Back to my 1980s

"Open the door! Open the door!" Song Zhiqiang pounded on his small, dilapidated door with great joy.

Seeing how loudly he was knocking on the door, Zhao Hua frowned slightly and said softly, "Keep it down. The neighbors are all asleep. If you keep yelling like this and wake them up, they'll scold us."

Song Zhiqiang raised an eyebrow, grinned smugly, and said, "It's alright, who dares to bother me!"

Zhao Hua thought to himself: "Is it because nobody cares about you? It's because no one wants to step in dog poop. But I guess this kid is just a little excited about catching two pheasants tonight, that's why he's so ostentatious."

After waiting at the door for a while, he heard footsteps coming from inside. The door bolt opened, and Song Zhiqiang picked up the pheasant he was holding, showing it to himself, and said, "Xiaoping! Look what this is!"

Song Xueping's sleepy eyes immediately filled with surprise and delight as she laughed, "You actually caught them? Two of them?"

Song Zhiqiang raised his eyebrows, glared at Song Xueping, and said, "Who do you think you are? When have I ever come back empty-handed after going somewhere?"

Song Xueping glanced at Zhao Hua, let Zhao Hua, who was following behind Song Zhiqiang, in as well, and then muttered under her breath, "All you do is brag. You caught one but never brought it home. I've never even seen what pheasant meat looks like."

Song Zhiqiang had already gone inside and didn't hear Song Xueping's words. However, Zhao Hua came in a step later. Upon hearing this, he raised the pheasant in his hand, grinned, and mouthed to Song Xueping, "I'll leave it for you to eat tomorrow."

Unfortunately, Song Xueping simply nodded expressionlessly, looking very serious. She didn't respond to his words or play any flirtatious games with him. After he entered the room and bolted the door, she went into the inner room.

If I hadn't tripped over the threshold as I entered, I would have really thought this young lady was completely unfazed.

Zhao Hua was very open-minded; the more she avoided suspicion, the more it meant she had feelings for him. If she didn't have feelings for him, why would she avoid suspicion to this extent?

Zhao Hua chuckled and swung the chicken in his hand as he entered the house.

"Xiaoping! Xiaoping!" Song Zhiqiang shouted from the main room, holding a pheasant in his hand. "Find me something to put the pheasant in! Where am I supposed to put it? If I leave it on the ground, it'll be covered in droppings when I wake up tomorrow morning."

Hearing Song Zhiqiang's shouts, Song Xueping had no choice but to crawl out of the inner room again. Seeing that Song Zhiqiang only wanted her to use the pheasant as a prop, she rolled her eyes in annoyance and said, "Why don't you just find a rope, tie it up, and put it at the alley entrance!"

"Can you look for it for me? I don't know where I put it."

"..." Song Xueping pursed her lips, pulled out the two ropes that were placed behind the door, and handed them to Song Zhiqiang and Zhao Hua.

Zhao Hua took the rope, tied up the pheasant, and threw it to Song Zhiqiang. This wasn't his own home, so it was better to leave it to him to handle.

Song Zhiqiang took the rope, carried the chicken out, and tied it in the small passageway between the main room and the kitchen. After tying it up, he clapped his hands and brought in a basin of cold water from the yard.

Song Xueping glanced at Zhao Hua, blinked gently, and then turned and went into the inner room.

Zhao Hua and Song Zhiqiang washed their feet and went straight to bed; they were really tired from running around all day.

……

……

The next morning.

As dawn broke and the sky began to lighten, the courtyard was quiet except for the occasional flapping of wings by a pheasant.

The curtain to the inner room was gently pulled open a crack, and Song Xueping quietly walked out, carefully unlatching the door and stepping out of the room.

A moment later, the sound of brooms sweeping the ground could be heard coming from the yard.

Hearing the sound of sweeping, Zhao Hua slowly woke up, looked up and glanced outside. It was still early. He then glanced at Song Zhiqiang, who was still fast asleep.

Zhao Hua is used to getting up early because he fishes at home, and it's almost time for him to get up now.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hua rubbed his eyes, got dressed, and got up to go out and see who was sweeping the floor outside.

As soon as they stepped outside, Zhao Hua saw Song Xueping sweeping the floor with a broom almost as tall as herself. He quickly stepped forward, pressed the broom down, and said with a smile, "Let me sweep, you go do something else."

Song Xueping was startled by Zhao Hua's sudden appearance. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it was Zhao Hua. She glanced at Zhao Hua and smiled, "I can handle this. You go wash your face first. I just heated up the food in the kitchen, so you'll have to wait a while before eating."

Zhao Hua couldn't just stand by and watch her work. The yard wasn't small, and sweeping it would be tiring, so he smiled and said, "It's alright, you go ahead and do your work. Leave this to me. Do you really think I can't even do this little thing well?"

Song Xueping tried to pull the broom out of her hand, but found that Zhao Hua was holding it too tightly and she couldn't budge it at all. She could only say helplessly, "Alright then, just sweep it casually. I'll go cook first, and I'll need to boil some water later." As she spoke, she glanced back at the pheasant that was still flapping its wings and said, "We'll need hot water to kill the chicken later."

Zhang Hua smiled and nodded at her. Song Xueping put down the broom and handed it to Zhao Hua. She stared at Zhao Hua for a moment before going into the kitchen to prepare the meal.

Zhao Hua was busy sweeping when Song's mother returned. As soon as she entered, she saw Zhao Hua sweeping and quickly grabbed the broom, laughing, "Why are you sweeping here? Why didn't you sleep a little longer? Where's Xiao Ping? Where's Qiangzi? Is Qiangzi awake yet?"

Seeing that the broom had been snatched away, Zhao Hua looked around and saw that the area was almost completely cleaned, so he didn't take it back. He smiled and said, "Brother Qiang is still asleep. Xiao Ping is busy preparing breakfast in the kitchen. She said she'll boil some water later."

"Why are you boiling water so early in the morning? Did you borrow a flashlight last night?" Song's mother suddenly remembered that they had gone out to catch pheasants with a flashlight last night and hurriedly asked.

Zhao Hua laughed and said, "I couldn't borrow one. Brother Qiang's friend said the flashlight was taken to the wheat field."

Upon hearing this, Song's mother looked puzzled and asked, "Then why boil water so early in the morning?"

Fearing that Song's mother might misunderstand, Zhao Hua quickly explained, "We bought a bunch last night and caught two pheasants." As he spoke, he pointed out the pheasants that were still tied up at the entrance of the alley to Song's mother.

When Song's mother saw the two pheasants, her eyes lit up, and she exclaimed with delight, "Oh my! You actually caught them!"

After saying that, he put the broom in his arms, clapped his hands and laughed, "Alright! I was originally thinking of coming back early to buy groceries to treat you, but now these two pheasants are enough. I'll go buy some more groceries later to make it more special."

Zhao Hua quickly smiled and said, "Auntie, just eat whatever you have at home, no need to spend money. If you're always so polite, I really won't dare to come again next time. Every time I come, I make you spend so much money. Auntie, do you not want me to come often?"

"Chengcheng, you're welcome. Come inside and sit for a while. Why are you up so early? You don't have anything to do." As she spoke, she swept the last bit of fallen leaves and dirt together.

Seeing this, Zhao Hua picked up a winnowing basket and helped Song's mother shovel away the dust. Song's mother urged him to sit down for a while, but he ignored her and continued to help. She smiled and stared at the young man in front of her without stopping him.