383 Settling the Score
After Yu Bing opened the backpack on her back, the old man stuffed it all in and planned to give her another handful. “If you like it, bring more back. This is a gift from me!”
Yu Bing hurriedly stopped the old man. The old man had to sell this in exchange for money, so how could she take it for free? Hence, she smiled and said, “There’s no hurry. We still have to go to your house.”
The old man nodded repeatedly and said happily, “Then I’ll carry it first. I’ll give it to you when you come back.”
Xiao Sheng wanted to help, but he was also worried that the old man wouldn’t agree. After all, food was money. Hence, he could only support the old man as he carried the food on his back so that the old man wouldn’t be so tired.
It was work time today, so there were not many people on the bus in the urban and rural areas. There were still empty seats, so the three of them walked towards the back.
After the few of them got on the bus, they began to chat with each other. In less than half an hour, they found out everything about the old man’s family.
The old man’s surname was Wang. He and his wife had three sons and three daughters, who were already married. After his sons got married, they all lived in separate homes. He and his wife originally lived with his eldest son’s family.
After his youngest son passed away at the beginning of the year, he wanted to bring his youngest son’s only child to his eldest son’s house to take care of him. However, his eldest daughter-in-law didn’t agree. Even if the old man and the others exchanged work points for food, she refused. She even threatened that if the two elders wanted to take care of their third son’s child, they had to move out of their house.
Their second son’s family said that if they wanted to support them, they had to give their youngest son’s house to them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t agree to this matter.
However, his youngest grandson had lost his father and his mother had remarried. That house was where his youngest grandson would settle down in the future. The two elders were naturally unwilling to give their youngest son’s house away, so they could only bring their youngest grandson back to their third son’s house to stay.
Unexpectedly, bad things come in succession. Starting from last month, his five-year-old grandson had caught a cold and coughed non-stop. He also had a recurring fever for more than half a month, and even taking medicine was useless.
The old man brought his grandson to the hospital in town to take a look, but the result was that the cold had already become pneumonia.
Only then did they hurriedly apply for hospitalization. However, 50 yuan was only enough for three to four days of treatment. The doctor said that they had to prepare 10 days and half a month’s worth of money, so he came out to sell things today.
“We’ve arrived at the Yangqiao Commune. Hurry up and get off!” The ticket seller announced loudly at the front of the car.
Mr. Wang hurriedly stood up and carried the bag on his back. “Little Xiao, Little Yu, we reached the station.”
The three of them got out of the car and walked towards the village together. Xiao Sheng and Yu Bing deliberately lagged behind and mouthed a few words behind Mr. Wang.
Then, Xiao Sheng took a few steps forward and helped Mr. Wang hold the food on his back as he asked gently, “Mr. Wang, can you help us go to your village to collect a few more bags of flour? I’ll give you 0.1 yuan for every 10 pounds.”
Mr. Wang was a little surprised. Were 500 pounds of flour not enough? “Little Xiao, why do you want so much?”
Xiao Sheng said to Mr. Wang calmly, “Mr. Wang, this isn’t much. My family has to hire ten people to build a house. They’re villagers from the same village as us, so they didn’t ask for that much money from us. The fertility of the land over there isn’t very good, so everyone wants more flour. My father asked me to exchange for 20 pounds per person this time, which would be 200 pounds.”
Xiao Sheng raised two fingers and continued to calculate. “We have to live in this house for the rest of our lives after it’s built, so we can’t be careless. We have to ensure the quality of their food. Otherwise, how can they do their best for us? From morning to night, they’ll be given three meals a day. It’s not too much for a man to eat 10 steamed buns a day, right?”
Mr. Wang nodded.
Seeing this, Xiao Sheng continued, “That’s one catty of flour. Ten people need 10 catties of flour a day. They’ll need at least 10 days to half a month to build a house, right? I estimate that 20 days means another 200 catties!”
Xiao Sheng raised four fingers and waved them in front of Mr. Wang. “My wife happens to be pregnant. You can tell that she’s an intellectual, right? Look at how thin she is. I don’t dare to let her work while she’s pregnant, so I have to prepare enough food for the next year. She needs to eat for two people. Even if she usually eats rice and sweet potatoes, I still have to prepare at least 200 pounds of flour. That’s not too much to ask for, right?”
