Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 252

Upon hearing about hauling bricks...

No, it should be that as soon as he heard that his eldest daughter Zhao Chunni and son-in-law were coming over today, the old man Zhao Tingxu changed his usual habit of not getting up until eight or nine o'clock and got up very early.

I happened to see Zhao the Goose in the yard.

Zhao Tingxu was in a great mood and asked Zhao Da'e, "Da'e, I still have some money. Why don't you go to the market later and buy some food or something? Your aunt is coming over."

Zhao Da'e was also going to the market, and hearing that the old man was offering money was wonderful, but she didn't want to walk there: "Grandpa, you go instead. I reckon my aunt and uncle won't be able to come until after breakfast. If we go to the market early, we can ride their tractor over."

Zhao Tingxu thought about it and realized it made sense, so he skipped breakfast, went back to his room to grab a bag, and headed to the market.

Zhao Da'e was taken aback: Walking there? You mean walking all the way...?

No, that's not possible.

"Wait for me."

Zhao Da'e returned to the barn, put on his fox fur hat and scarf again, along with gloves and a cotton-padded coat, and then took a large rice bag to store things.

However, Zhao Tingxu still took the bag: "Grandpa, you take it, I'm cold."

It's not cold, so I won't take it.

The two stepped outside, the cold wind biting at their faces like knives. Zhao Tingxu hunched his shoulders and quickened his pace, while Zhao Da'e trotted behind him. All the way, Zhao Da'e's little mouth never stopped, asking if her grandfather and aunt would bring her cousin, and telling her about the interesting things she'd heard in the village.

Zhao Da'e's main focus is on providing emotional value...

"Grandpa, my aunt hasn't come back for several months, so you'd better buy her plenty of food."

Zhao Tingxu said with a hint of helplessness, "The important thing is to buy a few vats and have your uncle bring them back in a tractor later..."

Zhao Da'e: "Uh..."

It seems the old man's main purpose in going to the market was to buy a jar.

hiss……

No wonder he was so enthusiastic today...

Zhao Yongbo had smashed all the water vats, sauerkraut vats, and sauce vats in Zhao Tingxu's old house, leaving them with no vats left to use.

In that era, earthenware jars were still very popular. Unlike later times, when stainless steel and plastic products were everywhere, not only were they affordable, but they were also lightweight and easy to use.

In this era, large vats were indispensable in rural areas.

At the very least, it's essential for drinking water. Its main purpose is to store water for convenient use.

In Dongtai Village, the large water vats used are all made of red clay, which doesn't leak much and is relatively sturdy. Wealthier families use water vats made of white clay, which is considered the best, although those made of red clay are cheaper.

Zhao Da'e has completely forgotten how Zhao Tingxu has managed these past few days without a water tank...

So he secretly asked tentatively, "Grandpa, my little brother ruined the jar, how are you going to eat?"

Zhao Tingxu said irritably, "Isn't there still half a vat left? He smashed it in the middle, so the bottom can still be used. But we still need to replace it with a new one. The sauerkraut vat is ruined, completely useless."

Zhao Tingxu's soy sauce jar was badly broken, but he managed to find a new jar to store the soy sauce. Besides, he didn't have much soy sauce left, so it was still usable.

This was Zhao Da'e's first time going to the market with Zhao Tingxu. The old man walked quite fast and they arrived in town in no time. But Zhao Da'e was walking alongside him and was exhausted.

It's at least seven or eight li (about 3.5-4.5 kilometers) from Dongtaizi Village to the town, and the road isn't easy to travel... Of course, even if it were easy, it would still take almost half a marathon.

Sometimes Zhao Da'e doesn't quite understand why later generations would hold marathon races and the like so often.

It's usually only about ten kilometers, but they make it sound like anyone who can run that far is incredibly impressive...

But for people who live in the countryside every day, when do they not have to walk a marathon distance to do their work? Nobody claims to be particularly capable.

When we arrived at the market, wow, it was incredibly lively! Stalls lined up one after another, and the calls of vendors rose and fell in a cacophony.

"Selling big vats, selling big water vats..."

"Selling small jars, selling small pickle jars..."

"Selling flower pots..."

Zhao Da'e looked up and exclaimed: "Holy crap... this old man is buying whatever he needs, he's headed straight for the tank seller."

Zhao Tingxu walked over, touched the rim of the jar, and asked, "How much does this jar cost?"

"Three hundred and eighty."

"What about that one?"

"Five hundred and eighty."

"Hiss...where's the biggest one?"

"One thousand one hundred and eighty".

Zhao Tingxu immediately frowned. When did water tanks become so expensive?

Although Zhao Tingxu bought the water vat a long time ago, about ten years ago, a water vat only cost ten or twenty yuan at that time.

Why is it so expensive now?

That bastard Zhao Yongbo ruined the harvest of more than ten acres of land in one fell swoop.

This is too expensive.

“Hey, young man. I’m a local, can’t you tell?” Zhao Tingxu asked.

The seller glanced at them, his expression nonchalant: "It doesn't matter where you're from. Those few tanks are only worth that price?"

"Can't you make it cheaper?"

"If you want something cheap, you have to come over here." The man selling the jars pointed to several jars in another area: "Those are cheaper."

"Does being cheap mean it's not durable?" Zhao Tingxu asked.

"Ah..." The seller was stunned: "This... the expensive ones aren't very durable... wait, old man, what kind of jar do you want to buy? The price varies depending on the place of origin."

Those expensive ones are things passed down from the Qing Dynasty, they're so boring, even the emperors used them, that's why they're expensive... These are cheaper, nobody used them, so they're cheaper."

"Has the Qing Dynasty perished?"

"Correct."

"Something used by a dead person is still expensive?"

"Old man... are you here to cause trouble?" The seller of the jars got impatient: "What do you mean 'used by a dead person'? That's an old item."

Zhao Tingxu snorted: "I'm not buying it."

Zhao Tingxu turned around and went to another store, leaving the jar seller still chattering away.

Zhao Da'e glanced at it and realized that the vat was indeed a bit too expensive. You know, a cow only costs one or two thousand yuan, while a large vat these days would cost at most a hundred or so.

It's obvious that the trafficker's mentality is not good.

Although prices have gone up in the last two years, they're still not this outrageous.

If we get to the second shop that sells tanks...

Zhao Tingxu inquired about the price: "How much is this?"

The seller of the jars was a middle-aged woman, who replied, "One hundred and fifty."

Zhao Tingxu immediately compared the two. This jar was about the same size as the previous one, but it was significantly cheaper. He decided to go with this one.

Can you make it any cheaper?

"Uncle, this is the cheapest price I can offer in the whole market, I really can't go any lower," the middle-aged woman said.

Zhao Da'e paused for a moment, then looked at it: "Hmm, what she said makes sense. In the whole market, there are only two stalls selling jars, and hers is indeed the cheapest. The other one is asking for almost 998..."

Any normal person would choose the one that costs 150 yuan...

Zhao Tingxu also felt that the price seemed a bit expensive, so he continued to ask, "How much would it cost if I also wanted a sauerkraut jar and a sauce jar?"

"The sauerkraut jar is seventy yuan now, and the sauce jar is cheaper, thirty yuan. How about this, it's two hundred and fifty yuan in total, I'll keep five yuan from you," the middle-aged woman said.

"Two hundred and thirty yuan. I'll throw in three cylinder lids, is that okay? If not, forget it." Zhao Tingxu immediately cut the price down.

"Okay." The middle-aged woman readily agreed.

Zhao Tingxu was stunned: the first water vat was fully paid for, but now...

"Okay, I'll come and get it later. Here's the money for you." Zhao Tingxu then paid the money.

Two hundred and several tens of yuan is quite a lot, but Zhao Tingxu still readily took out the wine.

Zhao Da'e narrowed his eyes: Hehe, look, look! This old guy must still have money!

Even though Zhao Tingxu didn't have much money, he still needed to have this water tank, otherwise he wouldn't be able to eat.

Zhao Tingxu and Zhao Da'e have just walked away...

The two people selling the tanks got together.

"That old man bought it, what a shrew. He made over a hundred bucks off."

"Keep your voice down, hehehe."

“Let’s continue doing this from now on. You can take as much as you want, and I’ll take less. It’ll sell out really fast.”

"Uh-huh……"

Zhao Da'e and Zhao Tingxu pretended to go to the market, but actually didn't buy much.

Zhao Da'e was hoping Zhao Tingxu would buy some food and supplies, but Zhao Tingxu just wandered around and didn't buy anything.

It wasn't that Zhao Tingxu didn't want to buy, but he was simply short of money and too embarrassed to ask.

After a while, Zhao Da'e asked, "Grandpa, what are you doing? Where are the vegetables? My aunt is still going."

Zhao Tingxu thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go eat a bowl of tofu pudding and two fried dough sticks first."

Zhao Da'e had no choice but to agree.

I bought the fried dough sticks from Lao Kong again, and then went to the tofu pudding stall, where I sat down and finished eating.

Zhao Da'e's aunt's house was actually very close to the market. Zhao Tingxu ate two fried dough sticks and took two jin of fried dough sticks with him, then led Zhao Da'e to Zhao Chunni's house.

It's only about two miles away, but compared to Zhao Da'e going to the market, Zhao Chunni's home is closer to the market.

Zhao Chunni has a son, Zhao Yongze, who is about the same age as Zhao Tingxu's eldest son, Zhao Tiebao's son. He is about fourteen or fifteen years old, but he has always been weak and sickly. No one knows exactly what kind of illness he has, but he is always sickly, as if he is about to die.

She'd taken a lot of traditional Chinese medicine and visited the hospital many times, but nothing had worked. She was constantly sensitive to wind and light, and was in a state of perpetual convalescence. Fortunately, it was Zhao Chunni's father-in-law, Zhang Ruifeng's father—

Zhao Da'e has forgotten what this old man's name is, so let's just call him Old Zhang.

Old Zhang is rich; he works for the county's telephone exchange.

I can't quite remember his exact name anymore, but anything related to the telephone was under Old Zhang's control.

To put it simply, in those days, telephones were a very rare commodity. It was already extremely fortunate for a village to have even one telephone; almost no individual household had one. Furthermore, only supermarkets and supply and marketing cooperatives in town had telephones; nowhere else did.

Old Zhang has six sons, and they are all quite successful.

As we mentioned earlier, when Zhao Da'e first went to the county town, his mother was hospitalized, and he met Zhang Ruisong and his wife. At that time, some people must have wondered why the couple gave Zhao Da'e two hundred yuan for nothing.

Of course, it's because their family is rich...

Old Zhang has six sons, but only the fourth son, Zhang Ruifeng, is still farming at home...

To put it bluntly, the other five sons are all doing better than the other one.

Therefore, the Zhang brothers usually take good care of Zhang Ruifeng.

Zhang Ruifeng is a very honest and simple person.

Zhao Chunni is actually an honest and simple person.

Zhao Da'e's impression of her aunt and uncle was that they were honest and simple people, not bad people. But she wasn't quite sure if they were actually good people.

Logically speaking, Zhao Chunni and Zhang Ruifeng's family wasn't poor, but their son had been ill, incurring huge medical expenses. Although Old Zhang had been providing some financial assistance, no one could afford the daily expenses...

After all, Old Zhang didn't have just one son; he had six. Even if he was very wealthy, he still had to consider the feelings of his other sons.

At first, Zhang Ruifeng had a job, a regular job, working at a large repair shop in the neighborhood. It was the same shop where Zhao Da'e had dismantled the shredder a couple of days ago…

That factory hadn't paid wages for a long time, only minimum wage. Zhang Ruifeng quit and went back to farming at home.

Firstly, because my son needs constant care, and secondly, because it's really not profitable there.

In order to make money, Zhang Ruifeng bought a tractor that had been taken off the road from a decommissioned repair shop.

The tractor is in good condition, 90% new. It cost 40,000 yuan new in total, but the factory and Zhang Ruifeng paid 23,000 yuan.

At the time, this money was lent to Zhang Ruifeng by Zhao Tingxu.

The money involved in the initial conflict within the Zhao family flowed to Zhao Chunni for the first time.

At the time, Zhao Chunni came home saying she wanted to buy a tractor, but no one knew exactly how much it would cost. Later, Zhao Tingxu lent Zhao Chunni a total of 25,000 yuan, which meant he had misappropriated the money that Zhao Chunni's parents had saved for many years, almost all of it at once.

You should know that in this day and age, the interest on 10,000 yuan only amounts to more than 800 yuan a year...

The interest rates are extremely high.

It must have been borrowed for about two years.

Zhao Chunni did return home to repay the money, but Zhao Tingxu refused to accept it, saying, "Zhao Chunni, you should keep it for your child's medical treatment..."

After that, the money became an awkward unknown.

Zhao Da'e sometimes doesn't remember clearly, and Zhao Tingxu has always been evasive about this matter.

What Zhao Da'e knew was that Zhao Chunni should have paid back 18,000 yuan, and was short 7,000 yuan.

There are two versions of the story regarding the seven thousand yuan: one is that it's still owed and hasn't been repaid; the other is that Zhao Chunni gave it to Wang Guixiang, but Wang Guixiang denies it.

Moreover, Zhao Tingxu borrowed the money in his son Zhao Tiesheng's name at the time, because the money was still in Zhao Tiesheng's possession. However, when it was time to repay the loan, Zhao Tiesheng did not receive it…

Zhao Da'e knew that her parents had saved three sums of money: one in a savings account containing 9,000 yuan, another in a savings account containing 5,300 yuan, totaling exactly 39,300 yuan, which is roughly 40,000 yuan.

That's how my first investment was lost.

The second sum of money, Zhao Dage, disappeared somehow. It seems that Zhao Tiesheng gave it to Wang Guixiang, and then it was gone.

The third sum of money, the final five thousand three hundred yuan, was something Zhao Da'e's mother absolutely refused to pay. However, her family pressured her, and at that time, Zhao Tingxu was probably ill.

Zhao Tingxu's illness wasn't actually serious at the time; it only cost two or three thousand yuan. Everyone said that the illness should be treated.

Even Zhao Tiesheng pressured Cheng Jinxiang like this.

In the end, it cost more than two thousand yuan in total. Cheng Jinxiang paid five thousand three hundred yuan in advance, but didn't get a single penny back.