He heard his mother crying and nagging in the hall. Although he felt sad, he probably understood the situation.

It turned out that the scene where they were in front of the grocery store was seen by some meddling villagers. When they returned to the village, they ran to tell Xue Wanzhen, who was working as a tailor at the door of her parents' house.

Xue Wanzhen was shocked and immediately said it was impossible. She believed that the villagers had seen the wrong person because she knew that her son Tugen had never even seen the shadow of foreign gadgets such as toothbrushes and soaps. How could he take the initiative to come to the door to buy them?

The villager felt bored and shook his head angrily as he walked home, shouting at people along the way to scold Chen Tugen, a loser who failed to live up to his expectations.

In the countryside of Shaoxing, it is customary for debtors to keep their tail between their legs until the debt is paid off before they can raise their heads and take a breath.

Chen Tianhua's behavior is like that of a shackles in later generations, who refuses to mention debts, then turns around and spends too much money to buy luxury goods. This is not tolerated by reason and law.

Xue Wanzhen thought about it again and again, and felt that this matter was really strange. She said hello to her grandmother and hurried back from her house.

As soon as I entered the house, I saw Youjuan jumping back first.

What annoyed her was that the little girl Youjuan was holding the same foreign gadgets that the villagers complained about, which meant that the villagers were telling the truth.

Xue Wanzhen was so angry that she immediately scolded the two sisters Tingjuan and Youjuan, and angrily prepared to teach the culprit Tu Gen a lesson.

In fact, she was reluctant to beat and scold her son, so she was so angry that she just threatened him... Unexpectedly, Tugen fell upside down and hit the ground.

It is said that Xue Wanzhen cried and cursed for a while in the main room, and then she gradually calmed down after getting angry.

After about a minute or two of silence, Youjuan came out with her head lowered, "Brother... um, grandma asked you to come in..."

Chen Tianhua entered the room and stood in front of his mother with his head lowered and did not dare to say a word.

Xue Wanzhen arranged for Youjuan and Tingjuan to serve the dishes and scoop the rice.

She specially prepared lunch today, thinking that the children would get hungry quickly and two meals would not be enough.

Seeing Tu Gen come in, her mother motioned for him to sit on the bench and said earnestly:

"Gener, my mother also knows that you have been very hard during this time. In addition to the busy farming, you also have to use your brain to make money and pay off debts. It has only been two or three days. God bless you, and you have been able to save some money by fishing for shrimps."

"Sigh... But the money is still in your hands, so you might as well spend it randomly... and be lavish. Do you know how much debt your father has borrowed outside for that motor boat in the past six months? In short, there is nothing in our family.

Before you pay off your debt, you are not allowed to spend money randomly... Do you understand?"

"I understand... Mum... I know I was wrong... Remember what you said... Just forgive me once!"

Chen Tianhua knew that the more he explained now, the worse he would be, so admitting his mistake and comforting him was the best policy.

As expected, Xue Wanzhen lost most of her anger and motioned for everyone to sit down and have lunch together.

After finishing the meal with a dull head, his mother cleaned up the dishes, washed them, and vacated the table. Chen Tianhua took out the red potion, anti-inflammatory powder, etc. and put them on the table, preparing to treat Tingjuan, Youjuan's and the others' wounds in time.

As expected, the eldest sister Tingjuan's wounds were red and swollen in several places and had to be disinfected with red potion first.

He signaled to Tingjuan that the red potion would cause some pain when applied to the wound, and told her to endure it.

The red liquid bubbles in the wound, which means it bites into the skin and is sterilizing and sterilizing it. The fingers are connected to the heart, which is like countless needle pricks, which is very painful.

But the eldest sister Tingjuan was very strong. She gritted her teeth and only frowned without shouting.

After disinfecting with red potion, pour some anti-inflammatory powder made from ground herbs, then wrap it with gauze, and finally fix it with rubber tape.

After dealing with the wounds of his eldest sister Tingjuan, he showed great skill in dealing with the minor wounds of Youjuan.

"Brother, I noticed that you have become a different person in the past ten days!" Youjuan looked at Chen Tianhua and suddenly said this.

"Nonsense...how did I change?" Chen Tianhua was startled and argued subconsciously.

"You have become much smarter and bolder than before, and you also like to talk, especially with the eldest sister."

"I was not sensible before, but now that my father is gone, I am the breadwinner of the family. How can I still do it if I am not smart?"

He had an idea and circled around beautifully, stretched out his hand and touched Youjuan's head with a smile.

Youjuan also leaned on her brother affectionately, as solidly as leaning on a big mountain.

The eldest sister Tingjuan was also smiling, with tears of pain rolling in her eyes. Although she couldn't hear anything going on outside, her eyes caught it very carefully.

She understood that after her father left, the family situation would be even more difficult.

But her brother Tugen has grown up and become more sensible, which makes her, the eldest sister, very relieved. Seeing a glimmer of hope for this family, she feels mixed emotions in her heart and sheds tears.

"Youjuan, in the afternoon you and your eldest sister will rest at home to recuperate. In the afternoon, you can dry the millet and help grandma fry the Chinese medicine that you learned from Mr. Ni. Please also ask grandma to take medicine and rest on time. I will go outside Henghu Lake to touch some river mussels in the afternoon.

Come on, let’s not go fishing for shrimps early tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and we’ll just sell mussel meat and snails.”

Seeing that his mother had gone back to the west wing to rest, Chen Tianhua whispered to his younger sister Youjuan, because it would be easier to communicate with her.

"Well..." Youjuan nodded, "Brother... the lake water is cold, you have to be careful..."

"Okay... stop talking nonsense... do as I say and take care of yourself."

Chen Tianhua scolded his younger sister, hung the largest bathtub in the house on his shoulder, walked out of the house, and headed to the outskirts of Henghu Lake.

The places where Chen Tianhua chooses to go into the water often have deep water, large undulations on the river bed, and areas with suspended mud on the river bed. These waters are very suitable for the production of river mussels.

And because the water is deep and far away from the village, few people come here to work.

Diving and touching river clams is physically strenuous. In addition, the deeper the water, the cooler it becomes and the current is rapid, which consumes body heat.

When the river clams filled the big wooden basin, Chen Tianhua was exhausted.

He moved the wooden basin to the shore and rested under a willow tree for a while, preparing to swim back slowly later.

Due to being naked in the lake for a long time, the skin on his fingers and toes were wrinkled.

As the sun sets in the west, the temperature drops, and the breeze blows on the lake. Chen Tianhua's body feels a little chilly, goosebumps appear all over his body, and his lips turn purple.

He raised his head and looked at the sky. Oh my god, it's getting late. Let's go down to the lake and swim back slowly.

He struggled to move the large wooden basin that was stranded on the shore into the lake.

He was so greedy that he was so full of mussels that the big wooden basin was filled with water up to the eaves of the basin. If he was not careful, the lake water would submerge the entire basin of mussels.

This was something Chen Tianhua had not thought of beforehand.

He gently pushed the big wooden footbath with his hands, and slowly swam toward home in the Henghu Lake with his feet stepping on the water...

Swimming and swimming...it was very difficult to protect the basin and tread water at the same time.

He swam like this for more than half an hour before arriving at the interchange between the inner and outer rivers of Henghu Lake. It was still 200 meters away from the door of his home. Only then did Chen Tianhua realize that he had gone too far. He took it easy when he went there and did not consider whether he would return home.

So difficult.

The surrounding water was very calm, with no boats or people... Chen Tianhua swam desperately toward the door of his house...

Slowly, as if all the strength in the body was exhausted, my legs and feet suddenly began to cramp.
Chapter completed!