She was too lazy to read it, and only glanced at the latest message questioning the quality of her food, and replied: "Go get it tested and let the data speak for itself."

Struggle: "Okay, you wait!"

Xu Qingzhi ignored him, looked at the row of unread messages in the list, exited WeChat, and turned off his phone.

It's ten o'clock and she's so sleepy. She wants to go to bed.

The next day, Xu Fuqiang and Xu Qingzhi drove back to pick vegetables.

As soon as the car entered the village, we met acquaintances one after another.

"Fuqiang, are you buying a car?"

Xu Fuqiang stopped the car, found a cigarette for the man, and said with a smile: "My daughter bought it."

"Your daughter is really promising. Oh, she owns a BMW. It must be worth hundreds of thousands at least."

"My daughter is just average, and your son is also very capable out there. He should be able to earn a lot a year."

"My son is not as successful as your daughter. When my son gets married, can I borrow your car as the lead vehicle?"

Xu Fuqiang looked embarrassed and looked back at Xu Qingzhi's opinion. Borrowing a car could be a big or small matter, but basically everyone who buys a car will encounter the same problem.

Xu Qingzhi recognized the other person. He was an old neighbor. Whenever his parents had any problems, they would rely on these old neighbors for help. He smiled and said, "Uncle Wang, you can tell me when the time comes."

Uncle Wang then noticed the person in the back seat, "Qingzhi is still at home. I haven't seen you for a few days. I thought you went back to the state capital."

"I planted a few acres of land at home and spent time with my parents."

"Nowadays, young people are going out, and there are not many young people in the village. It's rare that you have this heart."

Xu Qingzhi smiled.

"Okay, I'll go to the fields to check on the rice. I won't talk about this for now. I'll come back to your house and we can continue our conversation."

"Okay, Uncle Wang, take care."

Xu Fuqiang continued driving forward.

Xu Qingzhi looked at the fifty-yuan pack of cigarettes and said, "Dad, didn't you quit smoking a long time ago? Why are you carrying cigarettes with you today?"

"The first time I drive home after buying a new car, I'm sure I'll meet people I know, and it'll be polite to give them a good cigarette." Xu Fuqiang turned the steering wheel with happiness written all over his face.

Xu Qingzhi looked at the joy on her father's face and still remembered that many years ago, her father drove a tricycle to take the family to her grandmother's house. On the way, they would always meet a few second-rate guys who spoke rudely and in a sarcastic manner.

Later, several elementary school classmates of her father's age in the village bought cars, leaving her father as the only one who didn't.

Sometimes those elementary school classmates would hold reunions in the county town.

Her father was sent back drunk. Although he was obviously a middle-aged man, he cried like a baby in her mother's arms, saying that he was a loser and had not made any achievements in all these years. Sometimes he even had to borrow money from others for the children's tuition. He was so useless and felt sorry for the children, her mother, his parents, and her mother's parents. He kept saying sorry to all his ancestors.

Xu Qingzhi has lived in three worlds for more than five hundred years, but those childhood memories appear vividly in his mind as if they were replayed yesterday.

She was only 12 years old at that time and didn't quite understand the adult world.

The old house was a shabby brick building. She stood under the shrine, holding the legs of the square wooden table, looking at her father's red face and listening to him shouting, "Yanmei, Yanmei, when I have money in the future, I will buy a BMW and let everyone see that I can let you live a good life."

Her mother patted his back, "Okay, okay."

Xu Qingzhi was pulled out of his memories when he heard the crackling sound of firecrackers.

She looked at the fork in the road leading to her home courtyard and saw someone setting off firecrackers.

In the village, the longer the firecrackers are, the more important the event is.

The sound of firecrackers lasted for a long time and blue smoke rose up. Her father was afraid of damaging the car, so he waited until the firecrackers were all set off before slowly driving past.

"Fuqiang, today is your first time driving back home, so I'm giving you a red envelope, which means you'll have safe driving in the future."

It was Xu Qingzhi’s grandfather, Xu Dongru.

"Grandpa, I want a red envelope too." Xu Qingzhi shouted and stretched out his hand to ask for it.

Xu Dongru took out another red envelope from his pocket, with a kind smile on his face that only the older generation would have when looking at the younger generation, and said like he was coaxing a child: "Your father has one, so of course you have one too."

Xu Qingzhi happily took the red envelope and opened the car door, "Grandpa, get in, let's go home first."

"It's such a short distance, I won't get on. You guys drive the car back and I'll walk over." Xu Dongru dusted off his body, turned around and left.

Xu Qingzhi had always known that her grandfather was a stubborn person, and it was useless to force him, so she had no choice but to close the car door and let her father drive back.

Many people came to the courtyard to watch the fun. As soon as Xu Fuqiang got out of the car, those people said polite and auspicious words to him.

Xu Qingzhi took out the candies and snacks he had bought long ago, then took chairs and plates and placed them outside, and poured some tea.

A few days ago, several aunts in the village spread rumors that Xu Qingzhi was dumped by a man in the big city, and was preparing for pregnancy at home, that she couldn't make it in the city, and that she came back to find a partner as she was older.

Now they all happily boasted to Xu Qingzhi: "Qingzhi, if you ask me, you are the most capable young man in our village. You can even buy a car for your father."

Xu Qingzhi smiled and said, "A little money."

She wasn't pretending, there was no need to explain everything to outsiders. Most of the people in the village were honest and simple, but there were some gossipy women who had nothing better to do and liked to spread rumors everywhere.

It just so happened that Xu Qingzhi had relatively good hearing, and when he came back to grow vegetables he would always hear some very outrageous rumors, which became increasingly more intense.

To put it bluntly, the family has no money, and many people like to step on it.

The standard for judging whether a person is rich in the village is whether the family has a car and whether it is an expensive car.

Whenever someone buys a nice car, gossips will have no confidence to spread rumors behind their back, and all they say is, hey, their family is really rich now.

Aunt Xia said with curiosity, "This looks like a BMW, right? Qingzhi, can you let me ride in it later? I'll introduce you to someone."

Xu Dongru had already walked over and said, "Qingzhi is still young, why should she be in a hurry to find a partner? Go away, go away, and don't talk about this to the child."

Xu Dongru is over seventy years old. He is an old Chinese medicine practitioner in the village and also an elder. These aunts would not take the initiative to provoke him and they all dispersed.

Aunt Xia just came to join in the fun. She had sharp eyes and recognized that the candies on the plate were sold at 59 yuan per pound in the supermarket. She grabbed a handful and put them in her pocket, then took out another handful. No one paid any attention to her, but she smiled and said to the person next to her, "Today is Friday and my kid is back from school. I'll just give him some candies." Then she left.

There were only a few candies left on the plate that was full of them.

Xu Qingzhi went into the house and brought back some candy to add to the candy. Aunt Zhou at the side said to Xu Qingzhi a little unhappy: "Aunt Xia always likes to take advantage of others."

Aunt Zhou had a good relationship with her mother, and the two of them used to go to the mountains together to pick Chinese medicinal herbs.

Xu Qingzhi smiled, grabbed two handfuls and put them in Aunt Zhou's pocket, "You should bring some for the child too."

"No, no, these candies are expensive. I'll just take two." Aunt Zhou was about to take them out.

Xu Qingzhi held her down and said, "Auntie Zhou, why are you being so polite to me? If you don't keep it in your pocket, I won't accept the snacks you bring me when I go to your house next time."

In Aunt Zhou's eyes, Xu Qingzhi was still a child, so she wouldn't get angry after hearing this. "Okay, I'll take care of it. Hey, Qingzhi, your mom said that you're going to stay at home and farm instead of going back to the city. When are you going to take these vegetables to the market to sell? I'll buy some then."

Xu Qingzhi said: "These vegetables are in market now, so we don't need to go to the market to sell them."

Aunt Zhou was a little surprised, but she thought about the fact that Qingzhi had acted in a play before, so she would definitely have no problem with sales. But after all, it was someone else's business, and asking too much would be excessive, so she nodded, "That's good, that's good, you can stay at home with your parents, and your mother will be happy too."

(End of this chapter)