Chapter Eleven: The New Tenant

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  Early in the morning, cicadas were loudly chirping, it was already late July, telling people that a scorching day had begun again. Fang Mo Nan was running quickly around the vegetable garden in the backyard, sweating profusely, as if he had just been pulled out of water.

  In the small vegetable garden, Fang Mo Nan and his grandma had already used thin bamboo sticks to support the seedlings. The trellis was well-made, and looking at the vegetables that were already bearing fruit, it was clear that these seedlings were of high quality, growing faster than those outside. The tomatoes would be ripe in a few days and could be eaten soon.

  Grandma looked at the big sun hanging in the east and said, "It's so hot today, don't water the vegetables, let me do it. It's cooler at home, why bother?"

  "It's nothing, this heat is really comfortable." Fang Mo Nan wiped the sweat from her face and said, it's not cool at home either. Watering the vegetable garden was easy for her, mainly because of running.

  "Come on, put down that basin of hot water and go take a shower. It's time for breakfast too." Grandma urged, walking into the house, and then Fang Mengnan heard Grandma's voice coming from inside, "Xiaoyan, get up! Nannan woke up earlier than you, and the sun is shining on your butt!"

  It's better to take a bath after dinner, otherwise I'll be sweating again. Fang Mo Nan looked at the hot water and thought it would be better to sneak into the space and soak in the warm spring later. If there's anything bad about now, it's that taking a bath is a hassle. I remember when I was a kid, in winter, we had to run three or four miles to take a bath once a week, which was quite an exaggeration, but almost true. Now it's better in summer, but in winter, it's really unbearable, so I have to think of a solution.

  "Alright, mom, stop rushing me, I'm not getting up yet, I stayed up a bit late reading last night." Xiaoyi muttered as she walked out, her hair disheveled, with a towel draped over her shoulder and a washbasin in hand containing toothbrushes. "It's you guys who are getting up too early, it's just past six." In order to avoid being pushed down again and also to avoid being a temporary worker, just like Xiaonan said: 'If the conditions aren't favorable, one must have solid skills, which can only be acquired through reading.' So she was determined to persevere no matter what.

  "You should learn from Nannan, look at her getting up so much earlier than you, waking up at 5 o'clock and not even forgetting to water the vegetables. You're as lazy as a pig." Grandma scolded behind her back.

  "Right, today the new tenant of the north house is moving in, did you see yesterday's lease? Any questions?" asked Grandma.

  "The rent is two blocks per month, the electricity bill is paid separately, and the water is from our own well, use it freely. What else can you ask for? It's still a familiar place, what problems could there be?" Little Aunt said hastily, with toothpaste foam still on her mouth that she hadn't had time to rinse off yet.

  "Hmm, Little Swallow, have you noticed that our congee has been especially delicious lately? It's so fragrant and sweet." Grandma closed her eyes contentedly, smacking her lips. Especially after he came back from the countryside these days, it really is good to drink.

  "Oh, I'll try some." After washing up, Xiao Yi walked to the edge of the water vat, picked up a ladle and scooped out a bit of water, took a sip, "Hmm, it's quite good, maybe our well water is good."

  Grandma got up and went to the edge of the water tank, scooped up a ladle of water, tasted it, and said it was cool and sweet. "You're right, I didn't think our old well at home was so good." She didn't say anything else.

  Fang Mo Nan's heart had been lifted high, but he put it down. Luckily, Grandma was just tasting the water from the vat and hadn't tasted the well water, or else she would have seen through him. Every time after Grandma filled up the vat with water, while she wasn't paying attention, he would secretly replace it with spring water from his space. Although the well water here wasn't bad either, it couldn't compare to the beauty of the water in his space.

  She finally let go of this matter and didn't think about it anymore.

  After finishing breakfast and tidying up, my aunt left. My grandmother brought out the wheat from home and dried it in the sun for several days before going to grind flour. Since the mill was just across the street from our house, not far away. So when she was about to leave, she instructed her little granddaughter to take care of the house and not run around everywhere, and she quickly did.

  Yesterday evening, Fang Mo Nan entered the space and saw that there were too many mature crops in the space, some of which were excessive. Without rushing to harvest them, she first tidied up the space. She looked at the rice grains in the field, waved her hand, harvested them, removed the husks, stored them in grain bags, and then collected the rice stalks to feed the cows and sheep. Just eating grass from the pasture was too much pressure on the pasture. In the north, staple food is mainly noodles, so she planted a large part of the land where rice grains were grown with wheat.

  The fish in the pond were swimming leisurely, and it was just the right time to catch them. If they grew too big, their flavor would be greatly discounted. Looking at them made me think about how to deal with them. Although there's no problem of spoilage due to ample storage space, keeping all the fresh fish might be a bit dull. After some thought, I decided not to make some cooked dishes and also have them as snacks.

  Although making dried fish is quite troublesome, Fang Mornan had no problem at all when it came to sending the fish to the kitchen with just her spiritual power. Salted dried fish, smoked dried fish, wind-dried fish, and she even tried making various canned fish. In her previous life, she loved eating canned fish so much that even the bones were crispy, which made her feel very enjoyable despite finding it troublesome to spit out the bones. After finishing, she tasted it and found the flavor was extremely good.

  Fang Mò Nán continued to tinker in the kitchen, grinding tofu, pickling cucumbers, making sauerkraut from napa cabbage, and marinating wild duck eggs, goose eggs, and chicken eggs that he had collected from the forest and grasslands. He also took the opportunity to make cured meat, smoked meat, and bacon from the cattle and sheep on the grasslands and the pigs that roamed freely in the forest, which would help alleviate some of the pressure on the grasslands and forests.

  With the remaining energy, Fang Mo Nan scanned the space and swept his hand to collect half of the fruit-laden branches. He left half for the few monkeys in the space and the increasingly numerous birds. The collected fruits were divided into two halves, one for eating and the other for brewing wine.

  Come to the brewing area, collect the fruits that need to be brewed here, and activate their spiritual power. They will automatically brew and store themselves.

  After Mo Nan finished all this, she had been busy for half a day and finally felt tired. It seemed that practicing like this was also effective. She returned to the study, sat on the couch, meditated to recover her energy. She felt the endless spiritual energy, ****, flowing along the meridians and wandering throughout her body, feeling that the originally thin air flow was slightly larger than before. It turned out that this was also a kind of practice.

  Every night, the space is packed to the brim, not a moment of idleness. People who have been reborn, in order not to repeat the regrets of their past lives, will probably work so hard, seize every opportunity, and learn as soon as possible. The phrase "if you don't strive when you're young, you'll regret it when you're old" has a deep understanding.

  She shifted her gaze back to the outside of the house, Fang Mo Nan walked into the backyard, looking at the vegetables she had planted, they were growing well, in a few more days, they should be ready to eat. She looked up at the big sun above her head, then walked to the front yard, holding a small crispy fish in her hand, these could only be eaten when no one was around, she also wanted to share with her family, but that would be too risky. Could only wait and see for now.

  "Little girl, these days, you haven't come to me to learn characters?" A serious and low voice, with a hint of sadness.

  "Ah, Old Man Lin, you're at my place." Fang Mo Nan touched his mouth, no fish scales, fortunately the small crispy fish was eaten up.

  Mr. Lin stood in the north house, holding a box of books, with the door wide open, walking inside. "Oh, I'm just the new tenant here, this place not only has big rooms but also much cooler than my previous place." He put down the books at the entrance and pointed to the two tall trees in the courtyard. "Besides, that's an office building, it wouldn't be suitable for me to live there all the time. This place is close to the Education Bureau, I heard it was for rent so I came." Of course, what he didn't say out loud was that he had rarely met such a clever and endearing child, how could he let her slip away? He thought she must have been scared off by his words last time, but indeed she was the most unusual child he had ever seen.

  "Ah, you're the new tenant." Fang Mo Nan opened his big mouth, somewhat worried that there might be trouble, but she had already made up her mind to not admit it.

  "Little girl, the words I taught you a few days ago, can you still recognize them without skipping any characters?" He said seriously and solemnly. "Learning requires perseverance, how can one be idle for two days after working for three days."

  "Oh, you taught me and I remembered everything."

  "Alright, come in and write it down for me to see."

  Fang Mo Nan looked at him with a serious expression, not mentioning the previous matter. She wouldn't be foolish enough to bring it up either. Anyway, he had made up his mind not to admit it, and since there was nothing to be afraid of, she put her heart at ease. She picked up a slightly smaller box from the ground, which turned out to be quite heavy, and walked in with him, carrying the book boxes together.

  "Grandpa Lin, don't need to jump words. Fang Mo Nan looked at the sky, now is the right time."

  "Oh, I'm moving, and my unit gave me two days off." Lin put down the book box, walked to the desk, "First, write down the words I taught you in the past few days." After finishing speaking, she didn't care about her and started organizing the books.

  "Ah," Fang Mo Nan stood in front of the table, his head just passing over the tabletop. He then moved a small stool over and stood on it, just right.

  On the desk, there were good pens, ink, paper and inkstone. The paper was not Xuan paper, which would be too wasteful for her, but newspaper. She carefully looked at a Qinghua pen wash on the table, leaned forward to take a closer look, and saw that inside was a picture of two carp playing in the water, vividly lifelike, with water flowing into it, as if they were really swimming. She gently picked up the pen holder, lifted her eyes to take a glance, and saw that it was from the Kangxi period - what a treasure! She carefully put it back in its original place. As an investor, she thought that its future appreciation space would be great, and for a moment, a glint of gold flashed in her eyes, but then subsided. These things were still too early for her now; what was important was to practice writing the characters that Old Man Lin had taught her a few days ago.

  Grandpa Lin nodded with satisfaction, seeing her looking at the pen wash, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he quietly began to tidy up his treasures. The room was much larger, some of which could be taken out to dry, no need to stay in the box and get moldy.

  Outside, the cicadas were chirping loudly, but the two people inside were not affected. They quietly finished writing and looked at each other, then hung up the calligraphy on the wall, featuring insects, fish, flowers, and birds. The seal was in a style she couldn't understand, but the handwriting was unmistakably from the same person.

  On the wall are still hanging famous calligraphy and paintings, the most precious ones being Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion", Yan Zhenqing's "Draft of Sacrificial Offering to Nephew", Huizong Zhao Ji's "Cursive Script of Thousand Character Classic", Tang Bohu's "Mountain Quiet Day Long Picture" and Xu Beihong's "Eight Galloping Horses".

  Fang Mo Nan greedily looked at these genuine articles, which have not been forged by later generations. They should be real, even if they are not genuine, they are worth a lot of money. She is a worldly person, and her eyes are filled with RMB.

  He took another look at the books he had arranged, which were mostly thread-bound and yellowed, and even saw English and French books. From their worn appearance, they should be reading them now too. She curiously stared at this unassuming old man, wondering what his background was. She got up and looked around, stroking her chin, thinking to herself that since he was willing to teach, one or two students made no difference, so she might as well take advantage of the opportunity to gain some benefits for her younger aunt.

  "Grandpa Lin, are all these books yours? Not a single word is missing." Fang Mo'nan pretended to be curious and walked forward, touching them with an even sweeter tone.

  Mr. Lin, also having a good idea of her observation in his heart, just didn't say it and pretended not to know, thinking that it would be more interesting to slowly figure it out rather than revealing the mystery all at once. "Yes, I have many books, most of which were picked up from the recycling station." With a painful expression, "They're all treasures."

  "Are those characters written by you? Don't skip words." Fang Mo Nan saw his sad expression and shifted the painful topic. Although the times have changed, there are more than just these books that were submerged in those years.

  "Yes, some are mine, aren't they beautiful?" Old Master Lin said with a pleased smile.

  Unfortunately, Fang Mo Nan's artistic talent is not high, can only be said to look good, can teach me how to write without skipping characters.

  Mr. Lin said with a smile, "This sentence is good, but let's get the ugly words out of the way first, I'm very strict."

  "En en, I'm not afraid." Fang Mo Nan had come back once before, and she didn't want to leave any regrets in her life. With nothing to do during the day, she was thinking of finding something to do. "However, I'd like to ask you to teach one more student."

  "Oh, tell me about it."

  "My little aunt, is it possible? She wants to pick up her books again and go back to school." Fang Mo Nan blinked his big eyes, somewhat anxiously waiting for his response.

  "Oh" He stroked his chin, nowadays people still read books. Nowadays, as long as one has a job and a salary, who would think about studying? They don't see the impact of reading on their future. It's rare to find someone who loves learning, "Alright".

  "That's great!" Fang Mo Nan clapped his hands excitedly and shouted.

  "Alright, now let's learn something new." Old Man Lin patted her head and went to the desk, picked up his pen and began writing. "This is what you'll be learning today."

  Grandma was grinding flour when she saw Fang Mo Nan following Old Man Lin to learn from him. After greeting him, not daring to disturb her writing, he started doing his chores.

  At noon, Xiaoyi, Fang Mo Nan told her that she had found a good teacher for her, and the three of them made a study plan together.

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