mtl008 Chapter 171 The Rural Girl in "Metamorphosis" 14
Chapter 171 The Rural Girl in "Metamorphosis" 14
The next morning, Liu Yuxi took the fish to town. Most of the fish were crucian carp and carp. Although they were wild, the average purchase price was only a little more than that of crayfish. He sold about 40 jin (20 catties) for a little over 400 yuan.
After buying a few spring rolls and some pork belly, Liu Yuxi went home and had breakfast with her grandmother. Then she went to retrieve the eel basket and threw the little one back into the pond. They had caught less than three pounds of eels that night, enough for the grandmother and grandson to have one meal. Liu Yuxi then carried the eel basket home.
Thanks to Liu Yuxi's "drug administration" behavior, her grandmother's health has improved a lot. She only has some normal chronic diseases that are under control. Moreover, her grandmother has been receiving money every day for the past month or so, and she is happy every day, feeling that life is getting more and more hopeful.
Her grandmother wasn't greedy: "Xi'er, if we could have four hundred yuan a day for two months a year, and we saved it up for a few years, you wouldn't have to worry about money when you go to school."
"Grandma, don't worry, we'll make a good profit from this fishpond next year, plus my royalties. It's only a little over two thousand a month, but that's over twenty thousand a year!"
So, if we calculate it this way, our family can save about 40,000 to 50,000 yuan a year. And my royalties will only increase. Even if the fishpond doesn't make money in the future, it won't matter.
So don't worry about money. From now on, let's eat and drink as we please, and taking good care of our health is the most important thing.
Her grandmother rolled her eyes at her and said, "How much more do you want to eat? You've been eating meat almost every day, and eggs all the time. This is a life I never dared to dream of before!"
"What's there to be afraid of? Grandma, just wait, I'll definitely make sure you have a better life in the future. Let's think about it freely." Liu Yuxi painted a rosy picture for her grandma.
"Haha, great! Then Grandma will be waiting for our Xi girl to take care of her and make her life better!"
After finishing most of their work for the day, the grandfather and grandson strolled over to the fishpond to fish. With Liu Yuxi's spirit, they always chose spots with plenty of fish nearby. After half an hour, they would hide their fishing rods and return with a full catch.
When I got home, I took the eels out of the water tank. We were having eel noodles for dinner, and I put all the eels back into the water tank.
Life went on like this. In between, Liu Yuxi also made several trips to the teacher's house in town to ask questions. Each time he went, he would bring either a few kilograms of fish or a few kilograms of eels.
Although she was still young, no one said anything to her when she went to the door empty-handed, let alone the teacher, who never thought of getting anything from Liu Yuxi.
People help you selflessly, and you should remember that. If you really don't have the ability, then forget it. These fish and eels aren't much trouble.
Knowing that she caught the fish herself, the teacher took it, but still told her every time not to bring it next time, saying it would be better to keep it to sell or eat. Liu Yuxi always agreed to bring it next time!
Lin Ziye sends her messages almost every day, mostly complaining about his parents and saying that he found a tutor and that studying is so tiring!
Liu Yuxi told him that she had gone up the mountain again today and fished with her grandma. When she was in a good mood, she would send him some pictures of the food, which made the boy so angry that he kept sending emojis on his phone.
In the end, he couldn't resist and stayed at Liu Yuxi's house for two days near the end of summer vacation. Liu Yuxi was a little unhappy because there were only two rooms in the house, and if this guy came, she would have to sleep with her grandma. Fortunately, he only stayed for two days.
I followed Liu Yuxi up the mountain to gather firewood, set up eel traps and shrimp traps, and accompanied my grandmother fishing. Most importantly, I got two days of free meals. Before leaving, they even air-freighted 20 jin of spicy crayfish.
When school started, Liu Yuxi took a formal grade-skipping exam and went straight to sixth grade. He became quite famous in the village and town; no wonder, news travels fast in a small place.
Liu Yuxi and her grandmother had to suspend all money-making activities and wait for the hype to die down. Currently, only Liu Yuxi's submissions are still ongoing, which fits her "academic star" persona, and since the money isn't much, it only inspires envy, not jealousy.
With less to do at home, Liu Yuxi discussed with his grandmother about raising two pigs. Instead of buying piglets, they would buy pigs that had already grown to fifty or sixty pounds. They would raise them for several months until the Lunar New Year, and then eat one of them themselves for the New Year, while the other would be raised until it was fully grown next year before being sold.
Her grandmother is healthier now. A while ago, she could go fishing whenever she had free time, but now that activity is no longer available. Liu Yuxi is now eager to do all the housework. Apart from feeding the chickens, cooking lunch, and tending to the vegetable garden in the backyard, there's really not much else to do. Raising pigs would also be fine.
After the grandmother and granddaughter discussed it, the grandmother went out to ask around about the piglet. Liu Yuxi then went to Uncle Niu's house. Well, his house was basically finished and only needed to have the roof beams raised. However, the old bricks from the old house, as well as some cement, latex paint, and other leftover materials from the construction, were all piled up at home.
Liu Yuxi planned to have Uncle Niu provide the labor and materials to build a pigsty in her backyard. She knew how to do it, but was she capable? Most of the men in the village were skilled in bricklaying, and when they went out to work, they mostly worked on construction sites; otherwise, why would they be called "migrant workers"?
A pigsty can be finished in about two days. Originally, it was agreed that the feed cost would be 300 yuan and meals would be provided for two days. However, after eating Liu Yuxi's cooking for two days, Uncle Niu discussed with her the idea of inviting Liu Yuxi to cook when he raised the roof beam of his house.
There weren't many tables, only six. His family even helped out. The village was mostly populated by elderly people and children, and some families even had their entire members working outside. So, not only did he not have to pay, Liu Yuxi even made 300 yuan. Who could he complain to?
Liu Yuxi had a premonition that after this meal, even more people would ask her to cook, but she didn't plan to earn the money unless it was from an acquaintance she couldn't refuse. So when she agreed, she also told Uncle Niu not to tell anyone that she was the one cooking, as she still had to go to school.
Uncle Niu readily agreed, but Liu Yuxi didn't have much hope that he could keep the secret; there couldn't possibly be any secrets in the village.
Do you think the villagers don't know that Liu Yuxi fishes in the pond every day? They just don't know exactly how much Liu Yuxi earns. Based on their own experience, they feel that Liu Yuxi only makes a pittance, so they don't think much of it.
If they knew how much money Liu Yuxi earned, you'd see, the whole village would be furious. So when Liu Yuxi was fishing, he would occasionally give each household a fish and remind them that as long as they didn't earn much and didn't hoard the fish, no one would target them.
After the pigsty was built, Grandma also bought two pigs, both castrated male piglets weighing over 50 jin each, for 500 yuan each. This was a big expense for the family. Grandma stood in front of the pigsty and muttered to the pigs, "They have to grow big and strong, or we'll lose money."