Kapitel 2: Chapter Two: I've Found Treasure
Redakteur: virtual group
The sweet potato porridge was soon ready. Wang Guiying filled a bowl for Guo'er and a big bowl for Guo Xiang.
"It smells so good!" Guo Xiang picked up the porridge and smelled it. Her stomach growled and she smiled awkwardly, "I'm hungry!"
She hadn't eaten for two days. How could she not be hungry?
"Eat up!" Wang Guiying smiled as she picked up an egg and put it in Guo Xiang's bowl. She pushed a small plate of pickles in front of her.
"Thank you, Mom!" Guo Xiang smiled at Wang Guiying. Picking up her chopsticks, she stirred the porridge and dug into it straight away.
Seeing that Guo Xiang was enjoying the food without any complaints, a smile appeared on Wang Guiying's face. Seems like her daughter-in-law wasn't picky at all.
Guo'er poked at her porridge with her chopsticks. Her face darkened as she watched Guo Xiang enjoying her food.
"Guo'er, hurry up and eat. You still have to go to school!" Wang Guiying looked at Gu Guo'er who was eating the sweet potato porridge slowly.
" We always have sweet potato porridge. I don't want to eat it!" Gu Guo'er sulked. "If it weren't for her, we could've had rice. Also, how come she gets an egg but I don't? You gave the egg to the fool. You're biased."
Guo Xiang's hand that was holding the egg stiffened. Was this family really so poor that they couldn't even afford an egg? Logically speaking, they shouldn't be poor since they were able to fork out 1000 yuan for the betrothal gift. Little did she know that most of the money was borrowed.
Wang Guiying was a little embarrassed. She knocked Guo'er on the head with her chopsticks. "What are you saying? Your sister-in-law has just recovered from her illness. What's wrong with eating an egg? Hurry and eat up, otherwise, you'll be going to school hungry."
Guo Xiang looked at Guo'er and then looked at Wang Guiying. She could not eat the egg in the bowl no matter how hard she tried.
She picked up the egg and put it in Guo'er's bowl, but Guo'er was still not amused. "You've already eaten it and your spit's all over it. I don't want it."
After saying that, she put down her bowl and gave up on eating the porridge. She grabbed her school bag and walked out.
"Wait, I'll walk with you!" Guo Xiang quickly finished her porridge and stood up.
"I don't want you to!"
Gu Guo'er put on a sulking face, "I don't want a fool to walk with me. It's embarrassing!"
"Watch your words," Wang Guiying's face darkened. "This is your sister-in-law, not a fool. Can't you see? She's fine now and not a fool. Why are you being so rude?"
The children of the Gu family could be poor, but they could not be ill-mannered.
"It's okay, Mother. Guo'er is still young. It's fine!" Guo Xiang said quickly. She did not mind. Guo'er is calling the past Guo Xiang a fool, not her. She would never take the insult personally.
Moreover, her marriage was never right to begin with. It was normal for Guo'er to be angry. It showed that she had a clear distinction between love and hate and she abhorred evil. Things like these were normal for somebody her age.
"Stop being so nice. You're just faking it," Gu Guo'er rolled her eyes at Guo Xiang and ignored her. She picked up her school bag and ran out.
"Xiang Xiang, I'm sorry, it's my fault for spoiling her. Just ignore her," Wang Guiying was a little embarrassed.
"It's Okay!" Guo Xiang shook her head. She had seen a lot of naughty children in her previous life. Guo'er was nothing compared to them. No matter how naughty a child was, Guo Xiang would find a way to tame them.
After saying that, she followed Gu Guo'er with ease and started looking at the surrounding environment.
The countryside in the 1980s was really behind. Almost all of the houses were built from mudbricks. There were not many brick houses and the road was also full of potholes. It didn't take long for her shoes to be covered in mud.
After seeing Gu Guo'er walk into the village primary school, Guo Xiang walked back the same way.
When she got home, Wang Guiying was picking beans. Guo Xiang found a small stool and sat down. She asked Wang Guiying how to pick beans and began helping her.
"Have you never done it at home before?" Wang Guiying couldn't help but ask.
"Uh... I was muddle-headed in the past. I just sat in the house and didn't know anything..." Guo Xiang smiled, slightly embarrassed.
"No wonder your skin's so fair," Wang Guiying nodded. It seemed that she had never worked in the field before. Her skin was so white that it was dazzling. Regardless, she was really beautiful. She didn't look like a country bumpkin at all, more like a city person.
Seeing that she had a good personality and was willing to learn to do housework, Wang Guiying was quite happy. As long as she was willing to learn, everything was possible.
After picking the beans, Wang Guiying put the beans on the dustpan to dry. She was preparing them in order to make pickled beans.
Almost every family in southern Hunan knew how to make pickles. They would soak anything - beans, peppers, radishes, garlic shoots and more. In summer when flavors were bland, one piece of sour radish would be enough for one to devour a whole bowl of rice.
However, there were very few families that could afford to eat rice at this time. Almost every family ate sweet potatoes. It was always either sweet potato porridge or sweet potato rice. Some did not even have rice, and only ate sweet potatoes. Fortunately, sweet potatoes did a good job at filling stomachs. Otherwise, many people would starve to death.
The Gu family was located in a well-known impoverished county. The land was not fertile, and the rivers were not wide. The mountains were full of limestone. Weeds grew everywhere and trees were nowhere to be seen.
Other places used resources around them; however, this county had nothing. There was little land, and each person only had three or four shares of the fields. For example, the four members of the Gu family had less than two acres of land, and they also had to give up some harvest to the government. Food was far from enough. If it were not for the sweet potatoes, they would have starved to death.
Gu Zhennan had a better salary than the other families. However, a few years ago, his father fell sick which caused him to borrow a lot of money. Unfortunately, he never recovered and passed away. He had just paid off his debt, only to get ripped off by the Guo family which costed him a few hundred yuan. Even if he had a salary, he would not be able to withstand such torment.
However, Wang Guiying was not worried because her son was an oil worker. His salary was twice that of an ordinary worker. He would be able to pay off his debt after a year or two of hard work.
Of course, she knew that her son was working very hard. The work in the oil fields was dirty and tiring. He rarely had holidays to visit home. If it weren't for that, he would not be able to earn so much more than others.
In the past, the Gu family was very poor. They were in debt, and Gu Zhennan still had to support his younger siblings. Therefore, Gu Zhennan did not marry even when he was in his twenties. Later, when he became an oil worker, his salary was more than 70 yuan. The people in the village were envious and countless tried to propose marriage. Nobody expected the Guo family to succeed in the end.
The family that originally had some savings became heavily in debt again. Fortunately, Guo Xiang had recovered. Otherwise, Wang Guiying would really cry herself to death.
After drying the beans, Wang Guiying carried the hoe to the backyard to turn over the soil to plant some pepper seedlings. When the weather becomes hot, the peppers would be ready for harvest.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Guo Xiang asked curiously. She had never lived in the countryside before, so everything felt very fresh.
"Turning over the soil and planting some pepper seedlings. In a month, we'll have peppers to eat," said Wang Guiying.
"Let me do it!" Guo Xiang took the hoe.
"Do you know how to do it?" Wang Guiying looked at her suspiciously.
"... Please teach me," Guo Xiang grinned.
Wang Guiying nodded and took the hoe to demonstrate. Guo Xiang said she got it and started digging.
She took the hoe and dug hard into the ground. She dug a huge hole, which gave Wang Guiying a big scare. She did not expect her daughter-in-law to be this strong.
"You don't have to dig so deep, just... half a palm deep will do," Wang Guiying didn't receive much education and didn't know how to use a unit of measurement, so she made a gesture with her hands.
Guo Xiang looked at her palm, which was about five or six centimeters long and nodded. She raised the hoe and continued to dig.
After a few tries, the holes she hug became quite consistent in depth. Wang Guiying saw that she had done well. Not only was her daughter-in-law not stupid, she was also very smart. Seems like she had found herself a treasure.
-- Geschenk
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