Chapter 1962: Children's Day

June 1, 1994, the 22nd day of the fourth lunar month, Wednesday!

This day was Children's Day. When they got home from school last night, the fourth sister reminded her eldest brother and sister-in-law that she would be performing on stage tomorrow and asked them to attend.

Moreover, every time she thought of it, she reminded them; every time she thought of it, she reminded them. Even after they had gone to bed, this girl suddenly ran over to knock on the door, telling them to wake up early tomorrow.

If it weren't for Jian Qiu holding him back, Zhou Andong would have definitely grabbed the fourth sister and given her a beating. They were already asleep and were knocked awake by her; he thought something had happened.

The next morning, the bedroom door was knocked on with a *bang, bang, bang*.

"Eldest brother, sister-in-law, time to get up."

Zhou Andong opened his eyes, tilted his head to look at Jian Qiu, who had also woken up, and said through gritted teeth.

"In a moment, don't hold me back. I must give her a beating."

"Alright, you're like a child." Jian Qiu chuckled: "This is the fourth sister's first stage performance. She reminds you like this because she's afraid you'll forget; it shows she values you. You can't dampen her enthusiasm."

"If you beat her today, she won't tell you about anything in the future, or even reject you. Then see if you cry or not."

"Hmph, do I care if she pays attention to me? She's annoying every single day."

Zhou Andong said stubbornly, then got out of bed to put on his clothes and went out to open the door for the fourth sister.

"You have to be at school at 8:30, and the performance doesn't start until 9:30. Why are you knocking on the door so early?"

"I'm afraid you'll oversleep." The fourth sister lifted her head and giggled: "Alright, I'm leaving. I still have to exercise with Grandpa."

After saying this, the girl turned and ran; she probably knew her behavior was very punchable.

Zhou Andong returned to the room, thinking about dozing off for a while, but he couldn't fall asleep no matter what, tossing and turning.

Originally, Jian Qiu could have slept a bit longer, but she couldn't sleep either because of Zhou Andong tossing and turning.

"Sigh!"

Jian Qiu sighed, slowly turned over and sat up: "Since you can't sleep, don't sleep. Get up."

Zhou Andong got up helplessly, put on his clothes again, and then helped Jian Qiu put on hers.

After the two washed up, they went downstairs and stepped outside. The humid air, mixed with the scent of grass, rushed toward them.

"It rained last night. It looks like it was quite heavy."

Zhou Andong looked at the wet blue bricks under his feet, the lawn under the rockery, and that ginkgo tree. Water droplets between the branches flashed with colorful light under the sunlight.

"It even thundered." Jian Qiu took a deep breath of the fresh air, and a smile appeared on her face: "You were sleeping soundly, but I couldn't fall asleep at all. It wasn't until the thunder stopped that I fell asleep."

"I really didn't know at all."

Zhou Andong shook his head and helped Jian Qiu to the dining room. Breakfast was already prepared.

Grandpa and Wang Wentian hadn't returned from their morning exercise yet, and the fourth sister had followed them.

Su Su lived with her grandparents; the child wasn't awake, so the old couple hadn't come either.

There were only the two of them. They ate breakfast first, and then, having nothing to do, they went out for a walk.

Arriving at the alley where Grandpa Liu lived, that willow tree was still there. Just then, the second son of the Liu family came out of the courtyard.

Seeing Zhou Andong and Jian Qiu standing at the entrance of the alley, he walked over quickly and greeted them warmly.

Zhou Andong looked at the small basin in the second brother Liu's hand: "Second brother Liu, are you going to buy breakfast?"

"Yes, buying some soy milk and a few fried dough sticks to make do for the morning." The second brother Liu nodded: "Have you two finished eating?"

"Finished." Zhou Andong said with a smile: "We're out for a stroll."

"It rained last night, so the air is good. It's nice to go for a stroll after eating." The second brother Liu chatted with Zhou Andong and Jian Qiu for a few words: "You two go ahead and stroll; I have to go buy breakfast."

"Go ahead!" Zhou Andong waved his hand.

The second brother Liu left quickly. Zhou Andong glanced at the Liu family's front gate and sighed:

"The dead will never appear again, but how long can the living remember them?"

Jian Qiu walked forward, holding Zhou Andong's arm: "After the generation of Old Cricket and Auntie Ma leaves, only young people like us might, in a random moment, remember that a person named Grandpa Liu appeared on our life's journey."

"Besides that, there are the children, who will visit the grave during Qingming and burn a few sheets of paper. When the children also disappear from this world, even the grandchildren might not remember their grandfather."

As she spoke, Jian Qiu suddenly became somewhat sentimental: "Sometimes I wonder, where is the meaning of life? What are people living for?"

Zhou Andong tilted his head to look at his wife: "I once read an article, I don't know who wrote it. It said that the experience of these few short years of human life is where the entire meaning of life lies."

Never let yourself be troubled by trivial matters, and even less should you punish yourself for the mistakes of others. You must taste every bite of food with your heart, listen to every flower blooming, appreciate every responsibility, and feel every moment of love and joy in the present—this is life.

"And the ultimate meaning of life is for one generation to lift the next generation higher. This is inheritance, and even more so, faith. In the green wheat fields, there are small mounds of earth scattered about, filled with people."

"Some have just had the soil turned over, while others have been leveled by wind and time. In a thousand years of land, there are eight hundred masters; the field is the master, and the person is the guest. One day, we will all meet again; the end of life is actually a reunion..."

"Proprietor, out for a stroll so early?"

A middle-aged man around forty, thin and small, with a wisp of a goatee on his chin, was holding a small basin containing two large blocks of tofu.

Zhou Andong looked at the middle-aged man; he looked somewhat familiar, but he didn't know his name. But hearing the word "Proprietor," Zhou Andong knew he was a tenant.

He had scoured all the three-entry courtyards in this area. The last one was the ancestral home of a fat old man named Lin, which had over twenty tenants.

Last year, before the house was finished being renovated, he came to take a look. It just so happened that Old Cricket was also there, so he acted as a go-between and exchanged it for three apartment units.

Over the past year, a few more of the twenty-plus tenants had moved away, leaving seventeen households, each paying seven yuan in rent per year.

Yes, that's seven yuan a year, and this was only after the state issued laws confirming property ownership that the tenants reluctantly paid rent; before that, they were living there completely for free.

Over so many years, the Lin family hadn't wanted to raise the rent, but they couldn't. As soon as they mentioned raising the rent, the tenants would make a scene, and the neighborhood office and the district could only appease them and pressure the Lin family.

After Zhou Andong exchanged for it, a few of the households didn't want to pay rent and even used moral kidnapping on him: "You, Zhou Andong, are so rich, are you still short of their few yuan in rent?"

Zhou Andong didn't indulge them: either pay the rent or get out. If he didn't collect this rent, these guys would definitely push their luck and eventually end up taking over the nest. Although he wasn't afraid, it was still disgusting, wasn't it?

Seeing Zhou Andong show no mercy, and with twenty-plus security guards standing in front of them, the few households causing trouble could only pay up unwillingly. They weren't stupid; if they continued to make a scene, they would definitely be the ones to suffer. ===== CHAPTER 1963 =====