Restart life

Chapter 29 0028 [Searching for the First Emperor’s Token]

When I woke up, it was bright day.

As soon as Chen Guiliang opened his eyes, he saw the light shining through the roof tiles.

The house has earthen walls and tiled roof, and it is common for it to leak and leak. During heavy rain, we even need to use buckets and basins to collect water.

It should have been converted into a two-story house several years ago, but it was delayed until now because my father was cheated.

There wasn't even any decent furniture; all were old items bought by my parents when they got married or given as dowry.

Lying on the bed, Chen Guiliang began to think about repairing the house.

If you buy a house in a big city, grandma probably won’t be able to live there.

And grandma gets carsick.

Making money to build a new house can wait until after college when you start your own business.

The most urgent thing is to study hard, get into a good school, and bring honor to my parents, grandma, and grandpa.

This is very important.

If you don't count junior college graduates, the village has only had one college graduate so far, who became a doctor at a hospital in the provincial capital. That family is highly respected because of this, and no matter what problems they encounter, the neighbors will take the initiative to help.

Although villagers in ordinary families would help each other, the treatment of that family was obviously different.

Chen Guiliang has the ability to become the second college student in the village!

Grandma and the others must be happy.

Since the chances of being admitted to the competition are unstable, Chen Guiliang has to make preparations for both scenarios and work hard to improve his academic performance.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

Chen Guiliang got up and called a few times, and found that his grandmother was feeding chickens outside.

The family's land has been "given" to the neighbors for cultivation, leaving only two plots of land for growing vegetables.

In stark contrast to the ancient practice of landlords recruiting tenants, "giving away" land now actually felt like a favor. If it were left fallow for a few years, Chen Guiliang's parents would have to work hard to cultivate the land when they returned home.

Moreover, as more and more people go out to work, the amount of abandoned land in the village is increasing year by year, and only those with good relationships are willing to "help" your family to farm.

The food grown in the land, of course, belongs to the actual cultivator.

However, agricultural taxes, including three increases and five unifications, have to be paid by the original owner of the land!

My grandmother is always busy. In addition to tidying up her private plot, she goes out to chop firewood every day and raises a lot of poultry.

"The rice is in the pot!" Grandma shouted.

Chen Guiliang went to the kitchen to bring the food, and after feeding the chickens and ducks, grandma sat down around the table.

Porridge and pickles.

After breakfast, grandma didn’t even get enough rest, but went to weed the vegetables in her private plot.

Chen Guiliang went over and said, "My lady, we have more firewood than we can burn in a few years. You should stop going out to chop wood. What if you fall while climbing up the slopes?"

Grandma said, "That's right."

Chen Guiliang said nothing more and did not help pull out the weeds.

He knew that his grandmother was too idle and was looking for something to do. If he helped pull out the weeds now, his grandmother would definitely go do other work.

It seems like the farm work will never be finished, and no one knows where it will come from.

"elder brother!"

Cousin Chen Guirong stood in the yard and shouted.

Chen Guiliang walked over and said with a smile: "You have grown taller again."

Chen Guirong sat on the doorstep and said helplessly, "It's finally the weekend, and I wanted to go hang out with my classmates. But my dad insisted I come over, saying he wanted to ask you for advice on study methods. With my grades, there's no point in asking for help."

My cousin is in the third year of junior high school this year. His academic performance is so poor that he can only go to a crappy high school.

Later, he dropped out of high school and went to a technical school. He lived a good life as a chef and even became a small internet celebrity by making cooking videos.

"Brother, do you have cigarettes?" Chen Guirong asked in a low voice.

Chen Guiliang said: "No."

"I heard that you distributed Hongtashan cigarettes everywhere yesterday." Chen Guirong said.

Chen Guiliang reminded: "You are a minor."

Chen Guirong thought to himself: You will only be eighteen years old next year.

Chen Guiliang asked again: "Is your school still so chaotic?"

Seeing he couldn't get a cigarette, the cousin gave up and said, "Brother, have you forgotten? Last year, the whole city cracked down and the police arrested people everywhere. Now the school is very quiet."

Chen Guiliang suddenly recalled that the city TV station also broadcast the results of the crackdown, displaying rows of guns, knives and steel pipes.

Hundreds or even thousands of chaotic criminal gangs were arrested.

In 01 and 02, the whole country launched a crackdown, and Longdu City was no exception.

Chen Guirong chuckled and said, "Actually, even if I don't crack down hard, as long as I tell you your name, those hooligans won't dare to mess with me."

After chatting with his cousin for a while, Chen Guiliang wandered around the house.

Finally, in an empty pigpen where no pigs were raised, we found a few beverage bottles picked up by the grandmother.

"Come with me." Chen Guiliang picked up a Sprite bottle and went out to the river beach a few hundred meters away.

Chen Guirong chased after him and asked, "Brother, what are you doing?"

Chen Guiliang said something his cousin couldn't understand: "Qin Shi Huang needs a token."

"Qin Shi Huang?" Chen Guirong scratched his head.

The small river in front of the door played a great role during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

At that time, the salt-producing areas of the coastal provinces were occupied by the damned Japanese. The salt produced in Longdu City was needed to supply several surrounding provinces, making it the most important salt-producing area in the rear area of ​​the Anti-Japanese War.

A lot of salt was transported through this small river, and the nearby salt transport dock was even bombed.

On the river beach, all you can see are pebbles.

Chen Guiliang drilled a hole in the middle of the Sprite bottle cap, filled the bottle with river water, and said to his cousin, "Help me find some small and beautiful pebbles." "What do you want to find pebbles for?" Chen Guirong asked.

Chen Guiliang said: "Give gifts to girls."

"Hahaha!"

Chen Guirong immediately laughed at him: "Brother, you are too old-fashioned. Who would give a girl pebbles? You will definitely be disliked if you do this."

"You know shit."

When Chen Guiliang was a student, he always thought that only money could lead to love. Gifts worth a few dollars were too cheap and embarrassing for him to give.

But after being reborn, he dared to give away a worthless broken stone.

Despite the ridicule, his cousin still squatted down obediently and helped him find beautiful pebbles.

"How about this one?" Chen Guirong picked up one.

Chen Guiliang used a Sprite bottle to rinse the sand off the surface of the pebbles. "No. There are cracks, and they're too big."

Throwing away the broken stone, Chen Guirong started searching again, saying, "Brother, let me teach you how to pick up girls. Your tricks are already outdated."

"Have you been in love since junior high school?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Chen Guirong said, "Why can't we talk about it in junior high school?"

Chen Guiliang asked, "How did you two fall in love?"

"Invite the girls to play computer games. There are internet cafes in town, but unfortunately they can't connect to the internet," Chen Guirong said. "Also, there's roller skating. There's a roller skating rink in town. They play Jay Chou songs from the loud speakers, and it's so fashionable to skate. I even dyed my hair yellow a while ago, and it looked so damn handsome. But my dad beat me up when I got home, so I had to spend money to dye it back."

"You deserve to be beaten to death!"

"Brother, do you think this one is okay?"

"It's too gaudy and the colors are too messy."

"How about we go to the city and pick out a bracelet for your daughter... for your sister-in-law? Something with crystals, something that sparkles and looks pretty!"

"Shut up and find it slowly for me!"

The warm sun of an early winter morning shines on two young boys on the riverbank.

After working for an hour, the two brothers selected more than thirty pebbles.

Chen Guiliang took them to the river, washed them all, and compared them piece by piece.

Eventually one piece was left and the rest were thrown into the river.

……

When I got home, grandma was gone again. I guess she had finished pulling the weeds and gone to find some farm work.

Chen Guiliang lit the firewood to boil water and said to his cousin, "Go catch a chicken."

"okay!"

My grandmother is too frugal. She is reluctant to buy meat or kill chickens.

Near noon, the grandmother came back carrying a bundle of firewood and found that her two grandsons had slaughtered one of her laying hens.

"My lady, the chicken is stewing in the pot. It will be ready in half an hour." The cousin laughed.

Grandma also smiled and walked to the main room to turn on the TV.

She likes this color TV.

Chen Guiliang asked his cousin to continue to light the fire while he went to watch TV with his grandmother. "My dear, next time I come back, I will buy you a kitten. Just play with the cat at home and don't go out and do something else."

Grandma made a request: "I want a local cat that can catch mice."

"Then buy a black and white one," said Chen Guiliang.

Grandma doesn't like to visit neighbors very much. When she meets old ladies in the village, she just listens to what they say.

Life would surely be more interesting if you had a lively cat.

Estimating the time, grandma went to the kitchen, opened the pot, and poked the stewed chicken with chopsticks: "It's not cooked enough yet, it needs to simmer for a while. Rongrong, take a bowl back for lunch."

The cousin smiled and said, "That's right."

Although the two families had some unpleasant conflicts because of Grandpa and Second Aunt, they still had to maintain basic contact.

For example, if you have cooked meat dishes, serve a bowl to the other person.

But Second Aunt also had a solution. She only bought a small amount of meat each time and could only fry a small plate of it, which made it difficult for Second Uncle to ask to send it to Grandma.

The chicken was stewed, and the cousin served a bowl: "Mother, brother, I'm leaving."

"Watch the road as you walk and don't fall," grandma warned.

"I know, I know." Chen Guirong trotted away.

After his cousin walked away, Chen Guiliang took out five hundred yuan and said, "My mother, this is what my father gave me. Everyone in the village knows that my father has become rich. I'm sure someone will come to borrow money, or maybe he will attract thieves."

"I know more than you." Grandma took the money and hid it in the inner room.

When an elderly person encounters a thief at home, he or she will usually lie down and pretend to be asleep. The thief will then rummage through everything and leave regardless of whether or not he or she finds any money.

Two years ago, all the chickens and ducks raised by my grandmother were stolen by a group of thieves at night.

At that time, I had already discovered and recognized who the thief was.

But I didn't dare shout and could only continue sleeping.

After lunch, he watched TV with his grandmother for another half an hour. Then Chen Guiliang got up, packed his things, and said, "Mom, I'm going to school."

"Let's go. I'll take you there." Grandma turned off the TV.

Chen Guiliang took his first and second year high school textbooks and walked towards the village road with his grandmother, one in front and one behind.

"My lady, I won't see you off."

"Okay, go ahead."

Chen Guiliang walked along the village road for a while, turned around and looked back, and found that his grandmother was still standing on the hillside.

He knew that only after he had crossed the mountain and was completely out of sight would his grandmother feel at ease to go home.

(End of this chapter)