Chapter 2: Aunt Sun Next Door

When the lid of the pot is opened, a wave of hot steam rises and the fragrant smell instantly hits your nose.

Xu Ping’an held the chopsticks in his hand, and couldn’t wait to pick up a piece of goose meat, put it to his mouth, blew on it twice, and then stuffed it directly into his mouth.

“hiss……”

Xu Ping’an twitched the corner of his mouth because of the heat, but to be honest, the goose stewed in the iron pot was really delicious, especially when it was stewed by his mother herself. It was the taste he had always missed when he was in college.

“Eat slowly, no one is competing with you for it.”

As Feng Jing spoke, she took out a large porcelain bowl from the cupboard next to her, then scooped out a few large spoonfuls of goose meat from the pot, and specially picked a goose leg and put it in the porcelain bowl, and finally handed the bowl to Xu Ping’an.

“Go and give it to your Aunt Sun.”

After spitting the bones in his mouth into the trash can beside him, Xu Ping’an reached out to take the porcelain bowl, looked at his mother, and flattered her:

“Mom, I am so blessed that I have accumulated so much experience in this life to have a mother as beautiful and kind as you.”

“Stop coaxing me here and go!”

Feng Jing was so pleased with the flattery from her eldest son that she spoke in a bad mood, but the smile on her face deepened the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes.

“I’m not trying to fool you. I’m telling you the truth.” Xu Ping’an said seriously, then walked towards the door holding the porcelain bowl.

After walking out of his own front door, Xu Ping’an went straight to the door of the next door house. Holding the fragrant goose meat in one hand, he opened the bolt with the other hand, pushed open the door and walked in.

“Is aunt at home?”

Xu Ping’an stood in the yard holding a bowl and shouted towards the house.

Just as he finished speaking, the door with mottled marks opened, and a pretty little girl with two pigtails on her head and wearing a pink skirt ran out of the house.

“Brother Ping An!”

The little girl ran to Xu Ping’an on her short legs, her chubby little face full of happiness.

“Lingling, where is your mother?”

Xu Ping’an reached out and touched the girl’s little head lovingly, and asked with a smile.

“Mom is cooking in the house!”

The little girl tilted her head up to look at Xu Ping’an and answered in a baby voice.

Just then, a plump woman who looked to be in her thirties walked out from the open door.

Maybe it was because of the hot weather and the fact that she was cooking, there were some fine beads of sweat on the woman’s fair face.

“Peace is here.”

The woman looked at Xu Ping’an who was standing in the yard and greeted him with a smile.

“My mother stewed goose meat and asked me to bring it to my aunt for her to try.” Xu Ping’an said as he came to the woman with the bowl in his hand.

“Go back and thank your mother for always sending me gifts.” The woman said gratefully, moving lightly and making way. “Come in and have a piece of watermelon to quench your thirst. Auntie bought it today.”

Xu Ping’an handed the big bowl in his hand to the woman, “No, auntie, my mother is waiting for me to go back for dinner.”

The woman looked at Xu Ping’an, nodded with a smile, and reached out to take the porcelain bowl of goose meat. “Okay, I’ll wash the bowl and send it to your mother later.”

“Don’t worry, just take it when you have time. Auntie, you are busy, I will go back first.”

Xu Pingan greeted her, then turned and walked towards the gate. When he passed by the little girl, he stretched out his hand and gently pinched her rosy little face.

“Brother Ping An is going back to eat first. I’ll come play with you another day.”

“Goodbye, Brother Ping An!”

The little girl spoke to Xu Ping’an in a very polite and childish voice.

“Goodbye Lingling.”

Xu Ping’an smiled and waved to the little girl, then walked towards the door.

The woman held the bowl and watched Xu Ping’an quickly leave, a bright smile appearing on her face.

“This brat, why are you walking so fast?”

Sun Meifeng muttered to herself and raised her hand to wipe the beads of sweat from her forehead.

Then he glanced at Xu Ping’an’s figure walking out of the courtyard gate, lifted up the collar of his shirt and took a look, then raised his white palms and fanned the inside of his collar.

“This damn weather is so hot that it’s killing me.”

After leaving Aunt Sun’s house, Xu Ping’an took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, then walked slowly towards his own door.

Ever since he accidentally ran into Aunt Sun changing clothes in her room when he was in junior high school, Xu Ping’an has been afraid of seeing this aunt.

After all, that white patch had a huge impact on Xu Ping’an, who was still a teenager at that time.

This aunt was actually a poor person. Not long after she gave birth to her daughter, her husband accidentally had an accident at the construction site and passed away.

He has been raising the child alone all these years. Last winter, when Xiao Lingling fell ill, it was his father who found a car to take her to the hospital.

It was still difficult to live without a man in the family these days, especially in a rural area like theirs. Fortunately, the construction site gave a lot of compensation at that time, so the life of the mother and daughter was not too difficult.

When he was almost at the door of his house, Xu Ping’an saw a tall and straight middle-aged man in a short shirt walking out from a fork in the road not far away, holding a… turtle in his hand?

“Dad, where did you get this turtle?”

Xu Ping’an, who had been waiting at the gate for a while, looked at the turtle in his old father’s hand and asked.

With this head and this body shape, it must have taken at least ten years of training.

However, Xu Ping’an had never seen this turtle before his rebirth. It might be that a little butterfly flapped its wings quietly somewhere, causing some things to change.

“This is what Uncle Li from the east end of your village caught from the river. You’re going to take an exam soon, so I wanted to buy it back for you to supplement your diet, but Uncle Li refused to take any money.”

Xu Qiang looked at his son standing at the gate, with a father’s kindness in his eyes.

“Oh.”

Xu Ping’an nodded and withdrew his gaze from the turtle. Although he wanted to say that he was still young and didn’t need to eat such things, he couldn’t refuse his old father’s kindness.

“Let’s eat inside first, dad. The goose is already stewed.”

As he spoke, Xu Ping’an pushed open the big iron gate of his house, stood aside, and waited for his old father to walk into the yard first, then he followed him and closed the gate.

“Take the turtle into the house first, and then ask your mother to find a basin with some water to put the turtle in. I’ll go to the backyard to feed the cows some water.” Xu Qiang said as he handed the turtle in his hand to Xu Ping’an.

Xu Ping’an glanced at the turtle his father handed to him and said, “Dad, go inside and take a rest. I’ll go give the cows some water.”

Having said that, Xu Ping’an turned around and walked towards the cowshed in the backyard.

Xu Qiang looked at his son’s tall figure that was obviously taller than himself, smiled, then picked up the turtle and walked leisurely into the house.

Chapter 3 Da Huang’s Debt of Love

When Xu Ping’an was very young, his family was very poor.

My parents worked hard on the crops, and my father would do odd jobs in town in his spare time, but he couldn’t save much money throughout the year. In addition, when my grandfather fell ill and passed away, the family had to borrow a lot of foreign debt, so life became particularly difficult.

It was not until a dairy factory was built in the town that his daring and enterprising father decisively sold half of the family’s land. With the support of his mother and a loan from her parents’ home, the family started raising dairy cows.

The couple took care of the cows at home diligently. They would go to the cowshed to milk the cows before dawn every day. Then the father would ride his modified bicycle to deliver the milk to the town a few kilometers away.

Fortunately, hard work pays off, and Xu Ping’an’s family life gradually improved with the hard work of his parents.

The unlimited supply of milk every day also made Xu Ping’an grow taller and taller, gradually surpassing his old father who had worked hard for half his life.

Holding an iron ladle made of iron sheets, Xu Ping An kept scooping clean water from the water tank into the iron bucket one ladle after another. Then he lifted the iron bucket filled with clean water into the cowshed and poured it into the cows. Drinking water from the sink.

Over and over again, one bucket after another, Xu Ping’an poured seven buckets of water into the trough before he stopped. However, soon the water in the trough was drunk up by the cows that gathered around.

Cows have four stomachs, so on average a cow can drink a bucket of water at a time. I remember that he was a little surprised when he saw a cow drink so much water for the first time.

Sure enough, not a drop of milk comes in vain.

After adding a few more buckets of water into the trough, Xu Ping’an put the buckets back to their original place, then scooped up another ladle of clean water with the iron ladle and walked towards the doghouse not far from the cowshed.

“Wang Wang!”

The big yellow dog who was lying in the shade of the corner with his tongue hanging out lazily, immediately stood up with joy when he saw Xu Ping’an coming over. Then he jumped happily on the spot, wagging his tail like the propeller of a helicopter.

After pouring out the remaining water in the dog bowl, Xu Ping’an poured the clean water from the ladle into the bowl, then reached out and touched the big yellow dog that ran in front of him and was rubbing its head against his calf.

“Da Huang, Da Huang, tell me the truth. Is it you who got the big golden retriever at Grandma Li’s house at the entrance of the village pregnant? As a civilized and polite dog, I can’t do such a ruthless and immoral thing as plucking a bird.”

Xu Ping’an stroked the dog’s head and spoke earnestly.

At that time, Grandma Li’s granddaughter, who was working in the city, had to change jobs and did not have the energy to take care of her golden retriever, so she temporarily sent the golden retriever to live with her grandmother in the countryside.

With Grandma Li’s careful care, the golden retriever’s body grew fatter at a speed visible to the naked eye. At first, no one in the family took it seriously, thinking that it was just because grandma was good at raising dogs.

Until one day, the fat golden retriever gave birth to a litter of puppies…

When Grandma Li’s granddaughter heard that the golden retriever she had raised suddenly gave birth to a litter of other puppies without her knowledge, she was so angry that she rushed back from the city to kill them. Then, based on her secret visits and investigations in the village, she finally identified the culprit as her own dog, Dahuang.

But no matter how angry he was, it was definitely not a good idea to argue about this matter. After all, it was a consensual thing. Although Dahuang might have been wrong, Golden Retriever was also happy at the time. Besides, there was no conclusive evidence to prove that the other dogs in that litter were Dahuang’s offspring.

So, on a sunny, cloudless day, Grandma Li’s granddaughter, who was two years older than him and had loved bullying him since childhood and had always been at odds with him, came to the house.

At the entrance of the village, Xu Ping’an, who was holding a litter of puppies packed in a cardboard box, blocked the way. Xu Ping’an, who had just finished the college entrance examination and was rewarding himself with an old popsicle in his mouth, was standing at the entrance of the village.

Debt collection at your door!

Xu Ping’an was completely confused at that time.

Then, after understanding what happened, I looked at the litter of puppies in the cardboard box…

To be honest, one of them looked exactly like his dog Dahuang when he was a child.

At that time, Xu Pingan pondered for a long time, and then slowly said to Grandma Li’s granddaughter:

“Let’s do a paternity test. If it’s really my Da Huang’s doing, I agree that our two families can become relatives.”

I still remember that Grandma Li’s granddaughter put the cardboard box under the shade of a tree with an expressionless face, then pulled out a thick and long wooden stick from the firewood pile next to her, chased him for two miles, and even threw away the half-eaten popsicle in her hand.

Now, it should be only a few days before the golden retriever in Grandma Li’s family gives birth to another puppy.

This was also the reason why he tied up his dog Huang in the backyard as soon as he came home from school for the first time after his rebirth.

It’s not easy to be a parent these days. If you’re not careful, you might be chased two miles away with a wooden stick.

All the old popsicles are wasted.