Chapter 426 - 360: Nails and Cans
The drunken father’s first words upon waking were filled with concern for his son.
A perfect picture of a loving father and a dutiful son.
Zhao Jun didn’t call his bluff. Pretending not to see his mother pouting beside him, he quickly unwrapped a piece of candy and held it to Zhao Youcai’s lips. "Dad, have a piece. It’ll help you sober up."
"Mhm," Zhao Youcai grunted and opened his mouth, letting Zhao Jun pop the candy inside.
"This candy must be expensive, huh?" After the candy entered his mouth and rolled around for a moment, Zhao Youcai used his tongue to tuck it into his right cheek. Then he said to Zhao Jun, "The moment you earn a little money, you start spending it recklessly. You should be saving it to find a wife."
Zhao Jun: "..."
Wang Meilan: "..."
While the mother and son were speechless, Zhao Na reached out her little hand, grabbed a handful of candy, and tried to stuff it into her pocket. But her hands were too small; not only did she fail to grab many, but the ones she did get slipped through her fingers.
"Good grief, child! Eating so much candy this late at night, do you want your teeth to rot?" Wang Meilan stepped forward, pulled Zhao Na over, and pried the remaining candies from her hand. She put them all back in the Butter Paper package, then said to the two pouting little girls, "You can have more tomorrow!"
Hearing this, the two little girls stopped sulking. It was only for one night; they just had to sleep and it would be morning.
Just then, Zhao Jun picked up Zhao Na, ruffled her hair, and asked with a smile, "Hey, little sis, is the candy good?"
"Delicious!" Zhao Na exclaimed. "It’s way better than the candy balls Uncle Wang sells."
Zhao Jun chuckled at her response. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Zhao Youcai pipe up from the side, "Yeah, well, so is the price."
Wang Meilan shot him a glare and tied up the Butter Paper package. But then she noticed the two mesh bags set to the side, full of Cans. "Son, what are these things?" she asked Zhao Jun. "Some kind of ’Libao’?"
She hadn’t had much schooling, so she couldn’t recognize the first character, "Jian."
Hearing his wife, Zhao Youcai sat up to take a look. His eyes went wide. He yelled at Zhao Jun, "You little punk, what did you buy this stuff for? How much did it cost?"
Hearing that, Wang Meilan quickly asked Zhao Jun, "Son, what is it?"
"Soda," Zhao Jun said, taking a can from the mesh bag and handing it to Wang Meilan.
The list of ingredients and whatnot written on the can was enough to make Wang Meilan’s head spin, but when the two little girls beside her heard the word "soda," they couldn’t sit still.
Seeing this, Zhao Jun told Zhao Hong to go get a large bowl. With a tasty drink on the line, the little girl was very obedient. She quickly hopped off the kang and ran to the outer room.
Holding the can, Wang Meilan asked Zhao Jun with a worried expression, "Son, how much does one of these cost?"
"One-thirty," Zhao Jun said with a smile.
"How much? One-thirty for all of them?" Wang Meilan asked, pointing at the two mesh bags on the kang.
If it were one-thirty for ten cans combined, Wang Meilan could have accepted that.
"Heh." Zhao Jun chuckled, then opened the satchel slung across his chest, holding it open for his mother to see.
Wang Meilan looked inside. There were five thick wads and another half-wad of ten-yuan banknotes. Her eyes went wide.
"Son... this..."
"Mom." Afraid she would get too worked up, Zhao Jun quickly helped her sit down on the edge of the kang. He smiled. "I made some money, Mom. And you know, Ginseng is Mountain Wealth. You’re supposed to spend that kind of money freely. Besides, it’s not like we get to go to Lingnan every year, so I figured I’d buy some things to bring back."
"Ah!" Hearing this, Wang Meilan nodded in understanding.
There was indeed such a custom. According to the elders, money made from selling things like Ginseng or a harvested Bear Gall was considered Mountain Wealth.
Mountain Wealth was considered a windfall, a gift bestowed only on those favored by the Mountain God and the Elder Leader. Once you had that money, you weren’t supposed to be stingy with it.
Seeing Wang Meilan fall silent, Zhao Youcai felt a burning curiosity, like an itch he couldn’t scratch. He wondered just how much money Zhao Jun had made to convince the ever-frugal Wang Meilan to overlook the one-thirty-yuan cans of soda.
But what Zhao Youcai didn’t expect was for Wang Meilan to suddenly whirl around and glare at him. "Look at my son, and then look at you! My son makes money and brings home nice things. You sold the Bear Gall our son harvested, brought nothing back, and even hid money on the side!"
Zhao Youcai heard this and muttered resentfully, "But don’t you always tell me not to waste money?"
Zhao Youcai felt it was deeply unfair. Even if he had bought some food on his way back after selling the Bear Gall, Wang Meilan would have nagged him for spending recklessly. But Zhao Jun? He spends tens of yuan in one go, and she actually praises him for it.
By now, Zhao Hong was back, clutching the large bowl and waiting with eager eyes. But seeing her parents arguing, the little girl didn’t dare make a peep.
Zhao Jun quickly took the bowl from her, opened a can, and poured the entire contents into the bowl as Wang Meilan and the two little girls watched in amazement.
Zhao Jun picked up the bowl and gave Zhao Na a sip first, followed by Zhao Hong. When he offered it to Wang Meilan, she insisted she didn’t want any, but Zhao Jun made her try a sip anyway.
Wang Meilan took a tiny, careful sip, then pushed the bowl away. "What is this stuff? It’s not even that good. Why is it so expensive? Here, you kids drink it."
Zhao Jun smiled at her words and was about to offer the bowl to Zhao Youcai, but his father waved a dismissive hand. "I don’t want any. What haven’t I tried at the canteen? The leaders are always giving me this stuff to drink."
"If you drink it so often, why don’t you ever bring any back for the children?" Wang Meilan shot back. She then pushed the bowl toward Zhao Jun. "Son, if he doesn’t want it, fine. You drink it."
Stunned by her retort, Zhao Youcai shot Wang Meilan a fierce glare. ’It was true that a leader at the canteen had offered him some before, and others had shared it with him. But this stuff cost one-thirty a can! People only ever gave him a small cupful. How was he supposed to bring any of that back?’
’He’d only said he didn’t want any because he couldn’t bear to drink it himself; he wanted to save it for the kids. And this was the thanks he got.’
In truth, Wang Meilan knew exactly what he was thinking. So when she saw him glaring, she just smiled and said nothing more.
"I’m not having any, Mom. I already had some today," Zhao Jun said. He handed the bowl to his two little sisters with a final instruction: "Be careful not to spill it, okay?"
He had been willing to spend the money on it, but now that he was home, looking at his little sisters’ eager faces, he couldn’t bring himself to drink any.
The children didn’t understand any of this, of course. Zhao Hong and Zhao Na started drinking, taking turns, one sip for you, one for me. After a few gulps, they felt a rush of air tickling the backs of their throats.
"Oh, right!" Wang Meilan suddenly remembered something and quickly asked Zhao Jun, "Son, you haven’t eaten dinner yet, have you?"
"Nope," Zhao Jun said with a smile. "Is there any food left, Mom?"
"Yes, yes, I kept it warm for you," Wang Meilan said, hurrying toward the outer room. As she lifted the lid of the pot, she added, "Son, go eat in your own room."
She knew what the two little girls were like and wanted Zhao Jun to be able to set up the low table on his kang and eat his meal in peace.
"Okay, Mom. I’ll go set up the table," Zhao Jun said, turning to leave. But he saw Zhao Youcai staring at him with expectant eyes, so he quickly pulled a handful of loose change from his pocket and passed it over.
There were no large bills in the handful, but it added up to more than six yuan. The moment Zhao Youcai saw the money, his face lit up. He snatched the cash with one hand and waved Zhao Jun off with the other. "Go on, son, go eat. Look how late it is. My dear son must be starving."
Zhao Jun just smiled and returned to his room. He set down his satchel and placed the low table on the kang just as Wang Meilan came in with his dinner.
Zhao Jun washed his hands and came back to his room to eat. Wang Meilan sat beside him, keeping him company while he ate. The two of them chatted and laughed, sharing a warm moment.
But in the room across the way, things between the father and his two daughters were not quite so harmonious.
After finishing the soda in the bowl, the two little girls, hiccuping occasionally, kept glancing over at the mesh bag full of cans.
Finally, unable to resist any longer, the two little girls pulled a can from the mesh bag. They tried to open it just like Zhao Jun had, but they were too little and didn’t have the strength to pry open the pull-tab.
So, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na started pleading with Zhao Youcai, begging him to open it for them and even promising to share it with him. But no matter how much they pestered him, Zhao Youcai just smiled without saying a word.
’It was almost nine o’clock. There was no way they could have another one now.’
Seeing that Zhao Youcai wouldn’t help, both Zhao Hong and Zhao Na pouted. Out of nowhere, Zhao Na suddenly said, "Sister, Big Brother is so nice to me."
She was still little, and what she really meant was that Zhao Jun was nice to *both* of them.
Anyone else might not have understood her, but the two sisters were together all the time, so Zhao Hong knew exactly what she meant.
Moreover, Zhao Hong recalled her parents’ argument from earlier. Her dad supposedly drank this kind of soda all the time at the canteen, but he never brought any home for them.
Now, seeing him just sitting there, watching them struggle without lifting a finger, the little girl suddenly felt a surge of anger. She said to Zhao Na, "You’re right. Big Brother is nicer to us than Dad is."
"What was that?!" Zhao Youcai had been happily leaning against the kang-side cabinet, wondering where he should hide the five yuan his son had given him. Hearing Zhao Hong’s words, he shot upright and pointed at her. "What did you just say, you little brat? When have I ever been bad to you?"
Zhao Hong pouted. A clever idea popped into her head. She pushed the can toward Zhao Youcai and said, "Dad, you’re the best. If you’re the best, then you can open this for me."
This put Zhao Youcai in a bind.
’He couldn’t open it. If he did, Wang Meilan would fly off the handle.’
But for some reason, Zhao Youcai suddenly remembered something. He said to Zhao Hong, "Daughter, let me tell you something. This soda doesn’t taste good if you pour it out."
"Then how do you drink it to make it taste good?"
Zhao Youcai pointed to the cabinet against the wall. "There’s a box under there," he said to Zhao Hong. "Go get a nail from inside it, and Dad will show you how to drink it."