Winner in life

Seeing this sentence means that the purchase ratio is not enough. "There is sugar at home, then you can ask your aunt to teach me, it would be a pity not to eat so many fruits." Ruihe peeled an orange with a yellow peel. As soon as the peel was broken, a sour smell came to his nose. The orange was small, so he ate it all in one bite. As a result, the sourness twisted his eyes and nose into a ball, and he could hardly control his saliva.

"I told you it was very sour, and you still swallowed it in one bite." Li Dashui laughed, and felt that his friend was a little silly, so he hurriedly asked him to spit it out.

Ruihe hurriedly covered his mouth, bent down and swallowed the orange, tears came out.

"It's delicious. I haven't eaten such fresh fruit for a long time." Ruihe finally recovered, his eyelashes soaked with tears, "It must be delicious when made into jam."

Li Dashui sighed: "It's just a waste of sugar, but my mother said that now I'm starting to make money, I don't feel bad about buying two more kilograms of sugar. Money is really a good thing."

"Money is really a good thing." If it weren't for the two dollars and a half tuition, Ruihe wouldn't be able to find a teacher to teach him. "The factory will start work in ten days, and I have found Mr. Xu Caiheng to teach me." Ruihe told Li Dashui about the matter, "I plan to study hard in these ten days. When the factory starts work, I won't have so much free time." Mr. Xu said he would come to teach him on weekends. In fact, the bamboo factory does not necessarily have holidays every weekend. In fact, the holidays are uncertain. If there are large orders, there are no holidays at all. Therefore, these ten days are very important.

Li Dashui didn't expect Ruihe to be so motivated: "The money has been spent, so you really have to work hard." Two yuan and fifty cents, white sugar is seventy-eight cents per pound, his mother felt bad for using two pounds to make jam, but he didn't expect Xiaoshan to spend two yuan and fifty cents to find someone to tutor him without blinking, and he felt bad for the money just by listening to it.

"I will!" Ruihe nodded seriously.

Li Dashui: "..." He sighed and patted his friend's shoulder.

In his opinion, the two yuan and fifty cents were spent unjustly and not worth it. But on second thought, Xiaoshan is now the boss of the family, and he works very hard in the bamboo factory. He earns forty yuan a month, so spending a few yuan doesn't seem to be a big deal.

Li Dashui suddenly became ambitious. After the factory starts working after the New Year, he must work as hard as Xiaoshan, and make a lot of money to spend freely!

Ruihe didn't know that Li Dashui had set a great ambition to make a lot of money, and his mood was much more open. The depression and uneasiness that suddenly surged up after Xu Caiheng left were all gone, and he was full of expectations for tomorrow's class.

System 460 was also relieved. It seemed that although the host was young, he had good self-regulation ability. It was a little proud. This was the host it chose.

In the next ten days, Ruihe was studying all the time except for eating and sleeping. After class, Xu Caiheng left him and was still reviewing the course just now. Because of his cooperation and self-consciousness, Xu Caiheng praised him several times and said that he was "talented".

Ten days later, the factory started work. Ruihe had to go to work during the day, and Xu Caiheng also had to go to school. Therefore, according to the agreement, the class time was moved to Friday and Saturday nights. If Xu Caiheng was free on any night from Monday to Friday, he would also come to Ruihe's house.

After the New Year, it was 1973, and there were only four years to 1977. In order to catch up with the first exam after the resumption of the college entrance examination, Ruihe's study tasks were very tight. But the factory work could not be put aside. He had no one to rely on. He needed to support himself first. If he could really get into college in the future, it would be better if the college was free of tuition and there were subsidies, but he still had to have money on hand to feel at ease.

According to Zhang Xiaoshan's memory, after a few years, the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination spread to this ordinary small southern village. Who among the educated youth and other people in the village who wanted to take the exam did not study late at night? Work during the day and study at night? If others can do it, he can do it too.

"I started preparing earlier than them. Even if I have never learned it before, I believe I can learn it well." Ruihe set a goal of study ambitiously. Even if Xu Caiheng was not available, Ruihe would still study by himself until eleven o'clock at night.

The fulfilling days passed quickly. The spring plowing time came, and the school gave a week off for students to help with farm work. The bamboo factory happened to have no big orders for delivery, so it also gave a week off.

Ruihe put on a straw hat again and went to the fields, earning himself 57 more work points.

Soon, the year passed. At the end of the year, Ruihe used 34 yuan to approve a residential land in the production team, which was 75 square meters. Because the village had a rule that one household could only be approved for one residential land, and the maximum area was 75 square meters. Ruihe asked quietly, and Li Dashui asked from his father that although only one piece could be approved, the house could be bought at will, and the higher authorities did not care how many houses you bought. However, Ruihe was not well-off enough to buy a house, so he put it aside for the time being.

Because he had basic food rations and the grain earned from the work points accumulated during the four busy seasons of sowing and harvesting in a year, Ruihe's expenditure on grain this year did not exceed fifty yuan. In addition to other trivial expenses and medical expenses for two illnesses at the beginning and middle of the year, he saved four hundred and twenty yuan this year. With the twenty yuan he got when the family was divided, he now has a small savings. But Ruihe was reluctant to buy a house with this money, and he always had to prepare it for emergencies.

After the factory stopped working, Ruihe renovated his home. A typhoon in the summer made the mud house even more dilapidated, and it would always drip when it rained. After some renovation, it would be easier to celebrate the Spring Festival. This year, Ruihe rejected Zhang Dashan's request to have a New Year's Eve dinner together. Zhang Dashan's face didn't look good, but he still said nothing.

Rui He scratched his hair and looked at Zhang Dashan's back as he went out, then lowered his head and continued to pack his things. He has a good relationship with his co-workers Zhang Tianci and Zhang Cuipei in the factory. Ruihe usually works hard to make more money, which leads the two people to be very active. In addition, Rui He has a good temper, and he often does most of the work alone. The friendship of making money together makes the relationship between the three of them better and better. Maybe Zhang Tianci and his wife were dissatisfied with the extra work at some point, but when the wages were actually in their hands, all the hard work was no longer worth mentioning.

He packed up two large backpacks half as tall as a man, planning to give one to himself and one to Li Dashui, who would also go with them in the afternoon.

In order to stay in the factory, Li Dashui performed particularly well during the three-month trial period and was exceptionally recruited by the supervisor to join the factory and specialize in cutting bamboo slices. Later, Ruihe asked Li Dashui to join his group. There was no other way. They grouped three people to take turns cutting bamboo and cutting bamboo pieces for weaving. But Ruihe was much faster than the two of them. Whether it was weaving or preparing weaving materials, the whole process was The speed of the team was out of sync. Either there were not enough bamboo slices for him, or he cut too many bamboo slices for the team members to use.

After Li Dashui joined the group, Ruihe could concentrate on knitting, and the number of finished products increased significantly. When wages were settled at the end of the month, each person would earn an extra one yuan and forty cents. Since then, Zhang Tianci and the others have not spoken to each other.

This time we made an appointment to go shopping for New Year's goods together, which was also the result of the relationship between the four of us becoming more harmonious. At 12:30 noon, Li Dashui came to see Ruihe. The two of them carried a basket and went to the entrance of the village to meet Zhang Tianci. Then they met Zhang Cuibei at the entrance of the next village, and the four of them slowly walked toward the town.

"My mother made a list for me to buy. I brought out all my personal money." Li Dashui took out the list while walking and looked at it. "I have to buy all kinds of sweets, cakes and washbasins. Alas, I can't help it. I now He is also a man who makes money, so I will buy whatever my mother says." He complained about the trouble, but his eyes were filled with pride.

Zhang Tianci laughed: "Look at how successful you are as a villain."

"No matter how successful a villain is, he is obviously getting ahead~" Li Dashui shook his head and extended his orchid finger in a gesture, "I am also a rich man now."

"Come on, don't make me laugh." Zhang Tianci hammered Li Dashui's orchid finger off, and then sighed softly, "I didn't expect to earn so much after joining the factory. Now people listen to what I say at home. My dad, I My mother came to ask me for my opinion, and I really felt like I was in charge.”

Zhang Cuibei also nodded: "No, my mother always told me to get married early in the past. Now I make money and save it myself, and my younger brother doesn't dare to whisper to me anymore. It's better to make money by yourself. Once you make money, you will feel confident."

Rui He nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes."

Zhang Cuimei burst out laughing: "Little Shan, it's okay to carry such a big basket in the flood, but why are you doing the same? I remember you live alone."

"I want to buy some gifts for Mr. Xu." Rui He pursed his lips and smiled, "He has taught me seriously this year, and I am particularly grateful to him."

"I think you are too tired like this." They are all good friends. Zhang Cuibei couldn't help but give some advice, "Look, you have caught two colds this year, and both times you have high fever. The doctor said you are too tired. Always How can your body endure such hard work? "Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, without even a day off. In her opinion, there is really no need to study through gaps. Now working in factories, the piece-rate wages they earn are more than the wages of people in the city, and the wages of teachers are not much. She really doesn't understand why Zhang Xiaoshan is so stubborn.

Rui He didn't want to explain this problem because he had already explained it many times this year. After the news about Mr. Xu Caiheng helping him with tutoring spread out and more people knew about it, he would be asked questions by fellow villagers he met on the road. Later he realized clearly that everyone was just asking casually out of curiosity, so he stopped racking his brains to explain.

Sure enough, seeing Ruihe just lowering his eyes and smiling shyly, Zhang Cuibei stopped continuing the topic and turned to the things he wanted to buy today: "I heard that a batch of skirts came from the department store!" She lowered her voice mysteriously. , with a tone full of expectation, "I heard it looks good, but I haven't worn a skirt yet! No matter what, I must buy one to wear!"

Zhang Tianci frowned: "Skirt? I don't like it. Even if you buy it, it won't be easy to wear. Who in our village wears a skirt? It's not simple, not very solemn."

"Why is it not dignified to wear a skirt? People in the city wear it too! It's so long that it reaches the ankles! Don't worry, I plan to buy a dark one. The color must be simple." Zhang Cuibei strode forward with a dark face. Zhang Tianci smiled awkwardly at Ruihe and Li Dashui, and quickly caught up with them.

"Why do I feel like there's something wrong with the two of them?" Li Dashui touched his chin.

Rui He said "Huh?" in confusion: "There is nothing wrong, let's leave quickly!"

Rui He squatted down and touched it. The material was indeed good, it felt smooth, and it was quite thick when he pinched it. The style of the jacket is the most fashionable military uniform nowadays, but the color is dark blue. It has large lapels and pockets. It is straight and looks particularly energetic. Ruihe believes this person, such clothes must look decent.

"How much?"

"Thirty-four dollars."

"So expensive?"

"It's not expensive! I bought it at the Shanghai Department Store for 30 yuan originally. I have to earn some travel expenses and hard-earned money to transport it here, right? If you go to Shanghai to buy it yourself, it will cost almost 50 yuan including the round-trip ticket. !”

After hearing this, Li Dashui looked at Ruihe. Ruihe looked at the coat over and over again and really liked it. This coat was too big for him, but he was still growing taller, so he could wear it for several years after he got older.

Seeing that Ruihe was interested, Li Dashui pulled Ruihe and said, "If you really want to buy it, let's bargain again?"

Ruihe nodded and looked at the seller, "Can it be cheaper?"

"It's already very cheap! Look at the material, the best woolen fabric, it won't break even after wearing it for ten years, and I don't want a ticket! It's definitely new clothes, you can see the label is still hanging. Such good clothes, you can't buy them in a department store even if you have money!"

Ruihe wanted to buy it, so Li Dashui joined in to help him bargain. The three of them lowered their voices and bargained with each other. In the end, Ruihe bought the woolen coat for 32.5 yuan. However, he didn't have so much money on him. Just as he discussed with the seller that he would wait for him to go home to get the money, the girl who was on guard at the alley came back and whispered, "The city management from the Industrial and Commercial Bureau is here!"

All of a sudden, the seller and the buyer jumped up.

The man grabbed, pulled, and tied with both hands at the same time, and ran away with the big package.

"Go, go!"

In the blink of an eye, people ran around, and Li Dashui also pulled Ruihe out of the alley, far away from the city management. The city management wore a uniform and walked vigorously, which scared Ruihe. He had seen these people arrest people who were doing business secretly in the alley before. I heard that all their things were confiscated and they would be locked up for three months. I heard from Aunt Xiu'e that in previous years, those who were caught would be locked up for several years, but these years are relatively relaxed.

Ruihe felt a little regretful that he didn't buy the coat he liked. In the days to come, he would always think of this dark blue woolen coat. In the dim alley, the coat seemed particularly bright and had taken root in his memory for many years. When he bought more coats in the future, he always felt that they were not as beautiful as the one he bought back then, and that one was soft to the touch.

However, Ruihe was just like Li Dashui at this time. He was frightened by the sudden arrival of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau and the city management. He didn't care about anything else for a while. He took another path to avoid them and hurried home. Speculation and buying, the buyer will also be punished.

At night, Ruihe sat on the bed and started to make shoe soles. He just received a bundle of ropes from the production team at the end of this year. He was usually busy and had no time to make shoe soles. Now he only had a pair of thousand-layer shoes to wear. If it rained one day, he would not even have replacement shoes.

Under the oil lamp light, Ruihe suddenly lost himself. He remembered the incident in the afternoon and couldn't help complaining to system 460: "I can buy a woolen coat without cloth, but it's a pity that I didn't buy it. Do you think I can meet that person again if I go out tomorrow?" After that, he sighed and asked himself, "I don't think it will work. I met the city management there today. The boss must not dare to sell there again. Where can I find him? I probably can't find him."

The oil lamp wick jumped with a crackling sound, and the door panel was knocked.

"Xiaoshan, it's me."

It's Zhang Dashan.

Ruihe got out of bed and opened the door. Zhang Dashan came in wrapped in the cold of the winter night. After sitting down, he chatted for a while. It was just that the two of them didn't have much contact after they separated. On weekdays, one went to the fields and the other went to work in the factory. There was nothing much to talk about. After talking about the topic that this year's autumn harvest was worse than in previous years, Zhang Dashan coughed and finally got to the point.

It turned out that he wanted to borrow money to buy a house. Not to rebuild the house he lived in now, but to buy a new one directly.

There was a family named Zhang Conglu in the village. His house was just built the year before last. It was brand new and it was a two-story building. I don't know why they suddenly wanted to sell the house for 240 yuan.

"I just wanted to buy it. You can come and live here in the future."

Ruihe found it incredible. Why did Zhang Dashan think he would borrow so much money? Even if he really wanted to buy it, he would buy it himself. Why would he lend money to Zhang Dashan to buy it and then live there for free?

"Brother, I can't lend you this money. You know I've been taking extra classes, and I plan to go to middle school next summer, so the money I earn from the factory will be for my living expenses in the future, and I can't use it easily. If you want to buy a house, I can lend you twenty dollars." Of course, it's the kind of IOU.

Zhang Dashan was shocked by this statement: "Go to middle school? Are you crazy? You have such a bright future but you don't want to go to school?"

It was Xu Caiheng who suggested going to middle school. He said: "Primary school is easy. Many students nowadays don't stay in school for five years. They are busy with family affairs, taking care of younger brothers and sisters, and helping in the fields. The school is not strict. As long as you come to the final exam, you will graduate. Whether you can pass the exam and go to middle school is your own business."

He waved his hand, "But if students don't come to school much throughout the year, they generally don't have the heart to go to middle school. But middle school is different, Xiaoshan, I can indeed teach you the content of middle school, but if you want to graduate from middle school smoothly, you must go to class and study step by step, otherwise the school will not let you graduate."

If you can't graduate, you can't go to high school, and you can't get the qualification of high school graduates to take the college entrance examination.

Xu Caiheng said that he could also register his name for the elementary school final exam at the end of June next year, and let him take the exam, and charge a five-cent exam fee. As long as he passed the final exam next year, he would be admitted to a middle school like other students, and his student status would be in Shangmei Village Primary School. The procedures were not bad.

For this reason, Ruihe decided to quit his job and go to middle school, and what he said to Zhang Dashan was not an excuse.

But he couldn't explain it to Zhang Dashan. Outsiders couldn't understand why he gave up his factory job to study. Ruihe didn't want to say more, so he just exposed his attitude.

Zhang Dashan's hands were clasped together under the table, but his face was a little more sad, and he changed his words.

"Originally, your sister-in-law and I planned to buy a house, and we borrowed 30 yuan from the Song family. Unexpectedly, before the money was gathered, your sister-in-law's father had an accident. In the middle of the night, he suddenly wanted to go to the fields to see, and accidentally fell. His forehead hit a stone and broke a hole. He is now in the town hospital." Zhang Dashan sighed, "I returned the 30 yuan I borrowed from the Song family and sent 100 yuan. In this way, buying a house is far away. Xiaoshan, my father said something when he was here before. I don't know if you still remember it?"

Ruihe searched his memory and finally found the words said by the original owner's father in the memory when he was seven years old.

"I hate that I don't have a roof over my head to shelter me from the rain!"

When the houses were divided, Zhang's luck was as bad as a stinky ditch. He was not in the village, but was doing business in the city. When he came back, all the good houses and yards in the village had been divided. So after Zhang occupied the three houses in this row, he still couldn't forget the regret and pain of missing out on the good houses. Especially after his children were born, they lived in cramped and dilapidated houses, which made him even more sad.

Zhang Dashan sighed: "Now there is such a good opportunity, isn't it tempting? Don't you want to fulfill Dad's wish?"

Ruihe almost got confused.

However, money is the second most important thing in his mind after studying. When money is mentioned, his vigilance immediately rises. Zhang Dashan's words are right and wrong.

"I know Dad's wish. Well, I'll buy the house. Anyway, it doesn't matter if we two brothers buy it. Dad will be happy."

Zhang Dashan's face was really dark this time, and he slammed the door when he left. Ruihe was even more puzzled. The couple's behavior was too unreasonable. Two hundred yuan! Could it be that they could borrow it with just a few words? Do they think highly of themselves or do they think he is a fool?

System 460 saw the host muttering and couldn't help saying, "They saw the original body too clearly. I didn't expect that you are not him now."

Ruihe suddenly realized and felt more pity for the original body. Isn't the original body like this? After a few years, the market was reopened, and the number of people doing business increased several times. The original body was hardworking and often went out to do business during the slack season after the market was relaxed.

For example, riding a bicycle to Xiwei City, 40 kilometers away, to pick up carambolas and resell them, or riding a bicycle to Raoan to pick up rice and sell it to make a difference of two or three cents per pound, it takes more than 200 kilometers to go back and forth. In those years, the roads were uneven. Although riding a bicycle was faster than walking, it was not comfortable. In this way, he worked hard to save money until he was 30 years old. Zhang Xiaoshan was really relieved to hand it all over to Zhang Dashan for safekeeping at home.

Honest, honest, and simple-minded.

Isn't that what Zhang Xiaoshan looks like in Zhang Dashan's eyes?

"I'm Xu Ruihe, not Zhang Xiaoshan." Ruihe sighed and put the matter behind him. As for buying a house, he won't buy it. What he said to Zhang Dashan was not an excuse. He really planned to go to middle school in the second half of next year, just in time for the fall semester, so he could start learning middle school courses again.

Lend a hand, lend a hand, not all your wealth. Not to mention that he has to study next year and needs money, even if he doesn't study, it's impossible for him to lend most of his wealth to Zhang Dashan to buy a house.

Soon it was the day for Xu Caiheng to get married, and Ruihe went there early to help. The place for the wedding was in the same alley as the bride Zhang Qingnan's house. Ruihe found the place after asking around a little bit after arriving at Xiaogangjiao. The old lady who showed him the way said with a smile: "Zhang Sheng's fifth daughter is blessed in the town. The new son-in-law bought a house in Chiyu Lane to marry a daughter-in-law. The married daughter lives in the same lane. How great."

When they arrived at Xu Caiheng's new house, Ruihe handed the gift to Xu Caiheng. Xu Caiheng took his gift and led him to the banquet with a smile on his face: "We are all from the same village. Don't be embarrassed. Come and have fun with everyone."

Ruihe was timid in his heart. Facing several pairs of bright eyes, he smiled shyly and greeted: "Hello, Aunt Gui, Hello, Seventh Cousin, Hello, Aunt Shufen, Hello, Aunt Zhi..."

Help, Mr. Xu actually led him to a table of female relatives. Ruihe knew them all at a glance. After greeting them all, all the elders smiled and greeted him.