Wealth: 650,000 Yuan

Wealth: 65,000 Yuan

At 5:40 in the afternoon, all the televisions at the stall were sold out.

Having witnessed the booming TV sales from start to finish after a busy afternoon, Liu Fengqing's wrinkled face blossomed into a smile.

Her family was practically robbing a bank.

Fang Tingting, meanwhile, was completely at her mother's beck and call, doing whatever she was told. Seeing how well the TVs were selling, she was delighted too. She truly admired her brother's brain—how had he come up with such a profitable business? From now on, she could buy ice cream whenever she wanted in summer.

Thinking of that cool, refreshing ice cream, along with all the snacks she had never tasted before, she could not help covering her mouth and giggling.

With the televisions sold out, Fang Shi instructed everyone to pack up and return to the shop.

It was almost six o'clock.

Fang Bai was still reading upstairs when he heard his parents laughing in the hallway. He turned and saw them enter the room with grins on their faces.

His father took a piece of cardboard from the corner, spread it across the floor, and poured all the money from his backpack onto it.

Red, blue, green, purple, and other colors of banknotes mingled together, creating a dazzling sight.

They came in various denominations, ranging from one yuan to one hundred yuan. Ten-yuan notes were the most numerous, while the 50-Yuan Notes and 100-Yuan Notes were the most eye-catching, gleaming with the tempting light of wealth.

Looking at the pile of money, Liu Fengqing smiled so widely that she could not close her mouth.

"Goodness, how much is this? Tens of thousands, right? Son, come count the money."

Fang Bai sat in his chair with a book in hand, watching his parents smile until their eyes narrowed. He was very happy inside.

Hearing his mother ask him to count the money, he could not be bothered to move. "Mom, you and Dad count it. I'll read a little longer."

"Fine. You really are something else, kid. You like making money, but you don't like counting it.

Looks like this tiring work can only fall to your mother." Liu Fengqing spoke happily as she sat down beside the cardboard and began counting, first sorting out the 100-Yuan Notes.

The father and son could not help bursting into laughter at her words.

Sometimes, Liu Fengqing was a little smug and had no social anxiety whatsoever. When she borrowed money, she never beat around the bush. She simply asked directly.

"Second Aunt, your husband is amazing. He's driving a freight truck now! Drivers earn a lot. You're going to get rich and enjoy life."

"Ah, it's just hard-earned money."

"That's the thing. My family has been a little tight on cash lately, and I'd like to borrow one hundred yuan." Liu Fengqing would spot someone with money, and if her own family was short of it, she dared to ask as long as she knew them.

Most locals were relatively well-off and, out of concern for appearances, would lend Liu Fengqing at least something. Only a few particularly thick-skinned people would refuse no matter how she pleaded, like Fang Bai's second aunt.

So most of the money Fang Bai's family borrowed had been borrowed by his mother.

Fortunately, Fang Bai's father was rather quiet and dull by nature, so even when there were conflicts at home, they rarely escalated into arguments.

Fang Bai and his Younger Sister were outgoing, inheriting some of their mother's personality.

Of course, Fang Bai had worked in sales for many years and dealt with all kinds of people, so he had fairly thick skin.

More than ten minutes later, Fang Bai's parents finished checking the accounts.

They had sold a total of sixty-five televisions today, including twenty-two 21-inch color TVs at an average price of 1,100 yuan each.

Six 14-inch color TVs at 368 yuan each, including one sold at a 10% discount and one at a 20% discount.

Two 29-inch color TVs at 2,500 yuan each.

Twenty-six 17-inch black-and-white TVs at 150 yuan each.

Eight 14-inch black-and-white TVs at 78 yuan each.

The total revenue was 35,821.6 yuan.

At first, the pile of banknotes had looked like more money than that. In truth, they had simply been scattered around and taken up a lot of space. Once stacked neatly and bound with rubber bands, they seemed much less plentiful.

The two elders looked at the more than thirty thousand yuan with eyes full of joy. When they smiled, the wrinkles on their faces could have crushed mosquitoes.

Liu Fengqing in particular stroked the small stack of 100-Yuan Notes and counted them over and over. Smiling, she said, "I'd never even touched a 100-Yuan Note before. It took two months of my salary to save up enough for one, but there are twenty-two here now. There are quite a few 50-Yuan Notes too."

Seeing that her son was still reading and did not seem concerned about the money at all, she asked, "Son, what are you planning to do with this money?"

Fang Bai said calmly, "Keep doing business. There are plenty of places where I'll need to spend money."

"Wife, don't get ideas about the kid's money. He has plans to use it for business. He already gave me two thousand yuan the day before yesterday, and there's still quite a bit left after buying the tricycles."

"I was only asking. I just want him to keep it safe. I can't be bothered managing it. If I had to guard this much money, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Look at him—not caring whether there's more or less money. Only someone so carefree can sleep. A thief could break into the house and he wouldn't even know."

Fang Bai smiled but said nothing.

He understood his parents' personalities very well, so he was perfectly at ease letting them know how much money he had made.

If his parents had wanted complete control of the family finances, he would not have let them help sell televisions.

When he needed money for investments, his parents might mess things up, and that would definitely affect his plans.

Fang Bai stood up, pushed aside the pile of small-denomination bills—roughly two or three hundred yuan—and told his mother, "Mom, take this loose cash to buy groceries. If it's not enough, tell me. I have plans for the rest of the money."

Liu Fengqing accepted the pile without ceremony. Unable to stop smiling, she laughed heartily. "This is more than enough. Even if we ate meat at every meal, it would last a long time."

Fang Bai felt that the rest of the money was not much either. It just needed to be kept safely.

Just as his mother had said, they really had to watch out for thieves breaking in to steal it.

Fang Bai told his parents about his plans for the next few days. He had his monthly exam next Monday, and without his guidance, the employees could not repair the televisions. Tomorrow, he would have everyone dismantle more of the faulty TVs first so he could mark them, leaving enough work for them to repair over two days.

Fortunately, the two rented spaces were large enough. Otherwise, there would not have been room for all those TVs with their casings removed.

Once the televisions at home were nearly cleared out, Fang Bai planned to make another trip to T City. His method of selecting televisions was rather unusual, so he could go alone.

Fang Bai's parents listened to their son regarding business matters. They did not understand business themselves.

After the family of three chatted for a while, Fang Shi went downstairs to settle the employees' wages for the day.

Liu Fengqing went to make dinner. After seeing his parents leave, Fang Bai put away the money and opened the system screen.

The personal wealth section had already risen to 65,000 yuan. He was not far from leveling up.

They had only set up the stall for two half-days, and the industrial and commercial officials had not noticed it yet. Even so, Fang Bai had his father pay the taxes, though he reported a lower turnover.

This counted as "selling used goods," with a combined tax rate of 3%. The tax was not much, but it would prevent the stall from being confiscated in the future.

Fang Bai's monthly sales had exceeded the threshold for a small-scale taxpayer and might even meet the standard for a general taxpayer. When he had time, he still needed to register a company and pay taxes according to tax law, though the combined tax rate would be much higher.

Of course, if he could legally reduce his taxes, Fang Bai would do so.

After dinner, the family went outside for a walk to aid digestion.

When they returned from their walk, Fang Bai showered and read, while his parents and Younger Sister watched TV downstairs.

At ten o'clock that night,

Fang Bai's parents were already lying in bed, talking about what had happened that day.

Liu Fengqing was too excited to sleep. Life felt like a dream.

"Husband, of the eight hundred yuan our son gave us last time, we gave our daughter twenty yuan for living expenses, repaid most of our debts, and still have fifty yuan owed to the neighbor Second Aunt and one hundred thirty-five yuan owed to my relatives. Our son is making big money now. We can finally pay off all our debts. It feels like a dream."

"A Bai gave me two thousand yuan the day before yesterday. After buying two tricycles, there's still more than eight hundred left. Take it from mine first to repay them.

Borrowing money is easy for you, but you owe people favors. Shouldn't we give them interest?"

"Why give interest? That would be too formal. We can just give them more gifts during Chinese New Year.

I'm telling you, those people who had money but refused to lend us any—I can't be bothered with them from now on!

If they ever want to borrow money from us, no chance!" Liu Fengqing got angry whenever she thought of certain relatives, especially her own Second Sister-in-law, who was far too stingy.

When she said that, Fang Shi did not dare make a sound.

Then he heard her continue rattling on. "When I went to resign yesterday, do you know what our supervisor said to me?

He said, 'Oh, Sister Liu, this job wasn't easy to get. It's easy and flexible, so you should treasure it.'

I wanted to spit in his face right then. He sure made it sound nice.

That job only paid fifty yuan. I wasn't even a regular school employee. Locals looked down on it and nobody wanted to do it. Outsiders thought the pay was too low and would rather work in factories, where they could earn around a hundred yuan anyway.

Only people like us, without skills and a little older, would take that kind of work.

I did it for more than three years. If I'd known, I would have gone to work at a factory long ago. Who knew factories would be so short of workers now?"

"The situation was different three years ago. There were far fewer factories than there are now, and jobs were hard to find. We didn't understand the city either. Working there for three years solved a lot of problems. The school was still all right."

"All right, my foot. I didn't want to say anything before, but now that our son is making money, I'm going to count a few things.

Whenever Second Sister-in-law saw me at school, she would not even greet me. She was afraid of being associated with a poor younger sister-in-law like me. I was always the one who greeted her first. If there were few people around, she would respond, but when there were many people, she would pretend not to see me.

I never mentioned this in front of the children because I was afraid of teaching them bad things.

But I've got all this resentment inside me. If I don't say it, I won't feel better.

And your mother—when she picked vegetables from the garden in front of our house to cook for herself, I never said anything. But she always picked them to give to Second Sister-in-law too. Behind my back, she said so many bad things about me. She told people around the village that her second daughter-in-law was capable because she was a teacher, while her young wife worked in logistics and disgraced her.

People in the village told me. Don't think I don't know. Tell me, what kind of mother-in-law is that?

If I weren't mindful of your mother's age, I, as her daughter-in-law, really wouldn't have held back."

The more Liu Fengqing spoke, the more worked up she became. Tears began to flow, and she stopped lying down altogether, sitting up as she continued to complain.

Fang Shi did not want to say anything. Every family had its own troubles. His wife had indeed endured plenty of grievance over the years and kept it all bottled up for one simple reason.

They were not capable enough. They were poor, so people looked down on them.

Now that their son was capable and making a lot of money, his wife wanted to vent and speak her mind.

"Hmph, things are better now. I'm not doing logistics work at that school anymore. They won't see me now. This time, she can have her peace and quiet. I can already imagine the smug look on Second Sister-in-law's face."

After hearing enough, Fang Shi felt like his ears had grown calluses. "What are you saying so much for? Once you're done, go to sleep."

"If I don't say these things, you won't know how wronged I've felt all these years. I've kept it bottled up and never said it.

If our son hadn't made something of himself, I don't know when these hard days would have ended." Liu Fengqing continued chattering.

"If you can't sleep, get up and make some milk for our son. I bought milk powder. He definitely isn't asleep yet. He's probably reading right now."

Hearing that, Liu Fengqing stopped complaining, hurriedly got up, slipped on her slippers, and went out. When she reached her son's bedroom, she saw that the door was slightly ajar. She pushed it open and found that her son was indeed still reading.

He had not even noticed her opening the door. She could only pull it mostly closed again, sigh, and head downstairs to make him milk.

More than ten minutes later, she boiled water, mixed the milk powder, and carried up a large bowl. She placed it on her son's desk and told him to rest early.

When she returned to the bedroom, Liu Fengqing saw that her husband had fallen asleep. With no one left to listen to her complaints, and feeling that she had complained enough anyway, she felt much better and lay down to rest.

Thanks to readers such as Tianhai Xiangyun and Jianhun Platform for their rewards.