Chapter 2

Feng Yiping's home is located at the right rear of Feng Family Village, which was originally a bamboo grove. Now, there are four households in total. The other three families are in the same situation as the Fengs, with at least two children in each family. As the children grew older, the old houses became too small. The old houses were all connected, and there was no space to expand, so three years ago, the families began to build new houses in the bamboo grove.

In the past, building such a mud-brick house in the countryside required very few materials.

The main materials for such a house were mud bricks, wood, and tiles.

The mud bricks were all made by themselves. There was a yellow mud pit beside the village. They dug up the yellow mud, added some water, and let the ox trample it. Then they added rice straw and let the ox continue to trample it. After trampling, they scooped the mud into a brick mold—a rectangular wooden frame. Then, they stood on it, trampled it down, and used a stone knife to smooth the surface of the brick, making it flat. Finally, they removed the mold and let the sun dry it. Once the water was completely dried, a brick was ready.

Of course, a lot of wood was needed to build the house, but this didn't cost much money. Besides the fields, each family had a piece of forest, all pine trees. However, the ownership of the forest was more nominal. Although the forest and the trees belonged to your family, you couldn't cut any of them. There was a forest ranger in the village who would fine anyone caught cutting trees. The only benefit was that you could trim the branches once a year, and the cut branches could be taken home to use as firewood.

Although it was said that no trees could be cut, every family used trees from the forest when building their houses, including the village party secretary's family. However, since there were rules and a dedicated person, cutting trees had to be done discreetly.

Feng Yiping remembered that the year they prepared the wood, he was 8 years old. The family of four got up at five in the morning and headed to their forest, returning when most of the other families in the village were just waking up.

Their forest was at the highest point, near the mountain ridge. In the morning, they cut three trees. His parents each carried one, and he and his sister, who was four years older, dealt with a smaller one.

Since it was all downhill, his sister, who was four years older, walked in front, and the freshly cut pine tree pressed heavily on her shoulders. The two young ones had to take a few steps, lower their heads, and shift the tree to the other shoulder, then take a few more steps, lower their heads again, and switch to the other shoulder. By the time they carried the tree out of their forest, their shoulders were already red.

However, the children came up with a clever idea. They placed the tree on the mountain path, with Feng Yiping pushing from behind and his sister pulling from the front. When they encountered uneven ground, they lifted the tree with their hands. This was much more comfortable than using their young shoulders.

So, on the way down, his favorite part was the big stone slope. They placed the tree horizontally and gave it a push, and it rolled down with a "thud" "thud" sound, requiring no effort and saving them from carrying it for several meters.

His parents didn't wait for them and walked straight ahead. Thus, they pushed, pulled, lifted, and carried the tree, struggling to bring it home.

The next big slope, a stretch of flat road, another slope, and then another slope, followed by a final stretch of flat road, and a small river lay ahead.

Finally, the two of them were completely exhausted and lay on the ground, pushing and pulling. They finally crossed the small river, but the several yards high stone slope and the long uphill road ahead were beyond their capabilities.

At this moment, his father delivered his tree home and returned to carry theirs. The work for the morning was done.

This was just the first step. After the trees were brought home, the bark had to be peeled off, and then they were placed in a pond to soak for several months before being dried and used to build the house.

Of course, building a house required some money, especially for the main beam, which needed a large tree that had grown for many years.

There were no suitable trees in the village's forest, so they had to go to a deeper mountain village. They would first invite the carpenter to go with them to select the tree, then bring gifts like cigarettes, alcohol, and canned food to the owner's house to negotiate. They would say, "We want to use this tree for our main beam," and the owner usually wouldn't refuse. They would pay a few dozen yuan—usually no more than fifty—to cut the tree.

Of course, such a large tree and the long distance meant that it couldn't be carried by one person. At least four strong laborers had to take turns carrying it.

Additionally, after the house was built, the family that sold the tree would come to give gifts.

Finally, tiles were needed, which also cost some money.

Since many new houses were being built in those years, the village organized the construction of a kiln.

Making tile blanks was similar to making bricks, except the final mold was different.

After the tile blanks were made, they were arranged in the kiln according to the carpenter's instructions, and then they were fired for several dozen hours. They had to prepare enough firewood, then extinguish the fire and let the kiln smolder for several dozen hours. Finally, the carpenter would open the kiln, and the tile blanks would turn into blue-black tiles.

So, at that time, building a house didn't cost much in terms of materials—mainly because they had no money! But the preparation time was very long. His family's house was built when he was in the third grade, and they had probably started preparing when he was in the first grade.

When Feng Yiping brought the Wen brothers home, Feng Zhenchang and his good friend Feng Mingzhi were chatting with the village carpenter, Feng Chuntang, in the living room.

Feng Chuntang joked with him, "Yiping, did you take good care of the ox? The school doesn't teach that, right!"

Feng Yiping also laughed and said, "Well, its belly is bulging, like it's pregnant with a calf."

Everyone laughed.

Entering the kitchen, Feng Yiping sat behind the stove to add firewood.

"They'll drink tonight, probably for half the night. Eat this bowl of noodles first," Mei Qiuping said, pouring a bowl of cold noodles into the pot, heating them, and dividing them into three portions for the three of them. Of course, Feng Yiping's bowl was the largest.

When the family entertained guests, the housewife and children usually didn't sit at the table and had to wait until the guests finished drinking before eating. Mei Qiuping knew her son was in his growing years and got hungry quickly. By eight or nine in the evening, his stomach would be growling, so she made extra noodles in the afternoon.

The noodles were homemade oil noodles, which were featured on CCTV's "A Bite of China." These were the leftovers from the afternoon meal for the carpenter, Feng Chuntang.

In the countryside, when craftsmen like carpenters, lacquerers, and bamboo workers came to work, they were provided with lunch and dinner, as well as cigarettes and alcohol.

Additionally, before the two main meals, the host always prepared something to eat, usually noodles. This was similar to the British afternoon tea, but these craftsmen enjoyed it even more, with both morning and afternoon tea.

Feng Yiping slurped down the bowl of noodles in a few minutes, and Mei Qiuping, while cooking, scolded him, "No one is competing with you, why eat so fast?"

The Wen brothers laughed, holding their bowls.

Fried peanuts, stir-fried cured meat with chili, pan-fried tofu, stir-fried egg with loofah, stewed cucumber with cured meat, and a plate of green beans—six dishes, which was quite a feast in the countryside.

They drank slowly, sipping a little wine, eating a few bites of food, and chatting for a long time. After finishing a glass of wine, they would pour another and politely offer it to each other. Their alcohol tolerance was limited, and at most, they could drink about half a liter. So, Feng Yiping always felt that they weren't really drinking but using it as an excuse to eat and chat.

By eight o'clock, they still hadn't finished drinking. Mei Qiuping served two bowls of rice, put some dishes on them, and let Wen Hua and Wen Hui eat first. After they finished, she found a flashlight and asked Feng Yiping to send them home.

The Milky Way stretched across the sky, and the stars gently scattered over the village. The windows of the houses along the road emitted a warm yellow light, and the village was very quiet. The chirping of insects in the grass was very clear, and the laughter and chatter from the threshing ground in front of the village could be heard faintly.

That was the place where people gathered to cool off in the evening. At that time, televisions were not yet widespread in rural households, and electric fans were luxuries. On such hot nights, going to bed early wouldn't help them sleep. So, after dinner, they took a shower, burned mugwort to drive away mosquitoes, and moved bamboo beds to the threshing ground. They lay on the beds, fanned themselves with large palm fans, and chatted while cooling off.

Feng Yiping used to love this time. There were always old people telling stories about the past, such as fighting bandits, and encountering ghosts, snakes, and insects on night walks. In an era without radio, magazines, or television, this was a rare form of entertainment. Oh, it seemed that Pu Songling, the author of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio," also collected stories by listening to them everywhere.

After the old people finished, it was the turn of the middle-aged. They would talk about their childhood, the three years of natural disasters, and the stories of hunger and lack of food. They would also talk about the special period when they didn't go to school and participated in mass rallies. Some relatives in the county had a large house, with a television, washing machine, and refrigerator, and even a telephone. Their children studied so hard that they became nearsighted in elementary school, and a pair of glasses cost hundreds of yuan. There were also stories of clever children from other villages who passed the college entrance exam, and their parents worked hard and borrowed money from everyone to help them, hoping they would go on to get a Ph.D. ...

Of course, at the end, there would be a summary, mainly for the children, emphasizing the importance of cherishing, working hard, striving, being frugal, and being filial. In daily life, this meant listening to their parents, doing what they were told, listening to their teachers, and studying hard ...

However, by the time Feng Yiping finished junior high school, with the spread of televisions and electric fans, and many young people working outside, such scenes could only be remembered.

After sending them home, Wen Hua asked, "Uncle, are you going to take care of the ox tomorrow?"

"Yes," Feng Yiping said, "You don't need to follow me. I have to cut firewood tomorrow and won't have time to play with you. How about this: when I come back, I'll bring you some grapes?"

The place where he took care of the ox had a wild grapevine, and the grapes were large, though he didn't know the variety.

The two boys were somewhat pleased.

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