After a simple rebirth

On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Fu Ma, Wang Changjie, and Fu Wei went to Guangdong Province first. At that time, there was no high-speed rail, so they still had to go to the neighboring province to transfer by bus.

As the main labor force in the family, Dad Fu also has to arrange the repair of walls and farming.

Fu's father stepped in and Fu Yu went with him to Fu Second Aunt's house to get the Fu family's land back. Fu Second Aunt was very unhappy and kept complaining that Fu Yu didn't know how to farm and wasted the land. Not to mention that Fu Yu would come to her to rent land again, it was impossible.

Fu Ying urged Fu Yu to call her junior high school classmates to ask questions, and finally they decided to plant mulberry trees.

When I went to the market, I saw someone selling mulberry seedlings. They must have been newly cultivated. They were one yuan each. Fu Yu thought about it and ordered a bigger one from him to bring back next time he went to the market. Although he wasn't really going to plant mulberry trees, bigger ones were more likely to survive. There was no fixed time limit for how long this one would be planted.

Before the Fu family renovated their house, there was a large old mulberry tree in the yard. In late spring, it was full of fruits, large and small, which could be picked and eaten immediately. It was a source of free and delicious fruits for us when we were children.

So Fu Yu is relatively knowledgeable about mulberry trees, and buying mulberry seedlings can be regarded as a way to commemorate Grandma Fu, which is reasonable.

Fu's father had already paid the balance for the land purchase. Fu Ying reminded Fu's father to sign, but he didn't really know how to write it. But he told Ai Hui about it, and Ai Hui thought it made sense, so he wrote a template, and Fu's father copied it, and the problem was solved with a few signatures.

Dad Fu hired two villagers, paid them two hundred yuan a day as a favor, and spent two days to fence off the newly bought backyard. The wall shared with the Ai family was repaired by his family, as their materials were better, so the Fu family only had to paint their own side.

Dad Fu also built the new toilet that Fu Ying wanted next to the grain warehouse. It was built outside and only required the construction of two walls.

It was a small room, just wide enough for a person to walk in with his hands on his hips, but Fu Ying thought it was good enough. It was a clean flush toilet, the floor was paved with cement, and there were water pipes, one for water and one for the shower, very convenient.

After the new toilet is ready for use, the old toilet is covered with two boards to avoid the stench as much as possible.

Fu Ying also asked her father to bring a long water pipe from her second aunt's house to collect water. She sprinkled laundry detergent everywhere, and then scrubbed the yard carefully with a broom. The yard became very clean.

The soil in the new backyard was not dug up, and the outermost piece was fenced off. Fu Yu planned to raise a few chickens, and Fu Ying agreed. Indeed, the eggs laid by the chickens you raise yourself, although small, are very fragrant and more nutritious. It is good for Wang Ruizhong and his family to eat more of these eggs, and Fu Ying can also nourish her brain.

Further in, Fu Yu and Fu's father used hoes to draw long lines to divide the plants into rows, with carrots, onions, and garlic in one row each.

Lettuce is not popular here, so there are no seeds, otherwise Fu Ying would have wanted to grow lettuce.

It was basically done, and on the day of the Lantern Festival, Fu's father said he would go back to Guangdong Province the next day.

In fact, Fu Ying and Fu Zhe also started school the day after the Lantern Festival, so this was the last day of the winter vacation.

We still eat glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival. This time, Fu Yu and Fu's father were mainly responsible for making triangular glutinous rice balls, because when Fu Ying got up, the glutinous rice balls were almost ready to be put into the pot.

As usual, I had something to eat after eating the dumplings, this time I had fried rice.

Although Dad Fu was going to Guangdong Province tomorrow and was a little tired, Fu Ying couldn't help but ask Dad Fu,

"Dad, can we still make the table we talked about before the New Year? If not, forget it. You have to leave tomorrow, it's too late."

Father Fu said quickly, "Last time he said there were no big wooden boards left, and they would only be available after the New Year. I don't know if they are available now. I'll go right away."

Fu Ying looked at Fu's father's back as he ran away and said, "Okay, as long as I can have it."

After a while, Fu's father jumped off the tricycle and asked Fu Ying where she was going to put the table.

Fu Ying thought about it and decided to put it in her own room so that it would be convenient to get the information.

Fu Ying and Fu Zhe first moved the old small desk away. Fu Yu said she would move it to her room and put it next to the bed so it would be convenient for her to put some things.

The new desk was assembled directly in Fu Ying's room. Maybe because they were in a hurry or something, it was already painted when they bought it. After some hammering and banging with the seller, Fu's father assembled it in no time.

The new desk is actually more like a new Chinese-style dining table for four people, but it is a little longer, and the width is about the same. There is no stool, so everyone just moves a high stool over and sits on it, and Fu Ying doesn't ask for it.

At night, Fu's father told Fu Ying,

"Your mother and I have gone to Guangdong Province to work. If you have anything to do, listen to your sister. If you want to buy something, go to her. We will give your sister money every month."

Fu Ying nodded, and her father asked again

"Should I buy you a cell phone for you and Fu Zhe to use together? If your sister needs to go back to your brother-in-law's house for something, she'll have a phone number for emergency contact."

Fu Ying shook her head.

"No, it's nothing. The school teacher will help notify them. I'll be back after school. If you really need to borrow my second aunt's phone, just call."

Fu Ying really doesn't think it's necessary. Touch-screen phones have been released now, but their performance is not so good, and the photo taking effect is not as good as expected. Most importantly, the data charges are scary. Fu Ying doesn't plan to buy a mobile phone in high school.

You can consider MP4, which can be used in daily English listening practice, but I'm not sure how much such an MP4 costs nowadays. Let's wait and see.

Fu's father didn't force it, thinking that Fu Ying was trying to save money.

In the evening, when Fu's father was packing up, Fu Yu helped prepare food for Fu's father to eat on the way.

Fu's father likes to eat a kind of bread, which is a bit like Xinjiang naan, but a little softer and smaller. Fu Yu bought him two, which can be eaten as breakfast in Guangdong Province.

Finally, I packed a large travel bag and a portable bucket.

Father Fu's bag now includes a piece of bacon, ten pounds of red beans, five pounds of yellow rice cakes, and five pounds of tofu cakes, and only a few actual clothes.

The bucket contained the lard that had cooled and solidified. The oil bought from the supermarket was too expensive, and the cooking was not as fragrant, so Fu's parents would try to bring the lard they made in their hometown to eat.

That’s still not enough.

In the past, if the family lived outside, Fu's parents would bring everything from their hometown and would not buy anything that didn't need to be repurchased in Guangdong province.

Fu Ying remembered that one year, it was also Fu's father who set off later. Fu Ying, Fu Zhe, Fu Wei, Fu's mother, and Wang Changjie took the high-speed train. Fu's mother really took care of a bunch of people, big and small.

Including but not limited to the common ones such as bacon, lard, and tendon beans, Fu's mother also fried a bucket of bacon directly in her hometown. When she wanted to eat it in Guangdong Province, she would dig out some and stir-fry it with some garlic leaves, and it would become a dish.

The Fu family ate this bucket of bacon every day and gave it to others. It took them three months to finally finish it.

From then on, Fu Ying and Fu Zhe were afraid to bring food from their hometown, and they kept persuading Fu's parents that the weather in Guangdong Province would not keep the food.

Later, Fu's father and mother returned to their hometown, and they no longer bothered to bring these things with them.

Now Fu's parents are in Guangdong Province. Without the children, they will be more frugal. Fu Ying can only ask Fu Yu to help remind Fu's parents to eat better and fresher food.