Phoenix Girl in the 1990s - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

But Li Xiuquin can’t decide alone, “Let’s wait for your father to come back and we’ll discuss it again, this mini store can’t be opened just because you say so, we must have a place to buy supplies, and it costs money to buy them… and we have to talk to the mayor of the village to build the store.”

That’s a considerable capital cost up front, and given the family’s current financial situation.

It’s still quite tense, but Li Xiuqin understands that to achieve something, one has to invest in it first.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have resolved to send her four daughters to college, and as long as they were old enough to get married, she would have been fine.

A bowl of snails, snail meat picked for an hour to get that small one, the shoulders of the Xia Qing ache!

She got up and stretched, squinting at the sky, in which it was very blue.

The clouds were so white, with the cool water coming from the well and the earthy smell in the air.

Formed part of the countryside life, but in just over ten days, she had fully adapted to life here.

The sunlight in the morning was not too hot, and the natural wind blew comfortably on her body.

Usually after ten o’clock the weather started to get hot, and those who worked in the fields would go home from the fields and rest until the evening before going back to work.

At this time of the year, there is not much farm work, watering the crops and hoeing the weeds in the fields, which is a rare leisure time in the village.

Not long after, Xia He and Xia Lin came back together with a basket of vegetables, and Xia Wen also finished the laundry, and the four sisters gathered around and peeled corn cobs together.

The yellow corn kernels were so tender that they could be pinched out of the water, Xia Lin held up the peeled corn and remarked.

“We’ve picked well, right, to find this kind of neither too old nor too tender, I can’t wait to eat it, later on, I’ll cook a few to relieve my cravings, and it’s okay to eat it later for lunch.”

Leave the old ones aside to be used as corn seed, if they are too tender they will have to develop for a few more days.

For children in the countryside, corn can fill their stomachs and is also a great snack with a wonderful flavor.

When she goes to school, she won’t be able to eat such tender corn, which she grew up eating since she was a child, full of blissful memories.

Xia Zhimin arrived home in the evening, after repairing the windows of the house and then ordering a small square table for that family to dine on.

In the afternoon, He was in charge of the meal, and he came back only after finishing his work, and he got twenty yuan worth of labor money a day, which he took to Li Xiuqin when he came home.

He sweated too much after a day’s work, and his body was covered with dust.

Xia Zhimin took a simple shower with a basin of well water, and then sat under a tree and enjoyed a bowl of cold porridge.

After eating a single corn cob, Li Xiuqin talked to him about starting a small store.

“What do you think, is it feasible?”

“Did Xiao Qing come up with it?”

Li Xiuqin nodded, “This girl didn’t like to say anything before, but now she loves to use her brain.”

Xia Zhimin wiped the sweat on his forehead with the corner of his shirt, “This is good, in future, she won’t be easily bullied.”

As parents, they have been honest and sincere all their lives, and this is certainly a noble quality.

But seeing the progress of the times, their lives underwent tremendous changes.

To work in the city and be bullied, just like Brother-in-law, is not an option.

Being smart protects oneself, especially for the girls, who are more likely to have a disadvantage than the boys.

“This should work if we can spend money on it, but we have to figure out how much we need for it.”

The family has enough money to pay for the daughters’ schooling, and they also borrowed 3,000 yuan from the village chief, so they’ll have more when the money from his brother-in-law’s side is paid back.

“Don’t worry, I’ll ask Zhou San when I meet him one day. He has seen more of the world than us and is also in business. A little guidance from him will suffice for our needs.”

Zhou Chenggui, whose name is Zhou San, is the only businessman in the village and was one of the earliest to cross the threshold of ten thousand yuan in the 1980s.

He has also been featured in newspapers. Xia Zhimin is planning to buy train tickets for his second daughter at the train station these days and is planning to visit Zhou Chenggui on the way.

“Alright, don’t worry about it, a small store is a good idea, no matter how much or how little we earn, at least we have an income, right?”

Li Xiuqin also intends to visit other villages to learn how to operate a small store, to see how other people run their business, so that she will have a better idea of what to do.

Xia Zhimin nodded, “Don’t worry, I’m never careless in important matters.”

This is something that Li Xiuqin believes in. For more than twenty years, the days have been bitter, but she never regretted marrying Xia Zimin.

Whether it was to her, her relatives in her mother’s family, or to her four daughters, Xia Zhimin did a good enough job in every role.

When Xia Zhimin went to the county town the next day, he took Xia Lin and Xia Qing with him. Xia Lin went with him because the school year was about to start, and he had to add certain things such as buying two new dresses, a pair of spring and fall shoes, and a pair of sneakers.

Her clothes and shoes have been worn for several years, some of them were given to her by Xia He before, when she goes out to college, it is necessary not to say that she should dress well, but to do a little bit of tidying up so that she doesn’t look unduly miserable.

Although Xia Lin said she didn’t really need to buy them, Li Xiuqin insisted on giving her daughter this money, saying.

When you go to college, you’ll be a grown-up woman. Your father and I can’t give you a decent life, but we’ll do our best to give you the basics, and if it’s beyond our capability, then you’ll have to strive for it yourself.”

Then she stroked her second daughter’s head and said, “Study hard, only by studying can you have a promising future.”

Xia Lin gripped the ten large sums of money in her hand, nodded with tears in her eyes, and resolved to study hard, and never let down her parents’ expectations, and never waste the hard-won opportunity to study.

As for Xia Qing, she was just following along to join in the fun after hearing Xia Zhimin say he wanted to find someone to inquire about opening a store.

Besides, in addition to going to the county hospital a few times over the past few days, Xia Qing has not gone outside.

She hadn’t even gone shopping, so she was still interested to see what the county was like in the 1990s.

The three of them ate breakfast at dawn and set off, Xia Zhimin rode a bicycle with Xia Qing, and Xia Lin rode a bicycle alone, the Xia family has only one bicycle, and the other one is borrowed by Xia Lin from a neighbor.

After seeing them off, Xia He turned around and went back to the courtyard to inquire with Li Xiuqin about opening a store.

It was only today that she realized that her parents had this idea, and she was very happy.

Excited about it by the fact that change means hope, and it’s better than remaining unchanged.

Xia Wen also turned her gaze to Li Xiuqin waiting for an answer, the light in her eyes was the same as Xia He’s.

“The matter is not yet settled, so we have to wait for a while before we can proceed. Also, we cannot reveal anything until it is done, and we cannot mention it to anyone”