CH 54

Growing vegetables—

It was such a large piece, and he didn’t take advantage of this time to plant wheat and wanted to plant vegetables instead. This way of thinking wasn’t normal and it wasn’t correct either. The villagers all tried to persuade Xu Zhao, telling him to quickly plant wheat or else if he missed the time to sow the seeds, he might not be able to pay the grain tax next year, and eating might even be difficult.

Xu Zhao smiled and said that he could make money by growing vegetables.

However, the villagers didn’t believe him and still tried to patiently persuade Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao knew that the villagers had good intentions, so he didn’t mind that they didn’t support it. He tactfully smiled and expressed that he already decided to plant vegetables.

And so, they began building the greenhouse. Xu Zhao had drawn the blueprint in advance and had already determined the length, width, and height. The steel pipes from the steel factory were also custom-made, so building the greenhouse wasn’t very difficult.

However, Da Zhuang’s father and the others had only built houses before and had no experience building a greenhouse. Therefore, they banged and built for over a week before the greenhouse finally built and completed along with the new house. In order to celebrate, Xu Zhao especially bought a whole package of firecrackers and let them explode for an entire 30 seconds before they happily cleaned the new tiled house and swept out all the dirt from each of the rooms. Each room was clean and spacious.

Xu Zhao was very satisfied.

Mother and Father Xu liked it very much.

Xu Fan was even more excited and ran all over, then went next door to find Da Zhuang. He said to Da Zhuang, “Da Zhuang, this is my home. Me, my daddy, my grandpa and grandma will all live here in the future. Is so big here! My house. It’s my house!”

“Wow, it’s so big.” Da Zhuang specially cheered.

“Mn, it’s even bigger than the sky.”

“It’s not as big as the sky.”

“It is bigger than the sky.”

“It’s not. You’re just dragging.”

“I’m not bragging.”

“…”

Xu Fan and Da Zhuang cheerfully chatted to the side.

On Xu Zhao’s side, he brought the two elders to enter the courtyard again and investigate the new house one more time. With a glance, they could see the spacious courtyard and the small door at the corner of the courtyard. The small door was the courtyard’s back door, and Xu Zhao had specially designed it. Standing at the back door, you could see the general situation of the greenhouse vegetable, so it was easy to manage it.

The kitchen was on the right, and it was double the size of their old small kitchen, and they had already built the stove inside. Up next was three tiled houses. The first main hall was used for guests and whatnot. To the left and right of that were the east and west wings. According to South Bay Village’s custom of “east is up and west is down,” Mother and Father Xu would live in the east wing in the future, and Xu Zhao and Xu Fan would live in the west wing.

After examining the whole house, Xu Zhao, Mother and Father Xu all quieted down.

Finally, finally… They could finally live in a tiled house. However, it was still very humid inside the rooms, so they couldn’t directly move in just yet. Xu Zhao opened all the windows in each of the rooms to air out the rooms for a few days before bringing the entire family to leave the new house.

Returning to the thatched hut, Xu Zhao finished wrapping up the work for the construction of the greenhouse. He immediately purchased all sorts of vegetable seeds, asking about the growth cycle of each vegetable as well. At this time, Xu Zhao had already used up all the money he made from selling mooncakes. Moreover, he still owed the steel factory the remaining 70% for the steel pipes.

The plan really couldn’t keep up with the changes.

Although the budget was flexible, he had still overspent a bit.

Fortunately, Xu Zhao had purchased new clothes, quilts and other things in advance. For a short while, he and his family wouldn’t starve or freeze. Therefore, Xu Zhao didn’t feel too much pressure and concentrated on his work. A couple days later, they were able to move into the new house.

On the day of the move, Cui Qingfeng rode his bicycle over and helped them move along with Da Zhuang’s entire family. In fact, it wasn’t much. There were only two beds, a big wok, two large stools, four small stools, a small table, a vegetable cabinet, quilts, ox cart, flashlight, radio, and other things. Everything else was small items.

He said it’s nothing, but after organizing and packing, it ended up being a lot of things. The adults were busy, but Xu Fan and Da Zhuang were even busier than the adults. The two little guys padded their short legs back and forth from the new house to the old one and back. One moment, they would help the adults hold the mallet, and the next a pillow.

They were very diligent!

Hearing the adults say that the larger items had been moved and they were now packing up the smaller items, Xu Fan began organizing his own toys. He and Da Zhuang dragged the porcelain basin into the thatched hut and placed the toy car, small compact car, water gun, slingshot, marbles, and other toys into the porcelain basin.

“Da Zhuang, let’s carry it together,” Xu Fan shouted.

Da Zhuang immediately responded, “Okay, we’ll carry it together.”

The two chubby children carried the porcelain basin together and left the small courtyard. A “thud” sounded when the porcelain basin fell and all the toys fell out as well. When they lifted the porcelain basin again, it fell yet again. They tried to lift it yet again, and it still fell… The two children repeatedly tried again and again, and they were actually able to move the porcelain basin to the new house. The two children’s faces were flushed with exhaustion.

Xu Fan ran to Xu Zhao and said, “Daddy, Da Zhuang and I moved my toys here.”

“That’s so great. You and Da Zhuang are amazing,” Xu Zhao said.

Da Zhuang immediately spoke up, “Sanwa and I are amazing!”

“That’s right. You can eat a bit more at lunch,” Xu Zhao said with a smile.

Xu Zhao cooked at noon and made a whole large table full of dishes to entertain Cui Qingfeng and Da Zhuang’s entire family. During this time, everyone was very harmonious and happy. When they had just about finished eating, Da Zhuang’s grandma very earnestly praised how capable Xu Zhao was to Mother Xu. The conversation unwittingly turned to Xu Zhao’s relationship status. She said that it was very tiring for Xu Zhao all by himself, so he could find someone to help him. Her meaning was for Xu Zhao to find a partner.

Everyone in the village knew that Xu Zhao had a child out of wedlock, which was already very shameful since it violated the social system.

But in these past few years, everyone has witnessed Xu Zhao’s kindness and honesty, and Xu Sanwa was very lively and loveable, and cared for others. Everyone gradually accepted Xu Zhao, and some people had even tried to defend against Xu Zhao’s rumors by, for example, saying that Xu Zhao was tricked when he was in school. Or that Xu Zhao’s partner had passed away. Or that Xu Zhao was actually married before and whatnot. This undoubtedly changed everyone’s view on Xu Zhao.

Especially Da Zhuang’s family. They really liked Xu Zhao, therefore Da Zhuang’s grandma wanted to introduce a partner to Xu Zhao who just so happened to be able to do farm work and help Xu Zhao, as well as help decrease Xu Zhao’s burdens.

Cui Qingfeng, who was eating, felt a tightness in his heart when he heard this. He looked straight at Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao planned everything he did, and he considered all matters, including his future. Wedding or whatever. Although he had thought about it less since he was busy, he did consider it before. It was just that he was now relied on by his family, so he wasn’t in the ideal situation to find a partner. Especially since they were about to enter another stage of being unable to eat, where would he have the time to find a partner?

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t looking forward to romance.

Therefore, he truthfully replied to Da Zhuang grandma, expressing that once he passed this hurdle, he would think about this problem. Mother Xu had the same idea.

After getting the green light, Da Zhuang’s grandma was ecstatic and didn’t ask anymore. She secretly picked out potential partners in her heart.

Cui Qingfeng was finally relieved and secretly thought that he would wait. He would wait a bit longer when Xu Zhao started thinking about dating before confessing his feelings to Xu Zhao. He actually met all of Da Zhuang’s grandma’s requirements. He was from a good family, he would care for Xu Zhao, he also liked Xu Fan, and he would treat Mother and Father Xu well… Da Zhuang’s grandma was basically talking about him.

Cui Qingfeng felt a bit happy in his heart, and couldn’t help but shyly glance at Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao was feeding Xu Fan fish and didn’t notice Cui Qingfeng, nor did he know Cui Qingfeng’s thoughts. After they finished eating, Da Zhuang’s family returned home first.

Mother Xu gathered the dishes and chopsticks to wash in the kitchen.

Father Xu lifted the broom to start sweeping.

Xu Zhao calculated the accounts with Cui Qingfeng for Fan’s Little Shop. After they finished, Cui Qingfeng left. Xu Zhao sat in their spacious, large courtyard, his mood very high. However, when he looked at the 5 Yuan in his hands… He was poor yet again. He turned his head to look at Xu Fan. Who knew how Xu Fan had gotten ahold of the radio, but he knew how to turn it on and find the right radio frequency by himself. He was standing by the back door, swaying while he listened to music.

“Xu Fan, put the radio on the stool and listen. Don’t drop it and break it,” Xu Zhao reminded Xu Fan.

“I’ll hold it.” Xu Fan meant that he wouldn’t drop it.

Xu Zhao let him hold it. When he got up to organize the vegetable seeds, Uncle and Auntie Zhang came over to see Xu Zhao’s new house, praising Xu Zhao. However, the two elders thought planting vegetables wouldn’t be able to make any money, and that it wasn’t good to do something so high key. They thought Xu Zhao was taking too much of a risk, and told Xu Zhao that he might as well go work in other places to earn money.

He should take advantage of his youth and leave Sanwa to Mother and Father Xu while he went to work in the city factory. He could make 20-30 Yuan each month, which was a lot of money. Saying this, Xu Fan suddenly ran over and hugged Xu Zhao’s leg, stunning Xu Zhao.

“Sanwa doesn’t understand what we’re saying, right?” Auntie Zhang asked in shock.

Xu Zhao smiled and said, “Maybe.”

“I’m afraid this child really thinks that you’ll abandon him.”

“Possibly.”

After Uncle and Auntie Zhang left, Xu Zhao squatted beside Xu Fan to explain that he wouldn’t leave him to go work, and said, “Do you see the greenhouse Daddy built? Daddy is going to plant and sell vegetables.”

“I will also plant and sell vegetables with Daddy,” Xu Fan said.

“Okay.” Xu Fan lifted Xu Fan and said, “Xu Fan.”

“Daddy.”

“You have to remember this.”

“Huh?”

Xu Zhao had never said sappy things to Xu Fan before and had never truly confessed his inner thoughts. He always thought that it was too emotional and too unnatural.

However, seeing Xu Fan grow up bit by bit and change under his teachings, and seeing him so emotional just after hearing that he might leave, he couldn’t help but say, “Daddy loves you. Daddy loves you so much, and Daddy will never abandon you, so don’t be scared that Daddy will leave. You have to remember that. Wherever you are is where Daddy will be.”

Xu Fan looked at Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao knew that Xu Fan might not understand these words, but he also knew that it would imperceptibly influence Xu Fan. Just as expected, the uneasiness on Xu Fan’s face disappeared as he obediently wrapped his arms arounds Xu Fan’s neck and snuggled up against Xu Zhao.

Acting spoiled again.

Xu Zhao smiled and kissed Xu Fan’s small face and said, “Go play.”

Every time Xu Fan was kissed by Xu Zhao, he would be extremely happy and even beyond himself with joy. It was the same this time. He ran back to the radio, Xu Fan’s small arms wrapped around the radio as he said to Xu Zhao, “Daddy, I’ll listen to the Great Sage the Equal of Heaven.”

“Okay, you listen to it,” Xu Zhao said.

“I’ll also listen to aaaaah.” Aaaah was a part of the song.

“Okay, you listen.” Once Xu Zhao finished speaking, he added another sentence, “Don’t drop the radio.”

“I won’t.”

Xu Fan was very happy as he carried the radio and ran to Xu Zhao’s side. And then a “plop” sound came as the radio dropped on the group, causing the batteries to directly fall out.