Chapter 9: Fortune and Misfortune
Seeing him sigh, Mr. Zhou took out a stack of banknotes of varying denominations from his trouser pocket and stuffed them into Zhou's father's pocket:
"Second brother, it's going to happen anyway, so you should be more open-minded and just think of it as losing money to avoid disaster. I still have some money, you can use it to repair the eldest brother's house first. The kids are all grown up, and it's not good to squeeze into one room."
"Old man, I have money." Father Zhou quickly stuffed the money back into the old man's hand and whispered in his ear, "We didn't lose money on that cow. Chunyan got some bezoar out of it."
"Ah~" Mr. Zhou looked at him in surprise, a little bit unable to believe his ears, "Is there really such a good thing?"
Father Zhou nodded heavily, "It's absolutely true. The big ones are as big as eggs, and the small ones are slightly bigger than stones."
Although Grandpa Zhou had never seen it, he knew that bezoar was a treasure, and he rubbed his hands excitedly, "No wonder people say that fortune and misfortune go hand in hand, and bad things can turn into good things in the blink of an eye. Second brother, it seems that your family is about to change its luck."
"Old man, let's go in!" Father Zhou led the old man into the house and took out the bezoar. "Look, this is it. Chunyan said it's more valuable than gold!"
"It still smells like medicine! Take it and put it away!" The old man returned the bezoar to Zhou's father.
Father Zhou put it away and turned to look at him, "Chunyan is a thoughtful child. She even asked Lao Xiong to write a note. Old man, do you think Lao Xiong's family will come looking for us if they find out?"
"That bastard will definitely come looking for you if he finds out." Old Master Zhou warned solemnly, "Remember, don't show off your wealth. Only by keeping quiet can you make a fortune. Don't tell anyone about the bezoar."
Father Zhou nodded and said, "Now that I have money, I plan to build a brick and tile house when I renovate my house in the second half of the year. I will hire a kiln worker to burn the bricks and tiles myself. Although it is a bit hard, it can save a lot of money."
"If an old farmer doesn't save money, where will the money come from?" Old Master Zhou said with a sigh, "It takes a lot of firewood to burn the kiln, so cut more firewood and save it."
"I understand." Father Zhou looked at the old man whose hair was almost gone, and said, "Old man, you are old, and your legs are not as strong as before. I think you should stop herding sheep in the mountains after you sell them. If something happens to you, where can we find you?"
Mr. Zhou thought about his increasingly poor eyesight and was worried that he would really fall to his death in the mountains. His three sons would be criticized by the villagers. He nodded and said, "I'll listen to you. I won't keep the pet after I sell it."
Mother Zhou brought her daughter-in-law and carried the food into the main room, "Old man, I chopped some meatballs, you can come over to eat them in the next two days."
Beef offal stewed with radish, cold beef tongue, beef brain, and some beef were also served on the table one after another.
The table was full of delicious food, which was not even as good as during Chinese New Year. The children kept drooling as they looked at the food on the table.
Mr. Zhou smiled and nodded, "Yes, I have not eaten beef for more than ten years."
He likes staying at his second brother's house. Although life is a little difficult, the family is harmonious and the children are filial and don't look down on him as an old man.
Zhou Jiakang handed him the beef bone in his hand and said, "Old Ancestor, eat it."
Grandpa Zhou rubbed his head happily, "Eat well, I am too old to chew, you should eat more to grow taller."
Zhou Jialiang opened his mouth and pointed at his front teeth, "Grandpa, my teeth fell out before the New Year, and they have all grown out. Yours can grow out too."
Mr. Zhou laughed out loud, "The ancestor is old. If he grows more teeth, he will become a monster."
Zhou Huaian came out of the room and saw the old man's happy look. He smiled and walked into the main room, "Master, you're here!"
The old man looked at him, pulled him to sit down, and said earnestly: "Youngest, every failure is a learning experience. This time your mother, old man, and your brother will back you up, but you won't be so lucky next time."
Zhou Huaian nodded, "I understand. I will use my brain when doing things next time."
Zhou Huairong entered the main room carrying a wine jar, "Grandpa, would you like to have a drink tonight?"
The old man nodded, "Okay, take a sip."
Yang Chunyan and a few others set the table and decided to eat corn and whole grain rice tonight. The golden corn kernels and white rice looked delicious but irritated the throat when eaten.
The dipping sauce bowl contains dried chili powder, Sichuan pepper powder, black beans, coriander and green onions. Then scoop a spoonful of beef soup with butter floating in it into the dipping sauce. Mix well and dip a piece of beef offal in it. The taste is so delicious just thinking about it.
Grandpa Zhou picked up the chopsticks and said to the children, "Eat, eat."
Seeing him start eating, everyone started eating, and the children at the small square table also began to devour their food.
Everyone kept picking up the food and eating without even stopping to use their chopsticks.
Yang Chunyan looked at the main hall filled with the smell of smoke and recalled that in her previous life, after Zhou Huaian left, she sat alone in the main hall and had no taste for meat every meal.
Zhou Huaian glanced at his young wife and put a piece of stewed beef in her bowl, "Eat quickly!"
What a fool! There's a table full of delicious food but you don't even know how to pick up your chopsticks.
Yang Chunyan glanced at him and put a piece in his bowl.
After seeing this, Zhou's mother and father felt inexplicably relieved.
Li Qiuyue put Zhou Xiaolin on her knees and fed her a piece of stewed beef.
The old man picked up a meatball and put it in her bowl, "Eat this obediently."
Zhou Xiaolin smiled sweetly at him, "Old Ancestor eats meat, haha."
"Come," the old man waved to the kids at the small square table, "Come to my place and eat meatballs."
Father Zhou poured him a glass of wine and said, "Old man, they have meat to eat, don't worry about them."
"Grandpa, I like to eat this." Zhou Jialiang picked up a section of beef intestine, dipped it in the dipping water, and stuffed it into his mouth. "It's delicious, oily and fragrant, and it's chewed up in one bite."
The old man looked at them lovingly and said, "Okay, if you like it, eat more."
"I understand, ancestor." Several children said with puffed cheeks.
Yang Chunyan looked at them and felt that this was the way to live.
Zhou Jiakang said as he ate, "It's so delicious. I wish I could eat like this every day."
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "Look, you still want to eat it every day, it's good to be able to eat a full meal!"
"Eat as much as you can!" Father Zhou rolled his eyes at him and said unhappily, "I think you are a reincarnated rat. You can't store food overnight!"
Zhou Huaian was speechless. His status in this family was even lower than those children.
People these days eat less oil and water. More than a dozen people haven't eaten meat for a long time. In addition, they do physical work every day, so they can really eat a lot. They finished a whole pot of beef stewed with radish and beef liver before putting down their chopsticks in satisfaction.
Grandpa Zhou looked at his children and grandchildren with a smile. He also drank two glasses of wine, ate a large bowl of rice, beef dumplings, beef, tripe, and a bowl of beef and radish soup. He said with satisfaction: "This beef soup tastes great!"
The children also ate their fill, and all sat there with their bulging bellies, not wanting to move at all. They leaned contentedly against the table, listening to Zhou's father and Zhou Huairong's brothers discussing where to get the best wood.
Zhou's mother was worried that the children would have overeating, so she sent them out to the yard to play.
Father Zhou was worried that the old man had indigestion, so he shouted to the courtyard: "Jia Ming, take the old man to the courtyard to walk around a few times to help him digest his food!"
"Come on!" Zhou Jiaming ran in, "Grandpa, I'll lead you."
Grandpa Zhou smiled and waved his hands, "Don't listen to your grandfather, you are no better than me when it comes to going up the mountain!"
The old man and his great-grandson walked around the courtyard for a few times, then asked Zhou Huairong to take him back to Zhou Dachun's home where he lived.
Most of the houses in Funiu Brigade face west and east.
There are three brothers in Zhou's father's family. The eldest, Zhou Dachun, lives in the second room, which is about a few dozen meters away from the old house heading north. The third, Zhou Dashi, lives forty or fifty meters away from Zhou Dachun's house.
After the three brothers got married, the eldest brother Zhou Dachun's family lived the best life. His house was one of the three families living in brick and tile houses in Funiu Brigade.
In the evening, it was Yang Chunyan and Li Qiuyue's turn to wash the dishes. Zhao Huifang and Zhang Xiuxiang helped to put the dishes into the kitchen, and then went to pour hot water for the children to wash their faces and feet before going to bed.
The Zhou family’s earthen stove is a double-deck stove. The pot outside is smaller, and the one against the wall is a big pot, which is convenient for cooking pig food and feeding pigs.
Butter easily sticks to bowls, and there was no detergent those days, so Li Qiuyue boiled a pot of hot water. Yang Chunyan put the bowls in the pot, took a loofah and wiped the bowls one by one, then put them on the stove and Li Qiuyue washed them.
The dishwater from the pot was scooped into the slop bucket and used to feed the pigs.
Li Qiuyue glanced at Yang Chunyan and asked, "Are you going to accompany me to the county town to sell bezoar tomorrow?"
Yang Chunyan shook her head: "I don't know, the old man never told me."
Li Qiuyue said firmly: "I must ask you to go. I don't even know where to buy bezoar at home. If you go, please bring back two kilograms of straw paper for me."
The paper used by women these days is made from straw. The straw paper is yellow in color and has a rough texture, but it is cheap.
Yang Chunyan nodded, "Okay, I want to buy one too."
(End of this chapter)
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