Chapter 56: What to Look forward To

Chapter 56

Su Youfu finally bought a cheap mobile phone at the urging of his daughter.

In his opinion, mobile phones were not that expensive - being able to make calls and send text messages only cost a few hundred yuan. Installing a landline phone had cost hundreds of yuan in the past as well, but the monthly fees made him feel distressed.

Su Xiaoqi also knew her dad's distress. After buying a phone and a China Mobile SIM card, she got the cheapest plan that only cost 19 yuan per month. It did not include mobile data, but allowed 60 minutes of free calls. The network in Gumula Village was not very good. China Unicom signals were completely unavailable and you had to find a tall mountain to get any signals.

Su Youfu felt it was good enough and happily saved his daughter's phone number.

But the first thing he hurriedly did was to call Boss Huang who bought winnowing baskets to ask her to record his phone number, so she could directly call him when needed in the future.

Su Youfu spoke very loudly, and had a bit of an accent. Passersby on both sides could not help but look over. Su Xiaoqi stood beside him and did not shy away in embarrassment. If it had been before the Gaokao, she might still feel uneasy and vain. But her experiences over this period, including the setback in the Gaokao, made her re-examine herself and suddenly become much more mentally mature.

Avoiding her father would not make others look highly upon her. On the contrary, people might think she had issues.

After making what he believed was the most important phone call for now, Su Youfu heaved a sigh of relief. He had some petty shrewdness common of small farmers, but was still an ordinary person at heart and did not consider whether his hurried call might make Boss Huang feel he was too anxious or something.

Today Su Youfu had bought some things and also planned to go to his cousin Su Simei’s place to take a look, since his daughter had been troubling her for some time.

This time Su Youfu carried the sack himself, unwilling to let his daughter handle it.

Su Xiaoqi could not snatch it from him either. But when they got to auntie’s place, it was still Su Xiaoqi who cooked lunch.

Her dad had brought a home-made smoked duck - a duck they raised themselves, smoked with rice bran. It was very fragrant. Cut into pieces and briefly boiled with some garlic sprouts, it tasted great.

There was also a big cabbage grown in their home garden. Each cabbage was very big and could feed them for several meals.

After lunch, seeing her dad was clearly a little tipsy, probably from being too happy today and drinking a bit more than his limit, Su Xiaoqi said nothing.

She had not drunk any alcohol, but still felt speechless looking at the empty beer bottle that had put her old dad flat.

Letting dad rest in the room for a bit, she went to wash the dishes and tidy up, while auntie also returned to the ward.

Today Su Xiaoqi’s high efficiency memory buff had expired. She had accompanied her dad all morning and not done any studying. After finishing the chores, seeing dad asleep, she did not want to disturb him. Sitting at the table nearby, she put on her earphones and started her daily practice of copying texts.

She still had not finished Book 4 of the New Concept English series, having memorized only half the book so far.

Her efficiency going forward would definitely decrease compared to before. But having memorized the first three New Concept English textbooks made Su Xiaoqi feel like she had gained the overbearing aura of ruling the realm with half the Analects. Indeed, she had felt extremely relaxed and capable during her recent tutoring jobs.

Still she did not want to give up.

Dad’s snores were a little loud. Su Xiaoqi felt very assured taking a glance back at the middle-aged man lying comfortably on the bed. Even half-drunk, he was still concerned about dirtying the bed with his clothes and had taken off his outer jacket, revealing the worn shirt inside.

His legs tilted casually off the bedside. Su Xiaoqi covered him with a blanket as he slept soundly.

Having to get up before dawn when it was still dark outside to leave home carrying winnowing baskets to sell was truly exhausting work. Some days they had to rise even earlier to pick the vegetables at first light when they were freshest.

Then came lugging the heavy shoulder poles with loads of winnowing baskets and walking half across Lvshan City.

Su Youfu was not a strong man to begin with. Short and troubled by foot problems, such was still life for him. Yet at this moment he slept very contently, because he felt life had given him very well. He had new hopes - hopes he did not tell those around him about. He was very happy, truly very happy.

Even a short noon break seemed to have brought beautiful dreams, with his sleeping face still bearing a smile.

Taking another look, Su Xiaoqi put her earphones back on and continued copying English texts, her pen swiftly darting across the blank notebook. Words flowed from the tip of her steel pen onto the snowy pages in fluent rows and paragraphs before she flipped the page to proceed.