Chapter 29 Doing Business
No wonder it takes another three years to mend things!

This is the most common fabric, and it costs more than 20 yuan to make a set of clothes. If it is slightly better, such as a khaki Zhongshan suit, it will cost more than 40 yuan; woolen fabric is even more expensive, costing 150 yuan.
If we consider the average annual income of farmers at that time as 67 yuan, they could not buy a piece of clothing for several years; even workers in the city, with an average monthly salary of more than 30 yuan, could not afford a set of clothing.
The key is that the bulk of the income needs to be used for food!

Although the procedure has been simplified, what is necessary is still there. When it comes to money, Wang Deming is still very generous. On the one hand, it is because of the later generations' concept of money and their solid foundation; on the other hand, the price is extremely abnormal!
Afterwards, he went to the grocery store and bought a "chemical (plastic) comb" for Qin Huairu, the price was: 3.3 yuan; he also bought a pound of red apricot soft candy, the price was 2.7 yuan; he was also thinking of buying a pair of "chemical sandals", but when he asked the price, he found: 2.5 yuan.

Forget it, I’m short of money!

Money goes away, people are at peace, in exchange for a full load
"Oh! Deming, why did you buy so many big bones and lean meat?"

Aunt Qin came to meet Wang Deming as soon as he entered the yard. She looked at the two pieces of cloth in his arms with shining eyes and said, "Oh, Deming, you really know how to buy things!"

"Aunt, look at the plaid fabric that Deming bought. How bright is the color?"

"Oh, this fine white cloth is really nice, it makes my hair white and fine."

As a result, he stretched out his hand to help take the backpack, took a peek inside, and suddenly let out a loud scream!
Wang Shuqin behind him was startled at first, and after taking two steps forward, she glanced at the backpack, but she didn't care. Instead, she smiled and explained to Aunt Qin: "Xiao Ru's mother, Deming always said that we should drink more bone soup and get more sun exposure when we are old, and that we need calcium supplements when we are old."

"It's good for the bones anyway."

"Let's make some bone and radish soup later, and add some dried shrimps. It will be oily and delicious."

Aunt Qin still felt a little distressed: "Aunt Yan, this is too much."

"Isn't there a bricklayer who helps with the housework?"

"It's been a few days since we started working, but we haven't had much experience yet. Let's share in our joy."

"Besides, isn't there a piece of pork belly?"

“Let’s make dumplings tonight.”

"Deming, after you go into the house and put the cloth away, go tell the masons that we'll have lunch later today, and there'll be bone soup!"

After sending Wang Deming away, Wang Shuqin took Aunt Qin to pick up the large bones, pig's trotters and lean meat in the basket and put them into a large basin and began to wash them with clean water. While washing, Aunt Qin seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Wang Shuqin glanced at the pig's trotters in her hands that she had washed several times, sighed slightly in her heart, and said with a smile: "Take these two pig's trotters home later, add some soybeans and simmer them slowly over low heat, just right for your eldest daughter-in-law to produce milk."

"How can I be so embarrassed?" Aunt Qin smiled brightly, and quickly shook off the water from the two pig's trotters in her hands and put them beside her. "Auntie, thank you so much. Speaking of which, my eldest grandson has a good appetite."

"But my daughter-in-law lies in bed all day and doesn't work. The milk is not enough."

"My grandson is so hungry and crying so loudly that I, as a grandmother, feel so distressed every day."

"It was Deming who came up with the idea and took the initiative to help our family exchange some millet. He boiled the top layer of rice soup to feed our eldest grandson. That's how our eldest grandson grew up to be plump and white."

Speaking of this, Aunt Qin proudly showed off Qin Huairu again: "Aunt, our Xiaoru will definitely not have insufficient milk! You see, she hasn't even married yet, but her breasts are bulging, and it's hard for her to work."

"And that big butt, she'll definitely give birth to a son!"

"Aunt, next year, you can just wait to hold your grandson!"

At noon, Aunt Qin ate four steamed buns made of two ounces of flour, two large bowls of bone soup, and two chicken butts. She burped, carried the pig's trotters that had been tied up with straw in one hand, supported her waist with the other, and walked home slowly.
As soon as he got home, he ostentatiously placed the pig's trotters in the middle of the dining table and began to vividly describe his trip to Wang Deming's home.

"Master, when I arrived at Wang Deming's house, the old Yan family treated me like a idol. They made me a bowl of brown sugar water and begged us to marry Xiaoru to them as soon as possible!"

Qin Huairu immediately nervously confirmed with Aunt Qin again: "Mom, is the matter between Deming and me settled?"

Aunt Qin raised her eyebrows and said smugly, "Xiao Ru, if your mother comes forward, what can't be done?"

"After dinner tonight, you can just carry your bedding over there!"

"Ah!" Everyone was shocked and looked at each other, "What about the marriage proposal? What about the betrothal gift?"

"Uh, what do you want for a dowry? Deming has spent a lot of money on Xiaoru in the past two years! What's more, I asked for a set of clothes for Xiaoru. Can a dowry be more expensive than the price of fabric?"

"As soon as I mentioned it, the old Yan family immediately sent Deming to the county town to buy cloth and meat."

"Xiao Ru, you will be the head of the family after you get married, so you must keep a close eye on the money!" "The old Yan family and Wang Deming are really bad at managing their lives."

"I won't talk about the good fabrics I bought. After all, I love you. The checkered fabric from Beijing is colorful and beautiful, but it must have cost more than 10 yuan. But it's obviously made of coarse white fabric, but you bought fine white fabric! You'll have to spend a few more yuan."

Pointing at the pig's trotters on the table, she felt so distressed: "It's the same when buying meat. I only bought one piece of pork belly, and the rest were lean meat! I also bought a lot of big bones and pig's trotters."

"There's not much fat and water in these big bones and lean meat. Isn't this a waste of money?"

"What about this pig's trotter?"

Aunt Qin raised her voice towards the east room, "Don't accuse me of not taking care of my daughter-in-law. I asked the old Yan family for these two pig's trotters. They said they were to nourish my daughter-in-law and help her produce milk."

The eldest sister-in-law of the Qin family came out of the house holding the child, a hint of joy flashed in the corner of her eyes, and she still lowered her eyebrows and said, "Thank you, Mom."

"Mom, thank you. You have been wronged today."

Wang Deming squatted beside the stove and added firewood, following his godmother's lead in lighting the big stove to continue cooking large bones and chicken racks for soup, his eyes full of apology.

Wang Shuqin added water to the pot again, added ginger, scallions, and two star anises. When the pot boiled, she carefully skimmed off the foam, added some salt and sugar, covered the pot, and smiled kindly at her son: "Deming, how can this be considered an injustice?"

"Have you forgotten what Mom always told you?"

"This person, you have to know what's going on. It doesn't matter if you suffer a little loss on a normal day, especially when you really benefit, you should let yourself suffer a little loss, so that everyone will be happy in the end."

"Don't try to take advantage of others. You are just trying to take advantage of others, but they are trying to take advantage of your most valuable treasure!"

"Look at Xiaoru's parents, aren't they? Just for a little gain, they made their daughter unable to marry in style."

"Also, have you seen in the capital? How many poor bannermen families keep their daughters until they are in their 20s? They don't let them find a husband before they are 29, just to let their daughters stay at home for a few more years to work and earn money."

In the evening, it was said that the two families would have a meal together, but Wang Shuqin still invited relatives and village cadres to accompany them. She would never ignore these personal relationships, especially when there were other considerations.
There was no tent, just two tables were set up in the main room and in front of the door in the yard. The tables, chairs, pots, pans, and utensils were borrowed from relatives in the village. The women helped out, and the chef was Wang Deming.

The dishes were so delicious that many villagers had never seen them before: sweet and sour pork tenderloin, plum meat and a little fat meatballs, Mushu pork, braised chicken with potatoes, tomatoes and cabbage, braised beans, bone soup, etc.
These six dishes and one soup made the villagers who came to the banquet marvel.

When doing business in the countryside, a pot of pork stew is considered quite impressive.

Look at Wang Shuqin. After her two sons ran away, her only daughter married in the city, so she had to live alone in the village.

Hey, it turned out that they adopted a son who had fled from famine, and not only registered him as a resident, but also treated him with all their heart.

Look at the result, this godson has achieved such success in just a few years!

This year, the family built a brick house, and this meal alone can be considered a wedding banquet, right? Not to mention the surrounding villages, even if it is the whole township, it is a big deal, right?
After Wang Deming drove the donkey cart to pick up the Qin family, Wang Shuqin directly pulled Qin Huairu into the house, specially prepared a small table, reserved a portion of each dish, and then began to arrange for everyone to sit down and drink and eat.

He casually introduced the dishes on the table and praised Wang Deming who was toasting: "This dish was not made by me. I don't know how to make it. It was made by my son Deming."

"This dish is a Shandong dish called 'Sweet and Sour Pork Tenderloin'. We specially selected pork tenderloin. It's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, sour and sweet. It's delicious, and it's just right for our festive occasion today."

"And this one is the 'Four Joys Meatballs' from Shandong cuisine, which represents fortune, wealth, longevity and happiness. It uses pork belly and a little fat, and uses the broth made from pork and chicken bones, mixed with the stuffing. It's just right for our celebration today!"

"Well, this is 'Osmanthus meat', which uses pork belly, eggs, cucumber, and black fungus."

"This dish has been added with broth, dear friends, please have a taste."

After listening to Wang Shuqin's talk, the villagers were all very happy and praised Wang Deming, saying that he was really versatile and that he used chopsticks like a sword.
The Qin family members sitting at the mother's table all looked at Aunt Qin. It seems that she is not spending money recklessly? It turns out that she is too good at spending money.
Just this table of food, how many people in the whole village have eaten it before? Not to mention eating it, maybe even seeing it is not enough.
Wang Deming is so smart, isn't he? How come he has such a good cooking skill? Even if he is a cook in Beijing, he can live a very good life, right?

However, it is not a good thing if the food is too good. We didn’t even drink much of the liquor we ordered, and all the food was gone, so we ended the party early.

Finally, Wang Shuqin packed a few candies for each person.

When the villagers left, they were still whispering to each other: Other people's families can make money by holding wedding banquets, hey, Wang Shuqin will have to use up all the family savings that have been saved over the years to hold a wedding banquet for her godson, right?
When her two sons got married, she had never done this before. Although the ceremony was grand, the only meat dish was pork stewed with cabbage.
That’s not necessarily true. When her two sons ran away with their wives, wouldn’t they take all the family assets with them?
However, at least all the money saved in the past few years and the subsidies from my daughter have been used up.

Hey, otherwise why do people say Wang Shuqin is good at winning people over? Look, her godson is more filial than her own son.
Just build a new house, marry a wife to take care of you, and then you can enjoy the good life.
Oh, it really is.
　My godmother's name is Wang Shuqin, and her husband's surname is Yan, so people call her Aunt Yan.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)