Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 921 920 Meals and cigarettes provided
Tang Zhitong wanted to laugh when she heard her sister's words, but then she saw her sister's serious expression and realized that the child was not faking it.

This commendable act of filial piety should be recorded in the "History of Filial Piety" and become the twenty-fifth example of filial piety, right?
"Raising them in urine? How can they be eaten? Is that what your teachers teach in school?" Hearing her daughter's filial words, Zhang Guifang stopped what she was doing, frowned, and thought, "If you say she's unfilial, she's giving me the most nutritious food; if you say she's filial, the nutritious food is made by soaking them in urine. Is this intentional or deliberate?"

“It’s edible! The teacher said it’s delicious! The teacher said that children’s urine isn’t dirty, it’s Chinese medicine! Besides, we also use urine and feces to grow vegetables at home, and the vegetables we grow are still edible, right?” Fengzhi explained earnestly.

"Mom, growing chlorella is something the higher-ups are encouraging. It was even mentioned in the newspaper yesterday. I reckon the neighborhood committee will start promoting it in a few days." Tang Zhitong laughed out loud this time, but not a loud laugh, because a loud laugh would get her beaten up.

Seeing that her son said the same thing, Zhang Guifang stopped questioning the chlorella, but she still couldn't accept something grown in urine: "You can eat it if you want, I won't."

"Hmph, you don't appreciate kindness." Hearing that her mother wouldn't eat, Fengzhi got a little angry, feeling that her good intentions had been wasted, and angrily changed her mind: "Then I'll feed it to my sister-in-law!"

"Emm... This is such a good thing, I don't think your sister-in-law will fight you for it. You can try it first when it's grown up." Tang Zhitong saw that her younger sister was going to give the algae to her classmate Xiao Wang, and she was sure that her sister had listened to the teacher and genuinely believed that this was a good thing, so she would give what she thought was the best thing to her closest person.

But Tang Zhitong felt that Xiao Wang should be averse to such things. She was the kind of person who would vomit at the smell of sewage, so why would she be asked to taste chlorella?
Too brutal.

"Hmph, my sister-in-law loves me, so I have to love her back too." Fengzhi was a little arrogant, acting as if it were the most natural thing in the world. That's right, her own brother wasn't that close to her, since he didn't even give her a chance to sing.

"Well, your sister-in-law hasn't spoiled you for nothing. We have canning jars at home, but where are we going to get algae?" Faced with her younger sister's stubbornness, Tang Zhitong didn't try to persuade her anymore and decided to leave the question to Xiao Wang.

She didn't discourage her sister's enthusiasm either. No matter what, she cared about her family. Regardless of whether the things were good or not, at least her intentions were good.

"The teacher told us to clean the canning jars today and bring them to school tomorrow. The teacher will give them out." Fengzhi's eyes blinked brightly, clearly indicating that she had made up her mind.

"Okay, go ahead and brush it." Tang Zhitong waved his hand, sending his sister away. Their family was definitely not at the point where they needed to eat chlorella. Raising this stuff was just to cultivate Fengzhi's interest and let her observe plant growth.

Xiao Wang disagreed with this. When she returned and heard that her sister-in-law wanted to provide her with special supplies of chlorella, she looked at her husband with a resentful expression.

Tang Zhitong chuckled until the young couple returned to their room, then said, "Respecting teachers and elders, you can just fool Fengzhi into offering it to her teacher later. You really think you can eat it all?"

“Summer vacation is over a month long, the algae will have grown a whole batch by then. Besides, we’re moving in a few days, we can’t use the authority of this teacher to fool the teacher over there.” Xiao Wang was a little exasperated by his sister-in-law’s overprotective attitude.

"Then we'll just fool Fengzhi into eating it herself." The cell walls of Chlorella are very tough; you can eat it whole and it will come out whole. Besides, because of the culture medium, it has a smell that keeps strangers away. Anyway, Tang Zhitong doesn't plan to touch it.

"Someone at my workplace mentioned growing Chlorella this afternoon. I wonder if Jingmin will be asked to do it too," said Xiao Wang, a little worried. They're both very filial children; what if Jingmin also uses Chlorella to show his respect to his mother…

Xiao Wang couldn't quite imagine that scene.

"Who knows?" Tang Zhitong nodded in agreement. Since Chlorella is easy to grow and doesn't compete with crops for land, water, or fertilizer, it will be quickly promoted nationwide until everyone thinks it's useless.

"Sigh, we'll see when the time comes. Do you think Chlorella is really as good as advertised?" After reading so much misinformation, Xiao Wang has learned to use his brain when reading newspapers and often can't help but have some doubts first.

“I don’t think so. My grandmother experienced famine. She would go to great lengths to get pumpkins just to eat, but she never thought of going to the moat to collect algae balls. If algae balls really had such a great use, I believe our ancestors who survived famine would have already developed countless ways to eat them.”

Wild vegetables, tree bark, and even kaolin clay have ways of being eaten, but there's no mention of chlorella.

Tang Zhitong shook his head firmly. "Our motherland is vast and has remarkable biodiversity. Any species that has left behind a way of eating it must have something to offer. Those that haven't been passed down by word of mouth among the people are probably unreliable."

"Sigh, that makes sense, but we still have to raise them, at least to show them to outsiders," sighed Xiao Wang, a hint of helplessness in his voice.

"That's what I was thinking too. We'll put the bottles and jars against the wall, away from the doors and windows. I can't stand the smell." Tang Zhitong gets annoyed just thinking about the smell of urine.

Nowadays, most families use chamber pots. Even if you empty them the next morning and rinse them twice with water, the smell lingers. If you leave them in a jar to ferment for a few days...

Even diluted, Tang Zhitong believed that the taste would still be unforgettable.

"Okay, it's settled then. Let's check the letter first." After discussing the algae, Ms. Wang was eager to see the letter her husband had brought back.

My husband recently received letters from aspiring young people all over the country because of "The Barefoot Doctor's Manual." The letters were full of praise, which made my daughter very happy. She wants to experience that feeling again in the arts.

Indeed, this was the case. Among the letters from listeners, there were not only those praising Tang Zhitong, but also those praising Xiao Wang; some even inquired indirectly about the gender and age of the two; and some went even further, directly stating their admiration based on Xiao Wang's name alone, guessing that she was a beautiful, generous, and lovely woman.

"Tsk tsk, quite a haul." Tang Zhitong handed the straightforward letter directly to Xiao Wang.

"Disgusting!" Xiao Wang glanced at it, immediately tore it in half, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it twice.

"Take it easy, you're pregnant again." Tang Zhitong didn't expect Xiao Wang to react so strongly, and quickly held her down.

"You're still not satisfied! What are you thinking about all day long!" Xiao Wang was held down, but his feet didn't stop; he rubbed the envelope a few more times.

“Yes, it’s really not satisfying, let’s just burn it!” Tang Zhitong followed Xiao Wang’s suggestion, picked up the envelope, and burned it clean with a single match.

"Let's submit our work under a pseudonym from now on." After this little incident, Xiao Wang lost interest in reading the letter.

“Okay, then let’s use a pen name.” Although many people have pen names, pseudonyms, or even stage names these days, Tang Zhitong doesn’t care much about them. The current social atmosphere is acceptable, but in a few years, an inappropriate pen name might be interpreted as something outrageous.

Xiao Wang is neither a feminist nor a non-mainstream person; her pen names are all very conservative. In the end, after discussion between the couple, the pen names for her literary creations were officially decided as Wutong and Hanmei.

November 8th, Friday, sunny.

After breakfast, Tang Zhitong packed some pickled vegetables and steamed cornbread made by his mother and headed north with his classmate Xiao Wang.

"Go ahead, it's just a short walk. I'll go to work myself." At the entrance of Dashizuo Hutong, Ms. Wang stopped the car and urged her husband to go and supervise the construction of their new home.

"Okay, then take your time." Tang Zhitong glanced at the bundle on the bicycle, which was bulging with cornbread. It was indeed a bit conspicuous to bring it to the National Library. After watching Xiao Wang ride his bike and turn into Tuancheng, Tang Zhitong pushed the bicycle to his new home.

The front door of the new house is a "barbarian door" with steps, which is not very friendly to bicycles. You have to use all your strength to lift the bicycle over the threshold before you can put it under the door.

The main gate represents the face of the residents; that's probably where the term "front door" comes from.

The gates of courtyards in Beijing can be roughly divided into six types, with the highest being the gate of a prince's mansion, followed by the Guangliang Gate, Jinzhu Gate, Manzi Gate, Ruyi Gate, and Suiqiang Gate.

Guangliang Gate and Jinzhu Gate were originally reserved for the residences of officials. Officials of the seventh rank and above used Guangliang Gate, while those of the seventh rank and below used Jinzhu Gate.

There is also a saying that different levels have different thresholds, and the higher the level, the higher the threshold.

People in Beijing often say, "Your threshold is too high, we can't afford it," and it's said that the "threshold" in this saying comes from this.

The Barbarian Gate was mostly used by merchants. It combined being understated with being practical. The gate was spacious, and the interior space was also large. Tang Zhitong liked it very much.

Ruyi Gate and Suiqiang Gate are gates used by ordinary people. Both types of gates are built along the courtyard wall. The biggest difference is whether there is a roof above the gate.

The Tang family's house with the iron wheel handle is called Ruyi Gate. It has a small facade, but it can hold a lot of things inside and can shelter from the wind and rain, making it very practical.

The gate here is open, and two wooden planks are placed on the steps. Construction workers are using a cart to haul building materials inside.

The construction workers were all exposed to the elements, their skin was dark, and beads of sweat dripped from their faces and shattered on the ground, with hardly any smiles on their faces.

Tang Zhitong used the wooden planks on the steps to push the bicycle inside. In order not to hinder its use, he planned to push the bicycle into the yard.

"Director Zhu? What brings you here?" Tang Zhitong had just pushed open the screen wall when he saw Director Zhu's figure.

"Our director came to inspect the area after get off work yesterday and came over early this morning to provide guidance." The young man next to Director Zhu, seeing that Tang Zhitong knew Director Zhu, preemptively spoke up before Director Zhu could even speak.

"You talk too much." Director Zhu said to his subordinate with a stern face. Although he said it like that, he was very satisfied with his words, which showed that he valued him and also made it clear that he had come here.

The young man chuckled, took two steps to the side, and ran away.

"Oh dear, I feel so bad that so many masters have gone to so much trouble, and I've also taken up your precious time." He still had to say the polite words, and after saying that, Tang Zhitong glanced at the young man again; he seemed like a sensible and ambitious person.

"Hey~ what's so precious about it? It's all about serving the people." Director Zhu responded very kindly. He had reported Tang Zhitong's idea of ​​going to the market to the director yesterday afternoon. The director approved of it and planned to coordinate and arrange it soon. In the end, the job of making this achievement fell to him.

"I checked each room yesterday, and the main structure is still very stable. However, since no one has lived here for so many years and it's just been used for storage, the roof is a bit flimsy. I'll have the workers renovate the roof, and it can be used for another 10 or 20 years." Director Zhu, grateful for Tang Zhitong's favor, did indeed come over to take a look after get off work yesterday.

At my behest, the clerk at the housing management bureau gave this courtyard a slightly lower estimated score. I came over yesterday and took a closer look. While the estimated score was somewhat inflated, the inflated score wasn't that significant.

Since the chemical raw materials company took over the house, it has been used as a warehouse. No one has been living there, and the reed mats on the roof have long since rotted away, otherwise they wouldn't have been pierced by the hail.

It just so happens that Tang Zhitong is interested in making repairs, and it just so happens that I am in charge of the repairs. Although the renovation will be a big undertaking, it can cover up the matter of the estimated score. As for favors, I can just collect the material fee later.

"Thank you, Director Zhu. With you overseeing things, I feel completely at ease." Tang Zhitong accepted Director Zhu's kindness without reservation. Who wouldn't want to live in peace? It would be best to take this opportunity to eliminate potential safety hazards.

As for the expenses, Director Zhu didn't mention them, and Tang Zhitong didn't ask either. If the expenses this time were greater than the cost of changing houses, they would first use the savings in their spatial storage to make up the difference. In any case, they couldn't let Zhang Guifang know, otherwise she wouldn't be able to sleep soundly.

"Comrade Tang, you're too kind. I'm busy with work and don't have time to keep an eye on things here. But Xiao Wan is a reliable person. Just tell him what you need." After saying that, Director Zhu waved to the young man: "Xiao Wan, come here for a moment."

"Alright!" Xiao Wan came running over excitedly when he heard Director Zhu's call.

"Xiao Wan, Wan Shan. This is Comrade Tang Zhitong. You'll be following Comrade Tang's instructions for this renovation." Director Zhu gave the two a brief introduction, glanced at his watch, and then looked back at his office.

"Hello, Comrade Wan. How many masters have come this time?" Tang Zhitong asked, extending his hand.

There were quite a few people in the courtyard, bustling about. Tang Zhitong couldn't count them all, and there was a possibility that more people might be brought in later. It was safest to ask the people directly from the parties involved.

"There are twenty-six in total. Director Zhu attaches great importance to this renovation and requires us to complete it within three days, so all of them are elite personnel. Please feel free to make any requests, and we will fully cooperate." Wan Shan held Tang Zhitong's hand, every word of which was to praise Director Zhu.

“You’re all experts, I won’t interfere or cause trouble. I’ll just take care of the logistics.” Tang Zhitong let go of the bag of flour on the bicycle and said with a self-deprecating smile, “I didn’t expect so many drivers to come. I didn’t bring enough food. I’ll go back and get some more before noon.”

"Xiao Tang, our housing management bureau has regulations that prohibit taking people's belongings when maintaining their houses." Before Wan Shan could speak, Director Zhu interjected. With food shortages, he noticed the bulging flour sack on the bicycle. If it contained dry rations, it would significantly impact a family's livelihood.

"Director Zhu, everyone at the Housing Management Bureau is very dedicated. As the homeowner, I have to be sensible and can't just stand by and watch. My family's conditions are limited; we don't have any fine grains, only some cornbread and pickled vegetables. I hope the cooks won't mind." Tang Zhitong smiled and let go of Wan Shan's hand.

Regulations are regulations, but actually maintaining them is another matter entirely.

"Oh, you're too kind. On behalf of the construction workers, I thank you." Seeing Tang Zhitong's determination, Director Zhu didn't refuse. He had gathered the people himself, and providing lunch here would make him look good.

"Hey everyone, give it your all! Lunch is provided – cornbread and pickled vegetables!" Xiao Wan shouted to the construction workers as he watched the two men reach an agreement.

"Alright!" Upon hearing that there was food, the chefs' faces lit up with smiles.

"We'll keep the smoke out of them, but we have to be careful to prevent fires." Tang Zhitong added another fire to the fire, explaining that the soil had to be thoroughly watered so that they would work with full effort.

"The master is benevolent!" Sure enough, upon hearing Tang Zhitong's words, both the ground and the roof craftsmen were even happier.

(End of this chapter)