Chapter 224 His father's profitable side job is gone

In the evening, Gao Mingcheng carried his things to his parents' house. The sun was about to set, and the sky was full of rosy clouds, looking gorgeous and colorful.

The evening breeze blows away the remaining heat from the day. Living in a small mountain village, it is always cool in the morning and evening even in the hot summer.

When he went over, Grandma Gao was not lying in bed, but sitting on a bamboo chair under the eaves to enjoy the cool air. She was wearing cotton clothes and looked a little unhappy, and indeed did not look well.

"Grandma." Gao Mingcheng shouted as he entered the yard, causing Grandma Gao, who was staring at the sky in a daze, to look towards him.

"Mingcheng." Grandma Gao smiled and waved for Gao Mingcheng to come over.

Before Gao Mingcheng could speak, she said, "I'm fine. It's just that it's been hot lately and I don't have much appetite or energy. I told you that you were busy collecting herbs and doing other things, so I didn't allow you to come, but your father insisted that you come."

Grandma Gao has a kind nature. She doesn't like to cause trouble for her children and grandchildren, and she usually bears any discomfort by herself.

Most people of their generation are like this.

Gao Mingcheng took a look at grandma's complexion. Although he knew a little about medicinal herbs, he didn't know any medical skills. He just saw that the problem was not serious, so he said, "I haven't been here for a while, so I should come and walk around and sit for a while."

"I don't have many eggs at home, so I brought you ten. Don't be frugal. Eat one every day to nourish your body." Gao Mingcheng said.

In fact, his parents' family was not that poor. His father, his elder brother and his sister-in-law could all eat eggs from time to time, but the others had no share.

Do other people not want to eat? That's definitely not the case.

The main reason was that Grandma Gao refused to eat and wanted to save the food for her children and grandchildren. However, when her children and grandchildren saw that Grandma Gao didn't eat it, they felt embarrassed to eat it themselves. In addition, Luo Xiaohua had been used to being poor, so they simply saved as much as possible and no one ate it.

After taking out the eggs, Gao Mingcheng took out a bottle of honey, which he brought from home before leaving.

There are many benefits to eating honey. It can keep you healthy. The most important thing is that it is very sweet, and eating sweets will make people happy.

"And this honey. Drink a glass of honey water every morning and evening. The honey is in your room. You can keep it for yourself." Gao Mingcheng handed the eggs and honey to Grandma Gao and asked her to keep them.

Grandma Gao has a separate room, but it is not very big. Apart from a bed, there is also a wardrobe.

While he was talking to Grandma Gao, Gao Mingli and Gao Shufang came back together, with Gao Mingli carrying a basket of vegetables in his hand.

After a while, his parents came back together. His father was carrying a hoe and his mother was carrying a basket with some fresh medicinal herbs.

"Mom and Dad." Gao Mingcheng called them, and then said that he had caught some bullfrogs in the mountains and would bring some to them.

Luo Xiaohua glanced at the bag and said with some dissatisfaction: "Why didn't you process it before sending it to me? It's hard to get water at home now, and you have a well there, so you should wash and cut it before bringing it to me."

Gao Mingcheng touched his nose when he heard this.

Well, this is why he doesn't like to come here often. No matter what he does, his parents are always dissatisfied.

In fact, his father was also somewhat dissatisfied with him. The main reason was that he felt that he would never discuss anything with his family and would make all the decisions on his own.

For example, he brought a lot of beauty to Yangcheng, he contracted Xiaofushan, and he went to the county at a critical moment in the fight for water.

In Gao Yuanjian's opinion, these things are all big things and should be discussed with his family first. For example, if going to Guangzhou, he can bring Gao Mingli, who just graduated, to see the world together!

"Okay, I brought you food and you still despise it! You should be happy that Mingcheng is so filial." Grandma Gao spoke.

Luo Xiaohua curled her lips and went into the kitchen to do some work. After Gao Shufang said hello to her second brother, she also went into the kitchen to help.

Gao Yuanjian put the hoe away, then took out his smoking tools, a small pack of tobacco and a stack of white paper.

With expert movements, he placed the tobacco on white paper and rolled it into a homemade cigarette.

This type of cigarette is very strong and has no filter, which can cause great damage to fingers and teeth. Moreover, if you are not an old smoker, you cannot smoke it.

In fact, buying ready-made cigarettes is not expensive and convenient, but Gao Mingcheng just doesn’t understand why his family is so hard when they are not poor.

Seeing Gao Yuanjian smoking in silence, Grandma Gao whispered, "Your father hasn't made any wine since the dry weather. I'm afraid he won't make much money this year."

Gao Mingcheng understood after hearing this.

The dry weather and water shortage, coupled with the decrease in grain production, have caused many people to tighten their belts and diet, and will not give out grain to hire people to make wine as they did in previous years.

In other words, his father’s most profitable side job is gone!

Since the land was distributed to each household, life in the village has gradually improved. The second half of every year is the peak season for his father to make wine, and he is often called home to make wine. In a year, he earns about 1,000 yuan.

But after saving money for a few years, he spent most of it after his elder brother got married and bought a house. And then there were daily necessities at home, so it was actually impossible to save much money.

Because of the weather this year, we have no money to make wine, so the family can only rely on selling vegetables and pigs to make some money.

His parents' family now raises three pigs, a cow and twenty or thirty chickens. Together with the drinking water for these livestock, daily water supply is indeed a problem.

There was nothing to say for a while, so Gao Mingcheng decided to go home.

Before he had taken a few steps, his father stopped him and said, "I asked Ming Wan, and he said that their transportation company is still short of people, but they want drivers who can drive. They won't accept those who can't drive."

Gao Yuanjian's words made Gao Mingcheng stop. He looked at his father, knowing that what was coming would come.

So he looked at Gao Mingli and said directly: "Mingli, do you want to find something to do too?"

Gao Mingli is the youngest son in the family, and he actually receives some favoritism, which makes him more extroverted and cheerful.

He nodded and said, "Yes, I want to go! This year, my family has little income, and we need to spend money to buy millet, so I also want to make money."

Gao Mingcheng pondered. Regarding Gao Mingli's arrangements, he had two options. One was to let Gao Mingli sell clothes, and the other was to ask Gao Guobing to help find him a job.

But Gao Guobing has already made arrangements for Gao Mingwan. Wouldn't it be excessive to make arrangements for Gao Mingli as well?

Thinking about the relationship between him and Gao Guobing, Gao Mingcheng felt that there should be no big problem.

So he said, "Uncle Shouwang is short of someone to sell clothes. If you are willing to sell them, you can talk to Uncle Shouwang."

Before Gao Mingli could say anything, Gao Shufang's voice came from the kitchen. She said with a smile, "Fourth brother went to sell it! He can't sell it!"

The clothes made by Dong Feixia are not only women's clothes, but also men's clothes. The people who sell clothes are actually the same regardless of gender. As long as you have a good tongue and are good at attracting customers and selling, you can do this job well.

Gao Mingli smiled sheepishly and said, "It's because I can't sell it, so I want to find a more stable job."

Gao Mingcheng saw Gao Mingli's true intentions from his eyes. It seemed that he also wanted to go to the county to work like Gao Mingwan.

There is nothing wrong with the villagers yearning to live in the county.

Gao Mingcheng said, "Okay, when I'm free, I'll go ask Uncle Guobing if there's such an opportunity. But don't worry, I've been very busy lately and don't have time to go."

He had previously planned to find time to go to the vehicle administration office to take a driver's license test, but after returning to the village, he became busy collecting medicinal herbs and was so busy that he couldn't get away.

Gao Mingli expressed his understanding and said quickly, "No hurry, no hurry. Second brother, take care of your own business first!"

After saying this, Gao Mingcheng went out.

After walking for only a few minutes, I met Gao Zhuang.

Gao Zhuang seemed to be waiting for him on purpose. He stood under an osmanthus tree and waved at him with a silly smile.

Gao Mingcheng hadn't seen Gao Zhuang for a while, so he asked him what he was doing.

"I went to dig a small row of sweet potatoes today and found that the sweet potatoes have grown almost enough. Although they are smaller than in previous years, they are still okay. There is a shortage of water now, so my grandma asked me to ask you, should we just dig out the sweet potatoes?" Gao Zhuang said.

The two families used the same batch of potato seeds and planted them at the same time, so when they saw that the sweet potatoes grew similarly, Grandma Xi thought of Gao Mingcheng.

This is because they are afraid that Gao Mingcheng will be too busy and forget about the sweet potatoes in the field.

Every morning and evening, Gao Mingcheng fetches water from the pond at the foot of Xiaofu Mountain to water his vegetable garden. Therefore, the vegetables in his family are growing well, unlike some people’s vegetable gardens which have wilted or even dried up and turned yellow due to lack of water.

The harvesting time of sweet potatoes varies depending on the planting time. They usually plant sweet potatoes in May, so around September and October, the sweet potatoes are ripe and can be harvested.

It is only the beginning of September now. In previous years, the crops would be harvested later, but the weather is dry this year. If we don’t harvest them in advance, we will have to water them morning and evening, otherwise they will dry out and die.

There is still a shortage of labor in my grandmother's family, but they have a lot of vegetable fields to plant. Just watering them every day is exhausting enough.

Gao Mingcheng looked at Gao Zhuang and found that he had become darker and thinner recently.

He said, "Okay, I'll dig a small ridge tomorrow to see if it's grown enough, then I'll dig it up."

After Gao Zhuang conveyed the message, he planned to go back home to have a rest.

His grandmother is old and He Xiuman is pregnant, so all the heavy work at home falls on Gao Zhuang alone. No wonder he has become darker and thinner.

Gao Mingcheng said goodbye to him and watched his back as he left. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. It seemed that he had been too busy recently. Not only had he not visited his grandmother for a long time, but he had also not visited his grandmother for a long time.

So he hurried home, first got a bottle of honey, and then went to get the bullfrog.

I caught half a bag today and there is still some left.

He originally wanted to put them in a bag, but after thinking about it, he simply carried them to the well, fetched a bucket of water, and then started to process the bullfrogs.

His mother was right. The water supply in the old village was tight, so he should prepare it before sending it to his grandmother's house!

Manyi was already cooking. Seeing Gao Mingcheng's actions, she couldn't help but say, "I've already made a plate, why are you still cooking?"

Gao Mingcheng said he wanted to send some to his grandmother.

Xuanyuemei had no objection to this. Having grown up in the same village, she naturally knew that Gao Mingcheng and Gao Zhuang had a deep bond. But she also said, "I saw a lot of bullfrogs. I just sent five to my second sister's house."

Gao Mingcheng had no objection to this. Although Xuanyuemei had three older sisters, there was only her second sister's family in the village. Even if there were some minor conflicts between the sisters, they would still visit each other frequently.

(End of this chapter)