Sister's electric rice cooker

  "Brother, what good things have you brought back for me?"

  Lin Fanghua returned home from school and hastily asked Lin Zhenhua without even putting down her bag.

  The day before, several leaders and masters who went to Guangzhou on a business trip had already returned. Although they kept an extremely low profile, it was still spread throughout the Hanhua factory that everyone who went on this business trip received gifts, with the factory director receiving a tape recorder and others receiving radios. As for the source of these gifts, there were many rumors, and the more they were passed around, the more exaggerated they became.

  One theory that people tend to believe is that the gifts were sent by foreign businessmen. Everyone knows that foreigners are extremely wealthy, and it's said that they have dozens of tape recorders at home, which they throw away directly into the trash when they're broken. Now, giving one to a Chinese person is nothing to them. As for whether it's appropriate to accept gifts from foreign businessmen, that depends on individual perspectives. Since the reform and opening-up, policy restrictions on receiving gifts from foreigners have loosened up a lot. Although there are regulations regarding the amount, who would care about that at the grassroots level? As long as you don't betray national interests, accepting some gifts is not considered wrong. Taking a step back, even if you do betray national interests, as long as it's not discovered...

  Another version is the one compiled by Lin Zhenhua, which is about a wealthy friend and a heroic story. This story was passed on from the people who went on this business trip, but those who heard it were somewhat skeptical.

  Kong Haijiang was very good at socializing, and as soon as he returned, he actively ran to the Lin family to inform Lin Fanghua that her brother had gotten off halfway to Changsha and would not return until the next day. Kong Haijiang also hinted deeply that his brother's gift would be more than everyone else's. So, Lin Fanghua spent the whole day waiting for her brother to hurry back and see what new toys he had brought back.

  Lin Zhenhua did not bring those things from Hong Kong with him, except for the gifts for He Haifeng's family. He handed over the rest of the items to Lan Wufeng to transport back. So, after getting off the train, he first went to Lan Wufeng's house to retrieve some of his belongings.

  When Lin Zhenhua arrived at Lan Wufeng's home, Lan Wufeng was not there. Lan Dama told Lin Zhenhua that after Lan Wufeng returned from Guangzhou, he hastily ran out to sell those small commodities. He leaves early and returns late every day, but it seems the sales effect is good, every day he takes out a large canvas bag, and when he comes back, the bag becomes empty. As for how much money he made, Lan Wufeng never told his mother, he said this was Lin Ge's business, he was just helping, no matter how much money he made, it all belonged to Lin Ge.

  The goods brought back by Lan Wufeng were all piled up in the inner room of their home, which was originally where Lan's mother lived. Now she had to move out and live in the outer house instead. However, Lan's mother did not complain about this. Lin Zhenhua had helped their family so much that it was only right for her to temporarily vacate a room for him to store his things.

  Lin Zhenhua chatted with Lan's mother for a few sentences, then went back to the house to fetch some of his own things, and returned home. As soon as he sat down at home, he heard his younger sister Xiaofang entering the house shouting loudly.

  "Brother, what did you bring? Oh my, a tape recorder! Is it the same as the one at Zhu Xia's house?" Lin Fanghua spotted the large tape recorder on the table and threw her school bag onto the bed. With a leap, she pounced on the tape recorder. The Zhu Xia she mentioned was the daughter of Zhu Tiejun, who also attended the county middle school and was in the first grade, and had a pretty good relationship with Lin Fanghua.

  Lin Zhenhua stood by, smiling but saying nothing. Xiaofang pressed for half a day without making a sound, and couldn't help but anxiously shout: "Brother, brother, how do you open this thing?"

  "It's not powered on, how can you turn it on?" Lin Zhenhua said.

  "Where is the wire?"

  "Here it is." Lin Zhenhua held up a power cord and teased his sister.

  "Ugh, give it to me quickly!"

  "No way!"

  "Why?"

  "This tape recorder is mine, you want to listen to music, use your own."

  "What?... You're saying I have one too?" Lin Fanghua was about to get angry, but suddenly caught the undertone in Lin Zhenhua's words. Over the past six months, Lin Zhenhua had always spoken to her like this, and she had developed a quick wit to deal with it.

  "What's this?" Lin Zhenhua took out a small object from behind him, about the size of a Xinhua dictionary, and handed it to Lin Fanghua.

  "What is this?" Lin Fanghua took over the small toy, her eyes wide open, "Could this also be a recorder? Oh my god, how can it be so small? The workmanship is so exquisite, like a handicraft."

  "This is a small tape recorder that was only introduced by Sony Japan last year, model TPS-L2, also known as Walkman. It's something you can clip to your waist and listen to while taking a walk. I don't know how many there are in all of China, but I guarantee you, this is the first one in Jiangnan Province!" Lin Zhenhua said proudly.

  "This is for me?" Xiaofang could hardly believe it.

  "Give it a try." Lin Zhenhua walked forward, inserted the Walkman's card into his sister's pocket, plugged in the earphone cord, and put the headphones on his sister's head. He gently pressed the button, and a soft, sweet melody instantly enveloped Xiaofang's mind and body:

  "Many stories in a small town"

  Filled with joy and happiness

  If you come to this small town

  Gained a lot

  Like a painting

  Sounds like a song

  The boundary of life is true, good and beautiful, which includes...

  "Brother..." Lin Fanghua only felt a wave of dizziness, it was a happy feeling, she looked at her brother, tears couldn't help but fall down.

  "What's wrong with you?" Lin Zhenhua was baffled. This little girl, listening to the song so calmly, suddenly burst into tears.

  "Brother..." Lin Fanghua threw her arms around her brother and buried her head in his chest, "You are the best brother in the world."

  "Hmm, okay, you're so touched by a Walkman, what if I give you a BMW next time, won't you faint?!" Lin Zhenhua couldn't adapt to this Qiong Yao-style sentimentalism and hastily interrupted. However, seeing his sister so happy, he still felt delighted. A Walkman's selling price in Japan was 33,000 yen, approximately $140 USD, which was absolutely exorbitant compared to people's income levels at the time. Spending a fortune to get his sister's praise of "good brother" was worth it.

  "I'm just happy." Lin Fanghua wiped away her tears and said somewhat awkwardly, "Brother, how did you know I liked Teresa Teng?"

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Nonsense, you girls like this kind of thing, don't you? But I'm telling you, this thing can't be brought to school, or else your classmates will see it and snatch it from you."

  "I don't bring it with me, I just put it at home and listen to it before I sleep."

  "Also, you can't just listen to songs. I bought you Xu Guozhang's English and 900 English sentences, practice your listening and speaking skills well."

  "Alright, brother-in-law." Lin Fanghua got over her initial excitement and resumed her usual mischievous self. She carefully hid the Walkman and started to get busy: "Brother, you haven't cooked dinner yet, I'll go cook it."

  "After washing the rice, take this to cook." Lin Zhenhua somehow produced another new thing from somewhere. This thing was less than a foot high, cylindrical in shape, with a wire coming out of the bottom and a lid on top that looked like a stainless steel pot, but much more beautiful than a stainless steel pot.

  "What is this?"

  "This is the pot you said would automatically cook rice." Lin Zhenhua chuckled.

  "When did I say that?" Lin Fanghua couldn't remember.

  "The day I just came back, you told me that your classmates' ideal in 2000 was to have a pot that could automatically cook rice. Put the rice in in the morning and it would be cooked by noon, still hot."

  "Is this pot like that?" Lin Fanghua remembered that she had indeed told her brother about it, and curiously stared at this ordinary electric rice cooker in the future, wondering how it could be so magical.

  "Quickly go and rinse the rice, then add water. The water should be about a palm's height above the rice." Lin Zhenhua instructed.

  Lin Fanghua flew to buy rice, then put it in the electric rice cooker, and added water according to Lin Zhenhua's standard. She plugged in the power source, pressed the switch, and then lay down beside it, waiting patiently.

  "What's wrong with you?" Lin Zhenhua was both angry and amused.

  "We're waiting to see how it goes dark."

  "Come on, it's been 20 minutes and you're still staring like that?"

  "I'll go wash the vegetables first, and when it's time for the power outage, you must call me."

  After more than ten minutes, the electric rice cooker started to emit steam, and the fragrance of cooked rice wafted out. Lin Zhenhua told Xiaofang that it would trip soon if they continued to cook. So, Xiaofang refused to leave anymore, staring intently at the electric rice cooker, wanting to see what tripping meant.

  "Click!" A light sound, the switch popped up, and the "cooking" indicator light went out. Next to it, an indicator light with the words "keep warm" lit up. This electric rice cooker was made in Hong Kong, and all the labels on it were in Chinese characters, so Lin Fanghua could read them.

  "Oh my god, it really jumped!" Lin Fanghua exclaimed with joy, stretching out her hand to lift the lid.

  "Wait a minute!" Lin Zhenhua stopped her, "Just jumped the circuit, don't open the pot, let it simmer for a while, and the rice will be more fragrant."

  In the evening, the brother and sister ate rice cooked with an electric rice cooker. Lin Fanghua kept saying it was delicious. In the past, they used to cook with iron pots, but the heat was often difficult to control, sometimes it was raw, sometimes it was burnt, unlike the rice steamed from the electric rice cooker which was just right.

  "Brother, now we have a tape recorder and an electric rice cooker, is it like a foreigner's home?" Lin Fanghua asked his brother.

  "This is nothing," Lin Zhenhua said disdainfully. "In other people's countries, they have refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, air conditioners, and cars. These are the most basic things. We don't have any of these."

  "Hey, brother, why didn't you bring back a TV?" Lin Fanghua's eyes grew wide with excitement.

  Lin Zhenhua's eyes widened: "TV? Honestly, I've thought about it. But if we bring a TV back home, our household will have one more idle young person."

  "Who is it?"

  "Ah!" said Lin Zhenhua, "You must be staying at home watching TV every day, and your grades are a mess. In the future, you can only be an unemployed youth."

  "Nothing of the sort!" Lin Fanghua retorted, "After we started school, we had a baseline test and I was second in class. My goal now is to be among the top ten in the whole grade by the mid-term exams, and among the top five by the final exams."

  "Really?"

  "That's for sure, and it doesn't matter who my brother is." Lin Fanghua said with pride, "Brother, your tutoring during the winter break was really helpful. In this math test, only two people in the whole grade got one question right, and I'm one of them. The teacher praised me a lot!"

  "Okay, fine, when you get into the top ten in your grade level, I'll reward you with 2,000 yuan." Lin Zhenhua said generously.

  "I don't want that much money." Lin Fanghua said, and as she spoke, she suddenly became timid and said: "Brother, there's something I want to tell you, but you mustn't scold me, okay?"

  "What's wrong, have you fallen in love?" Lin Zhenhua asked bluntly.

  "Nonsense! What are you talking about?" Lin Fanghua rebuked.

  "It doesn't matter then, other things can all be forgiven, go ahead and say it."

  "You gave me 30 yuan last time, and I spent 8 yuan the day before yesterday."

  "Is that so?"

  Yes.

  "Oh." Lin Zhenhua continued to pick at his rice with his chopsticks, not even having the interest to ask what it was about. A 17-year-old girl's family, reporting back home that she had spent 8 yuan, in Lin Zhenhua's eyes, was really laughable. However, putting it in those years, this was absolutely a big deal, 8 yuan was almost a week's worth of food expenses for a family.

  "Brother, why don't you ask me what I spent the money on?" Lin Fanghua was annoyed.

  "I've said it before, I gave you the money, you can spend it however you want. Don't mention 8 yuan, even if you spent 30 yuan, I can still give you more. Now my brother is also considered a wealthy man." Lin Zhenhua said.

  "They just bought something for themselves. Brother, look, it's this." Lin Fanghua proudly pulled out an object from her backpack and handed it to Lin Zhenhua, asking smugly: "How is it? Isn't it very pretty?"

  "Cough, cough, cough..." Lin Zhenhua saw this thing and immediately choked on a mouthful of rice, causing him to start coughing violently.

  It turned out that Lin Fanghua took out to show off was actually an electronic watch.