Chapter 29 Joys and Sorrows

Words : 1442 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

After leaving Longteng Hotel, Xia Liu thought about buying a vehicle for transporting goods, which would also make his personal travel more convenient. After some consideration, he decided to buy a pickup truck, but unfortunately, there was no dedicated pickup truck dealership in the county, so he found a second-hand one at a used car dealership and spent almost fifty thousand yuan on it. Xia Liu didn't mind the expense, as the demand for oysters would be high in the future and he could earn back the money for the truck in just one day. Once he had the pickup truck, Xia Liu went to an electronics store and bought a refrigerator and a washing machine, along with a few other appliances, until the truck's cargo bed was full. This trip cost Xia Liu almost sixty thousand yuan, but the money he would earn later was immeasurable. When he returned to Osmanthus Village, it was evening, and the villagers were sitting around chatting in the village center after dinner, their smiles indicating they had made a good income that day. The arrival of a vehicle naturally caused a sensation in the village, drawing out even those villagers who were at home to take a look. When they saw that Xia Liu was the driver, excitement burst forth from their eyes. "Xia Liu, did you just buy this truck?" "Nonsense, it's definitely Xia Liu's. Wait until the houses are built, I want to buy a motorcycle too." "Haha, now that the road is open, I also want to buy a three-wheeled vehicle." Some villagers were even more excited when they saw the electrical appliances pulled in the back. Before the roads were opened, refrigerators and washing machines were considered luxury items. "Uncles and elders, it won't be long before everyone can buy these items." Xia Liu handed out several packets of cigarettes one by one to the villagers, and the sight of their smiling faces filled him with a sense of accomplishment. The villagers did not object to Xia Liu. They now earned over a hundred yuan a day by harvesting Atractylodes, and the more skilled ones could make more than two hundred yuan a day, enough to buy three refrigerators in a month. "Everyone listen to me, I've found another opportunity in the last few days." Seeing that a crowd had gathered, Xia Liu waved his hand to quiet everyone down. "Xia Liu, just say it, we all support you!" Hearing this, Li Zhi took a deep drag on his cigarette and laughed. "Yes, we all support you!" The villagers raised their sincerest voices. Xia Liu signaled everyone to be quiet and then spoke, "Here's the thing, everyone knows how to swim, right?" "That's a joke." "Xia Liu, it was your uncle who taught you how to swim." "In our village, except for a few who don't know how, who isn't an excellent swimmer!" At Xia Liu's questioning, laughter erupted among the villagers, and the scene was filled with joyful sounds. "Haha, then let me get straight to the point. Starting tomorrow, every household should send one person to gather Kaempferia galanga, and those good at swimming should go to the sea to dive for oysters!" "Xia Liu, why bother with oysters? They are plentiful in the sea," Li Zhi didn't understand. Having lived in the village for forty-fifty years, he had seen plenty of oysters, and was almost sick of them. They were difficult to deal with, and under normal circumstances, they would be disregarded. Some other villagers were also puzzled. They often went swimming in the sea and stepped on oysters, only occasionally bringing some home to roast; otherwise, they were generally ignored. "Listen to me, starting tomorrow, one person per family should dive for oysters, clean them up nicely, and then bring them to my house, thirty yuan per kilogram." After saying this, Xia Liu squinted and scanned the crowd, knowing that his next words would create an uproar. "Thirty yuan per kilogram?" "Tie Zhu, did you just hear that too?" "Yeah, Xia Liu said a kilo of oysters is thirty bucks." "Crikey! Thirty bucks a kilo!" As Xia Liu had expected, once it was confirmed, everyone got excited, although they hadn't had much schooling, they could still do basic math. A kilo of oysters for thirty bucks, those things are hefty, just a few and you've got a kilo, scooping up three or four hundred kilos a day wouldn't be a problem. Three or four hundred kilos, that's a lot of money! Damn, that's over ten thousand bucks! "Heh, but we've also got to have rules, you can only scoop up fifty kilos a day," Xia Liu had calculated, according to the current number of households in the village, besides those with nobody at home, there were forty households that supported him. Fifty kilos a day per household, that's two thousand kilos, the contract at least one thousand eight hundred kilos, two thousand is enough to make the delivery. "Fifty kilos a day, thirty bucks a kilo, that's also one thousand five hundred bucks!" The villagers were ecstatic, an income of fifteen hundred a day, that was a significant sum! In the county town, a regular job pays just around one thousand five or six a month, now they could make that in a day, fifteen thousand in ten days, a month, two months... It was unimaginable. As for trusting Xia Liu, they had no worries at all, now they were even accumulating pay for a few days and getting one or two thousand each time, and they were thrilled. With this news, everyone in Osmanthus Village was exploded and certain that tonight, they wouldn't be able to sleep. But while some celebrated, others fretted, and the most worried of all was Zhang Tie, who labored under the sun tying rebar, barely making a hundred and twenty a day. Now the villagers simply needed to scoop some oysters and they could take in over a thousand a day, how could Zhang Tie not be green with envy? "You idiot! Why did you have to offend Xia Liu?" Mo Li yelled furiously as she sat at the doorway, pointing at Zhang Tie. "Now everyone else is making money, and our family has nothing, you useless lump!" Zhang Tie stood silently, how had things gotten to this point, wasn't it all because of his wife? If she hadn't egged him on to monopolize his brother's house and drive out Zhang Xiaoxue, would Xia Liu have treated his family like this? Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets now, Xia Liu leading the villagers to make money was an unchangeable fact, just as much as him being ostracized by the villagers was. Zhang Tie wished he could turn back time, but he no longer had that chance. From the moment he started putting poison in the chickens' feed, there was no turning back. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaoman stood on the rooftop, listening to her parents argue, staring up at the stars, lost in her thoughts. Another person feeling quite distressed was Zhang Qing. The news excited her, but it mostly made her feel stuck, as she had never been to the river and couldn't swim at all. Because of this, she thought she couldn't make any money, but she decided not to give up. If she couldn't swim, she could learn... Xia Liu drove home, followed by a big group of villagers. They were so excited and when they saw Xia Liu transporting so many appliances, they all wanted to help out and learn, thinking of buying some themselves once they had the money. Once the equipment was installed, Xia Liu demonstrated everything to the crowd, receiving continuous admiration from the scene. Zhang Xiaoxue had been in a state of shyness all this while. When the village's women came over, they all said she was lucky to be living with Xia Liu. In the villagers' view, they had long considered Zhang Xiaoxue as Xia Liu's wife. It wasn't until after eleven that everyone began to leave. Watching Zhang Xiaoxue sadly seeing the guests off and walking back, Xia Liu said bitterly, "Xiaoxue, don't mind everyone. Once I make it big, I'll definitely find you a good family." Hearing these caring words, Zhang Xiaoxue felt no touch of emotion. In fact, she was somewhat frightened, which made her think of a specific plan, which she decided to implement right away...

Chapter 29 Joys and Sorrows

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