The children go to school, the husband goes to work, and Li Xia is busy making money every day. Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is spring. On weekends, the husband takes the children to do a big cleaning, dusting, sweeping and mopping the floor, and taking out all the clothes that have been changed to wash.
Huihua couldn’t help frowning as she looked at the clothes and sheets. “Dad, there are so many. Can we wash them all?”
Shen Hui rolled up his sleeves: “I’ll wash too.”
Yi Yi likes to imitate his brother recently: “I will wash too.”
Shen Haiyang ordered the children to get basins while he went inside to fetch water. When Li Xia finished her work and came over, she saw the father and his children washing in the yard.
As a family of five, Shen Haiyang and she both love cleanliness, and they also take care of the children and wash them frequently. She used to wash more, but now she is busy with business, and Shen Haiyang takes the initiative to take care of the house with the children. But washing so much by hand every week is really tiring. He also works from nine to five, and now he only has one day off a week. It is too tiring to do it every time.
”Shall we go buy a washing machine?”
As soon as she made the suggestion, Shen Haiyang looked up with a puzzled look in his eyes. “Do we sell this thing here? I’m trying to get a TV ticket and was just discussing buying a TV with you.”
When they heard what he said, several children jumped up happily. “Oh, buy a TV, buy a TV. Grandma Li next door bought a new TV for her grandson’s wedding. It’s a really nice TV.”
Li Xia was so busy that she forgot about it. In her previous life, she was also a TV lover. In this era, TV is a rare form of entertainment, and she should have bought one for her family long ago.
”Buy, buy the TV and washing machine. Everyone help, let’s finish washing quickly and go to the mall to see if there is any stock.”
”Great.”
This time the children were very enthusiastic and wanted to step in barefoot. The two adults worked together, and the three children helped, and soon all the clothes and sheets were washed and hung up. After going into the house to change clothes and pack up, the family rode their bikes to the mall.
Because they had TV tickets, the family went to the department store first. At the appliance counter, there was only one black-and-white TV left. They asked the salesperson the price, and the male salesperson spoke arrogantly.
”This 14-inch black and white TV is 610 yuan. Before that, I also had an 18-inch imported color TV. That color TV is really good. It’s worth 2,980 yuan. I gave 20 yuan discount of 3,000 yuan.”
Oh my god! Li Xia cried silently in her heart. Three thousand, this is the only money she has earned since the restaurant opened. But think about it, it is only the early 1980s, and color TVs will not be available in ordinary households until the 1990s.
”When will color TVs be available again and how can we buy them?”
The salesperson glanced at them and saw that the whole family was dressed very nicely, so he answered her question. “It’s hard to say for imported products. You need to have indicators if you want to buy them.”
The kids didn’t care about color TV or not, they just wanted a black and white TV. Besides, the one next door was small, so this one looked bigger than that one. They all pulled her to get the black and white TV. The couple smiled, one took the money and the other took the ticket, and immediately took the Shanghai-made Kaige TV home.
There were no washing machines in the department store, and she couldn’t buy one even if she wanted to. There was a huge difference between the early and late 1980s, and the production of home appliances increased by dozens, hundreds, and thousands of times. Maybe she couldn’t buy it this year, but next year it might be available all over the country. So she gave this task to the children, and asked them to come and see whenever they were free, and buy it when it was available.
The money in her pocket was enough to buy a color TV, but the price made her feel very excited. She had to accumulate funds quickly, she wanted to sell home appliances, she wanted to open the largest home appliance mall.
”The largest home appliance mall? Wife, have you ever thought of opening a home appliance factory?”
When she told Shen Haiyang about her plan before going to bed at night, he actually started to tease her. Li Xia’s eyes widened for a moment, then she nodded and shook her head.
”This is too difficult. A lot of start-up capital is needed. I’d better find a way to get the goods to sell home appliances first, and then consider opening a factory.”
”Oh my god, you really want to be rich?”
”If possible, I will open it. The home appliance market will be very strong in the next few decades. It’s huge, so you won’t lose money doing this.”
Shen Haiyang reached out and touched her forehead: “You are so bold.”
”Haha, I’m just thinking about it. I can’t get the goods even if I want to sell them now. The timing is not right.”
When a family buys a TV, the happiest people are the children. They can invite their friends to watch the TV together in the evening, which makes them look very proud among the children.
The 14-inch one was clearer than the bigger one next door. For a while, the kids were all praising his TV. They watched whatever Shen Hui turned on. The little one became the leader of the kids, and those older than him followed his lead.
”Stop arguing and listen to my brother.”
Yi Yi followed Shen Hui around, and the little guy simply regarded his brother as his idol. He followed his brother’s lead like a little tail, which greatly satisfied Shen Hui’s dignity and pride as a brother, and he treated him better and better.
”Huo Yuan Jia has started. Can I ask my mother to come and watch?”
”OK.”
With a TV at home, the atmosphere became even more lively, with adults and children filling the house. Shen Haiyang saw Li Xia dozing off, so he pushed her and whispered something.
”Go to sleep over there in Huihua’s room”
Li Xia shook her head. “No need.”
Knowing that she found it troublesome, Shen Haiyang moved the TV to the west wing the next day. Everyone watched TV here, while Li Xia slept in the bedroom of the main hall. It was several rooms away, so this time she didn’t have to be disturbed.
In late spring, Fang Zhongcheng went to the school to see his child. After hearing about this, he went home and told his girlfriend about it. “How much money did Shen Haiyang’s father give him? Even if it’s a lot, he can’t spend it like this.”
He thought that it was all US dollars that Shen Haiyang moved, but in fact it was all Li Xia’s income. Because of this, Huihua and Yiyi both felt their backs straightened at home. Although Shen Haiyang was very kind, it felt different that his mother could earn money.
”Why, are you envious? Even if you are envious, it is Li Xia’s blessing and has nothing to do with you, her ex-husband.”
”What did you say?”
He didn’t hear the woman’s words clearly because they were stuck in her throat. When he asked again, she had changed her words. “Don’t envy him. If we work hard, our lives won’t be that bad.”
This completely satisfied the man’s self-esteem. He pinched her face and said greasyly, “I just like your mouth. I love to listen to your words.”
————
Fang Zhongcheng listened to the woman and gave up the custody of the two children. The two were about to get married. Li Xia was busy with business and making money.
At night she thought of her parents, and the next day she wrote a letter to her family and sent a hundred yuan. The land reform was going to divide the family, and the house had to be renovated. Her brothers had helped her a lot in her previous life, and now that she had more money in this life, she had to help her family. She bought Dacron fabric for her third brother and his wife, which didn’t require a cloth coupon, as long as you had money.
After sending the things, she thought about how she still haven’t contacted her father-in-law. Her father-in-law is old, could something have happened to him? He sent money to the mainland before, so it doesn’t make sense that he would lose contact all of a sudden. And Shen Haiyang, when she saw the news about Shen Hui in the newspaper in her previous life, it said that the child’s father died early when he was young, so he wouldn’t be in any health problems, right?
”Shall we take the kids to Beijing during the summer vacation?” And then we can check his health at the same time.
”Okay but are you not worried about your business?”
”I have to make money and do things. So I couldn’t get through to your father the last time I tried to contact him, and he hasn’t replied yet. Let’s give him a call while we’re at it, maybe we can get through to him.”
Speaking of his father, Shen Haiyang suddenly fell silent. He grew up with his mother and never saw his father. His impression was that his mother was full of resentment towards his father. She probably accepted his money in her later years because she was thinking about him and Shen Hui, and was afraid that they would be penniless and uncared for.
”My mother…”
He hesitated to speak, and Li Xia guessed what he was worried about. “Before she passed away, mother said that she had let go of all the unnecessary things. As long as you and your son live well, she will be happy in her grave. She also said that your father was not wrong, but they just had a disagreement.”
”really ?”
”Really.” Li Xia curled her lips: “She also advised me not to get angry with the man, let alone hurt the child because of this.”
The two women’s situations are somewhat similar. This time Shen Haiyang believed it. When a person is about to die, his words are good. When she was dying, it seemed that his mother had thought it through. Her biggest worry was what to do with her child and grandchild. As long as they could live well, she didn’t care about anything else.
”When I was a kid, I asked who my father was, and my mother would angrily say that I was her only child and that my father was dead.”
”I give birth to my own child and I raise it. My child has nothing to do with other people. I used to think so too.”
”What now?”
”Now, he is the biological father of the child.” Li Xia smiled generously: “I used to hate him and I didn’t want his things. Now I think it’s so stupid. He is my child’s father, why don’t I let him take care of the child.”
After that, she added: “The latter part was said by your mother. I once thought that if Fang Zhongcheng was a good father, I would let him take care of my son, but this guy turned out to be a bastard. Your father is definitely not like that. He didn’t even know you existed. He thought of compensating mother by sending so much money back once the opening was opened.”
Shen Haiyang remained silent, and she did not say anything more. Dependent on his mother, the knot in his heart cannot be untied in a short time. Li Xia did not intend to do any ideological work on him, but just talked a few more words. Emotional matters in this world are the most difficult to explain, and she herself was obsessed with it for a lifetime in her previous life.
Thinking about taking the children out to play during the summer vacation, Li Xia has been making every effort to earn money these days, accumulate funds, and wait for the right time to sell the home appliances after the number increases.
Refrigerators, color TVs, and washing machines, the three major gadgets of the 1980s, will be popular for another 10 to 20 years. As long as you seize this golden period, you will make more money than you can spend in your lifetime.
The couple had different schedules, getting up early and working late to sell buns. At night, when he went to bed, she was already in a deep sleep. When he woke up in the morning, she had already sold a round of buns. In this way, the couple did not even have the opportunity to have intimate.
Shen Haiyang didn’t watch TV that day. He went back to his room and closed the door after washing up at night. Li Xia just went to bed and heard a noise. It turned out to be him coming in. The two looked at each other, and as an experienced person, they immediately understood what was in his eyes.
She smiled softly, pointed at the light cord and asked him to turn off the light. The man’s eyes lit up and he nodded silently and turned off the light above his head. When he got into bed, the creaking sound was very clear in the dark night.
”No, someone will hear us.”
There are so many people watching TV at home, it would be embarrassing if someone with nosy tastes eavesdropped. As an adult, Li Xia has also thought about the issue of married life recently. This thing is a reconciler between couples and enhances their feelings. Considering their schedules, this is the most suitable time. But this broken bed is not so nice.
”What should we do then?”
She looked at the sewing machine in front of the bed and pointed at him to go to the floor. The man nodded happily, and the two walked down the floor hand in hand.
This time, they had unlocked a new world. The man was well fed and drank and happily accompanied her to sleep. In the dark night, the two of them shared a quilt, occupying only half of the bed.
”Can we do this again next time?”
”It’s better to change to a better bed.”
”No, I don’t think it’s necessary.”
Haha, men, even if they appear to be gentle on the surface, they also have times when they think with their lower body.
