Rebirth Counterattack with Space

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Earned Money

Chapter 57 -57: Earned Money

“It’s a pity that neither of us sisters has any money, otherwise we’d certainly support them a little,” Lu Aijiao couldn’t help but sigh. Without dividing the household, all the family’s money was controlled by the mother-in-law. Like her, she had only a little bit—barely five or six yuan. Her second sister probably didn’t have much more. At most, it wouldn’t exceed ten yuan. What good would that do at a critical time?”

“You don’t need to worry, Shitou is going with them. They said they’ll start small and work their way up. That doesn’t require too much capital.” Lu Erbo’s wife didn’t want to dwell on the topic and quickly took the two sisters to see what Lu Aiguo had prepared for them to take back. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“These are all from Aiguo and Xia Yuan, for you to take back. Everything here is hard to come by, especially that oil, look how clear it is. And this canned meat tastes so good, but you can’t keep it for long, it will spoil in a few days, so hurry up and eat it when you get back.”

“Aiguo is also doing this to give you face and support, fearing that you’ll have a hard time with your in-laws. Where can you find such a good brother?” Lu Erbo’s wife couldn’t help but praise Lu Aiguo once again, a habit she had developed over many years. But this time, Lu Aimei didn’t find it grating to her ears. Instead, she felt a sourness in her heart and a sudden wave of compassion for her own mother.

Lu Aiguo was going to Haicheng, and probably nobody would find it harder to part with him than his mother, right? But she probably couldn’t bear to hold back Aiguo’s future even more so.

Pity the heart of parents in this world. Would she be as conflicted and troubled about her own children in the future?

—

Even as she sat on the mule cart on the return journey, Xia Yuan still felt dizzy, as if she was in a dream that she hadn’t woken up from.

Today, she had actually gone out to sell goods with her daughter, and thinking about the stack of small change, Food Coupons, Cloth Coupons, and several pieces of industrial coupons in her daughter’s large warehouse made her heart race.

When her daughter first proposed selling things, she was quite nervous, but her daughter insisted on taking her to West Street. While she was still feeling dazed, her daughter had already picked out an old lady shopping, struck up a conversation in no time, and then found a secluded corner to quietly make a trade behind her basket—one hand passing money, the other passing goods.

The hardest part is always the beginning. After a good start, she felt that doing business wasn’t difficult at all, and gradually she opened up. Some of the customers even referred others to them, and with their own secret inquiries, they actually made over twenty deals.

Especially with the peanut oil, she measured it out with a cup and sold it loose. It sold surprisingly well. For those with Food Coupons, she priced it three times higher than the supply and marketing cooperative. For those without Food Coupons, she doubled the price again. What surprised her was that people, hearing there was stock available, didn’t even hesitate before buying, not to mention haggling. They seemed impatient, worried she might refuse to sell.

Her daughter claimed her large warehouse was stocked with peanut oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, olive oil… everything imaginable, so there was no worry of running out. Even more surprisingly, her daughter also mentioned that there was an oil pressing machine in the large warehouse. They had so many raw materials like peanuts and soybeans, they could pile them up into mountains.

Besides the oil press, her daughter’s large warehouse also housed machinery capable of processing various types of noodles. Her daughter said these machines could be powered by solar energy—in her words, just let them soak up some sunlight and they would work.

…

No wonder Lu Aiguo always told her that doing business wasn’t hard, just a bit laborious. Xia Yuan took a deep breath; as long as it earned money, what was there to fear from a bit of hard work?

By then, even if they only had her daughter’s large warehouse’s oil press and noodle-making machines as a foundation, along with what Aiguo had mentioned about sourcing goods from factories. At the very least, they could look for local products like grains and flour from villages around Haicheng. As long as they were willing to work hard, why worry about not having good days ahead?

The more Xia Yuan thought about it, the more excited she became, her blood boiling with enthusiasm. This feeling was much hotter and intense than merely listening to Lu Aiguo describe it.

Around four thirty in the afternoon, the mule cart safely brought everyone back to the village.

As soon as they got home, Xia Yuan couldn’t wait to pull Lu Yun into the house to count the money. After counting several times, Xia Yuan finally believed that she and her daughter had earned a total of two hundred thirty-two yuan and eighty cents within a single day. In addition, they had over ten kilograms of Food Coupons and about five or six feet of Cloth Coupons, plus seven industrial coupons.

“How is it possible to have this much?” Xia Yuan muttered to herself.

“How could it not be possible? Together, we sold several kilograms of oil. Not to mention the vermicelli, rice, dried noodles and other things too. I can’t even remember how much we sold exactly.”

Lu Yun sat in the chair kicking her legs and watching her mother with a smile.

In fact, she even felt that she and her mother had sold their goods too cheaply. Although prices, particularly for food, were truly low during these times, most of the items were supplied in limited quantities.

Especially edible oil was so scarce, as well as rice and flour which were considered fine grains. The volume they sold was not small at all. Moreover, their asking prices were all rather low, which was evident when none of the people inquiring about the price even bargained.

It seems that an experience or two in selling goods is enough for mom. It is mainly dad and Shitou who should do this. She believed that if they were in charge today, they could have brought back even more money and various coupons for the same goods.

“Mom, don’t we still have to go to Great-Uncle’s house? Today, Big Aunt and Second Aunt’s families are all back,” Lu Yun reminded her mother, who was still lost in thought.

“Right, right. We need to hurry over. I also promised Great-Uncle’s wife that I would help with cooking. When will your dad and Shitou be back?” Xia Yuan put away the money and quickly pulled Lu Yun to leave.

Lu Yun took out a box of chocolates, opened it, and directly popped a piece into Xia Yuan’s mouth before eating one herself, “Mom, does the chocolate taste good?”

“It’s delicious, really sweet. But why is there a slight bitterness, and it melts in my mouth before I even bite it?” Xia Yuan savored the taste of the chocolate in her mouth, couldn’t help but pick up another piece, and the more she ate, the tastier it became.

Unable to resist her craving, Lu Yun and her mom ate half a box of chocolates, one piece each at a time, before they stopped.

They took out two bottles of mineral water and drank it to rinse their mouths.

Xia Yuan couldn’t help but reminisce, “It’s just too delicious, I feel like the more I eat, the more I want.”

“There’s still a lot left, mom. You can have it anytime you want. Mom, how about we bring two boxes to Great-Uncle’s house later? One box for you to give to Big Aunt’s little brother to take home to eat, and one box for everyone there to open and eat, what do you think?” Lu Yun thought of Second Aunt’s baby who had milk powder, but had forgotten about Big Aunt’s little one. She wondered if Big Aunt might feel uncomfortable about it?

If Great-Uncle could really be their “biological grandfather,” then she needed to be a bit more thoughtful to help her mother. It was important to maintain good relationships with people like Big Aunt and not offend them.

“Second Aunt’s little brother and sister have milk powder to drink, but Big Aunt’s little brother shouldn’t be left with nothing,” Lu Yun pronounced maturely.

“Alright, I’ll listen to you. Really now, what am I to say? Wise beyond your years,” Xia Yuan realized her own oversight as soon as she thought about it.

Although Lu Aijiao might not really take it to heart, all mothers’ mentality is rather predictable. It might not matter if you yourself are overlooked, but if your child is neglected, it always feels quite upsetting. So her daughter’s suggestion was very timely.