Rebirth: Starting from a Trainee Teacher

Chapter 682 The Age of One Hundred Thousand Whys
In late August, before the end of summer, Zhou Jing and his family of three returned to their hometown for a vacation, and his mother and cousin also went back.

Zhou Jing and Gu Jia took turns driving and arrived in Qing County at around 5pm and went to their uncle's pancake shop to eat something.

After getting off the car, Zhou Jing held the child's hand. When they passed a fruit stall, the little girl reached out to half a watermelon on the stall without paying attention, grabbed the watermelon flesh and licked the watermelon juice on her fingers.

"You're so quick. Excuse me, weigh this half."

Gu Jia said apologetically to the owner of the fruit stall.

"It's okay, children don't understand."

The boss happily put the watermelon on the scale to weigh it.

“Is the watermelon sweet?”

Zhou Jingtao wiped the child's hand with paper and said.

"sweet."

The little girl said cutely.

"Pick me three more, and make sure they are ripe and sweet."

I always have to buy watermelons when I go back to the countryside, Zhou Jing said to the boss.

"Don't worry, this is authentic sweet potato, very sweet, try it."

The boss cut a small piece and said.

Zhou Jing wore a mask and let Gu Jia and his cousin taste it.

Gu Jia patted the child's head and said, "If you see something you want to eat, you must tell an adult. You can't do it yourself."

"If you make your own food and clothing, even if you tell adults, they may not buy it for you. Don't you think so, Mom?"

Zhou Jing said to his mother.

"That didn't make you hungry."

Wu Suqin pinched her son and said.

"You still want to make your own living. You teach your children this way." Gu Jia patted Zhou Jing and said to the child, "You can't take it yourself if your parents don't buy it for you. The boss will beat you if he sees it."

After paying the bill, they put the two watermelons in the car and took one and a half to my uncle's pancake shop. After eating some pancakes, Zhou Jing and his friends returned to the countryside.

The countryside in August is full of vitality, with green fields stretching across the city, tall willow trees with lush branches and leaves in the ditches, and dense trees on both sides shading the concrete road, making it a natural summer resort.

"What a beautiful view, isn't it?"

Gu Jia said while holding the child and looking out the car window.

"Momo~"

The little girl pointed at the yellow cattle grazing on the grass in the ditch and shouted.

"The yellow one is Moo, what's the white one?"

There are people grazing sheep in the ditch, Gu Jia pointed at the goats and said to the child.

"MeeMee~Mom, let's go find MeeMee to play~"

Goats are one of the little girl’s favorite animals, and it was very novel for her to see a real goat.

"Let's go to the master's house to play with Wangwang and Gugu. Do you want Wangwang?"

Gu Jia rolled up the car window and said.

"I wonder if there is a bae-mee in the master's house?"

The little girl was still thinking about the goat.

"If you like me, please let me raise two. Where are you going so late at night?"

Zhou Jing met an acquaintance, stopped the car and handed a cigarette out the window.

"My grandson is coming. I'll go to the car road to meet him."

The old man took the cigarette and said.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhou Jing drove away.

After hearing the phone call that Zhou Jing had entered the village, the old man drove his three-wheeled motorcycle to the intersection at the bottom of the slope and waited. Zhou Jing slowly stopped the car, touched the child's face and asked, "What should I call this old man?"

"master."

The little girl looked at the old man with her watery eyes and shouted.

"Are you tired after sitting in the car all day?"

The old lady said as she got out of the car with the child in her arms.

"I'm so tired~ Dad, give me a hug~"

The little girl stood on the ground and said like a little princess.

"You're tired after sitting in the car all day. Are you more tired after your dad drove you all day?"

Gu Jia looked at her daughter and said.

"e~ Then I'll go~"

The little girl jumped mischievously, walked up to Zhou Jing with steady steps and took his hand.

"Grandpa will hold you later."

Zhou Guozhong pinched the child's face and said.

"Do you know how to feel sorry for your father?"

Zhou Jing held the child in his left hand and moved the things from the car onto the three-wheeled motorcycle with his right hand.

"Hmm~ Dad, look at that~"

The little girl pointed at the mule pulled by the pedestrians and asked curiously.

"Mule is a relative of the little donkey. Remember the little donkey?"

Zhou Jing touched his daughter's head and said.

"I have a little donkey. I will never ride it again~"

The little girl is very familiar with donkeys because she often hears Zhou Jing sing "Little Donkey".

"This kid is really smart. How old is he?"

asked the man pulling the mule.

"Two and a half years old."

Zhou Jing took a pack of cigarettes from the car and handed one to the man. Zhou Jing didn't know the man and thought he came to the village to buy a mule.

"Would you like to drink some water?"

Gu Jia took the child's water cup from the car, closed the door and said.

"No~"

"If you don't want to drink, take it yourself."

Gu Jia hung the water cup around the child's neck.

"Dad, what is this?"

The little girl asked, pointing at the cornfield.

"Corn, the corn we eat is grown here. Does Zhou Zhou like corn?"

Zhou Jing held the child's hand, walked slowly and followed the child's small steps.

"Like it~"

"Grandpa, do you want to hold me?"

Zhou Guozhong squatted in front of the child and said.

"Hmm~"

The little girl leaned towards Zhou Guozhong consciously.

"Do you have long legs?"

Gu Jia patted the child's leg and said.

"Zhou Zhou's legs haven't grown well yet, and if he walks too much he won't grow taller."

Zhou Jing looked at his daughter and said.

"Just spoil her!"

Gu Jia patted Zhou Jing on the body and said.

"I'm not the only one who's used to it."

If Zhou Jing doesn't spoil his own daughter, who else will? There is only one child in the family, and both adults spoil him as much as they can.

"What are you planting this year, Mom?"

Wu Suqin said to the old lady.

"I planted some mung beans, millet, soybeans and so on. I planted a little bit of everything."

The old man and the old lady don't rely on farming to make money, they just want to make their own food more convenient.

Zhou Jing asked, "Is there a lot of rain this year?"

"Not much, but not too dry either."

"Dad Wangwang~"

When they got to the yard, the little girl heard a dog barking in the schoolyard and asked Zhou Jing to take her to see it. Zhou Jing led the little girl to the schoolyard, and the dog greeted her with the highest etiquette, wagging its tail and twisting its butt, jumping and then crawling on the ground, grunting, as if performing a kneeling ceremony. The old man modified the doghouse and used wooden stakes to make a large circle outside the doghouse, so that it could move more freely without being tied up.

"Wangwang,,,,, do you want to eat?"

Ever since the little girl learned how to communicate, she would ask questions about any animal she saw. She couldn't understand the animals' calls, and she didn't care whether the animals could understand human language or not.

"Can you understand what Wangwang is saying?"

Gu Jia rubbed the child's head and said.

"Wangwang is hungry~ Dad, let's feed Wangwang~"

The little girl pointed to the empty dog ​​bowl and said.

"You have good observation skills. Go with dad to get food for Wangwang."

Zhou Jing was about to go back to the house to get some bones, but when he saw the chicken coop, he decided to get some nearby. He went to the coop and collected two eggs, one for the child and one in the dog bowl, which the dog licked and sucked.

"Dogs really like to eat eggs. Does Zhou Zhou like to eat eggs?"

Gu Jia was worried that the child would break the eggs, so she held them herself.

"I like it, this one is for Wangwangqi too~"

The little girl grabbed Gu Jia's hand and said.

“What a great companion for the little animals.”

Gu Jia smiled and gave the egg to Zhou Jing.

"Zhou Zhou is Wangwang's little master."

Zhou Jing said as he beat the eggs into the dog bowl.

After feeding the dog two eggs, the little girl returned to the house contentedly. During the Chinese New Year, the child could not get on the kang by herself, but now she can climb up by stepping on a stool. When the child climbed up by herself, Zhou Jing took off his shoes, and Gu Jia washed her face and wiped the child's face with a wet towel. The little girl didn't like washing her face, so she hid beside the windowsill mischievously.

"Come and wash your face and hands. If you don't, you won't eat."

After Gu Jia's repeated calls, the little girl came over to wash reluctantly.

"There are more bugs in my hometown. If I don't wash my Xiangxiang, I'll be bitten all over."

Zhou Jing rubbed his daughter's grinning face and said.

"Dad won't let bugs bite me~"

"Bugs love to bite children with tender skin and flesh the most."

Zhou Jing washed up and went to bed to eat, feeding the child while he ate.

"Jia Jia goes up too."

Wu Suqin said to Gu Jia.

Gu Jia took off her shoes and sat next to Zhou Jing. She was not used to sitting cross-legged to eat, so she sat sideways.

"Mom, feed me~"

The little girl opened her mouth towards Gu Jia.

"Mom wants to eat too."

Gu Jia pretended not to feed him.

"Ah~"

The little girl hummed and stretched her neck in front of Gu Jia.

Gu Jia picked up a piece of meat and shook it near the child's mouth, making the child drool. But Gu Jia took it back and put it into her own mouth. The little girl babbled and was about to cry. Gu Jia ate the lean part herself and fed the fat part to the child. One of the advantages of having such a rice cooker is that Gu Jia can give the fat meat to the rice cooker.

After eating the fat meat fed by Gu Jia, the little girl smacked her lips and then let Zhou Jing feed her.

"The baby eats really well, is he picky about food?"

The old lady looked at the child and said.

Wu Suqin said: "I'm not very picky, unlike Jing who didn't like to eat vegetables when he was a child."

"I just remember that when I was a kid I didn't like steamed buns but noodles, and I liked fried noodles but not stewed noodles."

Zhou Jing said with a smile.

Gu Jia said, "You were really picky when you were little, but now you like steamed buns and stewed noodles."

Zhou Jing said: "There are many things I didn't like when I was a child, but I like them when I grow up. When I was a child, I didn't like coriander and onions, but now I like them all."

"I didn't like cilantro when I was a kid either." Gu Jia picked up a piece of cilantro from the cold dish and fed it to the child. The little girl ate it with relish. Gu Jia smiled and said, "Compared to the two of us, she is not picky about food at all. She can even drink BJ bean juice porridge."

"Children who are not picky about food are much easier to raise."

The old lady entertained the child while eating, and every time the child came back, she brought a lot of fun to the family.

"Want Want Want"

There was a sound of barking of a dog outside. The little girl sat in Zhou Jing's arms, shaking her head and following the barking. After barking a few times, she lay on the table and took a bite of rice from Zhou Jing's bowl. The white rice grains stuck to her face from the corners of her mouth.

"Dad~Wangwang, why don't you bark?"

The little girl raised her head and looked at Zhou Jing with her watery eyes and asked.

"When strangers approach, dogs are like our home security guards. They will bark when strangers come. Cats will catch mice that steal food, and dogs will guard the house. They are all good friends of humans. Humans should love cats and Wangwang, right?"

Zhou Jing patiently answered the child's hundreds of thousands of questions. After answering the child's questions, Zhou Jing used chopsticks to pick up the rice grains on the corners of the child's mouth and face and ate them himself.

"Hmm~ Bird is angry~"

Seeing a few swallows flying around outside the window, the little girl left Zhou Jing's arms, climbed to the window and shouted.

"That's the little swallow. Sing the little swallow. The little swallow is wearing a flowery dress."

Gu Jia gave the child a head start.

"Little boy, wear flowery clothes, nini come here in spring."

The little girl watched the swallows singing on the power lines.

"You're such a clever talker. Your father stuttered when he was a kid your age."

The old lady was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling.

"We taught them well. You didn't teach them anything when you raised them. They had to rely on themselves."

Zhou Jing and Gu Jia have been singing nursery rhymes and teaching their child to speak every day since he was born, which is definitely good for his language development.

After dinner, Zhou Jing took the child outside to play.

Gu Jia noticed the swallow's nest under the eaves and said, "Are these the same nest?"

"Yes, two parents and four little swallows."

There are a total of six swallows on the power lines. The young swallows have left the nest and come back every night to spend the night.

"In elementary school, we learned a text in which the phoenix taught other flying animals how to build a nest, but only the swallows learned it most seriously. Have you learned it?"

Gu Jia opened her cell phone and took two photos of Yan Zi.

"I've learned it. The little gecko borrows its tail, the tadpole looks for its mother, the bee leads the way, and the monkey tries to catch the moon."

Zhou Jing picked a hollyhock from the wall, tore off the petals and separated them from the end, and put a piece on the child's nose, forehead, and both sides of his face.

"When I was in primary school, I was most afraid of the Chinese teacher asking me to recite texts. There was a girl in the village named Xiaohua. Her name was Zhouzhou. This flower was more beautiful than many bonsais that I bought."

Gu Jia took two photos of the child, picked a flower and put the petals on Zhou Jing's face, and then took photos of the father and daughter.

Last year, Gu Jia collected hollyhock seeds from her hometown and planted them in the yard this year. The flowers are plentiful and easy to cultivate, and they are perennials, so there is no need to take care of them once they are planted. When the weather gets warmer next year, they will sprout on their own, grow branches and bloom again.

As the sun sets, farmers, shepherds and cattle herders return home one after another. From time to time, the originally quiet roads in the village are filled with the sounds of people talking and cattle and sheep calling, creating a unique lifestyle unique to the countryside.

"Dad bug~"

A bee was buzzing, and the little girl ran to Zhou Jing and put her face against him.

"Dad will protect you."

The only bad thing about summer in the countryside is the many mosquitoes. Zhou Jing went back to the house and took the child's floral water and rubbed it on the child's arms and legs. After rubbing the child's arms and legs, Gu Jia rubbed it on herself.

"There are more scorpions in this season. They come out at night and can be seen everywhere under fluorescent lights. There are people who specialize in catching scorpions at night, and they can earn several hundred yuan per pound."

Zhou Jing said with a smile.

"I'm very afraid of scorpions. The cat hole is blocked tightly and I can't get in. Can they crawl into the house through the crack in the door?"

Gu Jia's scalp tingled when she heard that there were scorpions everywhere.

“I can’t climb in.”

The walls and kang edges in the room were covered with tiles, so insects generally couldn't climb up. It was still early, so Zhou Jing sprayed insecticide on the corners of the walls and the corners of the tables and cabinets in the room where the family of three lived.

After staying outside for a while, the three of them went back to the old man and the old lady's room to watch TV. The TV was playing the news broadcast. The old men in the countryside seldom go out on weekdays but they like to watch the news very much. They gathered together to talk about the international situation and talked very knowledgeably.

"Jing has a lot of contact with the outside world. What is China's current military strength?"

The old man is very concerned about national affairs. He said this when the news broadcast a news report about the US military exercises in Asia.

"At present, conventional weapons are a little inferior, but no one dares to take real action against China just because of its status as a nuclear power. It seems that they are just going through the motions at our doorstep, and they dare not really guess the red line. The possibility of direct conflict between modern powers is basically zero. Not to mention us, they dare not even touch Chaoxian when he conducts nuclear tests from time to time."

Zhou Jing said to the old man.

The old lady asked, "Will it affect your company's business with them?"

"It doesn't affect it."

Zhou Jing took a sip of water and picked up his phone to check the messages. There was a message from Bai’s best friend on his work account.

[On September 15th, Tangdu held a technology development conference and invited our company to attend. The conference is of a high level and you are required to attend in person.]

(End of this chapter)