precise, resulting in a perfect balance of fat and lean meat with clearly defined textures.

Li Guifen carefully inspected each piece of mutton, removing excess tendons and membranes, and then quickly bagged and weighed it.

Her technique became increasingly skillful; it only took her a dozen seconds to fill and weigh a bag of mutton.

The study is the battlefield for young people.

Wearing headphones, Hua Yi's fingers flew across the keyboard, the crisp "click-clack" sound mingling with the "thump-thump" of order notifications.

"Sister Yun, this customer asked if our sheep are fed with feed."

"Tell him that we promise to pay ten times the price for any fake product, that all the sheep are free-range in Xishan, eating all kinds of grass and drinking mountain spring water, and that he is welcome to come to our village for on-site inspection at any time," Hua Yun replied without looking up.

Her belly was already quite noticeable. Wearing a loose maternity dress, she sat on a specially cushioned chair, handling store promotions and data analysis.

In the afternoon, it was time for the whole family to pack.

Ice packs, insulated boxes, vacuum bags, tape... were piled up like small mountains in the living room.

The family sat around the long table, each with their own role, hardly needing to exchange words; a glance or a gesture was enough for them to work together perfectly.

Busy, yet full of hope.

Even the sweat has a slightly sweet taste.

The days slipped by amidst the "thump-thump" sounds and the "ripping" of tape.

Hua Yun's belly, like an inflated balloon, grew bigger day by day.

Her premarital pregnancy was, of course, impossible to hide in the small village of Baixi.

At first, the villagers looked at her with a mixture of curiosity and unease.

After meals, there are always some idle gossips.

"Have you heard? Hua Shu's daughter is in the city...sigh..."

"What a pity, such a beautiful and cultured girl."

"I don't know which heartless person got her pregnant and then ran away."

Aunt Li, holding her grandson Dundun, sat under the big banyan tree at the village entrance, sewing shoe soles while chatting with people.

"Don't talk nonsense. Yun'er is really capable. She opened her own online store, and I heard she earns several hundred yuan a day! That's better than all the men in our village who go out to work!"

"Really?"

"Of course it's true! Look at her family, they slaughter sheep every day, and the delivery truck comes twice a day. Their business is booming!" Aunt Li's tone carried a hint of pride and protectiveness.

Gradually, the winds in the village changed.

Those inquisitive glances turned into envy and admiration.

The gossip turned into praise for Hua Yun's competence and contempt for that "heartless man."

Most of the villagers are simple and honest; they are genuinely happy for whoever is doing well.

Occasionally, when people encounter Hua Yun walking around the village with her large pregnant belly, they simply greet her with a smile, their words filled with concern and goodwill.

"Yun girl, walk slowly and watch your step."

"Yun'er, what kind of sour or spicy food do you want to eat? Tell your auntie and I'll make it for you."

Hua Yun accepted all of this calmly. She simply smiled and nodded, her hand instinctively protecting her lower abdomen.

Before I knew it, I was five months pregnant.

That evening after dinner, Hua Yun sat in the courtyard enjoying the cool air, with Grandma Hua and Li Guifen on either side of her.

Grandma, wearing her reading glasses, was sewing a small cotton-padded jacket for her unborn great-grandson under the lamplight. The stitches were fine and full of love.

"Yun'er, your belly..." Li Guifen's gaze fell on her daughter's high, protruding belly, and her brows furrowed slightly.

"What's wrong, Mom?"

"To me, it looks much bigger than that of a typical five-month pregnant woman."

Grandma Hua also stopped her needlework, leaned over to examine it carefully, and a look of solemnity appeared in her cloudy eyes.

"Your mom is right, this belly... is really showing. When I was pregnant with your dad, at five months, it wasn't very noticeable even when I wore loose clothes."

The words of the two experienced people made Hua Yun feel a little uneasy.

She herself felt unusually heavy lately, and she would get out of breath after walking just a few steps.

"Could it be... that I ate too well?" Hua Yun asked uncertainly.

Chicken soup, fish soup, and goat milk are almost always available at home.

"Eating well is one thing, but something still feels off." Li Guifen became more and more uneasy. "No, tomorrow I'll have your dad drive us to the city's maternal and child health hospital for a thorough check-up. That way we can feel at ease."

"Mom, isn't the town hospital the same? Why go all the way here..."

"It's different!" Li Guifen's tone left no room for argument. "The big hospitals in the city have better equipment and more skilled doctors. This is your first pregnancy, and given your situation, we can't afford to be careless!"

Grandma Hua chimed in, "Listen to your mother, we have to take this to a big hospital to get it checked out."