Chapter 28

For Feng Yiping, junior high school life was as monotonous and dull as ever, day after day, always calm and peaceful, but also fulfilling. There was no entertainment, and music classes were often taken over by other teachers, just like physical education classes. It was already quite good if there was one class per week.

What was sad was that there was nothing to do in physical education class. There was no venue, no equipment. Apart from teaching the radio calisthenics and turning on the spot, the remaining time was left for the students to manage freely, of course, without disturbing the normal teaching of other classes.

Many students, consciously or unconsciously, returned to the classroom, and some even brought books to the playground. For them, when teachers urged them to study, they didn't like it, finding it bitter, tiring, and stressful. But when they were really left with nothing to do, they felt uncomfortable and would still take a book, even if just for show.

Whether they read or not, they always had to hold a book in their hands.

Feng Yiping saw the students around the ping-pong table, each holding a book, and couldn't help but find it amusing. This must be a kind of illness! A masochistic dependency?

This weekend, Feng Yiping didn't go to his grandfather's house. He asked Wang Changning to tell his grandfather that he was going to Xiao Zhijie's house.

When they left the school gate, he asked Xiao Zhijie to wait while he ran to the small store. Xiao Zhijie saw him come out with two bottles of wine and immediately objected. "Why did you buy these?"

Feng Yiping put his arm around his shoulder and walked forward, "It's the first time I'm going to your house, so I shouldn't go empty-handed. This is a matter of etiquette, you know, little buddy."

Xiao Zhijie stood still, "You're not an adult, so why do you have so much etiquette? Besides, your parents aren't at home, where did you get the money to buy this? Did you ask your grandfather? Then this wine should be given to Changning!" He then tried to chase after Wang Changning.

Feng Yiping quickly pulled him back. In many aspects, Feng Yiping now really required himself like an adult. Going to someone's house for the first time without bringing anything was something he really couldn't get used to.

"My grandfather doesn't drink. This money is from my parents, for my pocket money. I don't have much use for it at school. This wine isn't for you, it's for your father. Just don't worry about it." Feng Yiping continued, "If you go to my house, your parents would also tell you to bring something, right?"

Xiao Zhijie said, "Even so, you don't need to buy two bottles, one is enough."

The wine was produced by the county brewery and was considered good in the area, costing three yuan per bottle, so two bottles cost six yuan. At this time, a gift of five yuan was considered high, so two bottles of wine were appropriate. If it weren't for the five yuan his grandfather gave him last week, he wouldn't have been able to buy two bottles, but one bottle would have been inappropriate. There was a custom that when visiting someone's house, bringing only one item was considered very impolite.

Xiao Zhijie said, "I'll go return one bottle."

Feng Yiping let go of him, "Do as you please."

The wife of the physical education teacher was like a pi xiu, only taking in and never giving out. Of course, it wasn't that nothing could be returned. For example, if Zhang Qiuling wanted to return something, considering that his father was the vice-principal, it would be returned without a second thought. Xiao Zhijie and Feng Yiping didn't have that kind of face.

Xiao Zhijie's home was on the hillside, a small village with about twenty households, relatively prosperous. The mountain they were on was the highest in the town and had the best vegetation. The middle of the mountain was full of thick trees, and the forest was dense with many resources. Each household could get a large piece of forest. The road passed by the foot of the mountain, making it easy to sell what they harvested. They could push a wheelbarrow to the foot of the mountain and then take a bus to town.

Feng Yiping's first impression was that the firewood they used was of high quality. The firewood stacked in front of Xiao Zhijie's house was bundled, each stick thicker than his thumb. The small shrubs and grass that Feng Yiping cut during the summer were not used here at all.

When they arrived, the meal was already prepared, waiting for Xiao Zhijie to come home from school. Knowing that Feng Yiping was coming this week, Xiao Jianping also waited at home. Hearing the sound, they welcomed them at the door.

Feng Yiping called out, "Uncle, Aunt."

Xiao Zhijie's mother and Mei Qiuping shared the same surname and knew each other when they were young. She had even attended Feng Yiping's full moon celebration. "Yiping has come, you've grown so much. If I met you on the road, I might not recognize you. How is your mother doing now?"

Seeing the items in his hands, she said, "You could have just come, why did you bring these?"

Feng Yiping said, "It's nothing, just a small token of my appreciation."

Xiao Jianping took Xiao Zhijie's schoolbag, "Alright, go inside and sit down. The meal is ready. Xiao Jie, take Yiping to wash his face. Yiping, don't be shy, treat it like your own home."

Xiao Zhijie led Feng Yiping to the laundry pool outside with a towel and basin to wash his face. Inside, his mother and Xiao Jianping were talking, "Qiuping has always been sick, and the treatment costs a lot, making their family quite difficult. This time, he brought two bottles of wine. Is he afraid I'll look down on him?"

Xiao Jianping said, "You're thinking too much. This is just a matter of etiquette. It's fine. When we leave tomorrow, we can return something more valuable."

Lunch was indeed very abundant, with meat, fish, and chicken. Xiao Jianping and his wife kept serving Feng Yiping, "Don't be shy, eat more."

In the past, Feng Yiping would have been a bit reserved and would have humbly declined, but now he was different. There was no need to be polite when eating, especially when he was growing. So he ate meat when he should, and ate rice when he should, of course, not every bite was meat.

Xiao Zhijie was the same, having not eaten at home for a week, and the dishes were good. In no time, they had eaten more than half of the rice in the pot.

Xiao Zhijie's mother laughed, "Fortunately, I cooked two liters of rice."

Xiao Jianping opened one of the bottles of wine Feng Yiping brought and drank it alone, smiling, "Every time you come home on holiday, seeing how much you can eat, I can also eat an extra bowl."

Feng Yiping said, "My parents also say that now I eat more than both of them combined."

Xiao Zhijie's mother said, "You need to eat more now. Look at you, so thin."

Feng Yiping said, "My mother always asks me, where does all the food go, I don't gain any weight."

Xiao Jianping said, "Some people just don't gain weight, and that's a good thing."

Feng Yiping and the others sat at the table, waiting for Xiao Zhijie's parents to finish eating and put down their chopsticks before going to play in the village, which was also a matter of etiquette.

Actually, there wasn't much to do in the village, and the TV wasn't very interesting. Xiao Zhijie had a cousin who was studying at the county's electric university, and his family had some magazines. His cousin only came home once a month and wasn't there now, so Xiao Zhijie brought a few magazines over. Feng Yiping saw that there were "Zhizhi," "Half Month Talk," "Jingu Chuanqi," and "Storytelling," but none of them were from the current month.

He flipped through them and found an old issue of "Jingu Chuanqi" with a serialized story called "Spring Snow Bottle," which was a sequel to "Yu Jiaolong." "Yu Jiaolong" seemed to have borrowed, or rather, copied a lot from Wang Dulu's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which was the basis for Ang Lee's successful film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

"Spring Snow Bottle" was a story that Mei Qiuping had read to Feng Yiping and his sister at night. He hadn't expected to see it again, so he naturally chose this one.

It was very interesting, a true masterpiece of mainland martial arts novels. However, the warm sun made Feng Yiping fall asleep before he knew it.

When Xiao Zhijie woke him up, it was almost four o'clock. He wiped the saliva from his mouth, "It's so late, let's do our homework quickly."

This week, they had homework in Chinese, math, English, and physics. The composition could be written at school the next afternoon, but the other homework had to be finished today because they were going to pick persimmons on the mountain the next morning.

The table was too greasy, so they took two high chairs and sat on the large wooden cabinet to do their homework. The questions were not many and not difficult, and Feng Yiping finished quickly. Xiao Zhijie, however, seemed a bit distracted. Feng Yiping joked, "What's wrong? Not used to not having Zhang Qiuling around?"

Xiao Zhijie threw an eraser at him, "What are you talking about? Don't let my parents know."

Feng Yiping asked, "Aren't you afraid of Principal Zhang finding out?"

Xiao Zhijie stiffened, "I haven't done anything, why should I be afraid?"

"Comrade Xiao, do you like Zhang Qiuling or Huang Jingping more?"

Xiao Zhijie whispered, "I get along better with Zhang Qiuling, and Huang Jingping is the prettiest in the class."

"Ha ha," Feng Yiping laughed, finding him quite honest.

"Did you ever pass notes to them when you were in primary school?"

"At that time, I was in the same class as Huang Jingping, and Zhang Qiuling was in another class. I never passed notes to Huang Jingping, but other classmates did, and she ignored them," Xiao Zhijie said.

"I can see that. Huang Jingping is a very hardworking girl who prioritizes her studies. If you want her to like you, you need to have good grades, not worse than hers."

"You're right," Xiao Zhijie's speed of doing homework clearly increased.

Because Feng Yiping was there, Xiao Zhijie's parents came home early in the afternoon, before five o'clock.

During dinner, Xiao Zhijie's mother asked, "Yiping, what do your parents do in the provincial capital?"

Feng Yiping said, "After harvesting the chestnuts, they went to the provincial capital. My younger uncle found a place for them to sell sugar-coated chestnuts. They will probably return before the New Year."

"Sugar-coated chestnuts?"

"Yes, it's a method of roasting raw chestnuts with river sand, adding oil and sugar. This has been sold in the provincial capital for a long time. Our family's situation is as you know, with a thin foundation. My mother's illness and building the house left us with a lot of debt. My younger uncle mentioned it, and my parents decided to try it, since we have chestnuts from our own trees."

"Oh, I see. So how is it going?" Xiao Jianping asked.

"It's going well. On average, they can sell about ten pounds a day, making about a yuan per pound. It's better than farming at home," Feng Yiping said.

"That means they can earn about three to four hundred yuan a month, which is quite good," Xiao Jianping said, somewhat surprised but not tempted. Besides farming, Xiao Jianping had learned to grow poria, and he had planted it on the mountain. Last year, he sold it for nearly three thousand yuan, which was a good income in the countryside.

Feng Yiping said, "They are forced to do this. Farming at home is hard work, but they don't make much money. Some debts have been unpaid for three or four years, and I can't always afford my school fees. Besides, I want to study more, so they decided to try while they are still young."

Xiao Jianping said, "That's right. You must study more. Xiao Jie, remember, just focus on your studies. Whether we can afford it or not, we adults will figure it out. If you get into college, we will make sure you can go, even if we have to tighten our belts."

Feng Yiping said, "Uncle, you're right. For our generation, at least we need to go to college, or it will be hard to find a job in the future."

Xiao Jianping said, "Nowadays, going to college is not a big deal. Many people go on to get master's and doctoral degrees, and even study abroad. According to Xiao Jie, you have excellent grades and are the top of your grade, so getting into the county's best high school shouldn't be a problem. I'm worried about