Their eldest granddaughter was coming home, so Song Guozheng and Chen Shuqin had started preparing early—slaughtering a sheep, chickens, and fish. Every time Song Ying came back, the chickens and sheep in the yard were doomed.
Their eldest granddaughter loved meat, fish, and shrimp. Before, all they knew how to make was stewed or stir-fried dishes; they couldn’t cook anything more complicated.
But now they had smartphones—just search on Kuaishou and there it was.
Song Guozheng had gone to the banner town early in the morning to buy shrimp and fish. He’d make dry-pot shrimp and grilled fish, and stew the chicken with potatoes since their granddaughter loved chicken soup.
Chen Shuqin made the lamb two ways: cumin lamb chops and stewed lamb spine—their granddaughter loved both.
From their city to the banner town was about two hours, and from the banner town to their village was another forty minutes or so.
By the time Song Ying arrived home, it was already five o’clock. Fortunately, it was April—springtime—not winter, when it would have been dark by five.
They’d been in touch on WeChat, and when they heard the car had reached the village entrance, Song Guozheng came out to wait at the gate.
The sedan drove into the yard, and Chen Shuqin came out of the house too.
“Grandma, what delicious food did you make? I could smell it before I even got inside,” her cousin Narisu said with a laugh as he got out of the car.
Chen Shuqin smiled too. “Smells good, does it? I made cumin lamb chops—your sister loves those.”
Song Ying got out of the car, greeted her grandparents, then ran to a corner of the yard and vomited.
Yes, she got carsick!
“Child, did you skip lunch?”
“Narisu, go inside and sit down.”
Chen Shuqin fussed as she went inside to fetch a glass of water and handed it to Song Ying. Song Ying had already finished throwing up. She had eaten lunch—quite a lot, actually—and that was exactly why she’d gotten carsick.
“Feeling better?” Chen Shuqin patted Song Ying’s back.
Song Ying, tears in her eyes, waved her hand. “I’m fine, Grandma. I can eat two plates of cumin lamb chops.”
Once she threw up from carsickness, she felt fine.
Chen Shuqin said, “Good, good. You can eat five plates if you want.”
When Song Ying went inside, her grandfather had already set the table. Seeing her come in, he asked,
“Feeling better? You were carsick as a child, and you’re still carsick as an adult.”
Song Ying said, “Grandpa, it’s just my constitution.”
Narisu said, “Grandpa, I heard that people who get carsick don’t get carsick when they drive themselves.”
“Really?” Song Guozheng had never driven a sedan, so he didn’t know.
Chen Shuqin carried a dish over. “Probably because when you’re driving, you’re too focused to get carsick.”
Narisu helped carry dishes and bowls. “Song Ying has a driver’s license, right? You should buy a car sometime. If you don’t have the cash, you can get a loan. No need to buy anything too expensive—something around eighty or ninety thousand should do.”
Song Guozheng said, “That’s doable.”
Once all the dishes were on the table, everyone ate.
Song Ying had thrown up everything she’d eaten that morning and afternoon, so her stomach was empty and she was hungry. She ate two big chicken drumsticks, several lamb chops, several big shrimp, and fish—by the end, she was stuffed.
Song Ying’s maternal grandparents’ home wasn’t far from their village—just over fifty li away. Narisu was getting ready to leave, and before he went, he said to Song Ying,
“When you go to visit your grandma and grandpa in a few days, let me know, and I’ll come pick you up.”
“Okay, cousin,” Song Ying said lazily.
Chen Shuqin packed up a lamb leg, a rack of lamb chops, and some stir-fried dishes—the cumin lamb chops and dry-pot shrimp.
“Narisu, take these back with you.”
Narisu said, “Why, Grandma? Leave them for Song Ying to eat.”
Chen Shuqin clicked her tongue. “How much can one person eat? Your Grandpa Song slaughtered a whole sheep this morning—that’s plenty for her. Take these back for Zhao Min to eat.”
Zhao Min was Song Ying’s cousin Narisu’s wife—her cousin-in-law—and she was pregnant.
“Alright, thank you, Grandma Chen.”
Chen Shuqin waved her hand. “No need to be so polite.”
After the visitor left.
Song Ying flopped onto the sofa like a slouch. “Grandpa, Grandma, once you’re done with your chores, I have something big to tell you!”
Chen Shuqin was washing dishes in the kitchen and asked upon hearing this, “What big thing? You’ve got a boyfriend?”
Song Ying said, “No, having a boyfriend isn’t that big a deal. This is even bigger than that—I guarantee it’ll knock your socks off.”
“What big thing? Can’t you tell us now?” Chen Shuqin was curious.
Song Ying shook her head. “Grandma, wait until you’re done. Then the three of us can talk behind closed doors.”
Chen Shuqin said, “Fine, fine, fine. Your grandpa’s out feeding corn to the sheep. I’ll call him in once I finish the dishes.”
“What’s going on? You called for me?”
Song Guozheng happened to walk in, and Chen Shuqin said, “Your granddaughter says she has something big to tell us.”
Song Guozheng washed his hands. “What big thing?”
Chen Shuqin said, “She didn’t say. She said it’ll knock our socks off.”
Song Guozheng chuckled. “That serious?”
Song Ying got up from the sofa. “Yeah, Grandpa, Grandma. It’s huge.”
Seeing his granddaughter’s attitude, Song Guozheng’s heart skipped a beat, and he asked cautiously,
“Yingzi, you’re not… you know… pregnant, are you?”
Old Man Liu’s daughter from their village had suddenly come home last year, and later they found out she was pregnant and had come back to discuss marriage.
Song Ying didn’t get it at first. “Pregnant with what?”
Chen Shuqin scolded her old man, “Don’t go guessing nonsense on your own. She doesn’t even have a boyfriend.”
Song Guozheng patted his chest. “You gave me a scare.”
Song Ying understood now. “Oh, Grandpa, Grandma, it’s nothing like that at all.”
She went and closed the door and windows.
She led the two elders into the inner room, and seeing a cat lying on the kang, she picked it up and covered its ears.
“It’s just that, Grandpa, Grandma, I won the lottery! I won fifteen million!”
“After taxes, I’ve got twelve million in hand!”
After hearing this, Song Guozheng swallowed hard. “Yingzi, is this for real?”
Chen Shuqin said, “Yeah, you’re not joking, are you?”
Song Ying directly pulled out her phone with the bank card info and said quietly,
“It’s real, Grandpa, Grandma. I’m not lying to you. Look.”
“I bought a lottery ticket the day I called you, and later I found out I won.”
Song Guozheng counted the zeros until his eyes went blurry. Chen Shuqin was utterly shocked. “Oh my goodness, this really does knock our socks off.”
Song Ying said, “Is this a big deal?”
The old couple nodded. “A big deal. A huge deal!”
The three of them were excited for a while. After calming down, Song Guozheng said, “Yingzi, you haven’t told anyone else about this, have you?”
Song Ying said, “No, I wouldn’t dare. I only came back to tell you two in person. I didn’t even dare say it over WeChat or the phone.”
Chen Shuqin said, “Granddaughter, you did the right thing.”
“We absolutely must not tell anyone else about this kind of thing.”
Winning fifty or a hundred thousand, you could go out and talk about it. But anything over a hundred thousand—keep it quiet, fast.
“By the way, what do you plan to do with the money? Put it in the bank and live off the interest? Or buy property as fixed assets?”
Song Guozheng said, “Either works, I guess. It’s twelve million, after all.”
Even if half went to buying a house and half went into the bank, six million a day in interest should be quite a bit.
Song Ying said, “Grandpa, Grandma, I plan to take out a portion to buy property—one large flat, and then four regular apartments.”
“We’ll live in the large flat ourselves later, and rent out the other four to collect rent.”
“Then I also want to buy a car—nothing too expensive, just around one hundred fifty to two hundred thousand will do.”
“As for the remaining money, I plan to put part of it in the bank, and take out another part to build a small two-story Western-style villa in our village.”
“Grandpa, Grandma, I also want to open a restaurant in our village—the kind that hosts big banquets like graduation celebrations and wedding feasts.”
Although after deducting the money for the house and car, she still had several million left, and even without working, she’d have rental income—making at least ten thousand a month was no problem—other people didn’t know about that.