Chapter 11: Uncle’s Shield
“Why is there so much money?” Zhang Huihong asked in disbelief.
Zhang Ze's heart skipped a beat when he was asked this question. Oh no, he forgot that the bucket could only hold a few fish, and he couldn't sell them for that much money.
His mind raced, and in an instant he thought of a suitable excuse: "Business was good, so I caught some fish from the river next to the county town and continued to sell them. As a result, I sold so many."
"Is that so? Mom is saving this money for you to use when you marry a wife!"
Zhang Huihong happily handed more than nine yuan to Zhang Ze and kept the remaining forty yuan.
When he heard about getting married, he felt somewhat helpless.
Zhang Ze had naturally thought about this problem. His marriage in his previous life made him distrustful of marriage, but he was a person of this era after all. Even though he understood the thoughts of young people in later generations, he still felt that getting married and continuing the family line was a big deal.
How could the new idea of not getting married possibly influence him, who was born when the People's Republic of China was founded?
Therefore, he didn't mind marrying a nice woman to warm his bed based on his later memories.
In later life, when he got older, he had no feelings for women.
But now I am back to my youth, my body is restless! I can't let my girlfriend go fishing and add to the fishy feeling?
Unfortunately, after thinking about it, he couldn't figure out which daughter-in-law would be suitable for the role, so he decided to put the marriage matter on hold.
Maybe when I am able to do business and become a millionaire, I will have a wider range of choices and be able to find a good one.
"Mom, I'm not in a hurry to get married. I will continue to sell fish and I will definitely have money. Now the main thing is to arrange for Qian and the others to go to school. It's better for them to learn a few words than not knowing a single word at all now."
When they heard the reading, the three little ones all pricked up their ears.
But Zhang Qian looked a little hesitant: "Brother, I am this old, can I still read?"
Zhang Ze looked at this quiet sister and seemed to discover the hidden hope in her eyes.
"What does studying have to do with age? If you study well, you can still go to college. I saw many girls your age starting to study in the county today."
"Reading can help you gain knowledge and expand your horizons. It is useful even if you don't go to college."
Zhang Huihong was annoyed when she heard this and said, "Ah Qian is already 18 years old and is old enough to get married. Ah Qing is also 15 years old and will have to get married in a few years. How can they have time to read this book?"
"Awu is still young, so it's okay to let him study, so he doesn't have to roll around in the mud all day long."
"Besides, it costs several dollars a year to go to school. I don't know if you can really get such a good education by selling fish. My family may not be able to afford it."
As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang Qian and Zhang Qing immediately lowered their heads, with inevitable disappointment on their faces. It seemed that they really wanted to study.
Although Zhang Huihong is usually very good to her two daughters, she is from the countryside after all. She does not have enough experience and does not realize that studying is the only way for most rural people to turn their lives around.
Even Zhang Ze himself would not realize the role of reading if he had not experienced the 21st century.
He originally wanted to refute his mother, but then he remembered that the wind of openness had already blown, and next year the household contract responsibility system would bring about earth-shaking changes in both rural areas and county towns.
It would be easier to persuade him then, so he changed his tone and said, “Well, I sell fish now, and sometimes I need to learn to read when I go to the county town to do something.”
"I'm going to buy some books to study on my own. Qian and Qing can study with me first. We can talk about the future later."
"Tomorrow I'll go to the scrap yard and pick up some books. It won't cost much to buy some exercise books and pens."
This made Zhang's mother hesitate for a moment. Seeing that both daughters were looking at her expectantly, she couldn't help but smile and pinched their smooth faces: "Okay, you can just follow your brother and learn by yourselves."
"That's great, thank you, Mom!" The two girls hugged their mother happily.
Only Zhang Wu stood there with a foolish smile on his face, not knowing what was going on. After all, he was born in a special era, and none of his friends around him went to school, so he didn't quite understand the meaning of studying.
"Okay, okay, you're already grown-up girls but still so clingy. Mom will make some lard for you." Zhang Huihong patted her two daughters on the back, then let them go and started to process the lard.
"Mom, let me help you light the fire." Zhang Qian took the initiative to go forward to help, and Zhang Qing followed behind.
Zhang Ze sat on a stool to rest. After eating, he had to take a nap in the afternoon to get enough rest to continue fishing in the evening.
Zhang Wu was so craving for meat that he was standing next to the stove, staring at the lard and drooling.
"See how greedy you are. When the lard is ready, I'll let you be the first to taste it." Zhang Huihong was cutting lard. Seeing him like this, she couldn't help but reached out and touched his forehead to tease him, leaving an oil mark.
"Thank you, Mom!" Zhang Wu grinned foolishly.
The lard is cut into small pieces, blanched to remove the fishy smell, and then put into the pot to refine the oil.
After making money, the family is full of little greedy people, and Zhang Huihong is very efficient at work.
After a while, the oil pan kept making a sizzling sound, and more and more lard was fried until golden and floated on the oil.
The fragrance also filled the air, refreshing the heart, and the rich pork aroma soon spread out of the house.
Even with the doors and windows closed, the smell cannot be blocked, and much of it drifts up the chimney.
"It's not a festival, who's making lard?"
Some neighbors curiously walked out of the house to trace the source of the smell, and found that it came from Zhang Ze's house, which surprised them.
"How can their family afford to buy pork? How can they not live like this?"
"Today I saw Zhang Ze carrying a lot of stuff. Did he buy it in town?"
"How can they afford to buy pork? And pork requires tickets, where do they get them?"
Just as a group of people were discussing, the door of Zhang's house suddenly opened, and Zhang Huihong came out holding a small bowl filled with freshly fried oil residue.
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"Hey, Alan, A Cui, you're all here. I was just about to go to your house!"
"Come on, share these greasy residues. Aze caught a fish yesterday, and his uncle likes to eat fish, so I asked him to deliver it to him."
"Who would have thought that his uncle felt sorry for the children and knew that they hadn't eaten meat for a long time, so he asked Aze to bring some meat back."
"You guys usually take good care of me. This year I made some oil residue. You can quickly give it to the children to taste."
Everyone suddenly realized that it was Zhang Ze's uncle who gave the meat, so it was not surprising.
They all knew the Zhang family's situation, and the two uncles were really good to their family.
Although the neighbors refused it verbally, they were actually very greedy for the small bowl of oil residue. After all, life was hard for everyone and they had no oil in their stomachs.
In the end, each family got a little bit, just to satisfy the children's cravings.
In fact, Zhang Huihong was reluctant to give up these oil residues. Although the relationship with the neighbors was indeed good, they would not give any good things to their children. This was Zhang Ze's request.
He knows very well that life at home will get better and better in the future, so in order to avoid causing others to be jealous and secretly report you, you can only give them something to maintain good relations, as hush money.
As for the elder uncle, he had used him as an excuse when selling fish before, so it would be okay to continue using it this time. At worst, he could replace him with the younger uncle next time. Otherwise, others would not know the specific circumstances of his two uncles.
As for the excuse being different from the one Zhang Zegang gave to others when he returned to the village, that doesn’t matter. Just don’t let people know that the money was earned from selling fish.
"Brother, you bought all the meat, you should be the first to eat it!" At the dining table in the house, Zhang Wu picked up a piece of braised pork and gave it to Zhang Ze, while he swallowed his saliva with greed.
"Oh, Awu is so sensible today!" Zhang Ze teased, then picked up the meat.
Seeing that his brother's eyes were fixed on the meat he picked up, he suddenly felt a sense of evil.
Even though he is in his 40s and 50s mentally, a man is a young man until he dies, and when he is old he is just a child.
Not to mention that his body became younger after his rebirth, which also made him mentally younger.
"Since you are such a good and sensible brother, I will give you the first piece of meat today."
"real?"
Zhang Wu's eyes lit up when he saw his elder brother putting the meat directly to his mouth. He could no longer control himself and opened his mouth to bite it, but ended up biting nothing.
Then he watched helplessly as the meat was eaten by his own brother.
"Puchi~" Seeing their brother looking like he had lost his soul, Zhang Qian and Zhang Qing laughed out loud immediately.
At this time, Zhang Huihong had also finished distributing the oil residue. She walked into the house and saw her two daughters laughing so happily. She couldn't help but ask, "What are you laughing at?"
Before the two girls could answer, Zhang Wu complained with a sad face: "Mom, my brother played a trick on me"
Zhang Huihong knew not whether to laugh or cry after understanding the situation. She slapped him lightly on the back of his head and said, "Okay, a big plate of braised pork and a big plate of greasy residue is not enough for you?"
(End of this chapter)
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