"No! My old man took my grandma back home to live with him. He gave all the money he earned from carrying coal to grandma, and he also took her to the city to have her eyes checked. My grandma can see a little better now."

Yang Chunyan was also happy for him, "Great! Study hard and try to get into the provincial capital to study at a university!"

"Alas!" Li Xiaoping sighed like a little adult, "On the day of burning the blessing paper, my stepmother came home and begged my husband, saying that if I let her go home, she would change and would never beat me again.

My grandma said that I already had no mother, and I couldn’t let Xiaohui be motherless, so she asked my husband to promise that my stepmother would come back, and asked her to write a letter of guarantee, promising not to beat me in the future.

Yang Chunyan looked at him with some concern, "Does your grandma still live with you guys?"

Li Xiaoping nodded, "We live together. Since my husband found out that my stepmother had stabbed me with an awl and drove her away, several people from her family have come to persuade my husband, but he still disagrees with her coming back.

My grandma told me not to be afraid, saying that my husband is stubborn. When he believes in someone, he believes in him to the extreme, but once he doesn’t believe in him anymore, nothing you say will help.”

"Oh!" Yang Chunyan sorted out the herbs, put them in a bamboo basket and weighed them. "I heard that you got first place in the class again this time?"

"Yeah!" Li Xiaoping nodded shyly, "The teacher said that the kids in the city have much better grades. If I want to get into the No. 1 Middle School in the city, I have to work harder!"

"The teacher is right. If you want to go to a better school, you have to work harder than others."

"Got it!" Li Xiaoping looked at Yang Chunyan, "Aunt, I want to be a doctor when I grow up. My grandma said that my mother just didn't meet a good doctor. If she had met one, she wouldn't have died."

"Good! Becoming a doctor is good!" Yang Chunyan looked at him with a smile and stretched out her hand to him, "Auntie wishes our Xiaoping to become a doctor soon."

Li Xiaoping also stretched out his hand, and the two high-fived, "Sure!"

*****

Under the guidance of Yang Weimin, Zhou Huaian slowly drove the tractor across the stone bridge and up the gentle slope.

When passing by the brigade, idle people in the drying dam and on the roadside gathered around curiously.

"Hey! Isn't that Zhou Laoya?"

"That's right, look at his old man and Yiding sitting in the back!"

"This is a brand new tractor. Could it be that Zhou Laoyao bought it?"

The old man held onto the carriage board with both hands, stood up excitedly, and said loudly: "My youngest son bought it!"

"Look, his old man has spoken. It turns out that it was really bought by Zhou Laoyao!"

More and more people gathered around, and everyone followed behind the tractor, feeling envious, jealous and hateful, and all kinds of eyes were directed at Zhou Huaian who was driving the tractor.

Everyone followed the shiny new tractor and discussed excitedly behind it.

"Look, Da Song lost a cow and his luck turned around, and the most disappointing loser even bought a tractor."

"Fuck... Could it be that there really is bezoar in the cow's stomach?"

"That's impossible! Guilan bought a few big roosters from my house the other day, saying that her youngest son had found a vegetable delivery business in the city. Not counting the chickens, ducks, eggs, etc. that are delivered every day, she also has to deliver dozens of kilograms of vegetables into the city."

"That's right, they are still collecting herbs to sell, and they make money every day!"

"You can only make a few cents per pound, but you can't even make a thousand yuan a year!" The man shouted at Zhou Huaian, "Zhou Laoyao, did you pick up money? You bought a tractor in just a few months!"

Zhou Huaian turned his head to look at him and answered loudly, "I found it. I found it at my mother-in-law's house."

The villagers nearby also gathered around and said, "It turns out that my mother-in-law's family borrowed money to buy it. No wonder they can afford it!"

"Damn it, my son will also find a rich mother-in-law in the future!"

"Look at Zhou Laoyao's appearance, and then look at your son's flat nose and squinty eyes. Which one can compare to him?"

"That's right. When young girls look for a partner, they either look for money or for the man's good looks. If you don't have either, why would a girl from a rich family marry you?"

"I'll make more money in the future and find a beautiful wife for my son, right?"

"You have money, what's the point of talking!"

"Now our village also has a tractor, which is a good thing! We don't have to go to Fangtian Brigade anymore."

Cai Ermei, Xiong Dahai and his son were also standing in the crowd. They looked at each other with gloomy eyes for a while and then squeezed out of the crowd.

When Zhou Huaian was driving his tractor and approaching the intersection of Tiankan Road, he saw from afar Zhou's father and his family standing there waiting.

It goes without saying that the news that they had driven the tractor back must have spread, so they rushed over from the earthen kiln and their homes.

Zhou Huairong and a few others were leaning on a long bamboo pole with a string of firecrackers hanging on it, and they were waiting for the tractor to come over with joy.

Zhou's mother wiped her tears happily, "Chunyan, look, it's the youngest who drove it back!"

"Yeah! Last time he came to my house and studied with my brother for most of the day. My brother said he didn't have any big problems."

"If the youngest child is not lazy, he will learn things quickly!"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Father Zhou looked at the tractor getting closer and closer, and the villagers following behind it, and rubbed his hands excitedly and said okay repeatedly.

Zhao Huifang and her sisters-in-law were also very happy. They no longer had to worry about not being able to rent oxen to plow the fields.

Zhou Jiaming and the others cheered and waved at Zhou Huaian and the others, "Grandfather, Dad, Grandfather..."

As soon as the tractor arrived, Zhou Yiding jumped off before it even stopped, "Brother Huairong, did you bring my two cakes of Wanxiang Diluhong?"

"Here it is!" Zhou Huairong handed him the long bamboo pole with firecrackers hanging on it.

Zhou's father and mother greeted Yang Weimin with a smile, and went to the tractor bed to help the old man down from the tractor. The children swarmed to climb onto the bed...

Zhou Yiding held up the bamboo pole and said, "Brothers, light the cannon."

"Okay!" Zhou Huairong, Zhou Huaizhong and others also raised the bamboo poles and lit the firecrackers hanging on them. The festive firecrackers rang out, crackling and banging.

For a while, Tiankan intersection was even busier than the main street during the New Year.

After the firecrackers were set off, the children in the village swarmed over, looking for those firecrackers that had not exploded. The adults hurried forward to stop them, fearing that the firecrackers would suddenly explode and hurt the children.

Zhou Huaian looked at Yang Chunyan with a proud look on his face, "I drove back alone!"

“I saw it!”

"Youngest, come quickly!" Before Yang Chunyan finished her words, Zhou Huaian was dragged by Zhou Laosan to see the tractor.

Yang Chunyan walked towards Yang Weimin with a smile, "Brother, why don't mom and old man come with you?"

Yang Weimin looked at her and was really happy for her. "There are a lot of things to do at home. They will come after you finish your work."

Zhou Huaian was surrounded by a group of people, everyone was talking to each other, his ears were buzzing with questions, he was confused by so many questions, so he had to ask Yang Weimin for help.

"Brother, come and tell my third brother and the others what this thing is used for?"

"Okay!" Yang Weimin stepped forward with a smile and answered them one by one.

At this time, Xu Erchun ran over breathlessly holding two firecrackers and shouted at Zhou Huaian, "Great! You didn't even tell me before buying a tractor!"

Zhou Huaian raised his hand apologetically, "I'm sorry, bro! I'll punish myself with a drink later!"

"One cup is not enough, at least three cups!" Xu Erchun looked at Zhou Yiding, "And you, kid, what do you two mean?" (End of this chapter)