Chapter 7: Even if lice are small, they are still meat

  She thought and thought, suddenly thinking of what she could do to make money, and hurriedly ran to the kitchen door and said to Qiu Ma, who was peeling potatoes inside: "Mom, are you still going to work this afternoon?"

  "Of course I'm going, didn't mom just say that the tofu workshop hasn't been cleaned up yet? I have to go clean it up, and tomorrow morning we can make tofu again." Mrs. Qiu thought that Lao Gu Niang was asking this because she didn't want her to work in the afternoon, as before she would always finish all the tasks in the tofu workshop in the morning, then sleep with her daughter until they woke up naturally.

  "Then I'll go with you this afternoon." Qiu Ye heard her mom's response and put her mind at ease. If her mom wasn't going, she would have had to think of another way.

  "Didn't you take a nap at noon?" Aunt Qiu asked the girl without stopping her hands, everyone in the family knew that Lao Jie had a habit of taking a nap at noon, if she didn't sleep until she woke up naturally, she would be in a very bad mood when she got up.

  "Uh, mom, wake me up when you leave, I'll go with you. I haven't had my soy milk yet today." Qiu Ye struggled for a moment, but the desire to make money overcame the god of sleep.

  "It's okay, as long as you don't make a fuss when you get up in the afternoon." Qiu Ma said, and with quick hands and feet, she peeled several potatoes that had sprouted. Then she picked up the broom, ready to sweep the potato peels into the dustpan. "Alright, it's fine, go play inside, don't stay here getting in the way."

  Qiu Ye saw this as an opportunity to show off, so she rushed over, grabbed the broom from her mother's hand and said: "Mom, let me sweep, I know how to do it."

  Qiu's mother thought Qiu Ye was just playing around, as the girl had helped sweep the floor before and only used the broom to randomly sweep the ground, with hardly any potato peels making it into the dustpan. Qiu's mother didn't have time to scold her, so she let her continue messing around, figuring she would just re-sweep the area herself later, and turned back to cutting the potato strips.

  When Qiu Ma had just finished cutting the potato shreds and was about to tidy up the messy table for her daughter, she saw that Qiu Ye had already swept the floor spotlessly clean, with even the broom put back in its original place.

  "Today, my old girl is so capable, isn't she thinking of eating popsicles again." Qiu's mother thought that her daughter's hardworking performance was because she wanted pocket money, so she took out two cents from her pocket and handed it to Qiu Ye.

  "Here, take it. Later when your brother comes back, let him take you to buy one. You and your brother each get one, no fighting."

  Qiu Ye looked at the two coins in her hand, and her heart was surging with excitement. She didn't expect to have money on the first day of her rebirth. Although it was only a small amount of 20 cents, she firmly believed in one principle: saving up little by little would eventually add up. After all, even a tiny louse is still meat.

  Qiu Ye took the first large sum of money in her life, happily entering her own room to find a place to hide it. She was determined not to share this money with her brother to buy popsicles, which were just sugar water mixed with a little bit of flavoring at that time. Although they didn't have many additives like later generations did, they also had no nutritional value. And the money in her hands, why would she take it out again?

  It seems that I should behave better in the future, so mom will be happy and generous with me.

  However, she really didn't think that her mother would be so generous. In her past life, her mother had never given her money to buy ice pops with such ease, and it was even more rare for her to give it to her willingly. Every time she asked for money, she would get a lecture from her mother, and out of ten times, she might succeed only once or twice. Later on, she learned to ask her father instead, who although poor, always listened to what she had to say.

  When she grew up, her mother said that at that time, it was not that she didn't want to give the child money to buy ice cream, but because the family was poor and had to support two children in school, so they thought about saving as much as possible. Even Qiu's father saved his monthly cigarette money to buy ice cream for his daughter.

  Qiu Ye thought of this, and her eyes became moist again. In her previous life, she had also resented her parents for their preference for sons over daughters, especially when her marriage was unhappy. She often thought that if her parents could help her, she wouldn't have to suffer so much. However, she also knew that her parents loved her, maybe a little less than they loved her brother, but if they had the means, they would definitely help her and not let her suffer in her husband's family. Qiu Ye sat on the bed, making a silent vow to herself that in this life, she must work hard to earn money, so that neither her parents nor she would have to worry about it again.

  Qiu Ye was sitting there thinking about her dad, when Qiu Dad came home from work, opened the door and changed his shoes before walking into the house, where he saw Qiu Ye sitting on the iron bed deep in thought.

  "Oh dear, my old girl is sitting on the bed, thinking about what national affairs." Qiu Dad came into the house and changed his shoes, looking at Baobei girl sitting on the small room's bed in a daze.

  Qiu Ye looked at the young version of her father, who was wearing a small crew cut, black pants, and a white polyester-cotton shirt. Over that, he wore the grayish-black work uniform issued by the school to its employees. She couldn't control herself anymore, got up from bed, rushed over, and hugged Qiu Ye's father's leg again, wailing, "Daddy, I miss you so much."

  Qiu's father was at a loss as to what had happened, his daughter suddenly bursting into tears after he said something. She even mentioned missing someone, but who and why?

  Qiu's father was being cried at by Qiu Ye, and he was at a loss for what to do with his hands and feet when Qiu's mother spoke up.

  "Just now she came with me like this too, and said she wanted me, I gave her two cents, and she was fine, and didn't want me anymore."

  "Oh, and your dad will give you two cents too, how about that, girl? Let's not cry anymore, okay? These beautiful big eyes are all puffy from crying." Old Qiu very tactfully pulled out two cents from his pocket and waved them in front of his daughter.

  Qiu Ye looked at the money in her father's hand with tears in her eyes, wanting to loudly refute her mother. She wasn't crying to get the money, okay? It was because she behaved well and helped sweep the floor that her mother gave it to her. How could her mother turn things upside down in an instant? However, looking at the fluttering bills in front of her, she decided it was better to take the money after all. What reason didn't matter, as long as she had money to take.

  Dad's words are also somewhat wrong, when did I grow a pair of big eyes? In my previous life, no one has ever praised me for having big eyes. I've looked for my own strengths before, and this is really not one of them.

  Qiu Ye wiped away her tears with a small hand, quickly snatched the money from her father's hand and put it in her own pocket. She also gave her father a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad, you're still the best."

  Qiu's father was delighted by his daughter's coaxing, with a smile that creased his face. Qiu's mother was cooking in the kitchen while listening to their conversation, but she wasn't pleased - she had just given them two yuan, yet didn't receive this kind of treatment.

  "Little rascal, you can have the money now, but don't squander it! If I find out you've wasted it, watch out for your butt!" Qiu Ma shouted at Qiu Ye, who had run into the house to hide the money.

  Qiu Ye wasn't too bothered by her mom's obviously retaliatory words. From young to old, her mom had a sharp tongue but had never hit her. It was actually her dad who had slapped her on the butt when she had infuriated him.