Reborn veteran, lying flat since high school

"Second Aunt, Sixth Aunt, who is this...?"

Tang Yisheng scratched his head.

He's been back for about ten days, and he's seen most of the villagers.

With his photographic memory, he could straighten out and clarify even the most complicated relationships.

Unexpectedly, on the very first day after moving back, I encountered an uninvited stranger.

I've never met him before, so I feel awkward asking.

In the alley next door, there lived a snotty-nosed kid wearing open-crotch pants. By seniority, Tang Yisheng should call him "uncle."

This little girl is so big, who knows if she's from the grandmother's generation or the same generation?

Well, Tang Yisheng's branch of the family has developed in a very moderate way. There are many more people in the village who are of a higher generation than him, and there are almost no people who are lagging behind in terms of generation.

"Your second great-aunt's wife, the second son's wife, you have to call her sister-in-law."

"Hello, sister-in-law."

Tang Yisheng, with clear eyes, greeted his sister-in-law whom he was meeting for the first time.

"Hello there."

Tian Xiaocui smiled shyly.

She can relax a little more if there are no outsiders present.

Despite her young age, she has learned to control her personality since childhood.

Tang Yisheng ran to the south drying ground to call for help.

This time, I definitely can't slip two packs of cigarettes out again. The saying "a little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment" is an ironclad law of human nature.

Tang Yisheng said he would give the two chefs extra chicken legs at noon.

Before arriving, I ordered food from Chaoyang Hotel, which is diagonally opposite Binjiang University. It includes both hot dishes and cooked food.

Two of the roast chickens had four legs, so breaking off a couple wouldn't be a big deal.

"The sofa is placed here in the main room, but this one is placed on the west side; it needs to be moved over."

"Move the mattress to the inner room, it needs to be on the second floor. This way, come with me."

"The refrigerator needs to be moved to the west room. Um, let's put this in there for now..."

The truck comes with three workers, including the driver, making it very efficient.

With two other people he called over to help, Tang Yisheng was finding it difficult to manage everything on his own.

"Where do you plan to put the refrigerator? I'll give you directions."

Tian Xiaocui had just finished visiting the west room. The small kitchen that used to be built next to the west room had obviously been reinforced, and a door had been opened in the wall leading directly to the west room.

"At the north corner of the westernmost small kitchen."

Tang Yisheng didn't bother with any pleasantries with the young woman who had offered herself up to him.

"I know, you mean the refrigerator door should face south, right?"

"Yes, yes, that's it."

Tang Yisheng directed the workers carrying the Simmons mattresses into the inner room.

Second Aunt and Sixth Aunt followed closely behind, entering the inner room.

Helping with chores is secondary, since we don't even know what kind of chores they're doing, and the person in charge is too busy to arrange it.

They took the opportunity to tour the area, having just finished looking at the courtyard.

The fourth brother's house collapsed before, but now a two-story slab building has been built, with two units.

They even took up half of their own drying yard in front of it.

Let's start looking from the west kitchen.

The original wood-fired stove was demolished, and a row of nice kitchen cabinets was built in its place. There's a gas stove and a range hood, and two gas cylinders were even installed.

Whether it's the extravagant details or the clean, beautiful tiles, this is a kitchen that the three rural women have rarely seen before, and their eyes are full of wonder.

Zhao Xiumin and Sun Lixiang followed them into the inner room on the east side.

I was stunned again.

"There are two more floors?"

Sun Lixiang tilted her head back and began to scrutinize her.

"Can those people upstairs stand up straight now?"

"It's probably unlikely, since it's not positioned right in the middle."

Second Aunt Zhao Xiumin guessed.

With its gable roof, perhaps only a small section of the second floor in the northeast corner, right next to the middle of the house, is enough to stand upright?

The workers had already gone up the narrow stairs and were working together with the others below to pull the mattress up to the second floor.

The lower corner wardrobe has been installed, while the wall cabinet and bookshelf in the northwest corner are still being installed with nails driven into the wall.

"City people have such novel ideas, huh? They can even build a second floor in their own house. Isn't that like living in a small apartment building?"

Sun Lixiang's eyes gleamed with longing.

What she longed for was an apartment building, the kind where she could make a huge profit with Tang Luquan, not this simple two-story steel-framed house.

It looks new, but it's not high enough up there, so it would definitely feel cramped to live in.

It was just as frustrating as Tang Yisheng being openly bullied by his uncle and the old lady.

Amidst the village gossip, Tang Luquan exchanged his homestead for an apartment in the county town with his nephew, Tang Yisheng, and the contract was leaked that very night.

Sixth Aunt Sun Lixiang is not usually a big mouth, but this incident really shocked her.

I thought my son, who works at the cotton mill, would be the first person in Tangjia Village to move into an apartment building, and that my husband and I could enjoy the benefits too.

Unexpectedly, a complete idiot appeared out of nowhere.

Yes, you read that right.

Everyone in Tangjia Village secretly gossiped about Tang Yisheng, thinking he was a fool.

Tang Yisheng had also heard a little about it from his uncle, who wore open-crotch pants.

Children's noses may run endlessly, which is why they often use foul language.

With innocent and carefree eyes, a clear and tender voice, and a curious question—

"Are you my stupid nephew?"

"Okay, okay, that's fine. Just put the bedside table there."

Tang Yisheng clung to the top of the second-floor railing and pulled himself up to take a look.

Because of the height issue, I didn't choose a bed frame. Instead, I followed the DIY assembly method shown on Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social media platform) and bought two wooden frames to assemble as the bed base, raising it by 15cm.

The 20cm Simmons mattress is the perfect height, just right.

He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, with the right sleeve rolled up to his shoulder, revealing his full, well-developed biceps and the muscle curves of his forearm, which his sister-in-law, Tian Xiaocui, who had just come into the house, noticed at a glance.

My heart skipped a beat.

I was a little dazed by her beauty.

That's what a real man is like.

Gudong.

Tian Xiaocui swallowed.

"The refrigerator's in place, what else should we get?"

"Yeah, I came over to help tidy up, but I was just looking around."

Sixth Aunt Sun Lixiang also chimed in.

"Yisheng, where do you keep your rags?"

Second Aunt Zhao Xiumin was more assertive; rather than waiting for arrangements, she decided to find something to do herself.

Moreover, moving things around is too strenuous, and you get all sweaty and have to shower, so it's much better to do something lighter.

The furniture in the room looks brand new. Wiping it with a cloth and then mopping the floor will make things easier.

"Auntie, it's in the cabinet behind the door in the main room. There's a red plastic bag on the second shelf inside..."

Tang Yisheng didn't stand on ceremony either.

Anyway, the restaurant should be delivering the food soon.

It's perfectly fine to use enough for two days' worth of meals to entertain relatives and neighbors at lunchtime.

After all, I'll be living here before the demolition, and since we're neighbors, I can help out if things go wrong with the people in the next alley.

I don't seek to overpower others, I just want peace and quiet.

Wouldn't it be better to go to school while living a quiet and peaceful life?

A two-story prefabricated house was built on the old homestead in front, and a two-story building was also erected on the drying ground.

It's because Tang Yisheng didn't communicate well beforehand.

His original plan was to build a two-story prefabricated house in the front, and then level the small vegetable garden along the street in his grandmother's old house and build another two-story prefabricated house in the back.

As a result, the small vegetable garden at the back remained untouched, taking up half of the drying area in front.

The prefabricated houses were transported over and then erected one after another on the south side.

Later, when the sewage pipes were laid, it was planned to demolish and rebuild the outhouse in the southwest corner of the drying ground for the convenience of the workers' accommodation.

This resulted in dissatisfaction from the neighbors at the south end of the next alley.