Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 906 905 Look at my eyes
Sunday, May 7.

Xiao Wang locked Beibei in the main room early in the morning, afraid that it might accidentally hurt He Ping's cuckoo.

Fengzhi was very excited when she learned that there would be an older sister who could command the cuckoos, and she would have played a part in catching Beibei.

Tang Zhitong wasn't too worried about Beibei ruining the cuckoo, but he was concerned about the swallow family under the gate. Once they moved, their connection would be severed.

Because the Tang family rarely had friends visiting, Zhang Guifang was afraid of embarrassing her daughter-in-law, so she thought of using the meat ration coupons she had just received to try her luck again.

She arrived quite early, but the grocery store still had no fresh meat, and not even a pound of frozen meat. She queued for a long time and bought a can of meat and a few pounds of vegetables that had been damaged by hail.

"Mom, you don't need to go to so much trouble. They're all my good friends, they won't be picky." With her mother-in-law so attentive, Xiao Wang felt embarrassed.

"Consider it a workout for Mom," Tang Zhitong said absentmindedly as he returned with water.

Although they had already planned to move to a different house, the Tang family did not give up taking care of the vegetable garden. Tang Zhitong had previously said that some of the vegetables belonged to their family, so Zhang Guifang told her son to be diligent when she went out.

As a dutiful son, Tang Zhitong naturally dared not disobey his mother's wishes and ultimately bore the bitter consequences of the lie alone.

But on second thought, there's no harm in doing this; at least it will seem very ethical to the chemical raw material companies.

"You're just making sarcastic remarks, and you don't even say you're helping Mom with any chores. Next time you'll be the one queuing up." Xiao Wang was unhappy with her husband's contradictory support and angrily punched him.

"Hey, why would I need to wait in line if I'm in charge? Whether it flies in the sky, crawls on the ground, or swims in the water, just tell me what you want to eat," Tang Zhitong said, taking on all the responsibilities.

"Hmph, as if you can buy them yourself, but I won't choose from your list. I want to eat lychees, can you buy them?" Little Wang said in a coquettish tone, as if she were Yang Guifei herself, pleading with Emperor Li Longji.

"Lychees are good! Lychees are good! Brother, I want to eat lychees too!" Fengzhi cheered from the side.

"Want some lychees? Come on, call me 'good brother'." Tang Zhitong teased his sister with a smile.

"Good brother! Good brother!" For the sake of lychees, Fengzhi was going all out. Not only did she do as Tang Zhitong wished, but she also went up to him, grabbed his arm, shook it, and started to act coquettishly.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad, keep it up." Tang Zhitong patted his little sister's head with satisfaction and encouraged her.

"What about lychees? When are you going to buy them?" Fengzhi asked innocently, tilting her little face up.

"Did I say I wanted to buy lychees? I didn't, did I?" Tang Zhitong spread his hands, looking completely innocent.

"Ugh! You broke your promise!" Fengzhi knew she had been tricked again and was so angry that she wanted to kick Tang Zhitong, but he dodged her.

"You're teasing the child again." Ms. Wang felt both helpless and amused by her husband's behavior.

Unfortunately, her husband acted somewhat shamelessly and childishly. What she liked was seeing how much he adored children, and since she was about to give birth the following year, she had a lot to look forward to in the future.

"Hehe, you don't understand." Tang Zhitong chuckled. Life is life, no matter how you live it, of course it's better to be happy and carefree.

Besides, I can still bully my sister now, but once I have children, she'll become like Andy Lau. At that time, I won't be able to bully her anymore, and I'll have to coax her. Otherwise, this cheap labor won't cooperate with my exploitation!
Lychees were definitely out of the question, but Tang Zhitong kept it in mind, planning to see if he could make a trip to his cousin's territory in a couple of days...

The first three to arrive at the Tang family's residence were Du Yanqing, He Ping, and Wan Xianghong.

Accompanying He Ping were the two cuckoos that flew around her.

Seeing such obedient birds made Fengzhi very hungry.

As soon as they entered the room, the first thing they saw was the photos hanging on the wall, which made them sigh with emotion.

With the surprise brought by the photos, the furniture in the side room became less conspicuous.

"Come on, try my wife's cooking." Little Wang proudly brought out the chestnuts and pine nuts that Tang Zhitong had roasted the night before.

"Wow, you guys have a pretty good standard of living!" He Ping was visiting for the first time and didn't know much about his childhood friend's lifestyle.

"I saved these up from last year and couldn't bear to eat them, but today I'm going to splurge and treat you all. Please have a taste." Little Wang tried to hide his intentions for a moment before grabbing two handfuls and starting to serve his guests.

Tang Zhitong didn't get involved, but happily brewed tea for the group before turning back to the main room to get Iraqi dates.

The Iraqi dates were the same bag that Director Ye had bought for them. Zhang Guifang usually sneaked some from Fengzhi, and there were still quite a few left.

When Tang Zhitong brought the dates back to the house, the tea had already been poured.

"Wenwen, the tea is quite good," He Ping said, peeling chestnuts while staring at the tea leaves in his teacup.

"My mom gave me some high-quality milk tea last year, but I haven't been able to bring myself to drink it. I'm afraid I won't be able to buy it this year," Xiao Wang explained with a smile.

Tang Zhitong laughed along, saying that Meng Qingfeng had also praised the tea yesterday.

In truth, everyone knows that this tea is not top-notch; it only appears so because of the shortage of supplies this year.

To be honest, high-grade crumbs are not the lowest grade.

Not only are high-grade broken teas not low-grade, but even high-grade tea powder is higher than low-grade tea.

Both "high-grade broken tea" and "high-grade dust" are tea residues selected from high-grade tea leaves, differing only in the mesh size of the sieve.

Real low-grade tea is called coarse tea, which is made from tea leaves harvested for the third or even fourth time from the tea tree.

This type of tea is mostly made from old stems, and its main function is to mask the odor of the water. After brewing twice, the color becomes lighter and the tea aroma disappears.

It is precisely because of the existence of this coarse tea that the saying "simple tea and plain food" came about.

While the girls chatted away, Tang Zhitong went to the main room to prepare the dishes.

When his lover's friend came to visit, Tang Zhitong, a half-baked cook, naturally had to show off his skills.

During this time, Cao Shuangshuang and Yue Zhenzhen also arrived. If they had playing cards and mahjong at home, they probably could have played a few rounds. It was precisely because they didn't have these recreational items at home that the group went to the yard to watch He Ping walk his cuckoo for a while.

With her sweet talk and the pine nuts in her hand, Fengzhi successfully got close to the cuckoo, which made her very happy.

"Cuckoo or lychee, which would you choose?" Tang Zhitong teased Fengzhi while picking vegetables, seeing her beaming with joy.

"I want both!" Fengzhi was a bit greedy, not wanting to give up either. After saying that, she whispered to Tang Zhitong mysteriously, "Brother, didn't you just say you could catch things that fly in the sky? Can you catch a cuckoo?"

"What? You want to raise them too? You can't tame them. These two were raised by your older sister He from before they even hatched. You can't compare." Although Edison could move the eggs into the bed to incubate them, Tang Zhitong didn't want her younger sister to do the same. There was no guarantee that a simple turn in the bed would cause the eggs to break.

"Then do you think Beibei can catch the cuckoo?" Fengzhi didn't listen to what her brother was saying at all, and stared at the two cuckoos on the shelf as she pressed for an answer.

"Huh?! Don't even think about it. Do you really want to be hung from the rafters and whipped?" Tang Zhitong was both amused and exasperated. It was fortunate that Beibei was locked up, otherwise, who knows how much trouble she would have caused under Fengzhi's instigation.

"I don't want to eat a leather whip, I want to taste what a cuckoo tastes like." Sure enough, Fengzhi blurted out what was on her mind.

"..." Okay, Tang Zhitong decided to retract his assessment of his sister as greedy. This wasn't just greedy; it was outrageously greedy!

"Brother, what do you think cuckoo stewed with lychee would taste like?" Perhaps sensing the murderous intent in Fengzhi's eyes, the two cuckoos, after a moment of "ignoring everything," spread their wings and flew away from the place of trouble.

"Don't ever try to be a chef in the future. Your cooking ideas are so dark, they're practically heretical!" Without Bei Bei's cooperation, Feng Zhi definitely wouldn't have been able to catch the cuckoo, but her bizarre cooking made Tang Zhitong frown. Was this something a normal person could come up with?
Cuckoos are migratory birds that come to the north every spring and return to the south in autumn, while lychees ripen in the summer.

In terms of time and space, these two things cannot naturally appear in the same area at the same time.

"I'm going to learn! Once I've learned, I'm going to cook delicious food for myself and never need you again!" Fengzhi not only rejected Tang Zhitong's suggestion but also made a grand vow.

"Then you learn it. Once you've mastered it, I won't cook anymore. I'll just eat your cooking." Tang Zhitong didn't believe her sister's solemn promise. She figured she'd forget it completely in a few days.

Preparing vegetables is a tedious and boring job. To make it more interesting, Tang Zhitong changed his work mode, playing with his younger sister while picking vegetables.

Because the brother and sister were very familiar with each other, and Tang Zhitong was not usually a strict older brother, Fengzhi was not afraid of him. The two siblings went back and forth for a while, just like a comedy duo.

This approach doesn't work when interacting with Jingmin, as Jingmin struggles to keep up with Tang Zhitong's joking train of thought.

After cooking for Xiao Wang and her friends, Tang Zhitong would set aside some food for his family, with the cicada nymphs receiving the most. The extra portion was given to Chunshu Hutong.

Tang Zhitong did not participate in the gathering of Xiao Wang's classmates and friends. He let the girls eat and chat in the side room, while he ate a few bites in a hurry and then brought cicada nymphs, pine nuts, and chestnuts to Chunshu Hutong.

With these snacks around, Jingmin easily forgave Tang Zhitong for not keeping his promise about the rabbit.

"Where did you get this?" Jingmin was generous; after eating the snacks Tang Zhitong brought, he took out a small piece of chocolate from his own bag to return the favor.

Tang Zhitong was surprised when he took it. There were no raw materials for producing chocolate in China; most of it was imported.

The Sijiucheng Food Factory produced chocolate-flavored popsicles. Tang Zhitong had tried them; the color was similar, but the taste was vastly different.

It's actually easy to understand. How much does chocolate cost? How much does an ice pop cost?
“A pilot uncle came to our school to give a report and gave them to us. Each child only got one, so I'm giving mine to you!” Jingmin said, waving his hand generously despite the reluctance in his eyes.

"Not bad, he's someone who can achieve great things," Tang Zhitong praised. This brother-in-law is good; although he's also a glutton, he knows the principle of giving before taking.

"Hehe, brother-in-law, what do you think about me becoming a pilot in the future?" Jingmin puffed out his chest, quite proudly asking the compliment.

"Wow, does he not want to be the commander anymore?" Tang Zhitong asked with a chuckle.

Children are fickle, so it's normal for them to have new directions for their efforts after listening to the report.

Pilots today enjoy excellent benefits and ample supplies, and have a very high social status. They are said to be worth the same weight in gold, and even the Geneva Convention stipulates that pilots who parachute out cannot be shot.

"Hmm... I could be the commander of the pilots!" Jingmin hesitated for a while, just like Fengzhi, unwilling to give up either goal.

"Oh, that's going to be difficult." Tang Zhitong pretended to be troubled.

"Why?" Jingmin asked, puzzled.

"Look at my eyes." Tang Zhitong gave his brother-in-law a knowing look.

"Brother-in-law, what happened to your eyes?" Jingmin asked, completely bewildered.

"Do I look like I'm dizzy?" Tang Zhitong blurted out nonsense. Could he really tell her the real reason?
"Like someone who's drunk too much cheap liquor," Jingmin chuckled to himself.

"Hey, where did you learn that witty remark? If you want to be a pilot, you first have to get past the 'dizziness' hurdle." Tang Zhitong recalled the pilot recruitment process when he was in school. After passing the basic physical examination, you had to go on that balance machine and spin for five minutes. If you didn't vomit afterward, you were considered to have passed the review threshold with one foot. If you could also walk in a straight line and accurately identify the direction, then you were considered to have both feet in the door of the flight academy.

"How exactly do you feel 'dizzy'?" Jingmin asked curiously.

"If you can spin around in place three hundred times and then immediately walk in a straight line after stopping, you have a chance." Since there was no equipment at home to test balance ability, Tang Zhitong created his own challenge for his brother-in-law.

"Huh?" Jingmin's face scrunched up like a bitter gourd. He knew his own abilities well. He often played the spinning game with his friends. Let alone three hundred, even fifty spinnings would make him dizzy, let alone walking in a straight line.

"If you can't do that, then focus on preparing for next week's exam, and then start making up for it during the holidays." Tang Zhitong rubbed his brother-in-law's head and told him about the holiday plans.

"Another supplement?" Jingmin muttered, not very happy, but not as resistant as Fengzhi.

"Go do your homework. Consider the snacks a reward for completing it. Here, take this chocolate back. Eat it if you want." Although her brother-in-law generously gave it to her, Tang Zhitong didn't actually put it in her pocket.

After settling things over with his brother-in-law, Tang Zhitong reported the matter of changing rooms to Director Ye.

"As long as your mother has no objections, that's fine." Ye Zhijuan nodded after hearing this. Her daughter was pregnant, and of course she hoped that her daughter wouldn't have to ride her bike for several kilometers to and from get off work while heavily pregnant. However, since it concerned her son-in-law's ancestral home, she didn't want to interfere too much.

"My mom is alright, she's come to terms with it." Tang Zhitong scratched his head. Although his mother was no longer resisting, she still seemed to have some reservations. In a few more months, when she saw the famine in Beijing, she would probably come to a complete understanding.

(End of this chapter)