Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

Soon, the three of them returned to Hejia Village.

"Grandpa, grandma, I'm here." He Lai pushed open the gate and shouted.

"Come here, little Laizi, come here and look at this mushroom."

When Mrs. He heard He Lai's voice, she hurried out of the room and asked him to go and look at the mushrooms. He Lai shook his head and had to put down his bag and go to see them together.

In the mushroom house, He Lai saw that small mushrooms had grown out and some were popping up on the edges.

"Grandma, let's cover the three sides with newspapers, leaving only the top one. The bottom ones are to provide nutrients to the mushrooms on the top, so mushrooms can't grow on them."

He Lai picked the small mushrooms on the three sides and said to Old Mrs. He.

Although Grandma He felt sad that the mushrooms had to be picked, she still did as He Lai asked.

Yu Shui also came up to help cover the newspaper.

"Oh, little Yu Shui is here, you are so good. Grandma will make you something delicious later."

Only now did Old Mrs. He realize that Yu Shui had also come, and she was very fond of this daughter-in-law that Wu Juan had chosen.

"Thank you, grandma." Yushui smiled sweetly.

After a while, my aunt and the others came in. They learned from Da Hu that He Lai was here, and looked at the little mushrooms in Old Lady He's room.

Everyone came out of the mushroom house and sat in the yard.

He Lai looked at his aunt-in-law and the others, who seemed to be hesitant to talk, and knew that they also wanted to grow mushrooms.

"This mushroom is still under testing. Don't worry, we will be able to grow it in due time. It is still in the cultivation stage now."

He Lai still gave them some reassurance.

"Okay, Xiao Laizi's words make us feel relieved. Let's go collect the corn cobs. It won't be long before the corn is ready to be picked, and there will be a lot of it by then."

When the aunt heard what Xiao Laizi said, she felt relieved and laughed out loud.

"Aunt, don't I have a dozen mushroom bags in my room? Take them back and divide them up and try to plant them. Anyway, you all know how it was made back then."

He Lai also added fuel to the fire. Anyway, it would take more than a month to pick all the mushrooms from his grandfather's house.

By then, the hospital should have some mushroom bags ready, so it would be better to give them to my aunt and her family first. Anyway, every household in the countryside will have one or two empty adobe houses.

The aunt was very happy when she heard this, but she still looked at Old Lady He. After all, they had to wait for the old lady to give the order before they could accept it.

Old Mrs. He saw that they were all looking at her and spoke up.

"Since Xiao Laizi said so, you can take it, but you have to use it well. If you waste it, I, an old woman, will scold you."

"Okay, okay, we will definitely get it done. Xiao Laizi is here, so just come and ask if you don't understand." The aunt-in-law immediately responded.

Several people smiled and nodded.

"Mom, let's go back and soak the corn cobs." My aunt was a little anxious. After all, it would take many days for the mushroom to grow. The sooner we get it done, the sooner it will be ready.

Old Mrs. He didn't say anything, just waved her hand to signal them to leave.

"Grandma, where are Grandpa and the others?" He Lai saw that Grandpa He and the others had not returned, and Da Hu had also disappeared after he came back.

"Now that the wheat has been dried, your grandfather and the others have gone to the grain station to pay the public grain tax. The grain must be handed in quickly after it's dried so that we can feel at ease.

"Xiao Laizi, do you want to eat noodles? Grandma just made some flour, it's very white."

Old Mrs. He did not hide it and told it directly. Although she felt a little sad, there was nothing she could do.

Now the state has unified purchase and sale, and more than half of the farmers' grain has to be handed over to the government.

However, the remaining food in their homes is often less than half, and they need to eat it sparingly. Farmers are faced with many burdens and have to rely on this food to make ends meet.

For example, children’s tuition and living expenses depend on these grains.

You can imagine how hard life is.

It seems that the country’s grain collection policy will have to last for half a century, until the 21st century.

He Lai smacked his lips. What a quick move! The grain would be harvested in less than half a month.

"Grandma, my grandson is not hungry. Let's wait for grandpa and the others to come back." He Lai said.

"They should be back soon. Grandma, go and do it first. They'll be back when they're done."

After saying this, Grandma He got up and went to the kitchen to roll out noodles.

Sure enough, after a while, Mr. He came back.

"Hey, Xiao Laizi and Xiao Yushui are here, Mushroom, are you looking over here?"

Mr. He put down his burden and asked about He Lai.

"I've checked it out, it's pretty good. There should be mushrooms in the next three or four days."

He Lai handed a stool to Mr. He and said with a smile.

When Mr. He heard that mushrooms would be available soon, he smiled so hard that his mouth was crooked.

"Grandpa, this is a watering can. Using this will make watering more even and less likely to damage the mushrooms."

He Lai took out the spray bottle from his bag and gave it to Mr. He.

"Okay, Grandpa got it." Grandpa He also took this good thing.

"Come and eat the noodles quickly. They're ready." Old Mrs. He walked towards the rain holding a bowl of noodles.

"Here, little rain, take it. Be careful of the heat."

"Thank you, grandma." Yu Shui smiled and took the noodles handed to her by Grandma He, which contained an egg.

"You are so good. You grandpa and grandson can go and get it yourselves." Old Mrs. He said as she sat beside the rain and watched.

"Okay, do it yourself." Grandpa He was about to go to the kitchen to get it, and He Lai quickly got up and walked into the kitchen.

"Grandpa, let me help you get it."

He Lai saw that there were indeed three bowls of noodles on the stove, one bowl with eggs and two bowls without, and there was still some left in the pot.

He Lai shook his head and first brought the bowl with eggs to Grandpa He, then brought out two bowls of noodles, one for him and Grandma He.

"Xiao Lai, here's the egg. Grandpa doesn't like it." Grandpa He said as he picked up the egg and wanted to put it in He Lai's bowl.

He Lai quickly changed his position and dodged it.

"Grandpa, I don't like it either." He Lai replied while slurping the noodles.

"Hey, you naughty boy!" Grandpa He didn't force it anymore and started slurping the noodles.

Old Mrs. He also watched the whole process, smiling and saying nothing, eating noodles quietly.

In the following days, He Lai took the rain water with him to play everywhere.

In summer, children in the countryside have the most fun and are also the busiest.

Some were picking up the missed ears of wheat in the fields; some were picking summer ripe fruits, such as apricots; some were going swimming in the river.

Of course, more people use slingshots to shoot sparrows.

At this time, there are really a lot of sparrows in the countryside, forming dense groups.

I heard that at night, the roofs of every house were filled with sparrows, and you could pick them up with a basket. But because sparrows are too small, there is only a little meat left after picking them up, so few people catch them to eat.

The sparrows would eat wheat during the day, and the villagers had to send their children to keep driving them away. No wonder the government chose them as one of the four pests, they were so hated.

He Lai also took people to the hillside to catch rabbits and badgers, or to the fields to catch eels.

He Lai also gave the hooks for catching eels to Da Hu and the others so that they could improve their food.

It’s a pity that I don’t have a flashlight, otherwise I could have caught some cicadas to eat. I can only catch some during the day using the paste.

However, because there was no oil to cook these foods, the taste was not very good. He Lai seldom ate them, saying that they were better than steamed buns.