Chapter 134: Chapter 134: Trouble Caused by Comparisons
Five years later, people had changed significantly; it was common for the bond of camaraderie and friendship to fade or even disappear. Lin Yun, having experienced five years in society, knew this all too well. After all that time, the fact that Zhao Gang had still helped his father find clients showed he had not forgotten their friendship.
"Gangzi is still in the county. After you left, he repeated his last year of high school and got into college. But after two years, he came back, apparently due to some problem. These two years, he\'s been selling fruits in the wholesale market. Now, we have hardly any clients left.
The vegetables your dad had delivered, part of them were kept by Gangzi, who sells them on his own stall on behalf of us, without asking for a dime. Back when your dad used to sell vegetables in the city, Gangzi often lent us a hand as well…" Lin Yun\'s mother said, sounding wistful.
As people advanced in years, they had seen too much of the warmth and coldness in human relationships. That a friend of Lin Yun\'s had helped the family this much even years after Lin Yun left spoke volumes about the person Gangzi is. Lin Yun had chosen his friend wisely.
Pity, life was so unfair. Such a good person had to repeat high school for a year before he made it to college, only to come back after two years there. Who could imagine something like this happening?
"Dad, I\'ll go and visit Gangzi, and take these vegetables to the county when I go. Just tell me where to make the delivery!" Lin Yun said, looking at his father.
"Dad, I flew back, I\'m not tired at all. Plus, you know I\'ve been into martial arts since I was little. In good health as I am, it\'s a good time for me to visit my master as well!" Lin Yun said, having noticed his father was about to say something.
"That works, too. You should know where the wholesale market is. Gangzi\'s stall is in the middle of it. You should find it easily. Leave one third of the vegetables with him for selling. Deliver the rest to a restaurant.
Gangzi knows where it is. Why don\'t you invite him for a meal while you are there? He\'s done a lot for our family recently." Lin Yun\'s father agreed, nodding a little.
"I\'ll get 2000 yuan for you. Take it to Gangzi. He\'s helped our family a lot these two years. Not to mention finding us clients, he\'s also helped to sell our vegetables at his stall. We really can\'t pay him nothing for all the toilsome work he\'s done. But we can\'t simply give him money, either, he wouldn\'t accept it.
You might handle this better…" Lin Yun\'s father said, turning to fetch the money.
"Father, you don\'t need to fetch the money. I have it." Lin Yun quickly said.
"Mother, this cash here is for you and father to spend freely. Here are two cards for you and father to use. Feel free to spend the money inside." More words followed as Lin Yun dug out fifty to sixty thousand yuan from several pockets along with two gilded cards, and put them in his mother\'s hands.
Truth be told, he had kept all this money in the trading space all along, where he also preserved a lot of cash as back-up funds. Right now, he just used his intention to grab the money. But with so much money, he obviously had to pretend that he was taking it out from several pockets.
"So much money, why are you carrying it around in your pockets?" Seeing Lin Yun removing so much money at once from several pockets, Lin Yun\'s mother was shocked. "Don\'t you know there are a lot of thieves out there? This is the year-end, the peak time for theft. You are just impossible…" she said, exasperated.
"Mother, this is merely chump change. Your son is big money now. This little bunch is just for you and father to spend freely. And there\'s a lot more in these two cards. Feel free to buy anything you fancy. Please don\'t hold back." Lin Yun said, smiling a little.
To him, the money in the two cards wasn\'t substantial. Only ten million in each, he didn\'t want to frighten his parents with too much money. But both cards had a credit limit of a hundred million. He believed that such an amount of money would be enough for his parents to handle anything.
"Little Cloud has really made something of himself, thinking of supporting us. But your mom and dad, how much can we spend? As long as we have those few pieces of land, we won\'t be needing you to provide for us as long as we can still move." Hearing what Lin Yun said, his mother couldn\'t help wiping at her eyes.
"Just because you\'ve got the money, doesn\'t mean you can waste it. Do you have any idea how high the prices are now? Look around us, all the buildings that have been put up. Do you have any idea how much money it takes to construct a building? Maybe you don\'t. Now, in rural areas like ours, without a building, not to mention a car, it\'s hard to get married.
Many people of your age in our village already have kids…" Seeing Lin Yun was about to say something, his mother chided.
"Your mother is right. You are already twenty-three, you should get a wife. Here, in our rural place, if you want a good wife, you have to build a house, buy a nice car, and give her quite a bit of gifts. Altogether, it won\'t work without four to fifty thousand…" Lin Yun\'s father said with a sigh.
For years, he had insisted on not using Lin Yun\'s money. How could he not be saving all of it for Lin Yun\'s marriage?
They had no extra ability to save up money for Lin Yun. The last thing they could do was to not spend Lin Yun\'s money.
Listening to all of this from his parents, Lin Yun felt a deep sadness welled up inside his heart.
Now, he suddenly understood why his parents never spent the money he had sent to them in the past.
He didn\'t used to earn much, and in total he\'d only sent about two hundred thousand to his parents.
He assumed that two hundred thousand should be more than enough for his rural parents to have a decent life.
But what he didn\'t expect at all was the huge burden his parents were carrying.
It would cost four to five hundred thousand for him to get married...
Simultaneously, he was somewhat taken aback.
Had Immortal Origin County really leapt ahead so much in just the five years he\'d been away?
Immortal Origin County was just a small town, four or five hundred thousand, for a typical rural family to make that much money… how difficult would that be?
Could it be that making money had become easy for rural families in Immortal Origin County now?
"All this is the fault of competition, building houses, buying cars, paying dowries, which family isn\'t in debt? But there\'s nothing we can do, that\'s how it is in the countryside now. Many girls want to marry well, it\'s getting harder and harder to arrange marriages…" noting Lin Yun\'s surprise, Father Lin sighed slightly.
"But our Little Cloud is capable. He\'s sent back a total of over two hundred thousand. Now we have fifty to sixty thousand and there should still be some money in these two cards. We needn\'t worry about Little Cloud\'s marriage funds..." Mother Lin laughed.
There was a sense of pride in her voice.
Many in the neighbourhood had built houses, but their family still lived in a bungalow. Seeing others talking about getting daughters-in-law, marrying off... and not a single matchmaker had set foot in their house. How could Mother Lin have not felt a hint of loss and competitive spirit?
She had always been proud of her son. Even though Lin Yun hadn\'t been home in years, he\'d sent them over two hundred thousand in total over the years—how many sons could do that?
At this moment, she was even more proud.
Lin Yun had been gone for five years, and had brought back hundreds of thousands. How many sons could demonstrate such talent?
Which family didn\'t worry themselves sick over marrying off their son? Their house, on the other hand, had Little Cloud earning all the money needed, no debt necessary!
Hearing his mom\'s words, Lin Yun gave a bitter smile.
He didn\'t expect his mom to be thinking they wouldn\'t have to worry about marriage funds at this point...
If Mother Lin knew how much money he was making now, what would her reaction be?
But Lin Yun didn\'t voice this, preferring to let his parents find out themselves and give them a surprise.
And as for the matter of finding a wife...
If he let his parents know that he\'d found a girlfriend like Xia Qingqing, how surprised would they be?
Yeah, better not talk about it yet, let Xia Qingqing come, and then give his parents a surprise.