I Became a Medical Genius in the 80s

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: The Big Ten-Yuan Bill

Beisitian left, and the waitress standing there was speechless, wondering where this wild girl came from, thinking she would regret it?

Is she regretting her attitude towards this wild girl?

What a joke!

The waitress’s surname is Ma, called Ma Xiaoling, and she’s been working at the Western pharmacy for three years now. She believes she’s seen quite a few people, especially since there are only two pharmacies in this town. People from tens of miles around come to town every day, almost every day there’s someone from the village coming in.

Especially after the grain tickets and various other tickets were canceled a few years ago, the villagers began flooding into town, most hoping to stay.

Ma Xiaoling is particularly impatient when dealing with these people, not only are they country bumpkins, but they also lack culture. Asking them anything feels like hitting a wall; bewildered yet invariably stubborn!

Like the village girl she encountered today, quite a peculiar person, skinny as a rake, probably not having enough to eat, yet boastfully striding into the pharmacy?

Waiting for her to regret it?

Whenever Ma Xiaoling thinks of Beisitian’s calm attitude and her infuriating words, it makes Ma Xiaoling even angrier!

The pharmacy she works at isn’t state-owned; it seems to have been opened by overseas Chinese responding to government policies. What exactly it’s all about, Ma Xiaoling doesn’t know, nor does she care, as long as she gets paid every month.

It’s not a stable government job, she’s not feeding off the state, so she doesn’t dare go too far. At most, she’ll curse people away, give some cold satire and that’s it, so even though Ma Xiaoling is angry, she just hopes not to see Beisitian again next time, and she’ll forget about it after a while.

She picked up the water on the table, took a couple of sips to calm her anger.

As she drank, her mouth tingled a bit; she smacked her lips together, licked with her tongue, it seemed like there was nothing wrong, so she didn’t mind and drank all the water in the jug.

When Beisitian returned to Kao Village, it was past two in the afternoon. Mrs. Qin and the other two were still taking a nap, though they had done some simple body adjustments, walking such a long way still tired them out, especially since she lacked the excitement from last time; her eyelids began to droop as soon as she got home.

She put the dry food in the vegetable basket hanging under the beam and went to the west room to sleep. When she opened her eyes again, it was already past four.

She rolled over and got up, heard talking from the east room, and went over.

”Awake now.” Mrs. Qin said casually.

Beisitian nodded, took out ten yuan from her pocket, and said, ”Mom, today’s money.”

Mrs. Qin was half blind and needed to hold the note far away to see that it was a big ten-yuan bill!

Her father-in-law, Luo Anguo, had the cigarette in his hand tremble, with tobacco crumbs falling into the basket. It had been ages since he’d seen a ten-yuan note; even if the family had this much before, it was all small change!

Mrs. Qin hurriedly put the note away, turned her head, squinted to look outside, and only after not seeing any shadows, lowered her voice and said, ”How come it’s so much?”

Beisitian smiled and said, ”The boss at Bao Niang Embroidery Workshop saw my embroidery skills and wants me to be an embroidery woman at the workshop, which pays better than selling alone.”

The two were quite surprised on hearing this, Bao Niang Embroidery Workshop is quite famous, and if anyone in the family could sell their skills there, they would definitely be renowned in the surrounding villages. Mrs. Qin was like that back then, making shoes so good that even villagers envied them!

With envy comes jealousy. Later on, when Mrs. Qin could no longer do it, the villagers were surely more gloating than sympathetic!

”Is it formal or?” Mrs. Qin asked.

A formal embroidery woman needs to work at Bao Niang Embroidery Workshop with a set daily work hour, and they calculate basic salary based on hours, plus commissions if the embroidery sells at a good price.

”Not formal.” Beisitian said.

Mrs. Qin was slightly disappointed. If it were formal, the family would have someone earning a salary!

”Well, Little Tian’er’s been getting better since she opened up!” Luo Anguo praised sincerely.

This praise startled Beisitian; seeing he meant nothing else, she relaxed and then told them about the white flour buns.

Luo Anping’s saliva dripped onto hearing about white flour buns, craving them even more than the first time he had dumplings!

No wonder, though dumplings are tastier and more fragrant, these rural folks who eat coarse food with wild vegetables and cornbread, have a particular obsession with white flour buns!

Luo Anping, although he didn’t live through the years of eating coarse food with wild vegetables, he eats cornbread every day, so naturally, white flour buns are also his favorite!

Mrs. Qin and Luo Anguo, looking at the large white flour buns in the vegetable basket, had smiles on their faces.

Beisitian and Luo Anping went to herd the sheep; the old couple stayed in the house chatting.

”A total of thirteen buns, mixed with cornbread they can last several days!” Mrs. Qin said happily.

”These hot days, you won’t be able to keep them well for several days!” Luo Anguo was also happy, but soon frowned, lighting a cigarette.

Seeing this, Mrs. Qin recalled something, the smile on her face slightly fading, she asked, ”Do you think we should send some over?”

Luo Anguo didn’t speak, even if he sent some, he would want his mother to eat them since he’d been paralyzed, and Mrs. Qin was also blind, they hadn’t been able to fulfill filial duties. Precisely due to this, although the eldest family tossed and turned all sorts of ways, he didn’t bother.

After a silent moment, he shook his head, ”Don’t send it for now, the buns were earned by Little Tian’er, wait for her to come back and then talk about it.”

Actually, having so much and not sending some is a bit unreasonable, even if the family is divided, she’s still their mother. But, considering that eldest family, especially the bloodsucker Qin Hongmei, if she caught a whiff of it, she’d definitely come storming over!

Thinking of Qin Hongmei, Mrs. Qin gets a headache. That shrew is endlessly bothersome, and the worst part is, she keeps whispering in the mother-in-law’s ear, making their family seem especially bad in the old mother’s mind!

Her mother-in-law has soft ears and is confused; every time she goes over, she gets white-eyed and sarcastic comments.

No matter how fierce she is, Mrs. Qin can’t shout at her mother-in-law, she can only bear it herself. Over time, she almost develops an internal injury from holding it in.

The two of them became slightly gloomy.

Beisitian, herding sheep on the North Slope, almost saw Liu Chunyu every day, whether she was digging wild vegetables on the mountain or collecting firewood.

Her family are outsiders, her father’s generation came, they have no land in the village, but they get by thanks to his carpentry skills, unlike other families who bring corn stalks for firewood, her family can only collect firewood, so she always sees Liu Chunyu.

After Liu Chunyu came, she took two sunflowers from her bag, their petals long wilted, but the seeds inside were plump.

”I’m bringing you one.” Liu Chunyu smiled shyly, handing over a sunflower.

Beisitian was slightly surprised, reached out to take it, ”Thank you.”