Chapter 49 of Volume 1: Qian Nao's Trouble

  After the serious talk, Fang Mo Nan walked out and took a deep breath of the cold air. Tonight's sky was exceptionally beautiful, without a moon, but with countless stars shining brightly. His mood was as bright and dazzling as the starlight. He had to go prepare dinner. Cheng Shi Gui and Liang Zi were chatting and laughing, creating a lively atmosphere that dispersed the somber topic of their earlier farewell.

  "You guys are really something, leaving us at home." Renard led Fang Mo Bei to push the door in, took off his overcoat and casually threw it on the chair. He was also curious about why Fang Mo Nan came here on such a cold day, riding a bicycle with Mo Bei, without being invited, and as soon as he saw them, it turned out to be like this.

  Fang Mo Nan sometimes thought that Fang Mo Bei's piano practice was too tiring, so he would take them to the farm to change their mood, plant some land and raise some flowers. They couldn't just focus on playing the piano and become ignorant in other aspects.

  "We were just thinking of calling you!" said Cheng Shigui.

  "Looks like you're doing well, living a comfortable life." Cheng Shigui looked him up and down, wearing a black cotton-padded jacket with a high collar and black velvet boots. "This outfit of yours, I really can't imagine it's a musician, but rather some kind of second master." He joked.

  "Hey! You know what, this cotton-padded jacket is warm and cozy, and the cotton shoes are so comfortable that my feet don't even sweat. Big Sister Yan made them." Reynard said, lifting up his own foot.

  "How have you been these days?" asked Cheng Shigui.

  "It's going well." Reynard said no more.

  Seeing him unwilling to say more, Cheng Shigui asked: "How is Mo Bei?"

  When it comes to his young apprentice, Leonard's eyes light up and he becomes animated. "She is truly a genius, unfortunately I am limited in my abilities, but when the opportunity arises, she will go abroad for music education."

  "Oh! It seems you have a high opinion of her!" Han Zhiqian said.

  "After dinner, you'll know." Renard said confidently.

  "Alright, dinner is ready, let's get seated." Fang Mo Bei said as he walked in.

  In cold winter days, hot pot is still the best.

  It was a charcoal fire hot pot, and Reynard smacked his tongue, savoring the aftertaste.

  "Look at you, you're so greedy, do you look like a gentleman I've ever seen?" Cheng Shigui joked.

  "This is what I call adapting to the local customs. I've been corrupted by Nannan." Reynard made excuses for himself. "As long as life is comfortable, why bother with so much?"

  "Do I corrupt you? I feel like you're just being your true self." Fang Mo Nan had just walked in and heard his words, "I can't bear this reputation, don't forget that I'm still a kid."

  "Alright, I'm eating, and I won't argue with you," Reynard said.

  "This is a homemade mutton hot pot, made with mutton, cooking wine, rock sugar, homemade spicy chili sauce, ginger, scallions, dried chili peppers, tangerine peel, lotus root, figs, red dates, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, licorice, soy sauce, oyster oil, light soy sauce, and salt. The ingredients are all from this farm, completely natural."

  "Vegetables, black fungus, golden needle mushrooms, taro (best sliced and fried for more flavor), winter melon, fish balls, potatoes, burdock, celery, napa cabbage, cilantro, spinach... etc. These are all local products, caught from the reservoir, today we're having a swan-shaped hot pot, help yourself." Fang Mò Nán said, of course they came, and to entertain them were foods from the space, these were just excuses for the farm produce.

  "I think you opened this farm just to solve your own eating problem," said Cheng Shigui.

  "Yes! That's what I thought at the time." Fang Mo Nan raised his chin, and that was how 'good' she was.

  "Hey! Wait a minute, I'll go get the red wine from the car." Han Zhijian suddenly said, he turned around and went out, quickly coming back with two bottles of red wine in his hand.

  "The authentic Lafite of 1966." Han Zhiqian opened it and poured a cup for everyone.

  Leonard's favorite, unfortunately he didn't drink it today. Cheng Shigui asked strangely: "Lei, why aren't you drinking?"

  "I think the homemade fruit wine from Nanshan is still better." Reynard said frankly.

  Fang Mo Nan saw the situation and went out to fetch two jars of fruit wine. Reynard was delighted, hugged one over, opened the jar, and the rich fruit fragrance wafted through the air, intoxicating everyone.

  "Matthew, I should thank you, not only did you bring me a good apprentice, but this life is simply too wonderful." Reynard said sincerely, raising his wine glass.

  Cheng Shigui also raised his wine glass, "You feel good about it, that's good. I didn't help much, and I still have to thank you for teaching Xiao Bei."

  "Alright, cheers," Reynard said.

  Cheng Shigui tasted it and said: "It's better than Pilsner."

  "Cheng Ge, you can collect some Lafite, 1966 and 1982 will definitely appreciate in value, at that time it will be priceless." Fang Mo Nan said, Cheng Shi Gui nodded to show understanding.

  The fatty drank a mouthful of Lafite, feeling somewhat astringent, and muttered to himself that it's still not as good as baijiu.

  They sat around the stove, first savoring the fresh and spicy flavor of the mutton, then adding their favorite hot pot ingredients to cook until they were sweating with delight, ensuring another kind of wonderful enjoyment!

  After dinner, after cleaning up, Mo Bei played a small violin.

  "Lei, it seems you've put in a lot of effort." Cheng Shigui said. After not seeing him for several months, Mo Bei's progress was leaps and bounds compared to his last performance by the river, and he had made tremendous improvement.

  "That girl has a stubborn streak, studying so hard it's pitiful," Reynard said in a low voice.

  Mo Bei finished performing, and Cheng Shigui led the applause, "You don't give us a segment, I won't listen to your sad spring and autumn."

  "Alright! I'll play a piece for you, see what you think." Leonard's enthusiasm was high as he pulled out his erhu. "I learned this here, do you recognize it?"

  A lively erhu piece "Kong Shan Niao Yu" resonated, this is a highly technical erhu solo piece with bowing, fingering, melody and rhythm striving for perfection.

  Everyone seems to be brought to a place like a mountain forest, where the sound of the valley echoes, with a profound and quiet atmosphere, evoking a sense of longing. In the deep mountains and valleys, groups of birds chirp happily, with a lively scene, using onomatopoeic techniques to imitate the sounds of hundreds of birds chirping.

  "It's great," said Cheng Shigui. "I didn't quite believe you when you told me before that things were going well, but now that I've heard your composition, it seems that you're really doing all right. This place is very nourishing."

  "Really! I think so too. There aren't great material conditions here, but the people are very kind and there's delicious food." "Haha..." Reynard laughed with great joy.

  Then he played two more lively tunes with a good mood, and seeing the happy smile on Reynard's face, Cheng Shigui was also happy for him.

  The next morning, Fang Mo Nan and Cheng Shi Gui, Mo Bei went for a run and took the opportunity to visit the farm. In winter, all things withered, the air was fresh, and under the fruit trees were piles of snow that had not yet melted, indicating a good harvest next year.

  Fang Mo Nan also took him to the greenhouse, where strawberries were hanging from the trees, some of which had already ripened and would be on the market for New Year's. Cheng Shi Gui was in a good mood and picked one himself to taste, sour and sweet, with great interest he became a 'farmer' for a while.

  Here is the translation:

  It's another hurried arrival and departure. Cheng Shigui unloads the washing machine from the car, while the refrigerator is still on its way by mail. He hands over the delivery note to Fang Monan, and they rush back again, this time bringing a lot of delicious food, especially five large jars of fruit wine.

  After seeing them off, Liangzi and others found a tractor to send the washing machine back home. The year has passed so quickly, it's about to end again.

  As the Spring Festival approaches, Dad and Mom think it's not very busy yet, so they decide to go ahead of time to give gifts to Grandpa's house, which causes a big quarrel.

  Dad's face was ashen, with dark clouds gathering, but looking at Mom's face, although she tried her best to maintain a difficult expression, the smile in her eyebrows and eyes couldn't be hidden, what a beautiful thing in her heart!

  Grandma pulled mom's hand and went back to the room to ask: "What's going on? You were fine when you left. How come you're back with this look, and got bullied again?"

  "My mother said, 'The reason is that my younger brother is getting married and my younger sister is going to high school. Grandpa's family needs our support, it's obvious! They see that we're living a comfortable life, but they don't understand the implication. They want us to give them more money. When we got married, my father-in-law gave us 200 yuan, but 100 of that was borrowed and needed to be paid back.' My mother curled her lip and continued, 'Now it's my younger brother's turn to get married and they're asking for 2,000 yuan! I guess they heard that Zhengping got a 2,000-yuan bonus, but that was for his hard work on the road construction project. The company rewarded him for that. This is ridiculous - the money hasn't even warmed up in our hands before it's gone to them as a contribution. And they're still not satisfied - now my younger sister got into high school and they want 500 yuan from us. One-third of our annual income is gone again.'"

  "What's even more infuriating is that they actually want to take back the two watches that Cheng Shigui and them gave to me and Zhengping, saying it's for the bride price." Mom said with indignation while hugging Fang Mengnan, but everyone could tell that she was delighted. The greedier they were, the happier mom was, and the more she tormented dad, making him suffer a little now better than suffering a lifetime.

  Finally, it's all about the money, but no matter what, your father won't agree, so it fell through and they got into a fight. Mom said: "The 'old lady' is actually only ten years older than me, and she started scolding me for nothing." Mom imitated her voice: "If not for Zhengping coming back, my son wouldn't have been able to get into college, now he can only sweep the streets at the Environmental Protection Bureau; At that time, Zhengping came back and spent 3000 yuan on the rural-urban transfer; This is not even mentioned, we also spent a lot of money when you got married. And if it weren't for others looking out for Old Fang's face, you two wouldn't have been assigned housing by your leaders shortly after starting work. All of this was Old Fang's doing behind the scenes! Ah! Now that they've grown wings, they're not filial to their father anymore." She said with relief: "Fortunately, I transferred to work in the county, otherwise who knows what other unpleasant things would be waiting for me!"

  "This shameless old hag! Her son can't even get into college, he didn't even finish high school. Not to mention the housing allocated by the work unit, all the workers who were recruited at the same time as you have one and a half or two rooms, but you only got one room, this is the result of not being able to make it work. And when Zhengping was converting his rural residence to an urban one, he spent 300 yuan plus a bottle of Maotai, which was allowed by national policy at that time. Now even if you spend more money, it's useless and you still can't get an urban household registration. This old lady is so vicious!" Grandma said with a huff: "Hmph!"

  "They spoke too harshly, and as soon as he came from the countryside, the old man made him find his own job. He did all sorts of hard labor, such as being a porter, a bricklayer, and a coal miner, but he never got to do any easy work, not even close to being a sewage worker. He earned a meager wage, and the old lady would still take some away from him. In the end, it was his own efforts that landed him a job at a construction company, which brought them some glory. As soon as we got married, we moved out and started fresh, with nothing to our name - pots, bowls, ladles, basins, everything was bought by ourselves. The bed was just a wooden board, and all the household items were purchased after we moved out. Just when things were getting better, the parents didn't even bother to help us out!" The more mom thought about it, the more she felt wronged, and tears started falling down her face.

  "What happened next?" Grandma asked.

  "Later on, it got even worse, where even eating and drinking water cost money, and living expenses were all calculated. It was as if she didn't want to have a father-son relationship anymore." The old lady said with a mixture of tears and laughter, the old woman would calculate everything for the sake of wanting money.

  "What are you going to do?" Grandma thought for a moment and said, "The words have reached this point, she wants as much as we give her as much, break off the relationship and break it off, who is afraid of whom. They don't want you, I want." "What's wrong with that? Is there such a thing as being an adult like this?" Zhengping also came back, saying "Mom raised all of you to be like this." She became more and more energetic as she spoke, finally speaking boldly and confidently.

  His mother was moved, but before she could say anything, his father pushed the door open and said, "Mom, I can take care of my wife and child myself." After hearing his mother-in-law's words, he really felt disappointed in his own father. Yesterday's quarrel, his father didn't say a word from start to finish, coldly watching with an air of indifference, not even bothering to argue with the old lady for a couple of sentences to express his dissatisfaction. His father actually said some heartless words, even saying that taking care of the elderly was their duty, and the hat of great filial piety was put on him, but the money was clearly used to support his younger uncle.

  "Zhèng píng lái de zhèng hǎo, nǐmen xiǎng qīng chu le mei yǒu. Zhè shì zěnme bàn?" Nǎi nǎi wèn dào tāmen liǎng gè dào.

  Translation:

  "Zhengping has arrived just in time, have you two thought it through? What are you going to do about this matter?" Grandma asked the two of them.

  "Things have come to this point, don't think I'll go to their home and knock on the door." Mom said first.

  "Big Yan, mom don't be angry, it's not worth it. I've thought it through too, I grew up and came over, no matter how hard I try, I'm still an outsider, can't compare to the feelings of a family of twenty years. Whatever he wants, I'll give him, consider it repayment for the kindness of bringing me from the countryside. As for the accounts that old lady calculated, I'll pay those too, can't let people say I'm ungrateful." Dad said calmly now, without joy or sorrow. "It's just that the money isn't enough, still short some."

  "It doesn't matter how much is left, I've given it to you, don't need to pay me back." Grandma said with a smile.

  "It's short of over a thousand yuan." Dad said.

  "I'll give you two thousand." Grandma took off her shoes and retrieved a stack of large knots from the trunk at the head of the bed.

  "Mom, I'll pay you back in the future." Dad took the money and walked out.

  "Hurry up, Big Swallow, follow him, don't let anything happen, after all, they are blood father and son. We were just talking nonsense, that was just to make our mouths feel good, but he must be feeling uncomfortable in his heart, comfort him a bit." Grandma pushed Old Mom.

  The old mother hastily put on her shoes and clothes and chased after him.

  Fang Mo Nan watched, feeling a mix of emotions in her heart. People's hearts are always biased. You can't blame the old man for doing this, it's just human nature, very normal. But she was still happy to leave her grandfather's side as soon as possible.

  Dad and mom left, only to come back the next day. Dad was back to normal, but he was more vigorous in steaming buns. In the past, dad would knead the dough with his hands, but now it seemed like he had endless energy, all of which was being released onto the dough, making the chopping board "thud thud" loudly.

  Grandma quietly asked Mom, "Is it settled?"

  "It's settled then!" Mom said with a puzzled tone.

  "What's considered solved." Grandma didn't understand, "What's that supposed to mean, what was the situation at the time?"

  "Oh! At that time! After we went home, Zhengping took out 5,000 yuan. Among them, 2,000 was the younger uncle's wedding expenses, 500 was the younger aunt's tuition fees, and another 2,000 was Zhengping's living expenses over the years. Because the watch was given by others, it couldn't be given away, so there were still 500 left, which was considered as the money for the watch they wanted." Mother recounted the situation at that time. "Zhengping was very calm and spoke slowly, I listened with a sour heart. He even comforted me by patting my hand gently."

  "Then they took the money and didn't say anything." Grandma asked again.

  "There was an old lady who said, 'So you're really rich now. It seems like you've really made a fortune. We won't mention it to you, but you don't know how to show respect to the elderly.' At that time, I heard this and felt so angry that I wanted to slap the table, but he held my hand and pressed it down." My mom thought for a moment, "And then we left."

  "It's almost New Year, let's talk about it after the holiday, don't rub salt in his wounds. Be more careful with your words." Grandma shook her head, if they continued like this, they would regret it. She had already reached a point where she was too lazy to even get angry, a sign of extreme disappointment.

  Little aunt's return brought back the usual bustle to our home. With New Year approaching, the busy days drove away Dad's unhappiness.

  Liang Zi's wedding was scheduled for the 19th of the twelfth lunar month, not too early or too late, and it wouldn't interfere with others' New Year's shopping. Country people like to get married during this time, whether they have money or not, so they can have a good New Year. During the winter slack season, there were more weddings and marriages than usual, and the sound of firecrackers filled the air on auspicious days.

  It's a rare occasion for Liangzi to choose a good day, the weather is fine, the outside of Liangzi's house hasn't changed much, but inside it has been renovated, with cement floors, white walls, new furniture, color TV, refrigerator, washing machine, all brought back by Liangzi from Yangcheng. The whole house is spotless and brand new, everyone who sees it can't help but feel envious!

  It's really a case of "a prodigal son returning home is worth more than gold", everyone says that the bride is very lucky.

  Fang Mo Nan gave a wedding gift, which was agate in space. Mo Bei used to play with it as marbles. She hadn't taken a close look at them before, but this time, while preparing the gift, she discovered that these agates had been carved and had exquisite Buddhist stories engraved on them. Two strands of agate bracelets, one black and one red.

  Agate has the effect of treating insomnia, sweet dreams, avoiding evil and strengthening the body, prolonging life and benefiting longevity. It can also strengthen love, promote emotional communication between couples, help with marital harmony, and display its most dazzling brilliance. In addition, it has medical effects, improves the endocrine system, strengthens metabolism, enhances blood circulation, and enhances immune function. Giving it to Liangzi couple is the most suitable.

  Liang Zi thought that as long as it was Fang Mo Nan who gave it to him, even if it was just a piece of paper, it would be good, and he would wear it proudly. As his horizons broadened and his experiences increased, and he met more people, only then did he realize the true value of these natural agates, which were truly priceless.