Chapter 196 195: Keep your word
When passing by the brigade, the villagers who were chatting in the drying dam came to the side of the road, looking curiously at Zhou Huaishan sitting in the driving seat, the steel bars in the truck bed, and Zhou Huaian who was sleeping soundly inside.
"Hey, you see, the second branch of the Zhou family can even afford to buy steel bars to repair their house. The tide has turned, and now the second branch is on the rise, while the first branch has completely collapsed."
"If you ask me, the eldest branch has never been prosperous. His brick and tile house was built entirely with the bride price from the girls."
"Who would have thought that after paying the Xiong family a healthy cow, the Zhou family would not only not collapse, but actually rise in power."
"In addition to collecting eels, the second branch of the Zhou family is also collecting herbs. The old women in the team are all looking for plantain and verbena... to sell to his family."
"Mr. Zhou is really capable. He married a capable wife. Every day, he takes his sisters-in-law and their husbands to dig herbs and sell them for money."
"Damn it, I'm much more hardworking than Zhou Laoya, why can't I get a wife like this?"
"Tsk~ Are you as good-looking as Zhou Laoyao?"
A dozen children chased after the tractor that was rumbling forward, "Here comes the tractor, let's climb on it!"
The tractor swayed on the dirt road, raising large clouds of dust.
The adults caught up with them, grabbed the younger ones, and patted them a few times, "You idiots are all dust, what's the point of looking at a tractor!"
Zhou Huaian woke up from the laughter and realized that he had arrived at the team. He waved to the kid who was chasing after him and said, "Stop chasing. It will be troublesome if you get poked by the steel bar."
A few kids who were running fast were frightened by his fierce look and slowed down.
When they reached the fork in the road, the field road leading to Zhou's house was too narrow for a tractor to enter, so Zhou Huaishan jumped down.
The villagers gathered around, pointing at the steel bars and bicycles inside the tractor, and speaking with envy.
"Old Third, why did your family buy so many steel bars?"
Zhou Huaishan said cheerfully: "It is used to repair the house and make doors and windows."
"Yes, the windows in the new house built this year are larger than before. Steel bars are installed on the doors and windows. Once the windows and doors are opened, the room is bright and spacious, and there is no need to worry about thieves getting in."
"The Dasong family has started to build a kiln and repair the house. When can we live in a brick house?"
Zhou Huaian handed the bicycle to Zhou Huaishan. After the two brothers moved the things off the bicycle, they began to move the steel bars, with the help of enthusiastic villagers.
Zhou Huaian gave cigarettes to the helpers, gave the fare to the master, and said to Zhou Huaishan: "Third brother, you push the chicken bus back first, and then carry the steel bars."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaishan put the bamboo basket on the chicken cart and pushed it back home. Seeing that the courtyard door was closed tightly, he remembered that he was cutting rapeseed today, so he parked the cart and went to the back mountain.
As soon as I got to the foot of the mountain, I saw Zhou Jiakang, Zhou Xiaoru and others playing house there. "Jiakang, go and get grandma to get the key. We are back from pulling the steel bars."
"Oh!" Zhou Jiakang threw down the taro leaves and ran, "Grandma, grandma, my third uncle is back from buying steel bars and asked you to go back..."
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were busy in the rapeseed field. When they saw Zhou Jiakang running over and shouting, they stopped what they were doing. After understanding, Zhou's mother ran home happily.
Zhao Huifang pointed at Zhou's mother who was running very fast and said with a smile: "Look at me, I run faster than us."
"This is what it means to be in high spirits when something good happens!"
Zhou's mother took Zhou Jiakang back home. Zhou Xiaoru pointed at the chicken cart and said, "Grandma, I'm going to carry steel bars. I want you to push the chicken cart into the house."
"Yes, yes!" Zhou's mother happily opened the door and pushed the cart. Just as she pushed the cart to the backyard and put it away, Zhou Huaian came in carrying steel bars, "Mom, where should I put the steel bars?"
Mother Zhou took a look and said, "It's so long!" She thought for a moment and said, "Carry it to the backyard and put it against the wall so it won't take up too much space."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian went to the backyard to put down the steel bars and wiped his sweat, "Chunyan went to cut rapeseed?"
"We went there a long time ago. We have already harvested three mu of rapeseed." Zhou's mother moved the steel bars to the foot of the wall. "Are these the only ones?"
"There's more!" Zhou Huaian said and walked towards the gate of the courtyard.
Zhou Xiaoru and the others followed to the backyard, "Grandma, is this for us to build a new house?"
"Yes!" Zhou's mother took out a frayed handkerchief and wiped Zhou Xiaolin's nose. "My little one will have a big tiled house to live in next year!"
Zhou Xiaowen pulled her waistband and asked, "Grandma, are you guys staying here too?"
Zhou's mother touched her head and said, "Grandma and Grandpa, the ancestors live in the old house!"
"Grandma, bring grandpa and grandpa, we will live together!"
Zhou Xiaolin hugged one of her legs and looked at her, "I want to live with grandma!"
"My dear!" Zhou's mother hugged her and kissed her with relief, then touched the heads of her grandchildren.
The two brothers carried the steel bars back home in two trips and secured them with ropes to prevent them from getting wet and rusted by the rain.
Zhou's mother said to them, "When you come back, go and help cut rapeseed. I'll cook at home."
Zhou Huaishan nodded, "I'll go after I drink some water."
Zhou Huaian took out the money and the list from his waist pocket, "Tomorrow morning I want 20 kilograms of celery, 10 kilograms of melon, and tender pumpkin..."
Mother Zhou happily took the money and said, "The celery and coriander at home haven't grown yet, and there aren't enough eggs. I'll go call Chunyan and Huifang back to cook, and then go check on your third aunt."
"Well! You get all the food first. I'll go to Yiding's place and come back soon." Zhou Huaian said as he walked outside.
Zhou's mother knew that he was going to ask Zhou Yiding to share the money, so she didn't call him. She just muttered the names of the vegetables that Zhou Huaian had just mentioned and walked towards the backyard.
Yang Chunyan and Zhao Huifang picked some sweet potato stalks from the sweet potato field and took them home. They looked at the steel bars piled in the corner, then went to the kitchen to get a colander and went to the vegetable field to pick green peppers and choy sum.
The vegetables in the field had to be delivered to Ning An every day. The originally green vines became sparse, and it took two ridges of land to find a handful of green peppers.
Yang Chunyan looked around and said, "Sister-in-law, we can't even eat the green peppers anymore."
Zhao Huifang put the picked vine vegetables into a basket and said, "I just picked ten kilograms yesterday and sent them to Ning'an. I think there won't be enough red peppers to make bean paste this year. We should plant more vegetables next year to get business sending vegetables."
"After the rapeseed is harvested, you can sow a few acres of rapeseed and Chinese cabbage. Both of these vegetables grow fast."
"Yes, in half a month we will have cowpeas, green beans, winter melons, and bitter melons to eat."
"Huaian and I saw a bamboo forest on the mountain yesterday, and we picked up some bamboo fungus in the forest. There are also many bamboo shoots in the forest. When we have time, we will go up to the mountain and stay for two days to get some bamboo shoots and dry them, and also dig up the herbs from the ditch."
Zhao Huifang nodded. "We didn't find any herbs when we went out yesterday, and we didn't even pick up many fungi. But we did pick up a lot of the red mushrooms that no one wanted that you liked."
"Qiuyue said Huang Caigou wanted large figs, so we went to the forest you and Xiuxiang went to last time. When we got there, we found that there were no fruits on the trees."
Yang Chunyan picked a ripe tomato, wiped it, took a bite, and continued:
"There are many people picking mushrooms these days. All the mushrooms in the shallow mountains have been picked. Maybe some mushroom pickers saw them and picked them home to feed their children. I did see two in the forest farm, but Huai'an and Yiding were busy hunting, so I didn't have time to pick them."
Zhao Huifang smiled and said, "Huaian has been really hardworking recently. He even gets up at 2 a.m. to deliver things to the city. In the past, this would have been something he could never have dreamed of!"
"Okay, you two are saying bad things about me behind my back!" Zhou Huaian stood by the vegetable field without knowing when.
Yang Chunyan glared at him in reproach, "Fool, of course I have to say bad things about you behind your back!"
Zhou Huaian glanced at her and said with a hint of meaning: "Alas, I have been busy for more than a month without realizing it!"
(End of this chapter)
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