Since they had money, the kids wanted to buy some candy.
There was no supply and marketing cooperative in the village, so they could only buy it at the supply and marketing cooperative in town. Of course, the adults could not let the children buy it by themselves. So, early in the morning, the children pestered their grandmother.
Today Qian Shulan is going to the town to buy some salt, soy sauce and vinegar. Although it is now communism, she often adds extra meals to her family at night. Salt, soy sauce and vinegar naturally cost more than other families. As for oil, because the team has an oil mill, there is no need to buy it from the supply and marketing cooperative.
Although a canteen has been set up, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar still need to be purchased with the grain and oil book of each family. Of course, the same goes for candy.
Li Chunhua felt so distressed when she saw her children actually spending the money to buy candy, and she kept scolding them for being a spendthrift.
Qian Shulan raised her hand to stop her. She turned around and took the money handed over by the children, wrote it down one by one according to their requirements, and took Li Chunhua to the town after dinner.
In order to buy more sugar, Qian Shulan even borrowed grain and oil books from several families.
Each household can only buy one kilogram of sugar. Sugar is not a necessity, so except for women who buy some to drink during the confinement period, no one usually buys it.
Qian Shulan wanted to buy some brown sugar to nourish her body. There are many women in the family, and Xiaomei is already fourteen years old, but she hasn't had her period yet. This child is suffering from a serious loss.
When we arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, several counters were packed with people.
The supply and marketing cooperative in the town only sold daily necessities, such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, candy, matches, cigarettes, cloth, kerosene, etc.
Qian Shulan asked Li Chunhua to buy sugar while she went to buy salt, soy sauce and vinegar. Then they gathered at the door.
After she bought the things, she waited for a long time but Li Chunhua didn't come.
Qian Shulan went to the candy counter and saw that it was crowded with people.
Qian Shulan pushed her way through the crowd and walked in.
It turned out that the salesperson had an argument with a customer.
Li Chunhua stood by the counter, waiting anxiously.
Qian Shulan squeezed next to her and asked her what was going on.
Li Chunhua whispered back, "I just arrived here and hadn't started buying anything yet, and that lady pointed at the salesperson and started cursing."
When Qian Shulan heard that it had nothing to do with Li Chunhua, she also looked at the two men.
The customer was a middle-aged woman with a loud voice. She pointed at the young salesman and yelled, "I've been standing here for a long time. I've called you at least ten times for two pieces of peach cakes, but you just couldn't hear or see them. Others buy more, so you weigh them first. Are there any people like you?"
The young man was scolded in front of so many people, and he was so angry that he choked up and started to talk back, "I sell more goods because I want to create more wealth for the country. What's wrong with that? You only want two pieces of peach cakes. What if it's later?"
Seeing that he dared to talk back, the middle-aged woman immediately escalated the issue, "You are still making excuses! I am a poor peasant, and so are others. We are all from the same class. Why do you look down on me?"
When the young man saw that she actually brought up this issue, his face turned red.
At this time, the leader came over and criticized the young man as soon as he entered. "No matter how much or how little they buy, they are still our customers. It is the customer's right to buy more or less. You should not be partial to one and ignore the other. Apologize to them immediately. Look how long you have delayed. There are so many people waiting to buy behind you."
When the young man saw that his leader had spoken, although he did not agree with her in his heart, he still bowed to the woman and apologized.
Then the young man quickly weighed two pieces of peach cakes for the woman. After the money was paid and he saw his leader leave, the young man immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but he still looked a little angry, and it was obvious that he was not convinced in his heart.
His expression was just like Sun Daqin's before, he agreed on the surface but didn't take it seriously at all.
When he was helping Li Chunhua weigh things, Qian Shulan suddenly felt like teasing him, and said with disdain, "Young man, why are you so slow?"
The young man looked at her without saying anything. He pursed his lips and continued to weigh the candies, putting them on one by one.
Qian Shulan sighed, "You are really good! You are so slow when weighing candies. If you come to our team to harvest crops at this speed, others will have finished harvesting while you are still in the field."
The young man was already holding his breath, so he threw the candy into the dustpan and said dissatisfiedly, "You can do it if you can!"
In those days, candies were placed in round dustpans on the counter, with a spring scale in the middle.
This spring scale has a large dial on the side and a large tray on top. In later generations, it was generally used more in the kitchen.
Qian Shulan grabbed a few handfuls of candy and scattered them on the big tray, "Look, isn't that a pound? You're so slow! You're like a turtle!" She made a disgusted look on the young man's face again, which made him so angry that his mouth was crooked.
Everyone looked at the old lady in surprise. She was really amazing. She just grabbed it just right.
After being surprised, the young man blushed and said unconvincedly, "This is a coincidence! If you don't believe me, come again!"
Qian Shulan asked him to wrap the candies and started grabbing them. She picked them just right. Putting one in was too much, and taking one out was too little.
Everyone applauded, and the young man was deeply shocked.
Qian Shulan glanced at her little notebook.
I asked the young man to wrap the candy and weighed it again, two kilograms of White Rabbit candy. This time it was just right.
It wasn't until Qian Shulan bought more than ten kilograms of sugar, and every time she bought it, she got the right amount, which shocked the young man.
Then she started calculating the price, and Qian Shulan showed her amazing side again. Without using an abacus, she calculated faster than the young man.
The young man was so frustrated by her that his face turned red. He obediently helped her stamp the grain and oil book. After collecting the money, Qian Shulan looked at him with disdain, "You! Your service is not good, your hand speed is not good, and your mental arithmetic is not good! Tsk tsk tsk tsk." Then she shook her head and sighed, and left with bags of candies.
It made everyone laugh.
Li Chunhua followed behind her mother-in-law and watched everyone praising her. Some even gave her a thumbs-up at her back. She felt a sense of pride that she was part of the group.
After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Chunhua chased after her mother-in-law and asked, "Mom, how did you practice so accurately?"
Qian Shulan's mouth twitched. What else could it be? Because she was cultivating her spiritual power. She could already use chopsticks freely, so she had to use candies to cultivate them? She added weight one by one. It was easy to pick up the candies if they fell on the ground.
As for mental arithmetic, it was purely because she had worked too many odd jobs in the past and practice makes perfect.
However, Qian Shulan couldn't say it out loud, and said to Li Chunhua, "I told you to study hard, but you didn't. Don't you know how many candies there are in a pound? Grab them a few more times and you can feel it."
Li Chunhua felt overwhelmed when she heard her mother-in-law talking about studying again. She got a headache when she saw words, okay
But my mother-in-law seemed to be possessed by a demon.
She insisted that everyone in the family learn to read. She had lived for more than 30 years, and it was no big deal that she couldn't read before.
I thought my mother-in-law was just keeping an eye on my eldest brother and her husband and ignored her, but who would have thought that she still hadn't given up.
Li Chunhua was very upset.
When they got home, the children who had been playing in the yard heard some noise at the door and ran out quickly.
Qian Shulan had gone from being uncomfortable with this treatment to being calm now. As soon as she reached the door, she was surrounded by the children, all of whom stretched out their hands to ask her for candy.
"Grandma, where's my candy?"
"And mine!"
The adults sat at the door of the main room, watching the children shouting and screaming, and smiled brightly.
Zhou Xuemei glanced at Xiaomei who was eager to go, and knew that she wanted to go too, but was just a little too proud, or maybe she was afraid that others would say she was greedy, so she smiled and said, "Go quickly. Your grandma must be carrying a lot of candies, it must be heavy."
Hearing this, Xiaomei quickly put down the cane in her hand and ran over.
The other adults also smiled and watched the children play.
Qian Shulan was surrounded by children and couldn't even walk. "Grandma has walked such a long way and must be tired. Wait for me to sit down and I will give candies to you one by one."
The little kid who had been chattering non-stop made way for him immediately.
However, even so, he still held on to Qian Shulan's clothes and refused to let go.
Li Chunhua's mouth twitched. Could she say that the candies were all in the basket behind her
However, after thinking about it, it would be useless even if I asked her for it, as she had no right to share it.
When Xiaomei heard her grandmother's words, she immediately turned around and moved the bench she had just been sitting on over there, "Grandma, please sit down!"
Qian Shulan took it and smiled at her, "Thank you, Xiaomei."
Xiaomei blushed and stared with sparkling eyes at the backpack that her grandmother took off.
Qian Shulan was about to take out something when she suddenly slapped her forehead and said, "Look at my poor memory. The candy is with your mother."
Li Chunhua quickly brought the backpack to her mother-in-law.
Qian Shulan took out a small notebook from her bag and read out the candies one by one, "Xiaomei, one pound of White Rabbit candy."
As he said this, he bent down and looked in the backpack.
Although candies are no longer stored in plastic bags these days, the wrapping paper used for each type is different.
The color of the White Rabbit candy's wrapping paper was darker. Qian Shulan quickly found a pack of White Rabbit candy and handed it to Xiaomei.
The next one is Xiaohe’s. She has two kilograms of candy, one kilogram of White Rabbit candy and one kilogram of fruit candy.
The other children, because they had less money, only asked for a pound of fruit candy.
Each of the children held a bag of candy in their hands, and they couldn't wait to peel off the sugar coating and put it in their mouths.
Zhuzi looked at everyone who had one and started drooling with envy.
Li Chunhua saw her son's aggrieved face that was about to cry, and glared at Xiaomei, "You are still a sister, but why don't you love your brother? What's the point of me raising you to this age? You are not as considerate as your brother. He gave me all the money yesterday. But what about you?"
Although Qian Shulan repeatedly instilled the idea of gender equality into Li Chunhua, with words like "If you raise your daughter well, she will be just as filial to you," the long-standing idea of favoring boys over girls could not be completely overturned by just a few words from her.
Whenever her son does something that her daughter cannot do, Li Chunhua will exaggerate and say that her son is the most caring and important one.
It seemed like he was refuting Qian Shulan's words, but also like he was telling himself that sons are more useful and filial than daughters.
She never thought that her daughter's lack of caring towards her might have other reasons, such as the child was older, or she herself was not good enough to the child and could not gain the child's trust.
To be honest, Qian Shulan is very disgusted by the wishful thinking of attributing all the mistakes to gender.
Hearing Li Chunhua's words, Xiaomei hurried over and was about to grab a handful of her candy and give it to Zhuzi.
Qian Shulan reached out to stop her.
Watching his grandma snatch away his candy, Zhuzi pouted and was about to cry.
Qian Shulan held him on her knees and frowned at Li Chunhua, "How do you teach your children?"
Li Chunhua shrank her neck and her face turned red.
Qian Shulan turned away from her and lowered her head to the pillar and said softly, "Why did you give the money to your mother yesterday?"
Zhuzi glanced at Li Chunhua cautiously, "Because mother wants money. My sisters won't give it to her."
Qian Shulan asked again, "Do you know what money can buy?"
Zhuzi shook his head in confusion.
Qian Shulan pointed at the candy in Xiaomei's hand and said, "You can buy candy."
Zhuzi opened his mouth in surprise, obviously not expecting this.
Qian Shulan took out the things from her other backpack and opened the bag of salt. The white grains of fine salt were something Zhuzi had never seen before. "You used the money you gave your mother to buy salt. Do you know what it is used for?"
Zhuzi shook his head, and Qian Shulan explained for him, "Salt is something we need to put in when we cook. It's more important than sugar."
Zhuzi frowned, not knowing whether he understood or not.
Qian Shulan didn't care about him and let him go.
Soon his attention was attracted by other children.
He had eaten candy before, and the sweet taste was the best thing he had ever eaten.
Qian Shulan strictly forbade other children to give him candy.
Li Chunhua was somewhat dissatisfied, but faced with her mother-in-law's warning look, she dared not show it. However, she still secretly glared at Xiaomei several times.
Zhuzi stood in the yard, watching the other children eating candies, but he got none, so he started crying in anxiety.
But Qian Shulan asked Li Chunhua and Zhou Xuemei to get food and refused to let her do it.
Sun Daqin felt a little sorry for it and wanted Zhengjun to give him some candies.
Zhengjun quickly ran away, muttering, "Grandma won't let me!"
Sun Daqin had no choice but to give up and just looked at Wang Shouyi with some guilt.
Wang Shouyi, who had been silently weaving bamboo baskets, came over, hugged his son, and coaxed him in a low voice.
Zhuzi pouted his lips and cried breathlessly.
By the time it was time for dinner, Zhuzi started to hiccup because he had been crying for too long.
Li Chunhua felt so distressed that she patted his back to help him calm down.
When Qian Shulan came over to share the food, she glanced at Zhuzi and pulled him into her arms.
He picked up a piece of fried green worm with chopsticks and said, "Try it. How does it taste?"
Zhuzi, who was growling with hunger, tasted a piece of the food with his chopsticks.
"Is it tasty?"
Zhuzi nodded and replied in a baby voice, "It's delicious!"
"Do you know what's in this dish?"
The other children wanted to answer, but Qian Shulan stopped them, "Let's listen to Zhuzi."
After all, Zhuzi was only three years old and didn't understand these things. He thought about it and said, "Vegetables, peppers..."
I can’t think of anything else.
Qian Shulan smiled and said, "All the answers are correct, but there are still two most important things missing."
When Zhuzi's full attention was drawn to her, Qian Shulan uttered three words, "Oil and salt"
Zhuzi opened his eyes wide and rummaged through the dish, as if trying to find oil and salt.
Qian Shulan pointed to the plate of fried caterpillars with her chopsticks, and the few drops of oil on the edge of the plate. "See? The yellow stuff is the oil. As for the salt, it's a little salty when you put it in your mouth. It tastes a bit like your tears. It has melted into the dish."
Zhuzi nodded.
"Zhu Zi's three cents was used to buy salt, which is very important. We all need salt. So, we are all very grateful to Zhu Zi, because the other brothers and sisters bought sugar, but you bought salt. You are very remarkable."
Qian Shulan's slightly exaggerated expression and words made Zhuzi blush, but also a little proud.
Qian Shulan immediately winked at the others.
Zhou Xuemei was the first to respond, "Yes, Zhuzi, Fourth Aunt is grateful to you. Without your salt, we wouldn't be able to eat."
Sun Daqin also quickly agreed, "Yes, Zhuzi, you are much more sensible than Zhengjun. He only thinks about himself and never thinks about everyone else."
Wang Shouren was a little unhappy. You can praise Zhuzi if you want, but why belittle our son? But when he saw his mother nodding with satisfaction at her daughter-in-law, Wang Shouren gritted his teeth and praised him, "Yes, uncle is also grateful to Zhuzi."
Others began to praise him.
Zhuzi's face turned red with praise and her chest stood straight.
The other children looked at the candies in their hands, not knowing whether to eat them or not.
Xiaomei was a little more shy and blushed as she wanted to give her bag of White Rabbit snacks to her grandmother.
Qian Shulan stopped them and said earnestly, "Now that you have money, if you want to buy some delicious food to treat yourself, grandma can't say you are doing anything wrong. But, the money should be spent on the right things. Don't waste it."
Xiao He, who bought the most, had her head almost hanging down to her chest.
Qian Shulan took out a White Rabbit candy from her pocket and handed it to Zhuzi, "This is a reward from grandma to Zhuzi. Because of you, we can all eat salt. You are a good child."
Zhuzi took the candy, wiped his tears, and smiled foolishly.
Qian Shulan handed the pillar to Li Chunhua and then distributed the food to everyone.
After dinner, Qian Shulan called a meeting with all her sons, daughters-in-law and daughters. The preference for sons over daughters is indeed a big problem.
Maybe she can't change this society, but she still wants to change this family. She doesn't want someone to tell her that women are inferior to men when her grandmother is born. The family environment is very important for the cultivation of a child's character.
"I know you all love your sons and don't take your daughters seriously. But, don't you think about it? We are all flesh and blood. How can we be partial to one and neglect the other?" She sighed and said shockingly, "If you are not filial to me in the future, I will not blame you."
Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"Why should I blame you! You are not filial to me because I failed to teach you well. Everything in this world has a cause and an effect. I didn't get the fruit I should have, so I should reflect on what I did wrong instead of blaming you. I should reflect on whether I was too doting on you and spoiled you, or whether I didn't beat you enough and didn't straighten you out. In short, I only blame myself. Just like, Danzhi, that child, has never come back after more than ten years of marriage, and I don't blame her. I only blame myself! I reflect on what I did wrong. That is, I taught her too softly, so her in-laws didn't take her seriously. It's my fault! I don't blame her!"
Everyone looked thoughtful.
She scanned their faces, especially the faces of the third and third couple, and paused for a long time. "So, whether it is a daughter or a son who is unfilial to you in the future, you should reflect on whether you have done anything wrong. Instead of blindly blaming others, let alone blaming the gender. In this world, there are as many unfilial sons as unfilial daughters. We must teach both boys and girls well! Sons can stay with you and take care of you in your old age, and daughters can buy you clothes and give you New Year gifts. They will both be filial to you. We just need to try our best to be fair and just. This is what parents should do. Think about it carefully."
Then she looked at Li Chunhua, "You can't say your three daughters are unfilial just because they don't give you money. They are just grown up and know that money is a good thing. If you don't believe me, when Zhuzi is a little older, he will also collect money himself."
Li Chunhua was very embarrassed and whispered, "Whose child has so much money? I just want to help them collect some. I said I would buy them dowries, not that I want their money."
Qian Shulan nodded, "I believe that!" Then she changed the subject, "But the children are already grown up, we should teach them how to spend money. They don't know how to manage money now, and when they get married in the future, do you still expect them to learn how to manage money without any instruction?"
Li Chunhua was stunned, and neither did the others. It seemed right. If I don't teach her now, how can she be the head of the family after she gets married
How can I be filial to my parents if I don’t take charge of the family? In the final analysis, there is still the idea that my daughter wants to support her parents’ family.
Li Chunhua and the others all suddenly realized, "Mom, you are right!"
Qian Shulan always felt that they seemed to have misunderstood what she said. She thought about it carefully. She didn't say anything wrong. Why did they all look so surprised as if she had opened up their Ren and Du meridians? She couldn't figure it out, so she concluded, "In short, women must work hard to control the family's financial power. Otherwise, men will be led astray by others and learn to smoke, drink, and gamble. What will you do then? As long as men have no money, the family will have fewer misfortunes!"
Wang Shouren and Wang Shouyi were stunned. What was his mother talking about? How could she teach her daughter-in-law like this? However, after thinking about it, it didn't matter. It didn't matter if his wife was in charge of the money. Anyway, she would listen to him.
Qian Shulan changed the subject and said, "However, if the man in a family is more capable than the woman and has no bad habits, it's okay for the man to manage the money. In short, for a family to live well, everyone should work together."
Qian Shulan felt like she was going crazy. Why did she feel like she was talking incoherently
Her thoughts were very different from those of people of this era. She thought that it was okay to teach them. In short, you can't favor boys over girls, otherwise she would feel uncomfortable.
Qian Shulan comforted herself silently.
The author has something to say: Please stop writing.