Chapter 67: This Child Is Good
Jian Xingxia was expressionless.
She was wrong. She had been wrong from the very beginning. She should never have let Liang Chengcheng wander the supermarket by herself.
She had witnessed beforehand just how crazily this woman could shop.
Liang Chengcheng didn’t dare say a word, though she was utterly smug inside. She had finally found an opportunity!
“Cough—these are all things I need to use. You know how delicate I am,” Liang Chengcheng said.
What else could Jian Xingxia say? To have a friend like this, what more could she ask for?
The two of them rode the tricycle, heading back to the village with the mountain of courier packages and supermarket hauls.
Once in the village, Liang Chengcheng went to ask about the mixed wild mushroom ratios. Jian Xingxia waited for her, setting up her stall under the massive banyan tree in the meantime.
The second batch of toilet rolls, flat-pack tissues, and tissue boxes had been brought back. Jian Xingxia added just a few cents to each pack, selling them piecemeal to the villagers. There was also the sesame oil; since Old Chai’s family happened to have a measuring scoop on hand, they brought it over to distribute and package it right on the spot.
The prices Jian Xingxia set weren’t expensive. She bought them wholesale by the box online, and even with a tiny profit margin added, it was still more cost-effective than what the elderly folks in the village could buy themselves. Consequently, the moment she set up her stall, the villagers swarmed over.
The tissues were still highly sought after this time.
“I only bought two rolls last time, and between my Big Jiang and Little Jiang—those two grown men—they’re lining up at the toilet every single day! It’s like they’re eating the paper! I’m buying eight rolls this time!”
“I want four rolls, that’ll be enough.”
“How much for a pack of these boxed tissues? One yuan? That’s cheaper than the supermarket. I’ll take two packs, this paper looks very easy to use.”
“I’ll buy one pack of the flat tissues. It’s still six yuan, right?”
She even sold five boxes of Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid.
During the height of summer, working in the mountains was fine if there was shade, but standing under the fierce sun truly left one feeling dazed and terrified of heatstroke. For a box containing ten vials of Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid, Jian Xingxia sold them for fifty cents a vial.
The villagers didn’t need much either; each household just bought two or three vials, drinking them simply for the sake of it. After all, they hadn’t actually gotten heatstroke; it was merely a preventative measure.
Jian Xingxia’s small, piecemeal business actually made a bit of money. For the 180 yuan worth of tissues, after leaving some for personal use, she sold over 240 yuan. The sesame oil was sold much cheaper than at the supermarket, allowing Jian Xingxia to recoup 360 yuan, principal and profit combined. The other miscellaneous items brought in fifty or sixty yuan.
Today’s revenue totaled 665 yuan, bringing Jian Xingxia’s balance back to 1,588 yuan.
It had to be said that she breathed a sigh of relief. Having a few hundred yuan versus having over a thousand yuan in hand truly felt entirely different.
Grandma Hu happened to be mingled in the crowd as well, purchasing a pack of flat tissues.
As everyone dispersed to head home with their goods, Jian Xingxia escorted Grandma Hu back to her house. Upon reaching her home, Grandma Hu absolutely insisted on fishing out a few homegrown chicken eggs for Jian Xingxia.
“Good child, take them. This paper you bought is excellent—clean, doesn’t cause itching, and cheap too.”
Jian Xingxia already knew the reason Grandma Hu used the flat tissues, so with no one else around, she brought it up: “Grandma Hu, they have those overnight period pants online. They’re very convenient, though a bit stuffy, and the price is slightly on the expensive side.”
“I looked it up over the past two days, and there’s also a kind of urine pad that looks like a sanitary towel. This one is cheap; you can get a hundred pads for thirty yuan.”
Jian Xingxia didn’t beat around the bush, discussing it with Grandma Hu completely open and aboveboard. “I researched some information, and the absorbency of this pad is quite good. A single pad is enough to last a whole day, making it even more cost-effective than the flat tissues.”
The elderly folks of Grandma Hu’s generation didn’t have various retirement funds like social security or agricultural pensions. Their income throughout the entire year, aside from the tiny bit of grains and vegetables from the fields, consisted solely of the two to three hundred yuan of elderly subsidy money. Therefore, saving a single cent meant a cent earned.
Grandma Hu wasn’t quite sure what the “urine pad” Jian Xingxia mentioned looked like, feeling a bit embarrassed at first. At her advanced age, why would she still be using pads…
But seeing Jian Xingxia’s completely normal demeanor as she very earnestly opened her phone to show her an explanatory video, Grandma Hu’s awkwardness gradually melted away, and she grew calm.
Once Jian Xingxia read out a whole host of user experiences and reviews to her, Grandma Hu’s eyes gradually grew moist. She asked with a bit of uncertainty, “There are still so many people… who have the same problem as me?”
Jian Xingxia nodded. “Yes, plenty of people have it. It’s just that it wasn’t convenient for everyone to speak out about it in the past. But now that more people are voicing it, everyone is gradually paying attention, which is why these adult urine pads were created.”
The absorbency of adult urine pads was far superior to toilet paper. If one used the flat tissues, they had to change them numerous times a day. A single adult urine pad was more than enough.
Grandma Hu choked up slightly. In the gaze she directed at Jian Xingxia, aside from maternal affection, there was an added layer of gratitude and relief.
The paper and the pads were physical aids. But an educated young person had told her that this wasn’t her problem alone, and that many others were exactly the same. She didn’t need to feel ashamed; people on the outside were paying attention to this, figuring out ways to solve their difficulties. The understanding and acceptance of others was the hardest hurdle for Grandma Hu to cross in her heart.
She stubbornly insisted on catching a massive goose for Jian Xingxia. “Good child, ever since you returned to the village, I’ve felt much more at ease. It’s inconvenient for you to live up on the mountain. Raising a large goose will allow it to guard your courtyard, and it can also eat grass and snakes.”
“Geese can eat snakes?” Jian Xingxia had intended to refuse, but hearing this, she couldn’t quite help herself.
Grandma Hu laughed. “It’s just like a cat catching mice; they do it to play around, not relying on it to fill their bellies. But they will peck and drive them away. If you keep a large goose at home, snakes won’t come near.”
Jian Xingxia had been fretting over this. She had scattered some of the medicine she bought last time, and while it was effective, it only lasted for a few days. As her vegetable patch pushed further into the tall wild grass, snakes grew more numerous. This morning, she and Liang Chengcheng had actually spotted a snake in the fields.
Dahua was very formidable, but it only minded the courtyard; whatever was outside the yard depended entirely on its mood. Jian Xingxia had been worrying about it the whole time.
Seeing the situation, she proposed to buy it from Grandma Hu. But Grandma Hu flatly refused to accept money. As they pushed back and forth, the two of them were on the verge of losing their tempers.
Grandma Hu felt Jian Xingxia was closer to her than her own children; her kids rarely looked after her anymore, yet since Jian Xingxia returned, whenever she ran into her, she always asked a few questions. And it wasn’t just lip service; she kept her matters in her heart the entire time. She bought the flat tissues every few days and even helped her check if there were more cost-effective and convenient things available. Grandma Hu had lived to this age and understood that human sincerity was hard to come by, so she doted on Jian Xingxia more and more.
The next-door neighbor, hearing the two of them pulling back and forth, also walked over to help Grandma Hu catch the goose, stuffing it into Jian Xingxia’s arms.
“If Grandma Hu is giving it to you, just take it! At her age, pulling and hauling like this—what if she falls in a moment!”
The neighbor thought things through clearly. The elderly lady was already at this age, so just let her do whatever she wanted without opposing her; otherwise, it would cause major trouble instead.
“If you don’t accept it, she’ll be capable of walking several li tomorrow to deliver it to you in the mountains!”
Hearing this, Jian Xingxia knew that wouldn’t do. With that awful road, even she struggled to walk it, let alone Grandma Hu.
Since Grandma Hu steadfastly refused the money, Jian Xingxia didn’t dare pull back and forth anymore. After a brief thought, she accepted the large goose, allowing Grandma Hu to see her out.
The neighbor went back inside, and Jian Xingxia turned to say to Grandma Hu, “Grandma Hu, since I’ve accepted your goose, from now on, your flat tissues and urine pads are on me!”
With that, she grabbed the goose by its neck and took off running.
How could Grandma Hu possibly give chase? She wanted to shout after her, but she couldn’t bring herself to yell those words out loud. She could only watch blankly as Jian Xingxia dashed far away into the distance.
“This child! This child!”
Grandma Hu leaned on her walking stick, repeating the words several times, yet her face slowly softened with relief.
This child was good.
