Chapter 167 Half of Half
"Uncle Chen, Aunt Xi, are you home?"
"Oh, I'm at home."
Grandma Xi, who was having breakfast inside, responded and hurried to the door to see who had come.
Wang Suhua looks so different now than before that she didn't recognize her.
"Who are you? What business do you have with us?"
Wang Suhua smiled warmly, "Aunt Xi, I'm Suhua, Alan's junior high school classmate. I've been to your house before, don't you remember?"
Grandma Xi tried hard to recall before she could barely remember.
"Oh right, it's Suhua. I haven't seen you for over ten years. I didn't expect you to have changed so much."
It's only been a few years since we last met, but you and Alan look like you're from two different generations now.
If she hadn't introduced herself, she would never have guessed that this was Alan's former classmate, no matter how hard she tried.
Although she didn't know why she had suddenly come looking for her, she still welcomed Wang Suhua in, since all guests are guests.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Grandma Xi asked:
"Suhua, what brings you here?"
Wang Suhua smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Aunt Xi, it's nothing much. Alan just said that you all work too hard in the fields at home, and she can't come back to help, so she asked me to come and help out for a few days."
Upon hearing this, Grandma Xi and Grandpa Chen showed indescribable relief on their faces.
Alan is such a thoughtful child.
However, the two still refused, saying, "No need, you're busy too. She's being inconsiderate by bothering you. We'll definitely talk to her properly later."
Wang Suhua waved her hand and said, "No trouble at all, I've finished all my chores at home. Besides, Alan helped me out too."
"Uncle Chen, Aunt Xi, please don't refuse, otherwise I won't know how to explain it to Alan later."
"This..." The two of them hesitated upon hearing this.
Wang Suhua said several more words, and when she went out, she had already carried the Chen family's basket on her back, picked up a hoe, and went to the fields with them.
After a full day of work, Grandma Xi asked her why she had come to help. Wang Suhua smiled and said:
“Alan paid me to help out. He gives me three thousand yuan a month.”
Of course, the three thousand yuan was fake; Chen Fanglan and she had agreed on one thousand yuan.
However, considering the close relationship between Chen Fanglan and her, she added fuel to the fire for Chen Fanglan, promising that after three months, the old couple would definitely think less about farming.
Upon hearing that they would be offered 3,000 yuan a month to help with farming at their home, Grandma Xi and Grandpa Chen were so distressed that they almost fainted.
What? Three thousand a month?
They farm the land all year round, and they don't even know if they can sell the grain for three thousand yuan.
She came to help with the farming, and she still asks for 3,000 a month?
However, looking at the smiling Wang Suhua, the elderly couple couldn't bring themselves to do it and could only swallow their bitter pill.
After watching Wang Suhua leave, Grandma Xi immediately picked up the phone and called Chen Fanglan.
Chen Fanglan had just finished get off work and was walking on the street when she received a call from Grandma Xi.
She neither answered nor hung up, letting the phone ring.
Grandma Xi called three or four times, but she didn't answer.
In a great mood, she returned to her rented apartment, had dinner with Shen Xuewei, and took a shower before picking up her phone and calling back.
The call connected quickly. "Alan, Alan, what's going on? Why did you call someone to come to our house to farm?"
Chen Fanglan pinched her neck, pretending to be very tired.
"Mom, I was thinking that you're at home farming, and I can't go back to help, so I asked her to go in my place. What's wrong?"
Grandma Xi had a lot to say, "What's wrong? You don't have to spend your money like this! If you don't have time to come back, your dad, grandma, and I can grow our own crops. Weiwei can also help out when she comes back..."
"Why would you spend so much money to have outsiders help you farm?"
Chen Fanglan said innocently, "It's not just me, there's also A-Yang's share. Mom, just tell me, isn't she efficient at her job?"
Grandma Xi said irritably, "What's the use of being quick? It's just farming, why would we need outsiders' help?"
Compared to her eagerness, Chen Fanglan seemed much more relaxed.
She even had the idea of rummaging through the drawer to find nail polish, planning to paint her nails later.
"Oh, Mom, I'm doing this for your own good, aren't I? Don't you always say that Ah Yang and I don't have time to spend with you, and there's no one to help with the farming?"
"Anyway, you've been keeping the money A-Yang and I give you every month without ever using it. Since that's the case, A-Yang and I will just take out this money and hire someone to do chores at home. If you need anything, just have her help you."
"It's a win-win situation, isn't that great! You'll have someone to accompany you when you go to the fields, and Ah Yang and I can feel at ease when we're out here."
Upon hearing that the money they received each month would still be used to hire people to do the work, Grandma Xi's hands trembled with heartache.
"But... you don't need to give so much money..."
"Oh, Mom, I've already talked to her. Besides, she's a pitiful person. How can you be so heartless... Anyway, we farm so much land, wouldn't it be good to have someone help us?"
Grandma Xi stretched the telephone cord out to the floor and sat down, sighing sadly, and finally said what Chen Fanglan wanted to hear.
"Alan, if we're not going to farm so much land anymore, could you please not waste money inviting your friends over..."
Chen Fanglan smiled smugly, "Mom, how much to plant is 'less'? I'll decide based on the situation."
Does that mean if she plants even a little more, she'll be dissatisfied and hire someone to do it?
Grandma Xi muttered something to herself and pulled Grandpa Chen over to discuss it together.
She and her grandfather were discussing things on one end, while Chen Fanglan waited for them to talk on the other.
After the two had discussed it, Grandma Xi handed the phone to Grandpa Chen.
Grandpa Chen sighed softly, "Alan, your mother and I have discussed it, and we'll only plant half of the land from now on, not the rest."
Upon hearing her grandfather's voice, Chen Fanglan's relaxed body tensed up for a moment.
Then she quickly realized that Grandpa Chen couldn't do anything about her anymore, and she relaxed.
She did the math in her head: half of what it is now... isn't that still a lot?
She hadn't forgotten that her parents had borrowed land from other families to cultivate more land.
Take the paddy fields, for example. Originally, the family only had seven or eight mu, but the two of them borrowed two mu from others to make up ten mu of paddy fields to grow rice.
Add to that the corn, soybeans, and other miscellaneous things we grow at home, and it's quite a lot...
She mustered her courage and said, "No, that's still too much. Dad, at most it can be half of half, and it can only be our land, not the land you borrowed from other families. If you don't agree, I'll have to hire someone to help with the planting."
Before Grandpa Chen could speak, Grandma Xi, who was listening nearby, exclaimed in surprise.
"Half of half? That means it's less than ten acres, only six or seven acres left?"
Chen Fanglan feigned ignorance and acted spoiled: "Oh? Is that so? Then it's like this, seven mu of land as the limit, including the vegetable garden. Anyway, you can only plant this much. If you plant more, I'll have to pay someone to come to my house to help."
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