Chapter 76: I Disagree

Mu Chenze dragged over a chair, placed it solemnly in front of the kang bed, and sat down. “Mom, have you ever calculated how much we spend on transportation every year?”

Qin Mahua was still lying down. “Do I even need to? You rent a truck for 1,500 yuan a month. If we take two months off each year and deliver goods to the city for ten months, that’s 15,000 yuan a year in transportation costs.”

Mu Chenze gave her a thumbs up, full of admiration. “Mom, your math is spot on! For what we spend on transportation in a year, we could buy a truck and still have 5,000 left over.”

“So you mean…”

“I mean, I want to discuss with you—should we buy a truck for our family? A domestic one is fine, we don’t need an imported one. Imported trucks cost 30,000, but a domestic one is only 10,000.”

As soon as Mu Chenze said this, Qin Mahua shot up from the kang, reaching for her shoes.

Mu Chenze thought his mom was going to put on her shoes and get money for him, so he hurriedly handed them over.

Qin Mahua took the shoes—and started whacking him with them.

As expected, Mu Chenze’s pants were soon covered in shoe prints.

Luckily, he dodged quickly, or he would’ve gotten a real beating.

“Mom, what are you doing? Can’t we just talk this out…”

Qin Mahua’s heart was pounding. One hand clutched her chest, the other brandished a shoe. “Talk it out? No way! You’ve been calculating, thinking you’ve finally earned 10,000 yuan, right? Even if you did, it should be handed over to me to manage! I do not agree to buying a truck! What’s wrong with being a fisherman?”

She threw a shoe at him, but Mu Chenze dodged.

“Fine, fine. If you don’t agree, you don’t agree. No need to get mad, right? If you don’t give me the money, I can’t buy a truck anyway. I’ll go back to my room to sleep—I have to stay up late tonight to drive to the city.”

Mu Chenze went back to his bedroom.

Qin Mahua was so riled up by Mu Chenze that she couldn’t lie down anymore. She changed into her fish-cleaning clothes and shoes, called out to Mu Chenze that she was going out and to lock up after himself, and then left the house.

When she arrived at Chu Xuan’s place, she happened to see Chu Xuan changing into a little floral dress. The dress made Chu Xuan’s skin look even fairer; she no longer looked chubby, but adorably plump.

Qin Mahua’s mood instantly brightened, as if her handiwork was being shown off in the best possible way.

Chu Xuan loved the cool, breezy feeling of the dress. “Auntie Qin, thank you and Auntie Fuqing for making this dress for me.”

Gao Meijuan and the others came into the yard one after another, ready to start work. When they saw Chu Xuan in her new dress, they couldn’t help but compliment her.

“Xuan looks so pretty now.”

“Yeah, she looks much slimmer.”

“Xuan really suits dresses. If you grew your hair out, you’d look even better!”

Grow her hair out? Chu Xuan suddenly remembered what Mu Chenze had said that morning, complaining that she always kept her hair short and didn’t know how to dress up.

Maybe she should try growing it out—maybe long hair would make her face look nicer.

Just then, Ji Ping’s voice came from outside. “Chenze, why are you standing there? Not going in? You here to see Chu Xuan or Auntie Qin?”

Qin Mahua, who hadn’t noticed her son following her, looked out the door in confusion.

Sure enough, there was her spendthrift son who wanted to blow 10,000 yuan on a truck. “Xiao Ze, what are you doing here? If you have something to say, say it at home! Don’t think I’ll spare your dignity just because there are people here.”

Mu Chenze wasn’t about to admit he’d come just to see Chu Xuan in her dress, so he made up an excuse. “I made you mad at home and was worried about you, so I followed to check on you. Are you okay?”

This only made Qin Mahua angrier. “You dare bring that up? Get home right now! Don’t let me see you hanging around here!”

“Okay, okay. Mom, don’t be mad. I promise I won’t mention it again. I’m leaving!”

Mu Chenze had already seen what he wanted, so there was no reason to stay.

As he passed by Ji Ping’s cart of fish, Ji Ping asked quietly, “How’d you make your mom so mad? Aren’t you usually good at coaxing her?”

Mu Chenze replied in a low voice, “I told her I wanted to buy a truck for 10,000 yuan.”

The two of them whispered.

“You’ve got guts! For us fishermen, saving up for a house or a new fishing boat is the right thing to do. Why buy a truck? Fishing and trucking are totally different businesses.”

Mu Chenze hadn’t expected his best friend to say that. “You’re not supporting me either?”

Ji Ping didn’t hesitate. “Nope. Not supporting you.”

“I was even thinking of borrowing money from you to secretly buy it.”

Well, that was out of the question now.

Mu Chenze left, looking dejected.

Chu Xuan had to get to work, so she went back to her room to change into her work clothes.

In her previous life, Qin Mahua and Fu Qing had also made her a dress, which they gave her early in the morning on the day she returned home after her wedding. She wore it back, and Feng Chunhua immediately took a liking to it, made her change out of it, and said she’d save it for her future daughter-in-law.

Chu Xuan, ignoring Mu Chenze’s objections, agreed on the spot, changed into Feng Chunhua’s old clothes, and went back to her in-laws’ house, demanding that Qin Mahua and Fu Qing make her another dress.

They refused.

She had a big argument with them.

This time around, she would cherish this dress.

She carefully folded it and put it in the wardrobe before heading to the kitchen to check on the oven.

Ji Ping had already finished unloading the skinned fish and left.

Chu Feng came into the kitchen.

“Jie, I want to go to the county to sell grilled fish slices and make some money. And I want to look around the county too.”

He looked full of anticipation.

Chu Xuan realized she hadn’t been a very good big sister—she’d made money but hadn’t taken Xiao Feng to the county for a proper outing.

“Tomorrow afternoon, we’ll go to the county together to sell grilled fish slices. I’ll take you around, and buy you some new clothes.”

“Awesome! I’m so happy!” Chu Feng cheered as he ran out of the kitchen. “My sister’s taking me to the county to buy new clothes tomorrow!”

Qin Mahua overheard and quickly called out, “Xiao Xuan, I’ve already cut fabric for Xiao Feng’s new clothes. I just need to run them through the sewing machine. They’re short sleeves and shorts for this season. If you’re buying clothes in the county, get him long sleeves for autumn.”

Chu Xuan came out of the kitchen, grateful. “Auntie Qin, thank you so much! You’re too generous.”

She didn’t offer money, because she knew that would be too formal.

She planned to buy a piece of clothing for both Qin Mahua and Fu Qing in the future.

Qin Mahua just waved her hand with a smile. “We help each other out—no need to thank me. You’ve spent plenty on us too.”

Gao Meijuan looked apologetic. “Xiao Xuan, you’ve been so good to me, but I haven’t made any clothes for you or Xiao Feng…”

Chu Xuan took her hand and comforted her. “Grandma Gao, everyone’s seen how hard you’ve been working lately. Overtime and helping with the clothes—all of it helps me. I remember all the good you’ve done for me. I’d never think less of you just because you didn’t make me clothes…”

Qin Mahua chimed in, “Exactly. Everyone helps in their own way. I can only clean fish—I can’t watch the oven, I’d get heatstroke. So I help Xiao Xuan in other ways.”

Hua Daling, Widow Niu, and Liu Zhaodi looked at each other—they wanted to help Chu Xuan more too. So, they worked even harder!

Everyone contributed in their own way.

They had just sat down to clean fish when there was a knock at the door.

Chu Feng went to open it.

He saw Grandpa Qi standing outside, with a horse-drawn cart behind him.

“Grandpa Qi, what’s this about…”"