694 Planting Melon Seeds
“These melon seeds will ripen much faster than the ones we grow now! We’ll definitely be able to harvest by winter! At that time, there won’t be any melon seeds for sale in the market, only ours!” Qiao Mei said.
When Li Gui heard this, she stood up excitedly. If she could earn so much money, Zhang Miao’s medical expenses and her family’s living expenses would be settled. She could even return some money back to Qiao Mei.
“How much did you pay for these seeds? I’ll buy them,” Li Gui said.
Qiao Mei felt that Li Gui was quite good when it came to this. Even biological brothers should settle their accounts clearly. However, these seeds were indeed much more expensive than the ones on the market. The cost price of melon seeds in their village is 25 cents per catty. Hers, excluding the freight fee, already cost 50 cents a catty just for the seeds.
“I’ll give you some to plant first. These seeds are much more expensive than those being sold in the market. You can pay me back when you make money.” Qiao Mei grabbed a few handfuls of melon seeds and handed them to Li Gui.
“No, I have to pay you. I’ll eventually pay you back all the money I owe you. We have to be clear about this. Feelings are another matter,” Li Gui said seriously.
Qiao Mei had no choice but to weigh the seeds. In the end, she received four dollars from Li Gui. These seeds were enough for Li Gui to plant in the two mu of her own land at home.
The two of them worked hard for the entire afternoon and finally planted all the seeds, including in the private plot of land in Qiao Mei’s courtyard.
Not only did Qiao Mei want to grow them herself, but she also wanted to get everyone else to join in. When winter came and only her family had melon seeds, the others would definitely be envious.
The hunter would shoot the bird that stuck out. One could not just focus on getting rich alone. The foundation of being able to have long-term earnings was to ensure that everyone could make money. Such endeavors were all speculative in nature. If someone reported it, people might die!
“Auntie Dong! What are you doing!” Qiao Mei said as she walked into Auntie Dong’s courtyard.
Auntie Dong was lecturing her youngest son. Recently, he had not been studying well in school. He even skipped class to go out and play yesterday. He simply did not respect her as his mother.
She had heard that Zhang Wei and Zhang Chao were both hardworking children. As they had previously studied in the county city, she found it acceptable that they would do better than the rest of the children in the village. However, even Zhang Qin, who had not gone to school previously, was one of the top students in the class with good results.
Therefore, it must be her child who did not study hard enough!
“Mei Mei! I’m really going to be angered to death by this little brat! I paid for his education with my hard earned money! But he skipped school and went out to play! He played crazily with a bunch of children on the mountain outside. Tell me, what kind of future does he have! I’m so angry!” Auntie Dong said angrily as she held the feather duster.
She did not know what to do about this matter. After all, the three children at home were good at their studies because of Qiao Qiang’s influence. Qiao Qiang kept a closer eye on the children’s homework than she did.
If they had not finished their homework when he came back, they would be hit on the palms. If they did not do well in the examination because they encountered problems that they did not understand, they would still be forgiven. However, if they were too careless and made the same mistake more than three times, they would have to stand in the corner for four hours!
Under such an environment, even children who were not good at their studies would be motivated to study.
“Put down the feather duster. Even if the child is in the wrong, you can’t hit him. If you hit him, won’t he hate you?” Qiao Mei whispered.
Auntie Dong sulkily asked her son to go into the house to study. She sighed deeply and said, “Why can’t I hit him? He’s the only one in this family who has an education. Our older son didn’t even go to school. He’s the only one who gets to eat the eggs at home when none of us bear to eat any. Yet he doesn’t even study hard!”
“You can’t always spoil him like this and give him everything good. Don’t you still have an older son at home? If the two brothers don’t get the same things, it’s inevitable that they will grow up resentful of each other,” Qiao Mei said.
“I know that too, but our family’s financial situation is such that only one kid can go to school. We really can’t afford it,” Auntie Dong said with a frown.
At this moment, Qiao Mei took out a bag of melon seeds from behind her and placed it in front of Auntie Dong. The moment she opened the bag, the fragrance of melon seeds wafted into her nose.
“Oh my, such big melon seeds! Where did you get them? The quality is really not bad!” Auntie Dong said as she looked at the melon seeds in satisfaction.
