Traveling back to 1952, starting a comeback from a relief station

Upon seeing this newly unlocked skill, Wang Anping was taken aback.

He had never been involved in cultivating these flowers and plants before.

Starting from scratch is perfectly normal.

But shouldn't growing flowers and plants be a skill like "gardening"? Why does the name of this skill include the word "cultivation"?

Could it be after the upgrade?

How can it be related to agricultural planting?

Thinking about this possibility, Wang Anping became somewhat interested.

But looking at the slow rate at which his proficiency was increasing, he felt a bit of a headache – the proficiency was increasing too slowly. He couldn't possibly fill the yard with flowers and plants just to grind for proficiency!

He saw Yan Bugui standing at his door.

She was looking at him with a resentful expression.

Wang Anping turned and went back into the house, but came out again a moment later, carrying a stool leg.

He tossed the bench leg to Yan Bugui.

He said with a smile:

"This is what we found under the bed while cleaning. It should be the original stool leg of the stool you took."

"Alright, now we're even."

Yan Bugui was overjoyed and took the stool leg to wipe it clean.

He said with a grin:

"Okay, that's good!"

Although exchanging a two-year-old red plum tree for an old stool seems like a loss by any measure, the red plum tree was free, and now I've even gotten a stool leg for free.

Thinking about it that way, it doesn't seem like a bad deal after all!

However, he still reluctantly gave Wang Anping some instructions:

"I've been taking care of that red plum tree for two years now, and it's not easy to keep it looking this good."

"You must take good care of it, water it frequently, loosen the soil often, and feel free to ask me if you have any questions. Don't let it die!"

Wang Anping said with a smile:

"Teacher Yan, could you please take care of this potted plant for me while you're at it?"

"Anyway, you need to take care of the flowers and plants in your yard, it's just one more step."

"Besides."

"If I actually manage to kill this one, you'll feel bad seeing it die, won't you?"

I pondered for a moment.

Yan Bugui thought there was nothing wrong with what he said.

He could only nod and say:

"That's it."

"But you can't mess with my other flowers anymore."

Anyway, I'm still taking care of it myself, so I'll just consider it as entrusting Hongmei to Wang Anping's care.

Thinking about it that way...

Yan Bugui felt better!

The barber on the east side of the front yard was named Ma Tiezhu, and his house was separated from Yan Bugui's by only one door.

I just clearly saw the situation of Yan Bugui and Wang Anping.

His wife was also there.

Just now, Sun Hui led Wang Anping into the courtyard. Hearing the commotion, Aunt Ma stood at the door with her five-year-old son in her arms to watch the excitement. She witnessed the "game" between Yan Bugui and Wang Anping.

Seeing Yan Bugui throw away a pot of red plum blossoms that he treasured like his lifeblood, and then even show a "made a profit" expression, Aunt Ma felt like she had seen a ghost.

When has Old Man Yan ever suffered such a loss?

The look in Wang Anping's eyes revealed a sense of amazement.

How could this newcomer manage to embarrass the shrewd and calculating Yan Bugui? Just who is he?

Wang Anping entered the house with a cheerful smile, not because he had just taken advantage of Yan Bugui, but because he felt he needed to suppress Yan Bugui's arrogance first.

After all, the two families are neighbors, and they will inevitably run into each other and have to deal with each other.

Yan Bugui needs to know that he can't just take advantage of others so easily.

Go back inside.

Wang Anping started to light the stove.

In those days, the most inconvenient thing about living was cooking over an open fire—there were no induction cookers, and gas stoves were only available in a few government agencies.

In ordinary households, coal stoves were used exclusively, and most of them were coal briquette stoves.

Ultimately.

It's cheaper to use coal briquettes.

Because coal briquettes are easy to make, you can make them at home by simply buying some coal powder, mixing it with some yellow clay, and stirring well.

However, the predecessor of the old man, Comrade Wang, used honeycomb briquettes.

Honeycomb briquettes are a bit more expensive, since they are machine-made.

But Old Wang had a high salary and good benefits, and since he lived alone, he was too lazy to bother making coal briquettes himself.

The house was fully furnished with all the basic necessities, so Wang Anping didn't need to worry about buying anything else.

He stuffed some dry grass into the stove, placed a few small pieces of wood on top, lit it, added honeycomb briquettes, and then opened the window for ventilation.

Once the coal briquettes were fully burned and there was little smoke left in the house, they closed the doors and windows again, locked the door, and left the yard.

As people finished get off work in the evening, the residents of the courtyard house gradually returned home.

News broke that new residents had moved into the front yard.

It spread very quickly.

Many idle neighbors were curious to see what the new neighbor looked like.

After all, the old ladies in the courtyard had been chatting in the afternoon and said that this young man was tall and handsome. They had even heard that Yan Bugui, who was known for his shrewdness, had been taken advantage of by him. This made everyone even more curious, especially the young women and wives of similar age in the courtyard.

Just like how young men love to look at pretty girls.

Women inevitably pay more attention to handsome young men.

Just as everyone was eagerly waiting, Wang Anping returned to the courtyard carrying two oil paper packages, several white steamed buns, and two cloth bags of grain.

Inside the two oil paper packages were the braised goods that Wang Anping had bought from the grocery store.

The cloth bag contained his stockpiled food rations.

At that time, the unified purchase and sales system had not yet been implemented, so as long as you had money, you could always buy things.

After the implementation of unified purchase and distribution, especially with the introduction of ration coupons such as grain coupons and meat coupons, it became much more difficult to openly enjoy good food.

Since Wang Anping has transmigrated, he naturally won't neglect his stomach.

One oil paper package contained half a pound of spiced pork head meat, which cost 16 cents; the other oil paper package contained a few slices of braised tofu and a braised egg, which cost 6 cents.

These days, real pork is expensive and hard to find.

But offal like pig's head, liver, and heart are cheap and easy to find; a pound of braised pig's head only costs 32 cents.

Wang Anping felt that these prices were a good deal.

Ultimately...

Or perhaps these wastes are not considered respectable by outsiders.

It has little to do with whether you are rich or poor.

As dusk settled, Yan Bugui was looking around in the courtyard, waiting for his neighbors to return, hoping to take advantage of the situation.

As Wang Anping carried his things through the door, the aroma of braised food immediately wafted into his nose.

"Hey, Anping, you've bought some good stuff."

Yan Bugui immediately came over, his face beaming with smiles.

"You're living the good life! How about we grab a drink tonight?"

"I'll pay for the drinks!"

He said that, but he was a little uneasy inside, still remembering the loss he had suffered that afternoon.

At the time, he hadn't realized what was happening. It wasn't until Wang Anping left that Yan Bugui slowly came to his senses and slapped his thigh in regret.

Wang Anping waved his hand and said:

"Never mind, I don't drink much. I'll just eat something to fill my stomach."

Is this all you're going to casually pad?

Yan Bugui looked at the braised food and steamed buns in his hand, feeling a pang of envy.

But she also knew that the other man was a single young man who only had himself to feed, unlike her own family, which had three sons and a pregnant wife, so they had to be careful with their money.

Wang Anping opened the door and entered the house.

His conversation with Yan Bugui had already been overheard by people from the Intermediate People's Court.

Many people ran to the hanging flower gate and pretended to talk to Yan Bugui, but their eyes kept glancing at Wang Anping's house.

Wang Anping didn't stand on ceremony and simply leaned against the door frame to look at the people in the courtyard.