The Landlady and The Amnesiac

Summer is here, and it’s time to make money again.

Gu Qianyan and Luo Bei actually are not short of 10,000 yuan now. They could even afford to take Grandma Luo and Fang Jingzhou on a luxurious vacation. However, Gu Qianyan still wants Fang Jingzhou to know that it’s not easy for adults to make money. This way, he will cherish his current life even more, and it will encourage him to study hard.

So, after discussing with Luo Bei, Gu Qianyan decided to take time to sell sugarcane after work every day, just like before.

For them now, time is really precious. But whether it’s Gu Qianyan or Luo Bei, they are willing to squeeze out time in their busy schedule to let Fang Jingzhou experience this with them.

They believe this will also be an irreplaceable memory for Fang Jingzhou.

Gu Qianyan said to Luo Bei, “Do you know why kids nowadays play with phones and tablets at such a young age? It’s not because they’re smarter than we were when we were young. It’s because their parents are too busy with work and they also love to play with their phones. Kids don’t get enough companionship and are also influenced by their parents. Didn’t you tell Jingzhou before to learn arithmetic well and help you with the money? Now is the best time. Tell him that learning this well and working hard is useful.”

There are now many people who advocate the uselessness of university education and learning. It seems that, in their opinion, having a good family background and good parents is more important than anything else.

“Later on, he will meet many people and encounter many situations. Some of these people may not have to work very hard to have a fulfilling future. So does that mean that learning is useless? Other people are other people, and we are ourselves. Most people in this world are struggling to swim. Only a few people are sitting on a boat. Just because we feel that fate is unfair, should we stop swimming?” Gu Qianyan suddenly became serious. “If we do that, we are destined to drown.”

And so, after Zhou Jianguo became Gu Qianyan and Luo Bei became a small business owner, they once again rode their electric tricycle to sell sugarcane by the roadside.

Gu Qianyan1 bought a small stool, he gave the old one to Luo Bei and the new one to Fang Jingzhou, saying, “Beibei has been working hard all day, so let her sit. I’ll peel and cut the sugarcane. After we finish selling, she can sweep and clean up. As for you, you can handle the money, giving change shouldn’t be too difficult for you, right? Didn’t you say you’re good at arithmetic?”

Naturally Luo Bei was not idle, she had to watch Fang Jingzhou give change to customers.

Fang Jingzhou was very excited. Wearing a short-sleeved shirt, his fair little face was flushed, and he even stood up straight and said to Zhou Jianguo, “Yes, Sir!”

Gu Qianyan couldn’t smile or cry, “He’s only been studying English for a few days.”2

Selling sugarcane is actually quite hard work, especially in the summer evenings when there are many mosquitoes and the weather is hot. Even if they sprayed mosquito repellent, the effect was not particularly obvious. However, their business was good, just as Gu Qianyan had said before, appearance is a powerful marketing tool.

He also cleverly dressed up Fang Jingzhou to be cute and handsome, and the three of them attracted many customers to buy sugarcane.

They also met a girl who was an old customer. She looked at Fang Jingzhou doing arithmetic to give change, and said, “I haven’t seen you guys in a long time. I thought you wouldn’t come out to sell anymore.”

This remark…

Fang Jingzhou calculated the change and took ten yuan from the cash box to give to the girl, “Sister, please take it and don’t lose it.”

Gu Qianyan emphasized to Fang Jingzhou many times that he should address girls as “Sister” unless they are the same age as his Grandmother, and not use other titles.

Sure enough, the girl was overjoyed to be called “Sister.”

“Whose child is this? So cute!”

Luo Bei hugged Fang Jingzhou and smiled, “He is our child. Jingzhou, thank your Sister, she praised you for being cute.”

“Thank you, Sister!”

Actually, what made Fang Jingzhou happy was the phrase “he is our child” from Luo Bei, which made him a little shy and excited.

The three people look like a family of three, the mother is young and beautiful, the father is tall and handsome, and the child is cute and sensible. Even though there are other vendors selling sugarcane in the same area, their business is still doing well.

Gu Qianyan’s speed and efficiency in cutting sugarcane is not inferior to last year’s.

He even has time to joke with Luo Bei, “Do you remember when we first started selling sugarcane, you were worried that someone would steal our business? I told you that our good looks are our best advertisement… Let’s sell some pineapples tomorrow, we can make money from that too. They only cost a few yuan each, I can cut them into several pieces and sell them for two or three yuan each. We can earn a lot.”

In fact, Luo Bei didn’t expect that Gu Qianyan, who had returned to his original identity, would suggest selling sugarcane in his spare time. He didn’t think it would damage his image either, which is really rare.

This is the person she likes.

Always, always so great.

The owner of the fruit vendor next to them saw that Fang Jingzhou was cute and sensible, and even gave him some lychees to eat. Fang Jingzhou ran over happily and clumsily peeled the lychee skin. He first brought it to Gu Qianyan’s mouth and said, “Uncle Xiao Zhou, eat!”

Gu Qianyan doesn’t really like to eat fruit, but he still opened his mouth and ate the sweet lychee.

Fang Jingzhou then came to Luo Bei and said seriously, “Beibei, don’t be jealous. I saw Uncle Xiao Zhou was too tired, so I gave it to him first. I’ll peel one for you now, don’t worry.”

Luo Bei laughed, “I’m not in a hurry. Just peel a few more for Uncle Xiao Zhou.”

Gu Qianyan quickly waved his hand and said, “No, I won’t eat it. This lychee is too sweet for me. I don’t like things that are too sweet.”

“Do you not like Beibei then?” Fang Jingzhou asked. “Beibei is the sweetest girl ever!”

A couple who came to buy sugarcane heard Fang Jingzhou’s words and were amused.

Being regarded as a girl by this little boy…that’s really sweet.

Luo Bei’s ears turned slightly red, as there were outsiders present.

But Gu Qianyan looked at Luo Bei and said, “Beibei is even sweeter than lychee, but I like her. She’s an exception.”

Luo Bei was shy.

Although he had said such things before, it was the first time he said them in front of outsiders.

The two of them started to say all sorts of flattering things to Luo Bei, making her feel both shy and happy.

The girl of the couple, however, was envious of Luo Bei. Being treated like a girl and pampered by these two handsome boys, isn’t that the happiest thing in the world?

Suddenly, she became very dissatisfied with her boyfriend, thinking that other people’s boyfriends never let their girl down.

Because Fang Jingzhou was still a child, they had to ensure he had enough sleep and went to bed early and woke up early. So, even though they only set up the stall for less than three hours, they stopped working before 10 pm. Nonetheless, they had a fruitful day, selling 35 sugar canes and earning 280 yuan.

Gu Qianyan said to Fang Jingzhou, “Go back, take a shower and go to bed. Don’t think about watching cartoons. We still have a long way to go to reach over ten thousand yuan.”

Fang Jingzhou didn’t feel tired at all. Instead, he was excited and found it fun. He nodded vigorously, “Okay!”

“Are you tired?” Luo Bei sat behind Fang Jingzhou on the tricycle, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

In fact, even with good business, they couldn’t earn over ten thousand yuan in half a month. But making money wasn’t the goal. The main thing was to let Fang Jingzhou have an unforgettable experience.

Fang Jingzhou shook his head, “I’m not tired. I think it’s very interesting!”

“It’s only been one day,” Gu Qianyan said as he rode the electric tricycle. “If you still don’t feel tired after half a month, then I will look at you with admiration.”

As Gu Qianyan said, Fang Jingzhou found it interesting for the first few days, but later, he felt tired and said to Luo Bei, “It’s not easy to make money…”

But what surprised Luo Bei and Gu Qianyan was that even though he felt tired, Fang Jingzhou remained positive and enthusiastic. Having gone through so much, he was resilient and had perseverance. Luo Bei couldn’t help but think that for such a person to become a self-made CEO and be very successful, it was not surprising at all.

Just… it seems like Fang Jingzhou has been influenced a bit.

Like now, he has volunteered to eat less ice cream. He thinks ice cream is quite expensive, and it’s gone in just a few bites, but it costs a few yuan. It doesn’t seem worth it to him, so he would rather save the money to buy something practical.

Anyway, it’s more beneficial than harmful for children to eat less of these things.

At the beginning of the month, the three of them started counting the money they had earned. After calculating it all, they had made almost 5,000 yuan in the past two weeks.

Fang Jingzhou was not happy about it, “How is it only 5,000 yuan!”

Gu Qianyan rubbed his hair and said, “Isn’t 5,000 yuan a lot? Do you know how much I, your Uncle Xiao Zhou, earned when I started working on the construction site? I worked from morning till night every day, and I only earned a few thousand yuan a month. Even Uncle Xiao Jiang3, who washes cars and waxes them at the shop, works so hard every day, but his salary is only a few thousand yuan as well.”

Fang Jingzhou frowned and said, “It’s hard for adults to make money.”

“You just realized that?” Gu Qianyan said again, “Making 5,000 yuan in two weeks is already a lot, and we only sell at night.”

Fang Jingzhou then asked, “Does that mean we can’t go on a trip? I won’t go, but you and Beibei can go. Shouldn’t this money be enough?”

Hearing this, even Gu Qianyan was moved.

This child has too many strengths that many adults do not possess.

“But don’t you want to go very much?”

Fang Jingzhou hugged Luo Bei’s waist and rubbed against her. “I would rather make Uncle Xiao Zhou and Beibei happy. You guys go, I’ll stay at home with baby Chen!”

Gu Qianyan squatted down, facing him, and looked at him. “I have said that I will take you, so I will take you.”

“But we don’t have enough money…”

Gu Qianyan said again, “That’s why I plan to rob a bank tonight.”

Fang Jingzhou quickly let go of Luo Bei, too frightened, and hugged Gu Qianyan, “Don’t! That’s illegal! You’ll go to jail!”

“It’s all taken care of, it’s fine.”

Fang Jingzhou turned his head to look at Luo Bei and shouted, “Beibei, Little Uncle Zhou has gone crazy!”

rokumi’s thought : maybe the author could write a chicken soup book just by compiling what Gu Qianyan (Zhou Jianguo) and Grandpa Gu said…

By the way, Fang Jingzhou really looks like Luo Bei and Gu Qianyan’s son…