82: Kakalong wine

Tran Thi Bao Anh saw Li Qinghe carrying heavy objects with such ease, and she also believed what Nguyen Thi Linh said about Li Qinghe's great strength.

Because men are naturally much stronger than women, Tran Thi Bao Anh wasn't entirely convinced when Nguyen Thi Linh previously mentioned Li Qinghe's great strength.

Indeed, one only truly believes something after witnessing it firsthand.

Li Qinghe saw that the heaviest item in the basket was a clay pot weighing about 50 jin, securely tied inside the plastic basket with bungee cords.

"This contains 'Kaka Long' soaked in liquid; drinking it is good for your health."

Tran Thi Bao Anh explained to him when she saw Li Qinghe looking curiously at the pot.

Although Li Qinghe didn't know what "Kaka Long" was, he understood from the explanation that it was likely a tonic.

Vietnamese cuisine includes some strange things, but for Li Qinghe, it wasn't particularly unusual; it was just a matter of whether one was willing to eat it.

For example, balut, which many find terrifying, is eaten in many regions of China.

And cat meat, which many people haven't tried, is eaten by quite a few people on Qiongdao.

As for the field rats and many insects that Vietnamese people enjoy, their diet is actually similar to that of people in Southern China.

This Kaka Long-infused liquor is no different from Chinese snake wine, centipede wine, or scorpion wine, in that it contains various strange ingredients.

As for its effects, men who drink it can urinate ten zhang against the wind, and women who drink it will have nourished yin and beautiful skin.

So, under Tran Thi Bao Anh's direction, Li Qinghe placed the pot in the corner.

Tran Thi Bao Anh asked Li Qinghe to sit in the living room for a while; she went to the kitchen to call the children out to keep him company, while she herself carried a pile of vegetables into the kitchen.

Not long after, Nguyen Shi Shui and Nguyen Tan Minh came out to the living room; it turned out Nguyen Thi Linh wanted to spend more time with her mother, so she shooed the two younger ones out of the kitchen.

Nguyen Shi Shui and Nguyen Tan Minh, the siblings, were quite happy; they had just received new phones and were in the midst of being inseparable from them.

The two then gathered around Li Qinghe, asking for guidance on various operations.

Li Qinghe also taught them how to download some software; the SIM cards in their phones were from the bundle package purchased with the phones in Hanoi.

Because the Fruit 1ax model is difficult to buy in Vietnam, and Li Qinghe bought the 1T version, a pure queue would take several months.

However, if one purchased a bundled package, it could be obtained quickly.

Such a phone costs 48 million vietnamese dong, which is equivalent to over 13,000 dragon country currency.

In fact, buying only the phone would cost 47 million vietnamese dong, and the bundled package cost 1 million vietnamese dong, which is about 270 dragon country currency.

Li Qinghe bought a total of 7 such phones: one for himself, one for Nguyen Thi Linh, one for A Ying, one for Minh Thu, and the remaining 3 were brought to Nghe An.

He gave one each to A Shui and A Ming, and the last one was for Tran Thi Bao Anh.

These phones combined didn't even cost a day's salary; although this level of spending can't compare to that of billionaires with hundreds of millions or even tens of billions of US dollars.

However, Li Qinghe doesn't need large amounts of capital for expenses or investments; this state of not having to calculate money in normal life makes him feel very comfortable, and it also made Li Qinghe begin to feel a bit like he was spending money like water.

After guiding Nguyen Shi Shui and Nguyen Tan Minh to download several social and game apps, Li Qinghe educated them about some of the traps and things to avoid on social media.

After all, these two siblings were as pure as a blank sheet of paper; before this, they only knew how to make calls on their phones.

Nguyen Tan Minh was a bit better; after all, communication between boys tends to be more uninhibited, and he had heard some things about the internet from his male classmates, so now it was just a matter of combining theory with practice.

Nguyen Shi Shui understood even less about the darkness of the world; coupled with the family's previous poor economic conditions, she was even more naive than Nguyen Thi Linh was when she first entered society.

She usually just studied diligently at school and didn't dare to think about anything else.

Therefore, Li Qinghe's admonitions were mostly directed at her; this little cabbage couldn't be easily taken advantage of, so prevention was very important.

Now that they had Li Qinghe, their wealthy brother-in-law, their standard of living could practically be said to have leaped directly from primitive society to modern society, and visible excitement was on both their faces.

Nguyen Shi Shui, who had skillfully mastered phone usage under Li Qinghe's guidance, ran to her mother's room, then brought the new phone to the kitchen like a treasure.

Li Qinghe then heard her say something in a slightly sharp voice, followed by her mother speaking loudly, and soon after, the two sisters' giggling laughter.

"Brother-in-law, my little sister went to show off her phone to Mom; Mom must be scolding her for playing with her phone instead of talking to you."

Nguyen Tan Minh saw Li Qinghe, attracted by the sound, looking towards the kitchen, and explained to Li Qinghe with a smile, his tone carrying a hint of schadenfreude.

Just now, Li Qinghe had patiently taught him how to use phone apps and told him not to worry about call charges, as Nguyen Thi Linh would pay their phone bills regularly.

Communication between men is relatively simpler, so with Nguyen Tan Minh feeling grateful towards Li Qinghe, the two quickly became familiar with each other.

Nguyen Tan Minh probably couldn't say some things to his classmates at school, and even less to his mother and sister at home.

Now, encountering Li Qinghe, this very amiable brother-in-law, he also spoke some of his innermost thoughts.

At school, Nguyen Tan Minh was quite popular with girls due to his outstanding height and good looks.

Many girls wrote him love letters, wanting to be his girlfriend.

In fact, Nguyen Tan Minh was also very tempted, but his impoverished family and hardworking mother made him feel inferior and unable to commit to such a relationship.

Therefore, he didn't have many friends at school, and most of the time he quietly sat by, watching his classmates laugh, play, and use their phones.

After a few sentences, Nguyen Tan Minh somewhat awkwardly told Li Qinghe: "Brother-in-law, I actually want to live as freely as they do, but I can't add more pressure to Mom."

"Thank you for the changes you've brought to our family; I haven't seen Mom smile like this in a long time."

Inferiority can make a person voluntarily close off their heart and maintain distance from those around them; Li Qinghe's appearance saved Nguyen Tan Minh from his inferiority, so his words were filled with deep gratitude.

Li Qinghe clearly felt this emotion from Nguyen Tan Minh.

Li Qinghe patted him on the shoulder: "A Ming, you are the man of this house; look further ahead, study hard, and don't worry about financial matters. Oh, and tomorrow, we'll go to the county town and buy a motorcycle for you and A Shui each."

One should not associate with ungrateful people; although Li Qinghe's money came easily, he didn't want to spend it on ungrateful wretches.

Nguyen Tan Minh's display of gratitude indicated that Tran Thi Bao Anh had taught them very well; Li Qinghe felt that helping such family members was something he could do.

As for whether they would turn against him in the future, as long as Li Qinghe remained richer than them, this family would be completely within his grasp.

Nguyen Tan Minh felt that the hardships he endured in his first 17 years were accumulating good fortune for his future.

Li Qinghe had only been home for a few hours, and the successive shocks were almost making him dizzy.

There were more than a dozen bags of nice clothes, enough for him to change into for a long time, knowing that before, he only had school uniforms and a pitifully small number of casual clothes.

Now, on weekends, he could also wear clean and tidy clothes to go out and about.

Previously, he used to ride a classmate's motorcycle from the village to the county high school.

Now, he and his sister could finally ride their own motorcycles to school.

While Nguyen Tan Minh was still in his excitement, Nguyen Thi Linh came out with the first dish.

"A Ming, spread the mat."

"Oh, I'll spread it right away."

Nguyen Tan Minh deftly spread a large straw mat in the middle of the living room. Nguyen Thi Linh placed the dish she was holding in the middle of the straw mat before looking up at Li Qinghe: "Brother, we all eat sitting on the floor here. This is eel that Mom specifically made for you, with extra spice."

Nguyen Thi Linh had told Li Qinghe before that people in their rural area ate sitting on the floor; it seemed he would be experiencing this daily for a while.

As she spoke, Nguyen Shi Shui also came out carrying a stainless steel pot, inside which was a chicken and some medicinal herbs. She told Nguyen Thi Linh with a giggle, "Sister, Mom said you should drink more of this soup; it's to nourish your body, you're too weak."

"A Shui, don't say..."

Nguyen Thi Linh shyly stepped forward and covered her younger sister's mouth.