Chapter 22: Earning Money
Editor: Atlas Studios
"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.
Chapter 23: Growing Bean Sprouts
Editor: Atlas Studios
Qiao Qiang's heart ached whenever he thought of Qiao Mei at seven years old.
After putting on the pity act, Qiao Mei continued, "Grandfather, when you have time, take our sweet potato and pumpkin to exchange for a few catties of beans. I'll grow the bean sprouts and we'll go exchange them for money in the city."
"Okay, okay, I'll go now!" Qiao Qiang did not say anything else but stood up and walked out.
It did not matter if it was profitable or not. It was already good enough that his granddaughter, Mei Mei, had such thoughts and he would let her do whatever she wanted.
Qiao Mei did not let him go alone. With the carrying pole on her shoulder, she took half a basket of sweet potatoes and two big pumpkins and followed behind her grandfather to the village to make an exchange for green beans.
Growing beans into bean sprouts was something she was good at!
How could she not know how to do such a fun thing?
In her other life, when she was tired from work, her favorite way to relax was doing handicraft work and cooking.
The two of them walked through the entire village and went from house to house, except for Qiao Zhuang's house, and exchanged for 50 catties of green beans.
The big basket of sweet potatoes and pumpkins was not enough to exchange for the beans. In the end, Qiao Qiang promised that he would pay for the beans with his salary and everyone felt assured enough to give the beans to Qiao Mei.
After the two of them left, all the families were discussing the matter of them collecting green beans.
No one believed that Qiao Mei knew how to grow bean sprouts!
Growing bean sprouts needed skills and the temperature and humidity had to be precise. No one in the village knew how to grow them and no one was willing to waste beans on experiments.
"I'm guessing that Qiao Qiang must have run out of food at home and found an excuse to exchange for beans as he was too embarrassed to tell us," an old lady said.
"Impossible, impossible! Whose family ran out of food? If they eat green beans every day, wouldn't they die of diarrhea?" the old man next to her said with a smile while smoking tobacco.
"Hahaha!" Everyone around laughed.
"However, I discovered something strange. That Qiao Mei doesn't seem to be as annoying as the rumors say," another old lady said. "She smiles gently when she sees people, her eyes also seem to be smiling…"
They could barely remember the Black Bear Spirit from before.
"Yes, yes, yes! I was wondering just now, where did that lazy and greedy Qiao Mei go?"
"I'm guessing that given her grandfather is about to die, she wants to show herself and gain everyone's favor."
"Sigh, this child is really pitiful. She has no parents and her only grandfather is about to leave."
"How pitiful!" The people around her all agreed, and the topic quickly shifted to Qiao Mei's remarried mother.
No matter how bad Qiao Mei's temper was in the past, she did not provoke anyone.
Now that her personality had changed, she gained a lot of sympathy instead.
Qiao Mei did not think too much about it. When she got home, she quickly got busy and soaked the beans in warm water.
After soaking for two days and two nights and the beans sprouted, the beans would be moved into a dry basket and they would be ready after one week.
Of course, there were still many other things to be careful about. For example, it would be best that the bottom of the basket was covered with a layer of gauze and the top of the basket was covered with a layer of cotton cloth to block out the light.
Otherwise, the bean sprouts would turn out bitter and astringent and they would not look good as well.
One basket of bean sprouts would need six catties of beans, so when the beans sprouted, they would be able to harvest more than eighty catties of bean sprouts.
Qiao Mei believed that with her skills, she could definitely make bean sprouts that grow out looking white and fat.
"Grandfather, I don't think we have enough baskets at home. If you have time, make a few more to stand by!" Qiao Mei said.
Over 50 catties of green beans could yield at least seven to eight baskets of bean sprouts. She planned to portion these green beans and sprout one basket a day and would sell each basket as she sprouted them.
When sales stabilized, she would then produce about 10 baskets a day.
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