Chapter 646: Jealous Felix Thorne

Phoebe Huxley glared at him and snapped, "What do you need money for? Is it because we don’t give you enough to eat or drink at home?"

"I have to buy food and drinks when I’m out selling things! Mom, you’re worse than a slave driver!" Jim wailed, getting another slap on the head. It was a good thing he was so tough; with the strength of his parents’ slaps, he would’ve gotten a concussion sooner or later from being hit like that.

Phoebe Huxley did a quick mental calculation, then pulled out ten yuan and shoved it at Jim. "Don’t you go wasting this," she said fiercely. "From now on, all the money you make gets turned over to me!"

Jim sullenly took the money, a bitter taste in his mouth. Just a minute ago, he’d been a rich man with a fortune of over a hundred yuan, and now he only had ten. ’If I ever let my big mouth get me in trouble again,’ he swore to himself, ’then I’m a complete idiot!’

Having confiscated the large sum of money, Phoebe Huxley went back to her room with Felix Thorne to count it gleefully. They didn’t even bother to clear the dishes. The couple put their heads together, pulling out all the cash in the house to take stock.

Adding in Phoebe Huxley’s wages and Felix Thorne’s previous earnings, the couple was thrilled to discover that their family’s savings had broken the one-thousand-yuan mark. They were surely the first on Millstone Peak to save up so much.

"Tomorrow, I’m going into town to put this into a fixed-term deposit. I’ve still got twenty or thirty yuan on me, which is more than enough for our daily expenses."

Phoebe Huxley was in high spirits. Farm work wasn’t busy at the moment, so she spent every day making clothes for the Hawthorne family. She earned at least five or six yuan a day, sometimes even seven or eight. That added up to about two hundred yuan a month. Her son was earning money now too, and once the weather turned cold, the pig-butchering business would get busier. At this rate, she figured, they could save several hundred more by the end of the year.

"When I was pregnant with our little girl, I went back to my family’s village. The oldest great-granny there told me I was carrying a ’fortune baby.’ That old woman is always right—she’s never been wrong once. And wouldn’t you know it, she hit the nail on the head!

Ever since our little girl was born, our family’s life has just gotten better and better. This year has been incredible! The three boys have all become so sensible, they’re doing well in school and can even earn money, and we’ve even found a prospective daughter-in-law... Oh, my... I’m so happy I could just burst..."

Phoebe Huxley chattered on, her face beaming with happiness. In truth, there was one more thing she hadn’t mentioned: that vixen, Phoenix Golding, had finally met with some misfortune. That woman had been a thorn in her side for twenty years, and this year, she finally felt a sense of relief.

She would keep her joy about this to herself. There was no point in saying it out loud and provoking Felix Thorne, just to have him get upset all over again.

Felix Thorne was happy too, but also a little jealous. He used to be the family’s top earner, but now he made the least. Even his third son, that little rascal, earned more than he did. As the head of the household, he felt like he was losing face!

"Maybe I should start selling things too? It looks like it pays better than butchering pigs," Felix said, tempted. He felt like there was no future in pig butchering anymore. He only made one or two yuan per pig, and it wasn’t like he had one to butcher every single day. It was nothing compared to running a business.

Phoebe Huxley rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, forget it. With that fierce face of yours, who would dare buy from you? You just focus on your pig butchering. This business stuff is just for making quick money. Who knows when the government policies will change again? Besides, pig butchering is a unique skill that’s been passed down in my family for five generations. You can’t just give it up!"

’A skill that puts food on the table should never be thrown away,’ she thought. ’Her own brothers hadn’t been willing to learn the trade, so the tradition had died out in the Huxley family. Thankfully, Felix had taken it up. But I don’t want my three sons to inherit the business. Butchering creates too much bad karma. I want my children to go to college and become educated men.’

Felix Thorne looked dejected. ’What’s so fierce about my face?’ he wondered. Still, he knew he didn’t have the confidence to sell things. He was clumsy with words and tongue-tied around strangers. It really wasn’t a job just anyone could do.

’Oh well, I’ll just stick to butchering pigs for now,’ he thought. ’I can think about other lines of work later. Selling things isn’t the only path, after all.’