Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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However, the little bird was not thrown away after all. Jiang Sui carefully caught it and took it home. Jiang Shuisheng was still cleaning the mud from the medicinal materials in the yard.
“Dad, how do you raise birds?”
She held it carefully, and Jiang Shuisheng laughed when he saw it: “It’s snowing, where did you get the bird?”
Jiang Sui remembered the textbook “Young Truth” that she had studied – “Use a short stick to prop up a big bamboo plaque, scatter the grain, and watch the birds come to eat, you should only pull the rope tied to the stick from a distance, so that the bird is covered under the bamboo plaque.”
She estimated that this was how Chi Yan caught the bird.
She said: “Brother Chi Yan gave it to me.”
Jiang Shuisheng looked at it and said, “This seems to be a wild turtledove, if it is, then you can raise it. But if it’s a sparrow, you can’t raise it.”
Jiang Sui vaguely knew that sparrows had a fierce temper and were not a bird species that could be kept in a cage.
Jiang Shuisheng said: “It’s troublesome to raise turtledoves. Why don’t we use it to make soup to drink? It’s such a cold winter but I’m too lazy to make soup.”
Jiang Sui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She quickly took the bird back and said, “I’ll raise it.”
Jiang Shuisheng touched her head: “There is a pigeon cage in the grocery store. You can put it in it.”
Jiang Sui happily went to find a cage.
She was not overflowing with love, but as Jiang Shuisheng said, turtledoves could be used to stew soup in winter. Chi Yan always went to catch birds in the snow out of boredom. This was his ration, and he himself was not willing to eat it. How could she have the nerve to eat it?
This turtledove was skinny, Jiang Sui touched its head.
Let me make you fatter and then send you back. There’s really nothing I can do about it, Mr. Chi Yan’s life is not as comfortable as yours right now.
Chi Yan quickly walked to the door of his house, paused, and looked at the gloves in his hand.
These wool gloves looked very warm at first glance, but such a good thing had no effect on him. His hands were not pampered hands. There was always work for him to do. Wearing such precious gloves was not only inconvenient, but they could also get easily dirty and damaged.
Chi Yiming was still writing his homework in the room, and these fingerless gloves were perfect for students to do their homework.
However, for the first time he hesitated.
After a long time, he opened the zipper and put the gloves inside his jacket.
It was like a warm breeze from this winter had been carried away without leaving any trace.
After he entered the house, Chi Yiming quickly said: “Brother, you are back.” Then he closed the door to block out the cold air outside.
Chi Yan nodded and opened the bag. There was still a turtle dove in the bag that was motionless and resigned to its fate.
In fact, he and Chi Yiming had a much better time during the Chinese New Year. After all, every household ate well during the Chinese New Year. However, they were still young people. At the dinner table, Deng Yulian worked hard to serve her daughter meat and vegetables. Chi Yiming and Chi Yan each had a bowl of rice, no more.
Thus, they were all very hungry.
Chi Yan was growing taller, and he usually did physical work. He felt that his stomach was like a bottomless pit, and he could even eat three large bowls of dry rice.
The Zhao family gave him the same amount of food as raising a cat or a dog, so he was sometimes so hungry that he couldn’t sleep at night. The money in his family’s bankbook however could not be touched. Chi Yiming had not yet graduated from middle school, and they didn’t know how much it would cost for a child to study in high school, so if they wanted to eat, they had to think of a way on their own.
The two teenagers fetched water, pulled out the bird’s feathers and started a fire.
Chi Yan dug the earth hole and built an oven with bricks. Chi Yiming had already whittled the wood sticks and started roasting the skinny turtle dove.
There was heavy silvery snow outside, falling thickly on the treetops.
The turtle dove was roasted until it was golden, and the sebum was covered with oil. After being sprinkled with seasonings, the aroma was trapped in the small room. Chi Yiming stared at it and saw a ball of fire.
“Brother, each of us gets half.”
Chi Yan was silent for a rare moment, then said, “You eat, I’ve eaten.”
The two turtle doves were originally prepared for him and Chi Yiming, but they were just some meat for them during the Chinese New Year. However, the pair of gloves in his arms took away his turtle dove, and Chi Yan was unwilling to touch the remaining one.
Chi Yiming obviously didn’t believe it: “Brother, don’t lie to me. How could you eat by yourself first? I’ve had lunch and I’m not hungry. Let’s take half the meal each.”
Chi Yan said calmly: “I don’t have the strength. You eat first, I’ll eat when I’m hungry.”
After he finished speaking, he stood up, and without even looking at his brother and the turtledove, he started reading Jiang Xue’s junior high school textbook.
The alluring aroma of roasted turtle dove originally made people restless, and his Adam’s apple had been twitching, but the warmth in his arms made him calm down again.
Chi Yiming lowered his head and silently divided half of it. He picked up the other half and gnawed on it, finally getting a little New Year’s joy on his brows.
“Brother, I will be in sixth grade next year. I will study hard and let you live a good life. Let’s buy a bunch of roast duck and chicken legs, eat half and throw away the other half in the future. And Zhao Nan, just let her watch eagerly.”
Chi Yan was too lazy to pay attention to his childish thoughts.
“To be honest, why do you think this damn girl Zhao Nan is so ugly? She is yellow and thin. Deng Yulian feeds her so well, but she is still so ugly. She is uglier than the little cross-eyed girl in our class, but Zhao Nan still likes to stand next to Liang Qian’er, is she doing it to accompany others? Hahahaha.”
Chi Yan worked out the math problems and turned a page.
“Boys and girls in our class are very boring and very stupid. Every time they ask me for a problem, I really don’t want to say it, but it’s not good if I don’t say it. I always keep thinking about skipping a grade.” He paused and couldn’t help but lower his head and smile. After a moment, he said, “Stupid girl is the stupidest, you know what? She was sitting right behind me. Once I deliberately stood up slightly to block her view, so she also tried to sit up straight behind me, and she didn’t even know to tell me even though she couldn’t see.”
Chi Yan paused: “Who is the stupid girl?”
Chi Yiming said: “Jiang Sui.”
Chi Yan glanced at him, but Chi Yiming didn’t notice it at all. He said in a young boy’s unique bad tone: “She moves slowly. It takes an hour for her to write a small word. No wonder Liang Qian’er doesn’t even play with her. Well, didn’t you see that Liang Qian’er was good friends with her before?”
“You hate Jiang Sui?”
Chi Yiming, who was still talking nonstop, paused suspiciously when he heard the words, but remained silent.
Chi Yan understood.
His younger brother didn’t hate her. When he talked about the little girl at the back table, his tone was obviously cheerful.
Chi Yiming changed the subject: “I hate Zhao Nan.”
This topic was tacitly discussed and did not continue.
….
At the beginning of spring, the heavy snow had not yet melted, but Chi Yan returned to work at the motorcycle shop.
His boss was Wen Lei, a strong young man with a tiger tattoo on his arm. It was said that he stabbed someone and went to jail when he was young. But Wen Lei was very good at getting things done. He had such a terrifying past and was still very good at talking to people with a smile.
Wen Lei watched Chi Yan repair the bike from the side. The young man’s movements were very skillful. Wen Lei said, “Didn’t that fierce woman from the Zhao family ask you for money?”
Chi Yan kept his hands on his hands: “No, thanks to you Brother Lei.”
“Oh, why are you so polite? Everyone has their own difficulties in this world, and that woman is so inhumane. I think highly of you. You are so clever. If you work hard in the future, you will have a bright future as a young man.”
Wen Lei was telling the truth. When Chi Yan came here last year, Wen Lei was not very happy when he heard that he was thirteen years old. What could such a child do?
However, after two days of trial, Wen Lei completely changed his mind.
Chi Yan was very smart and could learn many things once taught. For others, it took several times to learn how to change a tire, but what about Chi Yan? He could figure it out once he got started by himself.
Chi Yan was a dull boy who stood by and watched while others were assembling the bike without saying a word several times.
Wen Lei asked him: “Yes? Come and try.”
Chi Yan hesitated for a moment and slowly began to assemble it.
The young man was diligent, studious and smart. Wen Lei could clearly see that such a person would not have no future in his life.
Chi Yan twisted the handle of the motorcycle, and the bike rumbled, and he said, “Okay.”
“Chi Yan, do you still want to go back to study?”
Chi Yan paused and said, “If I go back to school, I won’t be able to make money.” It seemed like this was not the answer given to Chi Yiming.
Wen Lei sighed: “Then study more, and you won’t have to worry about having too many skills in society.”
Chi Yan nodded.
Wen Lei laughed heartily: “When you get rich in the future, you will find a beautiful wife. Women’s bodies are so soft…” When he remembered that Chi Yan was only fourteen, he quickly shut up and clicked his tongue regretfully.
Chi Yan just smiled.
He sometimes wondered, what was life like for his younger brother in school? He never interrupted Chi Yiming when he was talking about school, so he knew that the vice-principal of Sunshine Elementary School was very cruel and liked to look out the window to see if the students had deserted; the head teacher was a stereotypical woman whose Mandarin was not standard; and the little fool as his brother called him …She seemed to be able to do those questions, but she couldn’t finish the exam.
The days of repairing bikes were too long. He looked forward to growing up this year and having broader shoulders, so there would be more roads.
After the arrival of spring, even the flowers were tenaciously emerging from the cracks in the rocks.
….
The sickly little turtle dove was lucky to survive the spring.
Every day when Jiang Sui went to school, she poked her head in the cage and looked around.
After raising it for a long time, she got used to its existence and developed some affection for it. Jiang Sui dragged it along from winter to spring, and then from spring to early summer. She was reluctant to give it back to Chi Yan to make soup.
She said hesitantly: “Keep it up, you’re not fat enough.”
The little turtle dove tilted his head and looked at her.
Jiang Sui said: “This winter, if they are still hungry, I will have to send you back.”
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