After a simple rebirth

After returning home, Fu Ying started washing rice directly. The Fu family was used to using an electric rice cooker, and Fu's mother also brought one back, so it was convenient to cook rice.

Otherwise, the traditional way of cooking rice is to steam it. First, wash the rice, then use a large pot to add 7% water and put it on the stove, put the steamer on it, and then pour the rice on the steamer. Steam it on high heat for about 15 minutes. When it is almost cooked, open the lid and sprinkle some water evenly to help the rice cook thoroughly. Then steam it for another 5 minutes to cook it well.

I don't know if Fu Ma will return to this traditional way in the future, but Fu Ying certainly won't. This way it's hard to control the time, the rice will be uncooked, and it wastes time. The rice cooker can do it in one step, which is much faster.

Fu Ying turned on the rice cooker and her mother started preparing the dishes.

As expected by Fu Ying, stir-fried meat with bean sprouts, fried potato slices, fried tofu and soup counted as two dishes and one soup, which together counted as three dishes.

While they were eating, the wife of Kui from next door came over and saw the Fu family eating, and asked them curiously.

"Aunt, do you eat lunch or dinner at three o'clock?"

"I ate late in the morning because I had a lot to do when I just got back. I cooked after returning from the market. This is lunch, but it can also be considered dinner." Fu's mother answered her.

"Oh, I see. Is there anything else you haven't prepared at home yet?" she asked.

"There's still a lot of things to do. The backyard hasn't been cleaned up yet. I need to prepare the land and sow some vegetable seeds in a few days. I also need to find someone to deliver a truckload of coal." Mother Fu said as she ate.

"That's okay, there's no rush. I'll help you after I harvest the potatoes. It will be done quickly." She offered to help.

This is how it is with fellow villagers. I lend a hand when you need me, and you come when I need you.

"Yes, I will do it slowly by myself. When your families harvest potatoes, I will come to help."

"Okay, you guys eat first." After she said that, she left Fu's house.

After dinner, Fu Ying asked Fu Zhe to wash the dishes. Fu Zhe wanted to refuse, but Fu Ying asked him to clean the backyard, so he chose to wash the dishes.

The Fu family's backyard was originally paved with cement, so it should have been quite tidy, but the yard was not big to begin with, and it looked dirty and messy when it was filled with things.

The left wall was filled with coal from the tenants. The right side was empty, but it was ok. The utility room in the middle was used by Fu's second aunt to store sundries, dirty cardboard, broken sticks, etc. When it rained, the stains were all over the floor and she didn't clean them. The toilet was turned into a pigsty, where two big fat pigs were raised, and the stench was overwhelming. The granary on the right was also used to store her family's corn kernels and corn cobs.

It can be said that the backyard of the house was almost requisitioned by the second aunt for free, but she thought it was natural. Anyway, no one lived in the Fu family, so it would be left there anyway.

Fu's mother came back once before, and was very angry when she saw this situation. She went back and told Fu's father about it. But Fu's father couldn't refuse to release the baby, and there was really no one living at home, so he couldn't say anything.

Fu's father and mother had no choice but to swallow their anger. Now that Fu's mother and the two children are back, the house must be cleaned up.

Fu Ying looked a bit troubled. Second Aunt knew that her family was coming back, but she didn't even take away the things, let alone clean up. It was not easy to clean up now, and before cleaning up, she might have to help her family move back for free.

"Mom, ask Second Aunt what we should do with these things. They can't be piled up in our house forever. We need to put our own things there too. If they take up space like this, we'll have no place to store coal or hang clothes." Fu Ying pointed to the backyard and asked her mother.

"Let me talk to your second aunt. It's not that there's no space at her house, but she just wants to put them here with us. Especially for these two pigs, her family can raise them, but she insists on putting them here with us and comes over every day to feed the pigs." Aunt Fu also had a headache.

"Just tell her that we're going to use the backyard and ask her to find a time to take it away. Otherwise, if Fu Zhe and I use her things by mistake one day, she won't be angry." Although Fu Ying was grateful for her second aunt's family's daily help, it didn't mean that her family should suffer losses.

Especially the second aunt's family, who are always pushing for more. Fu Ying remembered that there was a piece of land near the supermarket just now that bordered the second aunt's family. She had no money and no plan to build it, so it had been vacant. The second aunt's family later became rich, so they built a house first, but the earthen ridge that bordered the house was only 10cm wide, and the second aunt's family did not count it as a wall, and they directly built a half-meter wide staircase that was obviously occupying their own position. She also said that since her family was not building the house now, they just looked down on and bullied honest people.

Later, someone took a fancy to the land, which was very convenient with roads on both sides, and wanted to buy it from the Fu family. Fu's parents took the opportunity to sell it for 30 yuan, refusing to be neighbors with the second aunt's family, and also used this opportunity to clear the family's debts.

Fu Ying didn’t know whether the staircase was later removed, but it should have been. When Fu Ying went back later and passed by there, she paid special attention to the row of houses without any external staircases.

Fu's mother interrupted her thoughts, "What do you mean, you used her things, and she came over to scold you to death!"

"We have to put things there too. We put the old wooden boards there too. We can just take them when we need them. Her name wasn't written on it, so who asked her to put it here. If she wants to complain, just say that Fu Zhe and I are too young to tell the difference. She is the second aunt who is older and has a higher seniority, and Fu Zhe and I are young and ignorant. We just knew how to use it. So who cares whose business it is." Fu Ying said shamelessly. Don't expect to reason or use morality with such a person.

"That won't work. She's your second aunt!" Although Fu's mother was angry with her family at this time, she was not heartbroken after experiencing so many things. Instead, she was more hesitant than Fu Ying.

"Don't worry about what she thinks. Just say that. Anyway, if she doesn't take it, I will really use it. I am working so hard to sweep the backyard. Why doesn't she think about others?"

After Fu Ying finished speaking, she threw her second aunt's things into the yard, making a mess, and then started flushing it with a hose. As long as it could be flushed, she would not mop it. It was exhausting.

The water at home comes from the reservoir, and we have never charged for water. Droughts and water shortages are rare in Yunnan Province, so there is no need to feel bad or be too frugal with water use.

Fu Ying flushed the yard, including the toilet, several times with a water pipe and swept the yard several times with a broom, until the broom was almost broken. Finally, the yard became much cleaner.

I piled up the things from my second aunt's house in the granary, used a stick to block them, and divided them. It would be best if I could take them away as quickly as possible, but I also had to be prepared for her not to take them so quickly.

We do need to put things at home. Fu Ying remembers that potatoes are one of the staple foods here. We buy hundreds of kilograms of them at a time, so we have to make room here. Fu's mother only thinks about buying things, and when she finds that there is no place to put them after buying them, she becomes flustered. She needs to prepare in advance.

After all this busy work, it was already six or seven o'clock. Fu Ying felt very tired and wanted to take a shower!

Fortunately, there was always hot water at home, and it didn’t get dark until 8:30 in the summer in Yunnan Province, so Fu Ying told her mother about it.

After mixing the hot water, I locked the door and took a bath. Actually, it can be understood as just wiping it, which is still not as good as a shower.

I feel much more comfortable after wiping it!

We didn’t have dinner until after eight o’clock. We still had the soup and rice from lunch, and Mother Fu fried a plate of potatoes for dinner.

While we were eating, relatives came to visit one after another. Fu's mother told her to call her Fu Ying and not to talk to anyone who didn't ask her. She just finished her meal quickly.

Finally, there was nothing to do in the evening. Fu Ying washed the dishes and went back to her room. Fu Zhe went to Kui Ge's house next door to watch TV after eating. Fu's mother chatted with a group of relatives.

Fu Ying returned to her room, turned on the desk lamp, and continued reading the materials she had bought at noon.

Fu Ying didn't put away the things until her mother came back and was getting ready for bed. Seeing that Fu Ying insisted on studying despite being so busy, her mother felt relieved that she came back so tired.

On the first day back, after a busy day, everyone fell asleep.