Chapter 1437: Integration

The house Qi Lin rented is actually quite nice.

The house was built about 20 years ago, a square red-brick bungalow. The roof was covered with asbestos tiles, which were popular at the time, to create a sloped top to prevent leaks. It is now old and dilapidated, but not yet broken.

Furthermore, since it wasn't built next to the village's main road, the village committee didn't require the roof to be replaced.

There are still glass shards embedded in the meter-high cement courtyard wall, and the crossbar at the bottom of the hollow iron gate is rusted; a piece has already broken off, but it doesn't affect locking the gate.

The cement ground in the courtyard has cracked into several deep fissures, and wild grass has already grown out of them. Even though Qi Lin pulled it once a few days ago, tender grass buds are still growing again.

Yet, in such an environment, the old man looked at the courtyard, the faucet and sink in the utility shed to the side, and the fact that the toilet was actually a flush squat toilet like those seen in the city, and he was already full of wonder!

A place with plenty of water is just good!

It's just that he isn't quite used to the bed not being a *kang* against the wall, but this is, after all, the countryside; it's just greener than his hometown, so it wasn't that difficult for him to accept.

At this moment, he looked at the hoes, shovels, and other tools in the shed again, carefully checked the wedges stuffed into the hoe handles, and then said happily: "These are all good!"

"Yes!"

Qi Lin quickly helped him unpack his things and taught the old man how to turn on the television—this was something he spent extra money to buy. No one had lived in this house for many years, and the TV in the house was the old antenna type, long out of repair, and it couldn't pick up many channels anymore.

Therefore, he spent money to buy a small "dish" online. Once the TV, which cost a few hundred yuan, was placed there and connected, it wasn't as hard to connect as a smart TV, and it picked up many channels. In short, Old Man Qi was both satisfied and apprehensive:

"How expensive must this be, year after year."

3,000 yuan doesn't mean much to Qi Lin, but he didn't say that: "Grandpa, you know that if this house sits empty for too long, it easily rots. The owner just wants a little money to have someone add some life to it. This TV will easily break if you don't watch it... It's more humid here than back home, so you have to keep an eye on the appliances!"

That makes sense.

Old Man Qi isn't ignorant; the washing machine at the convenience store owner's house would always have issues if left unused for too long.

He wanted to ask about other things, but Qi Lin had already pointed outside: "Grandpa, look at our field. It's already the end of April; we have to hurry and plant vegetables."

The old man was shocked: "That's true!"

If he didn't plant vegetables soon, it would be too late!

The vegetable plot is right at the doorstep, separated by a small path.

The terrain is slightly lower than the house by a meter or two, and traces of a circle of withered bamboo can still be seen on all four sides. The dark green netting was likely to keep chickens out, but now it hangs broken and tattered on one side, long since buried in a mess of wild grass.

As for this three-to-four-fen vegetable plot, it was an even bigger mess, overgrown with wild grass, dense and thick.

Old Man Qi felt heartbroken at the sight: "Oh my!"

What a good piece of land!

He immediately forgot about reminiscing, turned around, and hurried back to the courtyard. He rummaged through the utility shed and found a rusted sickle—but he couldn't find a whetstone, so he became anxious again, muttering as he went:

"Our sickle back home is the best! It's so smooth to use. I originally said I wanted to bring it, but Uncle Wang said the train wouldn't allow it... Oh my, I heard others in the village say the train cars used to be green. Now that life is better, the trains have changed colors too; they're painted white, and they look quite nice..."

Qi Lin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief seeing his heart was entirely in the field.

Old Man Qi adapted very well to living in Yunqiao Village.

Waking up at 5 a. m., generally speaking, at this time he would go to the kitchen to cook a pot of noodle paste for himself, accompanied by some pickled vegetables. Then he would go to the field to tidy up... but more often than not, there wasn't much to tidy up in the field. Potatoes, sweet potatoes—whose family doesn't have sacks and sacks of them? They're tired of eating them.

But here, after waking up at 5 a. m., he would wander around the house with nothing to do, so he simply tied up the wild grass he had cut a few days ago and made a large broom.

Qi Lin wakes up relatively late when he doesn't need to monitor data. He wakes up at seven to brush his teeth—living here isn't as convenient as the dormitory, and there's no internet, but the difference isn't big. He can just go to the dormitory when processing data.

When he came out and looked, the wild grass was stacked neatly to one side. The old man even asked: "I see the soil here is fertile; this wild grass will definitely grow again—Lin Zi, this grass is enough to feed sheep. Can we raise sheep?"

Qi Lin didn't know whether to laugh or cry: the idea of raising sheep was something he had instilled in his grandfather when he went home for the New Year.

"Sure!"

He wasn't afraid of the old man finding things to do; he was only afraid of him having nothing to do: "I'll buy you a brood of chicks, and we can raise them together!"

That would be great!

Old Man Qi was overjoyed: "Good, good, good..."

He turned and asked him again: "I can finish turning this field over today. Where is the market? I'm going to buy some vegetable seedlings!"

"There's a bus!" Qi Lin said hurriedly, "You go ahead and till the land today. Once you're done, I'll take you to the town to browse the market."

He checked the time again: "Let's go, let's go have breakfast first."

Mentioning food made the old man even more energetic: "Is this cafeteria of yours really free?"

"It really is!" Qi Lin said with a straight face: "Look, nobody is collecting money, everyone eats like this—the dumplings last night were good, right?"

They were definitely good!

After that one meal of dumplings, Old Man Qi knew this was a good place. They had shepherd's purse where he was from too, but it wasn't nearly as delicious as it was here.

He didn't know this was because the shepherd's purse was slightly tainted with spiritual energy; he just thought it was a geographical advantage—back home, the yellow earth filled the sky, and every gust of wind brought sand and dust. In the spring, the mountains were green, but it was a gray, hazy green on top, with dry, barren yellow underneath.

It was nothing like here, where the mountains and plains were covered in deep and light shades of green. It looked lush and moist, a great place for crops to grow.

It's no exaggeration to say that last night, Old Man Qi was only two dumplings away from eating three bowls—that was only because he was afraid of overeating and forced himself not to fill the tray to the brim!

Shepherd's purse is delicious, but it has to be paired with good meat. The meat inside tasted fresh and fragrant; they definitely hadn't cut any corners.

Therefore, Old Man Qi was full of spirit when talking about food: "What are we eating this morning?"

Qi Lin had been busy tidying up yesterday and hadn't looked at the menu, but as the grandfather and grandson reached the cafeteria door, they smelled a sour aroma.

This morning, it was stir-fried mung bean sprouts with vinegar, sheep fat fried rice, and shredded white fungus soup.

The vinegar-stir-fried mung bean sprouts were fresh, tender, and tangy. Master Jiang had added a little chili, giving it a spicy kick that was both appetizing and went well with rice. Even those who couldn't handle spice at all couldn't help but pick up a few chopsticks full.

The sheep fat fried rice was incredible! The fragrance of the sheep fat began to drift throughout the factory and dormitory buildings the moment it hit the pan. The night-shift pickers, who had originally planned to sleep in, all climbed out of bed. Only after asking did they find out—

The sheep fat had been brought over by Song Tan!

Good heavens! They'd heard this mutton sold for several hundred per jin; they had to eat their fill this morning!

Master Jiang's culinary skills were no less impressive than Master Qi's. Beneath the stove, the flames roared. The kitchen assistant nimbly chopped the bright green garlic sprouts on the side. Once the sheep fat rice and eggs had merged into one, the garlic sprouts were poured in—

Master Jiang liked to stir-fry garlic sprouts until they were well-done; the sprouts would have some brown, charred edges and would wilt overall, looking less bright green and pretty, but once you really chewed them with the fried rice, you knew it was another unique delicacy!

The fried rice was a little dry, and then you'd drink a bowl of shredded white fungus soup, which wasn't too thick even with rock sugar added...

Beautiful!

That was truly too beautiful!

The white fungus was the remainder of the first harvest this year, carefully picked and boiled by Master Jiang. Plus that sheep fat—

He also came out holding his bowl, eating happily, and said to Old Man Qi with a glowing face: "Old man, you've raised your grandson well! He's steady! Reliable! And a good person! He's especially valued by the boss here!"

"Look, hearing that his family member had arrived, Boss Song sent over a bowl of sheep fat first thing in the morning, saying you must be allowed to have a good taste, fearing you wouldn't be used to our food..."

This was sweeter than any words!

Old Man Qi smiled until his eyes disappeared—he had already lost two teeth and hadn't replaced them yet. But his bite was quite good; he could even gnaw on bones. At this moment, his face was beaming with an exceptionally bright smile:

"I'm used to it! Why wouldn't I be? It's delicious!"

He wouldn't have dared to eat like this at home! The fried rice had such large chunks of egg, plus minced meat, and so much oil.

Not to mention the white fungus soup. His hometown was barren, and the air was too dry; nobody grew white fungus there. In his whole life, he had only been able to drink it a few times at banquets!

Now, it was great; he got to enjoy it all!

He looked at his grandson again—oh my! The boss valued him that much? Was that an iron rice bowl?

Steady!

It was a good thing he came over, otherwise, he wouldn't have known the kid was working so steadily here! After eating, he had to call his old neighbor to thank him for helping with the luggage back then, and tell him how life was here...

He heard that growing vegetables here could make money; he had to work harder and save money, otherwise, the kid was over twenty and still couldn't afford a wife!

Here, the grandfather and grandson were happy and harmonious, feeling that life was full of hope.

And at the river beach, the film crew had started shooting for the first day after moving here. The set had just been built, but the actor lost focus while reciting his lines—

"Cut!"

The director was furious: "What are you doing first thing in the morning?! Can we still film or not!"

But after he finished speaking, he noticed a commotion among part of the crowd.

The director's anger subsided slightly, and he turned his head to look behind him—

Wow!

When they were filming, they had been warned repeatedly, fearing they would damage things on the farm, so there were warning signs next to the fence.

Now, the camera angle was tilted, so it hadn't captured that side, but the actor standing opposite could easily see the scene over there.

It was a group of dogs watching them film.

They were really watching!

It was that feeling of joining in the fun, and they were watching with such bright eyes, exceptionally serious!

When the actor was acting, as long as his eyes shifted slightly, he could see the big eyes of a dozen dogs behind him, big, round, focused, and cute.

Especially since the other party seemed to notice his gaze and even wagged their tails in unison.

This, this really couldn't be blamed on them!