The village chief arrived with the gratitude of the entire village. He took the basket, and everyone saw that it was filled with all sorts of random things: a few eggs, small bags of cornmeal, a few sweet potatoes, wild vegetables, a piece of dried meat about the length of a finger, and all sorts of other things.
Looking at these things, Yan Daqiang knew that what his younger brother said was true. Life was not easy for the villagers, otherwise the return gifts would not be so meager. He couldn't help but sigh and said, "We still have to find a way to fight against natural disasters, otherwise how will we survive? Also, everyone should unite and work together as one."
The village chief nodded in agreement. "As long as everyone works together, there's no obstacle we can't overcome. But it's always one person causing trouble or another getting conjunctivitis. It's alright now, the sweet potatoes have been harvested, but look how cold it is. It's not even the coldest part of winter yet. I'm afraid the winter wheat will freeze to death again, and then there will be a lot of trouble."
Yan Daqiang thought for a moment and said, "I've seen some areas where greenhouses are built over crops to keep them warm, at least to protect them from cold winds and heavy snow."
The village chief's eyes lit up. "There's such a good thing? This is great! How do we get it?"
Yan Daqiang thought for a moment and said, "I'll go to town tomorrow and make a call. Tree branches and timber are easy to get, but this plastic sheeting is a bit difficult. I'll ask my comrades if they sell it here, and we can chip in and buy some."
When the topic of money came up, Village Chief Ma's face fell. They were so poor they were practically selling their pants. Many families still owed the village for the well ticket money from last time. Asking them for more money would probably cost them their lives.
Yan Daqiang frowned. Plastic sheeting was hard to come by and not cheap, but he definitely had to pay for it. He didn't have much money of his own, and he had already spent a lot of money buying gifts for his mother and the others. Of course, he could donate a hundred or two hundred yuan.
Seeing that it was already late, the village chief decided to make the call in town tomorrow and leave. He was reluctant to leave, but then he thought that Daqiang had just come home today and must have a lot to say to his sister-in-law. So he picked up his basket and prepared to go home. But Grandma Yan was a shrewd woman and wouldn't let the village chief go home with an empty basket.
Cuihua put a rabbit in the basket, but the village chief wouldn't accept it. How could he eat and take at the same time? Grandma Yan smiled and said, "It's not for you, so you can't decide. Take it. It's from Nan, which I caught at home. Let your son and daughter have a taste."
The village chief patted Zhongnan, who was sitting next to Yan Xiaonan, and said, "He's a good dog." Zhongnan rolled his eyes, thinking, "You're the dog."
With hope comes motivation, and Village Chief Ma's steps home became firm and powerful. The Yan family is truly admirable, and Daqiang is even more capable, solving problems for the villagers as soon as he returned.
Yan Daqiang didn't know what the village chief was thinking, otherwise he would definitely be furious. I'm trying to come up with a solution, not a solution, but it's pretty much the same. If you think of something, you have to solve it, otherwise what's the point of thinking about it?
That night, Xuemei took Yan Xiaonan to her room to sleep. Yan Daqiang wanted to talk in his mother's room. When he heard Grandma Yan say that Yan Xiaonan was almost killed by Widow Zhang on the mountain, he wanted to smash that widow with a peanut. So the reason why the family built a new house was to give away the grain that they had worked so hard to get.
I also heard about how Southeast killed two wild boars with one blow. I think Southeast should be good material for the army. I'll talk to Southeast tomorrow and try to persuade him to join the army. Also, Little Wolf came to find Nan Nan on his own. I think my mother's words about the little girl being a lucky charm are really true. It's much safer to have a wolf at home.
When Grandma Yan mentioned exchanging rice for coarse grains and cloth, and even including bicycles and radios on her behalf, she gasped. When did her mother and brother become so capable that they could even get bicycles and radios? Could they have been scammed? No, it couldn't be speculation, could it?
And then there was the rice her mother had mentioned. She calculated it herself, and all of these things must have weighed over a thousand catties, which was no small amount. Grandma Yan hadn't expected her eldest son to be so shrewd. She had only mentioned the radio, the bicycle, and some rice, flour, and cloth, and her eldest son was able to calculate the amount of rice.
Grandma Yan got up and said to Yan Daqiang, "Daqiang, the rice was planted by your brother, Cuihua, and me on the mountainside with great difficulty. We then traded it for these things. There was definitely no speculation or profiteering involved, so you don't need to worry. I'm just asking you to take the blame. That's settled then. You can't let it slip."
The firm tone left Yan Daqiang with no choice but to nod. However, he had one request: he wanted to see the place where they farmed. Grandma Yan readily agreed, saying that the land was still in good condition. Nan Nan said she would do it again after the New Year, but she stubbornly refused, worried that she might faint again.
The mother and son chatted all night, and Yan Xiaoqiang brought out the bicycle early in the morning. The brand-new bicycle made the boys in the house dance with joy. They had their own bicycle now! Uncle is so amazing, he even brought a bicycle over. They admired Uncle.
Grandma Yan smiled and took out the radio. The whole room fell silent. They were waiting for the little box to make a sound. Grandma Yan looked left and right, up and down, wondering what to do.
Yan Xiaonan twisted a protruding circle with her delicate little hand. With a click, a crackling sound came out. Yan Xiaonan then started tuning the frequency and amplitude, turning the channels one by one until she heard the sound of opera singing, and then she stopped.
Upon hearing this, Grandma Yan's eyes narrowed. This was exactly the style, this singing voice, so beautiful! She waved her hand, telling them to go about their business and not get in the way of her enjoying the opera.
Yan Xiaoqiang and Cuihua felt that the radio was a worthwhile purchase. As long as their mother was happy, they were happier than if they had eaten honey. Yan Daqiang kept looking at Yan Xiaonan. How could a two-year-old child know how to turn on a radio? This wasn't just being smart, it was being a prodigy.
Anyway, I'll be staying at home for a month, so I can take my time with these things. Today I'll go to town to make a phone call first. So I said to Yan Xiaoqiang, "Qiangzi, take me to town on your bike. I need to make a phone call."
Yan Xiaoqiang was a little hesitant. Yan Daqiang was puzzled. "I'm not familiar with the road, otherwise I wouldn't need you to take me." Yan Xiaoqiang could only say that he couldn't ride a bike. "If you can't ride a bike, why do you have a bicycle?" Yan Daqiang almost asked, but he held back when he heard his mother cough. "My mother is amazing, she can do two things at once."
“If you can’t ride, just learn. Perfect timing. I’ll teach you when we get to town, and you’ll definitely be able to ride by the time you come back,” Yan Daqiang said.
Yan Xiaoqiang's eyes lit up. His older brother had always been a great teacher since he was a child. He had taught him everything from hunting pheasants and digging for wild vegetables to climbing trees and stealing bird eggs, farming, building houses and awnings, driving carts, and fighting. He was confident that he could learn to ride a bicycle as long as his older brother took the initiative.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
