Rebirth to the Eighties to Get Rich

Chapter 71 – December

“No teeth yet?” Hou Wazi was shocked. “What does younger brother eat then?”

“He drinks water mixed with milk powder, and when he is a little older, he can eat rice paste,” Su Danhong replied.

Hou Wazi nodded. “Then he must grow up quickly. I drank that and wasn’t full. I went out to play and got hungry again.”

The last time he came, he saw that his third aunt was mixing the milk powder, and he was a little hungry. Although it was his brother’s food, and his grandmother also told him that he had grown up and should not compete with his brother for food, he wanted to taste it. He had never tried it before and was hungry.

His third aunt made him a bowl, just like his brother’s. He was very satisfied after drinking it, and it tasted good, but the only disadvantage was that he was not completely full and could not bear being hungry so soon.

No wonder his grandmother said that it should only be eaten by his brother. His brother couldn’t walk or play. His brother would be full drinking this, but he would not be full.

He still needed to eat more food.

These dumplings are delicious. 

Su Danhong didn’t know what this little boy was thinking about, and continued curing the bacon. Ji Jianyun liked to eat bacon, so she asked him to buy more meat. It was not much, just eight or nine jin.

When Hou Wazi was full, he went to play with Xiao Renren and also did his homework. It was almost time for him to go back and he put his school bag on his back.

“Smelly brat, you didn’t come back until now. Where did you go to play? Have you done your homework? ” Feng Fangfang said when she saw him come home.

“I went to third uncle’s house today, and I finished my homework. When I asked third uncle to look at it, he said it was good. He also pointed out two mistakes to me, and I corrected them!” Hou Wazi said right away.

Feng Fangfang just said, “Go and put your school bag away and eat.”

“You can eat with father. I ate at third uncle’s house. Third aunt gave me a big bowl of dumplings. I am very full. I’m going to practice reciting my homework.” With that, Hou Wazi went into his room.

His third uncle explained to him that he was the eldest brother, so he had to study hard. Later, when his younger brother grew up and went to school, he could teach his younger brother.

If his younger brother asked him a question and he couldn’t answer it, then how humiliating would it be for him to be the elder brother?

Feng Fangfang left him alone.

“He went to eat at Lao San’t house?” Ji Jianguo asked at the dinner table.

“Yeah, the boy said he ate a big bowl of dumplings,” Feng Fangfang answered with a smile. She thought of how much better Danhong was now. Just look, her son ate something good from her from time to time.

Ji Jianguo said, “Children crave meat. Go and buy some back sometimes. The last time we sold rice, we made some money.”

“How much was that?” Feng Fangfang glanced at him with annoyance.

She lived a very careful life. It was almost time to renovate their home. She planned on doing that next year. Renovating was a big deal. There were only a few households in the village that did this.

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As for meat?

It’s enough to buy half a jin or two a week to satisfy their cravings. In the past, they didn’t even have a bite to eat.

Ji Jianguo listened to her talk about the renovations. She was a bit enthusiastic about it, so he smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll listen to you. Let’s save the money.”

He also wanted to have renovations. The homes were built very casually when their family was divided out in the past. Currently, their home was so broken that it was very cold and leaky every winter. He had a lot of money saved up now, so it was time to renovate!

“I’m sure father won’t have time to manage their land next year. I’m going to discuss it with my parents and take care of it. We’ll harvest the rice for them when it’s ready,” Ji Jianguo said.

Father Ji and Mother Ji had not done tiring field work in a long time. Even though they had stopped, they still had three mu of land in their hands. They planted some rice in two mu for themselves, and planted sweet potatoes, peanuts, or sesame seeds in the other mu. This was not a lot, so Mother Ji worked on it alone.

Ji Jianguo wanted that piece of land.

He knew that a lot of rice had been harvested this year, and it had been sold for a total of almost 20 yuan.

This was really a lot of money. It was more than previous years, because the price of rice had gone up this year.

Leftover rice could be sold to make extra money that could be saved.

“Then go and discuss it with father,” Feng Fangfang said.

The next day, Ji Jianguo went up the mountain to find his father.

Father Ji said, “The three mu of land is going to be given to Jianyun. He doesn’t have any land in his hand, so I’ll give it to him. Don’t worry, he will be responsible for all the rice for me and your mother next year, so you don’t have to take care of it.”

Ji Jianguo was shocked. “No, father, I didn’t mean that. Jianyun is too busy managing the orchard, so why would he want more land? What is he going to do with it?”

“Jianyun said that he wanted to grow rice for his family to eat. That way, he doesn’t have to go buy it. Buying rice is also expensive. Now that he is spending  money on everything, he can save some money on food,” Father Ji explained.

When Ji Jianguo heard this, he had nothing to say.

Ji Jianyun went up the mountain to feed the dogs, and Father Ji mentioned the conversation. Ji Jianyun said with a smile, “Then I have to apologize to eldest brother.”

“Mhm, I talked to him.” Father Ji nodded.

The topic did not continue.

Ji Jianyun did not want the three mu of land. Truthfully, it was what his wife wanted to have some rice for his family to eat, just like what Mother Ji did. Two mu for rice, and the remaining mu for sweet potatoes, soybeans, peanuts and sesame seeds, and so on.

How could Ji Jianyun, who loved his wife, not comply with such a simple request from her?

A few days later, the rice milling shop in town used a rickshaw to deliver seven or eight large sacks of rice bran. There was a lot of old rice that was not moldy, but it had bugs. Ji Jianyun asked for some of that rice when he went to see it beforehand . It was stored once it was delivered.

With these stored grains, there would be no problem with food for the chickens this winter.

These past few days, his wife was tinkering in the greenhouse in the yard. He helped her put a lot of soil into the greenhouse. He doubted that they would be able to pick some fresh vegetable leaves for the chickens to eat this winter.

It was getting colder and colder. In a flash, they entered December.

Xiao Renren was two months old  and was growing very fast. Now, he was becoming active every day, but he still needed someone to accompany him. If he had someone to accompany him, then he would be able to play with himself for a long time without causing trouble; but, if there was no one next to him, then he would immediately cry.

Today, Su Danhong was humming a children’s song for her son while she was embroidering. Suddenly, she heard Da Hei barking outside.

Right after, Ji Yunyun’s somewhat angry voice was heard. “Hey! Third brother! How come you still have such a big dog in your family that is still so fierce? Is it going to bite me? Third brother, come out quickly!”

At this moment, Su Danhong remembered that Ji Yunyun had come back for vacation. She didn’t react. She really didn’t want to go out, but she had no choice. Jianyun was not at home. The most she could do now was stop Da Hei. If she didn’t, he would pounce Ji Yunyun and bite her.

“Come on, come out with mother.” Thus, Su Danhong picked up her son and went out.