After Xu Mumu put away the money, Li Caixia secretly ca over to find her.
"Sweetie, how much money did you guys make from selling those mushrooms? How about letting Mom keep it for you?" Li Caixia looked at Xu Mumu expectantly. Mainly, there was just over a hundred yuan at ho. Although she didn’t know how much her daughter had saved, she wanted to keep her son’s money.
"More than ten yuan, Mom, this money belongs to the younger siblings. Don’t touch it, or they’ll be upset later." Xu Mumu said helplessly.
"That much?" Li Caixia’s eyes lit up. No doubt, the mushrooms did taste good, and she quite liked them.
"Mom." Xu Mumu felt a bit of a headache.
"I’ll save it for you." Li Caixia looked eagerly at Xu Mumu. Her daughter had said they needed to deliver them daily, so if they earned more than ten yuan every day, wow, they’d make a fortune.
"Mom, stop thinking about it. Just take good care of yourself at ho. If you want to eat sothing, I’ll buy it for you tomorrow." Xu Mumu said with a smile. She couldn’t possibly be willing to hand over the money.
In order to prevent her mother from targeting the money, Xu Mumu had to divert her attention.
"Eat what? I just want money." Li Caixia said, not quite pleased.
"Mom, our family isn’t without money, there’s no need to fixate on this small amount. The younger siblings aren’t kids anymore, it’s okay for them to save so pocket money." Xu Mumu said earnestly.
"This isn’t a small amount, it ends up being more than your brother’s salary by the end of the month." Li Caixia said sourly, though she was willing to listen to her daughter’s words.
"And they haven’t spent any of it, I’ve saved it for them. Mom, don’t you trust ? I’m watching over it, won’t let them spend it recklessly." Xu Mumu said with a smile.
Her own mom was sothing else, even when pregnant, she couldn’t rest easy.
"You absolutely can’t just give them the money, then." Li Caixia said uneasily. It was fine as long as the money was in her daughter’s hands.
"I won’t." Xu Mumu nodded.
"Then I feel like eating at buns." Li Caixia swallowed, the white flour at ho was already finished, now they were eating coarse grains.
"Tomorrow I’ll buy so from the state-run restaurant." Xu Mumu nodded, now even she wanted to eat at buns after her mother’s ntion.
"Hmm, my daughter is the best. Those two stinking boys never think of ." Li Caixia imdiately bead, touching her belly, hoping this child would be a girl, preferably like her eldest daughter.
Xu Mumu also looked where Li Caixia pointed. She wasn’t showing yet; Li Caixia was already forty, which made her an older pregnant woman. However, compared to others in the countryside, Li Caixia’s health was much better, but it was still risky. She needed more care.
"Mumu, what do you think, is it better to have a son or a daughter?" Li Caixia looked at Xu Mumu expectantly.
"That’s not for you to decide. I think both are good, but Mom, don’t be like others in the village, treating daughters as a burden." Xu Mumu seriously looked at her mom.
"Except for you, which girl isn’t soone else’s?" Li Caixia pouted.
"Mom, look at the girls in our family, are any of them a burden? Aren’t they all making money? Even Jiaojiao is better than Little Tao. And look at Madam Zhao’s Shuigen and Xiuying; when Madam Zhao got old, wasn’t she supported by Xiuying instead of Shuigen?" Xu Mumu had a headache but seriously educated her mom, giving an example.
"That’s because Madam Zhao didn’t teach her son well." Li Caixia was taken aback. Old Xu Family’s daughters were really capable of earning money, much better than the sons. And the kind of life Madam Zhao lived was known to everyone in the brigade.
"That’s why, Mom, preference for sons over daughters is bad. Leaders already said gender equality, just because a daughter will get married doesn’t an she won’t be filial to you." Xu Mumu said earnestly.
"That’s true." Li Caixia thought it over and agreed, losing interest in wondering if the child was a boy or a girl.
The village girls, labeled as a burden, actually married off without a dowry. At ho, they had to do a lot of work, and even after marrying, they toiled like animals.
On the contrary, many boys in the village were spoiled rotten, and Xu Mumu couldn’t even begin to comnt.
After coaxing her mother back to her room, Xu Mumu finally felt at ease.
A new kettle appeared at ho, and Madam Chen was overjoyed, though she jokingly scolded Xu Mumu for wasting money.
The kids who earned money were in high spirits. The next day, at the crack of dawn, they were already up, and it was the first ti Xu Mumu was woken up by her little brother.
"So early?" Xu Mumu said helplessly, as Xu Minglei waited outside.
"Sis, it’s not early, get up quickly. I’ve already boiled water for you." Xu Minglei had scooped water from the pot into a wooden basin, doing his best to wake his sister.
"Coming." Still with a headache, Xu Mumu got up. Were these kids really that money-hungry?
After washing her face, Xu Mumu tied her hair into a high ponytail, it was nearly waist-length, a bit long and needing a trim in a few days.
Once she and her brother were up, Madam Chen also got up. Seeing the grandchildren about to head to the mountain to find mushrooms, she felt helpless but cooked them so corn pancakes.
They munched on a corn pancake; the cornal wasn’t finely ground, rather coarse, and naturally not as tasty as fine cornal.
Leading the kids through the woods, searching for chicken mushroom and other edible fungi, they picked quite a bit.
The evening harvest was quite good. Each of them carried a basket, each more than half-filled.
"Wow, so many, Sis, we’re going to make a fortune." Tiedan said excitedly upon seeing the chicken mushrooms in his basket.
"My basket has the most." Xu Jiaojiao said proudly, glancing around to see hers was indeed the fullest.
"Yes, Jiaojiao is very impressive." Xu Mumu nodded with a smile.
Xu Mumu found that these hills were rich with spots growing chicken mushrooms. She had the kids rember these areas, as they had spores. After growing once, they’d continue to grow.
When the sun was at its peak, Xu Mumu took the children ho.
This ti, Xu Mumu didn’t let them wash the mushrooms, just put them in the baskets.
"Grandma, I’m taking these to the county, I’ll be back soon." It wasn’t even noon yet, it was good to deliver them fresh.
"Okay, go on, co back early." Madam Chen nodded.
"Big Sis, I want to go." Xu Jiaojiao looked at Xu Mumu expectantly, as her second brother had gone yesterday, and she wanted to go too.
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