Super Grandpa and Grandma

Lin Er froze for a moment, then shouted outside in disbelief, "Grandma, that's not fair! You took my money and still tattled on me!"

That night, Lin Er's parents, uncles, aunts, and uncle-in-law took turns lecturing her. They were all polite people and didn't curse at her, but what they said still stung.

At the same time, everyone learned that she had been doing a little business at home and had sold a bucket of river snails for over a hundred yuan.

After the scolding, Dad Lin told Grandma Lin that eating river snails had also become popular in Guangdong over the past couple of years. The river snails there had all been eaten, and some unscrupulous people were fishing them out of filthy ditches, while others picked up apple snails, which were harmful to eat.

He also confirmed that if river snails were cooked well, plenty of people would eat them. Those sold at night markets in particular made much more money than their malatang business.

If Grandma Lin had nothing to do at home, she could make some to sell too. He just didn't know whether people around home would be willing to spend money on them.

There was also the fact that home was too far from the city to do business at the night market. She could only sell to students, and the high school only gave them half a day off each week.

She was bound not to sell much.

Lin Er didn't hear what anyone said after that. Her afternoon had been too exciting, and once her body clock told her it was time, she fell asleep as quickly as if Stupefy had been used on her.

She slept through the night without dreaming. When she woke the next morning to birdsong in the bamboo grove, Lin Er still felt a little unaccustomed to it. There was no sound of peanuts being beaten off the vines today.

Rubbing her eyes, she had just stepped out of the main room when she saw two big basins of river snails sitting in the courtyard, Grandpa Lin and Grandma Lin's haul from that morning.

Lin Er stared, dumbfounded. "Grandma, you two were fast!"

Grandpa Lin put down the snails and went back to carrying peanut vines outside to pick the peanuts. Grandma Lin put the snails in water to soak, then looked up and asked when she saw Lin Er was awake.

"Whose house did you make them at yesterday? Go bring the things back!"

Lin Er had known this would happen when she told them. She hadn't even cleaned yesterday's bucket.

"Wait here, I'll get them!"

Before Grandma Lin could follow, Lin Er slung on her schoolbag and took off running toward the new house.

By the time Grandma Lin arrived, the bucket, the pot, and the seasonings had all been brought out. She had also quickly scourgified the kitchen stove, making it look as though it had been used.

Grandma Lin walked around the kitchen, then said irritably, "That must have been so hard on you, sneaking around and not even daring to use the pot at home!"

Lin Er grinned sheepishly and followed her grandma back to the old house with the things.

She had figured it out while flying along yesterday. She couldn't keep bringing things home; her family needed to earn money themselves.

But she was only twelve now and had no say at home. No one would believe her if she said she had a way to make money.

Selling snails was a good way to get her foot in the door. She had made money from it, they weren't hard to prepare, there was a market for them, and the costs were low.

She could easily teach her grandparents how to do it.

As for not being able to use this method to make money herself afterward, that was fine too.

Yesterday's gust of wind had brought her much more money.

That was excluding the fifty yuan the unlucky person had accidentally dropped, which had also cost her a spell.

She had picked up over two hundred yuan with a single spell.

Most of it wasn't very clean, but money was money. Wash it, and anyone would be happy to take it.

In an entire city, her magic had only covered two streets, and she had picked up over two hundred yuan.

Just what she'd expect from a time before mobile payments. There was plenty of cash around.

As for whether there would be more unlucky people like that if she used it again, she couldn't help that.

She had done a good job of convincing herself to accept that she wasn't a completely law-abiding person.

Not actively stealing or robbing was already her showing restraint. Right now, she was only picking up money from the ground. If she happened to pick up money someone had just dropped or spotted, she couldn't help that either.

That was how picking up money worked: whoever was quickest got it.

As for the saying about splitting it with whoever saw it, well, they hadn't met, had they? If they did meet, she could share a spell with them.

"Grandma, those snails can't be cooked yet. They need to purge the sand, and their tails have to be clipped."

"I know. How many years have I been cooking, and how many years have you been eating?"

Lin Er pursed her lips. Her grandma's cooking did taste good, but the only seasonings she used were oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. Lin Er had never seen her make a boldly seasoned, spicy dish.

Even potatoes cooked in soy sauce counted as strongly flavored. For chilies, she only ate what came from the vegetable garden. When those were gone, she ate pickled sour chilies. Chili powder? They only bought a little of that for the New Year.

"Grandma, the recipe I used this time was one I secretly watched someone make in their shop. If you don't make it taste good and people buy it once but never again, you'll lose money!"

"On and on you go. Fine, you can make them yourself when you come back next week!"

Lin Er watched her grandma deftly wash the bucket, muttering as she scrubbed about how lazy she was, not even washing it.

Then, for some reason, she flung down the rag. Sensing trouble, Lin Er hurried to run.

"Lin Xiao Er, stop right there! Tell me, where did your fish come from?"

Damn, does Grandma's mind work that fast?

"I bought it, I bought it! I picked up the first one! Don't hit me! The oil won't wash out if it gets on my clothes! Aaah! Grandpa, Grandpa, save me!"

No matter how fast Lin Er ran, she wasn't faster than Grandma Lin's rag. The loofah rag landed on her head with a smack. Well, she didn't have to run now. Unless she washed her hair, she couldn't go to school today.

Grandma Lin, who had washed the bucket and heated water for her to wash her hair, didn't stop scolding all day. Even Lin Huihui stayed at home and obediently practiced writing for half the day.

Lunch was fish pieces stir-fried with green peppers. Grandpa Lin even packed a jar for Lin Er to take to school.

Although she was no longer short of food, she didn't refuse. Besides, her grandma's home cooking really was delicious.

When it was time for Lin Er to take money to school, Grandma Lin counted it over and over, then finally pulled out another ten-yuan note for her.

"Take it. You should be thinking about your studies now. Earning money is for later. If you don't have enough, the family will give you more!"

As she spoke, she added unhappily, "You're only in middle school. The school feeds and houses you, so what do you need to spend money on? Isn't five yuan enough?"

Lin Er took the money and stuffed it into her pocket. They had confiscated over a hundred yuan from her yesterday, so what was wrong with taking an extra ten today?

"Grandma, you can't count it like that. Doesn't drinking water cost money? Don't hot showers cost money? Doesn't it cost money to replace my pens and notebooks when I use them up? Don't sanitary pads cost money? When other people share their snacks with me, am I supposed to never bring them anything in return?"

"Then why do you take their snacks? Just don't crave them, and it'll be fine!"

Lin Er gave a wry smile, then turned and left with her schoolbag on her back.

"Got it, Grandma. I won't eat other people's food!"

The whole Lin family couldn't muster enough friends outside the family to fill a table. They all thought it was best if nobody owed anybody anything.

Because when people were poor, their ambitions were small. If they took something from someone else, they couldn't pay it back.

But relationships depended on give-and-take. Without any give-and-take, how could there be a relationship?

It was all right now, while social networks were still undeveloped. Once those networks developed and their thinking changed, they would say their children had amounted to nothing: after studying away from home for over a decade, they didn't even have a friend who could help them.

Lin Er no longer had the heart to argue.

Without nurturing them, was it possible to expect their children to figure everything out on their own and get ahead?

Maybe some people could, but Lin Er really, truly was very ordinary...