Age: My Small World

After dinner, the sky was already dark.

Yang Jun could only stay for one night, which reminded him of the time when he first stayed here.

In the blink of an eye, several years have passed, and this place is still the same as before.

The grass is just different now. It has grown a lot and become more sensible.

"Alas." Thinking of her being so sensible, Yang Jun sighed.

"Knock knock." There was a slight knock on the door. Yang Jun knew who it was without opening the door.

"Xiaocao, what's going on so late at night?"

He stood up, put on his clothes and opened the door.

There are only two rooms in this old house. This room is actually Niu Xiaocao's room, which was temporarily given to him to use.

"Brother Xiaoshan, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you today. I didn't expect you to come back."

Niu Xiaocao smiled a little embarrassedly, with a look of helplessness in his eyes.

"I told you last time I came here that I should study hard and I would come to see you again. How could I go back on my word?"

"By the way, why aren't you studying?"

Judging from her condition, it is clear that Niu Xiaocao has stopped studying. Perhaps it is because her grandmother is so sick that she has no time or energy to study.

Niu Xiaocao's face darkened for a moment. "I went to junior high school for one year, but the school was too far from home. I couldn't come back every time. So I decided not to go."

If she wanted to go to school, she would have to leave for the junior high school in the county town in the morning. The round trip would take at least several hours. Adding the time spent at school, she would have to go out early and come back late all day long and would have no time to help with housework.

During the year she was in junior high school, she went to school intermittently, and most of the time she had to help her grandmother with things, whether it was plowing the fields or chopping firewood, she did it all by herself.

These thin shoulders have shouldered too much for this family.

There are always people in big cities who yearn for a pastoral life. In fact, a pastoral life is a challenge to survival, not to mention that the conditions in the village are even more difficult these days.

The water supply conditions on these three mountains alone are enough to make a middle-aged man frown, not to mention the arable land, firewood, and harvesting crops.

Arable land can only be dug manually by people, who have to turn over acres of land with their bare hands, and then carefully break up the soil. If the land is too big, it will be difficult to grow crops.

In addition, when planting crops, you also have to carry manure and other things.

Nowadays, people mainly rely on fertilizers in the toilets. There are no compound fertilizers or anything like that. If there is any, only a few people can use it. Therefore, feces and urine are very valuable in rural areas and cannot be left outside.

If conditions permit, the animal's manure is often fermented by putting some weeds in their sheds. This way the manure can be taken out and used directly, and the effect is better.

The same goes for chopping firewood. Although Yang Jun usually handles this job with ease, it is actually not easy.

Most of the time, the dead branches on the ground would be picked up quickly by others, so if you wanted to get enough firewood, you had to chop it yourself with an axe, cut down the large dry trees, and then slowly break them down. This was a very physically demanding job, and men would sweat profusely doing this, let alone a little girl like Niu Xiaocao.

She is so old, but still thin. A big reason is that she doesn't have enough to eat and has to do heavy work.

The reason why the older generation is prone to hunchback is that they did too much heavy work when they were young, which bent their waists.

You work hard every day facing the earth and working hard, so you won't be thin.

"Xiaocao, I'm sorry. I haven't come to see you for so long. I didn't know about grandma's condition."

Yang Jun felt a little sorry that she didn't continue her studies, but he could also understand it.

"Brother Xiaoshan, you've been very kind to us. How can we keep bothering you?"

Niu Xiaocao shook his head.

"Besides, we still haven't been able to return the food you gave us."

She wanted to pay it back, but unfortunately she was unable to do so.

"How could I be short of that little bit of food? That's what your brother gave you." Yang Jun said unhappily.

Suddenly, Niu Xiaocao looked at him hesitantly: "Brother Xiaoshan, do you have a wife?"

But what she heard was: "Yes."

The girl's eyes drooped immediately.

"That's right. A guy as outstanding as Xiaoshan must be liked by many girls."

"Don't think too much, your future life has just begun."

Then he searched his pockets and pulled out some money.

He handed it over with both hands and placed it in Niu Xiaocao's palm.

"Use this money to treat grandma first. If it's not enough, come back to me. If there's any left, use it to live a good life. You're still too young to get married so early."

In fact, he intended to leave some spiritual water for the old lady, which might help her recover without taking any medicine, and she wouldn't have to go to the hospital for injections or medication. So all the money was given to Niu Xiaocao to help her improve her family's life.

As a result, the little girl quickly returned the money.

"No, no, Xiaoshan, we can't take your money."

Taking the food is fine, but taking the money is too much.

Yang Jun shook his head slightly: "Then you don't plan to cure grandma's illness?"

This one sentence made the little girl stop refusing. She turned her head with sore eyes, and then took the stack of money. It felt so heavy.

"Thank you, Brother Xiaoshan. I will definitely return the money to you later."

She said so firmly.

"Haha, let's talk about it when you grow up."

Yang Jun reached out and rubbed her little head.

She didn't shy away, but moved closer, muttering, "I'm grown up now. I'm not a child anymore."

Then she turned her head and looked at Yang Jun intently.

"Brother Xiaoshan, how about I sleep with you? I heard that men like to sleep with women and it feels very comfortable. I want you to feel comfortable too."

The little girl spoke naively, but Yang Jun couldn't help but hold his forehead.

"Where did you hear all this nonsense?"

He quickly shook his head, held Niu Xiaocao's shoulders and said seriously: "Xiaocao, a man and a woman must be married before they can sleep together. This is something they can only do after they are married. It's not allowed at other times. Do you understand?"

"Besides, you are too young. Doing this will damage your body and make you sick easily."

Although he himself did not do what he said, he was just simply giving this girl some basic physiological knowledge.

A young girl like Niu Xiaocao naturally didn't understand these things, but after hearing what Yang Jun said, she nodded in confusion.

"Brother Xiaoshan, I'll listen to you. I'll sleep with you when I grow up."

Well, she was only half obedient.

Yang Jun smiled helplessly.

"Anyway, you'll understand when you grow up. For now, just take care of yourself."

He had originally wanted to persuade her to continue attending school, but considering that classes would be suspended in a year or two, it seemed unnecessary. Besides, going from Santou Mountain to the county town was too far and would be a huge burden on her body. Perhaps it would be better for Niu Xiaocao to stay at home. (End of this chapter)