Rumors

After the busy farming season, every household had some free time to store food. Married gers who had been busy all year round would take this opportunity to rest. They would find three or four gers, sit together and do some needlework and chat. Some gers would go back to their maternal house to stay for a few days, take a good rest and visit their parents.

At this time, the rumors about Fang Zhiyuan spread at the speed of light. Most people in Lin Village knew a thing or two, and at most they would mutter a few words to save the face of Fang Sheng and Lin Xin’s family. Those who were mean would only gloat at home. After all, Fang Zeng was very good at handwork and was famous for loving his nephew. If he knew that he was saying bad things about his family, the whole village would be embarrassed.

Of course, Lin Xin was Fang’s in-laws, and Fang Zeng was the nephew of the old village chief. They would not say anything too bad but it’s not like that in other villages. It’s rare for something to happen these days, and everyone talks about it. Every country family wants to save face.

Now there’s an unfilial son who doesn’t recognize his biological father. That means his character is too bad, and people shouldn’t learn from him. So, in families with elderly people, most elders take the opportunity to criticize the younger generation, saying, “Don’t learn from Fang Zhiyuan who doesn’t even recognize his biological father, or I’ll break your legs.”

They are elders, and they believe that there is no father who is not wrong. Even if Li Fu is wrong, he gave birth to and raised Fang Zhiyuan. Fang Zhiyuan doesn’t remember the great grace of giving birth to and raising him. It’s wrong for him to turn against him. Which family doesn’t have dirty deeds and which family doesn’t have difficult sutras to recite. Why is he so angry? If everyone follows his example, will anyone respect their elders?

 In particular, every elder in every household has a bias in their hearts, and no one dares to say that they have done things fairly. They looked at Fang Zhiyuan’s case, and didn’t care about the specific matter. They just wanted to take this opportunity to give the younger generation in the family a good beating, to see the consequences of being unfilial to the elders, and to see if the younger generation in their family dared not disobey them.

When people grow old, they will always use the power to make themselves more authoritative in the family. Therefore, Fang Zhiyuan was shot while lying down, and so many people said he was wrong. The elders in the family said he was wrong, so could the younger generation refute him? This spread ten, ten spread a hundred, and Fang Zhiyuan was blackened into an unfilial son with bad character.

In such a bad situation, even if some people knew the truth, they had no reason to argue with others for an outsider, so they naturally spread rumors, and the matter became more and more untrue.

 Fang Zeng also heard a few things when he went out, and he was very angry. He could dispel rumors for his nephew in the village, but could he also go to other villages to clarify every household? The effect of rumors is that the more you talk about it, the darker it becomes. But if you don’t talk about it, it’s already dark.

Fang Zeng was depressed at home for a few days, and he didn’t dare to let his nephew see it. In order to prevent his nephew from going to the village to play with children and hear those strange words, he taught Fang Zhiyuan self-defense kung fu at home.

Fang Zeng learned hand and foot kung fu from an old hunter, but his father also left him self-defense kung fu. He practiced the family kung fu in his house, and his skills were amazing. Now, Fang Zhiyuan is not only his nephew but also his adopted son. He has the surname Fang, so he can naturally pass on the family kung fu of the Fang family.

Fang Zhiyuan can become a gangster in modern times, so he naturally has some skills, and he is very fierce in fighting. No one taught him, but he fought a lot, so he naturally knew where to hit others the most painful and fierce. When he had money, he also learned some kung fu, but it was just fake moves, which looked intimidating, but was it effective? Let’s not talk about it.

Fang Zeng taught him kung fu, and he was more than happy. At any time, only when you have strength can you not be afraid of the misfortunes of life. Fang Zhiyuan always knew that it is better to rely on yourself than on others, so he also put a lot of effort into learning. Fang Zeng saw that his nephew was a good seedling, so he taught him more attentively.

After half a month, Fang Zhiyuan saw that Fang Zeng was still in a bad mood, so he opened the kimchi and pickled radish he made and asked Fang Zeng to try them. Fang Zeng had a special liking for pickled radish, but he was just average and had no interest in kimchi. Unexpectedly, Da Zhuang, who came to play with Fang Zhiyuan, liked kimchi very much. He ate it as a snack without rice, and he always had to drink a lot of water. Fang Zhiyuan looked at Da Zhuang, who was both amused and helpless, and the arrival of Da Zhuang made the atmosphere of Fang’s family a little warmer.  

A few days ago, he followed his mother back to his uncle’s house and didn’t come. As soon as he got home, he hurried to find Fang Zhiyuan to play, and brought some melon seeds and peanuts to Fang Zhiyuan, saying that they were brought back from his uncle’s house.

Seeing Da Zhuang constantly talking about his uncle’s boastful look, Fang Zhiyuan curled his lips, looked at his uncle, and thought to himself: Hmph, no matter how good your uncle is, he can’t compare to my uncle!

Seeing Fang Zhiyuan have a playmate, Fang Zeng felt a little relieved. In order to welcome Da Zhuang’s arrival, Fang Zeng specially bought a lot of pork belly and ribs that Fang Zhiyuan strongly requested to entertain Da Zhuang. It was rare for Da Zhuang to eat meat at home, but it was not as delicious as Fang Zhiyuan’s. Although he was embarrassed to eat meat for free at Fang’s house, he couldn’t resist the delicious food, so he stayed and ate without any scruples.

Fang Zeng looked at the two children and liked them in his heart. He kept picking meat for them.  Da Zhuang’s mouth was full of oil, and his little mouth was bulging. He watched him eat deliciously. Fang Zhiyuan especially liked Da Zhuang to stay at his house for dinner. Watching Da Zhuang eat the food he made with such big mouthfuls, the feeling, the satisfaction, the pride, it was really indescribable.

Fang Zeng had collected a lot of walnuts and other dried fruits in the mountains these days. He left some for Fang Zhiyuan to eat, and thought about it and took them to the town to exchange for some silver. It happened that two days ago, he hunted two deers, and he could sell them to Shopkeeper Chen to buy Fang Zhiyuan some writing paper and pen. No matter what, whether he could recognize the characters or not, he had to prepare things. In this way, he would feel better.

It was rare that Da Zhuang had to help with work at home these days and couldn’t come, so he planned to see how the persimmon cakes he made were. According to the date, it has been more than a month, and the persimmons should be frosted. He originally wanted to wait for Fang Zeng, but he didn’t see his uncle come back until noon, thinking that he might have stayed in town for something.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Fang Zhiyuan lifted the persimmon cakes covered with cotton wool on the ground and looked at them. Looking at the persimmon cakes that were exactly the same as in his memory, Fang Zhiyuan was very excited. He quickly took one and tasted it. It tasted the same as in his memory, and even sweeter.

 Fang Zhiyuan opened the big jar, peeled off the persimmon skin, and saw that the persimmon cakes inside were covered with a thick layer of white frost, and they were obviously more beautiful than those on the ground. He took another one to taste, and it tasted very good. He opened eight big jars in a row, and they were all successful. Fang Zhiyuan looked at these persimmon cakes as if he saw white silver.

Fang Zeng was in a good mood when he came back. He brought three books, paper and pen to Fang Zhiyuan. He swept away the depression of the past few days and smiled. He said to Fang Zhiyuan: “Huzi, come, uncle brought you a book. You keep it first, let Da Zhuang teach you first, if it doesn’t work, uncle will let your uncle Lin Xin teach you. Although he is not very knowledgeable, he still knows the commonly used characters, so he can teach you to recognize characters.”

Fang Zhiyuan can still understand the characters here, but he didn’t learn them before, so he didn’t dare to say anything. In his opinion, recognizing characters is necessary, but studying is not necessary. He knew what kind of person he was. He was asked to study hard for ten years. Not to mention whether he could pass the imperial examination, his temper was not strong enough. Therefore, when he knew that Zhao Village Private School had not accepted him, he was a little annoyed that he could not show his literacy, but he had no regrets. He was not a good student in his two lives.

It was Fang Zeng who took this matter very seriously. He felt a little guilty that he had let himself down, which made Fang Zhiyuan not know how to persuade him. Now that Fang Zeng had figured it out, Fang Zhiyuan was relieved.

He happily took the book and asked, “Uncle, what good thing happened today?”

Fang Zeng kept it a secret: “Hehe, uncle encountered a good thing today.”

Fang Zhiyuan cooperated and asked, “Uncle, what good thing made you so happy?”

Fang Zeng said it proudly. When he left in the morning, he brought some kimchi and pickled radish from his home to Shopkeeper Chen to try. After all, Shopkeeper Chen had helped him a lot over the years. Although these home-cooked dishes are not worth much, they are at least some of his thoughts, so just eat them for fun. If others are good to you, you can’t take it for granted, otherwise, even the best relationship will become cold. Only by giving and taking can it last.

Unexpectedly, Shopkeeper Chen likes kimchi and pickled radish very much. Fang Zeng saw that Shopkeeper Chen liked them, so he thought about telling Shopkeeper Chen how to make them and making some at home in the future. But Shopkeeper Chen didn’t want to take advantage of him. He asked for the recipe of pickled cabbage and gave Fang Zeng five taels of silver. He also asked him to order kimchi from Fang Zeng, and one head was three coins.

Not only that, Shopkeeper Chen also introduced him to the shopkeeper of a grocery store. The shopkeeper tasted the kimchi and ordered 300 heads from him, and one head was also three coins. This was like silver falling from the sky in Fang Zeng’s eyes. It was too unexpected that this ordinary thing could be exchanged for a lot of money. He ate at Shopkeeper Chen’s place in a daze before coming back.

 This was beyond Fang Zhiyuan’s expectation. To be honest, one big coin can buy a basket of cabbage in the countryside, but making spicy cabbage only costs pears, sand apples and seasonings, but it can be sold for three coins per cabbage, which is a good business. In theory, it is unreasonable for Shopkeeper Chen to only ask for so much money for a recipe. Aren’t merchants the most profit-oriented? Wait, he thought, Shopkeeper Chen was helping his uncle. His uncle saved his life but refused to ask him for any reward. He was grateful for his uncle’s character and treated his uncle politely and respectfully over the years. He’s afraid he heard the rumors and wanted to help his uncle when he saw that his uncle took him in as a nephew. It’s not easy to sell kimchi individually. After all, it’s soupy and not easy to pack. He bought the recipe himself, but the spicy cabbage can be sold by cabbage. In the winter, who in the town doesn’t need some vegetables? People are willing to spend some money to eat a side dish with rice. In this way, his uncle can keep the business for a long time, and there will be some income. Both of them taste good, and the spicy cabbage should be able to sell for a winter and exchange for some money.

If this is what he thought, and Shopkeeper Chen can think so carefully and thoughtfully, then he is indeed a person worth making friends with.

After thinking it through, Fang Zhiyuan was relieved.

The kimchi at home will be gone after it is sold this time. If he wants to make it again, he will have to buy cabbage. Fang Zhiyuan thought about it in his mind and thought of his own persimmon cakes. He quickly said to his uncle: “Uncle, I have good news to tell you too.”

Fang Zeng looked at his nephew’s happy smile and said lovingly: “You say, uncle is listening carefully.”

“Uncle, the persimmon cakes we made are ready. I have tasted them. They are exactly the same as those sold in fruit shops, and they are even better looking. Uncle, we will have money after selling the persimmon cakes.” Fang Zhiyuan announced happily to his uncle loudly.

 Fang Zeng understood what was going on when he heard it, and asked Fang Zhiyuan, “Really? It’s done? The persimmon cakes we made are ready?” He was a little unconvinced, but more delighted. He took Fang Zhiyuan and went directly to the room where the persimmon cakes were kept without saying anything else. He opened the big jar, took a persimmon cake in his hand, and looked at it carefully.

Sure enough, as his nephew said, it was exactly the same as the persimmon cakes sold. No, this persimmon cake was better looking. Fang Zhiyuan looked at his uncle looking at the persimmon cake stupidly, and said, “Uncle, you can’t tell anything just by looking at it. Try it and see if it tastes the same as the red cakes eaten during the Chinese New Year.”

Fang Zeng heard this and took a bite of the persimmon cake in his hand. It tasted even sweeter than he remembered. His eyes lit up. Although he knew that his nephew would not do it without a purpose, he couldn’t help but get excited when he saw the finished product in front of him. Is this really done?

The uncle and nephew looked at each other and laughed.