Chapter 11

“Here are some wild vegetables. You can cook them as you like. I’ll process the bamboo shoots first. They can be rinsed in water and dried later, and stored for later consumption.” After Qiao Xiazhi finished speaking, he moved a small stool, sat down, and began to peel and shell the bamboo shoots.

Looking at Qiao Xiazhi, Chen Li studied her for a long time and thought that she was so busy that she felt dizzy and had seen the wrong person.

But the person sitting there peeling bamboo shoots in the yard was Qiao Xiazhi, no doubt about it. Could it be that this trip out really changed him as Daguo said? For the better?

But think about it, it’s normal to change. When you grow up and understand some things, you will change.

It’s good that things have gotten better. It would be great if the family could live in harmony in the future.

Chen Li went into the kitchen to cook, while Qiao Xiazhi was peeling bamboo shoots in the yard.

She saved some of the smaller ones to make hand-peeled bamboo shoots at home in the afternoon.

As soon as lunch was ready, everyone in the family came back.

As for Qiao Xiazhi’s matter, when everyone asked about it when Qiao Daguo went to work just now, he had almost told everything.

Naturally, everyone in the Qiao family knew what happened in the city.

However, the family members were not very clear about Qiao Xiazhi’s change. They were worried that Qiao Xiazhi would be unhappy. Everyone was very cautious when they came back, and no one dared to speak first.

Instead, Qiao Xiazhi took out all the things he brought back from the city.

“Grandpa, this is a pack of cigarettes that a friend from the police station bought for you and dad to thank me and my elder brother.”

“Grandma, this is malted milk. It’s nutritious. You can use it to make some water from time to time. Don’t be reluctant to drink it. It will be wasted if it expires.”

“Mom, this is yours, and the others are for my sister-in-law and my younger sister. You can each have a piece of brown sugar, and the rest are all mine.”

“Also, there were originally four packs of Little White Rabbit candies, but I ate some on the way back, so there are only three and a half packs left. I’ll give the half pack to mom and grandma to sweeten their mouths, and the other three packs will be given to me, my sister-in-law, and my younger sister, one each.”

After seeing Qiao Xiazhi’s final move, Hongtang divided the money into three pieces for himself, which made everyone feel a little more normal.

However, even so, everyone was still very shocked.

If it were the previous Qiao Xiazhi, he would never have thought of sharing these good things.

Absolutely all about themselves.

Of course she can’t smoke cigarettes, but she might take them out, and the rest depends on her mood.

But now she took them all out and shared them out, giving everyone one.

Except for Qiao Daguo.

However, when Qiao Daguo was in the city, he had plenty of good food and drinks, so he didn’t suffer any loss.

Who told him not to smoke or drink?

“Brother? It’s your turn.” Qiao Xiazhi reminded after distributing the things.

Qiao Daguo then realized that his sister had given him sixty yuan.

Then he quickly returned to the house and took out the sixty yuan from his innermost purse.

“These sixty yuan are the money Xia Zhi got from selling a small jade ring that Zhao Zhazha, the one that Zhao Zhiqing gave her. Grandma, I’m giving it to you now.”

After saying this, everyone looked at Qiao Xiazhi in shock. Qiao Xiazhi still said the same thing:

“Our family has done so much for him in the past two years. Before the Chinese New Year, he returned to the city and gave me a small jade ring to keep me stable. Now that I have nothing to do with him anymore, I will exchange it for money, which can be regarded as compensation for our efforts in the past two years.”

“I originally changed 65 yuan, 60 yuan for grandma, and the remaining 5 yuan was used to buy some things for the grandma of my friend at the police station.”

“We’ve been eating and drinking at their house these past few days, so we can’t just not show any appreciation. As for the rest, I’ll take it.”

“Also, for pointing out that scumbag Zhao, the police station gave me two dollars as compensation for lost work, and I took it.”

“That’s all. I’m hungry, let’s eat.” After saying this, Qiao Xiazhi picked up the bowl and started eating.

This feeling was right at this moment, so the Qiao family stopped asking further questions, for fear that if they asked too much, she would get angry again.

It’s good now, at least I’m not as selfish as before.

After dinner, Qiao Xiazhi said, “Let me wash the dishes.”

Hearing this, Qiao Dongzhi quickly stood up from the stool and said:

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it. I’ve always done this kind of work. Second sister, you’ve been out for a while and it’s been hard. You should take a break. I’ll do it.”

Qiao Xiazhi didn’t bother to be polite with her, “Okay, I’ll leave it to you. I’ll go take care of the bamboo shoots.”

Qiao Dongzhi stood there in a daze, thinking, Second sister, you can ask again. If you ask again, I will give you the job of washing dishes.

Sure enough, my second sister had changed, but not much.

But considering that she gave brown sugar and milk candy, she was content.

In the afternoon, everyone in the Qiao family went to work except Qiao Xiazhi. After Qiao Xiazhi dried the bamboo shoots at home, she chilled the cooked mung bean soup with well water. When it was cold, she gave it to her family to drink to cool down.

Seeing Qiao Xiazhi coming over with a basket, Qiao Daguo, who was planting rice in the rice field, said, “Why is Xiazhi here? It’s so hot.”

Just after he finished speaking, Qiao Xiazhi called out, “Grandma, Dad, Mom, I made some mung bean water for you, come and try it.”

Upon hearing this, the villagers started to make a fuss.

“Hey, Xiazhi, you have grown up since your trip to the city. It’s rare that you know to bring mung bean water to your grandparents and parents.”

“Hey, I was young and ignorant before, but now I have to learn to grow up. I have boiled a big pot of mung bean water. Uncles and aunts who don’t mind can have a taste.”

When they were told that they could try it, everyone had nothing else to say. They quickly put down their work and went forward to try it. If they went too late, they might not be able to get a taste.

When doing farm work at this time, everyone carries a bowl with them.

Firstly, it is convenient for you to drink water. Secondly, if someone sends you sweet soup or something, you can eat or drink it for free.

Qiao Xiazhi knew about this. In the past, her grandparents often drank mung bean water sent by their fellow villagers.

So she wasn’t stingy this time.

Anyway, it’s just a matter of adding a few more spoonfuls of water and a few spoonfuls of sugar. Some people don’t add sugar when cooking mung bean water, but she added sugar. Even if it’s all water you drink, it’s very good with just a little bit of mung bean flavor.

“Hey, Xiazhi, you added sugar to the mung bean water.”

“As expected, water with sugar in it makes me feel better. After drinking this bowl of mung bean sugar water, I feel like I can do a lot more work.”

“Hahaha……”

The villagers were happy drinking the mung bean soup, and the Qiao family was even happier drinking the mung bean soup delivered by Qiao Xiazhi himself.

“Hey, I caught you two, hahaha…” Suddenly, Qiao Daguo’s happy voice rang out.

When everyone looked over, they saw Qiao Daguo holding a large eel in one hand.

Qiao Xiazhi was overjoyed when he saw this, and quickly handed the basket over, “Quick, quick, put it in the basket, so you can have a snack in the evening.”

“Hey, I caught one too.”

Ma Daqiang also held up a very plump yellow eel and shouted, “Xiazhi, the syrup you gave is really good. Look, the yellow eels came out when you came.”

Seeing this, Qiao Xiazhi immediately thought of the eel in his hand.

“Brother Daqiang, if that’s the case, then give me your eel. Let’s give you a price that’s appropriate for you.”

Ma Daqiang smiled and said, “Why are you asking for a price out of affection? I’ll give it to you.”

Zhu Shizhen, the grandmother of the Qiao family, said, “Oh, that won’t work. This yellow eel is not small. It must weigh at least half a pound. Can I give you 60 cents?”

I don’t know what the prices were like in the 1970s in real life, but in this fictional 1970s, eels were half as expensive as pork.

At that time, pork was 80 cents per pound, and eel was 1.6 yuan per pound.

Loaches are cheaper, one yuan per pound.

However, villagers seldom go to cut meat to eat, after all, they need meat tickets to buy meat.

The only time folks eat meat is when they slaughter pigs at the end of each year and share some. If they are better off, they will buy more, then make it into jars and preserve it to eat slowly.

The usual source of meat is fish, shrimp, loach and eel in the river, so the villagers seldom exchange these things for money.

However, Ma Daqiang only found one at this time. It’s not that he can eat it at home, but it’s a bit too little. There are many people in his family, so it’s better to exchange it for money.

“Grandma Qiao said 60 cents, so 60 cents is fine.” Ma Daqiang said, putting the eel in his hand into Qiao Xiazhi’s backpack.

“I’ll ask Daguo to send the money to you later.” Zhu Shizhen said.

“It’s okay, don’t worry.”

Three eels are enough to make a braised eel.

Originally, Qiao Xiazhi wanted to touch the snails, but because she was still on her period, it was safer to be more careful.

There is no rush to wait a few days before going to catch snails.

But Qiao Xiazhi has to make plans for himself in the days to come.

You can’t just sit around doing nothing all day.

Qiao Xiazhi has supernatural powers, and she has thought about becoming a doctor in the future. However, being a doctor and curing diseases and saving lives cannot be achieved suddenly, there must be a reason.

She remembered that her grandfather knew a little about medicine. She seemed to have heard someone say that her grandfather’s great-grandfather used to be an imperial physician in the palace. She just didn’t know why medical skills fell into disuse by her grandfather’s generation.

By the time his father’s generation came around, they no longer knew how to do that.

During dinner in the evening, Qiao Xiazhi said, “Grandpa, I want to learn how to cure diseases and save lives.”

The Qiao family: !!!

“Xia Zhi, what did you just say?” Qiao Daguo thought he was hallucinating and asked.

“I want to study medicine and save lives,” Qiao Xiazhi replied.

Qiao Qiping stood up at this time and went straight back into the house. When he came out, he had a large wooden box in his hand.

“This was secretly left to you by your grandfather’s great grandfather when he passed away. This is all the life’s work of your great grandfather. Whether our Qiao family can continue on this path depends on your own luck.”

Sure enough, Qiao Xiazhi knew that her grandfather must have some hidden treasure.

By the time she has finished looking through this huge box of treasures, she will have mastered at least half of them, if not all of them. The remaining half she will have to figure out through practice.

If she could learn half of it, combined with her special abilities, it would be enough for her to make a name for herself.

“Grandpa, why did our great-grandfather secretly give you these things? And why didn’t you study medicine?” Qiao Xiazhi’s curiosity made her unable to help but ask.