Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 221

"Dad, why don't we put it on the kang (heated brick bed) and burn more firewood? It'll be fine in a couple of days," Zhao Tiegang suggested. Then, seemingly casually, he added, "Mom, we didn't catch the goose, so how did you determine it was the goose?"

Wang Guixiang immediately frowned: "If it wasn't Zhao Da'e who did it, then it must have been that good-for-nothing little bastard Zhao Yongbo from your room."

Zhao Tiegang was even more embarrassed and could only laugh awkwardly: "It's unnecessary to cover for the goose; this house is full of landmines."

"Yongbo was naughty yesterday. But he's quite... quite..."

Well, even Zhao Tiegang is running out of things to say. Actually, Zhao Yongbo wasn't a good person either...

This job wasn't done by Zhao Da'e; it was most likely done by Zhao Yongbo.

Anyway, there are quite a few "unfilial descendants" in the Zhao family.

“None of them are good.” Although Wang Guixiang said this, she still liked her grandson: “Yongbo is young and naughty. Gangzi, you should talk to him more often. Don’t be so naughty. He broke the water vat. It’s not a big deal, but it still costs more than thirty yuan to buy a replacement. Your father and I don’t have any extra thirty yuan.”

It would have been better if money hadn't been mentioned, but the moment it was, Zhao Tiegang's face instantly darkened: "Tch, my second brother's savings of thirty or forty thousand yuan are all with you two old folks, and you haven't given me a single penny. Even if it's all gone, surely you wouldn't have less than thirty yuan?"

For a moment, Zhao Tiegang almost blurted out: "Zhao Yongbo did a great job smashing it! He truly deserves to be my good son!"

"Anyway, I have no money. Not even three yuan."

Zhao Tingxu was very dissatisfied with Zhao Tiegang's nonchalant attitude: "You're a grown man, and you don't even have three yuan? How dare you say that?"

Zhao Tiegang didn't refute, and continued talking about why he came: "Dad, I was thinking of going to visit Zhao Yongbo's third aunt. My wife is staying at his house, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to check it out!"

Zhao Tingxu threw the quilt onto the kang (a heated brick bed), preparing to heat it with fire. Although this method was slower, constantly holding it by hand and warming it next to the stove was too strenuous.

Then Zhao Tingxu leaned against the headboard, took the tobacco basket, rubbed some tobacco leaves together, wrapped them in white paper, and lit them to smoke.

His pipe broke, and no one has replaced it for him to this day.

Forced to do so, they had no choice but to roll cigarettes with large pieces of white paper.

Zhao Tingxu took a couple of puffs of his tobacco, blew out a smoke ring, and then analyzed, "Then go and see. Hold your son and show him to his mother. Maybe your wife will come back with you."

Zhao Tiegang wasn't stupid; he figured only the old couple could come up with such a scheme of getting something for nothing: "Dad, you think I'm going empty-handed?!"

In this day and age, it's common for rural wives to return to their parents' homes. This is usually due to things like arguments between the couple, strained relationships with the mother-in-law, or unfair treatment.

However, Zhang Cuilan clearly does not fit this worry.

Zhang Cuilan returned to her parents' home because the Zhao family was poor.

Based on this reasoning, if the Zhao family cannot become wealthy, build a new house, and resolve the issue of Zhao Tiegang and Zhao Tiesheng living in the same courtyard, it will be difficult for them to return.

Zhao Tiegang and Zhang Cuilan had been together for five or six years, and he knew Zhang Cuilan well. Hmm... she was a woman of her word.

Anyway, Zhang Cuilan is a brave person, but also a coward. She's thoughtful but not very educated, but not easily fooled.

Rather than saying Zhang Cuilan ran away because of a fight with Zhao Da'e, it's more accurate to say she had wanted to run away for a long time. The fight with Zhao Da'e was just an excuse.

The Zhao family had been poor for a long time. Although Zhang Cuilan was lazy, she wasn't stupid. She wasn't new to the Zhao family; they were practically dirt poor, the kind they couldn't hide. Plus, Zhao Tiegang drank three meals a day, and Zhang Cuilan had long since given up on this lifestyle.

Zhang Cuilan and Zhao Da'e's mother were in dire straits. Although Zhao Da'e's mother, Cheng Jinxiang, had few relatives and her mother was nearing the end of her life, she could at least support the family. But the Zhang family was so poor they were nearly starving.

The current situation in the Zhang family is as follows: Zhang Cuilan's father is a bachelor, her three younger brothers are all bachelors, her eldest sister is married, she is married, her third sister just got married not long ago, and her fourth sister ran away with another man...

The Zhang family's poverty was practically the worst in the entire township. Their influence was almost unmatched. Everyone knew that the Zhang family was so poor they didn't even have a house to live in. The four men squeezed into the earth god temple in Xidi Village, making the leaky temple their home.

When visiting one's maternal grandparents' home, one must first offer incense...

So even if Zhao Tiegang brought a whole bunch of things with him, let alone going empty-handed, it would still be difficult to get Zhang Cuilan back.

Zhao Tingxu was well aware of this, but since his family was truly broke, he said irritably, "Then why are we bringing a sedan chair to carry her back?"

"How about I put in a good word with my brother-in-law, invite him for a drink first, and then we'll talk?" Zhao Tiegang asked tentatively.

Since the family was poor, it was practically impossible to get Zhang Cuilan back to her husband's family all at once. So, they decided to play the long game, keeping Zhang Cuilan at bay first. Zhao Tiegang, her brother-in-law, proved useful. After all, Zhang Cuilan's sister, Zhang Cuimei, would naturally side with her sister; only her brother-in-law could remain relatively neutral. Through him, they could persuade Zhang Cuimei, and then gradually guide Zhang Cuilan to "abandon the light" and return to the troubled Zhao family.

Using her son as a shield would be difficult. Zhao Tiegang knew that Zhang Cuilan had feelings for Zhao Yongbo, after all, he was her biological son, but the affection wasn't that strong.

Zhao Tingxu pondered for a while, then finally sighed and said, "Gangzi, just tell them that the blue ox in the house will be given to your family in the future. What do you think?"

Zhao Tiegang was stunned: "Dad, that ox belongs to my second brother and sister-in-law. It came from my sister-in-law's dowry. If you give it to me, my sister-in-law can't accept it!"

"Heh." Zhao Tingxu scoffed, "Isn't your second sister-in-law not home? I usually help feed it. I'm partly responsible for it. Besides, the cow is about to give birth. The adult cow is hers, but the calf is also hers. It's taking up my space and eating my food and grass. This calf is mine."

Zhao Tiegang felt that something was not right, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

However, Cheng Jinxiang was indeed not home, and the cow had indeed been fed by Zhao Tingxu recently. As for Zhao Tiesheng? Zhao Tiegang didn't even consider him. Because Zhao Tiesheng's word was meaningless; once Zhao Tingxu spoke, what could Zhao Tiesheng do even if he disagreed?

Zhao Tiegang knew that his second brother listened to Zhao Tingxu in everything, so he thought the matter was feasible: "Dad, you've got to be sure. My second sister-in-law isn't home right now, but Da'e is. If she disagrees and fights with you, don't blame me for it."

Zhao Tiegang completely shirked responsibility, denying any involvement whatsoever. After all, the decision was made by Zhao Tingxu, and it was Zhao Tingxu who gave the order. So, if Zhao Dage disagreed and they argued, it wouldn't be Zhao Tiegang's fault.

Zhao Tingxu said impatiently, "Even if we calculate it that way, I've been running that cow business for a year. I don't even know if your second sister-in-law will be back. If she is, I'll have to argue with her. I can't just be running it for nothing, can I?! Either give me the big cow, or give me the calf. Either way, you have to give me one."

Wang Guixiang added, "That's absolutely right. Did your father feed the cows all day for nothing? Besides, I also have to feed the geese, which costs money too!"

Zhao Tiegang looked completely bewildered: ???

Doesn't Wang Guixiang blush when she lies?

Da'e has been staying at her aunt's house for almost two months, but she hasn't eaten at home much. Even when she does eat, she brings her own rice and noodles.

Well, the old house is now Zhao Da'e's canteen.

Come when you feel like it, leave when you feel like it.

Wang Guixiang continued, "Besides, Zhao Da'e took that piece of land in the front yard, did I say anything? Did I stop her? This granddaughter is always saying bad things about her grandma, always badmouthing and belittling me, and I haven't done anything to her!!!"

Zhao Tiegang smiled inwardly, thinking that his mother was probably just furious.

Wang Guixiang must be thinking of catching Zhao Da'e, but she's too old and her legs aren't strong enough to catch him!

If Wang Guixiang could catch Zhao Da'e, she would have already started fighting with him!

Although Zhao Tiegang thought this in his heart, he said aloud, "Mom and Dad are right. This cow should have half of it. So you can give me the big cow, or give me the calves when the big cow has calves. I'll go and fool Zhang Cuilan first. I'll say that my parents will give me a cow. I won't say how big or small it is, we'll talk about it later. Anyway, calves can grow up too. It's just a matter of eating more grass. Sooner or later, they'll all grow up to be big cows."

Zhao Tingxu didn't say anything more, and Zhao Tiegang, feeling awkward, left home.

He originally wanted to take Zhao Yongbo to Zhang Cuilan's sister Zhang Cuimei's husband's house, but Zhao Yongbo refused. So Zhao Tiegang took a photo of his son Zhao Yongbo, put it in his shirt pocket, and set off.

Zhang Cuilan's younger sister, Zhang Cuimei, was her third sister. Zhang Cuilan was the second oldest among her sisters. Zhang Cuilan's older sister married someone from a neighboring village not far away, and the whereabouts of her other four sisters were unknown. It was rumored that they ran away with another man to the provincial capital. No one knew exactly where.

Zhang Cuimei got married last year to Liu Xiaochun, a man who had just returned from military service. Although his family wasn't wealthy, his experience as a transport soldier and his driving skills were considered quite impressive in those days.

You have to understand, very few people owned cars back then. Especially in rural areas, it was quite impressive for a town to have even a few minivans.

So Liu Xiaochun found a job at a coal mine in the county, driving a truck to haul coal.

Northeast China is quite cold, so heating is needed in winter, and county towns typically have centralized heating. However, the establishment of Kashi County was quite unique in terms of both time and circumstances. Its county town differs from those of other county towns.

Kashi County was originally under the administration of several other counties. It was re-established as an autonomous county for ethnic minorities in the 1960s to promote ethnic harmony.

When it was established, the county only had one small train station. Theoretically, it would have been better if the county seat had been located near the train station, as transportation would have been more convenient.

But there's no river there...

So the county seat was relocated to a remote riverbank. That's the county seat we know today, named Dacheng (Big City), with Xiaocheng (Small City) next to it.

People in the countryside are used to calling it Dachengzi.

The county town has a water source and a river. However, because there is a national-level steel plant in the upstream county town, which discharges a lot of wastewater, the river is severely polluted, making the water very difficult to drink.

This is also the main reason why Zhao Da'e was able to sell the Kangxi Spring.

Because of this situation, all other supplies for the county had to be transported from the train station to the county seat, which was dozens of miles away.

In this era, there are hardly any highways, and cars are even rarer. Freight hubs rely entirely on trains.

The county town needs to buy a large amount of coal for heating. However, the coal can only be transported by train. Therefore, it is necessary to use trucks to transport the coal back to the county town, one truckload at a time.

Some were kept for centralized heating, while others were sold directly to other people for personal heating.

Therefore, Liu Xiaochun, who knew how to drive, became highly sought after. Not long after being demobilized, he started working at a coal mine, where the job was easy—driving cars.

The salary is quite high, five hundred yuan a month.

Most importantly, from then on, Liu Xiaochun's family basically never lacked coal.

When Zhao Tiegang arrived, Liu Xiaochun was unloading the remaining coal from the truck in the yard.

It's not that Liu Xiaochun stole coal from the government; it's just that sometimes, the workers can't unload all the coal from the truck.

This truck isn't a dump truck; it requires manual unloading, so it's normal for some cargo to be left over.

Although there isn't much left, it's a lot for an ordinary family.

A truckload of coal, dozens of tons, leaving only thirty or fifty kilograms—that's hardly a surplus. But for Liu Xiaochun, thirty or fifty kilograms is a huge amount of coal.

Although these were just small pieces of coal residue, they didn't affect the fire at all. He was working when he heard someone calling him.

"Xiaochun, you're busy."

Liu Xiaochun is tall, over 1.8 meters, with sharp features and a strong physique. He's energetic at work and handsome.

He's much better than Zhao Tiegang.

Of course, given that Zhang Cuilan was a chubby woman with a fleshy face, it's easy to imagine that her third sister, Zhang Cuimei, couldn't have suddenly become slim...

Liu Xiaochun married a woman from a poor family who was also of average appearance, while he himself was quite good-looking. There could only be one reason for this: his own family had some problems.

I won't go into Liu Xiaochun's family situation, but the courtyard where Liu Xiaochun lives now looks particularly awkward.

The house, consisting of three thatched huts, was located in the center of the courtyard.

Zhao Tiegang could tell that this family hadn't been well-off in the past...

After all, although the Zhao family was poor, at least their house was made of adobe. The roof was made of mud bricks mixed with straw, so it was still quite sturdy.

But Liu Xiaochun's house had a thatched roof... and a plastic sheet on top of the thatched roof. It also had three rooms; the room on the east side had no windows, and the room on the west side also had no windows.

The yard was large, with trees at the back and the house in the middle. There was nothing in front except for a large pile of coal in the corner; it could truly be described as bare.

Zhao Tiegang couldn't help but gasp: My family isn't the poorest in Dongtaizi, at most we're last.

The poorest family must be Liu Xiaochun's family.

The problem is, how could he be so poor after being married for over a year with a monthly salary of 500 yuan?

That's not scientific!