Chapter 482: Absconding with the Money
Miao Fenghua had spoiled Su Dan rotten. He was useless at manual labor and couldn’t do much of anything else either.
A guy like him couldn’t get ahead through hard physical work. He wasn’t smart enough, and he was lazy. If he didn’t find another way, farming was definitely not going to work out.
Qin Shanshan was a high school graduate and was even more unwilling to make a living by farming.
As she thought about this, it suddenly occurred to her that buying a camera to take pictures for people was a pretty good gig.
For the two of them to do this work in the countryside, the only drawback was the tiring walks to various villages, but it was far better than other options.
Even if they didn’t take pictures in the villages, they could go to the city later and be like those who set up stalls at tourist spots, earning money by taking photos for others.
The more she thought about it, the more Qin Shanshan felt her idea was a good one.
After thinking it through, Qin Shanshan discussed it with Su Dan.
"Buy a camera and take pictures for people?" Su Dan’s eyes lit up when he heard this, and he was completely on board.
"That’s a great idea! Some of my buddies thought of it before, but they gave up because they didn’t have money for a camera."
Su Dan wasn’t wrong. His good-for-nothing friends had indeed considered it before. They had even fantasized about the salacious opportunities of photographing young wives and girls. But since they couldn’t afford a camera, they dropped the idea. He never expected Qin Shanshan to bring it up.
Su Dan thought Qin Shanshan’s idea was absolutely brilliant, and his gaze on her was shining.
"My dear wife, you’re amazing! To even think of this."
Qin Shanshan huffed smugly. "You just have to use your brain for things like this. But... not everyone has a brain to use."
Qin Shanshan’s tone was tinged with contempt as she spoke the last sentence. In her eyes, most of the people in the village didn’t know how to use their heads.
She looked down on the villagers, but she didn’t know that the villagers looked down on her too.
The stories about Qin Shanshan’s past had long since spread. Her scandalous affair with a fool was known everywhere, and Su Family Village was no exception.
Her reputation was already bad, and then she married Su Dan pregnant and out of wedlock. Although Su Dan and his family cared about their pride and never mentioned what happened in the Imperial City, they couldn’t stop people from filling in the blanks.
Fortunately, neither Miao Fenghua nor Su Dan were good people, so marrying Qin Shanshan was a perfect match.
"You’re right, my wife is the smartest," Su Dan praised her shamelessly.
"Wife, your idea is great, and I’m willing to learn how to take good pictures to earn money. But we don’t have the money for a camera. Are you willing to..."
Su Dan didn’t finish his sentence, but his meaning was obvious.
Qin Shanshan shot Su Dan a look. "As long as you’re willing to work hard with me, I’ll put up the money so we can earn a good living."
Su Dan was a hundred percent on board when he heard that.
"Of course I am, Shanshan! I’ll listen to you. I’ll listen to everything you say."
The two of them settled the matter just like that. They then told Miao Fenghua. Miao Fenghua and Qin Shanshan didn’t get along, but when she heard that Shanshan would be spending her own money to secure a future for Su Dan, she forgot all their grievances and started fawning over Qin Shanshan.
After the family of three had their talk, they spent the next few days visiting relatives and "scoping out the market."
Miao Fenghua and Su Dan made a few trips to neighboring villages and concluded it was an excellent idea.
Afterward, Su Dan and Qin Shanshan went to the county town. After much deliberation, Qin Shanshan finally grit her teeth and spent 880 yuan on a color camera.
Eight hundred eighty yuan! That was almost a quarter of her four thousand yuan.
After buying the camera, they also had to buy color film.
Color film was very expensive back then. One roll cost about twenty-some yuan, and wasting a single shot was heartbreaking.
Since it wasn’t a digital camera, it demanded a higher skill level from the photographer. Qin Shanshan and Su Dan stayed at her uncle’s house for several days, busy with this matter.
Her uncle and aunt’s family were very supportive of what Qin Shanshan and Su Dan were doing and even helped out.
In the end, they finally chose a photo studio to partner with.
Su Dan and Qin Shanshan learned photography from the owner. They would buy color film from the studio at a low price, go out to take pictures, and then have the film developed at the studio. It was a mutually beneficial partnership.
After learning for two days, they started taking practice shots. Their photography skills weren’t great, but they weren’t terrible either. The results were quite decent.
With everything settled, Su Dan and Qin Shanshan began their days of traveling to various villages to take pictures.
For this kind of work, they had to target more remote villages, like Xinghua Village and Su Family Village, which were up in the mountains and far from town.
Su Dan could go without any problem, but Qin Shanshan couldn’t tag along.
She was pregnant, after all, and couldn’t overexert herself. Accompanying him for a day or two to nearby places was fine, but following him on long trips every day was out of the question.
In the end, Su Dan went out on his own.
For the first few days, Su Dan was full of enthusiasm and motivation, but it wasn’t long before he started to feel it was too much hard work.
Fortunately, by this time, Qin Shanshan was past the first three months of her pregnancy. They were starting to see some success and had earned a bit of money, so he stuck with it for a while.
But it didn’t last long. With the arrival of the harsh winter, he started getting lazy.
He didn’t dare stay at home, so he went out to mess around with his old good-for-nothing friends. Feeling rich, Su Dan started spending money left and right, indulging in debauchery.
Of course, when he went home, he’d lie to Qin Shanshan and say he’d been out working, just that business was bad in the winter.
Unfortunately, his lies didn’t last long. Qin Shanshan soon found out what he’d been doing. She threw a huge tantrum and refused to let Su Dan touch her.
It’s easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go back. How could Su Dan stand it? He went out and got wasted that very day.
Once drunk, Su Dan’s old habits resurfaced, and he started hitting Qin Shanshan again.
Qin Shanshan was pregnant and couldn’t be hit. Miao Fenghua came to stop him, but in the end, Su Dan started hitting both of them.
When Su Dan was drunk, his strength increased dramatically. The two women were no match for him, especially since Qin Shanshan was pregnant and Miao Fenghua couldn’t bring herself to strike her son.
The outcome was more or less the same as the last time.
It ended with Su Dan dragging Qin Shanshan back to their room, hitting her while tearing off her clothes.
Qin Shanshan was nearly dead from anger, but she could only endure it, protecting the child in her belly.
The next day, after Su Dan sobered up, he started slapping his own face and kneeling in repentance again.
Miao Fenghua, being soft-hearted, forgave him again. Qin Shanshan held out for two days but ultimately had no choice but to forgive Su Dan as well.
Su Dan repented for two days, then diligently slung the camera over his shoulder and went back to work, heading out to earn money no matter how cold it was.
Qin Shanshan’s heart softened again. Sometimes, when she saw he wasn’t making any money, she had no choice but to give him an allowance, waiting for spring to arrive and the weather to warm up so they could earn big money.
Su Dan was diligent for a few days, but once he saw Qin Shanshan’s attitude improve, his old habits resurfaced...
In December, Su Dan would get drunk about once every ten days. His addiction to alcohol grew, and it seemed he was on his way to becoming a drunkard.
He got drunk three times, and he beat Qin Shanshan and Miao Fenghua three times.
Qin Shanshan was now four months pregnant, and her belly was growing. Miao Fenghua started desperately protecting her grandson in Qin Shanshan’s womb, but this protection came at her own expense.
On Wu Sheng’s birthday, while Su Li and Wu Sheng were celebrating, Su Dan was over here getting drunk and beating people in a drunken rage.
Miao Fenghua pushed Qin Shanshan out the door, telling her to go hide at a neighbor’s house, while she alone endured Su Dan’s punches and kicks.
In the end, Su Dan beat Miao Fenghua unconscious. She only woke up the next day on the cold floor, but when she did, she found that Su Dan was nowhere to be seen.
She searched everywhere but couldn’t find a trace of Su Dan. When Qin Shanshan returned, she discovered that the money she had hidden was gone.