Rebirth: Starting from a Trainee Teacher

Chapter 578: Mountain Song Beauty is More Beautiful
After putting the child to sleep at noon, Zhou Jing and Gu Jia went hiking.

In the golden autumn of October, the sky is high and the air is crisp. The midday sun shines on the loess hillsides and the golden crops in the fields, bringing people the joy of harvest while also giving them a sense of laziness, comfort and ease.

In the fields, adults were harvesting ears of grain, corn, sorghum, soybeans, wheat and other crops, while children were playing in the fields or lying on the straw. The children were basking in the sun, looking carefree and enviable.

"Such a small piece of land has such a rich variety of crops. What are they growing?"

Gu Jia asked curiously, "There is a variety of crops planted on a piece of land of less than two acres behind the hill on the old man's roof."

"Go and have a look. Over there is a pumpkin, over here is a sweet potato, over here is a potato, over here is a peanut, over here is a carrot, over there is a white radish, over here the vines are withered are watermelons and cantaloupes, I didn't get to taste them this year."

The land belonged to the old man. Zhou Jing walked along a small path, removed the jujube vines at the entrance and went in.

"What a pity! The soil is cracked. The potatoes underneath should be very big, right?"

Gu Jia squatted next to a potato plant and noticed the cracked ground and said in surprise.

"Not necessarily. Fruits in shallow layers can easily push up against the soil, so they generally don't grow big."

Zhou Jing picked up a twig and dug deep into the soil, revealing tender white potatoes.

"The potatoes are so white in the soil, they are unstained by the mud."

It was the first time that Gu Jia saw potatoes growing in the soil. They were very different from the lumps of earth he had imagined.

"Whiter than your face."

Zhou Jing looked at Teacher Gu's face and smiled.

"Indeed." Gu Jia took out her phone and took a photo of the potato and said, "Will it rot if buried again?"

"No, the vine will continue to grow unless it withers."

Zhou Jing buried the potatoes with moist loess and went to the peanut field.

"It would be nice to have a piece of land like this where BJ lives."

Gu Jia was very greedy for the less than two acres of yellow land in front of her. If there was one next to the villa, it would be worth spending 400 or 500 million to buy it.

"Then it's not a villa, it's a manor. You've never eaten peanuts so fresh before, right?"

Zhou Jing dug up the roots of a peanut plant, picked a few peanuts, pinched them open and fed the wet peanuts to Teacher Gu.

“I’ve never seen it before.”

Gu Jia chewed the peanuts carefully, savoring their freshness and sweetness.

Zhou Jing walked to the side, kicked away the pumpkin leaves that had not yet completely withered, and said, "How about this pumpkin?"

"Wow, what a big pumpkin." It was a pumpkin that was almost as big as a basin. The skin had turned yellow and it looked delicious. Gu Jia took a photo with her phone and continued, "How long can pumpkins from my hometown be stored after being picked?"

"It can be kept until the New Year."

Zhou Jing patted the pumpkin and said.

"Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and potatoes are all relatively easy to store. Among fruits, apples are the easiest to store. As long as the apples are not bruised after being picked from the tree, they will not go bad even if they are stored in the cellar for a whole winter."

After closely observing every crop in the old man’s back garden, Zhou Jing walked out of the fields.

"Someone online bought an apple and left it for a week without going bad, and then complained that it was waxed or something. That's pure nonsense."

Gu Jia ate the last peanut and wiped her hands on Zhou Jing's butt.

"When apples are ripe, they have a layer of naturally formed wax on the surface, so they can be eaten directly."

"I see."

After looking at the scenery for a while, the two continued climbing the mountain.

"It's so comfortable. Only in the countryside can you feel the sunshine so kindly."

Walking on the narrow path on the hillside, breathing the fresh air under the blue sky and white clouds, the sun shining on her back made her feel warm and her body slightly itchy. Gu Jia felt indescribably comfortable all over.

This feeling can never be felt in the city.

"Have you applied sunscreen? The ultraviolet rays in my hometown are very strong."

Zhou Jing touched Teacher Gu's cheek and said.

"It's fine for a day or two. The dates on it are so big."

After returning to the countryside, Gu Jia no longer had the habit of using skin care products.

"The dates from the mountains are not tasty, they have little moisture and are hard, but they are delicious when they are ripe."

Zhou Jing picked a few for Teacher Gu.

Gu Jia took a bite and said, "It's not as sweet as the ones below."

After climbing up a winding mountain road, we reached a relatively flat area, where there was a deserted field. Standing on the ridge and looking into the distance, we saw endless yellow-headed mountain peaks, and the mountains in the distance were shrouded in a faint mist.

Every time he saw such a scene, Zhou Jing would think of a text he had learned called "What's on the Other Side of the Mountain?" At this moment, the real answer was in front of him. For the vast majority of children who were born and raised here, there were more mountains on the other side of the mountain. There was no road leading to the city, and if there was, it was a road leading to the construction site to move bricks.

Gu Jia picked up a piece of hard soil and threw it down the cliff, startling a few wild pheasants, which flew towards the opposite hillside with a cackle.

"Is this the pheasant that is stewed with mushrooms?"

Gu Jia clapped his hands and said.

"Yes, they are delicious. When I was a kid, I caught two pheasant chicks. One ran away, so I took the other to the county town and sold it to a classmate for five dollars."

Zhou Jing said as he put his arm around Teacher Gu's slender waist.

"You've had a business mind since you were a kid. What did you do with the money you sold?"

Gu Jia said with a smile.

“Buy coins at the game hall.”

When Zhou Jing was in elementary and junior high school, he was obsessed with the game arcade, and more than 80% of his change was given to the game arcade.

"Fortunately, your father was your homeroom teacher in junior high school, otherwise you would most likely not have been able to get into the Experimental Middle School."

Gu Jia pulled the boy's ear and said.

Zhou Jing also felt that the fact that his father was both the homeroom teacher and math teacher in junior high school did put a lot of pressure on him.

"What is that man digging on the hillside?"

Gu Jia noticed that there was a person digging something in the grass on the opposite hillside.

"Digging herbs, bupleurum, usually grows in damp places, there should be some over there."

Zhou Jing went to an area above where there was lush vegetation.

"be careful."

Gu Jia gave an instruction.

A moment later, Zhou Jing came back with a few bupleurum roots in his hand. He introduced them to Gu Jia, "This is bupleurum root. The root has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying. It is very effective to boil this in water when you have a cold or fever. A pound of dried bupleurum costs more than ten yuan."

"It's amazing, a bit like ginseng. If people in the countryside catch a cold, they can just look for this medicine."

Gu Jia picked up a piece of Bupleurum and smelled its leaves, then wiped the dirt off the roots and took a bite. It tasted bitter with a hint of sweetness.

"I don't know what this is called, a pound costs a few dollars, and its growing environment is opposite to that of Bupleurum. Bupleurum grows in shady and damp places, while this grows in sunny places."

Zhou Jing found another very common medicinal herb in his hometown. He dug it up with a stick and pulled out a medicinal root.

"This is so bitter. Is this what Shennong tasted like when he tasted hundreds of herbs?"

Gu Jia tasted the second herb and smiled.

"You can't just taste them. Some herbs are very poisonous. That one is liquorice. The root can grow this thick."

Zhou Jing found a licorice plant and grabbed the vine and pulled out a section. The root was as thick as his thumb.

"It seems that this place is very suitable for growing herbs. Planting them specifically should yield higher returns than growing crops, especially the wild jujube. The wild jujube tree has a high yield, is easy to plant, and is drought-resistant. Is there anyone in the village planting it?"

Gu Jia had only seen it in books before, but when she was there in person, she felt that the countryside was full of natural things that could be sold for money.

"No one grows them, so there are a lot of wild jujubes. From October to November, some people can earn thousands of yuan by picking wild jujubes."

Zhou Jing smiled and said, the land and water nurture the people, as long as you are willing to endure hardships, you can have basic living security living in the countryside without farming.

"This is called living off the land and living off the water."

As long as you don't get seriously ill, a few thousand dollars is enough for an ordinary country person's daily household expenses for a year or two.

Gu Jia picked up a dogtail grass and brushed it on Zhou Jing's neck, "Can you sing folk songs? Can you sing Xintianyou?"

"After a few words, I lowered my head and looked towards the ravine, chasing the passing years. The ravine was filled with wind and sand, and my childhood was nowhere to be seen."

Zhou Jing hummed a few lines.

"You have a beautiful singing voice. You will definitely be a good singer if you debut as one." Gu Jia searched for this song on her phone, turned down the volume and sang softly while looking at the lyrics: "Wild geese have heard my songs, the river has kissed my face, and the red hollyhocks have bloomed and fallen, over and over again."

Zhou Jing received a message from Bai Guimi on her phone. Bai Guimi and Liu Hanyu were on their way back to Yulin City. They were hungry and got off the highway in Yanchuan. They were going to Qingxian County to eat some pancakes.

[I am in the countryside. Should I go to the county town to meet you?]

Zhou Jing replied.

Bai Xiyao: [No, we’ll just eat some pancakes and leave]

Zhou Jing: [Take a rest, come visit my hometown and bring you some dates]

Bai Xiyao: [Not this time, I still have to send Liu Hanyu to her grandmother’s house]

【Then pay attention to safety】

"The mule leading the way, the three-lamp mule, with a bell on it, making a wailing sound."

After Gu Jia finished singing, Zhou Jing sang the next song.

Gu Jia looked at Gu Jia with a smile. The boy's singing of folk songs had a special charm, especially in this scene, basking in the sun on the hillside in the countryside, there was a kind of romance unique to a date between a country lover and a girl. Gu Jia couldn't sing in dialect, so she hummed a tune while recording a video for the boy. Although the folk songs were rustic, they were timeless. She usually didn't want to listen to them, but she felt they were very nice every time she heard them.

“What a beautiful folk song.”

The boy stopped after singing two paragraphs, and Gu Jia said with a smile.

"Folk song beauties are even more beautiful."

Zhou Jing picked two wild amaranth flowers from the roadside and put them on Teacher Gu's ears.

“Don’t pick wild flowers by the roadside.”

Gu Jia's smile became even brighter. She did not take off the wild flowers on her head, but opened the camera on her mobile phone to take a selfie.

Zhou Jing broke off a piece of dogtail grass, put his arm around Gu Jia's shoulders, and brushed the dogtail grass across Gu Jia's nose.

Gu Jia happily took a few selfies and said, "What other folk songs can you sing?"

"Sing this song, pairs of sheep, ya-mo-ya-mo and pat-tapping, walk away, when will the brother be able to hold his sister's hand?"

Zhou Jing searched for a song on his mobile phone music app and sang it with Teacher Gu.

"Brother, you have feelings, sister, I have feelings. You have feelings and I have feelings. We two will never be separated."

Gu Jia then sang the female version.

After basking in the golden autumn sun on the hillside for a while, the two got up and prepared to go home.

Gu Jia patted the dirt off his butt and said, "I want to go to the bathroom. See if there's anyone around."

"No."

Zhou Jing glanced around.

Gu Jia handed the phone to the boy and trotted to a flat ground. At first, she felt a little embarrassed to relieve herself anywhere in the countryside, but after getting used to it, she felt that it was very convenient to relieve herself in the wild in the countryside. There was no odor and it was much more comfortable than the toilets in the countryside.

Zhou Jing also went to the bathroom. When he got home, the child was still in his nap and Wu Suqin was making complementary food.

"You don't need to feed Zhou Zhou any complementary food today. We had a lot of mutton at noon."

Gu Jia looked at the child and said to Wu Suqin.

"Then you two can have some pumpkin."

Wu Suqin cooked the pumpkin and scooped half a bowl for each of her son and daughter-in-law.

"Go up and eat grapes."

The old lady washed a bunch of grapes from her own orchard and placed them on the table on the kang.

“This grape tastes great.”

Gu Jia picked up a half purple and half green grape. The grapes from her hometown were not big and looked average, but they tasted sour and sweet and were very delicious.

"I came back just in time to eat the grapes from my hometown during the National Day holiday."

Zhou Jing took a cotton swab specially for children, picked up a piece of grape pulp and put it into the child's mouth.

Gu Jia smiled and watched the child's reaction.

The little girl's first feeling should be that they were sour. She closed her eyes and shuddered, then smacked her lips, as if she was still unsatisfied. The grapes from her hometown are sour at first and sweet later.

Zhou Jing fed the child some more grape pulp. The little girl smacked her lips a few times and slowly opened her eyes.

"Awake?"

Gu Jia looked at the child and said with a smile.

"Hmm~"

The little girl just woke up and is not fully awake yet, babbling cutely.

"Did you dream of eating grapes?"

Zhou Jing picked up the little girl and kissed her cheek.

"Uh~"

The little girl yawned and laid her face against Zhou Jing in a daze.

"Are you hungry?"

Gu Jia rubbed the child's belly and said.

"Mom~"

The little girl looked at Gu Jia and called out in a baby voice while biting her lips.

"The baby is so good."

Wu Suqin kissed the child's hand.

"Where's my dad?"

Zhou Jing picked up the child and fed her with grapes.

"Let's go play mahjong across the street."

"Teacher Gu, do you want to play mahjong?"

Zhou Jing fed the child the grape pulp and fed the grape skins to Gu Jia.

"Do not want to."

Gu Jia is fine playing mahjong with his family, but doesn't want to play mahjong with outsiders.

The afternoon sun was shining brightly, and Zhou Jing heard the hens crowing in the chicken coop. He took the children to collect eggs. The rabbit was in a wooden box, so Zhou Jing went to see the rabbit first. There were radish leaves and green vegetables in the box. The little white rabbit was lying in the wooden box, basking in the sun.

"dudu~"

Seeing the rabbit, the little girl became excited.

"Little White, do you want to touch it?"

Gu Jia picked up the rabbit carefully.

"Ho~"

The little girl put her hand on the rabbit's back.

"Touch the rabbit like this. Are the rabbit's ears longer than Zhou Zhou's ears?"

Zhou Jing taught the little girl how to smooth the rabbit's fur.

"Ha~"

The little girl touched the rabbit's ears, and the rabbit's ears trembled.

“Will rabbits really bite when they are anxious?”

Gu Jia pinched the rabbit's lips with her fingers.

"Yes, it hurts."

After watching the rabbit for a while, Zhou Jing went through the gate to the courtyard.

When Ah Huang saw Zhou Jing, he didn't even bother to chew the bone Zhou Jing had thrown to him in the morning. He just wagged his tail and jumped around.

"Will it bite if I get close to it?"

Gu Jia wanted to touch the dog's head, but was afraid of being bitten.

"Whether the dog is well behaved or not, it's best not to get close when it's eating meat and bones."

Zhou Jing held the child in his left arm and used his right hand to block the dog's mouth so that Gu Jia could touch it.

Gu Jia stood a little behind Zhou Jing and carefully touched the dog's head and ears. The dog was warm in the sun and its fur was very nice to touch. Gu Jia touched the dog's head again and smiled, "Da Huang is so well behaved."

The old man expanded the area of ​​the chicken coop and allocated a vacant lot behind the coop and a room that used to store hay to the chickens, so that the chickens have plenty of space to move around.

On the middle shelf of the chicken coop is the chicken coop. On the inner wall, the old man built more than 20 small grids with waste wood. The grids are scattered and each grid is padded with thatch. It is the place where the hens lay eggs.

"The eggs are still warm. Lots of eggs."

Gu Jia came to the boxes where the hens laid eggs in the chicken coop and saw eggs in several boxes, some of which even had hens lying in them.

"Do you know what this is, cutie?"

Zhou Jing held the child and said to him as he stood in front of a box with two eggs.

Looking at the eggs, the little girl reached out to grab them.

"Touch this. The egg yolk you eat is from this."

Gu Jia held the still hot egg and let the child touch it.

"Ha~"

The little girl touched the egg with her little hands, but couldn't catch it.

Worried about affecting the hens' egg-laying ability, Gu Jia collected a few eggs and left the chicken coop.

"Zhou Jing is so promising that everyone in our village is proud of him. How many months old is the baby?"

The village secretary came with Zhou Guozhong to "visit" and his first words when they met showed his smoothness in officialdom. He praised Zhou Jing in a high-sounding manner and gave red envelopes to the children. It was obvious that he came prepared.

"I just turned eight months old today. Zhou Zhou waved to grandpa."

Zhou Jing knew the purpose without having to guess.

(End of this chapter)