Chapter 135 - 132: Struck It Rich
Watching Li Xiu leave the courtyard, the three brothers stared at the goods on the table, taking a long moment to come to their senses. ’Does he really trust us this much? Isn’t he worried we’ll just run off with the merchandise? The stuff on this table alone has to be worth three or four thousand yuan!’
The three men looked at each other, then back at the goods on the table. A silent decision formed in each of their hearts. Since Li Xiu trusted them so much, they would not betray that trust or prove themselves ungrateful. From now on, they would follow him. He had extended a hand to them in their most difficult time, pulling them out of their confusion. He was their benefactor.
None of them were the type to dawdle. Since Li Xiu had given them a hand, it was up to them to clear the thorny path ahead and turn it into a wide, sunny road for him. The three of them divided the merchandise, shouldered their bags, and headed out. They might not have had money, but having grown up in the Capital City, each of them had their own channels.
When he got home, Li Xiu saw his wife lying on the kang-bed, playing with their daughter. "Bao’er, I’m home," he said cheerfully. Seeing the big one and the little one on the bed turn their heads in unison to look at him, Li Xiu broke into a satisfied laugh. ’Nothing makes me happier than seeing my wife and daughter.’
"Daddy, Daddy!" Seeing her father laughing, Nuonuo toddled unsteadily toward him.
Scooping up his daughter in one arm, Li Xiu took off his shoes and got onto the kang-bed. He leaned down and kissed his wife’s forehead. Seeing her shoot him a bashful glare, he didn’t dare tease her any further. ’I’ve been thinking about this for over ten days, and last night wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy me. But I can’t provoke my wife right now. Never mind that it’s broad daylight, this little lightbulb in my arms is shining way too brightly.’
"Is everything taken care of?" Zhou Lian asked with concern. ’In the dead of winter, I hate seeing my husband running around outside all day. It’s so cold and tiring.’
"All taken care of. I just need to go collect the payment tonight, so don’t worry. However, I’m afraid we won’t be able to go back for the Little New Year. We probably won’t get home until the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh," Li Xiu said with a smile. ’There’s just too much merchandise; it’ll take at least ten days to sell it all.’
"That’s alright. Our whole family is here together, so what does it matter where we celebrate the Little New Year!" Zhou Lian said nonchalantly. As a married daughter, she knew that as long as she delivered the New Year’s gifts to her parents’ home before the year’s end, no one would have anything to gossip about.
"You’re right, Bao’er. But we still have to go back for the New Year itself. It is our first year, after all. We should make a trip back to put the minds of those who truly care about us at ease," Li Xiu said softly. ’We have to go back no matter what. My wife hasn’t been back to her parents’ home in almost half a year; she must miss it. Besides, I can only imagine how much her parents are worried about our little family of three! And I also need to go back to visit Uncle Ge’s grave.’
"Okay. While you were away, I took Nuonuo to the store on days when the weather was nice and bought some things. Go take a look and see if anything is missing. We should hurry and buy whatever else we need while there’s still time. I hear things get harder to find the closer it gets to the end of the year," Zhou Lian said after a moment of thought. ’It’s been a long time since I’ve had to manage these miscellaneous tasks, so I’ve probably forgotten some things. It’s more reliable to have my husband take a look.’
"Alright, I’ll go take a look."
Looking at the piles of items, Li Xiu smiled. ’My wife is as capable as ever. She’s prepared everything perfectly. There are gifts for her father’s family, her three brothers’ families, her two sisters’ families, as well as for the village elder, Third Uncle, and Li Bao. There are also gifts for my two married sisters, the village chief, the production team leader, and a few close relatives from my clan. The value of each gift is perfectly appropriate. She even wrote names on every single one so they won’t get mixed up. My wife is so meticulous!’
"See? Is anything missing?" Zhou Lian asked with concern when her husband returned.
"Bao’er, you did a wonderful job. Nothing’s missing. We just need to add the clothes I brought back from the south. A military greatcoat each for Father-in-law, the village elder, and Third Uncle, and a padded cotton jacket each for Grandma, Mother-in-law, First Aunt, and Third Aunt," Li Xiu said, looking at Zhou Lian gently.
"Okay. By the way, how long will we be staying in our hometown? Is the elder’s second daughter getting married soon?"
"Yes, it’ll probably be either right before or right after the New Year. Before I went south last time, I wrote a letter home saying we had business here and wouldn’t be back until the end of the year. I figure she’ll wait for us to get back before she gets married. That girl is stubborn; she definitely won’t let Li Bao or the others carry her out on her wedding day," Li Xiu said with a laugh. He had heard from his grandmother long ago that all his younger female cousins, from both the elder’s and Third Uncle’s families, had agreed that when they got married, they wanted their "big brother" to carry them out the door and their "big sister-in-law" to prepare their washing water.
While the family of three laughed and played in their warm room, Wei Guo, Wang Dongfang, and Liu Qiang were out braving the biting northwest wind, running all over the Capital City. Their guess had been right on the money: watches and radios were hot commodities. Many people planning to get married before the New Year were pulling strings to acquire wedding necessities, making their merchandise as desirable as hotcakes. What’s more, no ration coupons were needed; for just an extra three yuan, the items could be theirs. Before dusk, they had sold out of everything. They had even taken deposits from many others for goods to be delivered tomorrow!
The three brothers returned to Wang Dongfang’s small courtyard house one after another. It wasn’t even four in the afternoon. Without a word, each of them claimed a corner of the table and started counting the money. The result was staggering. After setting aside Li Xiu’s principal and the deposits, each of them had earned sixty or seventy yuan. A typical worker back then only made ten or twenty yuan a month. In a single day, they had earned several months’ wages.
That evening, after finishing dinner at home, Li Xiu thought for a moment. He packed a bamboo basket with two dishes and about ten steamed buns, said goodbye to his wife and daughter, shouldered another large bag of merchandise, and ambled toward Wang Dongfang’s small courtyard house. It wasn’t far, only a ten-to-fifteen-minute walk.
The main gate was unlocked, so Li Xiu went straight in. He found the three men sitting there in a daze. His brow furrowed. ’Did they fail to sell the goods? That shouldn’t be possible. These three grew up in the alleys of the Capital City; they should have been able to handle a simple task like this.’
The sound of the door opening snapped the three of them out of it. Seeing Li Xiu with a large bag on his back and a basket in his hand, they quickly stood up to help him with his things. Li Xiu placed the bamboo basket on the table, and then he saw the money spread across it. He smiled. ’It’s not that they failed to sell anything. They’re just overwhelmed with excitement.’
"Alright, look at you lot," Li Xiu chided with a laugh. "You haven’t eaten yet, have you? I brought you some food. Eat up!" ’Just this little bit of money is enough to make three grown men sit here in a daze. Pathetic!’
The three men rubbed their stomachs and laughed. It wasn’t just that they hadn’t eaten dinner—they had skipped lunch, too. Seeing the steamed buns Li Xiu brought out, they didn’t stand on ceremony, immediately grabbing them and starting to eat. Only after they had eaten and drunk their fill did they smile at Li Xiu, a bit sheepishly.
Half an hour later, Li Xiu had finished settling the accounts. He opened his large bag and said, "I brought sixty watches and sixty radios tonight. This is all the stock for this year. It’s up to you to sell it."
"Okay, Big Brother. You can trust us. We should be able to sell it all in two or three days," Wang Dongfang said with a smile. ’With this batch, the three of us can each make another two or three hundred yuan. This is going to be a very prosperous New Year!’
"Good. You all work hard. After the New Year, when I get back from my hometown, we’ll discuss what we’re going to do next year and how we’ll do it," Li Xiu said with a broad smile. ’I can’t treat these three unfairly, that’s for sure. In the future, I’ll have to give them plenty of opportunities to work hard!’
That night, none of the four men in the room, Li Xiu included, could have imagined the great success they would later achieve. Of course, in the future, whenever Li Xiu would be off having fun with his wife and child, the other three would be left behind, grinding their teeth in frustration. But there was nothing they could do. Who was to blame but themselves for being duped into boarding a ship captained by Li Xiu, a man three or four years their junior? A ship, moreover, that they could never get off of. Naturally, that is a story for another time. It was still too early to be thinking about such things now.