Chapter 89: Chapter 89: Free and Easy
Outside the dormitory building of the township hospital, Feng Yiping saw his grandfather off, who had stayed overnight. He walked all the way back to the rented room 502, through the dappled light and shadow cast by the sycamore trees.
Yesterday, his eldest uncle brought Grandpa, his clothes, luggage and some vegetables over. At noon, the two of them personally tested Feng Yiping's ability to live alone – mainly by eating the meal he cooked, and after eating, both of them said it was good.
Grandpa was still not at ease, so he stayed for the night. Seeing that he was organised in everything, he really didn't have anything to worry about. So after breakfast today, seeing that Feng Yiping was rushing to do his summer homework and didn't have much to do himself, he couldn't get used to staying there and insisted on going back.
Before leaving, he repeatedly reminded him to be careful with the fire and to remember to turn off the gas tank.
After closing the door, he looked around at the room, which was still dry and tidy, and he was very satisfied. Finally, he had his own free space!
He took off his trousers and put on long shorts, leaving his upper body bare. He sat at the table with his chest and breasts exposed, and left behind the cicadas chirping in the trees outside the window, the beeping of the tractor on the highway, and the loud greetings of the woman downstairs when she saw an acquaintance. He calmed down, embraced the breeze blowing through the screen door, and devoted himself to doing his summer homework.
Today is the 25th, and if he can't hand in his summer homework by the first day of school, Wang Yumin will definitely teach him a lesson.
Summer mornings are especially short, and before he knows it, the footsteps of the doctors and nurses returning home can be heard in the corridor, and soon afterwards the smell of food fills the air.
These old dormitory buildings don't have flues or anything like that, but Feng Yiping can tell right now, upstairs or downstairs, someone is stir-frying meat with chili peppers and a lot of soy sauce.
The spicy smell comes over, and he sneezes loudly, probably audible to the family on the first floor.
It's time to cook.
Lunch is simple: four cups of rice, stir-fried eggplant with sauce, and loofah and egg soup. It'll be done in half an hour.
As for household chores, he is good at everything else, except his knife skills. He can't cut fast and the slices he makes are irregular.
But for home cooking, these are not important.
They each ate half of the meal, and the rest was just enough for one evening meal.
They washed the dishes and pots, then went to bed for a nap. They didn't wake up until the alarm on the watch woke them up, and then they continued with their homework.
They didn't have dinner until it got dark, and after they finished eating, they took a stroll along the river.
The crescent moon was in the sky, the beach by the river was silvery white, the river was rushing along, the cool breeze was blowing, and from time to time fireflies flashed by.
If only there was another girl with big eyes and long, thick braids, holding the ends of her braids in her hands, following behind him with her head bowed.
As for whether the girl was called Xiaofang or not, he really didn't care.
After a while, Feng Yiping realised something that spoiled the mood: there were too many mosquitoes! Buzzing, they attacked him from head to toe.
He was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, which protected him from the top but not the bottom, and from the front but not the back. So after walking by the river for a while, he had to run home in a sorry state.
When he got home, he counted and found that he had six big red pockets all over his body!
He didn't do his homework that night, but instead thought about the various shops he saw later and worked on the image design for his family's first shop.
Of course, it's not about image design yet, the MI (identity recognition) has been roughly determined, and the BI (behaviour recognition) is not yet possible. So, for the time being, the main focus is on VI, the visual image.
For someone like him who knows roughly but has not systematically studied 'corporate image design' and is only a beginner with average art skills, this is not an easy task.
So, he pondered for a long time before drawing a rough sketch on paper, and then kept revising it until he went to sleep without a satisfactory result.
However, there is no rush in this matter. Non-professionals can only produce fine work with slow work when doing such things.
After two days of hard work, he finally finished his summer homework. He decided to refresh his mind.
In the morning, he wrote something; in the afternoon, he continued to design the visual image of the store or reminisced about the classics. He started to compose music on the staff paper, all in all, for the sake of making money.
On the 28th, at noon, he had just finished writing a paragraph when he heard a voice downstairs that sounded just as shrill as a broken gong shouting, 'Feng Yiping!'
He poked his head out to see Xiao Zhijie standing in the shade of a tree below, busy fanning himself with a straw hat, next to a large basket full of what looked like all kinds of vegetables.
Seeing him poke his head out, Xiao Zhijie waved him down, 'You're not going to come up here yourself?'
'Hurry up and come down, I can't carry it.' Then he added, 'Don't forget to bring money.'
Xiao Zhi Jie's ability to rip people off really came from his master and surpassed it. Not only did he buy popsicles, but also soda, and then watermelons, and in the end he owed the owner a few dollars.
Xiao Zhi Jie was carrying the watermelon and soda, while Feng Yiping was carrying the basket. 'There are so many dishes, I won't be able to finish them all in no time, and there are still quite a few left at home.'
'It's fine, my mom picked them all, they're all well-preserved dishes.' Xiao Zhi Jie was holding his potbelly, and it was a bit hard for him to carry the big watermelon up the stairs. 'Besides, you're not the only one eating them, after school starts, you can fry them every day and bring them to school for me!'
So, this is the true nature of Xiao Zhi Jie, calculating.
Once inside, Xiao Zhijie looked around the room, then lay down on the simple sofa and didn't want to move. He said, 'You're so lucky, I must find a way to move in here sooner rather than later.'
Feng Yiping saw him lying on the sofa, sweaty and sticky, and kicked him. 'Go take a shower first, I'll go buy you a towel.'
Xiao Zhijie really didn't consider himself an outsider, and after the shower he clamoured for good food, fish and meat.
There was no fish, and the only meat was a piece of preserved pork hanging on the wall. So the two men had to go out again.
In the end, they had stir-fried pork with chilli, preserved pork with cucumber for lunch, and the two crucian carp slipped into the evening tofu cooking.
Li Jia was right, you really can't eat with these fat people who can eat. Four times the amount of rice, and it wasn't even enough for two people, and there wasn't a scrap of the two dishes either.
After eating and drinking, Xiao Zhijie patted his belly and prepared to go to bed, but was ordered by Feng Yiping to wash the dishes.
In the afternoon, he saw Feng Yiping's shiny new bike and once again pestered Feng Yiping to teach him how to ride it.
He could actually ride it, but he wasn't very skilled at it. After riding a few laps in the courtyard, he took off on the road outside, and when he came back, he kept praising the bike and saying that he wanted one too.
Xiao Zhijie, the evil guest, stayed until after lunch on the 29th. He originally wanted to take a nap before leaving, but Feng Yiping was afraid that he would play the rogue again if he woke up, so he rode his bike directly to the intersection of their village.
On the way back, he stopped by the school. It was very quiet, with only two third grade classes in session. The teacher's building was also quiet and empty. I guess the teachers, like most students, are also taking advantage of the end of the holiday!