Chapter 53: Fu Jingyou, the one who carries the load
"Got it. I'll do it as soon as possible."
"Um!"
Only after receiving a firm reply did Lu Miao feel satisfied.
Pulling the small basket on the table and shaking it, she stood up proudly, "The green apricots are picked for me, I'll take them!"
Fu Jingyou nodded.
Lu Miao asked tentatively: "I guess this little basket was made for me, so I took it too?"
"Um."
Lu Miao wanted a hat and a bamboo hat, but she didn't ask for a bamboo basket. However, when they went out together before, she always carried things in her hands, and Fu Jingyou had always noticed it.
When cutting bamboos to weave the bamboo hat, Fu Jingyou had an estimate in his mind and cut two more bamboos to weave into the bamboo basket.
Lu Miao fiddled with the small basket, feeling extremely satisfied. "Then I'll be leaving. See you later!"
Fu Jingyou just nodded, then raised his hand and shouted, "Wait."
Lu Miao looked back blankly, "What else?"
"shoe."
Fu Jingyou went around the door and took Lu Miao's cloth shoes from the stove.
The cloth shoes had been scrubbed clean, and the water stains had long been dried by the fire in the stove. Fu Jingyou bent slightly and gently placed the shoes in front of Lu Miao.
To be honest, Lu Miao was stunned for a moment, but soon she changed her shoes and stepped back out the door. "Okay, I'm really leaving this time! You sit down, I don't need you to see me off."
Fu Jingyou took a step forward but before he could put his foot firmly on the ground, he restrained himself and retracted his foot. He nodded barely audible, "Hmm," and said, "Go ahead. Be careful when passing through the bamboo forest."
Lu Miao clutched the bamboo basket and ran out of the yard. The backyard kitchen suddenly became deserted. Fu Jingyou was a little uncomfortable with this, but before he could make any move, the person who had disappeared at the door a second ago suddenly popped his head back out, "Fu Jingyou!"
"Hmm?" Fu Jingyou straightened up. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing, I just forgot to tell you that there's a lot of ginger in the small package I brought. We can't eat that much right away, so you can pick some! See if you can plant the ones with the most buds."
"good."
"I'm really leaving this time!"
Lu Miao was clever and quirky, giggling with bright eyes and white teeth, sticking out his tongue seriously while talking, and running away playfully and happily.
The back door was empty again. Fu Jingyou slowly raised his big hand and rubbed his forehead with a sense of loss. Just when he felt a little disappointed, someone suddenly knocked on the front door.
"Jingyou? Are you in the room?"
Soon, Chen Guifen's voice came.
"Yes." Fu Jingyou responded and hurried to the front room to unbolt the door. "Auntie, why are you here?"
"You kid, tell me..."
Chen Guifen carried an old basket into the house and placed the crispy and tender cowpeas in the basket on the large table in the main hall. She turned around and asked Fu Jingyou:
"What have you been doing lately? Not coming home for dinner is fine, but why are you nowhere to be seen all day?"
Fu Jingyou's eyes flickered, and after a long silence he answered truthfully, "I went to Yanji."
"You went to Yanji?"
Chen Guifen was shocked.
Fu Jingyou said slowly, "I heard there was work at the dock over there, so I went over to take a look. I can do some more work before the busy farming season starts."
There were also recruitments in the 1970s, but unlike the stable "iron rice bowl" in state-owned industries, without a diploma and no one to recommend you, the only jobs you could find were hard and physically demanding.
Normally in the team, He Hongjin and his wife were very strict about what they said. No one in the production team said anything about Fu Jingyou, but everyone knew Fu Jingyou's background.
In order to avoid conflicts and public outrage, He Hongjin and his wife never showed favoritism towards Fu Jingyou in their daily work.
For the same work, other strong laborers in the team could earn eight to ten work points a day. However, Fu Jingyou had a special background, and according to convention, even if he completed his task well, he would only get half the work points as others.
Those work points were not enough to support a grown man. He Hongjin and his wife did intend to take care of him, but Fu Jingyou was such a grown man after all, with healthy hands and feet. How could he feel at ease relying on them for support?
A few years ago, Fu Jingyou had already had the experience of working outside.
"Yanji is separated from Nanhu Town by a river, so it's a strange place after all. Your background..."
Afraid that Fu Jingyou wouldn't like what she said, Chen Guifen sighed and changed the subject, "Auntie is worried that something might happen to you outside. Your uncle and I are far away and don't know what the situation is. What should you do then?"
"Aunt, I have considered all that you said, but I am already twenty-one years old. I am not a child anymore."
Fu Jingyou was silent for a while, and finally spoke frankly:
"You and uncle can't protect me forever. There will always be a time when I have to stand on my own."
When Fu Jingyou went out to "do the work" this time, his words were mixed with truth and lies.
What he did had certain risks, and it wasn't just this time, every time in the future would be the same.
He was aware of his situation, so after returning to the production team, he never went to the He family again. He just wanted to gradually distance himself from the He family.
If he can become a useful person, then he will have the opportunity to repay the He family in the future.
But if someone unfortunately gets hold of something...
He can do whatever he wants. The He family has done him a favor, and he absolutely cannot implicate the He family.
Thinking about it, Fu Jingyou said slowly: "Aunt, from now on I will cook at home and eat, and I won't go to your place anymore."
Chen Guifen's heart was filled with alarm. "Damn boy, did you cause trouble outside?"
"……No."
"Why didn't you say this? Can you cook?"
Chen Guifen asked suspiciously, "I didn't ask you to eat at my house every day. I just worried you couldn't cook well, so I went over occasionally to improve the food. What's the matter? Did your uncle and I offend you?"
Now that this has been said, what else can Fu Jingyou say?
Fu Jingyou shook his head like a rattle and could not say anything except the word "no".
Others think that Fu Jingyou has a wild temper and is not afraid of being beaten or scolded. Even when he was beaten to a bloody pulp in the past, he became more courageous after each setback.
Everyone else was afraid of him, but Chen Guifen was the one who almost raised him, and she knew his character very well.
He has a cold temper, but he is also filial and obedient.
Chen Guifen's words showed that she was sure of Fu Jingyou's inner honesty and sincerity.
"You're not young anymore, and you need to save enough to get married. I won't stop you from going out to do some work, but I've got to say hello every time you go out. Do you understand?"
Fu Jingyou nodded silently.
Chen Guifen raised him like her own child, speaking with the intensity of an elder's teaching. "If you want to try cooking yourself, go ahead and try it first, but that doesn't stop you from coming over to eat. If I call you over, you still have to go over, understand?"
"Um."
Unable to refuse, Fu Jingyou could only respond sullenly.
But although I agreed, what I would do next is a matter for the future.
"Jingyou, I won't hide it from you. Over the years, your uncle and I have treated you as our own child."
Chen Guifen was satisfied, picked up the empty basket and prepared to go home. When she reached the main hall door, she turned around and said:
"Tell us what you need. There's no rush to save money. Your uncle and your eldest and second brothers said that this is their share of the money."
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