RBCT Chapter 72 You gave me a papaya, I returned a precious jade.
Chapter 72 You gave me a papaya, I returned a precious jade.
After separating from Liu Guangtian,
Zhang Chengfei did not go straight back to the courtyard house. Instead, he circled around the area to make sure no one he knew saw him interacting with the other person before heading back towards the courtyard house.
Stepping into the courtyard, passing the screen wall, and through the hanging flower gate to the front yard, Yan Bugui pretended to water the flowers, but the area where he was sweeping was empty.
While most households in Beijing now have electric lights, the Yan family still insists on using candles because electricity is too expensive. Their habit is to blow out the candles at 8:30 pm in the summer and 7:30 pm in the winter.
Of course, turning off the lights doesn't necessarily mean you'll go to sleep. If you really can't sleep, you can chat in the dark, stare blankly, or do something else.
Do you really think Old Yan had four children because the couple had a good relationship? It's just because they had nothing to do after turning off the lights, and the couple had nothing better to do...
In short, no matter what you do after lights out, you have to save money on candles first. The saying "You won't go poor from eating or dressing, but you will if you don't plan ahead" is Uncle San's consistent motto.
Zhang Chengfei turned his gaze from the Yan family's doorway to his own, and in the bright moonlight, he noticed two people squatting in front of the chicken coop.
One of them, with a watermelon-shaped haircut, is none other than the infamous Thief Saint of all realms, the Chicken Thief with Stick-like Creatures.
Zhang Chengfei wasn't afraid of the legendary thief stealing his chickens. He strolled over and said, "Hey, what are you doing in front of the chicken coop with your sister so late at night?"
Banggeng looked up at him: "Great-Grandpa, Second Uncle ate fried eggs again today. I asked for some of their broken eggshells to feed the chickens..."
"You can feed chickens with eggshells?" Zhang Chengfei raised an eyebrow.
Banggeng nodded: "After eating the eggshell, the chicken lays bigger and better eggs."
Zhang Chengfei thought for a moment and asked, "Do you know why this is happening?"
Banggeng and Xiaodang shook their heads at the same time. Zhang Chengfei told them that there is calcium in eggshells, and chickens eat eggshells to supplement calcium, which is why the eggs they lay are of higher quality.
The two little ones know about calcium; their mother had bought them calcium supplements before. Upon hearing this, they nodded, indicating that they understood.
Ever since the two old hens came to the yard, Banggeng and Xiaodang have been taking care of them. Every day after school, they would chop up rotten vegetable leaves, mix them with wheat bran that Zhang Chengfei had found, and feed them to the hens.
Although the other party was only there to divide the eggs, they did a good job. Zhang Chengfei decided to reward the two of them. He first patted their heads and told them that the purpose of going to school was not only to know what to do, but also to know why to do it.
Seeing the two nod, he reached into his pocket, his hand just touching the candy, then stopped. In times of scarcity, people have an extra sweet tooth.
If I give them candy now, the two kids will definitely not let it last overnight. In that case, how am I supposed to increase my dislike rating?
He put the candy back, looking at Banggeng and Xiaodang's disappointed faces: "Tomorrow morning, go to Great-Grandpa for the candy. Three sour, three-colored pieces each, as a reward for feeding the chickens well these past few days. Keep up the good work, and you'll get plenty of benefits in the future!"
The two children ate the flatbread and laughed so hard they showed their teeth.
Banggeng even exclaimed that his great-grandfather was kind to him, giving him a papaya, and that when he grew up, he would repay him with a precious jade.
Zhang Chengfei was shocked. The Thief Saint is so cultured? This is abnormal!
Banggeng scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, and explained that he had heard this from his grandmother.
"Your grandmother has this level of education?" Zhang Chengfei asked skeptically.
"My grandma was reciting her lessons at home. When she got to this part, she asked my dad what it meant. My dad explained it to me, and I overheard it," Banggeng said.
Zhang Chengfei was even more surprised: "Your grandmother is still in school?"
Ever since Zhang Erya started working as a temporary worker in the factory, he had a better way to gain her dislike, so he stopped forcing her to study.
I thought that without my supervision and the money I paid for her literacy lessons, Er Ya would have given up. But surprisingly, my chubby niece is still persisting!
Little Dang said in his childish voice, "Great-Grandpa, my grandma reads and studies every day. She said that she used to think that knowing how to read was useless, but now she has found that it is useful, so she has to learn it and live up to her identity as a worker."
Banggeng also said, "My grandma also said that she wants to learn many characters so that when the neighborhood office conducts the literacy campaign inspection, she can redeem herself and slap those people in the yard who called her a shrew in the face!"
Zhang Chengfei was stunned.
An older woman who came out to get a chamber pot overheard this and sighed softly, "Poverty makes people lose their ambition, and a thin horse has a long mane. Now that Jia Zhangshi has hope for the future, her spirit has returned to three-tenths of what it was when she was young."
Zhang Chengfei looked over and asked curiously, "What did Er Ya look like when she was young?"
"Back then, when she had just married Old Jia, she was a very energetic person. She was the best at embroidery and shoe sole making in the whole courtyard. She couldn't fall behind anyone in anything. Her temper wasn't as eccentric as it is now. Although she was materialistic and liked to take advantage of others, she wasn't as extreme as she is now."
Everything changed after Lao Jia passed away.
"It's tough for a woman to raise a child alone after her husband dies," the woman sighed, then couldn't help but feel sad. "But then again, with a child, there's something to strive for, something to hope for."
Zhang Chengfei lowered his eyes, and when he looked up again, his words carried a hidden meaning: "Since this old lady is so insightful, didn't she think of taking my old man to the hospital for a checkup?"
The older woman didn't understand. She only said that she had seen doctors, taken a lot of medicine, and spent a lot of money, but it was all useless.
Zhang Chengfei emphasized, "That's why I said I should let my uncle go to the hospital to get checked out."
"Old Yi?" The middle-aged woman stood there, stunned. "Well, childbirth is a woman's business. What does it have to do with men?"
Zhang Chengfei shook his head: "Women are the soil, and men are the seeds. Saline-alkali soil certainly won't grow good crops, but if the seeds are flawed, even the best soil won't help, right?"
Having said all he wanted to say, Zhang Chengfei bid farewell to the stunned old woman and turned to go home.
Yi Zhonghai first resorted to underhanded tactics to get rid of him, so it's not unreasonable for him to return the favor, right?
Of course, he is giving the older woman advice now partly because he can't bear to see her continue to be kept in the dark, and partly to prepare and lay the groundwork for what's to come.
Tonight's words have only planted a seed in the heart of an older woman.
When the time is right, the older woman will treat it like a lifeline and pull it out. Who knows, she might even thank us then!
As the old saying goes, to kill someone, you must first destroy their spirit. Since he wanted to deal with Yi Zhonghai, he naturally had to target the man's most vulnerable and sensitive spot, and then strike with deadly force!
Trying to extort money from Lao Yi? No way! Lao Yi earns ninety-nine a month; he's got plenty of money to spare.
After changing the stove and washing up, Zhang Chengfei sat upright on the kang (a heated brick bed) to check his rewards.
Through his persistent efforts over the past few days, he has gained another 108 technology points, which means that he now has 297 technology points. With just three more points, he will break through 300.
Zhang Chengfei was fairly satisfied with this. He checked the dislike value again and finally had a change of heart.
"System, ten consecutive draws!"