Back to the 1970s: Building My Fortune Through Time Trading-Chapter 145: Zhang Guifang Imitates a Cat’s Meow
The opponent immediately let out a muffled grunt.
"Ouch! Mom, why do you hit my third sister so hard?"
Su Fusheng rubbed his aching shoulder and couldn’t help complaining.
When Liu Cuilan saw it was him, she threw the bamboo stick to the ground, and her eyes immediately turned red: "It’s all my fault; I’m useless, making your sister go astray for a bit of food."
"What astray?"
Su Fusheng was a bit bewildered, and just then Su Wenbing walked in with some things.
Su Xiaoxiao then remembered that today was Friday, the day the two brothers returned home.
Seeing both sons present, Liu Cuilan recounted the whole story as it happened.
Here’s what happened: today Liu Cuilan came back from work and heard rumors about Su Xiaoxiao seducing an old man to get things from him.
Initially, she didn’t believe it and planned to drag out the person spreading the rumor for a good beating.
Unexpectedly, just as she was about to leave, Su Xiaoxiao came back and admitted she had indeed accepted things from the old man.
Meanwhile, Liang Guofu, already seated on the train home, sneezed uncontrollably — who the hell is talking about him behind his back?
Here, after listening to Liu Cuilan’s story, the whole family’s eyes shifted to Su Xiaoxiao, as if waiting for her explanation.
Su Xiaoxiao scratched her head: "Mom, do you remember the director Liang from the meat joint factory I mentioned last time? The old man you all talked about is him. These were gifts of thanks from the factory, and I didn’t just accept them for nothing; I gave away two stainless steel cups and two flashlights in return."
"Ah, so it was from the meat joint factory."
Upon hearing this, Liu Cuilan breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that she hadn’t struck the third child earlier; otherwise, she’d feel sorry.
As for the poor second child caught in the crossfire... well, a grown man with thick skin can take a hit or two.
"Mom, do you know who started this rumor?"
Su Fusheng asked.
Before Liu Cuilan could open her mouth, Su Xiaoxiao had already guessed: "Who else? It’s definitely that Zhang Dongmei again."
Does Zhang Dongmei ever get bored without making up rumors all day long? She’d make a great paparazzi nowadays.
"Watch me go tear that darn girl’s foul mouth apart!"
Infuriated, Liu Cuilan stood up, picked up the bamboo stick, and was about to head out.
Su Xiaoxiao quickly hugged her waist: "Mom, calm down first. Zhang Dongmei is just like a maggot in a pickled vegetable jar, always yapping away. Why get angry with her?"
She wasn’t worried about Zhang Dongmei getting beaten, but afraid that her mother might go overboard, and then those two annoying mother-daughter duo would retaliate.
"No way, today I must go beat that darn girl up; spreading such rumors, isn’t she afraid of being struck by lightning?"
Still wanting to go out, Liu Cuilan was stopped again by Su Xiaoxiao loudly: "Mom, I’ve been promoted; I’m now the acting manager of our department store’s outlet!"
"What?"
Liu Cuilan did indeed stop in her tracks and turned to her, "Third child, what did you say just now? I feel like I’m hallucinating."
"Mom, you’re not hallucinating; I’ve become the acting outlet manager."
"What? Third sister, you’ve only worked for a few days and already become a manager? That’s amazing!"
Su Wenbing and Su Fusheng entered the factory right after high school and worked for five or six years, still without a promotion, yet their third sister had become a leader in the department store just days after entering.
Su Wenbing looked at his sister with admiration: "Third sister, you’re really amazing, more capable than me and second brother."
Su Fusheng echoed: "No kidding, you can say we’ve got a leader in the family now."
Facing the proud and admiring looks from her family, Su Xiaoxiao coughed lightly and said, "It’s just temporary acting; I don’t know how long I’ll be doing it, but I’m getting over thirty bucks more a month temporarily."
"Even if it’s acting, it’s still impressive."
In the evening, to celebrate, Liu Cuilan generously cooked half of the meat and ribs Su Xiaoxiao brought back, along with the roast chicken and sweet-and-sour pork she got from the state-run restaurant. The whole family enjoyed a delicious meal.
After dinner, Su Jianwu happily rubbed his round belly and sighed, "Mom, if only our family could eat this well every day."
"You dreaming? Eat meat every day? I wouldn’t even dare dream that."
After saying this, Liu Cuilan switched the topic, "If you two can come back with double first grades next time, I’ll cook meat for you two."
Upon hearing this, Su Jianwu’s face immediately fell: "That’s more like a dream; at least dreams are somewhat realistic."
His mom expected too much from him; he’d be doing well if he didn’t rank last.
"Look at you, so unambitious! What’s unrealistic? Didn’t your third sister used to rank at the bottom too? Didn’t she do well in her graduation exam now?"
"Spend more time and effort on studying, I guarantee your grades will improve..."
Seeing his mom was about to start nagging again, Su Jianwu hurriedly covered his ears: "Mom, we have school tomorrow, we’re going to sleep now."
Saying this, he quickly dragged Su Jianwen back to their room.
After dinner, Liu Cuilan took Su Xiaoxiao to see the mugwort collected in the yard.
"All the mugwort collected in the past two days is here. I collected it all according to your requirements."
Su Xiaoxiao went over for a look and was amazed to see stacks upon stacks of mugwort piled up in a corner of the yard, almost reaching the top of the wall.
These mugwort were neatly packed from the south wall to the north wall, estimated to weigh several hundred pounds.
"Many people are still bringing more; third child, find some time to have these delivered; the yard can’t fit any more."
Su Xiaoxiao nodded: "Mom, don’t worry, I’ve arranged for them to be picked up early tomorrow morning."
She planned to ship them off quietly once the family had gone to sleep.
Just then, Su Xiaoxiao heard noises from outside the courtyard wall, like someone stepping on a dry tree branch by accident.
She immediately raised her voice: "Who’s outside?"
Soon, a cat’s meow sounded, and Su Xiaoxiao frowned at the sound: "Mom, don’t you think this cat sounds a bit strange? Shouldn’t a cat usually meow high then low?"
Liu Cuilan was completely confused; she didn’t know cats meowed like that.
Before she could speak, they heard the cat outside the wall indeed meow high then low.
Was it actually real? But a moment ago, the cat didn’t meow like this.
Just thinking about it, Su Xiaoxiao spoke again: "No, I remembered wrong, it should be one high and two low..."
Outside the yard, Zhang Guifang, who was eavesdropping, secretly ground her teeth; why was a simple meow so specific?
Taking a deep breath, she meowed one high and two low.
She had been squatting here for two days to figure out the sales channel for Su Xiaoxiao’s mugwort; she couldn’t let her efforts go to waste now, fortunately she was smart enough.
As soon as she meowed, Su Xiaoxiao spoke again.
