Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 32: Warm midwinter

After entering midwinter, it is difficult to have good weather.

Up to this day, it has been a whole week since I saw the sun. The sky is grey, no, the sky and the earth are both grey. Apart from a few cypress trees in front of the main building, it is hard to see any greenery.

Feng Yiping has been afraid of the cold since he was a child. He is wearing two sweaters, one over the other, and a slightly too small wool vest over the top. He is also wearing autumn pants and wool pants underneath, so he is wearing a total of three pairs of pants. He is also wearing two pairs of socks and his mother's cotton shoes from last year, which are still a little small, but have been patched with leather soles because the soles have worn out a bit.

Even so, he still feels cold. His ears have frostbite and his earlobes are red from the cold. At night when he sleeps, the heat from the quilt makes him itch, and when he scratches, a thin layer of dead skin comes off. As if that weren't enough, there also seems to be signs of frostbite on the heels.

At lunchtime, the cold wind kept blowing, seeping through the clothes and freezing to the bone. When it blew in your face, it was like an ice skate had scraped across your face.

Feng Yiping held the enamel bowl under his arm, his hands in his pockets, his head bowed, hunched over as he walked in front of the others. Xiao Zhijie, carrying a knitted hat he had just sold, hurried up behind him. He gave Feng a pat on the back and said, 'Why are you so afraid of the cold? You're wearing so much and you're still freezing. You'd better just sit in the classroom and I'll get your lunch.'

'Okay!' Feng Yiping thrust the bowl into his hands and ran to the classroom without hesitation.

Wang Changning came up and put his arm around Xiao Zhijie's shoulders, "Why don't you bring back my lunch too?'

Xiao Zhijie gave a short, annoyed shrug, "I was being polite, but he took it seriously.'

It was actually quite cold in the classroom too. The tile-roofed building was large, with high, exposed beams, and there were wind leaks everywhere, but at least it wasn't as windy as outside.

If this novel is published, I must buy some clothes, Feng Yiping thought fiercely. Although he was dressed warmly in sweaters and woolen trousers, the wool was from sweaters that his sister could no longer wear and from sweaters that his parents had worn out and then had the wool removed.

The cotton shoes were heavy and didn't breathe, so when your feet sweated, the inside was cold. They were called warm shoes, but they weren't warm at all. Maybe everyone was similar, so as soon as class ended, there was a sound of stamping feet in the classroom.

In this weather, writing with a cold pen in your hand is definitely not a good experience. You can only write for ten minutes before you have to stop and rub your hands together. Some students used tin cans to go to the cafeteria and luckily managed to grab some boiled water to warm their hands, but after less than half a class, the boiled water turned cold. There was nothing they could do. At this time, even a hot water bottle was impossible to buy. Even if you could buy one, don't expect the school to provide unlimited boiled water for hundreds of students – how much firewood would that take?

A pair of woolen gloves cost two or three yuan, which was too expensive, so most students bought the cheaper white work gloves. They were cheap, but the warmth they provided was only so-so. They were better than nothing, but the wisdom of the working people is infinite.

Winter is the dry season, and the power generation capacity of the county's hydropower station has been greatly reduced, resulting in frequent power outages. During evening study sessions, some people lit oil lamps made from ink bottles and toothpaste tubes, while others shared a candle between two people. Soon, someone invented a way to coat the work gloves with a layer of wax, which, surprisingly, did keep them warm.

But some teachers just like to make things difficult for their students.

They would walk around the classroom with their arms folded, criticising anyone who wrote with gloves on, saying, 'Look at the way you're writing, it looks like a dog paddling. Take off your gloves! If you can't even stand a little hardship, how can you expect to achieve anything in the future?'

So these days, as soon as dinner was over, Feng Yiping would head for Wang Yumin's house, because they had a brazier at home, and as soon as they opened the door, the heat would hit you in the face. Every day after class, Feng Yiping would stay by the brazier, roasting chestnuts for Little Swallow, and in Wang Yumin's words, he would have been happy to jump into the fire. Wang Yumin would have to nudge him three or four times before he would go back to the classroom. At a time like this, being able to have a brazier to warm oneself by was the greatest happiness.

The two-track recorder on the table is playing Sally Yeh's 'A Chic Walk', the most popular song of the year. The swallow has its mouth full of chestnuts, the one it has just peeled is generously offered to Feng Yiping. Feng Yiping brought them from home, and they give off a warm, sweet fragrance when roasted over the charcoal fire.

Just thinking about it makes him feel happy. While he is here, listening to music, eating chestnuts, and sitting by the fire, the other students have to endure the cold in the classroom. He feels extra happy and contented!

He never imagined that when he asked Teacher Zhu for help, he would get such a bonus.

'Okay, let's go to the classroom. Take these exercise books with you,' Wang Yumin urged for the third time today.

'Bye, little swallow.' Feng Yiping rubbed the little swallow's face with his warm hands and returned to the classroom with a stack of homework to hand out.

After the last monthly exam of the semester, it was suddenly 1993. The learning atmosphere was once again tense, as there were less than twenty days until the final exam. At the same time, the Spring Festival was drawing ever closer.

On Saturday, when I returned to my grandfather's house, he hadn't cooked anything, so he made noodles. My third uncle's family had slaughtered the New Year's pig and had already invited my eldest uncle's family to eat, so tonight, they invited him and my grandfather to go over.

Even from a distance from my third uncle's house, I could smell the fragrance, the fragrance of peanuts, it seemed that the peanut oil had just been pressed.

San Jiu's house is a three-room bungalow next to the oil mill. Although it is not a building, it is definitely one of the best in the village. A one-metre-high sanitary wall made of cement is built below the outer wall, and it is painted with white lime. The doors and windows are also made of cement and lime, which is very much in line with the colours of public buildings of that era.

Yang Yang's face is frozen and cracked. Wearing heavy cotton clothes, he is playing with a spinning top in front of the door. When he sees them, he calls out to the house, 'Grandpa and Brother Ping are here.'

The door opened and Uncle San came out, carrying Dongdong, who looked reluctant. Auntie San was shouting in the kitchen, 'You said you liked your father best, so go and play with him. I'm busy.'

Yunyun followed them out and teased her brother, "Dongdong, didn't you say this morning that you liked your mother best? Why is it now that you like your father best?'

Dongdong, who was going to kindergarten, shouted at his sister over his uncle's shoulder, "Because my mother won't give me dumplings. Such a mean adult, of course I don't like her.'

'Haha,' even Grandpa laughed.

Dinner was very sumptuous. Auntie San was amazing, but she had all the skills of a good housewife. Everyone started with a bowl of pig's liver soup. The liver was of course very fresh, thickened with starch, and the soup was very thick, with spring onions sprinkled on top. The liver was neither too old nor too young, just right, not fishy at all, and the saltiness was just right. One word, fresh! Two words, very fresh! Three words, extremely fresh!

After the delicious pig's liver soup, it was the soy-sauce pig's trotter soup. Knowing that Feng Yiping never liked to eat soybeans, there were only a few beans in his bowl, all of them being pig's trotters, which were very solid.

The soup has been simmering for a long time, and all the collagen from the pig's feet has been extracted, as well as the oil. For Feng Yiping, who eats pickled vegetables at school all year round, it is a little greasy. However, the pig's feet are not greasy at all. The fatty part is like jelly and goes down the throat in one go. The lean part is the tastiest, even more delicious than the lean meat from other parts of the pig. It is full of meaty flavour, not too lean, and a little chewy. As for the bones, they can be separated from the meat with just a flick of the chopsticks, and there is not a shred of meat on them.

The fried tofu is added to the wok along with the stir-fried pork, and half a cabbage and half a green bean vermicelli are placed on top. The broth is added, just covering the vegetables, and a little home-ground chilli powder is sprinkled on top, along with some spring onions and garlic, to complete the dish.

Grandpa and Uncle San were drinking, everyone else was eating, and Auntie San was the busiest person in the room, feeding Dongdong. Dongdong was very naughty when eating, and it took a long time before he gave his mother face and took a small bite.

This made Feng Yiping think of the time when he and Zhang Yan tried to feed their son, using all kinds of threats, promises and good words, red faces and white faces, and they exhausted themselves before their son took a single bite.

As the housewife, Feng Yiping's aunt had to make sure that her father-in-law and Feng Yiping had a good meal, so she could only find time to take a few mouthfuls herself. She could only eat in peace after Yun Yun had finished eating and handed the food to Dong Dong.

The meal took an hour or so, and Feng Yiping ate with relish and became pot-bellied.

After the meal, Grandpa and Uncle San were talking at the table, while Auntie San was tidying up, and Feng Yiping took his three cousins to watch TV. There was still no remote control for the TV, so Yangyang stood in front of the TV and kept changing the channels, while Dongdong couldn't settle down and kept jumping on Feng Yiping's body. Feng Yiping held him down in his lap and said, 'Dongdong, you've eaten a lot, you'll throw up if you keep jumping like that.'

Yun Yun said, 'He just doesn't remember. Two days ago, he ate a lot of meat and then jumped around, and he threw up once.'

During this time, Feng Zhenchang's aunt came over to keep Feng Yiping company for a while and never mentioned the matter of borrowing money again. She only asked Feng Zhenchang when they would be back, and Feng Yiping said it would be around the New Year's Eve. Feng Zhenchang's aunt invited him to come over and stay for a few days after the holiday, saying that Yang Yang and the other two liked to play with him.