Chapter 12

Mei Qiuping prepared lunch early today. When the sun was high in the sky, her husband and son still hadn't returned. She took a few scoops of peanuts from the cabinet and poured them into a basket, ready to shell them. Most of the peanuts harvested this year had been taken to be pressed for oil, except for a few liters reserved for planting and as a side dish for Feng Zhenchang, of course. When there were guests, fried peanuts could also be served as a dish.

She sat in the main room, deftly shelling peanuts, occasionally waving her hand to drive away the chickens that were circling around, while keeping an eye on the movements outside. In the past, when Feng Yiping came home from school, he would shout "Mom" loudly from the wisteria trellis outside the house. But today, no matter how long she waited, they didn't come. After shelling about a bowl of peanuts, the door darkened, and she looked up to see her son had returned.

She took his schoolbag and, while throwing the dirty clothes into the basin, asked, "Are you getting used to living at school? Is the food good?"

Feng Yiping sat on a stool and started shelling peanuts, but he put the shelled ones in his mouth first. "I'm getting used to it, and the food is good. It's the same as in primary school, with four people to a bed. The food is better than in primary school. The steamed buns in the morning are well-cooked, and the rice is made from good grains, not the yellowish rice we often ate in primary school."

At this, Mei Qiuping scolded, "Those unscrupulous people in primary school. The rice you sent from home was all good, but they made you eat that old rice."

Actually, it wasn't old rice. Feng Yiping only learned after he started working that it was aged rice, with yellow grains and a strong smell. In primary school, they mostly ate this kind of rice.

"Don't shell anymore. I just took them out because I had nothing to do. Are you hungry? Let's eat first." Mei Qiuping added detergent to the basin and poured water to soak the clothes.

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

"Alright, he should be back soon. Let's fry the peanuts first, okay?"

"Okay," Feng Yiping put down the basket, went to the storage room, and scooped a large scoop of peanuts from a bag on the ground, pouring them into the big pot on the stove.

These peanuts were flat and could neither be pressed for oil nor used for planting. They were either small or had no kernels inside, and were usually fried as snacks for the children.

In the countryside, besides the main meals, there was no money to buy snacks like candy, cookies, or fruit. The only things children could eat were fried pumpkin seeds, fried calabash seeds, flat peanuts, and sweet potato chips.

Feng Yiping was quite good at frying peanuts. At least in the four families behind the village, his skills were top-notch. There was no secret to it; just use a low fire for a longer time, let them cool after frying, and then use a low fire again to reheat them. The peanuts would be thoroughly cooked and wouldn't go stale even after a few days.

He had just added a few handfuls of straw to the stove when a fragrant aroma began to spread. Neighbor Feng Jiasheng's wife came in with a bowl to chat with Mei Qiuping. It was normal for neighbors to visit each other while holding a bowl. After a few words, she walked into the kitchen. "Yiping, you're frying peanuts again. How can you be so greedy?"

For these jokes from the older women, the best response was to change the subject. "Is Brother Jiasheng back?"

Her husband, Feng Jiasheng, worked in the canteen of the town government.

"Not yet, probably in the evening."

As she lifted the gauze covering the dishes from the morning, she said, "Tsk, your mom and dad really love you, don't they? Look, they didn't eat the tofu they bought the day before yesterday. They waited for you to come back to cook it."

Feng Yiping smiled and said, "Yes, you do the same for Jinzhi. You always save the good food for her. We'll take care of you when we grow up!"

Jinzhi was her daughter, five years older than Feng Yiping. After graduating from junior high school, Feng Jiasheng used connections to get her a job at the county textile factory.

"Hehe, that's true. When we get old and can't work, we'll have to rely on you!"

By the time Feng Zhenchang came home, the peanuts were already fried. After finishing lunch, they just needed to reheat the food.

The dishes were a bit cold, so they were reheated. Mei Qiuping complained to her husband, "You knew Yiping was on holiday today, yet you came back so late!"

Feng Zhenchang, while washing his face, said, "On the way back, I met Feng Mingzhi building a shed for chestnuts, so I helped him out."

Chestnuts were the most valuable economic crop. Some families with many chestnut trees could harvest over a thousand pounds a year, while most families could get a few hundred pounds. In good years, they could fetch a good price, such as two or three yuan per pound, which was the largest cash income for farmers in a year.

Therefore, before and after the chestnuts matured, people often carried small baskets and walked around the fields, picking the early-maturing chestnuts that had fallen to the ground. Sometimes, when no one was around, they would even knock them off the trees.

When the chestnuts were ripe, some people would even go out at night with bamboo poles and knock the chestnut clusters off the trees, stealing several trees in one night. So, in recent years, families with many chestnut trees in the village would build sheds and arrange for someone to watch them at night.

For lunch, there were three dishes: one was fried tofu, which had been left for a few days and was a bit moldy, so a lot of chili was added, along with homemade bean sauce; another was fried celery, which was wild celery picked from the riverbank; and the last was cucumber.

The parents put half of the tofu in Feng Yiping's bowl. Seeing him eat three large bowls, Mei Qiuping said, "How can you be full with just four ounces of rice at school?"

"The food at school is enough, Mom. I just ate a lot today because lunch was late and I was a bit hungry." Feng Yiping poured a bowl of hot water, which was too hot, and blew on it while speaking.

He didn't wait for his parents to finish eating. He changed his clothes, grabbed a handful of peanuts, put them in his pocket, put on a straw hat, took a sickle, and asked where the ox was tied, then continued his job as a cowherd.

At dinner, his father asked him about his studies and whether he could be among the top students in his grade, like in primary school. Feng Yiping said, "Of course, no problem."

After dinner, he tried to discuss with his parents, "Dad, Mom, I've reviewed the main subjects this week, and they don't seem difficult. I think getting into the county high school shouldn't be a problem, and I'm sure I can get into university in the future. The only question is whether it will be a good university or a regular one."

Feng Zhenchang had a bit of wine that night and was very pleased. "If you get into university, you'll be the first college student in the village!"

Mei Qiuping, who was wiping the table, also sat down and said happily, "In primary school, you never made us worry. Your grades were always the best. Principal Chen once told me that you would definitely have a bright future."

Principal Chen was their primary school principal. Once, when the village was hosting a celebration, he was invited, and he praised Feng Yiping. She still remembered it.

"Dad, Mom, what I want to say is that we still owe money, and tuition fees keep rising. This semester it's 45 yuan, and by the third year, it will probably be over 100 yuan. High school will be even more expensive, and if I get into university, it will cost at least a few thousand yuan a year."

Feng Zhenchang interrupted him, "Don't worry about that. Focus on your studies, and your mother and I will take care of the tuition. Even if you go for a Ph.D., we'll support you."

Feng Yiping said, "I understand. If I get into university, you'll definitely find a way to let me continue. I know that." He looked at his parents seriously.

"These past two days, I've calculated that although my sister has gone out to work, she doesn't even have a junior high school diploma and is still young, so she doesn't earn much. She's also a young woman, so she has many expenses. I don't think we can count on her."

Hearing this, Feng Zhenchang became a bit angry. "The girls who went out with her, from other families, all send money back, but Yuxuan doesn't send a single cent."

Mei Qiuping knew her daughter had gone to another place and didn't want to upset her husband, so she said softly, "Yuxuan went out to work at 15, which wasn't easy."

Feng Yiping continued, "I've calculated that our family's annual income is only about a thousand yuan. We have to pay off some debts and cover daily expenses, so we don't save much money each year."

Mei Qiuping sighed, "If the year is bad and the pigs get sick, and the chestnuts are cheap, we might even have to borrow more money." Feng Zhenchang sat on the stool, his face dark, smoking without saying a word.

"So I think we need to think of some ways early, or it will be too difficult later." Although this topic was heavy, Feng Yiping had to continue.

Feng Zhenchang still didn't speak. Mei Qiuping said, "It's hard to earn money. I'm not in good health, and your father is getting old. It's hard to find a good job now. The crops, the trees, the pigs, and the chickens don't yield much money. If we could find a factory job and earn a hundred yuan a month, that would be great."

At this time, in the village and nearby areas, most of the people who went out to work were girls, mostly in the clothing and textile industries. It was hard for strong laborers to find jobs on construction sites. They often went out for a month or two, spending hundreds of yuan on living expenses and travel, but couldn't find work. Most of them stayed within the province, and there wasn't yet a large wave of people going to work in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, or Fujian.

Feng Yiping continued, "I noticed that the chestnuts this year look good, but I don't think they will fetch a good price."

Feng Zhenchang flicked the ash off his cigarette and said gloomily, "Zhiming and others have inquired, and they think it won't be more than two yuan per pound."

Everyone was silent. Their family usually harvested about three to four hundred pounds of chestnuts, so at this price, they would earn no more than eight hundred yuan.

Feng Yiping said, "A classmate from town told me that his father took him to the provincial capital and bought him some delicious sugar-coated chestnuts, which cost six yuan per pound. I paid attention and asked him how they were made. Then I asked other classmates and a teacher who graduated from the provincial normal university, and I learned how to make sugar-coated chestnuts." He took out a piece of paper and handed it to his parents.

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