After finalizing Shen Pandi's matter, Liu Shiyun did not linger in Shenjiaba Village. Chen Yang lent his donkey cart to Shen Pandi, who then drove Liu Shiyun back.
With the gains from these two days, many households in Shenjiaba Village were naturally filled with joy.
Some even went into town to buy polished rice and white flour. The village was not that large, and anyone who suddenly found themselves with more money did not escape others' notice.
Compared to the cheerful atmosphere in neighbor Shen Laifu's house, Shen Guangfu, Shen Xue's second uncle, was experiencing a rather tense situation.
"Shen Guangfu, look at your niece and nephew-in-law! They're quite something, making their own money and helping Shen Laifu, that old man, earn money, but they just leave you, the second uncle, out!"
"To think you lent them money from the bottom of your heart! I see you're blind, you ungrateful wretch, trying to insult me with five yuan!"
Cui Xiufang, Shen Xue's second aunt, slammed the table in anger. Shen Laifu, an old man in his fifties next door, was struggling to feed his seven or eight mouths.
Suddenly, in the past few days, their situation had improved. His sons were not only eating rice but also had a few slivers of meat in their bowls at one meal!
Eating meat when it wasn't a festival or holiday!
Even a fool would know that old man had struck it rich. Cui Xiufang found out, and was furious, her heart burning with rage.
So, that young man had deliberately set a trap for her back then; he already had a way to make money but didn't want to help them prosper.
"Cui Xiufang, have you said enough? You know how difficult Xue Yatou's family was back then. You came to demand money time and again, and you said such unpleasant things. Who would want to deal with you?"
Shen Guangfu, who had always been reticent, yelled at his shrewish wife for the first time.
He also felt terrible.
Shen Laifu, an outsider, had heard that he made tens of yuan by following his niece's husband in a few days. He, the second uncle, got nothing out of it. How embarrassing would that be if it got out?
If it weren't for this gossipy woman in his family, he wouldn't believe his niece would have good things and not think of him, her second uncle.
"Good for you, Shen Laifu. You heartless man, you're good at scolding your wife because you're useless at making money."
"Get up! We're going to your eldest brother's house to settle this. See where I went wrong. I married into the Shen family and bore you two sons and three daughters."
"You wanted to lend money to your niece, and I lent it. But you know how their family was before. If I don't get it back quickly, will I ever get it back?"
"That was five yuan! I saved it painstakingly for more than half a year. Is it wrong for me to want my own money?"
Cui Xiufang, infuriated by Shen Guangfu's shout, immediately scratched at him. The house descended into chaos.
The children, witnessing all this, cowered in a corner, too scared to speak.
After a prolonged fight, Shen Guangfu's neck was scratched with several bloody marks. Cui Xiufang was equally disheveled, and then suddenly started crying, aggrieved.
"I don't want to live anymore! I've worked so hard to manage this household, and in the end, you're all still a family, and I'm caught in the middle..."
"I shouldn't have gone to ask for that five yuan. Now look, our own niece is making a fortune and deliberately not including us."
Cui Xiufang wailed, and Shen Guangfu felt a surge of annoyance. However, he failed to notice that his own children had long since disappeared.
"Sister, can catching fish really make money?"
A group of half-grown boys and girls followed a leading girl, stealthily taking their family's bamboo baskets towards the river. The slightly older boy asked the eldest sister.
"Why not? I heard it clearly. Uncle Laifu said it's by catching fish and selling them to brother-in-law that one can make money."
"Anyway, brother-in-law buys fish. He bought from Shen Laifu, so there's no reason he wouldn't buy from us!"
Shen Mei said decisively, but the thought of her mother's mouth that could offend countless people made her a little uneasy.
She had a pretty good relationship with her elder sister Shen Xue. Her uncle and aunt were kind people who often helped their family, so they were close to Shen Xue and Shen Rong.
It was just their mother, who had a sharp tongue, and her father, who had borrowed five yuan for their elder sister without consulting her, that had caused the strained relationship between their family and Shen Xue's.
"Never mind, let's catch them first. If brother-in-law doesn't buy them, we can eat them ourselves."
Actually, every year when the water rose, some people in the village would catch a few fish to eat. However, they couldn't catch too many, as they would spoil if not eaten in time. Moreover, without oil for frying, the fish were too gamey, and no one liked them. Su Dan Novel Network
...
It wasn't just Shen Guangfu's family taking action; practically every family in Shenjiaba Village had started catching fish stealthily.
Those who sold fish to Chen Yang were clearly prospering. Who wouldn't want a better life? Who wouldn't want to eat rice and meat!
However, Chen Yang was not paying too much attention to these changes in the village.
At this moment, he was diligently studying at home!
Yes, that's right, he was reviewing his high school knowledge. Ever since Liu Shiyun left, Shen Xue suddenly remembered that Chen Yang had been so preoccupied with business that he hadn't studied at all these days.
Shen Xue didn't care how much money Chen Yang made. In her eyes, no amount of money was as important as Chen Yang getting into university.
This made the old man's heart feel like a jumble of emotions!
He had originally thought that making money would distract Shen Xue, but he hadn't expected Liu Shiyun's intervention to bring everything back to square one.
Looking at the knowledge that had long since become unfamiliar, Chen Yang felt a headache.
Chinese, History, Politics, and Geography were manageable. At least he could understand them, and with Chen Yang's interpretation of national policies from his later business dealings, and his life experience, catching up wouldn't be difficult.
But Mathematics! Those mathematical formulas made Chen Yang's head spin. He hadn't used them for decades and had no recollection of them in his mind.
His English was very good, as he had studied abroad and used it frequently for business in his previous life. However, English was not yet part of the college entrance examination scoring in that era; it was only an additional test. Unless one was pursuing a language major, it didn't count towards the final score.
However, Chen Yang wasn't too worried. In his previous life, his math skills hadn't been great either, and he had still gotten into university.
He knew of people who famously scored 17.5 in the college entrance examination math section and still got into university.
He remembered that in his previous life, he had been admitted to East China University of Finance and Economics with a score of 320. That year, he had done well in Chinese, Politics, and History, scoring over 70, and Geography was his best subject with 82. His math score was only 28, but he was ultimately admitted with a score of 326.
Chen Yang thought that this life, his math score might not even reach 28, so he would have to find a way to score a few more points in other subjects.
Chen Yang had initially thought studying would be a very tedious task, but holding the yellowed textbooks, he found himself engrossed until nightfall.
Unconsciously, his mindset seemed to have shifted slightly. The slogan-like text in the textbooks made him feel immersed in this era of burgeoning wildness.
People at this time were still so simple, unlike later generations where deceit and treachery were rampant in both workplaces and markets.