Reborn to Strive

That night, when Shi Zhen returned to Guan Baiyu's place, the pork tail with soybean stew in the pot was already ready, and it was very fragrant.

Shi Xinghuo kept swallowing. He ate with the mud seller at noon. The conditions of that shop were not too bad, but most rural people were reluctant to spend money on vegetables, so they never had meat, and occasionally they ate garlic. Ye scrambled eggs or something, he remembered Shi Zhen's explanation, and he didn't dare to eat more eggs.

Now the pig tail stewed with soybeans is really delicious.

Shi Zhen filled two small bowls of soybeans, gave each of Guan Baiyu and Shi Xinghuo a bowl, and asked them to eat with them, then he picked up the remaining vegetables in the pot and cleaned the pot for cooking.

Seeing this, Guan Baiyu hurriedly went to light the fire.

Although Shi Zhen's family was poor, his mother cooked when his mother was there. After his mother was gone, his father did it for a while, and then his stepmother did it.

In fact, he doesn't know how to cook, and he doesn't like to do it.

He was still young at that time, and he grew up in a small backwater village. His mind was still stuck in the Qing Dynasty. He always felt that these jobs were all done by women, and he couldn't do them as a big man.

Now, he no longer has such thoughts. During the years when he lived alone before his death, he had developed a good skill.

While cooking the rice, Shi Zhen cut some shredded mustard and put it in a bowl, then poured in water and put it on the steaming rack, so that when the rice was cooked, there was still a bowl of mustard soup to drink.

This is what his stepmother often made. Like Guan Baiyu, his stepmother would steam something while cooking and serve it as a dish.

The pickles and mustard are all pickled by Guan Baiyu. When his grandmother was still alive, he taught him to make them. When his grandmother is gone, he will make them by himself.

Thanks to his skills, he picks mustard mustard from the mustard factory in the next village that grows badly after being planted, and mustard leaves from the mustard factory.

His adoptive parents have a vegetable-growing field, but he will not go there to pick vegetables. Instead, he grows some scattered vegetables by the river, and the occasional gifts from his neighbors are enough. eat.

It's just...can't eat meat.

But when his grandma was alive, he couldn't eat it, but he got used to it.

He doesn't know what his grandma was like before. Since he can remember, his grandma has always cared about eating and drinking well for herself. She doesn't allow her daughter-in-law who is breastfeeding her child to eat her meat, let alone him. grandson.

Guan Baiyu looked up at Shi Zhen.

The sudden appearance of this cousin made him a little apprehensive at first, but now he has become fearful.

This man is really good to him.

After the three of them had dinner, Shi Zhen said, "There's not enough firewood at home, I'll go out and buy some."

Guan Baiyu heard the words and hurriedly said: "I will go with you."

Seeing Shi Zhen looking over, Guan Baiyu said again: "I know all the people around me, I will follow, and it will be cheaper to buy firewood."

His background was embarrassing, and there were always some children in the village who looked down on him and made fun of him.

However, most of the adults in the village sympathize with him and don't hate him, especially when his grades are very good.

After all, he doesn't bother others, and his own father grew up in the village.

"I originally wanted to buy it from Uncle Guan..." Shi Zhen said.

Guan Baiyu said without thinking, "Uncle Guan doesn't have any firewood. Aunt Guan works in a factory, and their family doesn't raise silkworms or mulberry branches."

Guan Jianguo's wife worked in the chemical fiber factory in the village before marriage. After marriage, she was dismissed by the chemical fiber factory because of having a child. After a year, she went to the sofa factory to find a job.

The sofa factory is a bit far from here, and she works in three shifts, sometimes she doesn't come back to sleep, and sleeps in the dormitory in the factory, Shi Zhen has never seen her before.

She has a job, so naturally she doesn't raise silkworms. After all, raising silkworms is a hard job, and she doesn't earn much money if she has to wait carefully from morning to night.

So his family's mulberry land was leased to others, and the people who rented the land were Guan Baiyu's adoptive parents.

Guan Baiyu's adoptive parents are very hardworking, and they raise three or four silkworm eggs every year. People in the village raise silkworms, and they all buy silkworm eggs uniformly, and silkworm eggs are laid on paper, one by one.

When the silkworms grew up, there were silkworms everywhere in the main room of his adoptive father's house, upstairs and on the ground in his house, and the family of three ate and slept in one room.

But even so, they did not earn much, because they had to build a house, attend funerals, support their two children in junior high school, and even owed foreign debts.

Of course, there are a lot of people like this in the village, so many of them build two-story buildings for the sake of face.

Guan Baiyu took Shi Zhen to his adoptive father.

This was the first time Shi Zhen met Guan Baiyu's adoptive parents.

He originally wanted to have some money and buy some gifts before coming to the door, but unfortunately he was too poor, so now he can only bring a bowl of stewed soybeans with pig skin.

Fortunately, Guan Guangguo didn't care.

If Guan Baiyu's grandparents came over, they would definitely think about it, after all, they helped others raise their children so much.

But Shi Zhen is just a child of Guan Baiyu's aunt's family. According to what Guan Baiyu said, his mother is dead, and Shi Zhen's mother is gone... What else can they care about?

Hearing that Guan Baiyu wanted to buy mulberry branches, Guan Guangguo gave him a few bundles: "I don't want your money anymore."

Zhang Xiumei was not happy: "If someone wants to buy it, it's your turn to be a good person?"

Zhang Xiumei brought out some more bundles of mulberry branches, and said to Guan Baiyu, "One dollar."

When Shi Zhen was about to take the money, Guan Baiyu gave Zhang Xiumei a dollar.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiumei gave a light snort.

She knew that the lost old woman must have left money for Guan Baiyu.

Obviously her daughter is the Guan family, but the old woman only thinks about Guan Baiyu.

Guan Baiyu didn't speak, and together with Shi Zhen, they carried the firewood back several times and put it beside his bed.

His house is small, so he keeps food and firewood beside his bed.

They moved the firewood, but they saw that Guan Baiyu's adoptive father's house did not close as early as in the past. The door of the house was wide open, and Guan Baiyu's adoptive father even rolled a big tank from the next door.

"What is this for?" Shi Zhen asked.

Guan Baiyu said: "Someone is here to kill a pig."

It is true that someone is coming to kill the pig.

There is usually nothing to do in the village, and everyone is free. Knowing that someone in Guan Guangguo's family is coming to slaughter pigs, they all run out to watch the fun, and some people ask Guan Guangguo for pig blood.

Guan Guangguo agreed: "I will give you a bowl later."

The pig butcher came not long after, and Shi Zhen was quite surprised when he saw that person—it turned out that the one who came to butcher the pig was the vendor he bought the meat in the morning.

Of course he wasn't the only one who came, there were also other vendors, there were three of them in total.

As soon as the three of them came, they went to the pigpen behind Guan Guangguo to drag the pig without saying a word. Several big men abruptly dragged the screaming pig out, pushed it onto the bench, and prepared to kill the pig.

In fact, it is most convenient to kill pigs directly on the ground, but they are reluctant to waste pig blood, so they will use benches to stand up the pigs so that the pig blood can be caught underneath.

Pig blood is also a good thing, eating it can replenish blood... Guan Baiyu's appearance is obviously not nutritious, and he is probably also anemic.

Shi Zhen thought about buying some pig blood, and also wondered if he could take this opportunity to buy some more meat.