Jin said further, "Before I return, if Fugui and the others come by, don’t let them manage your affairs; you earn the money yourself."
Li Jianguo, "They won’t have any objections, right?"
Jin, "If they have objections, they will speak directly to me."
"All right, who should the collected money be given to?"
"I’ll give you a passbook later; if it exceeds twenty yuan, deposit it," Jin instructed once again. After arriving home, he tied the dog in the yard to guard the goods in the new house and then took Li Jianguo to the entrance of a large courtyard, "This is a complex courtyard. I’ve rented a single room for you."
Li Jianguo looked around; the furnishings were simple but everything necessary was there. It was quite good. "Okay, thank you for the trouble."
"Make sure you do my work well, hmm?" Jin left.
"Don’t worry." Li Jianguo was very confident, stepping forward to escort Jin out, and after watching him walk away, he returned to the room to get ready for bed.
After Jin got home, the light in Old Mrs. Qin’s room went out.
The light was still on in Li Qiao’s room; she had already counted the money Jin entrusted to her and recorded it in the ledger. At this moment, her smiling eyes curved as she said, "One hundred seventy yuan and six, quite a windfall. Are we depositing it tomorrow?"
Jin, too, smiled, "Deposit! All of it into your passbook."
"I don’t want it. You should deposit it into your own book, it’s more convenient that way," said Li Qiao.
"You’re so good to me."
Li Qiao was still smiling cheerfully, "You’re my partner, aren’t you? If I’m not good to you, then who should I be good to?" She yawned softly, "I’m so sleepy. Hurry up and wash up for bed."
Jin responded with an okay, washed up and came back. Li Qiao hadn’t fallen asleep but was staring blankly at the mosquito net above. He crawled into the net and started inquiring about Jin Daxue, "Is the quality of her work any good?"
"It’s fairly good," Li Qiao gave an honest appraisal, not lazy, but not exactly diligent, "She does a fine job."
Jin sought Li Qiao’s opinion, "How much do you think we should pay her?"
"Aren’t you dividing it with Feng Kui and the others?"
"Not this time." Jin said; they were selling cloth, and they couldn’t sell it all at once. It would require several trips back and forth, and there was enough to be made.
Li Qiao, "I heard that the female workers at Beijing’s garment factories make a hundred and fifty a month." In those times, workers had a high status, and their wages were the highest among industries she knew. Thus, when looking for a partner, aside from drivers, it was the factory workers who were sought after. "Pay her according to a hundred and fifty, and on top of that, secretly give Maimiao and Zhuyun an extra thirty each. They’re especially hardworking, the type who keep their heads down and toil away, and they’re keen to learn. If we get similar tailoring work in the future, we can have them on board."
Daxue’s tailoring work, without any technical content, she could handle.
Next time there’s work, if not so many people are needed, they won’t call on Daxue.
Li Qiao added quietly.
Jin agreed.
He too felt that Jin Daxue wasn’t up to par; on her first day, not much work was done before she talked about money.
If she had held off for a couple of days, he wouldn’t have minded.
He had originally planned to split the profits fifty-fifty.
He’d take five, and the other three would share the remaining five.
Once she mentioned money, he lost the desire to share.
He’d split with Li Jianguo, eight for him, and two for the latter.
He earned more.
And the latter was not earning too little either.
And the three women earned wages, while their men earned the money from selling cloth.
He considered it fair.
.....
The next day, Li Qiao’s medication was finished.
Jin took her for a follow-up, and after the doctor confirmed her recovery, he dropped her off at home before going to the post office to deposit money, then handed the passbook to Li Jianguo.
Once again, he returned home, joined Li Qiao, and together they took a ride to the train station to buy tickets to return to his hometown.
The train was delayed, and the two of them got off the train the next afternoon.
Qin Jin headed straight to the village to fetch his household registration booklet. At the village entrance, he encountered a few fellow villagers who greeted him warmly, "Jin is back, huh? Heard that Cai Hechuan got a job in Beijing after graduating from college, did you run into him?"
Qin Jin replied irritably, "With tens of millions of people in Beijing, do you think I could run into him?" If they did meet, it would certainly be because Cai Hechuan made it happen on purpose. His aim would be to hit on his beautiful wife.
If he saw him once, he’d beat him up once!
Another villager said:
"Did you know the family next door, Chunhua, had a big chubby boy? But the kid has a split lip, the whole family is downcast. Don’t you think it’s because Yu Feng talks too much crap that he’s now facing retribution through his child?"
Qin Jin offered no comment. According to Qiaoqiao’s philosophy, not gossiping about others is also a form of charity. He didn’t have children yet, and he needed to accumulate some virtue for his future children’s sake.
"You’re not farming or fertilizing the land, what are you coming back for?"
"To transfer my household registration. My wife applied for one for me. From now on, I’ll be a city dweller and eat commodity food," Qin Jin boasted on purpose. He hoped the villagers would spread the word, especially to Li Shengcai and Dong Lamei, making them green with envy.
And that Cai woman, her guts must be green with regret already!
"Wow, Qiaoqiao has really made something of herself. What about your granny?"
"Her household registration is back at the old homestead, but wherever I go, she goes," said Qin Jin.
"Your granny is lucky to have a grandson like you."
The Qin family was finally looking up.
Why didn’t they have the foresight the Qin family had?
If they had seen the future, they too would have accepted Li Qiao as their daughter-in-law.
Then they would be the ones enjoying good fortune now.
....
Qin Jin parted ways with the villagers and walked to his own doorstep, taking out keys to unlock the door.
Peng Chunhua came out to pour out water and, seeing him, reacted as if she had seen a dear one: "Jin, you’re back, wuuu...."
Qin Jin: "...." He frowned and said coldly, "What’s all this about?" Just getting home and a woman runs up to cry in front of him, such bad luck!
Peng Chunhua stopped crying and said, "My child has a cleft lip, and the local doctors can’t treat it. They said that there are plenty of big hospitals in Beijing, with skilled doctors who can do the surgery to sew it up. Could you take us there?"
"Can’t you go by yourselves?" Qin Jin retorted.
Peng Chunhua: "You know more people in Beijing, having you with us would give us reassurance."
Qin Jin: "I don’t know anybody." Even if he did, he wouldn’t take them.
Feng Bing was trying to take advantage of his wife by hiding in the alley.
Chunhua’s grandma was confused by him, Feng Fugui said, and Feng Hu, emboldened by the absence of men in his house, thought of hitting Qiaoqiao.
Yu Feng dumped her child at his doorstep.
Any of these incidents could make him fly into a rage.
"Jin, we’re all fellow villagers, you...."
Qin Jin interrupted, "Fellow villagers? Now you remember I’m a local?" He shut the door on Peng Chunhua, excluding her and went to Old Mrs. Qin’s room to search for the household registration booklet.
He found it and prepared to go get the paperwork done.
Peng Chunhua was still waiting outside for him, but this time with a child in her arms. "Jin, look, this is what I’m talking about."
Qin Jin coldly said, "What’s that to me? You should be asking your man. If this were my child, I’d beg all the way to Beijing to get him treated."
Peng Chunhua was crying so hard she couldn’t catch her breath. She only approached him because Feng Hu didn’t care. "Just do a good deed, will you?"
Qin Jin locked his door and walked away.
Peng Chunhua chased after him, "How can you be so heartless!"
Qin Jin stopped in his tracks, his face cold and stern, "I’m heartless? Is it my child? You don’t care for your own kid and blame others! You’re out of your mind! If it weren’t for the fact that you’re holding a child, you wouldn’t be spared a beating!"