Chapter 223 222 Persuasion, Appraisal, Old Monkey

The provincial capital is Harbin.

In the building where Aunt Xue and her son live.

In addition to the donkey meat Ergou bought, Aunt Xue also cooked fried hairtail, stewed mandarin fish, stewed deer steak and several other vegetarian dishes.

"Do you like these dishes? I'm not very good at cooking. I don't know how to cook."

The smile on Aunt Xue's face never disappeared. She poured wine for Wang Yuan and then asked to pour wine from a cup for Li Yan. Wang Yuan waved her hand and refused for Li Yan.

Li Yan doesn't drink liquor, so Aunt Xue could only pour it for herself in the end.

Ergou secretly poured himself a small cup.

"These dishes are already very good. We can't finish such a large table of dishes."

Wang Yuan picked up a piece of hairtail, which was very wide and covered with a layer of batter mixed with eggs.

The fish meat is very fragrant, and even the noodles cooked on the surface are delicious.

"This hairtail is delicious when cooked, so fragrant... Well, these are deer ribs? It tastes like venison, a bit spicy but appetizing."

Wang Yuan was full of praise for the dishes cooked by Aunt Xue. Aunt Xue was very happy and kept picking up dishes for Wang Yuan and Li Yan.

While eating and chatting, Aunt Xue suddenly mentioned that she had cultivated 100 acres of land in the countryside and planned to open a small farm.

"One hundred acres of land? Where was it cultivated?"

Wang Yuan is very surprised. One is that most people now want to run to the city, or even abroad. There are too few people who are willing to go from the city to the countryside.

Many people who have left the countryside actually despise the countryside deeply.

"Qianfeng Village, Baiwu Township."

Aunt Xue ate the mandarin fish meat with a sandwich. It was really a pleasure to be able to eat the mandarin fish meat when the river was not open.

"It belongs to a family. I found a formal job for his son in the county, and bought a yard for their family. I gave them 10,000 yuan, and their family gave me all 70 acres of land."

"Isn't that enough for one hundred acres?"

"The remaining 30 acres were bought in their village. Some people had hundreds of acres of land and it was nothing to sell them for ten acres. Then they changed the land and now the 100 acres of land are connected together."

After hearing Aunt Xue's words, Wang Yuan was a little embarrassed. Many people really envy city people because they have decent jobs, are not so dirty and tired, and have convenient lives... and most importantly, they also have pensions.

When you retire in the future, the country will provide you with money, even a lot of money, but what about the elderly in rural areas? If they raise unfilial children, they will not have much money when they get old, and their life will be quite difficult.

Wang Yuan was wondering whether that family would regret it in the future, but after thinking about it, he felt that he wouldn't regret it.

If you only grow some conventional crops on 70 acres of land, you won't be able to make much money even for future generations.

"Then what are you going to do when you open a farm? Raise livestock?"

"Xiaoyuan, listen to me, this is what I think... dig a pond to raise fish, and then allocate a piece of land to plant crops, including corn, rice, soybeans, sorghum, cotton, peanuts, etc. Finally, plant them all.

Then a whole part of the land is used to raise pigs, ducks, chickens, cattle, sheep..."

Aunt Xue's face was full of longing. She very much hoped to have a piece of land that she could do whatever she wanted, no matter whether she made money or not.

Wang Yuan ate the donkey meat with big mouthfuls of sauce and added:

"Build one or two small courtyards, build a few small pavilions, pave some complete stone roads between each other, and plant various flowers on the roadside... When it snows, a group of people will have a barbecue.

Eat once."

Aunt Xue clapped her hands excitedly, thinking that she and Wang Yuan would go together.

Aunt Xue smiled again and asked Wang Yuan if he wanted to sponsor something. Wang Yuan immediately offered to sponsor 20,000 yuan to repair the farm. Aunt Xue was very happy and agreed to leave a small yard for Wang Yuan's family of three after the farm was repaired.

.

The donkey meat in sauce was very delicious, and a large plate of donkey meat in sauce was almost eaten by several people.

At the end of lunch, Aunt Xue scolded Ergou again. It turned out that Ergou played around every day and spent money like a playboy, which made Aunt Xue very dissatisfied.

She wanted Ergou to find a partner quickly and get married. It would be best to have another child and settle down and live a good life.

But Ergou ignored her words as if they were deafening ears, or listened in one ear to the other, and didn't take them seriously at all.

Finally, seeing that Aunt Xue was really excited, Ergou said with a playful smile:

"What's wrong with not getting married? If you marry a daughter-in-law who doesn't get along with you, and she fights with you eight times a day, what do you think? Is that right?"

"So you are doing it for me if you don't marry a wife? I thank you~"

Given a pole, the two dogs climbed along it and immediately continued to say with a playful smile:

"Oh, mother and son are too polite to say thank you. Just have your heart and mind. If you really feel sorry for me, you can give me a little more pocket money."

"I'll beat you to death, you brat."

Aunt Xue picked up the broom next to her and wheezed on Ergou's legs. Ergou was so frightened that he jumped up and ran back to his room quickly.

"Mom, I'm full. Let's go and rest for a while."

Bang~

As Ergou closed the door, the surroundings instantly became quiet.

Aunt Xue is actually quite happy to see her son lively, but she is a little worried that her son is not taking the right path:

"Xiaoyuan, have you noticed? Ergou's personality is indeed different from before. Isn't it a big change?"

"There's definitely a big change."

Wang Yuan also noticed that although Ergou was poor at first, his clothes were full of big patches and he couldn't even eat pancakes or pickles, he was hardworking and strong, and his heart was full of beautiful longing for the future.

Now——

Although Ergou seemed to be laughing and joking on the surface, he seemed not as happy as he appeared on the surface, and he no longer easily expressed his truest thoughts.

He didn't seem to have that much passion for life anymore, and even Wang Yuan couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Aunt Xue's husband died a long time ago. After she found out that Ergou didn't talk to her, she asked Wang Yuan to help him with Ergou's work. She always felt that it was not a problem for Ergou to hang around like this.

"He doesn't listen to what I say, but Ergou admires you, Xiaoyuan, and he will listen to what you say."

Aunt Xue thought of the hard days of these years, and the past events were so vivid that she could not help but wipe her tears again:

"I still remember a few years ago, when we first met, Ergou was collecting antiques by himself. He was only a teenager at that time, and a skinny little man dared to go to another county to collect antiques.

He begged for food when he couldn't find a place to eat. He spent the night in a cowshed or a dilapidated house and endured the cold. His hands and feet were rotten from the cold, but after calculating the difference in price he earned every time, he felt it was worth it.

I cried with distress, but he could still smile and wipe my tears, saying: Mom, I must let you live a good life...

But why has he become like this now?"

Li Yan, who was sitting next to her, also became sad.

After hearing Aunt Xue's words, Wang Yuan was a little bit sad. He really didn't know about these things. At first, Ergou just bought the antiques from the streets. Wang Yuan added a little price and bought them from Ergou.

A small price difference is enough for two dogs, mother and son to live.

"Xiao Yuan, do you think it was because of that little girl? Ergou liked that little girl, but... he hasn't come out yet? Hey, this kid doesn't tell me anything.

Sometimes I get so angry that I want to beat him with a stick."

"Ahem, Aunt Xue, listen to me, Ergou is already twenty years old, right? He can't be beaten anymore since he's no longer a child. He also wants to save face."

Wang Yuan agreed to ask Ergou. After knocking on the door, Ergou knew it was him and opened the door.

"Hey, where did you get this magazine from? It's a blonde girl."

Wang Yuan entered the room and immediately saw the magazine spread out on the bed.

The magazine is an American swimwear magazine, with American women in bikinis posing in various poses, with villas, luxury cars, yachts, sunny beaches and the like on their backs.

This kind of magazine was nothing in later generations, but it is only 1992 now, with conservative ideas, especially in a dark province where the temperature is generally low and people are covered almost all year round.

The impact on Ergou can be imagined.

Ergou's face instantly turned red, and he quickly closed the magazine and put it away. He seemed to be so embarrassed that he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl in.

"Oh, what are you so ashamed of? It's just a swimsuit magazine. It's so normal. Our domestic beaches will look like this in the future."

Seeing that Wang Yuan didn't laugh at him, Ergou felt a little less embarrassed.

"Will it be like this in our country? How is it possible? If a woman in China dares to dress like this, she will be scolded to death."

"Haha, concepts are changing little by little. Besides, even this year, some coastal beaches have bikinis, but there are fewer of them."

The two chatted casually for a while. Wang Yuan did not act like he was a rich man and I will educate you as he was aloof and domineering, but just like ordinary friends chatting casually.

On the contrary, the two dogs felt very comfortable getting along with each other.

After chatting for a while, Wang Yuan asked about Ergou's situation. Ergou took a long puff of cigarette:

"I just feel like it's boring. I can't get excited about anything."

Ergou frowned, looking through the window at the pedestrians as small as ants in the distance:

"Brother Yuan, what do you think people live for in this life?"

"Well... what do you mean by the meaning of life? Everyone's view is different."
To be continued...