In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 101 Xiaofang finishes her high school entrance exam, and her mother makes chicken soup for everyone.

After resting in the village for a few days, Yu Dawei finally recovered from the fatigue of repairing the car. After finishing the car repair work, he went to the fields.

The old man takes care of the land in the same way he takes care of his own land. There has been very little rain this year. He irrigated the crops twice, in May and early June, but the leaves are still turning a bit yellow.

Yu Dawei stood at the edge of the field, looking at the clusters of corn that were over a meter tall. The seedlings had grown too big for a four-wheeled vehicle to drive in, and it was impossible to water them again. From now on, he could only leave it to fate.

His land was fine, just like the old man's. But the land next door had its leaves turning yellow because it hadn't been watered enough.

It's only mid-July now, and the corn won't be fully mature for at least another month. At that time, the corn will be late-maturing, with plump kernels and the largest size of its entire growth cycle.

And at this time...

Yu Dawei shook the silk bag with both hands, widening the opening, and plunged into the cornfield. (Author's note: [silk bag: a bag made of the same material as the one used for urea])

Corn is at its tenderest in July and August, and can be eaten roasted or boiled.

Every year around this time, whether they have the means or not, families in the village would go to the fields to pick some corn, either from their own fields or from someone else's. They would pick ten or eight stalks at a time, and even if the farmers knew, they wouldn't care.

It's not a very expensive item.

Yu Dawei picked more than half of the corn into the bag, then tightened the bag opening with both hands, hoisted the corn onto his shoulder, and carried the bag of corn on his broad shoulders and strong physique as if it were child's play.

After arriving home, Yu Dawei poured out half of the food and took the other half to the old man's house in the backyard.

The old man was picking plums and apricots in the yard. The ripe apricots were orange-yellow, and tasted sweet and sour with a slightly sticky texture.

Now that his younger sister Xiaofang has finished her exams and is on holiday at home, and since he himself has nothing to do these days, Yu Dawei plans to invite everyone to the front yard to stew chicken.

Two days ago, he noticed that one of the old hen's hens had stopped laying eggs. After he told his mother, she said that since the hen was eating so much every day but not laying eggs, they should kill it and make a pot of chicken soup for the children to nourish them.

Yu Dawei said at the time that he would go to his own yard, set up a stove, put the iron pot on it, and after the chicken soup was cooked, he would add some corn and potatoes and roast them.

Mom thought it was a good idea, but Dad wasn't too keen on food; he just wanted something to eat. So he followed his son and wife's suggestion and went to the yard to pick some plums, apricots, chives, peppers, and eggplants.

At this time, the eggplants and peppers are just ripe and very tender. If you gently bite the skin of a pepper and then slowly chew it, you will taste its unique fresh aroma.

This applies to both freshly picked green peppers and cucumbers.

Harvest time has arrived, and Yu Dawei is helping the old man pick vegetables: cucumbers, persimmons, eggplants, peppers... he'll get some of everything.

Finally, we scooped a bowl of soybean paste from my mother's soy sauce jar, and the whole family tidied up before heading to the front yard.

"Big brother, when did you learn how to build a stove?" Xiao Fang asked cautiously, carrying a bowl of soybean paste in both hands as she followed behind.

“This is nothing to your older brother. It’s a piece of cake. I’ll get you some Yu’s barbecue later so you can try it.” Yu Dawei turned around and glanced at Xiao Fang.

"Keep bragging. You call throwing some corn into the stove barbecue?" Xiao Fang's chubby little face was full of disdain.

Yu Dawei chuckled, knowing he was going to stun this girl.

After the group arrived in the front yard, Yu Dawei started setting up a stove. It didn't need to be too complicated; it just needed to be able to support the pot and prevent smoke from billowing out.

The father and son worked all afternoon. In the middle of it, Yu Dawei went to the warehouse and found a piece of fine wire mesh that he had brought back from Brother Duan.

Lacking a grinder, Yu Dawei used pliers to carefully cut the piece into a square the size of the stove. He then compared it to the stove and found that it fit perfectly.

Once the wood in the stove has burned down to almost nothing and there is no more thick smoke, you can put up a wire mesh and use the residual heat to grill some of your favorite foods.

And it's not even grilled meat. Grilling some peppers, corn, garlic, eggplant, etc., is much easier to cook than grilled meat, so there's no need to worry about getting an upset stomach.

The women chatted on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the inner room of the house in the afternoon. There was a grove of trees over Yu Dawei's garden, which was particularly windy in the summer. The cool breeze blew into the adobe houses in the countryside, making people squint their eyes in relief.

After the stove was built, the father and son slit the old hen's throat, poured the chicken blood into two large bowls, and then it was the women's turn to do their work.

Remove the chicken feathers, pour high-proof liquor into a bowl, and burn off the fine feathers that cannot be removed. Then cut the whole chicken into pieces, start a fire under the stove, and start making soup.

To make the soup richer, my mom started cooking a large pot of water around 3 p.m. and simmered it for three or four hours. The original large pot of water was reduced to about a small bowl before it was considered ready.

When the fire was low, Yu Laonian and Yu Dawei lifted the pot out, put down the wire mesh, and, to the women's surprise, Yu Dawei placed all the chopped chili peppers, potato slices, corn kernels, eggplant slices, and the ham sausages they had bought on top. The dipping sauce was made with soybean paste and some regular pepper; the key was to drink the broth, and his haphazard "Yu-style barbecue" was just for fun.

The group sat in the courtyard, chatting about everyday things, drinking chicken soup, and smelling the smoke rising from the stove, as well as the unique aroma of the burnt wire mesh.

Xiaofang couldn't sit still any longer. She picked up a sausage with her chopsticks and started eating, her eyes sparkling as she exclaimed, "Delicious! So delicious!"

Upon hearing this, Er Yan also picked up a sausage. Then everyone realized that not only sausages, but also grilled garlic, grilled eggplant, and grilled peppers, when dipped in a little sauce, tasted quite unique.

Yu Dawei and the old man didn't offer any money; at most, they each had a corncob and a little bit of liquor, and then they chatted about their recent car repairs and maintenance in town.

The old man really enjoyed listening to Yu Dawei's stories about repairing cars, as if another version of himself was also fighting on the front lines.

Occasionally, he can offer different insights into car repair, which can open up some different perspectives for Yu Dawei in his thinking about car repair skills.

"Xiaofang, I heard that a teacher from the town came to inform you yesterday which middle school in the county you got into?" After finishing his conversation with the old man, Yu Dawei began to inquire about his younger sister's situation.

"Um... my homeroom teacher said I got accepted into No. 6 Middle School." My younger sister was holding a bowl of chicken soup, and her right hand was about to put an eggplant into her mouth with her chopsticks when suddenly everything in her hands didn't taste so good anymore.

"Sixth Middle School..." Yu Dawei took a sip of wine, a hint of contemplation in his eyes.

There are only two middle schools in the county now, one is No. 6 Middle School and the other is No. 1 Middle School. No. 1 Middle School is considered the best middle school in the county. Those who can enter No. 1 Middle School have at least a 40% to 50% chance of getting into university.

As for No. 6 Middle School, it accepts students from the middle and lower ranks, but it also has a score control. As for the students who eventually get into university, it is estimated that less than 20% of them will be admitted.

A university degree is still very valuable these days. If a family in the village produces a university graduate, it's no less significant than if a scholar in ancient times passed the imperial examination and became a scholar.

Families whose children get into university not only set off firecrackers, but also plant flags on their ancestral graves. Anyone passing by can tell at a glance that their family has produced an outstanding university student.

"Sixth Middle School is pretty good too. It's already great if you can get into high school." Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Zhang Yunqin, the mother, quickly spoke up to protect her daughter.

"That's true. The management at No. 6 Middle School is very strict these days, and they've always been aiming to compete with No. 1 Middle School for first place," Yu Dawei said, sitting next to him, offering a very fair assessment.

Unfortunately, the Sixth Middle School changed principals, and its overall decline became increasingly apparent. For the next ten years or so, it almost became a mere foil to the First Middle School.

But it's alright. My sister's life isn't about how well she does on exams, but about meeting that person at No. 6 Middle School. If she had accidentally ended up at No. 1 Middle School, she would probably regret it for the rest of her life.

After a few rounds of drinks, Mom, along with her grandson and Han Jingfan, left one after another. Er Yan and Xiao Fang kept pleading with Yu Dawei to make this grilled food again, saying that the taste was just so different and delicious!
Yu Dawei gave the two girls a perfunctory reply, and then pondered his current situation.

Yesterday he went to town to withdraw the money. The commission for June had arrived in his account, totaling more than 14,000 yuan. The old Hitachi had been delayed for a few days before, and the cost was very reasonable.

He first went to the parts store owner, Mr. Liang, and returned 15,000 yuan to him. The total cost of the old Hitachi parts was 30,000 yuan. He had given 5,000 yuan before, and now he gave another 15,000 yuan, leaving him with 10,000 yuan.

Boss Liang, who always complains about being poor, didn't miss the chance to continue complaining this time, just in case Yu Dawei forgets about him, the benefactor who gave him parts on credit, once he becomes rich.

Yu Dawei repeatedly assured him that he would pay as soon as he had the money and that he would definitely not keep delaying.

In addition, the spare parts for the PW40 wheel excavator that I got from Boss Liang cost a total of 20,000 yuan, and this time it was paid in cash with no outstanding balance.

However, the 30,000 yuan that Xiaobai gave him has been almost spent.

This PW40 wheeled excavator cost around 30,000 yuan in total, including parts. Compared to those used wheeled excavators that cost around 100,000 yuan, Yu Dawei made a killing.

If there are no more jobs available later, you can sell them. Conservatively speaking, you could easily make 80,000 to 90,000 yuan. It's incredibly lucrative.

However, he was in a really bad situation. He only had a little over a thousand yuan left. The three thousand yuan that his mother had given to Han Jingfan had been kept in her hands and had not been touched by Yu Dawei.

So, all the family's savings combined amounted to only about four thousand yuan.

Fortunately, at least now our family's assets are about the same as those of an ordinary family in the village, so we can live comfortably in the village without any problems.

As for Axe's salary, a few days ago, after hearing that I bought a rotary excavator, Axe took the initiative to come to me and said that he could guess that Yu Dawei was short of money and that the salary could be postponed. He said that I had food and drink and there was nothing I needed to spend money on site.

Yu Dawei was deeply moved and thought to himself that he would definitely give Fuzi a bigger bonus at the end of the year.

(End of this chapter)