Back to 1978: Getting rich starts with treasure hunting

An autumn rain brings a chill. Although the provincial capital is located south of the Yangtze River, the power of autumn still affects here.

The workers in the compound have endless fallen leaves to clean up every day.

The damp and chill of late autumn penetrated into the bones. Wang Suzhen had already lit a charcoal fire a few days ago and placed it in the living room to keep warm.

Lin Shu has been pregnant for more than four months. Pregnant women are not so afraid of cold. It is like having a stove in her arms to keep her warm. She would rather go back to her room to lie on the bed to rest or read a book and browse the system mall.

After dinner that day, Gu Jiu had not returned home yet due to a social engagement. His second sister-in-law was chatting with Wang Suzhen in the living room. Lin Shu finished dinner and went upstairs to return to his room.

In addition to the rooms of Gu's father and Wang Suzhen, the rooms of the other three brothers and sisters-in-law are also on the second floor. The eldest brother and sister-in-law's children are grown up, and they usually live in the company dormitory during work.

Sometimes my second brother would come back to live with me in the second house, and my second sister-in-law had to take care of the children, so she usually spent more time at home.

Finally, Gu Zhiyuan and Gu Jiu from the third room lived at home.

Today, on the way back to his room, Lin Shu noticed that the door of the third room was not closed tightly, and he could hear the quarrel between the couple in the third room.

Originally, Lin Shu hadn't intended to eavesdrop, but their voices came through the crack in the door, and she had no choice but to listen.

When Gu Jiu came back in the evening, Lin Shu locked the last stitch of her sweater and put away the knitting needles and the sweater.

Gu Jiu came out of the washroom and asked while drying his hair: "I saw you start knitting yesterday, and you've finished it today?"

"Well, Maomao's clothes are not that big, it won't take much effort." After Lin Shu put the clothes away, he went to the bathroom to wash his hands.

"Your belly is getting bigger and bigger, so you should stop sitting and knitting all day. Are you worried that the baby will have nothing to wear after it's born? When I went upstairs, I saw my mother knitting woolen clothes."

"These two sets are enough. Newborn hair grows quickly in the wind, so it would be a waste to knit more and they won't be able to wear them all." Lin Shu came out of the bathroom, stretched his limbs and neck, and then lay back on the bed.

He lay back on the bed, stretched his limbs, and sighed, "It's still more comfortable lying down."

When I sit and knit a sweater, my neck becomes sore after keeping my head down for a long time. But when I lie on the bed, my whole body and mind relax. It is so comfortable.

Gu Jiu dried his hair, lifted the quilt and lay down in it, reaching out to touch her bulging belly.

As soon as he touched her, Lin Shu mercilessly slapped her away, "Your hands are cold, wait until they're warm before touching me again."

Gu Jiu rubbed his hands under the quilt and laughed, "I've finished my work today. Some of the finishing work can be handed over to Fade Chen and the others. I'll accompany you to the prenatal check-up tomorrow?"

Last time, the hospital only checked whether I was pregnant, and didn’t check other items. This time, I have to check it thoroughly no matter what.

"Okay, let's go for a pregnancy test. Have you noticed anything recently? My belly is bigger than other pregnant women. Do you think there might be twins inside?"

"Twins?" Gu Jiu was stunned, then his eyes widened and he grinned: "I'm so powerful, I can kill two birds with one stone?"

"That's not certain yet. We'll know after a check-up tomorrow." Lin Shu felt a little nervous. If it was twins, then the one in her belly wasn't her son from her previous life?

Thinking of her good eldest son in the previous life, perhaps they only had the relationship of mother and son in this life. If they were not destined to be together in this life, then everything would have to be left to fate.

Gu Jiu rubbed his hands to warm them up, and placed his big palms on his pregnant belly, "Wife, your intuition may be right. There may really be twins here."

"You also feel that your belly is bigger than a normal pregnancy belly?"

"I don't know, but my intuition is that there are two hairs in this."

The couple talked about whether the baby in the belly was a boy or a girl, and who the baby would look like after birth.

As they chatted, Lin Shu thought of Gu Zhiyuan and his wife in the next room. "When you came back, did you hear them arguing next door?"

"No, what's wrong?" Gu Jiu put his ear close to her belly, listened to her words, raised his eyebrows and looked at her, "Did they have a fight?"

"I don't know exactly what they were arguing about, but it seemed to be about work."

"Oh." Gu Jiu responded lightly and didn't pay any more attention.

But Gu Jiu didn't pay attention to it. The next morning, the two of them came back from the hospital for a pregnancy check-up. As soon as they entered the house, they heard the couple arguing.

"Gu Zhiyuan, you have a quota on hand, why is it so difficult for you to help?"

"I do have a quota, but it's for the factory, not mine. You're just making things difficult for me if you keep pestering me like this."

"Humph, that's a high-sounding statement. If it was your brother who asked you to arrange work today, would you be so reluctant? To put it bluntly, you are treating my family as outsiders!"

Gu Jiu and Lin Shu looked at each other, they didn't expect that he would be involved in their quarrel. Gu Jiu scratched his eyebrows, took Lin Shu's hand and walked in calmly.

"You two can quarrel, but don't involve me."

The couple from the third room quarreled without any restraint. Lin Shu thought that no one was at home, but when he walked in, he found that Wang Suzhen and the nanny were sitting at the dining table watching the show.

Gu Jiu pulled Lin Shu to sit next to Wang Suzhen and said half-truthfully, "Mom, why don't you try to stop them from arguing?"

Wang Suzhen rolled her eyes at him and said angrily, "How do you want me to persuade you? Should I persuade your sister-in-law not to embarrass your brother, or persuade your brother not to care too much. It's not a big deal to arrange a job for her brother."

Lin Shu glanced at Gu Jiu, poured himself a glass of warm water, and looked towards the living room.

Being interrupted by the couple coming in, Gu Zhiyuan couldn't continue arguing anymore and sat on the sofa sulking.

Jiang Chaohong also sat on the sofa on the other side and took a deep breath. "Tell me, how are you going to solve my brother's work problem?"

Gu Zhiyuan was annoyed by her pestering him like this. He stroked his hair and shouted in a low voice, "I have no plans. I said that the quota is for the factory, not for me personally. I can't make any arrangements for your brother who hasn't even graduated from elementary school!"

Jiang Chaohong noticed the people sitting in the restaurant watching the show, and was extremely angry. He gritted his teeth and pointed at Gu Jiu and asked, "If it was Lao Jiu who asked you to arrange work today, would you refuse so resolutely?"

Gu Zhiyuan was very annoyed when she saw her bringing up Lao Jiu again. "If you insist on bringing him up, then I'll tell you the truth. Lao Jiu wants to join our factory, and I'll arrange for him to take the exam according to the normal procedures. If he passes, he can naturally join our factory. As for your brother, if I let him take the exam, can he understand the meaning of the test paper? Can he write the complete words when answering the questions?"

"It's not my brother's fault that he is uneducated. There's no need for you to always use this weakness to attack me. Gu Zhiyuan, are you still a man?" Jiang Chaohong became angry out of shame.

Gu Zhiyuan rubbed his face, exhausted both physically and mentally, "Alright, I'm too lazy to argue with you. Whenever it comes to your mother's family, you are unreasonable."

After saying that, Gu Zhiyuan picked up his briefcase and went out.

Jiang Chaohong didn't know whether she had lost face or was irritated by Gu Zhiyuan's words, she sat on the sofa and sobbed silently.

Lin Shu was considering whether she should go over to comfort her, but before she could take any action, Jiang Chaohong ran upstairs with her bag, and then the door of the room on the second floor slammed shut.

"Is... this okay?" You're not going to get a divorce, are you?

Wang Suzhen waved her hands and said nonchalantly, "I've already given birth to two children, what can possibly happen?"

Lin Shu glanced at the second floor, his gossipy heart stirring, "What's the situation with Third Sister-in-law's brother? I think Third Brother is unwilling to arrange a job for him no matter what."

Wang Suzhen: "I was a street urchin. I didn't learn well when I was young. I started hanging around with the youths in society before I graduated from high school. Later, I went to the countryside to work in the fields for a few years. Now I'm back and waiting for a job."

"Oh, if he's waiting for a job, then just wait. There will always be a job suitable for him."

Lin Shu thought that Jiang Chaohong's younger brother's resume should be more than just this simple, otherwise it should not be difficult for Gu Zhiyuan and the sister unit to arrange a job that does not require any cultural knowledge.

Wang Suzhen shook her head. "If he had worked honestly, there would be no quarrel between them. Her brother is uneducated, but he can find a suitable job as long as he is willing to work hard. He was previously arranged to work as a miner in a mine in the town under his jurisdiction, but he ran away after working one day, saying that he couldn't bear the hardship. Her brother even shouted to others that the third brother wanted to kill him by arranging such a job for him."

"Hiss!" Lin Shu sucked in a breath of cold air. Good intentions don't go unrewarded. These words are so vicious.

"Last time I saw Third Sister-in-law's mother, she seemed to be a reasonable old lady. How come her son is such a bastard?"

"The nine sons of a dragon are all different." What Wang Suzhen didn't say was that Jiang's mother was eloquent outside, but that didn't mean she was really reasonable.

She showed her reasonable side in front of outsiders because her interests were not affected. If someone affected her interests, she would probably turn against them.

"Tsk, who do the people in their family think they are?" Gu Jiu couldn't help but sneer when he heard this.

Wang Suzhen slapped him in anger and said, "I was just making a metaphor."

Gu Jiu cried out in pain exaggeratedly and rubbed his arm: "Mom, can you be a little gentler? Look, my arm is all red."

Wang Suzhen was amused by him, "You are wearing such thick clothes, I know how to use Iron Sand Palm."

As if remembering something, he immediately asked, "Hey, you went to the hospital for a checkup. How's the situation? What did the doctor say?"

Speaking of this, Gu Jiu and Lin Shu couldn't stop smiling.

"Mom, everything is fine after today's checkup. Also, the doctor said my wife is pregnant with twins."

"Twins?" The surprise came so suddenly that Wang Suzhen looked at Lin Shu in a daze.

Lin Shu smiled and nodded, "Twins."

"Oh, may the Bodhisattva bless us, may the Bodhisattva bless us. Our family has accumulated great merits, otherwise how could we be pregnant with twins?" Wang Suzhen exclaimed, staring at Lin Shu's belly.

"I was wondering why your belly is so big after more than four months. It turns out you are pregnant with two babies. Shushu, are you still having morning sickness recently?"

Lin Shu shook his head: "We have passed that stage."

"Okay, okay, as long as you don't have morning sickness, it'll be fine. You can eat enough for three people to digest. We'll give you more supplements in the future. We can't let the baby grow too small." Wang Suzhen thought that the family's meals had been mostly light during this period, and it seemed that they had to make some changes.

When Lin Shu woke up from his nap in the afternoon, it was already past four o'clock.

Just as I was sitting in the living room and eating an orange, Gu Youming and Gu Youxing ran in from outside with their small schoolbags on their backs.

Following them in came Gu Jiu. Seeing this, Lin Shu asked, "Did you go to pick them up?"

"Well, on the way back, I stopped by the meat processing factory and bought a pig's heart for free. I asked Sister Liu to fry it for me tonight." Gu Jiu said as he walked towards the kitchen.

Lin Shu saw the dark red pig heart and frowned slightly. She didn't want to eat it. But even if she didn't eat it, her family would have to eat it. After thinking about it, she didn't say it clearly.

In the evening, Gu Zhiyuan did not come back for dinner.

Jiang Chaohong's eyes were swollen as walnuts. Seeing that everyone was only concerned with eating, no one said anything bad about Gu Zhiyuan, and no one came to comfort her. She felt aggrieved, and she didn't eat and just cried without saying a word.

Wang Suzhen took care of her two children while they were eating. As a father-in-law, Gu Changsheng had many things he couldn't say to his daughter-in-law.

Gu Jiu acted as if it had nothing to do with him, and he didn't say a word while his second sister-in-law took care of the two girls' meals.

Lin Shu should have had a good appetite now that she no longer had morning sickness, but with someone crying silently next to her, even if she had a good appetite, she could hardly eat.

The main problem is not that she is cold-blooded, but that she doesn’t know how to persuade?

She should not interfere in such a matter of principle. Otherwise, if someone targets Gu Zhiyuan, she would become a sinner.

I believe that everyone had no appetite for this meal. Even the children ate in silence without saying a word.

The next morning, Lin Shu got up early and had breakfast with everyone, but still didn't see Gu Zhiyuan. After asking, he found out that he didn't come back to sleep last night.

Jiang Chaohong didn't cry this time, but her eyes were as swollen as walnuts.

With such an image, I didn't even go to work. I just called in for leave and lay at home.

Gu Jiu and Lin Shu took the two children to kindergarten together.

After sending their child to school, the couple went to the train station. A batch of goods they had ordered in the provincial capital would be shipped that day.

"With this batch of goods, our store's merchandise will be more abundant. I wonder if Dongfa has rented a storefront in the city?" Lin Shu said as he stood outside the train station, looking at the train speeding away in the distance.

Gu Jiu: "Last time he called me, the license had been processed. I think it should be easier to rent a storefront. Don't worry. Let's wait for a while and make sure you don't have morning sickness. How about we buy tickets and go back to live for a while?"

"This is what you said, so you must keep your word!" Lin Shu's eyes lit up instantly when he heard that he could return to the county town.

Gu Jiu embraced Lin Shu as they came out of the station and saw Gu Youhui still setting up the stall at the same place.

However, there was a middle-aged woman selling buns and steamed buns next to him.

"Uncle, aunt, why are you here at the train station today?" Gu Youhui greeted them while collecting the money.

The sugar cane that Lin Shu had stored in the dilapidated house had been cleared out by this kid. The sugar cane he was selling now was wholesaled from Gu Jiu's fruit shop. In addition to sugar cane, he also wholesaled pineapples.

Sugarcane was cut into sections and sold for five cents each. Pineapples were cut into pieces and skewered for ten cents each.

A pineapple can be cut into eight pieces and sold for 80 cents. Excluding the 50 cents wholesale cost, you can make 30 cents from each pineapple.

Looking at Gu Youhui, who was quick and skilled in greeting customers, Gu Jiu felt mixed emotions. "We came here to ship a batch of goods. You have good business here."

"Thanks to you, business is doing well." Gu Youhui hummed in his heart. It's better than going to work.

He turned around and called Lin Shu: "Aunt, do you want some pineapple?"

Lin Shu waved his hands: "This thing is too sour, I won't eat it. You go about your business, don't worry about us."

Seeing that there was another guest here, Gu Jiu pulled Lin Shu away and said, "Let's go!"

On the way home, Lin Shu rode his bicycle side by side with him and said, "Youhui's business is pretty good. When I first heard that his small stall made over a hundred dollars a day, I was so shocked that I couldn't speak."

"Nowadays, you can earn more by setting up a small stall outside than by working. Why are some people unwilling to take this step?" Gu Jiu shook his head.

Lin Shu knew that he was talking about Jiang Chaohong's younger brother and those unemployed young people who stayed at home doing nothing and were just waiting for their superiors to assign them jobs.

It's just that everyone has their own ambitions. In a decade or so, some people will still consider self-employed people a lowly profession. Especially in this era when people are proud of having a stable job.

It is unbecoming for self-employed individuals to be even more so for small vendors working outside in the wind and sun. It is extremely shameful and too embarrassing to tell others about it.