"Fang'er, do me a favor and take these feathers to Grandpa Tang's house for your sister Qinglan."

There's no need to be in such a rush; it has to be given tonight.

But I have to go up the mountain to work tomorrow morning, so I can't just take a few feathers to the station, can I?

Zhou Qinglan couldn't bring feathers to work on the mountain.

It would be better to send my sister over; they're not far apart anyway.

The two little girls took the tail feathers and ran happily to the Tang family's house. Meanwhile, Zhang Shuzhen and Sheng Xiping, mother and daughter, were busy in the kitchen.

"Son, what's going on between you and Zhou, the educated youth?"

As Zhang Shuzhen scooped water from the pot to scald the feathers, she asked with great concern.

A mother's intuition told her that her son seemed to have something special about him and that female educated youth surnamed Zhou.

"Mom, what do you think of Qinglan?" Sheng Xiping asked casually as he turned over the pheasants in the large basin.

"Oh my, that girl is quite something."

Don't let her being a city girl fool you; she's very good at speaking and handling things, and she doesn't look down on us country folk at all.

Their parents are intellectuals, cultured, unlike our rough and uncultured family.

As Zhang Shuzhen spoke, she glanced at her eldest son.

"Son, tell me, have you taken a liking to that girl?"

Sheng Xiping looked up and smiled at his mother, "Yes, I do have that intention."

What's there to hide from your own mother? Sheng Xiping readily admitted.

Well, he's already been reborn, so it's probably unlikely he'll be able to go back.

Since he's going to start a new life, he'll have to get married, have children, and live a normal life, right?

His wife from his past life is probably still running around now. Does he really think he can wait another twenty years? That's a joke!

Moreover, he owed Zhou Qinglan so much in his previous life. God had finally given him a second chance, so he had to treat Zhou Qinglan well in order to make up for his sins in the previous life.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shuzhen sighed, "Oh, what can I say?"

That girl is really nice. If you could really get together, Mom would be laughing in her sleep.

But son, you have to understand, that girl is so outstanding, there are many people who are interested in her, do you think she would choose us?

"Those parents are hoping their daughter will get a job back in Songjianghe in a few years; would they really let her marry into this backwater village?"

"Gouli" is generally the name used by people in the town to refer to the various forest farms.

Most forest farms are located in mountain valleys, in remote mountainous areas. People in the towns don't really respect them, so they call them that.

Over time, even the people at the forest farm started saying the same thing.

"As long as Mom likes it too, we can talk about the rest later." Sheng Xiping smiled upon hearing this.

The Zhou family is good; even though they knew about Zhou Qinglan and Sheng Xiping's relationship in their past life, they didn't interfere or sabotage it.

After all, Sheng Liancheng has worked in the forest farm for so many years, and he is upright and well-liked.

Needless to say, Zhang Shuzhen would go over to help out whenever any of her neighbors had any big or small matters to attend to.

The Sheng family has a good family tradition, and Sheng Xiping himself is not bad either.

Whether it's in a town or a valley, who wouldn't want their daughter to find a stable and reliable man to settle down with?

Only those with wicked intentions would try to use their daughters to climb the social ladder. The Zhou couple are intellectuals; they wouldn't do such a thing.

The mother and daughter chatted as they worked.

To pluck the feathers of a pheasant, you have to do it while the water is hot. Sheng Xiping, with his rough hands, wasn't afraid of getting burned and plucked the feathers quickly and efficiently.

The pheasant has already been gutted and its internal organs removed, so all you need to do is remove the feathers and wash it clean.

Pheasant meat is mostly tough and not easy to stew until tender. If you want to eat it tomorrow morning, you have to stew it in a pot tonight and simmer it over low heat overnight.

Tomorrow morning, I'll put in the soaked and cleaned mushrooms and stew them again.

"Go inside and chat with your dad. I can do these chores. You're all tired after a day's work, go and rest."

Sheng Xiping carried the dirty water out and poured it away. After returning to the house, he wanted to help Zhang Shuzhen chop the chicken, but Zhang Shuzhen waved her hand and urged her eldest son to go inside and rest.

"Mom, I have strong hands, let me do it."

You've been busy all day at home, you must be exhausted. You rest, I'll do it, I can do all of this.

Sheng Xiping ignored his mother's words, took the kitchen knife, rubbed it a few times on the edge of the water vat, and then swung the knife to chop the chicken.

Pheasants are not as big as domestic chickens, especially since they are not as fat this season. So after plucking the feathers and removing the internal organs, this chicken only weighed about two pounds.

Sheng Xiping wielded the cleaver and effortlessly chopped the chicken into small pieces.

He even specially kept a whole calf, which was for Sheng Xitai.

That kid has a huge appetite. It's not easy to cook a chicken, so I have to make sure he gets to eat some good meat.

Sheng Xiping chopped up the chicken, while Zhang Shuzhen added some firewood to the stove.

After heating the pan, I used a spatula to scoop a small piece of oil out of the oil jar.

"Oh dear, we're still saving every last drop of oil. The half-jar of oil we rendered in winter is almost gone," Zhang Shuzhen couldn't help but mutter.

"It's okay, let's eat first."

Every autumn, wild boars and black bears wreak havoc on the land behind Beishan. When that time comes, I'll take some men over to check on the crops. Whatever they are, if we kill them, we can always get some fat to render into oil.

Most of the forest farm workers' housing is public housing, with small courtyards and small vegetable gardens.

Growing a few vegetables is fine normally, but the demand for cabbage, radishes, and potatoes for winter storage is huge, and each family's vegetable garden is too small to meet the demand.

To address the issue of vegetable supply for employees and their families, the forest farm, with approval from higher authorities, reserved several plots of land for the family teams to cultivate.

For example, the land west of the Sheng family's house is the forest farm's vegetable garden.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!