I Became Rich by Eating Melons in the Era of Literature (1970s)

　　Jiang Youtao and Xu Baozhu's first encounter was on the second day after she met Xu Baozhu. When she came, Jiang Youtao and her friends were having lunch.

　　When she entered the yard, she first greeted Wang Shanxi and others in the yard, and then went straight to Jiang Youtao and her friends' dormitory.

　　She walked in without knocking: "Jiang Zhiqing, Gu Zhiqing, hello, I'm Xu Baozhu."

　　Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei looked at each other and guessed why she came.

　　Jiang Youtao stood up to greet her: "Hello, hello, come and sit here. Have you eaten? Do you want to eat something?"

　　After Xu Baozhu entered the house, she looked around. Jiang Youtao's living room was very small, with a small dining table against the wall and three stools beside it.

　　Xu Baozhu glanced at the food on the table. Seeing that they were eating only vegetarian dishes, which were not as good as what she ate at home, she shook her head and said, "No, no, I came to see you because I have something to ask."

　　Xu Baozhu pulled a stool and sat down. "I went to Uncle Manzhu's house today and saw that my sister Xiaoyan was using a very good vanishing cream. They said you bought it for her. I wanted to ask if you could buy some for me, too?"

　　Liu Xiaoyan is Xu Dazui's eldest granddaughter and is the same age as Xu Baozhu.

　　Xu Baozhu has no memory of the past, but her intuition is very accurate. When she went to play with Liu Xiaoyan, she saw the bottle of vanishing cream on the cabinet at a glance. She thought it was a good thing at the time. After seeking Liu Xiaoyan's consent, she applied some. It was very moisturizing and smelled very good.

　　Xu Baozhu had a smooth life since she was a child. She always had what she wanted. She wanted this kind of vanishing cream, so she went out and went to the educated youth site.

　　Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei looked her up and down.

　　She was still wearing her brand new red cotton jacket, her hair was neatly combed and hung on her cheeks, with two red gauze flowers on it. This kind of head flower looked very tacky to Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei, but in this era, most people could not afford it.

　　Manliushugou was a home to Xu Baozhu, and they had only seen her wearing it.

　　She was wearing black and blue nylon pants on her lower body, and the shoes she was wearing were also Huili shoes.

　　This kind of dress, not to mention the countryside, even few girls in the city can wear it. Xu Manyu and her are twins from the same mother, but they are treated very differently.

　　They had just met Xu Manqiu yesterday. She was wearing a gray, tattered cotton jacket that she had inherited from someone unknown. The cotton at the cuffs was torn. She was wearing singlet pants and black, layered-soled shoes, but the front was torn. When she walked faster, her big toe was exposed.

　　Jiang Youtao was unwilling to help Xu Baozhu, and neither was Gu Nianwei.

　　She refused Xu Baozhu with a fake smile: "We bought that vanishing cream in the city, and now we don't have it anymore. If you want it, go buy it in the city."

　　Xu Dazui asked Jiang Youtao to buy that bottle of vanishing cream less than a week after Jiang Youtao went to the countryside. Jiang Youtao thought it was too troublesome to go to the commune and squeeze with others to buy things, so she asked Gu Nianwei to help bring it.

　　Gu Nianwei directly gave a bottle of cream from her space to Jiang Youtao. It was a big foreign brand, specially designed for teenage girls. It not only smelled good, but also had a very good moisturizing effect. Of course, the price was also very attractive.

　　Gu Nianwei had stockpiled a lot of them, and she also gave one bottle to Jiang Youtao. She didn't take these skin care products seriously. The things stored in her space were enough for her to use for three lifetimes, so she wouldn't feel bad about giving them away, but if there was someone she didn't want to give the things to, she wouldn't even give an empty bottle.

　　In other words, as long as Gu Nianwei insisted that she could not buy that kind of vanishing cream, Xu Baozhu would not be able to buy the same one even if she searched all over China.

　　She can't buy it abroad. Times are advancing and formulas are also improving. However, whether she can buy other effective skin care products. It depends on whether Xu Baozhu has the ability to do so.

　　Xu Baozhu was stunned. From childhood to adulthood, whenever she asked for something, someone would give it to her, and no one had ever refused her.

　　"I'll give you money, I have money!" Xu Baozhu thought for a moment and felt that Gu Nianwei might have refused because she saw her as a child and didn't have money, so she took out money from her pocket.

　　A small handful of money, the largest denomination is the Great Unity note, and the smallest one is the 50-cent note, there are no separate notes.

　　Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei watched and felt more and more indignant.

　　Xu Manqiu's hands were covered with frostbite and she had no medicine to use. She was afraid that she could not even pay back two steamed buns. However, Xu Baozhu could easily take out dozens of yuan from her pocket.

　　You have to know that this was the 1970s, and the salary of a regular worker in this era was only over 30 yuan, and Xu Baozhu was only 15 years old!

　　"Baozhu, it's not that I don't want to buy it for you, but we really don't have a plan to go to the city. If you really want it, just find someone to buy it for you in the city." The smile on Gu Nianwei's face became increasingly faint.

　　Xu Baozhu had never been rejected before, and she was also angry. She thought that the city was not far away, so she could just find someone to go to the city to buy it, and she didn't need to beg Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei. She quickly put the money back into her pocket.

　　"Okay, I'm leaving." Xu Baozhu stood up and left. She had so many friends, and her parents were so powerful, so it was easy for her to go to the city to buy some vanishing cream. Why did she have to beg Gu Nianwei and Jiang Youtao?

　　After Xu Baozhu left, Jiang Youtao poked the rice in the bowl with chopsticks and lost her appetite.

　　Gu Nianwei put her chopsticks on the table and said, "Taotao, what do you think Accountant Xu is thinking? He is a cadre of the brigade. Every year, the brigade gives him subsidies. He also receives a salary from the brigade. Manqiu's parents are workers in the county. They are not short of money. But why does he treat Manqiu like that?"

　　It would be fine if the whole family was not living well, but the Xu family was obviously living such a good life, yet they had to treat Xu Manyu harshly.

　　After Jiang Youtao finished reading the book, she naturally knew what the Xu family meant. She had already expressed her anger yesterday, and now she has calmed down.

　　It is obvious that the entire Xu family thinks that Xu Baozhu is a lucky star and Xu Manqiu is an unlucky star. They listened to the Taoist priest and tried their best to suppress the unlucky star. Since this is the case, they naturally will not be nice to Xu Manqiu.

　　"People in the village say Xu Baozhu is a lucky star, maybe that's why."

　　"This is feudal superstition. I didn't expect that Accountant Xu is like a human being at ordinary times, but acts like a dog at the critical moment. They are all members of his Xu family, but Manqiu is still so well-behaved. Is he getting senile and confused?" Gu Nianwei was so angry that she cursed.

　　The two complained for a while, and Li Yunying told them to study, so Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei went over with pens and notebooks.

　　As soon as the two of them walked into the kitchen, Zhao Yonglan couldn't wait to ask them: "I just saw Xu Baozhu go to your place, why did she come?"

　　Zhao Yonglan had heard so much about Xu Baozhu's miraculous qualities that she became extremely curious about her. Zhao Yonglan had never heard of such a miraculous thing in her life.

　　Unfortunately, Xu Baozhu did not have much contact with these educated youth. She had a group of friends in the village who were particularly good to her.

　　"She came to us to buy vanishing cream for her."

　　After Jiang Youtao finished speaking, Zhao Yonglan was very disappointed. She thought it was a big deal. "I thought she was looking for you for something, but it's just this matter. Let her go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy it herself. It's not expensive."

　　They had just gone to town to buy some vanishing cream. The most expensive brand was Friendship, which cost three yuan and fifty cents. The bulk ones were even cheaper.

　　Looking at Xu Baozhu's clothes, you can tell she is not short of money. What can she not afford? Besides, isn't she studying in the commune? Why does she need Gu Nianwei and the others to buy her vanishing cream?

　　What's wrong with her? Does she really think of herself as a young lady who needs to be served? Even at her peak, she didn't ask anyone to buy things for her.

　　She always does things personally, like going to the supply and marketing cooperative.

　　Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei didn't explain. Wang Shanxi had already taken out his textbook and was copying the text on the small blackboard. They quickly fell silent and opened their notebooks to write quickly.

　　Everyone takes study so seriously. If they gossip in such a solemn occasion, it would be disrespectful to others.

　　Just when Jiang Youtao and others were studying intensively, Xu Baozhu returned home with an unhappy look on her face.

　　When Mrs. Xu saw her lucky granddaughter in this state, she immediately felt distressed. She hugged her and said, "Look, her mouth is so swollen that you can hang a bottle of oil on it. Tell grandma, who messed with our precious child?"

　　The mouth of old lady Xu, which was full of shit when she was talking to Xu Manqiu, was so sweet when she was talking to Xu Baozhu. She had always been a bit biased towards boys, and she didn't even treat her own daughter very well, but to Xu Baozhu, she really loved her to the core.

　　Old Mrs. Xu felt that, apart from the fact that Xu Baozhu was a lucky star, she also had some true feelings for her.

　　When Xu Baozhu saw Old Lady Xu, she felt very aggrieved: "I've gone to find Jiang Zhiqing."

　　Xu Manqiu was twisting hemp rope in the yard. When she heard Xu Baozhu say that she has gone to find Jiang Zhiqing, her hands slowed down and tears welled up in her eyes.

　　The dusty memories of her early years came flooding back to her mind. She used to have a few friends, but then Xu Baozhu came back from school. She was pretty and well-dressed, so all her friends became friends with Xu Baozhu, and she was left alone again.

　　She had been feeling dizzy since yesterday and felt like she was dreaming. She had seen the educated youth in the village many times. They were pretty, spoke quietly, and walked and acted differently from the country girls. They actually came to play with her, brought her medicine and food, and asked her to call them sisters.

　　All this was like a dream, and she was afraid that she would wake up soon. Now that Xu Baozhu had pulled them away from her, Xu Manqiu felt relieved.

　　But she felt extremely uncomfortable. Her tears fell one after another.

　　Mrs. Xu recalled how Jiang Youtao had grabbed her stick and made her unable to move yesterday, and she was very annoyed: "Why did Bao'er go to find her?"

　　Could it be that her precious granddaughter knew that she was pissed off by that Jiang Zhiqing yesterday and went to get revenge on her?

　　Old Mrs. Xu's irritability disappeared and she felt very happy. She thought that it was her eldest granddaughter and that her love for her over the years was not in vain.

　　"I went to Liu Xiaoyan's house and saw that she had a bottle of very good vanishing cream. She said her grandmother asked Jiang Zhiqing to buy it for her. I asked Jiang Zhiqing to buy it for me, but she refused."

　　Xu Baozhu's words made Mrs. Xu's heart skip a beat, and her happy mood disappeared in an instant.

　　The smile on her face faded a little, but when she saw the innocent look on Xu Baozhu's face, she suppressed her unhappiness.

　　Their daughter Baozhu was raised to be innocent and naive by them. She simply couldn't understand the twists and turns of adults. She probably didn't even know that she had been bullied by Jiang Zhiqing yesterday.

　　Mrs. Xu said, "Isn't it just vanishing cream? We'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some in a little while. Let's buy the most expensive one."

　　Xu Baozhu pouted again: "The most expensive ones are not as good as theirs. They bought them in the city."

　　When Old Lady Xu heard that she had to buy a vanishing cream in the city, her heart ached subconsciously. She had lived a hard life and hated extravagance and waste. She had never used vanishing cream before.

　　But looking at the beautiful face of her granddaughter and the benefits her good fortune brought to the family, this was not worth much: "Buy it! Wait until your dad comes back tomorrow and let him find a solution for you."

　　Xu Baozhu smiled and said, "Thank you, grandma. You are so kind to me. When I grow up, I will definitely honor you."

　　Old Mrs. Xu was so coaxed by Xu Baozhu that she smiled happily.

　　The grandparents and grandchildren walked into the house affectionately.

　　The tear that Xu Manqiu had left had long been dried by the wind. She rubbed the hemp rope quickly with a faint smile on her lips.

　　It's great that Sister Taotao and Sister Weiwei were not coaxed away by Xu Baozhu like their previous friends.

　　Xu Manqiu really wanted to see them right now, but she couldn't because she hadn't finished her work for the day.

　　She finally made it to the time when she could eat.

　　There are more than a dozen people in the Xu family. Accountant Xu has three sons and two daughters. Xu Baozhu and Xu Manyu's father, Xu Zhiqiang, is the second child. He has two daughters, Xu Baozhu and Xu Manyu.

　　Uncle Xu had three sons, and third Uncle Xu had two sons. The youngest son was old enough to eat, but once the food was served, half of it was gone. Finally, Uncle Xu's youngest son didn't get the last bite and burst into tears.

　　Xu Baozhu eats slowly, and her meals are served separately. In addition to the same meals as everyone else, she also has a separate egg custard. No one in the family questioned this, not even the youngest, Xu Lianhui, who was only six years old and came from Uncle Xu's family.

　　Xu Manqiu and Xu Baozhu were at two extremes. They had sweet potato and multi-grain steamed buns and corn porridge for their meal. Most of her corn porridge was washed down with water, the multi-grain steamed bun was the hardest one, and there was only a little bit of vegetable.

　　Xu Manqiu did not protest, because she knew that protesting was useless. She finished her meal in silence and waited until everyone in the family was full before washing the dishes. She did not rest at all and went out with the basket on her back and the rake in her hand.

　　Xu Manqiu has never had a job like taking a lunch break.

　　Just as she walked out of the house and took two steps up the mountain, Accountant Xu chased after me.

　　"Qiu'er."

　　Xu Manyu turned around and saw that it was Accountant Xu. The smile in her eyes gradually faded.

　　Accountant Xu took a few steps forward, took out an egg and handed it to Xu Manyu: "Eat it."

　　Xu Manqiu looked at the eggs in Accountant Xu's hand and suddenly found it quite funny .

　　Her grandfather always compensates her for even the smallest things.

　　An egg, a piece of candy, and a sweet potato, all he want is for her to be so moved to tears of gratitude.

　　But when it comes to big things, like her going to school, she cried in front of him until her eyes were blind, but he didn't give in.