Chapter Eighty-Four: Fellow Travelers

  Seeing a whole bag of oil cakes, Zhen'er was worried. On the way to the oil factory just now, she saw people buying chicks at the market. Hu Zi thought that since he had spent money on books for himself, he might as well buy some chicks to raise.

  Zhen'er felt that his positive attitude towards labor could not be defeated, and besides, the family really needed to raise these, so she bought them. Next to it, there were also people selling winter melon seedlings, pepper seedlings, etc. Zhen'er thought that buying seeds was already too late, and it's better to directly buy vegetable seedlings back home to plant, which saves time and effort, so she bought a few more vegetable seeds. With this purchase, the things became too many to carry.

  The boss of the oil shop also saw that she was still carrying a small child with her small arms and legs, and couldn't handle that bag of oil cakes. He suggested: "Little girl, not far from here, there is a carriage rental place, if you live far away, go rent an ox cart to take it back."

  Zhen Er also thought this was a good idea, she looked at the pair of things on the ground, can't move all these things over there?

  The boss of the oil shop thought that Zhen'er was afraid of buying too many things and being scolded by her parents when she got home, so he wanted to make a deal with her. He said: "If you're far away, just go rent a car, at worst I'll give you a discount of ten cents on the oil cake later."

  Zhen'er didn't expect the boss to be so generous and bold in doing business. Anyway, the things she bought were just a few expensive books, so she stuffed them into Hu Zi's arms and left the rest of her belongings with the oil shop owner to take care of, then quickly ran towards the carriage rental place with Hu Zi on her back.

  She bought a pack of oil cakes, and Zhen'er saw that there was still freshly ground peanut oil, which smelled very fragrant. Hu Zi doesn't pick what she eats, but she likes to eat peanut oil. The bean oil and vegetable oil that rural people usually eat are really not her habit, and lard is barely acceptable. Now that there's peanut oil, it would be a lie if she said she wasn't tempted.

  Anyway, peanut oil is better than bean oil and more nutritious. Zhen'er used this reason to convince herself and bought a small jar of peanut oil with determination. When paying the money, the boss of the oil shop undercharged twenty cents, ten cents for each item, so it's twenty cents in total. Zhen'er thought that this boss knew how to do business and would have many repeat customers by doing so.

  The way was thanked. Zhen'er happily got on the cow cart. Just right, this saved money for the cart at once.

  Sitting in the car, Tuzi took out his new book and stroked it repeatedly. Zhen'er saw that he was delighted, but also didn't dare to flip through the book casually, feeling a little sour in her heart. She said: "Will sister teach Tuzi to read or not?"

  The tiger cub narrowed its small eyes and nodded with a smile. Zhen'er took over the book of "Qianziwen" and read: "The sky is dark and yellow, the universe is vast and desolate."

  The tiger cub also followed along, reciting one word and one sentence very seriously. Even the car driver couldn't help but turn his head to take a few glances.

  The little tiger is still too small, and Zhen'er didn't want him to eat a big fat one in one bite. After teaching two sentences, he stopped teaching and started chatting idly.

  Not long after the ox cart left the city, Zhen'er saw a familiar figure on the side of the road, wearing a long gown and carrying a fish basket, walking slowly with an air of leisure - who else could it be but Ye Chunshui?

  Zou dao pang bian, Zhen er rang che fu ting le xia lai. Wen dao: "Ye gong zi. Ni zen me yi ge ren ah?"

  Translation:

  She walked to the side and asked the driver to stop. She asked: "Mr. Ye, why are you alone?"

  Ye Chun's eyes were dazed for a moment, and then he remembered that this morning he had taken the cattle car to the county town with these two siblings. Following the sage's teachings of not looking at what is not proper, he only glanced at the little girl once and didn't dare to glance over there again. However, he did have a deep impression of the little brother, mainly because he was too well-behaved and even more gentle than his sister.

  "I, Xiao Sheng, pay my respects." Ye Chunshui first bowed, then continued: "When selling fish in the market, I happened to meet a few classmates. We discussed our studies together and lost some time, so I was just about to head back."

  Having grown accustomed to the straightforward words of the village, it's only been a short while that Zhen'er has become unaccustomed to such refined language. She spoke directly: "Young Master Ye, my brother and I are also heading back to the village, let's go together?" As she said this, she made some space for him.

  She saw Ye Chunshui and didn't look like a bookworm, fortunately he didn't disappoint her either, thanked her and got on the ox cart.

  Maybe they weren't very familiar, Ye Chunshui was a bit awkward, but when he saw the book in Hu Zi's hand, he seemed to have found a kindred spirit and relaxed a lot, taking the initiative to chat: "Is this a book for your little brother?" He said, taking it over and flipping through it casually.

  Zhen'er nodded and introduced, "My name is Qi Zhen'er, this is my brother Hu Zi, his full name is Qi Huaigu." Hu Zi heard his full name, looked at his sister in surprise, then calmly turned back, seriously touching his book. "I plan to send him to school next year, I want to buy some books for him to learn some characters first."

  Ye Chunshui nodded in approval, "It's necessary to learn some characters first, otherwise it will be hard to keep up when entering the school. Although the teacher will start from the simplest character recognition, if there is no foundation, it won't take long to fall behind classmates, and the enthusiasm for learning will weaken..."

  All the way, Ye Chunshui was talking to Hu Zi about school things and taught him to recite a book twice. Before they arrived home, Hu Zi's eyes were already filled with admiration for him.

  The ox cart went directly from the mountain to Qizhen's home, taking this road was a bit farther but they could avoid the village. She returned with Ye Chunshui and there were still so many things on the cart, it was better to keep a low profile.

  Ye Chunshui didn't ask much after getting off the car, and when he was about to pay the fare, Zhen'er stopped him, telling him that someone had already paid. He didn't insist, thanked again, and advised Hu Zi to study hard, then leisurely walked back home.

  Zhen'er looked at his back, really couldn't understand how the village chief had raised such a good grandson, studying and recognizing characters were all good, being humble and not arrogant. The muddy children in the village must have both respected and hated him.

  It's late, the piglets in the pen are crying out again, Zhen'er feels very heartbroken, it's only been a few days since she came home, and they've already starved for the second time. She busily poured half a bucket of oil cakes into the feeding trough, watching as the piglets ate happily.

  The tiger cub went into the house, put the new book under the pillow, and consciously took off his jacket. Then he put the little chicken in the chicken coop and poured a bowl of leftover rice from yesterday on the ground to let the chicks peck at it.

  After waiting for all this, Zhen'er felt that her own stomach was also hungry. The two of them had a bowl of noodles at the market, but now they were hungry again. They could only make some food to fill their stomachs first.

  After dinner, Zhen'er took a small shovel and followed Hu'zi to the empty land behind the house to pick up stones. It's been several days since they moved into this new home, but with one thing or another delaying them, the garden still hasn't been tidied up yet.

  They've all done this job before, and it's not difficult. The only hard part is digging up the stones buried in the ground. Fortunately, it rained a few days ago, so the soil is still soft and easier to dig than last time.

  Zhen'er and Hu'zi were busy with their work while reciting a few lines of books, and they didn't feel tired at all.

  Zhen'er hadn't planned to clear the land completely, she just had to plant the seedlings after buying them. She and Hu Zi cleared a small patch of land, used a tool to loosen the soil, and planted the seedlings. They didn't need to dig too deep for planting vegetables anyway. As she looked at the tool, Zhen'er suddenly remembered that she hadn't paid Mao Shi for it yet.

  That day, Ye Shiwei went to the county town to repair farm tools. Mrs. Mao said that the head of their household was broken and asked him to buy a new one. As it happened, she was nearby, and Mrs. Mao knew her family didn't have one, so she told Ye Shiwei to bring one back for them. At the time, she thought she wouldn't need it herself and wanted to refuse, but before she could say anything, Ye Shiwei had already hurried off. By the time she brought the head back, the matter had been forgotten.

  This umbrella isn't cheap. At that time, she didn't think of it herself, and Mao also estimated that she had no money, so he didn't mention it. Now she remembers, but the money must be sent quickly.

  After washing up at home, Zhen'er packed more than half of the osmanthus cake given by the Zhou family. The osmanthus cake was very soft and fluffy. Hu Zi couldn't bear to eat it on the way, kept muttering that he wanted to give it to his grandfather, Zhen'er liked him being so filial. She also brought out the Yunwu tea she had bought, took 300 wen, and went to the medical clinic with Hu Zi.

  The old man was quite leisurely at the moment, sorting out the dried herbs, and seeing Hu Zi was very happy, asking: "Where did you go with your sister today?"

  "I went to the market with my sister, and she even bought me a book," Hu Zi said loudly, then handed over the pastries in his hand to Ye Lao and said, "Grandpa, this was given by that young lady, for you to eat."

  "Good, good, Tiger is really clever." Old Master Ye smiled and accepted the pastry, then looked at Zhen Er, "What miss?"

  Zhen'er told Miss Zhou about sending strawberries, but didn't mention anything else. The old lady thought a lot, and Miss Zhou's intention was not to pursue that matter anymore. If she mentioned it again, it would only add more trouble.

  "Grandpa, why are you cutting these weeds?" Zhen'er asked, seeing the various weeds that were commonly found in the wilderness scattered on the ground.

  The old man looked at the things pointed to, saw that one side was already half dry, and turned it over for further drying. He said, "What is this weed? This is medicinal material. The one with purple flowers is Angelica sinensis, and that one is Schizonepeta tenuifolia." The old man held the herbs one by one to explain to Zhen'er, "These are all common medicinal herbs, often used in daily life. I saw that there were few people today, and not many herbs left, so I went to cut some." He sighed, "This year's rain is good, and the herbs have grown well."

  Zhen'er couldn't help but laugh, the old man was very talkative when it came to his favorite things. Normally he was a kind and gentle grandfather who didn't say much, but every sentence hit the nail on the head.

  "Grandpa, next time you want to pick some herbs, tell me and I'll go with you. Lately, I've been feeling empty. Your legs aren't good, what if you fall in the bushes? The old man had an accident a few years ago when he was picking herbs and fell off a cliff, lying unconscious at the bottom for a whole day. If it wasn't for a woodcutter who saw him, the consequences would have been unthinkable. But even so, his legs were injured and didn't receive timely treatment, leaving behind a hidden illness. Normally, it's not noticeable when he walks, but sometimes he's still a bit clumsy."

  Ye Lao Yezi smiled carelessly and said, "It's nothing, Grandpa is just cutting a few sickles nearby. You're underestimating Grandpa too much."

  Zhen Er didn't argue, sometimes as people get older they hope to be valued by others rather than being thought of as old and unable to do anything. Zhen Er made up her mind to help the old man gather herbs later, said a few more words, and then went into the house.

  Ye Baiji had her first period today, but I don't know how she's doing.