“I want to earn money!” Qiao Mei said.
Qiao Qiang jumped in fright, thinking that he had misheard.
“Earn money?” Qiao Qiang said with a smile. “Good, good, good! Grandfather will go to town tomorrow to ask around and find you a good job!”
In his opinion, if one wanted to earn money, one should go to work in the city so as to be able to earn a decent salary.
He used to think so too and even found Qiao Mei a job. Qiao Mei went to work happily, but not even half a day later, she came back because she said it was too tiring.
Now Mei Mei had really grown up as she knew she needed to make money to support her family.
“No, no, no!” Qiao Mei immediately said. “How much money can one earn from being a worker? It’s not even enough to supplement the household expenses. Besides, I have to leave home to go to work and I don’t feel at ease leaving you alone at home.”
When Qiao Qiang heard this, his eyes reddened.
“I want to go and sell things in the city,” said Qiao Mei.
Hearing this, Qiao Qiang got such a fright that the tears in his eyes were forced back. Waving his hands around, he immediately got down from the brick bed and looked out to see if there was anyone around. Only then did he heave a sigh of relief and sat back down.
“It’s speculative to buy and sell things, that’s capitalist behavior! We can’t do that!” He frowned and said in a low voice.
This was a big matter, so he could not be careless about it.
There was still no reform and opening up right now yet and private business trading was not allowed. If they were discovered and arrested, it would be a big deal.
“It’s not like that, grandfather. I am not doing trading, I just want to sell our family’s produce.”
As an elite lawyer, how could she not know that it was dangerous to carry out private transactions during this period of time.
She did not dare to sell goods, but she could still sell some of the extra vegetables and mountain produce that her family had planted. No one would care if she sold them discreetly.
“Oh I see. It is okay to sell vegetables and mountain produce.” Qiao Qiang nodded, but the next second he was stunned again. “But we don’t have any vegetables to sell?”
It was only early spring now, the vegetables and crops in the fields had yet to grow and there was nothing much to eat at home. Notwithstanding that, even if it was harvest season and other families had too much to eat, his family still had to make sure that they store the vegetables for winter.
Otherwise, Mei Mei would go hungry.
Qiao Mei seemed to have expected his question and said, “I’ve thought about it. We can buy some beans and grow bean sprouts to sell.”
Qiao Qiang blinked in confusion. He was in a daze, wondering if he had heard wrongly.
Qiao Mei lowered her head and said slowly, “When I was young, Mom used to grow bean sprouts at home. I still remember all these.”
Qiao Qiang was speechless for the moment.
When Qiao Mei was five years old, her father went to the city and got hit by a car accidentally. When she was seven, her mother remarried. That family did not want her to bring a burden, so Qiao Mei was left behind with the Qiao family.
Her mother was still alive, but it was just that she had no time to care about her.
Zhao Lan got married to a worker whose family lived in a county that was tens of miles away. Later on, there was hearsay from village gossip that the person was transferred to the provincial city due to work reassignment.
These were all news from her maternal uncle’s village.
After Zhao Lan remarried, she had asked someone to visit Qiao Mei in the first year. After that, there was no more news of her.
When Qiao Mei was young and living at Qiao Zhuang’s house, she was really a pitiful girl. She was skinny and small, looking as if she would collapse with a gust of wind. She was extremely timid and would hide whenever she saw someone…
This was until Qiao Qiang returned to the village.
Having someone to pamper her gave her confidence and Qiao Mei became bolder in an instant. As she gained weight, her temper also grew and she bowed down to no one.