My village can't be like this

Chapter 447 Advantages of Semester Housing

Turning into the village entrance, Zhang An saw that his fourth grandfather had just returned from the other side of the bridge.

The old man was still carrying a dustpan filled with river sand in his hands, and behind him was Zhang Yun, the youngest son of Zhang Jianfeng's family and Zhang An's cousin.

Far away, the old man saw Zhang An and his son, with kind smiles on their faces.

And little Zhang Yun, who was five or six years old, rushed over to Zhang An when he saw him. He was very close to Zhang An.

He was shouting "brother, brother, brother", hugging his thighs like a piece of candy that couldn't be shaken off.

"Zhang Yun, look at your sloppy nose. It's staining your brother's pants with snot. Why don't you let go quickly?"

The fourth grandfather pretended to have a fierce expression and stared at his grandson to scare him.

But anyone can see the doting look in his eyes. The old man dotes on this little grandson very much.

After hearing his grandfather's words, the little guy obediently let go of Zhang An's legs, picked up his clothes and wiped his nose back and forth several times.

Children of this age are like this. They have two noses flicking back and forth all day long, with map-like patterns printed on both sides of their faces.

Not to mention the clothes and pants on his body, not to mention wiping nose and saliva, crawling around on the ground all day, even if he just changed clothes, he wouldn't be able to last long.

"If you rub it like that, you'll get slapped when you get home."

For families with children at home, especially those at this age who like to crawl on the ground, the adults in the family are often doing laundry.

This feeling is really irritating, but I can't help but wash it off for them.

So I could only wash the clothes and beat the child to vent his anger.

But the little guys don't listen to this kind of thing at all. You beat yours and I crawl on mine.

After receiving more beatings, his skin has become tighter and he is not afraid of being beaten at all.

"No way. My sister does my laundry at home, so she won't beat me. Brother, let me lead the horse."

Zhang Yun was like this. At only five or six years old, he had already experienced countless beatings from Zhang Jianye and his wife, and he didn't take it to heart at all.

He was obviously more interested in Dahei of Zhang An's family, so he took the reins from Zhang An and led the horse in front.

Children of their age are very fond of riding bulls and horses.

Especially big horses like Dahei, which are very tall and majestic, are even more popular with them.

I don’t know how many children in the village have the idea of ​​​​riding Dahei, and this little guy is just like this.

It's just that Dahei has a rather aloof temperament and won't let anyone else ride him except Zhang An's family.

But even if Dahei doesn't ride, they still like Dahei very much, so they are happy to be able to lead him around.

Dahei was also very considerate. As long as he didn't ride him, he was easy to talk to. He was led by Zhang Yun and followed him honestly.

"Xiao An, this grass is probably the one scattered in the river bend. After all the hard work, it turned out to be different. The grass on the ridges of other fields is not so good."

The old man looked at the bullwhip that was more than a foot long on Dahei's back and sighed slightly.

This fodder is just like crops. It looks more pleasing to the eye if you put a lot of thought into it.

In rural areas, especially in summer and autumn, everyone prefers to cut grass on the field ridges.

When Zhang An was still young, every time he went to the field to cut grass, he would cut a lot of green grass with a "swish" of a sickle.

Because these ridges are renovated every year when plowing the fields, the soil is not barren at all, and the weeds on them should not grow too well.

Moreover, fertilizers or farmyard manure have been spread on the fields, so these weeds can be found on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Therefore, the grass growing on the field ridges is better than that in other places, and the livestock like it the most.

But no matter how good the field ridge grass is, it can't compare with the ones Zhang An spreads.

"Yes, Grandpa, if you usually have to cut grass to feed the cows, go there and cut it, so you don't have to look everywhere."

Zhang An knew that his fourth grandfather had been raising a large buffalo for five or six years.

He has helped the family a lot over the years, so Mr. Zhang usually goes out to cut a basket of young grass and feed it back every day.

When Zhang An's family didn't raise Dahei, they always borrowed the big buffalo for plowing the fields.

"I only have one buffalo there, and I can't eat much. I just go to the field and cut it. You have so many animals, and you don't even have enough to feed yourself."

The old man knew that Zhang An's family had many animals, and they were all delicate animals.

Those grasses were specially planted by the grandson, so he would not even cut them.

"Don't delay, grandpa. My grass grows too fast. It takes about ten days to cut it and it will grow. It's impossible to cut it. You can just go ahead and cut it, and you won't have to go out and look for it."

Zhang An's words didn't fool the old man at all. The grass in the melon field grew really fast.

It may be that the grass seeds have been transformed by space, so they become somewhat special.

It may also be because when the land was planted with watermelons last year, Zhang An often watered it with space spring water, so it became a fertile land.

But no matter what, the grass in that field grows very fast, and this can be seen.

"When I can't find a place to mow the grass, I'll go there. But the grass you raise is so good. I'm afraid that if you cut it back, it will make the old cow's mouth become naughty, and it will be difficult to raise it in the future."

People are used to eating delicacies from the mountains and seas, but they are not used to eating boiled cabbage. The same is true for livestock such as cattle.

"Why did you think of fishing for river sand today? Let me carry it."

Without the reins in his hand, Zhang An took the dustpan filled with river sand from the old man's hand.

"Those glutinous rice cakes I cut for the New Year are going to get moldy. If I have two days free, I'll take some river sand back and fry it."

The glutinous rice cakes made during the Chinese New Year are usually soaked in water if they are not finished. Many people also cut them into small pieces and dry them in the sun.

In this way, it can be fried into crispy fruits and sprinkled with salt. It is a good dish to go with wine.

However, oil is relatively expensive these days, so most people in the village fish river sand for frying.

River sand is everywhere on the river beach, but although the sand is very fine, it is not powdery at all because they are all very small particles.

This kind of sand is not very cohesive, so it cannot be used to build houses.

However, the wisdom of the working people is infinite. Some people found that this useless thing only needs to be heated at high temperature in a casserole, and it can have the same effect as a popcorn jar.

So now if a child wants to eat popcorn, he will go to the river beach to sift a pot of river sand and fry it himself, without having to wait for the old man to fry the popcorn.

"Then just go to my house and get some glutinous rice dumplings to fry. My mother dried a lot of them."

Nuobaogu is different from ordinary corn kernels. Even if no saccharin is added when frying, it will still be sweet after frying. Children like it very much. “What I have at home is what Xiaoyun’s mother broke out in a basket at your house and dried it in the sun.”

Nuobaogu is usually planted in the vegetable garden in advance and is specially used for cooking, frying and making glutinous rice cakes.

So every family will grow some seasonal vegetables, but not many.

Usually it’s enough to eat, and some seeds are left at the end.

However, last year Zhang An’s Nuobao Valley was very delicious, and Wang Fang also grew a lot of it, so several relatives came to pick some.

This year they are planting seeds left over from Zhang An's family. It will take just a few days for this year's Nuobao Valley to be cooked and eaten.

Thinking of the delicate and sweet taste of Baogu glutinous rice cake, Zhang An swallowed his saliva unconsciously.

"Then why don't you go in and sit down? It just so happens that I have something I want to talk to Grandpa Fourth about."

When they arrived at the gate, Zhang An kept Fourth Grandpa for a while.

As for Xiao Zhang Yun, of course he is extremely happy. As long as he doesn't go home, he can go anywhere.

Because as soon as I go home, I have to be forced by adults to do my homework, which is not as happy as being outside.

And it's great to be at Zhang An's house. There are snacks and fruits, so you can take whatever you want.

If I make my aunt Wang Fang and my sister-in-law Su Ying happy, I might even get some pocket money, which is much better than at home.

When Fourth Master Zhang heard that Zhang An said he had something to do with him, he was not in a hurry to go home.

"Grandpa, I heard from my uncle a few days ago that the new house at home will be used as a bed and breakfast?"

Nowadays, the homestay industry in the village is booming.

Although there are already more than 20 families doing this, most of them only have two or three rooms. After all, it is their own house, so it is good to have two or three rooms available.

Only a small number of people who have built new houses have excess old houses for rent.

But the premise is that those old houses are not too old, otherwise others will look at them a lot.

My uncle Zhang Jianfeng's family has saved some money in the past two years and built a new house at the end of last year.

However, their old house, which is the house they live in now, is not too old, and the new house does not have a cattle pen, so they have no plans to move there for the time being.

Some time ago, Zhang An happened to hear Zhang Jianfeng say that it was a pity to leave that house alone. He might as well decorate it a little and open a B&B like everyone else, so that the family could increase some income.

So today the girls said they wanted to rent a house in Changqing. The conditions of the girls seemed to be good. They said it didn't matter if the rent was high, but the house had to be good, not an old house. So the first thing Zhang An thought of was their new house.

After all, we are all a family, and whoever rents this house will make money, so the wealth will definitely not go to outsiders.

"Yes, so he has been busy with the house during this period. Now that the house has been completely whitewashed, we are just waiting for your master to make the bed and cabinets. That's almost it."

The old man was actually a little uncomfortable. After all, the newly built new house had to be lived in by others before his family had lived in it. In the past, this was quite taboo.

But now there are more people doing this in the village, and when I think about getting money, although the old man has a more traditional mind, he can't accept it.

"Grandpa, when I came back today, I met some new teachers who will be assigned to our middle school. They plan to rent a house in the village. If my uncle wants to rent it out, I will take them there tomorrow to have a look. "

Although Changqing Middle School has teachers' dormitories, there are not many dormitories at all. They were all allocated last year and there is not enough room for them.

The new and old teachers will definitely rent houses in the village, and the school will subsidize the rent. Su Ying said that this matter was decided some time ago.

Therefore, when people come to rent a house, it is definitely not for a short period of one or two months, at least it is calculated on an annual basis.

This money is a lot of money for any family, and there is a school and the rent is guaranteed.

"This is a good thing. I'll go back and tell them later. Tomorrow Xiao An, you can just take people over to see it."

The old man is not stupid. If someone rents it, it is better than running a B&B yourself.

After all, no one can tell if you open a B&B for a day or two. If you rent it out, you can collect rent every month and save a lot of trouble.

"Xiao An, what do you think the rent should be?"

The old man was afraid that if the rent was too little, his family would suffer a huge loss. If the rent was too much, he would be worried that he would not be able to rent it out. Moreover, there was a teacher in the school opposite, so he would ask for more from others. He was also afraid that others would gossip, so he wanted to ask Zhang An.

"Grandpa, please tell my uncle that it's a little higher, as long as it's not too much. After all, the house is right next to the school. It's very close to where they go to work, and they also used putty to scrape the white furniture like the bed and cabinets. Just made it, it doesn’t matter if it’s more expensive.”

Although Zhang An is not a social beast now, he was one before.

He is very aware of the advantages of living close to work.

Not to mention, you can get up half an hour later than other colleagues in the morning, which is almost like living in a dormitory.

Especially in winter, this is a huge temptation for novice teachers who have just come out of school.

You know, Su Ying has to walk for more than ten minutes to go to school every day.

Besides, Zhang Jianfeng's house was built according to Zhang An's house. Not only did it have a good internal structure, but the windows were also very large.

In the large yard in front of the door, you can see the scenery of the river bank at a glance, which is much better than most houses in the village.

Add these two points together, so what if you charge more rent?

Moreover, the school also provides rent subsidies, so you only need to make up a little by yourself.

If it were Zhang An, he would definitely be willing to do it if he didn't have a lot of money. After all, it was one of the few semester rooms in the village.

However, Zhang An did not say exactly how much he should ask for, because he knew that his uncle Zhang Jianfeng knew what he wanted.

After seeing the old man off, Wang Fang came back from the old house. The basket in her hand was filled with a basket of milky white buds.

"Hey, our Nuobaogu is actually edible? I went to see it two days ago, and it was just the sole of my shoe, but it's growing so fast."

Zhang An just thought about Nuobao Valley, but he didn't expect that his mother would bring it back.

"I just told you, why are some of the leaves peeled off? It turns out you were the ones who peeled them off."

Although the vegetable patch at the old house has always been planted, compared to the backyard, the frequency of going there is still much less.

The corn in the field Wang Fang was working on today had been peeled open, and she thought someone had gotten in.

"Hey, I just saw those buds growing big, so I peeled them off to see if they could be eaten. I haven't eaten the tender buds for a long time. Mom, you broke off so many and left them for frying at night. Others Let’s cook them all, they will be old tomorrow anyway.”

As soon as he saw them, Zhang An arranged a place for them.

　I wish you all a happy New Year's Day. In the new year 2024, you will get rich, get rich, get rich, get rich, get rich, get rich.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)