Reborn in 1994: Starting from the Autumn Harvest

As the rain intensified, Chen Mian leaned against her father.

He was 1.8 meters tall, relatively taller. He glanced at his father's broad shoulders, then craned his neck, slumped his chin, blinked, and remained silent.

Chen Hongguo turned his head and looked at his son, then lovingly patted his head, just like he had when he was a child.

As the father and son watched the heavy rain pouring down in the yard, they couldn't help but feel that time had slowed down.

After a while, Tang Xiuyun noticed that there was no movement at the door and that neither the father nor the son had come inside. So, while cutting the pancakes, she called out, "You two, do something useful and put all our basins under the eaves."

"Hey~" Chen Mian turned around and responded, then patted her father's shoulder, "I'll go."

In 1994, the water supply facilities in Anping Village were still unstable. Each household had to collect water in advance and store it in a large vat in the house as drinking water for the next few days.

On rainy days, people would take their pots and pans outside to collect rainwater and store it for use in daily life, such as washing, washing clothes, and watering the vegetable garden. In short, they would save as much water as possible.

After a period of eating meat, the family's meals returned to normal. Mom cut the leftover cornbread into pieces, stir-fried it with cabbage, and cooked a pot of porridge.

This method might work for steamed buns, but cornbread is really not very tasty.

After giving up her marriage in her previous life, Chen Mian never skimped on food and drink.

Those city folks are so particular about the health benefits of whole grains, but Chen Mian just chuckled and didn't care about any of that. If he liked meat, he'd have it every meal. Once he was full, he'd think about other things. He'd live as long as he could.

But now, suddenly switching from extravagance to frugality, it's a bit hard to adjust for.

"What are you standing there for? Eat!" Tang Xiuyun tapped the table with her chopsticks.

Seeing her mother frown, Chen Mian felt a chill run down her spine and cautiously asked, "Mom, do we not have any other dishes?"

"What other dishes?" Tang Xiuyun looked up, her twitching jaw suddenly stopped, and she tapped the bowl of pickled vegetables in front of her with her chopsticks. "What do you want to eat? Isn't this a dish?"

"How about I go to the garden and pick some green beans? I'm feeling a bit hungry."

"No...no." Seeing her father about to pull off her clothes, Chen Mian quickly stood up and reached out to stop him. Her father was a pure man of action; regardless of the environment or weather, he would do whatever he wanted without any hesitation.

"It's good, it's good, everything is good."

"If you don't eat, you'll go hungry." Tang Xiuyun grabbed the clothes from the side of the kang and threw them inside. She turned and glared at Chen Mian. "If your older sister or aunt brings you anything again, and you dare to eat even one more bite, I'll sew your mouth shut."

"You get all carried away after just two days of praise, and you start asking for this and that after just two days of good food. You're so spoiled."

Chen Mian ate in silence, secretly glancing at the rickety stick sticking out from the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed). She couldn't say a word at this moment, otherwise, as usual, her mother would put her in the torture device.

I want to slap myself. Why did I ask that? I already knew the answer!

After dinner, Chen Mian saw that her parents were going to the side room to work on digging melons, so she immediately said, "Mom, I left Uncle Aiguo's little four-wheeled vehicle with my brother. Tomorrow, the two of us will go to the city together to sell melons."

Chen Hongguo and his wife stopped in their tracks at the same time, then retreated to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), their expressions turning serious.

"The dirt road in our village is really hard to walk on; you'll break a lot of melons just walking back and forth."

"Besides, these watermelons are hard to sell. Not many people are interested in eating them. I heard yesterday that the price at the farm gate is only nine cents a pound. Even if you transport them to the city, they are hard to sell. People love to eat watermelons. It's better to dig up the watermelons, extract the seeds, and sell them."

Chen Mian leaned against the door with her arms crossed, nodding repeatedly as she pursed her lips. The information her father gave her matched her memory perfectly.

Then, unhurriedly, he said, "These watermelons look and taste best right after they're picked. They can only be sold for the first two days; by the third day, it'll be tough."

"My brother and I will take two cartloads out to sell tomorrow and see how it goes. If it doesn't sell well, then we'll just come back and dig up the seeds on the spot and keep them for ourselves to eat during the New Year."

Before Chen Hongguo could speak, Tang Xiuyun interjected, "Let our son go out and try selling them. It's just two cartloads of melons; they won't yield many seeds."

She had kept Chen Mian's performance these past few days in mind. When it came to serious matters, Chen Mian was particularly calm and composed, speaking with reason and evidence, which gave her a sense of security. It would be good for Chen Mian to go out and gain some experience.

Chen Hongguo instructed, "Get up early tomorrow..."

Before the words were finished, a loud bang rang out overhead, and the entire room was instantly filled with darkness, with only the continuous, crisp rustling sound coming from outside.

Power outages are a common occurrence, and the family of three is used to it.

Under the combined hypnotic effects of carbon-induced cravings and the sound of wind and rain, Chen Mian was already feeling sleepy. The power outage was perfectly timed; it would be a shame not to take a nap in this wonderful atmosphere created by nature.

The power didn't come back on until after 9 p.m., and the rain was still drizzling. It was as if the heavens couldn't stop urinating.

The pitch-black sky and the rugged, muddy dirt road left the villagers helpless, no matter how anxious they were. They could only wait until tomorrow to go down to the fields and check again.

The store was brightly lit and warmly yellow. It was a place similar to a small shop and used to be a rural outpost of the supply and marketing cooperative system to meet the daily needs of the villagers. Later, it was contracted out to individuals.

During the off-season for farming, people gather here without prior arrangement, chatting freely about everything from family matters to national affairs, both inside and outside the shop.

You could even say that every villager who passed by could become a topic of conversation.

Chen Hongguo wasn't used to going to bed early, so he decided to stay at the consignment store for a while.

Looking around, the room was packed with more than a dozen people, most of whom had smiles on their faces, except for a few who were rubbing their faces gloomily, forcing a smile.

Among them are the second brothers, Chen Hongzhen and Chen Hongmin, who are both sons of the eldest uncle.

"Those who grow watermelons this year are really unlucky..."

"The Red Nation is here..."

The villagers were extremely enthusiastic, greeting him one after another. The boss, Zhao Dahe, who was behind the counter, immediately grabbed the stool he was sitting on and forced it out so that Chen Hongguo could sit against the counter.

Chen Hongguo didn't refuse too much, and casually greeted his two cousins ​​sitting on the bench in the corner.

He looked around, feeling quite flattered. In the past, when he came here, he would just stand on the side for a while, listen, and then leave. He had never received such treatment before.

"Red Country, thank goodness you reminded me, otherwise my cotton would have been completely ruined."

Zhao Dahe leaned on the glass counter, his anger mixed with lingering fear. He handed Chen Hongguo a cigarette, saying, "I don't know which bastard threw all that junk into the ditch. It's a good thing we didn't plant any melons, or we would have been in big trouble."

Liu Guozhu, from the east end of the village, sighed and added, "That's right. I've been so busy these past two days that I only remembered about the drainage ditch after hearing about it on the loudspeaker. I almost couldn't make a living like this."

Everyone knows that Liu Guozhu's family is struggling financially. If their land suffers another blow like this, things could get even worse.