"Cheng Qiao, go to the back and burn firewood. We don't need you here."
Mother Li sent Cheng Qiao to the stove to burn firewood. Burning firewood was warm and relaxing, and would definitely not hurt the little grandson in her belly.
Aunt Wang looked at Li's mother as if she knew everything. Cheng Qiao married into the Li family with such a large dowry, so Huanzi's mother should indeed be nicer to Cheng Qiao.
"My dear, you are so lucky to have married such a beautiful and obedient wife. I hope my sons can marry wives like Cheng Zhiqing in the future."
Mother Li smiled and comforted Aunt Wang: "Your son Xiangyang and Xiangdang are much more sensible than Huaner. They will definitely find you a good wife."
Aunt Wang smiled with narrowed eyes after hearing this. The eldest son was already looking for a partner, but he seemed unhappy with this marriage. However, this girl was indeed not comparable to Cheng Zhiqing, so they decided to change families.
Lele and others were waiting at the entrance of the village. There were no sheltered buildings anywhere, and the cold wind was blowing from all directions, almost freezing people to death. But Qiu Min didn't show up yet.
Lele pouted and stamped her feet. Seeing that it was getting late, she thought Qiu Min would not show up at this time, so she shrunk her neck and ran home.
Cheng Qiao had already found an old-fashioned hot water bottle from the space, filled it with hot water, and put it in Li Le's hand when she came back. Looking at the green hot water bottle in her hand, all the complaints in Li Le's heart disappeared.
"Second sister-in-law, this hot water bottle is expensive and requires an industrial ticket. How did you get it?"
"Your second brother gave it to me."
"So it was given to you by my second brother. Then, can I hold it for a while longer, my hands are really cold."
"Of course, this is for you."
"That won't do. My second brother will be angry."
"No, at worst you can just ask your second brother to buy another one."
"this… "
"Mom has already heated up the kang. Go lie down on it for a while. I'll call you when the meal is ready."
Li Le was indeed very cold, so he lay down on the kang holding a hot water bottle. A wave of warmth came over him, and his frozen and stiff hands and feet slowly relaxed. Before he knew it, Li Le fell asleep.
Aunt Wang has been keeping an eye on the Li family's affairs. When she saw Cheng Qiao gave such a good hot water bottle to Li Le, she kept shaking her head and smacking her lips. This silly girl, how could she be so loose? It's a pity that she is not her daughter-in-law.
Since Li Le got a hot water bottle, he finally didn't feel so cold when he stayed at the entrance of the village. Qiu Min finally rode her bicycle to Xiangyang Village. When she saw Li Le standing at the entrance of the village, she knew that he was waiting for her.
"Li Le, are you waiting for me?"
"Sister Qiu Min, I waited for you all day yesterday. Look at my face. It was redder than a monkey's butt from the cold."
"I'm sorry, I really can't leave. I only asked for two hours of leave, plus the time for lunch, so I'm quite busy. Please give this letter to Cheng Qiao, I'm leaving now."
Qiu Min handed the tightly sealed letters to Li Le, turned around and ran away at an astonishing speed. Li Le was stunned for a moment, then he carefully hid the letters and ran home.
Cheng Qiao took the letter and went back to her room to read it. When she finished reading the letter, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and decided to discuss with Li Huan in the evening about when to complete the deal.
As soon as Li Huan returned to the room, Cheng Qiao took out the letter. Li Huan picked up the letter and read it several times before he understood its meaning. He looked at Cheng Qiao in disbelief. The great man was right. Women hold up half the sky.
"What's wrong?"
Cheng Qiao asked in a pretentiously arrogant manner.
"Wife, you have caught a big fish this time. If Qiu Min doesn't show his true face, it's hard to tell."
"Of course, the textile factory wanted to give out soap, toothpaste and other things as year-end benefits, but the factory couldn't afford so many tickets, so they came to Qiu Min for help.
Li Huan glanced at the two soap boxes next to the washbasin stand in the corner. One soap box contained a piece of soap, and the other contained a piece of laundry soap. He asked with a little concern:
"Wife, they want 2,000 bars of soap. Do you have that much?"
"Of course we have. Qiu Min said that each worker in the textile factory was given two bars of soap. The supply and marketing cooperative sells soap for 40 cents a bar, plus the soap ticket. We can sell it to Qiu Min for 36 cents a bar, so 2,000 bars would be 720 yuan."
"Wife, if you give us a discount of four cents per piece, then Qiu Min will make a lot of money this time. She can sell it to the textile factory for 40 cents, collect some coupons, and let Shouhou sell the coupons on the black market."
"Well, we have to give them the benefits gradually. At four cents a piece, 2,000 pieces can earn 80 yuan, which is equivalent to Qiu Min's four-month salary. With the coupons, they will definitely have a good year this year."
"Wife, let's go to the house in the county town tomorrow, get the soap out, and then ask Qiu Min to inspect the goods and pay for them."
Cheng Qiao nodded. Ever since she learned that she was going to do business with Qiu Min, she had been constantly taking out soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and other daily necessities from the grocery store. When the grocery store automatically restocked the stocks, she would take them out again, and this cycle would repeat over and over again.
"Wife, when the fence is finished, I will also go get some goods and make some money for the New Year."
"Li Huan, I have rice, flour, pork, fish, milk powder, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and everything else. I can give you the lowest wholesale price."
Cheng Qiao understood Li Huan's personality and temper, and knew that he was unwilling to get rich on his own, so she gave him a suggestion. Instead of taking the risk to find goods outside, he might as well consider her as a stable supplier.
Li Huan shook his head at first and refused. This was just like Cheng Qiao transferring money from his left hand to his right hand. He was still a gigolo.
But I couldn't resist Cheng Qiao's persuasion. It doesn't matter whether you take the goods from other people or from yourself. As the saying goes, good things should be kept in the family. You have to learn to think from other people's perspective.
After thinking about it for a night, Li Huan suddenly realized that as long as the family is stable and warm, face can be put aside.
He also set a rule for himself that if he bought goods from Cheng Qiao, he must pay with cash, and he would never use the money he gave to Cheng Qiao.
"Wife, I agree. First, you need to get 5,000 kilograms of rice and flour, 10,000 kilograms of cornmeal, and some pork, white sugar, and brown sugar. You can handle the rest. Is it difficult?"
"When do you want it? If it's urgent, I'll leave for a while. If it's not urgent, we can talk to you in the evening."
There is no difficulty, it just takes some time. In fact, there is time, but she has to disappear for a while and let Li Huan cover her.
"In the evening, anyway, we are going to the county town tomorrow, but wife, Uncle Ye said that your fetus is unstable, and it is probably not possible to ride a bicycle. I have to borrow an ox cart from Uncle Niu."
"Okay, we can also take this opportunity to bring some things back."