Rebirth to the Eighties to Get Rich

Translator: tarararawr

Chapter 30 – Ask Third Brother-in-Law for Money?

“I’m here.” Su Danhong put the lid on the pot and came out.

Xiao Hei saw her, but he didn’t retreat from the front of the door. Mother Ji did not have one bit of dissatisfaction and commended him to Su Danhong. “Xiao Hei is a good dog for looking after the home!”

Su Danhong smiled.

They went to the room and Mother Ji said, “Danhong, mother knows that you and Jianyun have lost a lot today, but mother and father are really thankful to you!”

Su Danhong shook her head. “Mother, you don’t have to say that. I have nothing to lose. The land behind the mountain is mine now, and I plan on planting fruit trees this year.”

Upon hearing this, Mother Ji also shook her head. “That piece of land can’t grow anything, it’s too dry, and the water will be absorbed by the ground.”

A few years ago, she and her husband were still in good shape and wanted to do well with the land. However, they worked in vain for several years, and in the end, they couldn’t even grow any of the saplings.

Whether it was watering or fertilizing the saplings, there was a lot of work to be done. No matter how much effort they put into it, it still was not enough. Thus, Lao Da and Lao Er went to help them, but they gave up after a couple of months passed and did not see any hope.

The old couple didn’t give up, so they spent a lot of money on fruit trees.

“Mother, don’t worry. If I plant the fruit trees, then they will definitely grow,” Su Danhong said.

Mother Ji saw that she really wanted to grow them and she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Well, you can think about it. Your embroidery is better than growing fruit trees. You can be rest assured that mother will come to wash the clothes and cook for you in the future. That way, you can concentrate on doing embroidery to try and earn that 400 yuan back as soon as possible.”

Su Danhong responded at once, “No, no, mother. I don’t need you here for that. Just take care of father so that while Jianyun is outside, he does not need to worry either. You and father don’t have to be so concerned. I’m just giving it a try. If it really doesn’t work, then I’ll embroider something. Anyways, I’m not afraid of not having any food since I can embroider.”

Mother Ji thought about it and she nodded. She asked, “By the way, where’s Jianyun?”

Su Danhong informed her, “Jianyun said that he has a retired comrade who sells fruit trees, so he went to call and inquire about it.”

Mother Ji said, “Father also knows someone who sells fruit trees. If Jianyun’s side does not work out, come over and ask about it.”

Su Danhong agreed. Then, Mother Ji asked if they were going to come over to eat, but Su Danhong tactfully refused by saying that they can eat by themselves today and that there was a lot of delicious food in the kitchen.

Mother Ji also knew that the argument today was really bad. If it had not been for the money from Lao San’s wife, Lao Da’s wife and Lao Er’s wife would not have stopped.

After returning to old Ji’s home, Mother Ji relayed Su Danhong’s words.

Father Ji was silent for a moment and stated, “Since she wants to plant them, we will help her again when spring begins.”

Mother Ji nodded and did not have any objections. The two of them could still work. In the past, the old man could work ten points, and she could do seven points1.

In the room, Yun Lili was talking to Ji Yunyun.

“Yunyun, why did you hide it? Why didn’t you tell fourth sister-in-law that she did embroidery for money? How dare she just take out 400 yuan like that?” Yun Lili interrogated.

When she saw how Su Danhong took out the 400 yuan in front of everyone, it doesn’t even need to be mentioned how shocked she was.

400 yuan was a lot of money. It was almost as much as her and her husband’s combined salary for a whole year. More importantly, why would Su Danhong be willing to take it out? And how much more money did she have?

“I wasn’t very clear on it. I have never gone to see her since I came back. But my mother praises her every time she talks about her, praises her about everything, praises her from beginning to the end!” Ji Yunyun complained.

In fact, when she heard that Su Danhong was willing to take out 400 yuan to settle the family’s fight, she was shocked until she was speechless.

But after being shocked, she sneered.

She was so stupid in the past, and everyone thought she got better. I didn’t expect her to still be so stupid. She was so willing to take out so much money. Even if she didn’t give any to Feng Fangfang and Ji Mudan, they should not be allowed to pierce the roof!

Also, it’s so obvious that she has money, but she seduced third brother to not give me 10 yuan for the study material!

That’s not what Yun Lili was thinking about. She sighed and said, “If we could borrow some money from third brother-in-law to repay the mortgage, then your fourth brother would not be under so much pressure.”

Ji Yunyun was stunned and immediately nodded. She said, “That’s doable. Third brother is the most affectionate. He has been bewitched by Su Danhong, so he won’t give me the money for the study materials, but if you ask fourth brother to talk to the third brother, then third brother will certainly give it to him!”

“Really?” Yun Lili asked. A glint flashed through her eyes.

Ji Yunyun nodded.

Yun Lili went out to look for Ji Jianwen in the yard. Ji Jianwen was chopping firewood at the moment. This was the only moment in the year when he came back to his hometown. He didn’t even come back during summer vacation. Today, his parents were left with nothing to say because they had helped him buy a home and were ridiculed by eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law.

“Jianwen.” He was venting his anger on chopping wood when he heard his wife say his name.

“What’s the matter?” Ji Jianwen asked.

“Jianwen, we still owe more than 500 yuan for our mortgage. You saw how rich third brother-in-law’s family is now. I was wondering if we can borrow some money to pay off the mortgage first, and then we can return the money to the third brother-in-law later,” Yun Lili whispered.

Ji Jianwen was shocked. He immediately glared at her and criticized, “You really dare to open your mouth when third sister-in-law took out 400 yuan to settle things with eldest sister-in-law and second-in-law for us? You still want to have ideas like that with third sister-in-law?”

He also heard from his mother that third sister-in-law had money because of her embroidery. With regards to how his third sister-in-law had turned over to a new leaf, his mother had said that the change had happened a while ago. It’s just that they only returned once a year, which was why the change was so extreme to them. His mother had seen her so much that she wasn’t affected by it.

That’s what his mother said. His mother also asked him to repay the money he borrowed when he had money in the future. At that moment, he said he would pay it back, but now his wife came to tell him this?

“I’m not asking you to borrow it from her, I’m asking you to borrow it from third brother-in-law!” Yun Lili clarified.

Ji Jianwen took a deep breath and said, “Okay, you should go back. I still have a lot of firewood to finish chopping.”

Yun Lili was so angry. She demanded, “Aren’t you going to borrow it?”

Ji Jianwen scolded, “How much is my third brother’s monthly salary? How much does he have to give if he saves it all and doesn’t spend it to live? Did you think that money wasn’t third sister-in-law’s and was all earned by third brother? You’re asking me to use our affection as brothers to ask for the money, knowing that our brotherly relationship is important to third brother, aren’t you? Don’t you forget, it’s my third brother’s salary that supported me in the past, and I still haven’t repaid him!”

Yun Lili saw that he was truly enraged and became a little scared. She whispered, “I didn’t mean it like that either. I thought that you were under too much pressure and just thought…”

“I don’t need you to think about it. I wouldn’t be under so much pressure if you didn’t take two jin of meat back to your maternal home every month!” Ji Jianwen lowered his head and continued to chop firewood.

Yun Lili was upset and complained, “My maternal home let us borrow so much money…”

“Are you saying that my parents didn’t let us borrow any?” Ji Jianwen looked up at her and did not try to conceal the mockery in his eyes. “Do you really think you’re bigger than the sky and that the whole family will do whatever you like by bringing back those two roast ducks?”

Yun Lili lost all of her dignity. She stomped her foot furiously and ran back.

Ji Jianwen buried his head and continued to use all his energy to chop wood.

Footnotes

In the 1950s, a work point system was used to divide up tasks and allow farmers to acquire points based on their production output. 10 is the highest amount.