Chapter Five Country Life

  At dawn, when the first ray of sunlight shines on the earth, the quiet countryside comes alive with birds chirping non-stop. Smoke rises from every household, and a new day begins.

  In the kitchen, two women were busy making breakfast, corn porridge, with a few steamed buns and some pickled cucumbers. Like the white flour buns from last night, they only had them when the wheat harvest was good, to satisfy their cravings, and the rest would be saved for wrapping dumplings during the New Year, otherwise it was mostly mixed flour.

  "Mother, Auntie should head back to the county town now!" one of the young women said, looking at the fields where the autumn harvest was almost ready. She was Li Mei, the aunt that Fang Mernan had mentioned yesterday.

  "What's wrong, don't you like it?" Another older woman, with a hint of a smile, looked at her daughter-in-law and said.

  "Girl... girl... how could that be! Don't misunderstand, I'd be happy to stay here for a few more days." Li Mei hastily shook her head and waved her hand. "When our family harvested wheat, although Auntie didn't go down to the fields, she was the one who cooked every meal."

  "Old Aunt loves cleanliness. Our home inside and out has been swept by her countless times, and the dirt that's accumulated over the years has all been cleaned away."

  "Hehe... your aunt is very particular about cleanliness, she was like that when she was young." Auntie really misses her youth, "Daughter-in-law, don't look at your aunt, ah! Actually, life was also bitter back then!"

  "How can it be? I see that your aunt's family lives in the county town and eats imperial grain." Isn't this good enough? Li Mei asked sullenly.

  "Alas! When your uncle was alive, with his meager salary, he had to support a big family, and life was very tight. At that time, there was famine, and the second son followed others to go out and beg for a living, who knows how they managed? Now, it's been five years since your uncle passed away, the pillar of the family is gone, just like the sky has collapsed. In the county town, everything needs to be bought with money, this life is really not as good as digging food from the earth."

  At that time, when my elder sister got married in the county seat, many big girls in the village were envious. But after seeing her true life, they felt much more balanced in their hearts. Eating imperial rations is something everyone envies, but you also have to be able to afford it.

  At that time, the poor people in the city who didn't have a decent job were really not as well off as farmers. As long as they were willing to work hard, they could always reap some rewards.

  "Isn't there also Big Brother and Sister-in-law? Aren't they all workers?" Li Mei raised an eyebrow and asked, the aunt's family had many children too.

  "Don't mention that unfilial son to me, he's been controlled by his wife. He has money but only gives it to his mother-in-law, and forgets about his own mother." Auntie's face was full of indignation, and she sighed: "When the two of them were discussing marriage, your aunt didn't agree, but couldn't stop her son from wanting to marry her because of her good looks. Now it's too late to say anything, they already have three children, a boy and two girls."

  "Stony girl, you won't learn from them and be disobedient to us, will you?" Auntie's gaze swept Li Mei up and down like a searchlight, as if she could really see something. Better make plans early. "However, your father and I have already thought about it, the girls are all married out, only Stony is left, once he gets married we'll divide the family property, and each household will be responsible for their own affairs, the land in this field will also be contracted to each household, everyone will work hard for their own family, and life will have a direction."

  "Mother, what are you talking about? Am I that kind of person? When did I ever disobey Da Chengzi?" Li Mei quickly made her stance clear. Her husband was a well-known filial son, and she didn't even dare to have such thoughts, let alone with her reasonable mother-in-law.

  "What's the deal with the rice that Eldest Aunt brought over?" She changed the subject, saying that filial piety is shown through actions, not just words, and there's still a long way to go!

  "Luckily, your eldest sister and brother-in-law, who are Nannan's parents, support the elderly. From time to time, they provide food and money. And their youngest daughter is also working, otherwise this life would be really unbearable."

  "It's really every family has its own difficulties. However, in the county town, even if you can't be a worker, you can always find other ways to make a living." Li Mei said with a sigh, her aunt was diligent and capable.

  "Alas! My body isn't very good, and I'm getting old!" Auntie shook her head helplessly. She thought to herself that even if she wanted to do something, someone would have to invite her first! "This is still taking care of my granddaughter, where's the time?" When mentioning Nannan, she remembered that her own daughter was still at her in-laws' house. "Oh! Right, our Ernai should be coming back too, there's not much work in the fields anymore. After dinner, go to her grandma's house and pick her up!"

  "Good! I miss her a bit too." said Li Mei.

  They chatted while doing it, and breakfast was easy to make, and the talking skill was also done.

  When the aunts were carrying food to the main room, they didn't see Grandma coming out from behind the kitchen. Looking at them, Grandma also didn't say anything, what could she say, those were all facts, and she also went into the house to call her granddaughter to get up and eat.

  Fang Menger was woken up by his grandma and had dinner with everyone together.

  "Grandpa, grandma, mom, I'm full, going to catch fish." Shi Tou finished eating and didn't even bother to wipe his mouth before running out.

  "No way, you have to stay home and do your homework today," said Shi Tou's mom, pulling him back.

  "Mom, I promised Tie Dan and them that I'll write it this afternoon, definitely." Shi Tou said with a flattering tone while shaking his mom's hand.

  "No way, I'll go pick up your sister this afternoon. If I come back and don't see you doing your homework, I'll whip your skin. Your dad can't control you..." Li Mei raised her fist, threateningly.

  The stone remembered his father's fist, he was really afraid. Most of the time, his father was very kind, but as soon as he mentioned studying, he became a devil. They believed that they could become talented under the stick. He had to give up playing and honestly go do his homework.

  After dinner, those who should go downstairs went downstairs, and those who should pick up the kids picked up the kids. Grandma collected the bowls and chopsticks, washed them clean, and left, reminding Fang Mo Nan to stay in the house obediently, it's hot outside, don't get sunburned, everyone did what they were supposed to do.

  Fang Mo Nan sat listlessly on a small stool, her hands propping up her cheeks and her chin resting on her knees, watching the rustling of leaves and the slow movement of white clouds in the sky. In reality, she was mentally replaying the medical information she had received yesterday. Due to the short amount of time, her masters were unable to teach her personally, so they could only use this abnormal method, cramming it all into her brain at once. Fortunately, thanks to her modified physique, otherwise she would have either died or become an idiot.

  Thinking about things in the space, cultivating immortality, if she didn't have a family, finding a deep mountain and old forest to cultivate would be fine. But she still has a family, thinking of her family's life in her past life was actually pretty good, after going abroad she struggled for many years, one day returning to before liberation.

  My parents used to have low wages, but after going into business, they earned some money. However, due to Fang Mernan's incident of going abroad, they basically belonged to the extremely poor. Now that there is an opportunity, I must let them have their own business and move up a level, earning more money. This way, she can't always be looking at her, letting her have time to practice, this is what she wants. Now that I've been reborn, for the sake of our whole family's happy life in the future, getting rich is a must. She also doesn't want grandma to pass away, and must cure grandma's illness.

  Cultivation isn't something that can be accomplished overnight, she should focus on something more practical for now. As for the future, she can go back to her old profession, but the domestic stock market is still in its infancy! In America, she has no money and no power, how can she get out? First, let's accumulate some capital!

  Of course, she can use the wealth in space, but these are unexpected wealth, not hard-earned by herself, and people will not cherish them. Unexpected wealth, how to get it, and how to lose it. The most important thing is that with her identity as a commoner, holding this treasure, when she has no ability to protect herself, it's simply a death sentence, attracting thieves and bandits. Thinking about her future path is long and arduous! Let's solve the problem of food and clothing first!

  The stone was in the house scratching its ears and cheeks for half a day, unable to write even half a word. It looked up at the little man sitting by the door, who would smile one moment and frown the next. The stone thought about its own situation and felt somewhat stifled, so it vented its anger: "Hey! Little bald head, little monk. What are you thinking?"

  "You're just a monk!" Fang Mo Nan muttered to herself, touching her bald head, because her hair was dry and yellow, before the age of three she had always been shaved.

  That little nun

  "Shitou continued to playfully say that he couldn't go out and play, which made his irritable mood spread, and he didn't dare oppose the adults, so he could only vent his dissatisfaction to her."

  "Hum! Immature! Have you finished your homework?" Fang Mo Nan pointed directly at Hong Xin.

  The stone was like a deflated balloon, and his arrogance suddenly collapsed. He twisted his head and said in a spoiled tone: "Hmph! What's it to you? Why do I have to study? Others don't study and they're living just fine." He put down his pen and sat there, sulking.

  Fang Mo Nan looked at him walking up with a depressed look, picked up the exercise book on his desk, Grade 3 math practice (1), ink exercise book, fortunately it was dry, otherwise writing would be full of black hands.

  "Wrong! Tsk tsk! Not many correct ones."

  "Little brat, what do you know about right and wrong? Don't mess it up." Shi Tou snatched his scroll back.

  "It's so simple yet still written wrong, isn't it just the multiplication table of 9?"

  The stone thought she was talking nonsense, kids from ordinary families don't know anything, "You also know the multiplication table of 99, okay I'll test you."

  “5x3”“15”

  “6x9”“72”

  “8x8”

  The stone quickly filled in the answer in the brackets, "8x8, huh, why didn't you say so." He raised his head to look at the small person with their hands clasped around their chest and their feet tapping lightly, smiling ambiguously.

  Haha! She has become a ready-made multiplication table, "How did you know everything I said was right."

  "It's also, I'll go find a book" The stone really got up to find a book, listening to her casual answer, she actually thought it was the correct answer, silly.

  He picked up the stone and brought back the book, looked at it carefully and found the answer. His eyes were wide with wonder, staring at her in incredulity. "It's a bluff, it must be a bluff."

  He said a few more, all of which were correct. He hung his head in despair, limp and listless. "This is too crushing! You... you..."

  "It's nothing special to memorize it, but the problem is Fang Mo Nan, you're not even three years old yet!"

  "But how come I just can't remember?"

  "Just catch a few less fish, dig up a few less bird eggs, and everything will be fine." Fang Mo Nan said casually while standing, truly able to stand and talk without getting tired, enough to infuriate people to death.

  "Stop talking nonsense. By the way, how can a two-year-old like you be so clever?" Stone was puzzled, remembering that when she first arrived, her voice was as soft as a mosquito's and she was timid, not bold and clever at all!

  Fang Mo Nan was choked by his words, she forgot her current age, "My elder sister taught me, can't I? I'm smart, can't I? You're just too stupid. Stupid!" She stuck out her tongue at him, "I'm going to find my grandma, humph!" Taking advantage of his momentary stunned state, she made a swift escape.

  Behind her back, he was pounding his chest and stamping his feet. He had actually been despised by a little kid, and he vowed to regain his dignity.

  "Grandma, are you done yet?" Fang Mo Nan ran to the well in the backyard, panting, and saw that Grandma had finished her chores. "Here, I picked these tomatoes from the vegetable garden in the backyard, washed them for you to eat."

  "Of course, the fruit was taken from space, and now she can take whatever she wants with just a wave of her hand."

  Grandma saw that the tomatoes were particularly good, round and big, shiny in color, and bright red. Grandma lovingly patted her head and said "Nan Nan is so well-behaved, you eat it! Grandma won't eat."

  "No! Grandma has to eat." She said, forcing the tomato into her grandma's mouth, making her have no choice but to eat.

  "Mmm! Better than usual, the sweet and sour taste is delicious." Grandma said sincerely.

  Fang Mo Nan learned from his master that the fruit in the space would lose its marrow-washing effect once it left the space, but it could still strengthen the body and prolong life. His grandmother had passed away due to a stroke, so he started practicing health preservation to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

  "Huh? Xiao Nannan's eyes only have Grandma, no Great Aunt." Great Aunt said with pretended concern.

  "Yes, I'll go pick some now." Fang Mo Nan ran to the back with his short legs, and symbolically picked a tomato from the vegetable garden. "Here you are, Auntie, this is for you."

  "Really clever!" Auntie smiled and asked Grandma, "Sister, what's for lunch?"

  "What else can we eat? Noodles!" Grandma looked up at the big sun in the sky, "It's definitely hot outside, let's have some cold noodles."

  Northerners mainly eat noodles, at noon it's either noodle soup or lo mein. However, white noodles can't be eaten frequently now, the main food is mixed noodles, which is a mixture of wheat flour and corn flour, and also green bean noodles made from mung beans as the main ingredient. The pan-fried pancake is also very delicious.

  "That's good! But I remember you and your sister, your skills in making noodles were famous even when you were young girls." Auntie continued: "Xiao Nannan, do you know what 'three lights' are?"

  "Three Glows" makes Fang Mengnan reflexively think of "burning all, killing all, looting all."

  "Pfft... what are you thinking about!" Auntie laughed and said: "We were talking about kneading dough, it has nothing to do with the little devils, they've been chased away long ago." "Huh? How did you know about the Three Alls policy?"

  "Oh! This is what the old people in our village said about the War of Resistance, and also what was shown in the movies played in our village." Fang Mo Nan hastily said.

  Auntie didn't suspect a thing, the old folks in the village told stories of the past, and said she had watched eight model operas. "Nan Nan! I'm talking about the three lights of noodle making: the light of the noodles, the light of the bowl, and the light of the hands. Your aunt's craftsmanship is excellent, her noodles are both strong and delicious."

  Fang Mo Nan nodded to show that she knew, 'Of course I know this! In my past life, I often ate it! Moreover, my mother's and my own noodle-making skills were truly passed down from my grandmother.' She thought to herself.

  "Sister is making noodles, I'll go get some of the fermented soybean paste we made at home last year, and cut up some cucumber shreds and whatnot. We can have zhajiangmian for lunch."

  Hand-pulled noodles served with boiled cucumber shreds, green onion leaves, and garlic, especially the fried sauce made from homemade fermented bean paste, mixed well with the noodles. Those who like it can add some vinegar and a few more cloves of garlic. Hehe! Northerners love to eat this, two words: "authentic", adding two more words: "flavorful"! Fang Mernan couldn't wait for noon to arrive.

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