Rebirth in 1980: The Farm Wife Makes a Comeback
Chapter 318: US$ 250

Even though he was shameless, he couldn’t possibly compete with children for food.

When the others heard this, they hurried over, taking turns to grab some for themselves. As it turned out, once they started eating, they couldn’t stop. Not only did everyone take a portion for themselves, but they also scrounged all the few pieces Qin Xiangyang had brought in his bag, leaving him with nothing when he went back.

Before closing the shop, Qin Jinuan had handed over 3,000 Spring Festival couplets to Teacher Wang. Teacher Wang found a channel and got over a thousand more on his own, which was also enough to make some money for the New Year expenses.

Qin Xiangnuan kept her word and gave the two children 500 couplets, which could end up making them hundreds of dollars. She wasn’t worried about them making a loss. It was just about using a sheet of paper and training the children. Taking some loss didn’t matter - they always needed to learn and grow.

Qin Xiangnuan had over 3,000 couplets left, planning to let her older brother and Hua Jun sell them together.

Jian Zhiqin, holding Little Taotao’s hand, nodded vigorously and promised to sell the couplets without wasting any. They all knew these were personally written by Qin Xiangnuan. Though paper and ink weren’t expensive, their sister’s effort and time were valuable, which shouldn’t be wasted. Furthermore, at a yuan per couplet and with Jian Zhiqin already in school, he certainly knew how to handle money. Although Little Taotao was younger and didn’t understand money yet, his pockets were big enough to hold it. Qin Xiangnuan had said it was a joint effort, so they had to sell together.

No matter who did more work, everything had to be split equally in the end.

She would judge their performance this year. If they did well, they could continue earning money every year, and their earnings might increase next year. However, if they underperformed, they would get nothing next year. Therefore, they absolutely needed to help each other.

Around the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, Qin Xiangyang returned to his hometown with Qin Xiangnuan.

Meanwhile, Jian Zhiqin and Little Taotao had already planned to start selling Spring Festival couplets. They decided to start early since they had nothing else to do at home other than watching TV and playing. It was better to make money. Both families agreed since these were their children, who were raised to be tough and self-reliant, knowing that making money was hard and to avoid spending wildly in the future.

However, they wouldn’t let these two young children do business on their own, so they secretly followed them.

The two kids got up early, even the usually lazy Little Taotao hurriedly dressed up, eventually helped by Jian Zhiqin. Jian Zhiqin carried the couplets and led Little Taotao to the park early in the morning where people buy couplets every year. There were places for both on-the-spot writing and pre-written couplets for picking.

Jian Zhiqin wasn’t foolish; he knew to hang the couplets up since they got up early and secured a good spot. After measuring the distance, he took out the ropes he had prepared in advance and tied them between two trees. Because they were small and short, they could not tie them too high, but high enough to hang the couplets.

Little Taotao fetched them from the bag, and Jian Zhiqin hung them up. By the time it got bright, they had managed to hang a whole string of couplets.

Being just two kids, everyone found them quite novel. Additionally, Jian Zhiqin was clever in handling transactions quickly, spared from his brother’s occasional beatings, at least mastering basic arithmetic within a couple of weeks. He wouldn’t make a mistake like giving back two yuan for one yuan paid.

There weren’t too many sellers of couplets here, but there were many buyers. For a kids’ stall, the couplets were well written and the paper quality was thick without any creases, priced at a yuan each, which was a standard price here.

After a day, they had made quite a sum of money. On the way back, holding hands, they seemed quite grown up, making their secretly observing parents both proud and a bit emotional.

Sigh, the children were growing up, but the day had been hard. They had only eaten some pancakes brought from home and he didn’t know if they were hungry.

Jian Zhiqin neatly arranged the coins by denominations —ten cents, then 50 cents, followed by five and ten yuan bills. After counting several times, they had made over 120 yuan. They still had over 300 couplets left unsold, but Jian Zhiqin wasn’t worried. He knew fewer people bought now, but by the 28th and 29th, it might not be enough.

"Taotao, let’s keep the money with your brother for now. After we’ve sold everything, then your brother will divide it," said Jian Zhiqin as he put the money in the drawer, locked it, and hung the key around his neck. "Look," he pointed at the key around his neck, "Neither brother nor you should touch it until we’ve sold everything, and then we’ll let brother divide the money, okay?"

"Okay," Little Taotao, who didn’t understand much, sucked on his little finger, just thinking about how money could buy many nice things, not knowing how much it was. Even if it was just ten cents, he would be thrilled enough to jump with joy.

The next day, the brothers set off again. Adults secretly followed as usual, and with a day’s experience, the kids were even more proficient. They collected money steadily, making better business than the first day. By the 28th, they had nearly sold out the 500 couplets.

Jian Zhiqin led Little Taotao back home. After two days of doing business, they felt quite grown-up. Not just Jian Zhiqin, even Little Taotao seemed to have matured a lot.

Jian Zhiqin counted the money earned that day together with the money from previous days. His sister had given them a total of over 520 couplets. He counted 500 in round numbers, and each could take 250. It felt strange about this 250, but he didn’t know exactly what was odd. He planned to use the change with Taotao to buy candies and seeds, so it didn’t need to be split.

Little Taotao took the 250 yuan, of course, not knowing how to spend it, so he gave it to Jian Li.

"Oh my, look at my Little Taotao earning money, so much too."

That was a worker’s monthly salary.