Chapter 16 Mother’s Misunderstanding
  Zhao Qiang thought that his niece was saying this in anger because she couldn’t bear the blow, so he squatted down to persuade her, “Don’t be discouraged, you can definitely buy the scraps of cloth again, at most your uncle will add some money...”

  “No! Uncle, you hurry to those sawmills and cancel all the orders. If the finished products are transferred on the spot, we won’t make this mop anymore.”

  Zhao Qiang saw that his niece’s attitude didn’t seem like she was saying this in anger, so he asked in confusion, “Girl, are you really not going to make it anymore? Our last batch of goods sold very well...”

  Fang Qing exhaled, looked at the setting sun in the west and explained slowly, “The batch of scraps just now is enough for them to make tens of thousands of mops. The previous wholesalers have already bought some from us. Unless the later goods are newer or cheaper, no one will buy them in large quantities. And so many people have begun to imitate, maybe in a few days, the streets will be full of mops... At that time, not only will this thing not make money, it will not lose money either. "The money's good enough..."

  Zhao Qiang sighed deeply at this. "Girl, it's all my fault! You can't judge a person by his appearance. I thought he was quick and honest, so I asked him to help out in the workshop. I never expected he would..."

  Looking at his dejected uncle, Fang Qing forced a smile. "Uncle, don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault. Our mop processing method is simple and doesn't require much technical skills. Even if these people didn't steal it, they'd know what's going on after taking it apart."

  Zhao Qiang nodded. "But these people... why are they so... so..."

  Fang Qing understood that this was the nature of business. Any profitable business would attract a large number of people to follow suit. An honest man like his uncle couldn't stand that kind of business style.

  Zhao Qiang was also hit hard by this incident, but he remained unconvinced. He was eager to try again, but within a few days, he noticed that the prices of mops on the market had begun to drop! Even so, the mops scattered everywhere remained unsold.

  Seeing this, Zhao Qiang rubbed his head, feeling a surge of relief: "Luckily I listened to Qing Yatou and canceled the order that same day, otherwise all the money I'd earned would have been lost!
  " ...

  The aunt's pregnancy was the Fang family's biggest recent joy, and each branch prepared a different gift.

  Fang's mother took Fang Qing to the department store for a long time, finally wavering between two items.

  "I was thinking of buying some baby products—cheap, practical, and stylish—but your aunt heard about my idea and bought them before me. We can't give the same things as gifts, but these other things..."

  Fang Qing continued inwardly. The other things were too expensive.

  Although their second branch had two working children, their father's meager salary barely covered daily expenses, aside from the 10 yuan he gave to Grandma every month for living expenses. The older brother's salary wasn't much either, but his mother saved it all for him to marry off.

  So, the family had no money left for anything else, let alone a gift that would be so expensive for Fang's mother.

  "Your aunt is very good to our family. She is always there to help us. Last time, your...your uncle spent the whole night looking for you. We must remember this kindness. Forget it, just consider this money as a loan from your brother..."

  Seeing his mother in such a dilemma, Fang Qing couldn't help it. He stopped his mother's hand and quickly took out a few brand new one-yuan bills to pay.

  Fang's mother stared at the money for a long time. After a while, she found her words, took the money back, and dragged Fang Qing out of the department store.

  After walking to a quiet corner with her daughter, Fang's mother finally frowned.

  "Tell me, where did this money come from?"

  Fang Qing lamented in her heart: she knew that her obedient mother would have all sorts of thoughts if she found out about the money...

  "Mom, this is my own hard-earned money. I didn't steal or rob it. I earned it with my own ability. I stayed up all night for several nights..."

  But Fang's mother had the wrong idea.

  Recently, a dance hall has opened in the county. It opens at midnight every day and is filled with ghosts and howls all night long. The people who come out of it are obviously not serious, and there are many young girls inside...

  Could it be that her daughter has given up because of what happened last time? Fang's mother became more and more angry and raised her hand to hit her.

  Seeing this, Fang Qing immediately grabbed her mother's hand, surprised and aggrieved, "Mom, what are you doing? Can't I make my own money?"

  Fang's mother was furious and anxious. She pulled back her hand and pointed at Fang Qing with disapproval, "You, tell me the truth! Did you... go to that kind of place?"

  Fang Qing's face was full of questions. What's wrong with his mother? Where is that kind of place? Not only is she not happy about earning her own money, why does she look like she wants to hit him to death?
  "Mom, did you misunderstand? This money is from my business..."

  But Fang's mother was already completely upset. "You? Business? You've never liked to go out since you were little. You don't even have basic common sense. What kind of business can you do? I thought you stayed up late recently because you were too tired from studying, but now you're out fooling around!"

  Fang Qing felt extremely wronged after hearing her mother's scolding. Could she not understand the outside world if she didn't go out? Why did all her efforts seem like a joke to her mother?

  "Mom, don't you believe in me from the bottom of your heart? No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want to prove myself, you still don't believe I can do it, right?"

  Fang Qing was also a little sad. Although her mother loved her very much, she never truly believed that she could live independently, let alone that she could do better in many aspects...

  Fang Qing had originally planned to keep this as a surprise and announce it when her father came back, but now it seemed unnecessary.

  "My aunt and I made a fortune processing gloves and mops. Everything I said is true. If you don't believe me, you can ask my aunt."

  Fang Qing stuffed the money into his stunned mother's arms and went straight back to school. Thinking about business had indeed delayed his studies during this period, so he thought of it as returning to school early to make up for the missed lessons.

  Mother Fang watched her daughter leave, and it took her a while to react. Gloves? Mop? What the hell is going on!
  Although she didn't believe it, she still took a net bag of eggs to her aunt's house and asked carefully many times. Only then was she finally convinced that her daughter really made money with her own ability!

  Then she thought of her attitude in the afternoon. For the first time, Mother Fang felt embarrassed, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She had to let her son take food and some clothes to school in a hurry.

  The campus was particularly quiet at this time. Fang Qing sat on a bench in the school, holding a book and reciting seriously.

  But perhaps because she was worried, she couldn't memorize the article no matter how hard she tried. She simply closed the book and stared at the bare campus in a daze.

  Wen Ning walked over from a distance and saw a student wearing a woolen hat sighing at the bare tree trunk, mumbling to himself, and the pom pom on the hat swayed with it...

  just like Wangcai from Grandma Wang's family, always wagging his tail happily...

  (End of this chapter)