80s Taoism

Luo Changjun stayed at Zhang Jiaohua's house for dinner. He actually watched a little kid under eight years old cooking there, the only thing he was doing was helping Zhang Jiaohua to light the fire. Other people's homes burn miscellaneous wood, and it can burn for half a day with a handful of firewood. It doesn't matter whether there is someone to light the fire.

Luo Changjun turned the burning firewood into a smoke bomb again and again, and then laughed at Zhang Jiaohua.

Zhang Jiaohua had no choice but to set up the firewood again, and then blew it up, "Uncle Rob, you don't have to add firewood to it all the time. If you fill it all up, if the air doesn't circulate, the fire will go out naturally."

"So that's how it is." Luo Changjun looked suddenly enlightened, and then he got down to business, "My father wants to treat you to dinner, and I'll come pick you up next Sunday."

"No. There is a lot of farm work at home now. During the holidays, I have to hurry up and do farm work. Otherwise, the field will be completely barren." Zhang Jiaohua focused on cooking.

"No way. Your parents left you alone at home, what do you want you to do?" Luo Changjun immediately frowned.

When Zhang Jiaohua heard Luo Changjun talk about his parents, his tone was not good, and he quickly defended, "That's not it. I want to plant it myself. Don't underestimate me, what adults can do, I can do too."

"Ambition." Luo Changjun held out his thumb to Zhang Jiaohua, "When I was young, if my parents left me at home, I was afraid that I would starve to death. I couldn't even cook."

Luo Changjun's words made it difficult for Zhang Jiaohua to understand. Children who can't cook, and children in the countryside are incomprehensible. For them, from a few years old, they have to help the family with various housework. Cutting hogweed, cooking, cutting rice, threshing millet... The children in Meizi'ao have been trying to do it since they were five or six years old. Some are sensible early, and they took a kitchen knife to the field to chop cabbage when they were two or three years old.

"Which child in our village doesn't help the family with housework? It's not like I can't afford those farm jobs." Zhang Jiaohua felt that this was quite normal.

"But, aren't you only in the first grade? Shouldn't you be studying hard now?" Luo Changjun felt that Zhang Jiaohua was a bit indiscriminate.

"I didn't bring my homework to school." Zhang Jiaohua said angrily.

Well, brats can't communicate normally. Luo Changjun suddenly felt that it was wrong for him to communicate with Zhang Jiaohua as an adult. Fortunately, he was not Zhang Jiaohua's biological father, otherwise the generation gap would have drowned him.

"Or, next time, I'll bring my father to you. Maybe he likes your rural environment even more. Your rural environment is so good, the air is so fresh. Every family has such a big yard. There are fruit trees planted around." Luo Changjun had an idea that he thought was very good.

"That's good. It's a pity that we don't have any good food in the countryside." Zhang Jiaohua was very happy at first, and then a little embarrassed. Not having good things to entertain distinguished guests will always make the mountain people feel guilty.

"It's okay. Whatever you usually eat, we'll eat whatever you eat when we come over. Don't you have wild pork here? It's a good thing." Luo Changjun said, looking up at the cured wild pork hanging on the bacon rack.

"You like eating so much, you can bring a few more dollars back later." Zhang Jiaohua laughed.

"No, no, no. We can't eat so much. We haven't finished eating what you gave us last time. I'll come and ask you for it after we finish eating. My house doesn't have a shelf of bacon like yours, and I don't burn firewood. This meat has been taken back for a long time, and it won't have the smell of bacon." Luo Changjun hastily declined.

When Luo Changjun left, Zhang Jiaohua sent Luo Changjun to the car. This time, Luo Changjun refused to take anything Zhang Jiaohua brought him. Originally, Zhang Jiaohua was going to get him a piece of bacon, and then catch a chicken and a duck. But Luo Changjun came here to thank Zhang Jiaohua, so why would he accept Zhang Jiaohua's things?

"Go back. If you have any difficulties being alone at home, just come to the town to find me." Luo Changjun kicked the accelerator, and the jeep rushed into the distance.

Zhang Jiaohua kept watching the jeep go over the mountains until he could no longer see it.

For Zhang Jiaohua, the direction of Meizi'ao out of the mountain is the direction in which his parents go out. Zhang Jiaohua didn't know which direction Guangdong was, but in his heart, his parents were in the direction he was going out, and he looked in that direction. In fact, he was looking forward to the day when his parents would go home from that direction. Although, knowing that this day will not be realized until the Chinese New Year, Zhang Jiaohua still has to look over there every day for countless times.

Zhang Jiaohua turned to go home, and Zhang Dechun came out of the house.

"Biao Hua, where is that man from? I think he came to our village two or three times in a jeep. It seems that this car brought your grandfather and you back yesterday." Zhang Dechun held an enamel cup in his hand, filled with a large cup of cotton tea brewed in boiling water. Cotton tea is a kind of tea unique to Meiziao. This tea tree is completely different from the usual tea tree. But the tea brewed from this kind of leaves also has a special flavor. Sweet and delicious, thirst-quenching. Usually, tea is boiled in a big pot. After the tea is cooked, it is either cooled down to make herbal tea, or put into boiling water bottles.

Zhang Dechun saw the commune cadres making tea in the commune. As a farmer, he naturally couldn’t understand the elegant behavior of the city people, but it didn’t stop Zhang Dechun from taking a cup of tea like the city people, constantly blowing the tea leaves floating in the cup with his mouth, enduring the boiling water from time to time, and taking a sip carefully.

"Grandpa Dechun, don't you know how to wait for the hot water to cool before drinking it? It will look good if you scald your mouth like a pig." Zhang Jiaohua looked at Zhang Dechun and couldn't help but say.

The card players at Zhang Dechun's house couldn't help laughing.

Zhang Dechun accidentally drank a mouthful of water, and was so hot that he spit it out quickly, "I beg you, you bastard. You understand but you don't understand, and you are still talking nonsense. I am tasting tea, do you understand? It is terrible to be uneducated!"

Zhang Dechun looked at everyone with disdain. It's just that the sip of boiling water just now made him blush, and the expression of embarrassment was completely hung on his face.

Looking at Zhang Dechun's embarrassed look, Zhang Jiaohua smiled and said, "People in the town have special teacups for drinking tea. That kind of purple sand cup looks good. Where can I make tea with an enamel cup?"

"You know what. You haven't seen cadres drink tea. The cadres in the commune drink tea like me, with this kind of enamel cup. My cup is not simple. Have you seen that, an excellent family planning worker." Zhang Dechun looked at Zhang Jiaohua with disdain.

"It's even more advanced. Being a dog's leg, bringing the family planning program to demolish the houses of the villagers. Thank you for your kindness. You are a traitor in a war movie who specially brought devils to the countryside." Zhang Jiaohua was not afraid of Zhang Dechun, but choked Zhang Dechun directly on the phone.

A few people playing cards at Zhang Dechun's house laughed so hard that their stomachs ached. But there are some things they only dare to say in their hearts, but Zhang Jiaohua can say it without hesitation. Zhang Dechun can't do anything about Zhang Jiaohua. He could only helplessly watch Zhang Jiaohua swagger away.

"It's a pity that you are dozens of years old. You still have trouble with a kid. I am satisfied with this. I was ridiculed by other kids." Xiao Mangui, Zhang Dechun's wife, came out and chattered a few words.

"You know what an egg!" Zhang Dechun couldn't help but swear.

Xiao Mangui rolled his eyes and didn't dare to say another word. Zhang Zhishu's authority in his own yard is quite high.

Zhang Dechun's cub Zhang Shunlin couldn't help but said, "Mother just told you, why are you so fierce?"

"What does your mother know? How many cadres are there in the town who can drive a car now? Those who can drive a car are all well-known in the town. I wonder if I can get in touch with this cadre through a beggar. By then, it will be easy for you to become a regular. You think I can't speak a beggar." Zhang Dechun gave Zhang Shunlin a white look.

"That's true. But the jeep driver should not belong to the government department. It belongs to the police station. In the town, there is only one jeep for the town government, and one for the police station. The town government's car is the car of Secretary Hu, the secretary of the town party committee. Mayor Tang always takes the bus back to his home in the county." Although Zhang Shunlin is only a primary school teacher, he knows all about these things in the town. In fact, he inquired about these things from Gong Ziyuan. Gong Ziyuan's home is in the town, and he has some connections with the town government. I came to Meizi'ao Primary School mainly to solve the problem of staffing. However, Gong Ziyuan didn't have a very strong relationship in the town. Otherwise, there is no need to go to Meiziao.

"Would I not know that this jeep belongs to the police station? Director Luo of the police station came to our Meiziao last time. I also assisted in their work. Look, I will definitely establish a good relationship with Director Luo through begging. Through him, I will find a relationship with the school district in the town to solve your problem of becoming a regular. It is best to be transferred to the town." Zhang Dechun said proudly.

I don't know when it started, but poker has become the main theme of Meizi'ao's leisure activities. From playing cards with mustaches in the past, to winning or losing by one or two points at the beginning, to winning or losing tens of dollars now. Folk customs are slowly changing subtly.

When Zhang Jiaohua walked to the door of the house, he found someone squatting beside the field.

"Hey! Epilepsy Chen, what are you doing here?" Zhang Jiaohua recognized him only by his rags.

"Beggar, why do your grains look like beans?" When Chen Zhanzi spoke, he couldn't see anything wrong with him.

"Killing pigs and butts, everyone has their own way of killing. You don't care how I grow the crops, as long as I like it." Zhang Jiaohua didn't bother to explain in detail to a lunatic. In fact, he couldn't tell why. His original purpose was to save the hard work of transplanting rice seedlings.