Thirty Yuan
So, being able to marry Lin Chuan was not only because of him as a person, but because the Lin family was such a warm place.
Not long after the meal was ready, Mother Lin, Lin Hai, and the others came back, all with rare smiles on their faces. After entering the house, they stamped the snow from their feet, and Mother Lin took Su Su’s hand. “Guess how much we sold?”
“How much?”
“After taking out the base cost, we earned twenty-three yuan.”
In just over half a day, that was truly shocking.
“Really? That’s more than I expected.” They had not even sold all fifty pairs yet. They had only sold a little over thirty pairs and had already earned twenty-three yuan. This greatly exceeded her expectations.
Mother Lin also said, “Hai, give the money to your sister-in-law.”
“No, no, we really don’t lack money. Besides, I didn’t help much. You all sold them yourselves. Mother, if you insist on giving it to me, I’ll get angry.”
“This…”
Mother Lin hesitated for a moment, then said, “How about this? We’ll give you the base cost today, and we’ll keep the rest.”
“Okay.” After Su Su agreed, she glanced at the three boys and said, “Mother, the three of them contributed the most today. Why don’t you give each of them two yuan?”
“Of course.” Mother Lin was in a good mood after earning money, so she gave the three brothers two yuan each on the spot.
Do not underestimate these two yuan. They were very useful. Especially for children, who might only have a little money of their own once they grew up and got married.
Lin Hai and the others were a little excited as they received the money. Each of them glanced at Su Su with their own thoughts. Ever since they had a sister-in-law, life seemed easier. They even had money in their hands now. How nice.
“Oh right, since you’re back, let’s eat. I’ve already made the food.” Su Su quickly cleared the kang, while Lin Hai and the others helped tidy things and set the table. Lin Jiang ran off to fetch his father, and the whole family ate together in the backyard.
Su Su had put quite a lot of pork belly into the potatoes, so everyone ate very happily. On their way back, someone they ran into asked, “Went to see your son?”
Father Lin said, “No, my daughter-in-law made pork and glass noodle stew and invited us over to eat. We’ve just finished and are heading home.”
“…Is that so? Your daughter-in-law is really filial.” The villager said this with a smile and left.
Father Lin loved hearing this the most. That year, when he went to play cards, countless people envied him, and he felt proud. Mother Lin glared at him. “Can’t you show off a little less?”
“Why? Isn’t it the truth?” Father Lin said with wide eyes.
Mother Lin smiled. “Yes, yes, it’s the truth. Look how pleased you are.” Then she said, “With this money, we won’t have to worry about Third and Fourth’s schooling this year. When I have time, I’ll sew them new schoolbags…”
“Mm.” Listening to his old wife chatter on, Father Lin felt that it had been a long time since their family had seemed so hopeful.
However, news that the Lin family was selling shoes soon spread.
People said all sorts of things.
Some were waiting to laugh at them.
But then word got out about how much money they had earned at the commune, and everyone became jealous. So someone came to find Su Su, insisting that she get more shoes so everyone could sell them together, saying it would “generate income for the production brigade.”
Su Su’s eyes widened. What kind of punch able excuse was that?
She smiled and said, “Putting aside the fact that we’re far from the city and have no way to transport them back, even if we could, we don’t have any connections. I only bought these because I happened to come across them.”
“Then can you happen to come across them again? We’ll sell them for you when the time comes. Not only will we give you the base cost, we’ll also give you a few cents per pair. How about that?” The woman smiled, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth, with an unpleasant smell of tobacco lingering around her. Su Su only knew she was from the same village; she did not even know which family she belonged to. Yet she made such a demand as if she were Su Su’s ancestor.
“So what, do you think I’m stupid? You want me to help you buy stock, pay the base cost myself, and then only earn a few cents? Auntie, why don’t you just fly up to the sky? Besides, I don’t have any connections. Please go back.”
Su Su was the type of person who had a very good temper when others spoke nicely to her. But if someone came looking for trouble and treated her like a fool, she would not obediently let herself be bullied.
“You little girl, how can you talk like that? Aren’t you always going out? And you can borrow the army’s vehicle too. We don’t have that ability.” The yellow-toothed auntie stood there pointing at Su Su. “But I’m the Party secretary’s sister-in-law. If you don’t handle this properly, I’ll tell the Party secretary that you’re engaging in speculation and profiteering.”
“Go ahead. No one’s stopping you.” Lin Chuan, sitting on the kang with a dark expression, finally spoke. Then he suddenly raised his eyes, his gaze icy. “I can also report you for being a cadre’s family member who doesn’t work for the welfare of the people and even wants to take advantage of the army. That vehicle came to transport me, an injured soldier. I was injured during a mission. You’ve set your sights on an army vehicle. What exactly are your intentions?”
When he did not speak, he was silent. But once he spoke, he could choke the enemy to death. This husband was quite impressive.
“Fine. You think I’m afraid of you?” The yellow-toothed auntie went out, but she did not give up. She went straight to the Party secretary’s house to make a fuss.
The Party secretary also heard that she was in the wrong, so he politely tried to send her away. Unexpectedly, just as they reached the door, Mother Lin arrived with Lin Hai. She was also formidable. Pointing at the yellow-toothed woman, she began cursing her, calling her shameless for trying to take advantage, and for bullying a newlywed young couple. Fortunately, she had come over after hearing what her son said. Otherwise, who knew what nonsense this woman would have made up?
As she cursed, she also said, “Party secretary, my daughter-in-law knows our family has many boys and two still studying, and that things are difficult for us. That’s why she worked so hard to get some shoes for us to sell so we could pay the children’s school fees. But who would’ve thought someone would try to take advantage of her and force a young girl like her to buy stock for their family? If she refuses, they’ll report us for speculation and profiteering. What year is it now, still using old accusations like that? Which family in our village hasn’t gone to the commune to sell some of their allocated grain for a bit of money? How come they aren’t speculating and profiteering, but when it comes to us, we are?”
“Younger sister, my sister-in-law doesn’t understand anything. Don’t lower yourself to her level,” the Party secretary said, trying to mediate, hoping the two women would not start fighting. But his sister-in-law refused to let it go, determined to gain some benefit, and ended up getting beaten by Mother Lin.
Since it was clearly his sister-in-law who was in the wrong, he did not ask his wife to stop them either. In the end, after several women finally arrived, they managed to pull the two apart.
Back at home, Su Su was quite worried. She had not expected that right after hearing what had happened, her mother-in-law would rush out looking as if she were going to fight. She kept standing by the door and looking outside, while Lin Chuan, one small step at a time, moved steadily around the room.
“Do you think Mother will fight with that person?”
“Mm.”
“Mm? You mean she will fight?”
“It’s fine. In all these years, Mother has never lost a fight with another woman.”
“…” That was not the issue. The issue was fighting with someone in the first place.
But since her son was not worried, Su Su relaxed and went back to washing his clothes. Lin Chuan’s injury was recovering at astonishing speed. Now, he could already walk back and forth without leaning on a stick; he simply could not take very large steps.
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