Zhang Guoqing had no idea what was happening in the capital. At the moment, he was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling and had already forgotten about the people and things happening in the Lin family in the capital.
"Dad, hurry! Run, run..."
Ping'an, wearing a red bellyband and red shorts, stood on the shore, waving his arms, pointing excitedly at the bamboo basket, and shouting loudly.
"Uncle, look to your left. Look to your left. Oh, left... left... not right, first left then right... Oh, behind... behind you..."
Yi Jiefang was being ordered around by him, and accidentally got his finger pinched by a hairy crab. He cried out in surprise: "Ouch, it hurts so much."
Ping An shouted excitedly, "Put it in the water quickly... Oh, you're so stupid... Squat down..."
Seeing that Yi Jiefang was being bossed around by his son, Zhang Guoqing laughed out loud and hurried to rescue his brother.
Under the shade of the trees, Zhao Wenhui and Lin Lishan were laughing so hard that they were bent over.
After stopping her laughter, Zhao Wenhui said with emotion: "The last time I saw him, he was still a tiny little ball, and in the blink of an eye he has grown so big."
Lin Lishan rolled her eyes. "You've said this eight out of ten times. What's the matter? Are you too old?"
"How can I not age? I'm already quite old."
Lin Lishan glanced at her with disdain. Beautiful women have the capital, and saying this is simply showing off.
Zhao Wenhui laughed heartily, stood up, and pulled her along. "Let's go, let's go to my good sister's place first. It's time to get off work at the farm."
"Why did she think of transferring here?"
"A few years ago, her husband was transferred to this city as a Party secretary, so she applied for a job here. She has no other hobbies but to enjoy good food. When she heard the farm specializes in hairy crabs and all kinds of fish and shrimp, she came here without hesitation."
Lin Lishan smiled and nodded, "This place is nice. Although it belongs to the neighboring province, it is also close to Hai City. If you want to buy something, you can just go back and stay for a few days."
Zhao Wenhui carefully pulled her away from the cow dung on the ground and said approvingly, "Her transfer was the right move. If she really listened to her husband, she would be working as a union officer in the factory, which would be far better than her current situation."
Zhang Guoqing watched them leave, looked at the sky, and said to Yi Jiefang, "Do you want to go? There will be a lot of mosquitoes if we go late. We should go to the cafeteria to eat early."
After saying that, he winked at Yi Jiefang.
Yi Jiefang smiled knowingly and said, "Let's go. I didn't eat enough hairy crabs at noon, so I must eat more tonight. There won't be such good things when we go back."
"Xiao Wu, why don't we just apply for graduation and come here."
Zhang Guoqing couldn't hold back his laughter any longer. He remembered his father-in-law talking about the feast they had at the fishing farm, and he had the same thought at the time.
When Aunt Chen saw them coming ashore, she said to Ping An, "Look, your dad and the others are coming up. Let's go, or the mosquitoes will come out and bite you again."
Ping An looked down at himself and said, "Grandma Chen, please help me change my body before going back. My grandma is bad."
Zhang Guoqing pinched his thigh and suppressed a smile, "This outfit looks good. Don't change. It's so cool."
"Bad dad!"
Yi Jiefang laughed and said, "He should be riding on the Wind Fire Wheel. Then our Ping An is Nezha."
"No, a lot of people came and surrounded me at noon."
Seeing Zhang Guoqing nod with a smile, Aunt Chen quickly opened the bag in her hand and helped him change. She carefully folded the red suit he had changed out of. This silk was high-end.
When Lin Lishan bought it, she felt so distressed for her, but when she thought about the little person wearing red for good luck, she didn't want to persuade her. When she was sewing it herself, she was afraid that the silk thread would be scratched.
"This is cool, we can go home and wear it as pajamas."
Ping An nodded obediently to Aunt Chen. He knew this had cost a lot of money, and he couldn't stop his grandmother. If only his mother were here.
Thinking of Zhou Jiao, he quickly asked: "Dad, why did grandpa say that we are not in a hurry to go back? What if my mom doesn't see us when she gets home? Does grandpa know that mom can't come back yet?"
Zhang Guoqing knew he couldn't hide it from the little trickster, so he smiled and nodded and explained, "That's probably the reason. But your grandma's group just happened to have a mission coming here, and she has to go over to make arrangements."
Ping An nodded, not quite understanding, and leaned against Aunt Chen's arms. He looked at the two bamboo baskets they were carrying, and rolled his eyes. "Shall we go to the bridgehead to play tonight?"
Zhang Guoqing nodded.
In the summer, the bridgehead is a great place, especially the stone bridges south of the Yangtze River. Every evening, after a day of hard work, the members of the commune would come out to enjoy the cool air, and the tireless children would chase each other, hugging each other's backs and knees.
The group went to the cafeteria and had a big meal. After tasting the delicious food, they stayed to chat with Lin Lishan and the others. Zhang Guoqing and his son and Yi Jiefang and the others took flashlights and went out with bamboo baskets.
The night sky is dotted with stars, a crescent moon hangs high in the sky, and the frogs croak one after another, one louder than the other, as if calling for something.
Beneath a withered, mottled jujube tree in the distance sat a few elderly men, their chests and arms bare, their swarthy complexions seemingly blending into the darkness. They fanned themselves with palm-leaf fans and talked about the Yang family's military commanders. Children gathered around the tree, leaning, sitting, riding, or climbing, listening intently, occasionally asking a question that would elicit a smile.
Whether in the north or the south, experienced elders always have endless stories to tell: heroes of the Three Kingdoms, soldiers and generals of the Yang family, and influential figures of their ancestors.
Walking along the country roads, you can see mothers gathered together everywhere, waving palm-leaf fans and slapping their bare arms and thighs from time to time to drive away mosquitoes.
Young girls and wives sat in front of the door, twisting ropes and chatting about family matters. Occasionally, a man passed by and said something dirty, which caused a burst of laughter and scolding.
A few men were sitting on the stone bridge, smoking their pipes, which emitted pungent blue smoke, and chatting about the current situation: how much food they could get, the roof that needed repairing, and occasionally calling out to the children playing in the river.
The arrival of the two adults and one child made people on and under the bridge stop talking, and friendly eyes suddenly focused on them, looking at them.
A middle-aged man asked with a smile, "Are you relatives of the workers over there? Quite a few of us work there too. Go have some fun, but be careful with the kids."
Zhang Guoqing finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the Mandarin spoken with a strong local accent. He said cheerfully, "Okay. Uncles, take your time chatting."
Without Zhou Jiao by their side, the biggest fear in a foreign land was the language barrier. The Jiangnan waterside village, the lotus pond at night, captivated Zhang Guoqing and his companions. Unfortunately, as a stranger suddenly entering a place, one would always draw the tentative gazes of the locals, which would be a loss of elegance.
"Shizi, please help look after the children. Don't let them go through deep water."
Even though Zhang Guoqing and the others could not speak the local dialect, they understood the meaning of each other's words and heard the other party's goodwill, and smiled at each other with Yi Jiefang.
That night, with these playful children, Xiao Ping'an quickly integrated into the group, just as he had in Jiangjia Village. Together, they went to the river to catch snails, fished for crayfish in the ditch, planted loaches in the fields, and hunted for fireflies. Even when bitten by a leech in the fields, he handled it calmly, astonishing his friends.
——This baby doesn’t look like a city kid at all!
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