Chapter 303

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

Chai Youqing was also spending his first night sleeping at home today; he was actually a bit uneasy.

He stayed hiding in the East Room the whole time and didn't come out. He was afraid that if he saw Chai Mi he wouldn't know what to say, but fortunately Chai Mi didn't say anything either.

Last time he was chased off to sleep in the ancestral hall for over ten days; that feeling wasn't too pleasant.

The problem was everyone else pretended not to see it, completely acquiescing that Chai Mi's approach was correct. This forced Chai Youqing to re-examine his own issues.

Of course, he didn't examine anything out of it.

But as Chai Zhongxiao was reported by Che Lianyun and Chai You De, Chai Youqing panicked.

That day Chai Mi wasn't home; Chai Youqing heard the commotion, and afterward heard the police had come to the front. Chai Youqing happened to be pretending to feed the cattle at home; at that time Song Qiushui was also at Chai Mi's place, and then went over to take a look.

As it turned out, the police said they had received a report that Chai Zhongxiao committed domestic violence, beat his wife, and beat her into serious injury, even fracturing bones.

So the police station had to handle this matter.

Chai Youqing was very surprised at the time and questioned Chai You De and Che Lianyun why they did this. But Chai You De and Che Lianyun, the couple, had an air of righteous indignation, saying Chai Zhongxiao's domestic violence was illegal and they were doing a righteous thing.

As for whether what the two of them did was truly righteous, who knows; anyway, because the evidence was solid, Wang Huirong indeed had a fractured arm, facial bruising, and Wang Huirong also said Chai Zhongxiao had indeed beaten her.

Afterward Chai Zhongxiao was arrested.

Once it was over, basically the whole village knew. Waiting for Chai Mi to return, Chai Youqing actually wanted to ask whether to go bail Chai Zhongxiao out, but never dared to speak up.

Of course, Chai Mi also didn't give Chai Youqing a chance to speak.

Originally a father and daughter in name only, they hadn't spoken for over half a month.

Chai Youqing's current thinking was very simple: play dumb, just work hard, strive to perform better, so Chai Mi might say a few words to him; only then would he feel at ease.

As for Chai Zhongxiao and the others' matters, they truly exceeded Chai Youqing's ability.

Chai Zhongxiao was arrested by the police; probably only his own younger sister could have any say in the matter...

The kang was heated warm, and only then did Chai Youqing go to sleep. Fortunately Chai Xiu even pretended to praise Chai Youqing a few sentences, which moved him quite a bit...

The next day early morning, Chai Mi woke up, but didn't go out too early.

Going to the county city school side and going to the industrial zone side have different times. Factories are mostly morning shifts when people go to work, no time to eat at home. By the time it's the school side, actually lunch should be more lively.

Everything was fully prepared, roughly enough to wrap over a hundred portions of dumplings; pickled vegetables weren't prepared too much, only about four or five catties, making do it should be enough for twenty or thirty small portions.

First time going out to sell pickled vegetables; preparing too much would instead be not so good.

Chai Mi also specially made a big pot of eggs, then boiled them and smashed them, added some tea leaves and soy sauce minced meat and glutinous rice to boil together; eating this way would be especially fragrant.

Of course, the most crucial part is adding that handful of glutinous rice.

Glutinous rice adds stickiness, making the eggs taste even better.

Right now eggs are also very cheap, only one yuan twenty cents per catty, and they're from home-raised chickens, what people commonly call free-range chicken eggs; they're small to begin with, twelve or thirteen per catty, costing ten cents each.

However, Chai Mi went through a lot of procedures, selling at fifty cents each; that's not excessive, right.

And Chai Mi also prepared wontons with relatively less meat filling and thinner skins; this price is cheap. Some students are very poor; eating a bowl of hot wontons is also good. As for price, Chai Mi plans to sell at two yuan.

This profit is much smaller, only half.

But these wontons are sold as a pairing, belonging to adapting to the masses.

"Chai Mi ah, I heard Qiu Shui say you're going to set up a stall at No. 1 Middle School? Your Second Uncle's family's Chai Min studies there; you going to set up a stall, won't she say you're embarrassing her..."

Su Wan heard Song Qiushui say it in the morning, so she was a bit worried.

"I never despised her for not doing her proper job, not studying properly, thinking about dating all day and embarrassing me. How about it, she doesn't study properly, runs home every three days, grades aren't great either; have I ever despised her?"

"Uh..." Su Wan then didn't say anything. Anyway if something comes up Chai Mi can handle it; as a mother she thinks about it a bit, but isn't especially worried.

"Aunt, rest assured, I'm here for everything." Song Qiushui said in an old-fashioned, worldly-wise tone: "If Chai Min picks a fight or talks behind my back, just watch me go home and deal with her."

Song Qiushui, as the same age, but in seniority is Chai Min's little aunt.

Su Wan thought of this layer of relationship, and said even less.

Inside the room Chai Youqing originally wanted to say something, but was stopped by Chai Xiu: "Hey hey hey... don't make trouble. My sister is about to leave, you better not go pick a fight. Can't afford to provoke her; after she leaves, whatever you have to say, tell my mom, my mom is easy to talk to."

Chai Youqing thought about it and agreed; Chai Mi is impervious to reason. Better to just tell Su Wan directly.

Having already eaten breakfast, everything also completely packed up, Chai Mi inventoried the items once, then left home and set off.

"Take it slow on the road, don't go too fast." Su Wan instructed.

Riding the donkey backwards out of the village entrance. Just happened to run into Lao Liutou outside stealing a few trees back...

This meeting was very awkward.

"Ai ya... Chai Mi this is going out ah."

Chai Mi nodded, but didn't have the nerve to ask Lao Liutou where exactly he stole the trees from; but they're willow trees, guessing they were stolen from someone's nursery.

Northwest of Sanjiacun there's a nursery; next to it is the Niuhe River mentioned earlier; the riverbank has many big willow trees.

But overall no one is willing to go there; mainly the river bend surroundings are all mud and such, walking is strenuous. Key point is there are especially many snakes, so Chai Mi doesn't go much.

A quite primitive piece of land.

Old.

Of course, if you can't catch them, it doesn't count as stealing.

"Liu Yeye busy ah."

Lao Liutou put that tree, actually still a fairly thick one, though already dead willow tree, to the side, and started chatting with Chai Mi.

"You younger generation, it's you who's the most hardworking, most capable. Look at those good-for-nothing things in your family, not a single damn one with any ambition."

Chai Mi nodded.

Indeed.

The Old Chai Family was basically ruined, with no one achieving anything.

Either they dropped out early to go home and marry a wife, or they simply stopped studying early on. Of the whole Chai family, only Chai Min studied up to high school. Looking at others, at least they graduated junior high, but the Chai family's average cultural level basically remained at illiteracy.

Anyway, not seeking progress is a very common phenomenon among the younger generation of the Chai family.

"Aiya, Liu Yeye, actually, among your older generation, I think you have the best physique and are the most capable."

Chai Mi and Lao Liutou flattered each other for a while.

Immediately, both of them felt better.

As a result, the two chatted for a full four or five minutes. Anyway, Chai Mi praised Lao Liutou as a good person with high quality, good physique, and good mindset. Lao Liutou praised Chai Mi for looking good, having a good figure, speaking well, doing things well, being good at everything.

After they finished flattering each other and Lao Liutou left, Song Qiushui was amazed: "Isn't... your chatting has risen to such a height? Flattering each other for no reason? Chai Mi, not to mention anything else, just the thing Lao Liutou said about your ancestral tomb being buried well—I think that's a bit bizarre. Your ancestral tomb looks like it was buried poorly at a glance. If it were buried well, could your grandfather go in?"

Chai Mi frowned: "You can't think of everything in a bad way. You have to think of it in a good way. Chai Zhongxiao just went to squat in a bamboo fence, but he didn't die. He lived to over sixty, jumping around... That's a good thing."

Song Qiushui looked helpless: "Then what about your Old Aunt dying young?"

"A good thing. Life is so tiring, dying early means reincarnating early. Look how wronged she lived, giving birth to two girls, and afterward having bad relations with her in-laws and her brother-in-law. Anyway, her personal connections were terribly bad, and she didn't have much money, never lived a good life. So living was suffering for her, dying was going to enjoy blessings. A good thing..."

"Hiss... By what you say, your Second Aunt not returning home and cutting off contact with the family for her whole life is also a good thing?"

"A good thing. Think about it... Chai Chunhua's whole life was very wronged. She gave birth to the eldest, a son, who died. Then some betrothal gifts were secretly spent by Chai Zhongxiao. She finally managed to get ahead, and my second aunt's husband found a relatively decent job at the Daxiu Factory. But then the Daxiu Factory went bankrupt, and she even sent gifts there, only to lose money. Her mood must have been bad. When her mood was bad, she didn't come home. That wouldn't make others feel bad, isn't that a good thing..."

Song Qiushui was speechless: "I just noticed that this matter seems to be a good thing no matter the standpoint."

"Exactly."

Chai Mi and Song Qiushui chatted and joked, and before long they entered the city.

Not far out of the village entrance, they got onto a highway. The road was relatively flat, there was enough gas, and the temperature was now quite suitable, so it had a bit of an autumn vacation island feel, mainly coolness.

However, the journey was indeed quite long. Over an hour later, they reached the county town, then turned a few corners and arrived near the entrance of County No. 1 Middle School.

As mentioned before, County No. 1 Middle School's main gate faced the playground, a very large open area of playground.

At noon, a bunch of people set up stalls there, basically becoming like a vegetable market. And on the other side of the playground was the long-distance bus station, with people coming and going, especially lively.

To say why this No. 1 Middle School designed its playground opposite the main gate, there was actually a historical reason.

Originally, the land used by this No. 1 Middle School was originally an ancient building.

During the Qing Dynasty, the Ke County area was collectively called KLQQ, and there was a banner chief.

Anyone who studied history knows that the Manchu Qing had the Eight Banners system. This included not only the Manchu Eight Banners, but also the Mongol Eight Banners and the Han Eight Banners.

KLQQ Chief was one of the Mongol Eight Banners.

Since he was a banner chief, the banner chief must have been very rich. And the Manchu Qing, to win over this banner chief, gave him great permissions and status, and ennobled him as a Prince.

And it was a Prince for eight generations.

South of Ke County, there is also an Eighth Prince's Mansion, the only Prince's Mansion that is completely preserved to this day.

The only one in the whole country.

Of course, that's a side topic.

That is to say, this Mongol Eight Banners banner chief received some titles and rewards. In previous eras, what would generally be done for such a thing?

Erecting a stele and writing a biography.

Yes, such things require erecting a stele and writing a biography to spread it.

So, during the Kangxi reign, a very large tower was built for this banner chief, with a very large stone stele, erecting a stele and writing a biography.

(Now, that tower and that stele still exist. There is also an underground palace inside, full of treasures.)

Since they wanted to erect a stele and write a biography, someone would live there. And since Kangxi came once, this banner chief built a traveling palace near this tower. To put it plainly, it was a place very close to this tower, so that when the Emperor came, it would be more convenient to talk and walk less, so a large number of houses were built there as a traveling palace.

And it was protected very well.

It was only after the founding of the country and Reform and Opening-up that these traveling palaces were all changed into dormitories or teaching buildings.

First, the place was big enough, with several hundred rooms, enough for one or two thousand students and teachers to live in. Second, it saved money. At that time funds were tight, making the best use of everything.

Besides, weren't houses built for people to live in?

So, this No. 1 Middle School was actually originally a very large traveling palace.

This involves two issues.

One is the protection issue. To avoid demolishing houses... houses can be lived in, but cannot be demolished. Demolishing them would be destroying cultural relics, so the playground for student activities couldn't be here. But students still need a playground, such as for morning runs.

Two is the convenience issue. Originally, it was planned to build teaching buildings where the front playground was. But later there wasn't enough money. The place was designated but had no use, so it was changed into a playground.

So, this playground in front of No. 1 Middle School came about this way.

This playground is separated from No. 1 Middle School by only one road, and is especially large. To the west is a small grove. As mentioned before, when Chai Mi beat up Che Lianyun, it was under that small grove, and he beat Che Lianyun into submission in one go.

To the east is the teachers' family quarters.

Chai Mi and Song Qiushui brought the Inverted Donkey to the west side of the playground. There were stalls there during the day... but at night was the place to clean people up.

Of course, since the main part of the playground belonged to No. 1 Middle School, students still had to run and have PE class, so people generally didn't dare use it. Later, the south side got chaotic, with too many stalls, and it was next to the bus station. Chai Mi didn't like it. The east side was a bit hot. Only the grove side was better, so Chai Mi moved his stall location to the grove side.

If I remember correctly, it's still quite close to those few trees where Chai Mi last beat up Che Lianyun.

It has to be said, this is also a kind of fate.

(Che Lianyun: Can you not mention the matter of me getting beaten...)

And since this place was for private stalls, unlike the bus station side, no one charged fees or anything.

This was also the main reason Chai Mi was here.

Earning money isn't easy. If they kept charging fees, it would be better not to do it at all.

Actually, the main reason Chai Mi hadn't gone to the market recently was this. Going to the market required paying five yuan in tax, which was a real trap.

He earned so little in total, all of it went to them.

What was the point of giving it to them?

Of course, places that don't charge fees don't have many rules. There are quite a lot of people, and they're not very high quality either. First come, first served, do as you please. There are often arguments, not particularly harmonious.