Chapter 12 Homecoming

Mei Qiuping made lunch ahead of time today. When the sun was in the middle of the day, and the father and son had not returned, she scooped out a few scoops of peanuts from the cabinet and poured them into the basket, ready to peel the peanuts. Most of the peanuts harvested this year are used for oil extraction. In addition to the seeds, a few liters are left as Feng Zhenchang's appetizers. Of course, when there are guests, fried peanuts can also be used as a dish.

She sat in the main room, peeling peanuts swiftly, raising her hands from time to time to drive away the chickens patrolling beside her, while keeping an eye on the movement outside the house. When I came home from school, Feng Yiping would shout "Mom" loudly at the Emei bean stand outside the house, but today I can't wait to the left or the right. Hei, she looked up and saw that her son was back.

She took her son's schoolbag and threw the dirty clothes into the basin, asking, "Are you used to living in school? Are you used to eating?"

Feng Yiping sat on the stool and peeled the peanuts, but he threw the peeled ones into his mouth first, "I'm used to living, and I'm used to eating. Just like elementary school, there is still a bed for four people, and the food is better than elementary school. The steamed bread in the morning. The steam is good, and the rice is cooked with good rice, not the yellowish rice that elementary school often eats."

Mentioning this, Mei Qiuping scolded, "Those things that are unconscionable in elementary school, all the good rice is sent from home, and they let you eat the rice cooked by old rice."

In fact, it wasn't Chen rice. Feng Yiping learned after joining the job that it should be aged rice. The grains of rice were yellow and had a strong taste. When they were in elementary school, most of them ate this kind of rice.

"Don't peel it, I took it out when I had nothing to do. I'm hungry. Eat first." Mei Qiuping added washing powder to the basin, poured it into the water and soaked it first.

"Not too hungry, let's wait for Dad to come back and eat together." Feng Yiping said.

"That's fine, he's coming back soon, so let's fry peanuts first, okay?"

"Okay," Feng Yiping put down the basket, went to the utility room, scooped out a large scoop of peanuts from a bag on the ground, and poured it into the large pot on the stove.

This kind of peanuts are deflated peanuts, which can neither be pressed for oil nor seeded. They are either small in size or have no kernels in them. They are usually fried to make snacks for children.

In rural areas, apart from meals, there is no money to buy snacks for children, such as candy, biscuits, fruits, etc., which can only be seen during the Chinese New Year or when someone has a wedding. What children can usually eat is fried pumpkin seeds, fried gourd seeds, shriveled peanuts, and dried sweet potatoes.

Feng Yiping's level of fried peanuts is good, at least among the four schools after the school, his level is first-class. In fact, there is no trick. Stir fry for a while on low heat, let it cool after frying, and then temper it with low heat. The peanuts will be fully cooked, and they will not regenerate after a few days.

He had just added straw to the stove a few times, and some fragrance came out. The wife of neighbor Feng Jiasheng came in with a bowl and talked to Mei Qiuping. Among the neighbors, it is normal to visit the door with a bowl. After saying a few words, she walked into the kitchen, "Yiping, and fried peanuts, why are you so greedy?"

For these sisters-in-law joking, it is best to avoid talking about other things, "Brother Jiasheng is back too?"

Her husband Feng Jiasheng works in the canteen of the town government.

"No, it's evening."

As he said, he lifted the gauze that covered the vegetables in the morning, "Tsk, your mother and they really love you, don't they? Look, they are reluctant to eat the tofu that they changed the day before yesterday, and they will cook it only when you come back."

Feng Yiping said with a smile, "Yes, you don't treat Sister Jinzhi the same. If you have something delicious, you have to keep it for her, and we will be filial to you when we grow up!"

Jin Zhi is her daughter, 5 years older than Feng Yiping. After graduating from junior high school, Feng Jiasheng found a relationship and sent her to the county textile factory.

"Hehe, that means that when we are old and can't do anything, we can only rely on you!"

When Feng Zhenchang came home, the peanuts had already been fried, and it would be good to return to the fire after finishing the meal.

The food was cold and warmed up again. Mei Qiuping complained to her husband, "I knew that Yiping was on holiday today, but he came back so late!"

Feng Zhenchang said while washing his face, "On the way back, I met Feng Mingzhi building a shed to look at chestnuts, so he helped me."

Chestnut is the most valuable economic forest tree. Some people have many chestnut trees, and they can receive thousands of pounds of chestnuts a year. It is the largest cash income for farmers in a year.

Therefore, before and after the chestnuts mature, people often carry a small basket and walk around, picking up those chestnut balls that fell to the ground early, and even hit them directly from the trees when there is no one around.

When the chestnuts are ripe, some people even smear them at night. They bring bamboo poles and pick those trees with many chestnut balls. They will steal several trees in one night. Therefore, in the past two years, those who have many chestnut trees in the school will build a shed and arrange for people to watch at night.

There were three dishes at noon. One was fried tofu. After a few days, the tofu was moldy, so I used a lot of chili peppers and bean paste. There is a cucumber.

The parents put half of the tofu in Feng Yiping's bowl, and watching Feng Yiping eat three bowls, Mei Qiuping said, "How can you say that the school's four or two meters of rice can be full?"

"School is full, Mom, it's late for lunch today. I'm a little hungry, so I ate so much." Feng Yiping poured a bowl of boiling water, which was a little hot, and said while blowing.

He didn't wait for his parents to finish eating, so he changed his clothes, grabbed a few handfuls of peanuts, put them in his pocket, put on a straw hat, picked up a sickle, asked where the cow was tied, and continued to be his cattle herd.

During dinner in the evening, his father asked him how he was studying and whether he could be in the top grades like in elementary school. Feng Yiping said, of course there is no problem.

After dinner, he tried to discuss with his parents, "Father, Mom, this week, I have turned over the textbooks of the main subjects, and it is not difficult. I think it should not be a problem to be admitted to the county No. 1 middle school in the future, and the university will also be in the future. It is a question of whether a good university is a good university or an ordinary university.”

Feng Zhenchang drank some wine in the evening and was very happy to hear that, "You are going to be admitted to a university, you are the first college student in the village!"

Mei Qiuping was wiping the table, then she sat down and said happily, "In elementary school, you didn't let us worry about it, and your grades have always been the best. At that time, Principal Chen told me that you will definitely be successful in the future. "

Principal Chen is the principal of their primary school. When a villager held a wedding, he invited him too. When he met Mei Qiuping, he complimented Feng Yiping a few times, and she still remembers it to this day.

"Father, Mom, what I want to say is that the family still owes foreign debts, and the tuition fees are increasing every year. This semester is 45. It is estimated to be hundreds in the third grade, and the high school is higher. If you go to college in the future, it will be better for at least a year several thousand,"

Feng Zhenchang interrupted him, "You don't need to worry about this, you study hard, and my mother and I will worry about the tuition fees. Not to mention going to university, even if you want to study for a doctorate in the future, we will pay for it for you."

Feng Yiping said, "I know very well that if I go to university in the future, you will definitely try your best to let me study, I know." He looked at his parents seriously.

"In the past two days, I did the math. Although my sister went out to work, she has no junior high school diploma. She is young and can't make much money in a year. She is also a big girl, and she has a lot of places to spend money. not up."

Hearing this, Feng Zhenchang was a little angry, "The girl who went out together, other families have money to send back, but Yu Xuan has nothing."

Mei Qiuping knew that her daughter had gone to other places. She was afraid that her husband would be angry, so she didn't tell him and whispered, "It's not easy for Yu Xuan to go out to work at the age of 15."

Feng Yiping took over the words, "I figured it out, the family's annual income is more than 1,000 yuan, and there is always some debt to be paid every year, plus daily expenses, there is not much money left every year."

Mei Qiuping sighed, "If the year is bad, the pigs get sick, and the chestnuts are cheap, maybe they'll get ripped off." Feng Zhenchang sat on the stool with a sullen face, smoking a cigarette and not speaking.

"So I think it's better to think of some ways as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too difficult." Although this topic is very heavy, Feng Yiping still has to continue.

Feng Zhenchang still didn't speak, Mei Qiuping said, "It's hard to make money, I'm not in good health, as for your father, he's very old, and now he can't find a good place to go out to work. And raising pigs and raising chickens really can’t make much money, if you can find a factory and earn more than 100 yuan a month, that would be great.”

At this time, in the village, including the nearby villages, most of the people who went out to work were girls, and most of them worked in industries such as clothing and textiles. It is difficult for strong laborers to go out to find a chance to work as a small worker on a construction site. Often, they go out and bump into each other for a month. They spend hundreds of yuan for living expenses and round-trip expenses, but they can't find anything to do. In terms of regions, they are also concentrated in the province. For the time being, there has not been a wave of migrant workers in coastal provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Fujian.

Feng Yiping continued, "I think the chestnuts are doing well this year, but I don't think I can get a good price."

Feng Zhenchang flicked the cigarette ash, and said in a muffled voice, "Zhiming and the others have gone to inquire about it, and it is estimated that it will not be higher than two yuan."

Everyone was a little silent, and their family usually only received three or four hundred catties of chestnuts, so it would be no more than eight hundred yuan at most.

Feng Yiping said, "There is a classmate from the town in our class who told me that his father took him to the provincial capital to play and bought delicious sugar-fried chestnuts for him. It cost 6 yuan per catty, so I paid attention to it. , asked him how the chestnut was fried, and then found other students and teachers who graduated from the Provincial Teachers College, and probably asked him how to fry the chestnut with sugar." He took out a piece of paper and handed it to his parents.

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