Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Let’s Make Money Together

When Xu Shuhua heard this, she shot Yu Hai a glare. “Meat, meat, meat—what are you on about? You think Nuanbao is as greedy as you? Hurry up and get inside the yard. Why are you blocking the front gate?”

Scolded by Xu Shuhua, Yu Hai just scratched his head with a sheepish grin.

But he still felt that what Nuanbao had just shouted sounded like “meat.”

Yu Nuannuan stared wide-eyed at Yu Hai’s back.

Of course, what she’d shouted wasn’t “meat”—it was “beat” (as in, “beat him up”).

How had she never noticed before that Yu Hai was so asking for a beating?

But then, thinking about Yu Hai’s age, Yu Nuannuan let it go.

Yu Hai was only twenty-two—still very young!

A bit of mischief was normal.

Unlike when they’d secretly sold strawberries before, this time the whole Yu family knew that Xu Shuhua and Yu Hai had gone to the county town to sell groundcherries.

At first, no one had much hope. Groundcherries were something every household in the village had eaten before.

Who would actually pay money to buy them?

But now, seeing the two jin (about a kilo) of pork belly Yu Hai had brought back, the whole Yu family was stunned.

Yu Zhenmin blinked hard. “Fourth, you and your mom really managed to sell those groundcherries? And you spent all the money on meat?”

Yu Hai was washing his face. Hearing this, he looked up, wiped the water from his face, and said to Yu Zhenmin, “Dad, how could that be? We made over twenty yuan! If we’d spent it all on meat, that’d be way too wasteful!”

“What?”

Yu Zhenmin, who had been squatting and smoking his pipe, shot to his feet.

He stood up so quickly that he saw stars and had to steady himself after staggering a few steps. “Fourth, what did you just say? How much did you sell them for?”

Yu Hai blinked, looking at Yu Zhenmin in confusion. “We sold them for over twenty yuan!”

“Over twenty yuan?!”

“Over twenty yuan?!”

Two exclamations rang out at the same time, making Yu Hai pause in surprise.

One was clearly from Yu Zhenmin, but who was the other? It didn’t sound like anyone in the family!

Yu Hai turned his head curiously toward the source of the voice, and saw an old woman standing at the gate, holding a chubby, dark-skinned boy in her arms.

Who else could it be but Old Lady Wang from next door and her grandson Wang Dabao?

Yu Hai frowned, about to ask what Old Lady Wang was doing here, but she spoke up first. “Yu Hai, did you just say you sold groundcherries for over twenty yuan? Really? Where did you sell them?”

As she asked, Old Lady Wang was thinking Yu Hai must have run into some rich fool with more money than sense.

But she didn’t doubt Yu Hai for a second—she’d seen with her own eyes the big slab of pork belly he’d brought home!

That pork belly was mostly fat with a little lean. If you sliced it thin and rendered it, you could probably get a bowl or two of lard out of it—enough to last a long time!

The leftover cracklings and lean meat could be chopped up for dumplings, stir-fries, or buns—just thinking about it made her mouth water.

Old Lady Wang wiped her mouth, eyes fixed on Yu Hai. “Yu Hai, why aren’t you saying anything? Who did you sell those groundcherries to? We’re neighbors, from the same village. You can’t keep a good thing like this to yourself! If there’s money to be made, we should all make it together, right? You can’t be so selfish!”

Hearing this, Yu Hai couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. “Make money together? Who do you think you are?!”"

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