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

Chapter 243 Life Choices, Little A-Gui's Second Greatest Shadow
“I worked under him the whole time, but I always felt like I wasn’t getting enough to eat, so I would get up every night to find something to eat.”

"Another time, it seems they made some money and brought back a sheep. That was the first time I ate mutton."

Little Agui was sitting on a small stool, warming his clean hands not far from the stove, and his mouth was constantly moving.

After Yao Jinfu and Lao Ji dragged Xiao Agui into the house, they stayed by his side and told him to talk as much as he wanted, whatever he wanted, as long as he didn't stop talking.

At first, Xiao Agui had no idea what to say. It wasn't until Lao Ji gave him a clue about the past that he began to speak haltingly.

Later on, Xiao Agui began to become like a normal person, and there were no obstacles to any communication. However, when he spoke, he would speak off-key for those he couldn't pronounce, and he would speak some local dialect of Hebei Province.

The two could completely understand this, since Xiao Agui had always lived in Hebei Province. No matter how infectious the Northeastern dialect was, it was impossible for someone to completely change the intonation they remembered in just a few months.

"Looks like you've practiced quite well." Yu Dawei walked to the east wall, placed his hands in the washbasin on the red lacquered stool, squeezed out some laundry detergent, and began to rub his hands together.

Laundry paste is similar to laundry powder, except that laundry paste comes in small packets. It's a local, no-name brand called Longmen.

Everyone in Suishi Village likes to use this brand of laundry detergent and laundry paste, mainly because it's cheap. The cheapest small bags can sell for as little as 80 cents each.

The water in the washbasin had long since turned pure black, but Yu Dawei didn't mind the dirty water. He vigorously rubbed his large fingers in the basin.

The reason for not changing the water is that it is difficult. Although there is no shortage of water in Northeast China, and most families now have their own wells, it is cold in winter. Changing the water in the basin requires adding some boiled water, which is a waste for Dawei.

In fact, every household in the village is this frugal when it comes to washing their hands and faces.

In the morning, I would boil half a pot of water in a large iron pot. After the water boiled, I would scoop out two ladles and pour them into an enamel washbasin. Then I would take a ladle of cold water from the water vat under the outer room and put it into the washbasin to mix it in.

The water temperature might still be a little warm, but it's about right.

The mother went back to the inner room to wake the children up. The children washed themselves in clean water first, and then the adults washed themselves. After all seven or eight family members had finished, the water in the washbasin became completely dirty, and then it was poured into the dirty water bucket.

This is how people in Northeast China used to use water in this era. Yu Dawei has long been accustomed to it and even feels a bit nostalgic about it.

Actually, car repair is a dirty and tiring job. If you can't stand those two things, you definitely won't last long.

"Boss, Xiao Agui has really improved this time. He speaks just like us, and sometimes he even speaks faster." Old Ji sat on a small stool with a small dustpan on his legs, filled with the fumes from kneading welding paste. He was gathering a welding rod as he spoke.

“Just saying that won’t work.” Yu Dawei finished washing his hands and wiped them with the rag next to him. “Which of you knows tongue twisters? Teach him two or three and have him recite them a few times every day.”

"That's a great idea!" Yao Jinfu slapped his thigh. "I specifically memorized a few of them when I was in vocational school. Agui, come and learn from me."

"Yes, yes!" Little Agui nodded earnestly. He had to behave well and couldn't make his master angry again. If there was a next time, he definitely wouldn't be kicked out.

"The Cowherd loves the Weaver Girl, the Weaver Girl misses the Cowherd, the Cowherd loves the Weaver Girl in the Year of the Ox, the Weaver Girl misses the Cowherd every year, the Cowherd misses the Weaver Girl and the Weaver Girl misses the Cowherd, missing the Weaver Girl and loving ... Weaver Girl and the Cowherd!" Yao Jinfu proudly raised his head, "Come on, this is the classic."

Little Agui: "..."

Lao Ji: “…”

Yu Dawei: "..."

The group of people probably all had the same thought at that moment: Is Axe (Uncle) really that good at tongue twisters?
"Axe, you're really... This is way too difficult! Don't even mention Little Agui, even I, Old Ji, can't explain it. What's with all this 'beef pen' and 'beef brisket'... Try something else!" Old Ji rolled his eyes at Axe. This guy was definitely trying to show off his expertise in a particular area.

He had spent a considerable amount of time with the axe, living, eating, and working together every day, so he had a pretty good understanding of the axe's personality.

Old Ji put the rolled cigarette in his mouth and said, "Axe, give me something simpler, something a kid can learn in no time. He's just learning to talk, he can't handle anything too difficult."

“Old Ji is right.” Yu Dawei pulled down the “Brigade Leader’s Maintenance Manual” from the wall, pulled over a small stool to sit next to Old Ji, and handed the booklet to Old Ji. “Since we have nothing else to do, let’s write this down first.”

Goodness! The boss is really protective of his own, he can't stand seeing his brothers get the slightest criticism.

Old Ji silently took the "Brigade Leader's Maintenance Manual," removed the pen clipped to it, and began writing while smoking.

“Okay, I’ll change it.” Yao Jinfu thought for a moment and then said, “Grandma Liu went to Grandma Niu to buy milk. Grandma Niu gave Grandma Liu some milk. Grandma Liu said that Grandma Niu’s milk was not as good as Grandma Liu’s milk. Grandma Niu said that Grandma Liu’s milk would leak milk, so it was not really good milk.”

"How about this?" Yao Jinfu looked at everyone, his eyes shining.

Yu Dawei was a little confused at this point. When did the axe acquire such a skill? It seems that he must have learned a lot of tongue twisters when he was in technical school.

"Well, it's alright, at least it's easier than the last one." Yu Dawei turned to Xiao Agui, "You say one?" In the days that followed, Xiao Agui practiced tongue twisters diligently with Yao Jinfu. Little did he ever imagine that the second biggest shadow in his life would be reciting tongue twisters! He even dreamed about reciting them!

This also means that even if he speaks fluently in the future, he will never want to speak again.

In the evening, the group went to Shadapan, the only restaurant in town with a few private rooms. Yu Dawei chose a small private room with six seats and ordered a few home-style dishes.

But Guo Bao Rou (sweet and sour pork), Di San Xian (three treasures of the earth), and sweet and sour pork ribs are must-orders, as kids love them.

When Yu Dawei returned from Laotun, he specially brought over his uncle's tin gourd. The group shared a little bit, but it tasted more enjoyable than the loose liquor sold in restaurants.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, they went back to sleep.

Yu Dawei tossed and turned on the kang (a heated brick bed) unable to sleep, not because he was still troubled by the accident that day, but because he was at a loss about Xiao Agui's future.

This child is now practically his son, after all, he went to great lengths to adopt him. Giving him away isn't out of the question, but Xiao Agui himself is really reluctant, and he's not a heartless person.

But what's the point of fixing cars with him for the rest of your life?

Children are too young to know the wonders of the world, but they do know them.

In the future, there will be smartphones that can make calls and pay, so there will be no need to carry cash and worry about some unsuspecting thief stealing it.

There was also the high-speed rail, which was many times faster than the old green trains of today. In his later years, Hohhot and the city where his eldest son lived were finally connected by high-speed rail. It took him a maximum of six and a half hours to travel there by high-speed rail.

If it were a high-speed train or a slow train, the journey would take at least ten hours, and you'd be numb from being swayed around in that metal box.

There are many more, such as AI-driven smart home robots, self-driving cars controlled by some system (whose name I forgot), and all kinds of drones.

In this dazzling world of technology, Yu Dawei wanted to realize that he didn't want Xiao Agui to be like him in his previous life, merely a passerby in these technologies, without any sense of participation.

Even programming, which is already popular among elementary school students, still gives him a huge headache.

Not at all.

So when Brother Duan asked his son, Duan Xiaowu, to learn how to operate an excavator, Yu Dawei refused. He believed that being able to learn and knowing how to learn was the key, and that studying was the ladder to a better world.

No matter how much money Yu Dawei earns, he understands one principle: you have to learn everything, both from books and from outside books, or you will be left behind.

Therefore, he did not want these children to be eliminated early like he was, and then have to suffer ten times more pain than studying, to study on their own little by little, and even more often make mistakes, since there was no one to guide them.

"Sigh." Yu Dawei sat on the steps outside the small house, wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket and trousers, a dog-skin hat, and an overcoat.

At this moment, the sun has not yet risen in the east, but the pale light on the horizon is beginning to appear, and occasionally a sliver of gold can be seen peeking out from between the houses.

He barely slept all night, and the first thing he did when he sat down at the door was to lower his head and let out a long sigh.

Xiao Agui has another problem: he loves going to Touli to do chores.

You can't do that. It's like when you're not feeling well, you go to the pharmacy to find Western medicine, only to find that the more you take it, the worse you get.

This is one manifestation of "overexertion." You may be brave at a certain moment, but that is actually overdrawing your body's resources.

The same applies to physical labor.

Why did the news that circulated back then say that a mother actually moved a car to save her child who was trapped under it?

These are all manifestations of "penetrating force".

On the one hand, Yu Dawei didn't want his child's future to be limited to repairing cars, and on the other hand, he didn't want him to constantly overwork himself while repairing cars.

As for sending him to someone else's home, he didn't care since Xiao Agui refused. With his current wealth, raising a child wouldn't be difficult.

“Master…” Little A-Gui lifted the curtain and walked out of the house wearing a thick cotton-padded coat.

The cotton-padded jacket was made by my master's wife when she went back to the village a while ago. It fits her perfectly and is even warmer than the one my master gave me before.

(End of this chapter)