Chapter 10 It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality
[Friendly reminder, this is a chapter with a strong flavor, please do not read it while eating^_^]
After returning from Deng Yunqiang's house, Deng Shirong, who hadn't gone to the toilet for two days, finally couldn't hold it anymore, so he picked up a shit cake and walked towards the village's shit lake.
Both "shit cake" and "shit lake" are transliterations of the Hakka dialect. The so-called "shit cake" is a bamboo stick used to scrape the buttocks. In the countryside at that time, no one would use toilet paper to wipe their buttocks. They all used this kind of polished thornless bamboo sticks.
This kind of bamboo stick is about the width of a finger and about the same length and thickness as chopsticks.
As for the Shit Lake, it is the public toilet of this era.
Nowadays, people in rural areas all live in mud brick houses, and there are no toilets in their homes. At most, they simply enclose an area for bathing, and then put a small water tank inside. This thing is not used for bath water, but for urine.
If you want to defecate, you have to go to the village’s public toilet - Shit Lake.
When he arrived at the Shit Lake, Deng Shirong coughed first.
There is a reason for this cough, because the shit lake now is just surrounded by a half-person-high bamboo fence and there is no door lock, so it is hard to tell whether there is anyone squatting inside, so people who come to squat will usually cough as a reminder.
If there is someone squatting inside, just respond with a cough.
Moreover, the shit lake nowadays does not distinguish between men and women. If you rush in without warning, and you meet a man in there, it’s okay, everyone can squat together.
But if you happen to see lesbians squatting in the toilet, and you rush in as a man, the scene will be very embarrassing!
Therefore, when female comrades in this era squat in the toilet, they must not only act quickly and decisively, but also keep their eyes and ears open. Once they hear footsteps outside, they must immediately cough to give a reminder.
Deng Shirong coughed, and when no one responded, he held his breath, moved the bamboo fence aside, walked in, and then closed it casually.
Even though he had prepared himself mentally, Deng Shirong still found it hard to accept the place in front of him where there was nowhere to stand, especially when he started to breathe. The indescribable smell came into his nose, and the smell was really unbearable.
If Deng Shirong hadn't been unable to hold it back any longer, he really wanted to turn around and leave.
At this moment, he really understood the saying: It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.
In their previous life, they went to Shit Lake to squat on the toilet, which lasted until 1989 when they built a new house. By then, everyone had already gotten used to the smell of Shit Lake and didn’t feel it was that bad.
However, Deng Shirong's family built a septic tank after 1989 and had an independent bathroom, and after 2008 they even started using a flush toilet.
Later, after his eldest grandson taught him how to use a smartphone, he would sit on the toilet and read novels for half an hour.
How comfortable was it to go to the toilet at that time?
Look at it now. Everywhere you step is either shit or urine. There are countless tons of shit and urine in the shit pit behind your butt. There are countless shit worms crawling around in the shit and urine. The pungent smell is trying hard to drill into your nose. The scene is so disgusting.
It would be strange if Deng Shirong could easily accept such a strong contrast.
Deng Shirong only took less than a minute to finish squatting on the toilet. This speed was extremely rare in his career.
After pulling up his trousers, he rushed out.
Even though I was in there for less than a minute, my clothes were already smelling faintly of shit.
At this moment, Deng Shirong made up his mind that after making money, he would build a house first and put everything else on hold, otherwise life would be too hard to endure!
He came back to enjoy himself, but he didn't want to suffer squatting in the toilet every day.
…
At night, under the bright moonlight, Deng Shirong and his children sat at the doorstep to enjoy the cool air. Each of them held a fan and kept driving away mosquitoes.
Thinking of his children who had just eaten porridge with pickles for another day, Deng Shirong asked, "Ah Zhen, will the rice at home be available?"
Deng Yunzhen has been the cook for the past few years. She knows exactly how long the oil, salt, rice and noodles in the house can last. She answered without thinking, "Of course. At the current rate we eat, it should last about three more months."
Deng Shirong felt relieved when he heard this and said, "That's good. When you get up tomorrow to cook porridge, put more rice in it and scoop out half a basin of rice. I'll go to the brigade to get some pork and fry it for you."
When they heard that they would have pork to eat tomorrow, the children were all excited.
The eldest son, Deng Yuntai, couldn't help but ask, "Dad, what day is tomorrow?"
Deng Shirong was filled with emotion after hearing this. People in that era were really poor. Meat was basically only available during festivals and some special days, unlike in later generations when people would eat meat every day until they got tired of it.
He smiled and said, "I helped Changfu to be a matchmaker today and got a red envelope of three dollars, so I plan to buy some meat to treat you guys."
Deng Yunzhen was surprised and asked, "Dad, when did you start matchmaking for others?"
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She is already 18 years old this year, which is the right age for marriage in this era, so she has some understanding of blind dates and knows that the matchmaker can only get the red envelope if he arranges for the man and the woman to meet.
Normally speaking, if a matchmaker wants to arrange for a man and a woman to meet, he or she must run back and forth countless times. There are very few people like Deng Shirong who can arrange for the two to meet on the same day as they propose.
"It started this morning."
Deng Shirong then briefly recounted the matchmaking process today, and finally said, "Your brother Yunqiang should be here soon. If he can borrow money from relatives smoothly this afternoon, then Changfu will probably be able to bring his wife home in no time!"
Deng Shirong had just finished speaking when he saw someone walking towards their house with an oil lamp in the distance. When they got closer, they saw that it was none other than Deng Yunqiang.
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"Uncle Nine."
"Brother Yunqiang."
After greeting each other, Deng Yunzhen handed over the hookah and tobacco and said, "Brother Yunqiang, light the hookah first."
This is also a feature of the times. When guests come to your door, handing over the hookah and tobacco is the best way to entertain them.
Deng Yunqiang said yes, then took the pipe and the tobacco, and after puffing on two pipes, he started talking about business: "Uncle Jiu, I went to my eldest sister's house this afternoon, and my wife also went back to her parents' home. I finally got enough money together. I'd like to trouble you to help me match it up tomorrow!"
Deng Shirong nodded and said, "No problem. I will go to discuss this with the girl's family after breakfast tomorrow. I will try to arrange for someone to watch over the family before the production team harvests the rice. After the harvest, we will pick an auspicious day to register for marriage. I will definitely not let you, the daughter-in-law, miss out on the distribution of land by the production team."
Deng Yunqiang thought that if his family could get more land, and if his son and daughter-in-law worked hard, maybe his grandchildren would be able to catch this train, so he patted his chest and promised: "Uncle Jiu, if this is successful, I will definitely give you a big red envelope."
Deng Shirong laughed and said, "Okay, then I'll wait for your big red envelope."
After finishing the business, Deng Yunqiang stayed to chat for a few more minutes before going home contentedly with the oil lamp in his hand.
(End of this chapter)