Chapter 1235

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

In the blink of an eye it was the next day; just as dawn broke, Li Xiulan got up to kill chickens.

Now the family no longer raises chickens in the courtyard at home, but over at Wang Erhai's farm there are still several thousand free-range chickens running the hills.

Li Xiulan went over there to catch the chickens and had Wang Erhai come help bleed them; then she used hot water from the solar water heater installed at home to scald the feathers.

The result was that the scalding didn't work very well — some feathers wouldn't come off, especially the stiff quills inside the wings.

"Huh? The installer originally said it could be used to scald chicken feathers, so how come it doesn't work now?"

Wang Erhai was at a loss whether to laugh or cry:

"Mom, it's early morning — the solar heater hasn't kicked in yet, the water in the storage tank on top hasn't gotten very hot, so it's normal it can't scald the feathers. I'll boil a kettle for you with the electric kettle, it'll be quick!"

Wang Erhai boiled a kettle of water with the electric kettle, poured it into the basin, and the chicken feathers were scalded clean in no time.

The environment at home now is much better than before.

Almost everything is electrified.

The house has a refrigerator, television, air conditioner, solar water heater, washing machine, and other appliances.

As for electric water heaters, induction cookers, electric blankets, electric fans — those were configured long ago.

Unlike twenty-plus years ago, when Li Xiulan was still pregnant with Wang Xiaohua, the house had only a single electric fan and nothing else.

Even so, the Family Planning Office people came to raid the house and took the electric fan away.

However you put it, life just keeps getting better and better.

She killed two chickens, blanched them to set the meat, then took them to worship the gods and the ancestral hall.

On the way back, she chopped up the innards, chicken offal, necks, feet, and blood and put them on to cook chicken congee.

She added a few pieces of homegrown small yellow ginger to remove the gamey smell, sprinkled in a handful of salt, and simmered the congee thick — breakfast today would be this chicken offal congee.

Wang Changgen waited until the congee was done before getting up slow as molasses.

The moment he got up his mouth was parched and tongue dry — this is because he had a total thyroidectomy; in his own words, he simply cannot produce saliva.

So right after getting up, before eating, he has to take one Euthyrox tablet first.

Take Euthyrox, then eat breakfast — this medicine is different from the others; the rest are taken after meals, but this one must be taken first thing in the morning, otherwise he has no energy.

After taking Euthyrox he rested a while, then ate breakfast.

After breakfast, he took clot-dissolving medicine — his cerebral infarction requires daily medication.

That's already a lot of pills to take.

Now on top of that, because of liver cancer and such, he also has to take liver-nourishing medicine, immunity-boosting medicine, anti-cancer medicine — a messy pile of them; all together, no exaggeration, at least half a bowl full.

"Sigh, when will this life ever see an end!"

Wang Changgen finished his pills, looking gloomy and worried.

He has always resisted taking medicine, but there's no choice.

Miss one day and the effect is immediate — dizziness, heavy head, zero energy all over.

"You just don't go hoping this life will reach an end; if it reaches an end, you'll be in a coffin too!"

Li Xiulan spoke bluntly; her words sounded harsh but were the honest truth.

Wang Changgen survives on medicine!

All these medicines added up cost over a thousand yuan a month.

Ordinary families can't afford that!

Only the Wang family is relatively well-off now, so this amount doesn't count for anything!

Just the cerebral infarction medicine alone costs at least eight or nine hundred yuan a month minimum — don't think that's not much, but in the countryside many people simply can't scrape together eight or nine hundred yuan.

Besides, many rural people don't take it seriously; they get a cerebral infarction, take medicine for a while, then stop, and their diet stays the same as before — big fish and big meat, especially loving fatty meat.

This is also why in recent years more and more rural people are dying from cerebral infarction.

Ever since Wang Changgen got cerebral infarction, Li Xiulan has cooked very lightly.

She used to love making braised pork belly — huge chunks, fat and fragrant — and Wang Changgen especially loved it.

She doesn't make that dish anymore; when buying meat she picks only lean meat, no fat.

The oil for stir-frying is generally peanut oil pressed from their own homegrown peanuts.

Even lard is rarely used now.

Wang Changgen complains every time that it's terribly unappetizing.

Li Xiulan simply set down her chopsticks:

"If it's unappetizing then don't eat — next meal you cook it yourself!"

Then Wang Changgen fell silent.

Asking this old man to go into the kitchen and cook would be more miserable than killing him.

He'd rather eat unappetizing food than lift a single finger himself!

In his values, how could a man go into the kitchen?

Fortunately his three sons didn't inherit this notion of his.

To be precise, with the development of the times, young people basically no longer have this kind of notion.

He has long been discarded by the era, abandoned in the dust of bygone days, yet he still constantly acts as the head of the household, righteously pointing fingers and ordering everyone around.

Halfway through breakfast, Wu Banxian arrived riding a Jialing motorcycle.

"Wu Banxian, you're here, hurry up and come eat breakfast!"

Wang Zhanggen walked out of the Living Room carrying a Bowl and Chopsticks to welcome Wu Banxian.

"Drive the Motorcycle in, park it on the side, this Courtyard is plenty big!"

Wang Zhanggen still spoke so Generous/heroic.

Wu Banxian, however, was a bit Embarrassed/shy:

"On the Road I picked up some mud, afraid it'll dirty your Courtyard, how about I just park Outside?"

Wu Banxian saw the big Courtyard Inside, paved with Cement Floor, swept Cleanly, so he felt parking Outside was fine.

Wang Zhanggen, however, busily said:

"No problem, hurry and park it in, if it's parked Outside and some brat damages it, that'd be terrible!"

Actually, right now Shangou Village doesn't have any brats at all!

There aren't even a few children, let alone brats!

Wang Zhanggen doing this is completely to show off his Generous/heroic and generous nature.

Anyway, the Courtyard isn't swept by him.

Li Xiulan naturally goes to sweep it.

So getting it dirty doesn't matter.

Wu Banxian was also afraid his Motorcycle would be damaged, so he followed Wang Zhanggen's Suggestion and pushed it in.

The mud stuck on the tires left a conspicuous track in the Courtyard.

Li Xiulan didn't say anything.

If it were someone else she'd more or less say a couple lines, but Wu Banxian she can't speak to, after all she still needs to ask Wu Banxian to help find a Feng Shui Treasure Land!

She just hurried to fetch a broom and dustpan, swept the mud in the Courtyard clean.

Incidentally used a Cloth to wipe the mud off Wu Banxian's Motorcycle tires.

This made Wu Banxian feel somewhat Embarrassed/shy inside.

Wang Zhanggen hurriedly had Wang Erhai go scoop a Bowl of Chicken Offal Porridge over, Wu Banxian hurriedly finished eating, then took the Initiative to say he had to hurry and go work.

The Wang Family people are too Passionate.

If he slacked off, his conscience would feel guilty!

So he took his Tools, put on a sun-shading Straw Hat, and together with Wang Zhanggen and Wang Erhai, went into the Mountain.

Arriving at the Halfway Up the Mountain behind the bamboo garden, looking out, graves everywhere all around.

To find a New Grave Site here is really Not Easy.

After all, one careless moment and you might end up too close to someone else's Grave, leading to disputes.

But Wu Banxian is still quite professional.

He looked around at the Halfway Up the Mountain for a while, then picked an Empty Ground.

"This is it, sitting north facing south, has a backing Mountain, has protective hills, the water Road in front isn't bad either!"

Wu Banxian held a Spatula, tapped the ground under his Foot.

Wang Zhanggen glanced, seemed to half-understand, then nodded:

"Alright, then we'll listen to you, Wu Banxian!"