Chronicle of the 70s
Chapter 55 - 055 Getting older by the year

Chapter 55: 055 Getting older by the year

Li Xianglu sighed and hurriedly brought over a bowl of sugar water, instructing, "Have some hot water." As she spoke, she picked up some books from beside her and said, "These workbooks were borrowed from the grandson of Grandpa’s friend. They’re very detailed in their steps. Take them home and have a look."

Li Jianqing’s eyes lit up as he took them. All four books were for middle school. He said joyfully, "Today, Mom and Daddy went to the county and signed me up while they were there, but I can’t get in until after the exams."

Li Xianglu finally understood. No wonder they were waiting at the entrance to the county middle school; they went there to register Li Jianqing. She then said, "Third brother, I’m worried that Teacher Wang might deliberately prevent you from passing, right?"

As soon as Li Jianqing heard this, he was deeply shocked. Indeed, Teacher Wang was at that middle school in the county. If he were to trip him up, he might not even be able to attend school.

Li Xianglu then leaned on the table and whispered a bunch of ideas to Li Jianqing.

After hearing her out, Li Jianqing instantly felt his sister was too cunning.

But indeed, her method was practical to prevent Teacher Wang from causing trouble.

After sending off Li Jianqing with the books, the rice porridge was ready. It wasn’t the thick kind, but rather half water, half rice, to which she added a bit of sugar and a baked potato before taking it inside.

The old man was also a bit hungry. After eating and urged by Li Xianglu, he soaked his feet before going to bed to sleep.

Li Xianglu then began to tidy up herself, quickly washing up in the kitchen, donned a thin coral fleece sleepwear from the space, and holding an oil lamp, she returned to her room. In the pitch darkness, no one could see what she was wearing.

Back in her own little world, Li Xianglu, as usual, secured the door, climbed onto the kang bed, which still had residual warmth, and it was cozy. She blew out the lamp and switched to her own rechargeable desk lamp. Ai, it had already dimmed a lot. She estimated it would completely run out of battery in half a month, but there was no electricity here yet. The existing houses did have electricity, with two light bulbs and a power strip for each family.

Li Xianglu took out an old pair of black sports pants from the space and found her small, palm-sized, simple sewing machine. She spread the pants out on the kang, used a ruler to draw lines on the inside, following the same pattern for both legs. After drawing the lines, she started sewing with the small machine, stitch by stitch.

After completely sewing both sides, she turned them inside out to try them on the legs. Yes, the fit was just right, and the waist wasn’t too big either.

She took them off, trimmed off the excess fabric neatly, then turned them right side out again. Before going inside, she had opened the frame over the small garden bed to check on the seedlings, which had grown three to four centimeters in a day. Likely, they would need to be transplanted soon. Since she didn’t have any work pants, she could only alter her old sports pants from her previous life. They were all black, so Grandpa, the old man, wouldn’t notice the difference in style or fabric.

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Sure enough, the next morning the old master got up early, not even having practiced his punches yet, and started talking to himself joyfully in the yard. He was saying how he had a special talent for farming; whatever he planted thrived, and his seedlings were better and stronger than others.

Li Xianglu washed up helplessly and went to the kitchen. The leftover bone soup had been stewing overnight on the remaining embers and had turned into a thick, white broth. She cut half a radish into it and then soaked some glass noodles.

On the other stove, she hurriedly reheated the remaining steamed buns.

While the food was heating up, she heard the old man calling out in the yard, "Xiang, make some extra. Brother Qin has come. He’s going to draw water for our family soon."

When Li Xianglu heard that Qin Xi had arrived, she pursed her lips, thinking to herself that this guy had come to freeload again, and always turned up when they were eating something good. Yet, even as she thought this, her hands automatically added the remaining half a carrot into the dish.

She threw in another four or five cornbread buns. If you invite someone to eat, you can’t be stingy.

After getting everything ready, Li Xianglu went outside and saw Qin Xi dragging a cart with two large wooden barrels on it, filled with amber-colored water swaying inside. The barrels were as thick as the waists of three grown adults, and he lifted them with both hands, pouring all the water into the field with a gushing sound.

The old man nodded his head repeatedly, "Qin, your strength really matches that of your grandpa back in his day."

Li Xianglu rolled her eyes skyward, thinking, are you praising him, or are you praising yourself?

The water still needed a few more trips to be fully brought over, but since the meal was ready, Qin Xi hurried in to eat right after setting down his load.

There was a creamy white bone broth with glass noodles and radish slices, and a basket of steaming hot cornbread buns.

Even the old man had a hearty appetite, finishing a big bowl and two additional cornbread buns.

Qin Xi went for a second helping of the broth, which left Li Xianglu astonished. Despite his slim appearance, he ate a lot. The barrel of water he had carried over must have weighed over a hundred kilos.

With her eyes widened in amazement, Li Xianglu watched as Qin Xi headed back to the riverbank to fetch more water.

After finishing the meal and tidying up, the old man changed into an old set of clothes, and along with Li Xianglu, took the seedlings they had pulled out toward the three fen of the vegetable patch.

Three fen is one-third of a mu, and one mu is nearly 670 square meters, so three fen is over two hundred square meters – quite a large area. Half of it had already been planned out by the old man to plant corn and mung beans. The remainder was one hundred square meters to be divided: twenty square meters for sweet potatoes, another twenty for potatoes, while the rest was to be planted with fresh vegetables like long beans, eggplants, tomatoes, and cucumbers. There would be about ten square meters left to grow bok choy – a vegetable quick to harvest, so they could plant and replant continually until the weather turned cold.

At home, the twenty square meters, according to Li Xianglu’s suggestions, would be used to plant watermelons and cantaloupes, although she wasn’t sure how much they would be able to harvest.

As for the crafty Li Xianglu, an expert in ’cheating’, she had already cunningly planted some pumpkin seeds in the courtyard, intending to try grafting, something she wasn’t familiar with. However, she did have a book on grafting in her possession, and as long as she followed the instructions carefully, maybe big watermelons would grow.

After a busy morning of bending over and getting up, the old man’s back was so tired he could barely lift it. Li Xianglu quickly convinced him to take it easy. Since their plot of land was for personal use and there was no rush to sow the seeds, there was no need to wear himself out, and she pulled him back home.

After the old man had washed up, he helped light the fire. Li Xianglu, tired from the morning’s work but being young and fit, swiftly prepared a second batch of rice with a mixture of standard and sticky rice in the big pot, and reheated the leftover bone broth from the morning. She quickly stir-fried some cabbage with vinegar.

Both grandchild and grandfather, having finished their meals, decided to rest and planned to finish planting the remaining crops in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, upon waking up from a nap, Li Xianglu noticed an eerie silence outside the old man’s room and couldn’t help but push the door open and enter.

She saw the old man lying on the kang bed with a pale face, ceaselessly massaging his knees. Li Xianglu felt a sudden pang of anxiety and quickly climbed onto the bed, rolling up the old man’s trouser leg to check. It wasn’t serious, but she heard the old man sigh, "Ah, with old age comes no mercy. Doing a bit of work and my knees hurt so much. Let’s not go out this afternoon, we should just rest."

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