Rebirth in 1980, the rise of the golden age

Li Youcai unscrewed the bottle cap and filled a glass of wine for his father.

Li Guanghu enjoyed the drink with the braised beef in soy sauce.

"Dad, the toads on this list weigh more than 50 kilograms in total. I can't catch so many by myself. You are most familiar with the mountains. I want you to take the second son into the mountains and catch toads and cicadas for me." Li Youcai filled his father's glass of wine again and then said this.

"For? What about you?"

"I'm going to the county aquatic products company tomorrow morning. If things go smoothly, I'll be able to get the qualification to supply the aquatic products company. Then, with the aquatic products company's support, we'll be half-public servants, and it won't be illegal to sell as many toads as we want."

"Brother, are you serious?" Hearing the three words "public servant", Li Youjie suddenly became energetic, his eyes full of desire.

If workers have an iron rice bowl, then public servants have a silver rice bowl.

Nowadays, those who can work for the government and eat public food are all very capable people. If a family has such a person, I wonder how many relatives and neighbors will envy them to death.

"Things are still being worked on. Whether it will be successful or not, I won't know until I meet with the head of the aquatic products company tomorrow."

"I don't have time tomorrow, that's why I want you and our dad to help me catch frogs." Li Youcai understood Li Youjie's thoughts too well and could easily grasp them with just two sentences.

"I'll help you catch frogs! But brother, if you really make the deal, you have to take me with you. I don't want to eat corn porridge all my life."

Sure enough, Li Youjie jumped up immediately and rushed to catch the toad.

"What's wrong with corn porridge? Didn't it raise you to this age?" Li Guanghu was a little unhappy. He hated to hear farmers say that the food was not good.

"Corn porridge is good. I love drinking corn porridge."

Seeing that his father was angry, Li Youjie immediately changed his words. He was a wise man who knew the current affairs. This was Li Youjie's lesson.

"I won't let you and Dad help me for nothing. You also have a share of the money from selling the toads."

After Li Guanghu drank a few glasses of wine, his face turned red.

"Let's not talk about the money first. I just feel bad for my eldest granddaughter. It's most important for her to have surgery."

At this point, Li Guanghu had his own thoughts. He didn't care what the aquatic product company Li Youcai mentioned was, or whether selling forest frogs was considered speculation or profiteering, or whether anyone was arrested.

One thing is clear now, these frogs can really be sold for money, and at a high price.

This alone is enough for Li Guanghu.

The eldest granddaughter has a congenital heart disease, and the surgery will cost a lot of money. Not to mention a poor family like theirs, even few families in the city can afford it.

There was nothing I could do before and I could only lament my bad luck.

Now that he had such a way to make money, as a grandfather, he couldn't give it up easily. Even if it meant being criticized and educated and sitting on the bench, Li Guanghu wanted to earn this life-saving money for his granddaughter.

"Dad, do you agree?" Li Youcai was a little happy.

Li Guanghu was a serious hunter. When he was young, he took an old hunter from the Oroqen ethnic group as his master. When he was sixteen or seventeen years old, he followed his master into the old forest to hunt.

It can be said that Li Guanghu knows the old forest in the back mountain as well as he knows his own home.

"It's just a few dozen pounds of toads, not a big deal. Go do your business tomorrow, and I'll take the second one into the mountains."

"That's settled then. After you catch the toads, you guys wait for me at home. I'll finish my work, and then we'll go to the county town to deliver the toads in the afternoon."

When Li Youcai returned home, he found that Chu Xinyan and Duoduo had not eaten first, but had been waiting for him.

The small kang table has been set up. Chu Xinyan cut a little of each cooked food and placed it on several plates. The tempting aroma made people salivate.

Little Duoduo lay on the kang table, her mouth drooling, staring at the roasted chicken legs without blinking: "Dad, you're back. If you hadn't come back, I would have starved to death."

"You weirdo, didn't you just eat several slices of sausage? Why are you starving?" Chu Xinyan said as she served Li Youcai some hot rice.

"Didn't I tell you not to wait for me and eat first?" Li Youcai took off his coat and sat on the kang. Although he said this, he was still very happy that Chu Xinyan and Duoduo were waiting for him to eat together.

"Let's eat together. Why do we have to eat in two portions as a family?"

It’s a simple truth, but it warms the heart.

Looking at the tattered clothes on Chu Xinyan and Duoduo, Li Youcai felt bad. Thinking that he had to go to the county town to do some business tomorrow, he said, "Take Duoduo with you tomorrow. Let's go to the tailor shop in the county town and make two new sets of clothes for you and Duoduo."

"No, why spend that money? You just earned some money and you can't afford to waste it." Chu Xinyan refused outright, reluctant to spend the money.

"Make one for her. Duoduo's cotton-padded jacket is so torn. It will be even colder in a few days. We can't let Duoduo suffer from the cold." Li Youcai said.

Looking at Duoduo's cotton-padded jacket, whose cotton was not as heavy as the cloth, Chu Xinyan felt a little distressed: "Then make a new cotton-padded jacket for Duoduo. Mine can still be worn, so you don't need to make one."

Being frugal is indeed a good virtue, but sometimes being too frugal is not necessarily a good thing.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Chu Xinyan, Li Youcai deliberately put down his chopsticks and pretended to be angry, saying, "I make money so that you and your mother can live a good life. Listen to me. Bring the cloth coupons and money tomorrow and make a new cotton-padded jacket for each of you, and two new sets of clothes. Don't worry about the money. As long as I'm alive, it won't be a problem!"

Seeing Li Youcai's stern face, Chu Xinyan suddenly became deflated.

"Then make a cotton-padded jacket."

After a big meal, Duoduo's belly was full. Perhaps because she hadn't eaten so many delicious foods for a long time, Duoduo's mouth never stopped eating.

Chu Xinyan was worried that Duoduo would upset her stomach, so she snatched away her bowl of rice, which made Duoduo cry again.

Silent all night.

The next morning, Chu Xinyan heated up the food, and the family of three ate and then went out together.

Knowing that she was going to the county town to make new clothes, Duoduo was extremely excited. Her little mouth was raised the whole time and she couldn't suppress it.

Whenever she met a neighbor on the road and greeted him, the little girl would happily say, "We are going to make new clothes."

This caused everyone to burst into laughter.

On the bus to the county town, Duoduo was even more curious. She always wanted to get close to the driver to see why the driver held an iron ring and turned left and right to make the car move.

At 8:30 in the morning, as soon as the tailor shop opened, Li Youcai and his family of three walked in.

In this day and age, the tailor shop business is going downhill.

Poor families cannot afford to make their own clothes, middle-class families buy fabrics and make their own clothes, and wealthy families wear ready-made clothes.

Even the most skilled tailors have to face the reality of being unable to use their skills. Therefore, in order to survive, more and more tailors have to go to the streets and do some mending work for others.

"Gentlemen, do you need some mending?" the old tailor asked when he saw the clothes on the three people.

"Make clothes, a new cotton jacket and trousers for each person, with enough cotton, and make two new sets of clothes." Li Youcai said very neatly, ignoring Chu Xinyan's constant pulling of his hand and her complaining eyes.

"Just make cotton jackets and trousers for them. I don't want any." Chu Xinyan hurriedly added to the old tailor.

"What did you say at home? Listen to me in everything." Li Youcai turned to Chu Xinyan and said.

The old tailor in the shop, upon hearing that the three of them wanted to make clothes, became even more enthusiastic and immediately came forward to greet them: "Tell me what style you want. We have samples of clothes in the shop, and you can take a look to see if you like them."

The old tailor pointed to the rows of clothes hanging on the wall. There was also a stack of photo plates on the chopping board. They were all photos of celebrities on TV, and the clothes they wore were all very good-looking.

"The clothes in the picture can all be made. Do you like any of them? I can give you a discount on the labor cost." The old tailor said at the right time.

Chu Xinyan pursed her lips and stepped back: "It's too expensive, I won't do it."

"Do it, why not? I think this one looks good." Li Youcai pointed to a suit jacket with a blue floral lapel.

"You have good taste. This dress looks really good on you, but the material is a little expensive. So, I'll give you a discount and charge you 4 yuan for the labor fee, and you can just give me 6 yuan for the fabric." said the old tailor.

"What? This dress costs 10 yuan? No! No!" Chu Xinyan was shocked when she heard it. Wow, this dress is beautiful, but it's too expensive.

Chu Xinyan was thinking about treating Duoduo and was reluctant to spend the money.

"Then don't."

Li Youcai pulled Chu Xinyan to sit aside, but his hand secretly pulled out a large unity banknote and quietly handed it to the old tailor. He turned his face to the side and kept winking and nodding his chin at the old tailor.

The meaning is obvious.

The old tailor quickly put the money away and nodded at Li Youcai.

Understood in seconds.

"This is your lover, right? You are so lucky, comrade." The old tailor smiled happily, took the money and took the ruler, and said in one go: "I will measure your size."

Chu Xinyan just thought it was just a cotton-padded jacket and didn't think much about it.

The old tailor over there was busy taking measurements of Chu Xinyan and Duoduo.

Li Youcai took a loose-fitting suit from the clothes rack, took off his old cotton-padded jacket, chose a sweater to match the suit, and put them all on himself.

He changed his pants and even found a pair of shoes and put them on his feet.

Clothes make the man, and saddles make the horse. Li Youcai in the mirror straightened his neck, and his temperament suddenly improved.

"Master, please measure their sizes and make clothes for them first. I'm going out to buy a pack of cigarettes." Li Youcai put on the clothes in the store and was about to go out.

"Hey, hey, hey..., these are my clothes, they are used for pattern making, how could you wear them away?" The old master shouted hurriedly when he saw this.

"Don't worry, I'll just try it on. I won't steal yours." Li Youcai put three big unity tickets and a stack of cloth coupons into Chu Xinyan's hands in front of the master: "See, I have money."

Seeing the money, the old tailor finally felt relieved.

"I'm going out to do something. You take the kids and wait for me here." Li Youcai whispered to Chu Xinyan.

"Then come back early." Although a little worried, Chu Xinyan nodded.