"Grandpa, Uncle said that no matter what we do in the future, we must learn farm work. He said his goal is to let us understand what real life is."
Beside him, Shi Tou immediately laughed and joined in, "My Aunt also said, to be fair, when summer vacation comes, she will have Ping’an and them come back.
She won’t need us to do any heavy labor, as long as we learn how to farm, know how to gather herbs, and know how to collect mountain goods.
She said her purpose is similar to Uncle’s, trying to teach us self-reliance while letting us realize what it means to live a grounded life."
As the two grandsons spoke, Mr. Zhang’s face gradually broke into a smile, "Did you promise?"
"Absolutely! My Uncle also gave us many examples. Brother, if you’re not working, you’ll have to come back to the team to help out, I’ve promised for you."
Seeing his brother say this, Zicong laughed too: "Uncle said, once you’ve got mud on your legs and the girls don’t mind, you can enter the candidate list for Big Brother’s wife."
"Right, it’s just a candidate, Uncle said you’re still young, no need to rush into finding a partner. He was stuck; if he didn’t catch Aunt, his wife would have run away."
As these words fell, everyone covered their mouths in stifled laughter, all looking at the blushing Zhang Ziwen. They all knew that many families had their eyes on the older cousin.
Zhang Ziwen looked at the amused Mr. Zhang, "Grandpa, my Grandma is still outside, you’ll have to take the things with you, we still have to go for a run early tomorrow."
"Silly boy."
Watching the kids enjoy the show about the eldest nephew, Mr. Zhang dropped his idea of saying a few words about his grandson’s marriage. He pointed to the pile of stuff, "Move it over."
The children looked at each other, all tightly packed, wondering why their Grandpa wasn’t taking it home to sleep. Nonetheless, Zhang Mingzuo obediently pushed it forward.
Mr. Zhang patted the edge of the kang, scanned around the kids, "I have an idea, can you see if it works?"
Whether it works or not doesn’t matter!
Xi Zi and his group quickly nodded, waiting quietly for him to speak.
"These things, I don’t suggest you hold onto them for future separation, nor do I suggest each of the younger ones gets a share. Money is a good thing, but it’s also bad; you should know how many families start fighting over uneven distribution when separating..."
Xi Zi frowned, looking at Zhang Ziwen. The cousins knew there was more to come, each calming their younger brothers down to listen to the elders finish speaking.
"Grandpa, just tell us what you decide. We’ll all listen to you; it’s better not to have it if it causes discord among us brothers over these external possessions."
As Xi Zi spoke, a few younger ones couldn’t help but chime in.
"Yes, Grandpa, we’ll all listen to you."
"Grandpa, if it’s hard for you, just deal with it as you see fit, we won’t obsess over these things."
"Big Brother is right, even without these things, each of us can support ourselves. We brought them back because we were worried they’d be wasted."
Mr. Zhang carefully observed their expressions, nodded silently, and waved his hand. Once they quieted down, he touched his tobacco pipe.
Is he troubled?
The brothers sneaked glances at each other but dared not make a sound.
"I guess your Aunt sorted it for you; besides worrying you don’t know good from bad, she’s probably also considering having you boys sort it now to prevent future complications."



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