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Chapter 373: Chapter 363 Summer Tour
Facts had proven that whether it was Western cuisine or Chinese, Shen Yunfang’s cooking skills far surpassed Mrs. Wu’s.
The children all scrambled to eat the food prepared by Shen Yunfang, and even Wu Guoqiang always reached for more from her side.
While everyone was in the middle of eating, Taxue came bounding back with a rabbit in its mouth.
"Wow, there really is a catch." Wu Guoqiang’s eyes nearly disappeared into his smile when he saw the rabbit.
Li Hongjun patted Taxue on the head and took the rabbit from its mouth, looking it over, it appeared to be in good condition—seemed like Taxue’s skills had improved.
Shen Yunfang tossed a rice ball over, Li Hongjun caught it, and fed it to Taxue as a reward.
After wolfing down the rice ball with whines, Taxue turned and disappeared into the bushes.
"Where has it gone now?" Mrs. Wu, envious of the Li family’s hunting dog, quickly asked as she saw Taxue run off again.
"Oh, it’s just been cooped up at home, dying to romp around once it gets out. Just let it play." Shen Yunfang truly felt bad for Taxue.
Since she went off to school, if Li Hongjun had a day off, he would run off to S City, and Taxue had to stay home to guard the house with no chance to roam the mountains, unlike life in Gaijiatun where a trip to the mountains was just a leisurely walk, and it got to go out several times a day.
"Hehe, you really treat your dog like a person." Mrs. Wu said.
"Haha, Taxue coming to our home was fate, of course we should take good care of it." Shen Yunfang watched her husband process the rabbit.
"That’s true." Mrs. Wu was quite superstitious, "By the way, now that you’re on holiday, are you going back to your hometown? I remember it’s been two or three years since you and your husband visited, right?"
"Hmm, about that long, but regarding going back, I can’t decide, it all depends on Li Hongjun." Shen Yunfang was being honest; if Li Hongjun wanted to go back to their hometown, then she wouldn’t have anything to say about it—just go, since she couldn’t be the one getting upset about it.
"I’m telling you, you’re too easy-going. If it were me, I wouldn’t go no matter what. They’ve caused you so much trouble, and you’re not angry?" Mrs. Wu admired Shen Yunfang for her patience.
"Hehe, what’s the use of a bad temper? They are Li Hongjun’s parents, can I really fight and clash with them, unless I don’t want to be with Li Hongjun anymore?" Shen Yunfang saw the situation clearly, "Besides, it’s not bad the way they are, consider it a complete handoff of their son to me. Li Hongjun has also seen his mother for what she really is, now he’ll be wiser in dealing with them."
Shen Yunfang hummed in her heart—if it weren’t for Li Hongjun’s bit of savviness, given his parents’ character, she would have kicked him to the curb long ago.
"True, it all depends on how we choose to look at things. With bad comes good." Mrs. Wu nodded in agreement. 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓅𝓊𝓫.𝒸ℴ𝓶
"As for me, I take all those matters lightly now. As long as I manage my little family well, ensure my children grow up happy, and remain joyful myself, that’s enough. What’s the point of getting upset over those trifles every day? If I don’t take them seriously and live a happy life, isn’t that better than anything?"
"You’re already doing well now. A college student! Once you graduate, you’ll be an official state employee. The state will take care of everything and you even get a monthly salary. How nice is that?" Mrs. Wu said with envy, but envy was all she could afford—lacking the ability herself, struggling academically, and not having the opportunities back then. Now she could only pin her hopes on her children.
"This is only temporary. Once the country develops, being an official employee may not be as good as being a farmer." Shen Yunfang remarked pensively.
In the future, it certainly looked like that. People in the cities, with all their outward glamour, were actually stuck with grinding nine to five jobs. Many had money to earn but no life to live, and with the state’s policy leaning towards the country, many farmers with land didn’t even have to farm themselves. They could rent out their land and just the subsidies from the government alone allowed them to eat and drink well. And, they spent their days leisurely, drinking wine and playing mahjong, living a life more comfortable than most.
"That’s impossible," Mrs. Wu simply didn’t believe it. At the time, anyone with a secure job was the envy of others, and she hadn’t seen anyone who wanted to be a farmer over a factory worker.
As the two engaged in conversation, another pair of men took the children to the creek. Thumb-sized fish swam in the stream; they were not edible but provided entertainment for the children. Shrill screams of excitement periodically echoed from the riverbank.
"Mommy, Mommy, look, fish!" Manman cupped them carefully in her tiny hands, her little feet stirring up the water as she lifted the fish to show her mother.
"Wow, it really is a fish, Manman is so talented, did you catch it yourself?" Shen Yunfang intently examined the fish nearly tormented to death in the child’s hands.
"Mm-hmm." Manman nodded vigorously, "Daddy helped catch."
"Brilliant, Manman, why don’t you go catch some more?" Shen Yunfang coaxed her.
"Okay." Manman replied loudly.
Then, turning on her heel, she plodded off to find her father and hunt for more fish.
Soon, Taxue returned with a live rabbit clamped in its mouth, its gray fur muddled, and its hind leg appeared to have been bitten.
Wu Hao refused to let Wu Guoqiang kill it, insisting on racing the rabbit, much to everyone’s amusement.
Perhaps having had its fill of fun, Taxue stopped foraging through the grass and joined the children to splash in the creek instead, causing an increase in laughter around the water.
They played until just after three in the afternoon before the group packed up, carrying two cleaned rabbits down the mountain.
The gray rabbit ultimately met its demise at the hands of little Wu Hao.
Since the children were exhausted from playing, dinner was a simple affair: Shen Yunfang cooked a pot of millet porridge, complemented by maize pancakes from Mrs. Wu, and after eating their fill the two families settled the children in for the night.
Each family took one of the rabbits.
Shen Yunfang tossed hers into her space, ready to be eaten at a later date without fear of spoilage.
Mrs. Wu, lacking this convenience, had to prepare differently. With the heat of August, leaving the rabbit out overnight would spoil it by morning, so she chopped it into pieces, stir-fried them in oil with a dash of salt, and stored it in a cool place where it would last for four or five days.
Shen Yunfang spent her holiday in bliss, receiving the money Joseph had sent. Somehow Li Hongjun kept the news from spreading, and she found herself with an additional 17,400 yuan, matched by an equal amount of Remittance Coupons.
Shen Yunfang, holding a stack of bills in one hand, knocked it against the other and chuckled, "This time I’m going to the Capital early. I’m going to buy a house, a car, and a TV set. If I can’t spend all this money, I might not come back at all."
Li Hongjun glanced at the stack of money in her hands and remarked, "Ambitious."
There were no hundred-yuan bills back then, ten yuan was the largest denomination. So Shen Yunfang’s stack was merely a thousand yuan, hardly enough to buy a house or a car. She’d better just peacefully return home.
"Hmph, hmph, hmph, you’re looking down on me, aren’t you? Just you watch, I’ll have my leave arranged. When it’s time for school to start, you’re coming with me, then you’ll see if your sister can buy a house," Shen Yunfang declared arrogantly.
In the end, Li Hongjun did arrange for leave, only to receive an urgent call from back home.
