Chapter 103 Mom, I pick up garbage to support you 5
In this era, rural students in the north do not have summer vacations. The vacations they have are winter vacations, wheat vacations, and autumn vacations. The latter two vacations are mainly for the convenience of rural students to help their families with work during the busy farming season.
Recently, it happened to be the longest autumn vacation.
Early in the morning, Jiang Fanyue was lying on the bed to catch up on sleep, and Yao Rong got up and got busy.
She was going to make a Luban lock today.
This toy is also called a Kongming lock. The principle is to ensure that the concave and convex structure of each piece of wood can be cleverly fitted together without using any nails, and finally form a stable shape. In fact, the mortise and tenon structure most commonly used in ancient architecture is used.
When others make a Luban lock, they may need to draw a design in advance and then cut the wood according to the design, but Yao Rong completely skipped this step, and simply conceived it in her mind and began to cut in an orderly manner.
This undoubtedly shortened a lot of time.
Before Jiang Fanyue woke up, Yao Rong completed the first Luban lock.
She used the most delicate carving knife to carve a line of words on the most conspicuous wood, and then spliced it into shape and placed it next to Jiang Fanyue's pillow.
Half an hour later, Jiang Fanyue opened her eyes in a daze.
She rubbed her eyes with one hand and tried to prop up her body with the other hand, but she happened to touch the Luban lock.
The sleepiness in her eyes dissipated at once, and Jiang Fanyue hurriedly sat up and held the Luban lock close to her.
——Gift Yueyue. 1991.09.12
This line of words immediately caught Jiang Fanyue's eyes.
Jiang Fanyue jumped out of bed in a hurry, washed and ate in the shortest time, and sat next to Yao Rong holding the Lu Ban lock that belonged to her, and asked Yao Rong if there was anything she could help with.
Yao Rong said that she didn't have any for the time being, so she let her play with the Lu Ban lock for a while, and then carefully introduced the principle of the Lu Ban lock to her.
Jiang Fanyue took apart the Lu Ban lock while listening, and began to try to reassemble it.
The Lu Ban lock that Yao Rong made for her was quite complicated, and Jiang Fanyue tried to fiddle with it for a long time but couldn't get it right, but there was no impatience on her face, she just lowered her eyes to think about what Yao Rong had just told her.
After a while, she seemed to have figured something out, and started to work again, in one go, restoring the Luban lock to its original shape.
"It's done." Jiang Fanyue said to Yao Rong.
Yao Rong was surprised. For someone who was using the Luban lock for the first time, this speed was considered very fast. She gave Jiang Fanyue a thumbs up: "Really amazing."
Jiang Fanyue was a little embarrassed, squatted beside Yao Rong, and asked again if there was anything she could do to help. She
looked like she would not stop until she found something to do.
Yao Rong said: "Then you can help with the polishing. But you need to rest for a while after polishing three pieces of wood. Your wrist is weak. If you use too much force at once, it is easy to hurt your wrist and fingers."
She didn't want to tire the child, but Jiang Fanyue felt sorry for her and offered to help, so she didn't have to keep refusing.
This is a way for children to express their love for their parents.
Jiang Fanyue nodded: "I know. Only by combining work and rest can you get more work done." If she hurts herself today, she won't be able to work tomorrow. She doesn't want to fish for three days and dry the nets for two days.
Yao Rong took out the polishing leather and briefly demonstrated how to do it with the least effort. Jiang Fanyue followed her instructions and polished each surface until it was smooth and flat.
After making four different shapes of Luban locks in a row, Yao Rong changed to other toys. According to the consumption level of Jixiang Town, making too many toys of the same kind will probably lead to unsalable products in the end.
In the past few days, Yao Rong has made more than 30 toys in total.
Four of them are gifts for Jiang Fanyue.
Every day when Jiang Fanyue opens her eyes, she will habitually look at the pillow, and then she will always see different toys.
Bamboo dragonfly.
Carved on the stick: Give Yueyue. 1991.09.13
Castle blocks.
Carved on the castle roof: Give Yueyue. 1991.09.14
Wooden car. Carved
on the car roof : Give Yueyue. 1991.09.15
Wooden fortune cat.
Carved on the cat's paw: Give Yueyue. 1991.09.16
Jiang Fanyue was like collecting a blind gift box that would drop every morning. Not only was he looking forward to what kind of toys he would receive, he was also looking forward to the new day.
This morning, Jiang Fanyue received a special gift with the time engraved on it.
It was a pen holder made of cans and waste newspapers.
It was very delicate.
The newspapers fit the cans perfectly, as if they were naturally printed on them.
Jiang Fanyue walked to the yard holding the pen holder and found Yao Rong looking for something in the pile of junk.
"Yueyue, are you awake?" Yao Rong pointed to the kitchen, "The sweet potato porridge is warming on the stove, go and get it."
Jiang Fanyue obediently went to get the sweet potato porridge: "Mom, what are you doing?"
"I originally wanted to drag all these junk to the town to sell them today, but when I was cleaning up, I suddenly thought of recycling them and making some small things with these things."
"Like a pen holder?"
Yao Rong said, "You can also use newspapers to wrap book covers, make sandbags, make shuttlecocks... Do you want to play with us?"
"Play?"
This word made Jiang Fanyue's heart move.
Garbage... can also be used for playing?
Yao Rong reached out and gently pushed Jiang Fanyue to the pile of junk: "As long as your imagination is big enough, you can use these materials to piece together and design anything. You have helped me a lot these days, let's have a good rest and have some fun today."
Jiang Fanyue looked at the pen holder in her hand and finally nodded.
But... what to do?
Jiang Fanyue carefully looked at the junk and her eyes fell on a glass bottle with a long and narrow mouth. She picked up the glass bottle, cleaned it inside and out with her hands, and asked Yao Rong if she could just cut off the entire bottom of the glass bottle.
"No problem." Yao Rong didn't ask her what she wanted to do. She took the glass bottle, used tools to completely cut the bottom, and used some means to process the cut part, so that even if Jiang Fanyue accidentally touched it, she would not cut her hand.
Jiang Fanyue found a thin iron chain and passed it directly through the glass bottle. Then she ground a round iron sheet into a heart shape and strung it on the end of the iron chain.
A glass bottle wind chime was ready.
Jiang Fanyue stepped on a chair and hung it in the corridor where almost no one walked.
The sunlight penetrated the glass bottle, reflecting colorful light.
The wind blew slowly from the corridor, and the iron sheet caused the iron chain to sway gently, hitting the glass bottle, making a crisp and pleasant sound.
The originally simple wind chime actually presented an unusual beauty at this moment.
Jiang Fanyue immediately became excited and went to make two more wind chimes of the same style and hung them side by side.
As if the wind chime had completely inspired her, Jiang Fanyue began to make a lot of storage boxes with boxes of different sizes. She even thought of putting dozens of plastic bottles flat together, sticking them firmly with a large roll of transparent glue, and padding the outer layer with a circle of plastic. Finally, she sewed the washed old curtain cloth on the outermost layer, thus making a stool with the right softness and hardness.
In addition, Jiang Fanyue played with vases, pen holders, paper for book covers, sandbags...all of them.
Yao Rong also taught her how to make artificial flowers with waste cloth.
Jiang Fanyue played until the evening, and she still felt unsatisfied.
"Okay, making so many is enough." Yao Rong said to Jiang Fanyue with a smile.
Jiang Fanyue nodded vigorously, and then scratched her head in annoyance: "I made too many things, and I can't use them all. What should I do?"
"Give them as gifts?"
"No, no, no, these are made of waste products, it's not good to give them as gifts."
"How could that be? Look at the sandbags you made, they are no different from the sandbags sold outside. Gifts are thoughts. If someone despises your gift because of its value, then you don't have to be sad. You should be grateful that you recognize this person."
"But, but..." Jiang Fanyue lowered her head, perhaps because she was too happy recently, or perhaps because of the sudden surge of emotions in her heart. For the first time, she admitted to Yao Rong that she was terrible, "Mom, I don't have friends to give gifts to each other."
Only friends or relatives will give gifts to each other.
And she is a child without friends.
Yao Rong squatted down, slightly raised her face and looked at Jiang Fanyue: "Yueyue, it's not right to say that. Do you remember that every time Grandma Zhang at the entrance of the village saw you, she would give you a piece of candy, and Grandma Chen let you pick the onions and garlic in the field, and when the pears at the door of Grandpa Huang's house were ripe, he would give you a few to taste. These are all gifts they gave you. If you don't return the gift, they won't say anything, but if you return the gift, they will definitely think you are a good child who knows how to be polite and repay kindness."
Maybe there are many ignorant children in the village who are crowding out Jiang Fanyue and are unwilling to be friends with Jiang Fanyue.
But for so many years, they, an orphan and a widow, have been able to live safely in the village, and they can't do without the care of the villagers.
Jiang Fanyue was stunned for a moment, and then recalled these things from the depths of her memory.
Yes...
these are actually gifts.
It's not that she has never been surrounded by kindness, but she has taken these kindnesses for granted, so she always ignores their existence.
"Then I will give Grandma Zhang a stool, Grandma Chen a vase with fake flowers, and Grandpa Huang a storage box for firecrackers?"
"Of course, no problem."
Hearing Yao Rong's affirmation, Jiang Fanyue's hesitation instantly disappeared: "Then while it's still light, I'll hurry to give them gifts." After saying that, Jiang Fanyue first ran out of the village holding the largest stool.
Yao Rong stood there, watching Jiang Fanyue's figure go away little by little.
She suddenly had the idea to let Jiang Fanyue play with junk today because she hoped that when Jiang Fanyue recalled the years of picking up garbage, she would not only recall the tiredness and bitterness, but also the happiness and fulfillment of today.
The seeds of fairy tales can also be born in the garbage dump.
***
Jiang Fanyue wore her new clothes and ran to the village entrance holding a stool. Her short hair swayed gently as she ran, revealing a fresh youthful beauty.
At this point in the village, many people had finished their work in the fields and were carrying farm tools to go home. When they saw Jiang Fanyue from a distance, some people did not recognize her at first: "Whose child is this? I don't think I've seen her before?"
"What are you talking about? This is Yao Rong's child, Fanyue."
"It's Fanyue. I really didn't recognize her. You know what, this child has changed into new clothes and cut her hair short. She looks much more lively."
"Children should be more lively."
Jiang Fanyue did not hear the adults' discussions. She was now standing at the door of Grandma Zhang's house, telling Grandma Zhang who came to open the door why she came.
At the end, she nervously told how this cloth stool was made.
Grandma Zhang did not dislike it, and even praised Jiang Fanyue's creativity.
"Yueyue, you are such a smart kid. This is the first time I know that a stool can be used like this. Oh, I always think that the bench is too hard. Every time I sit on it, I have to put something on it. Now the bench you gave me really touches my heart. Grandma Zhang likes this gift so much. Thank you, Yueyue."
Jiang Fanyue blushed at the compliment and said excitedly, "Granny Zhang, I'm glad you like it."
Grandma Zhang took the stool and felt a little emotional.
Her son, daughter-in-law and grandson are all away from home, and she is the only one left in the village.
Her son and daughter-in-law did not treat her badly. They sent money back every month. With the government subsidy, her life is still okay.
But when people get older, they always feel lonely.
She likes to buy a lot of candies and put them in her pocket. Whenever she sees a child, she gives them candies. So there are always children who are attracted by her candies and come to her house to play.
But after giving out so many candies, this is the first time she has received a gift from a child.
Grandma Zhang took out all the candies in her pocket and stuffed them into Jiang Fanyue's hand: "This is a return gift for Yueyue."
Jiang Fanyue held the candies, feeling a little embarrassed, but Grandma Zhang had already emphasized that this was a return gift, so Jiang Fanyue couldn't refuse: "Thank you, Grandma Zhang, goodbye, I'm going home."
"Bye Yue Yue. By the way, Grandma Zhang forgot to mention that Yue Yue looks really smart in this outfit."
Jiang Fan Yue went to give gifts to Grandma Chen and Grandpa Huang, and received compliments and gifts in return.
But there are so many people in the village, and these three are not the only ones who helped Jiang Fan Yue.
Jiang Fan Yue was busy from morning till night today, but she became more and more energetic. She took the pen holder and sandbag she made and ran to the village head's house. She also took the shuttlecock and book cover she made and knocked on the neighbors' doors...
These things are useless to the village head and his people, but their grandchildren can use them.
Anyway, the gifts are given to the village head and his people, so it doesn't matter who they give them to.
It was not until the candles in the village were extinguished that Jiang Fanyue lay on the bed and excitedly told Yao Rong which grandfather gave her fruit, which grandmother touched her head and praised her...
After telling her everything, Jiang Fanyue covered her cheeks with both hands, and her voice was crisp.
"Mom, I am really, really happy today."
"Why didn't I think of this method before?"
Jiang Fanyue even felt a little regretful.
"If I had known that I could pick up some beautiful but useless items when I was picking up garbage, I could have made more and better gifts."
Yao Rongjian was so embarrassed that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Okay, lie down and go to sleep quickly, you'll be busy tomorrow."
Jiang Fanyue lay down obediently, pulled the quilt over her stomach, listened to the tinkling of wind chimes in the corridor, and soon fell into a deep sleep, and had a beautiful dream.
In the dream, the little elephant Yiyi came to a place called the Garbage Kingdom.
The Garbage Kingdom is just like its name, with garbage everywhere, and there is no place to set foot.
No animals like to live here, and the people of the Garbage Kingdom have moved to other places.
This worried the king.
So the king offered a reward to the outside world, hoping that the brave and resourceful animals on the grassland would help the Garbage Kingdom overcome this difficulty.
The little animals signed up eagerly, but unfortunately, after a long time of waiting, no little animal could completely solve the problem.
Later one day, Yiyi came to the Garbage Kingdom and saw the king crying in the garbage dump.
In order to comfort the king and save the king's country, Yiyi thought about it and finally came up with a good idea -
it made all the garbage into various gifts and gave them to the people of the kingdom and every animal who came to visit the kingdom.
Later, all animals no longer called this place the Garbage Kingdom, but called it the Gift Kingdom.
Every animal is proud to travel to the Gift Kingdom.
And Yiyi also became a guest of the Gift Kingdom and won the king's true friendship.
...
Jiang Fanyue turned over and unconsciously showed a sweet smile on his face.
***
The next day, Yao Rong pushed a cart carrying waste to the town's garbage recycling station.
In terms of relationship, the owner of the town's garbage recycling station was Yao Rong's distant cousin.
He weighed the waste and said casually, "I haven't seen you for a while."
Yao Rong told the boss that she wanted to change her career: "In the future, I'll have to trouble you to drive to collect the waste in our village."
The boss smiled and said, "It's good to change your career." He settled the money for Yao Rong and gave Yao Rong two kilograms of tangerines, "These are sent by customers. Your sister-in-law and her family don't like to eat them. You can take them back to Yueyue."
After saying this, Yao Rong didn't hesitate to take it with a smile, thanked him, and pushed the cart back to the village to pick up Jiang Fanyue.
Jiang Fanyue couldn't wait any longer. She put all the wooden toys on the cart, and also put the pen holder and sandbags she made on it. When Yao Rong asked about it, Jiang Fanyue said, "These can be used as gifts. Although these don't cost much, if there are gifts, the customers will definitely be more willing to pay."
Yao Rong was amused and asked Jiang Fanyue where she heard this from.
Jiang Fanyue said, "I figured it out myself."
"You are so young, but you have so much business knowledge. You will definitely make a lot of money in the future." Yao Rong teased her.
Jiang Fanyue raised her chin slightly, with a little pride on her face.
"Do you want to sit on the cart? These toys are not heavy, and you don't weigh much either."
"No, no, I can walk by myself."
Today happened to be the town's five-day market day. In the streets near the vegetable market, as long as you paid a stall fee of 20 cents, you could occupy a space to set up a stall.
Yao Rong chose a place close to the bookstore, spread a piece of cloth on the ground, and put out the toys he made and Jiang Fanyue made one by one.
There was also a board next to it with the word "toys" written on it.
While waiting for customers to come, Yao Rong took out the tangerines given by the recycling station owner and let Jiang Fanyue eat them.
Jiang Fanyue peeled the skin and gave Yao Rong half.
While the two were eating the fruit, an old lady walked out of the bookstore with her grandson.
The child is only five or six years old, and looks a bit chubby. Whether it is the denim overalls he is wearing or the glowing shoes on his feet, they don’t look like the clothes that local children in Jixiang Town would wear.
He is indeed not a local of Jixiang Town.
Sun Taotao grew up with his parents in the capital since he was a child, but his grandparents and uncle live in Jixiang Town. The weather has turned cold these days, and Sun Taotao’s grandfather fell ill, so Sun Taotao’s mother brought him back to visit his grandfather.
Because they came back in a hurry, Sun Taotao only brought some fairy tales books, but no toys. Today, he followed his grandmother out to buy vegetables, and wanted to buy some toys or fairy tales to kill time.
However...
both the toys and the storybooks sold in the bookstore were too ordinary for Sun Taotao.
He picked for a long time, and finally bought two storybooks with great effort, with disappointment written all over his young face.
After walking for a while with his head down, Sun Taotao caught a glimpse of the word "toys" out of the corner of his eye.
He glanced around and saw Yao Rong's stall.
Sun Taotao didn't care much at first, but when his eyes fell on the amusement park building blocks, his eyes immediately lit up.
"Grandma, there, there, look quickly." Sun Taotao shouted while jumping.
Grandma looked in the direction that Sun Taotao pointed and exclaimed.
She had been here many times, but this was the first time she saw a stall selling toys. However, these wooden toys did look quite novel.
Grandma Sun led Sun Taotao to the stall.
Yao Rong had already seen them and said with a calm smile, "These toys were all made by me. Take a look and see if there are any you like."
"Are these building blocks?" Sun Taotao walked up to the amusement park building blocks and exclaimed softly, "I've only seen plastic building blocks in shopping malls, and rarely see wooden building blocks."
He subconsciously wanted to reach out and touch the building blocks, but his good upbringing made him retract his hand: "Excuse me, can I touch it?"
"Of course no problem," Jiang Fanyue replied.
Sun Taotao then reached out and touched the building blocks: "It feels very smooth, much smoother than plastic."
Yao Rong smiled and said, "My daughter polished it very well."
Grandma Sun was even more surprised: "Did your family make this?"
Yao Rong was very humble: "Yes, this is our first time trying it, and we thought that if someone likes it, it would be a new way of making a living."
"Well done." Grandma Sun is not an ignorant person.
To be honest, there are so many toys here, and the shapes are completely non-repetitive.
This alone is really rare.
Sun Taotao's eyes seemed to be shining as he looked at Jiang Fanyue.
Oh my God.
This little sister is not much older than him, but she can actually make toys.
"Grandma, can I buy this?" Sun Taotao pointed at the amusement park building blocks.
Grandma Sun did not respond immediately, but asked about the price.
The price quoted by Yao Rong was very fair, even cheaper than Grandma Sun's imagination.
"Taotao, let's see if there is anything else you like?" Grandma Sun felt that the stall owner was kind, so she thought about buying more, which would not only help the business, but also make her grandson have fun.
Sun Taotao was a little confused. He looked around. This toy car looked so cool, the lucky cat looked so cute, and there was another set of castle building blocks that looked very fun...
"How many toys can I buy?" Sun Taotao asked his grandmother seriously.
Knowing that he could only buy three at most, Sun Taotao chose a toy car and a lucky cat.
When paying, Jiang Fanyue nervously handed the sandbags and shuttlecocks she made to Sun Taotao: "I made these. You are our first customer, and this business is also the first business of today's opening. This is a gift for you."
Sun Taotao took it with surprise, shook it in her hand twice, and looked at Jiang Fanyue with more admiration: "Sister, you are so amazing. When I was in kindergarten, I also made sandbags and shuttlecocks with my parents, but I failed many times. The sandbags always leaked sand, and the shuttlecocks couldn't be kicked. "
It was the first time that Jiang Fanyue was praised by someone younger than her. She stuffed a storage box into Sun Taotao's hand and said, "Then I'll give you this one too. You can use it to store the unfinished building blocks. This way you don't have to worry about accidentally losing the building blocks."
"Did you make this too?" Sun Taotao asked.
Jiang Fanyue nodded.
Sun Taotao thanked him politely and asked if Jiang Fanyue would come here to set up a stall in the future.
Jiang Fanyue looked at Yao Rong, and Yao Rong said, "We will come here on market day."
On the way back, Sun Taotao asked as they walked, "Grandma, can you bring me here again on market day next time? I want to share my fairy tale books with this sister."