Back to 1978: Getting rich starts with treasure hunting

Chapter 238 The long-lost second brother?

"Second brother?"

"Yes, he is your long lost second brother."

Except for the ignorant Erbao, Gu Jiu, Lin Shu and Dabao, the family of three all looked at Gu Changsheng in shock.

Gu Changsheng nodded.

The family of three looked in disbelief at the middle-aged man who was sitting next to them in silence.

His skin was dark and rough, his temples were gray, his cheekbones were prominent, and his face had more wrinkles than Gu Changsheng's.

With such a weather-beaten look, who would believe that this man is Gu Changsheng's son?

He was wearing a newly bought Zhongshan suit, which was a bit big and made him look even thinner.

"Ninth brother, sister-in-law, I...I didn't expect to find you." The middle-aged man sat stiffly on the sofa, looking a little pitiful.

The corner of Gu Jiu's mouth twitched, "Second brother...well, mom and dad have never forgotten you over the years."

From the name, we can tell that Gu Jiu is ranked ninth. He has eight older brothers and sisters, and he is the youngest one.

Back then, Gu Changsheng and Wang Suzhen became revolutionary partners and followed the team around the country, which sometimes made it inconvenient to bring their children with them.

Some children are weak and cannot bear the hardship of running around. They will get sick if exposed to the wind and rain. Those who are lucky enough will be cured, while some who cannot bear it will die young.

The second son was ill at the time, so he was given to the local people to raise in order to recover.

Later, due to financial difficulties, the adoptive father's family gave the child to another childless family to raise.

The address given by the family was fake, so we lost contact.

Wang Suzhen gave birth to nine children in her life, and only these few were saved by her. Now that the second child has been found, you can imagine how happy the two elders are.

From the conversation, Lin Shu learned that this second brother was only one year younger than the eldest brother Gu Xiang.

A forty-one-year-old looks very old, and people would believe he is fifty.

My adoptive father's family was poor. He finally got married and had children. But when he had his third son, he fell ill and was paralyzed in bed. The burden of the family suddenly fell on his shoulders.

With elderly parents and young children to take care of, as the man of the family, he dares not slack off at all. He goes out early and comes back late every day to work hard to make life a little more comfortable for his family.

As a result, her adoptive mother fell ill and died within a few years.

The burden of taking care of their adoptive father suddenly fell on the younger generation, and what was even worse was that they later gave birth to two more children.

With five children and their adoptive father lying on the hospital bed, it can be said that the family of eight depends on the couple's hard work to support the family.

The work points of two people were enough to support eight people, but the family could not even get enough food.

Later, as the child grew up, the situation at home improved a little.

Gu Laoer wiped his face and said, "It's not as difficult as mom said. My father passed away in the past few years, the children grew up, and the living conditions at home have improved a lot."

"Did Second Brother come back alone this time?" Lin Shu glanced around and found that there was no other outsider at home except the nanny.

Wang Suzhen rushed to answer, "How could that be possible? Except for the daughters-in-law who were working at home, everyone else came. The reason you didn't see them now is because I asked Youhui to take them shopping."

Lin Shu didn't think much about it, and nodded with a smile: "Youhui's personality is quite enthusiastic and cheerful, so it would be appropriate for him to lead them to the street."

Wang Suzhen hugged Dabao and kissed him, then said, "Don't rush back home today, you four. Eat at home at noon. The youngest will have a drink with your second brother at noon."

Gu Jiu nodded and agreed. At this moment he was still a little confused. How come when he went on a long trip, a second brother appeared at home? Then his current second brother Gu Mingqi had to move on and call him the third brother.

And Gu Zhiyuan is the fourth one?

The men were drinking tea and chatting. Erbao couldn't stay there, so he carried him to the second floor. He wanted to see the room where he used to live.

Only when I entered did I find that there was bedding on the bed in the room and a washed-out work jacket on the chair next to it.

Without asking, Lin Shu knew that this room was occupied by the people from the second room.

After leaving his original bedroom, Lin Shu looked at the other rooms. Without exception, they were all occupied.

"My goodness, how many people did this second brother bring home?"

After coming down from the second floor, not long after, I heard laughter outside the door.

Lin Shu stood on the second floor, looking at the people coming in continuously, her eyes widened in shock. She just counted and there were more than a dozen people, big and small.

If she remembered correctly, eighteen people came in.

My god, this reproductive ability is gone.

Wang Suzhen saw Lin Shu standing on the second floor and waved at her, "Shushu, come down quickly. I'll introduce you to your second sister-in-law, brothers and sisters, and nephews and nieces. Let them meet you and everyone can get to know each other."

"Hey, good."

Lin Shu went downstairs, walked to Gu Jiu, and stuffed the noisy Erbao into his arms.

"Let me introduce her to you. This is your second sister-in-law." Wang Suzhen pointed to one of the oldest women.

"The one next to her is their eldest son, three years older than Youtao. You can call him Xiao Ming. He is already the father of four children, while our Youtao is not married yet. That is the second son, Xiao Xing. He is one year older than Youtao, and he is 23 this year. He is also the father of three children..."

After this introduction, Lin Shu roughly understood it.

This second brother and his second sister-in-law had five children, four boys and one girl, the youngest of whom was a girl.

The four sons are married. The eldest has four children, the second has three, the third has two, and the youngest has one.

Finally, there is my daughter, who has a partner but is not married yet. She also came to the provincial capital this time.

The youngest daughter-in-law went into the city with them because her child was still young.

The first three daughters-in-law had to stay in the countryside to take care of the chickens, ducks and pigs at home.

This big family, plus Gu Laoer, makes a total of 19 people. One table can't accommodate them all, so they can set up two tables.

So fertile.

The most troublesome thing is that the children of my second brother, both young and old, are used to living in the countryside and are very noisy.

As soon as they came back, the whole villa looked like an amusement park and the roof was about to be blown off.

Everyone got to know each other. They put the things they bought on the street back into the room and came down from the second floor. The second sister-in-law took the fourth son's wife and daughter into the kitchen.

Lin Shu thought that the nanny would not be able to cook for so many people by herself, so she thought about going in to help later. Unexpectedly, her second sister-in-law was more self-conscious than her.

She walked up to Youhui and asked, "Where did you take them today, the supply and marketing cooperative or the department store?"

"Forget about the department store. They think the goods there are too expensive. The supply and marketing cooperative is also relatively expensive. Today I took them to the special sale opened by my uncle's company."

But even though it was a sale, with so many people the consumption was not low, and Gu Youhui spent more than 500 yuan in just one morning.

Although his grandparents gave him 300 yuan and asked him to take their family shopping, he still had to supplement the money if it was not enough.

Lin Shu asked, "Yesterday you said something big happened at home. Was it because of your second uncle?"

"Yes, everyone was home for dinner the day before yesterday, except your family of four. My grandparents called everyone else at home for lunch today, and I guess only my dad, second...third uncle, and fourth uncle will be back. No one else will come back for dinner."

"What makes you so sure the others won't come back?"

However, Lin Shu looked at the chaotic living and dining room on the first floor and suddenly understood something.

Gu Youhui scratched his head, coughed twice and said, "...There's no room for so many people at home."

As for whether Lin Shu believed this reason or not, it didn’t matter.

When Lin Shu saw Wang Suzhen wanted to go into the kitchen, she hurriedly stopped her and handed Dabao in her arms to Gu Youhui.

"Mom, you just stay outside and take care of the kids. I'll help in the kitchen."

The meal was already cooked in the kitchen, the nanny was cutting vegetables, the second sister-in-law was sitting on a small stool peeling garlic, and her daughter-in-law and daughter were washing vegetables.

The second sister-in-law saw her come in and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, why did you come in without the child?"

"There are a lot of people eating today, so I'll come in to help."

Lin Shu saw potatoes in the corner and spare ribs on the table, so he thought of making spare ribs and potatoes for lunch.

"Sister-in-law, why are you peeling those potatoes? There are too few. Peel the rest. It will be enough for lunch."

Lin Shu looked back at his second sister-in-law, then looked at the potatoes in the basin, "Second sister-in-law, although these potatoes are small, I estimate that they are two kilograms, enough for lunch."

The leftover potatoes can be used to cook a meal in the evening.

The fourth son's wife said, "Two kilograms of potatoes are not enough for our two half-grown boys, auntie."

Ok.

Lin Shu thought about his second brother's family of 19 people and continued to peel potatoes silently.

The second sister-in-law comforted her, "Sister-in-law, don't feel bad about these potatoes. In our countryside, if we plant a little more potatoes in our private plots, it will be enough for a year. When we go back this time, I will ask the eldest son to send a bag up to my parents."

"They're available in the city, so you don't have to bring them here specially. You should keep the ones you grow for yourself."

After all, this little brat has bankrupted me.

There are a lot of children in my second brother’s family, and without some coarse grains, the food for a year is not enough.

The second sister-in-law asked, "Sister-in-law, I heard that you are also from the countryside?"

Lin Shu glanced at the several pairs of eyes that were looking at her and nodded: "Yes, I grew up in the countryside."

"Oh my, the water in the city is really good for health. Look at my sister-in-law's skin, it's so soft and tender, you can't tell she is from the countryside at all."

"Sister-in-law, since you come from the countryside, you should know that rural people like to use basins to cook. I just came here the day before yesterday, and yesterday I saw the nanny cooking in bowls and plates."

"Who do you think that's enough food? People in the countryside like to cook a big pot so that everyone can eat to their heart's content. Sister-in-law, how about you cook at noon so that we can taste your cooking skills?"

Lin Shu worked in a restaurant for a period of time in his previous life, so he was not afraid of cooking at all.

But when she met her second sister-in-law's slanted eyes, Lin Shu suddenly felt that maybe this second sister-in-law was not easy to get along with.

"Okay, I'll cook at noon, and you guys can help in the kitchen."

Lin Shu checked the dishes to be prepared for lunch and asked the nanny to help him carry the wood-burning stove out.

For more than twenty people at noon, we need to prepare at least three tables of food. It is too small and inconvenient to stay in the kitchen.

Besides, the pot is big and there are many dishes, so the dishes will taste good only if they are stir-fried over high heat.

"Sister-in-law, why do people in the city like to buy spare ribs when they buy meat? In our countryside, no one wants to buy meat from the spare ribs. People like meat from the pig's leg the most because it has less bones and more meat."

Lin Shu was helpless and said, "Second sister-in-law, spare ribs taste like spare ribs, and leg meat tastes like leg meat. Spare ribs taste good when stewed in brown sauce, and leg meat tastes good when used as dumpling fillings or steamed bun fillings."

The second sister-in-law glanced at her and said, "It seems that you have been in the city for a short time, and your taste has become picky. We country people always like big fat meat the most. This skinny meat is easy to get stuck in the teeth."

"Then I'll talk to mom and ask her to buy some fatty meat tomorrow?" Lin Shu pretended to put down the spatula and prepared to go into the house to talk to Wang Suzhen.

The second sister-in-law of Gu was so frightened that she quickly grabbed Lin Shu and said angrily, "Sister-in-law, as a daughter-in-law, do I dare to ask my mother-in-law to do what I want? If you say it carelessly like this, won't you be offended in front of my mother-in-law?"

Lin Shu said truthfully: "I didn't mean that. Mom is not a stingy person. She won't be angry."

"Okay, okay, don't go, hurry up and cook."

Next, Mrs. Gu might have been really afraid that Lin Shu would gossip about her in front of her mother-in-law, so she didn't dare to talk too much in front of her.

I made eight dishes for lunch, and each dish was large enough to fill three large bowls.

After waving the spatula for nearly an hour, Lin Shu's arms felt a little sore.

After she washed her hands, took off her apron and walked into the restaurant, when she passed the kitchen door, Second Sister-in-law Gu waved at her: "Sister-in-law, we are here, come quickly, we have already served you the meal."

Lin Shu looked at the dining room and living room. There were three tables with some empty seats. "Second sister-in-law, sister-in-law, little sister, why are you eating in the kitchen? There are still seats outside."

Mrs. Gu stuffed a bowl of rice into Lin Shu's hand and said, "Men are drinking and eating outside, why should we women join in the fun? After we finish cooking, we just need to eat a few bites in the kitchen to fill our stomachs. We need to boil water first, and when they finish eating, we have to clean up the dishes. How can we have time to sit at the table and eat slowly?"

Lin Shu looked down at the bowl in his hand in confusion. Who said women can't eat at the table?

The Lin family never had such a rule, and the Gu family didn't have such a rule either. For a moment, Lin Shu had forgotten that in this era, many families did not allow housewives to sit at the table when there were guests.

"Second sister-in-law, in the Gu family, women can eat at the table."

After saying that, Lin Shu didn't want to listen to Second Sister-in-law Gu's long speech, so she picked up her bowl and went to the main table, where Gu Jiu had reserved a seat for her.

The fourth wife of the second house held the child and looked at Lin Shu enviously as she sat down. "Mom, uncle is so nice to aunt. He even saved a seat for her during the meal. Since aunt just said that the Gu family doesn't have such a rule, why don't we go sit at the table too?"

Mrs. Gu turned around and glared at her daughter-in-law. "Don't think about those things. Hurry up and eat while their men haven't finished drinking yet. After dinner, stand by and help anyone who wants to serve the food."

While paying attention to the child in the stroller, Lin Shu chewed slowly, savoring the delicious food that he had been busy eating for an hour at noon.

Until she saw the man finish drinking, the fourth son's wife stood by and served like a maid, helping everyone to serve food.

Only then did she realize that Second Brother Gu was very strict with his rules. Women had a very low status in his family and were not even qualified to sit at the table.