Yang Peimin laughed, "Of course you can." He was worried she might be bored by herself.
Yang Peiying nodded happily.
Then she started talking more, "Shuang Mei is really good with kids and knows a lot; I should learn from her too..."
When Shen Yixiang came back, she saw an extra sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl in the house, holding a child, and couldn’t help but be surprised, "Yingzi, is this your sister’s classmate?" It wasn’t strange for her to ask that, since besides herself, the only one with a social circle left in the house was Yang Peimin.
Yang Peiying stood up, "No, this is Shuang Mei who lives next door to us; she came over to talk to me."
Shen Yixiang nodded, looked at Lin Shuang Mei again, and saw a young girl with bright, spirited eyes.
"Hello, you must be Yixiang? I’m Shuang Mei."
Seeing that she was also outgoing and friendly, Shen Yixiang nodded, "Alright then, Yingzi, you take good care of Shuang Mei. I’ll go back to my room to read."
"Go ahead, the food is all prepared and kept warm; we can eat when my sister comes back."
"Alright, I’ll come out in a bit."
Shuang Mei looked at Shen Yixiang’s retreating figure, then at the honest Yang Peiying, and couldn’t help asking, "What does your sister’s sister-in-law do for work?"
Yang Peiying sat back down, took a small wooden lock to entertain Lin Shuang Mei’s child, and replied, "She’s a seamstress. She got back early today; sometimes she has to work overtime, so we have to save some food for her separately. You should have dinner with us tonight. I made steamed chicken with red dates and wolfberries, it’s really delicious; my sister taught me how."
Lin Shuang Mei shifted the child in her arms to stand and hold him, "No need, I was about to leave anyways. My parents will be back soon and luckily I’ve already prepared dinner; they just need to reheat it."
"When is your sister coming back? It’s getting dark; is she coming back alone?"
"Yes, alone. She probably had many classes today."
"Yingzi, your sister and her sister-in-law are both busy; why don’t you find a job too?"
"If I go to work, who will cook at home? I’m here to take care of my sister."
Lin Shuang Mei shook her head, "Yingzi, I just think it’s not fair for you. Isn’t her sister-in-law also here to help? Why do they let you do everything?"
"She works; I can handle it, no worries."
Lin Shuang Mei shook her head again, "Your sister should help you a bit too; after all, you are her real sister."
Yang Peiying laughed and said, "My sister treats me so well, she buys me everything, and even gives me pocket money."
Right in the middle of speaking, Yang Peimin also came back. She excitedly shouted, "Yingzi, come out, sister bought something great today!"
Yang Peiying hurriedly jumped off the brick bed, put on her shoes, and ran out, with Lin Shuangmei stretching her neck behind her to see what the good thing was.
Shen Yixiang, who was in the room, also heard the noise and ran out, "What is it? Is it something to eat?"
Yang Peiying was already busy saying, "It’s a television."
Yang Peimin had the store’s delivery person bring the television into the living room. Because there was no prior preparation, they placed it on a low cabinet and he helped set it up.
"It really is a television, why did you suddenly buy a television?" Shen Yixiang ran to the television, her eyes sparkling with joy. It seemed to be about twenty inches, much bigger than the fourteen-inch one at their village chief’s home. Almost half of the village crowded into the chief’s house to watch TV, spilling from the house into the yard. She had also squeezed in there before, but she couldn’t stand the chief’s second daughter always showing off in front of her, acting as if owning a television was a big deal.
Beside her, Lin Shuangmei also started clicking her tongue, secretly sizing up her cousin Yang Peiying, who indeed acted like someone wealthy.
"This is a color TV. I went to the store today to look at some educational supplies and thought about how bored Yingzi must be at home, so I bought one to entertain her as well."
After the initial excitement, Shen Yixiang calmed down. It must have cost quite a bit of money, right? The black and white TV at the chief’s home was bought by his eldest son who worked in the county and had spent nearly a thousand on it. This larger one must be expensive too, right?
It couldn’t have been bought with her brother’s salary; it must have been Yang Peimin’s. She knew her sister-in-law worked in clothing, but the factory had only started not long ago and a significant amount of money had been invested. The factory had only shipped one batch of goods, could they have already made enough to pay for the television? However, this wasn’t the main point—now was a time to spend, so was it really necessary to buy this?
Yang Peimin gave her a look and smiled, "I used my salary, which just about covered the price of the television." She wasn’t lying; the factory was on the right track, the clients had increased their orders, so as the quantity increased, the profits accumulated. Sister Liu had consulted her several times, overseeing everything from drafting to packaging for the first batch. Apart from reinvesting some of the money, she took out twelve hundred as her share, and the television cost sixteen hundred, so she added some savings and bought it while at the store.
She had never thought about buying a television herself. She used to follow series during high school, but as electronic products became popular in college, and maybe because there were too many bad dramas then, it just didn’t interest her anymore, and she hardly watched afterwards. After moving here, it seemed even less important because there weren’t many channels to choose from, and there were only one or two TV series.
She thought about how bored Yang Peiying must be at home by herself. Her sister had come to take care of her, and Yang Peimin felt a bit embarrassed since Yang Peiying was extremely diligent, especially after she had sternly discussed stopping the daily footbaths, which her sister then ceased doing.
Although she didn’t enjoy watching, people now loved it; whoever bought a television in the village, everyone would crowd their home to watch, dragging along children and food, perching on small stools, only able to sleep peacefully after following an episode.
A few days ago, she had received a letter from Qiao Ying, who wanted to increase her order of cosmetics. Knowing she was pregnant, she gave her a bit more time to deliver; this time, she placed an order for twenty sets, which had become popular in her community because everyone found them better than those bought at stores. Being beautiful was a natural desire; many girls even scrimped and saved to afford a set.
Thus, Yang Peimin was incredibly busy and had even less time to chat with Yang Peiying.
Upon hearing that it was bought with her salary, Shen Yixiang relaxed quite a bit. She knew a little about the factory’s situation, and it seemed about right.
Putting those worries aside, she was now excited. "God, now we can watch television every day!"
Even Yang Peiying’s cheeks turned red with happiness.