Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Learning to Ride a Bicycle
But I haven’t thought as deeply as the children.
I still have a desire to win my parents’ favor and a desire to earn respect from my brothers, so I’m secretly thinking that if my second or third brother ever comes to ask for it, I would share the secret recipe with them.
After all, they are my brothers.
But maybe I haven’t realized that they don’t need to beg. They just need to speak up, and my parents would confidently come and demand it from me.
I can’t refuse; if I don’t give it, I’d be considered unfilial.
And what about my family home with a large tiled roof?
What about my children?
I’m not even as wise as a twelve-year-old.
Is this true filial piety?
For the first time, Gu Ruhai reflected in this way.
Look at my in-laws’ family, treating me with heartfelt kindness, without the slightest calculation.
Even when Xiaoqing wants to share the craft with them, they consider profits for the children.
This is what a real family is like, not calculating gains and losses, but only having a wholehearted familial bond.
This time, my father-in-law and his family visiting us really caught me by surprise; they came out in full force to help us harvest wheat.
Moreover, when they arrived yesterday, even though it was dark, I knew they brought a bag of provisions. Frankly, they understand our difficulties and didn’t intend to take advantage of us.
They even thought about the meals.
This is what a real family is.
Gu Ruhai told myself to think more in the future, at least for my wife and children.
Don’t always be so biased and gullible.
Don’t always practice foolish filial piety.
I need to shoulder the responsibilities of this household. I’m a man who should be sheltering my children and wife from the hardships, not letting a slim little shoulder always shield me.
Looking at Gu Xiaoqing doing homework on the table inside the house, Gu Ruhai felt his face burning.
That night, because Han Xue and Liu Fen joined us, Gu Ruhai’s household couldn’t accommodate everyone, so Gu Ruhai led Li Weimin and Li Weiqiang to Mr. Xue at the village head, where they temporarily stayed for the night.
Mr. Xue lived alone in a two-room house. Though draughty, it was spacious, and being autumn, it wasn’t too cold yet.
The three of them stayed there for one night.
Early the next morning, Gu Ruhai and Li Weimin, and Li Weiqiang returned.
Gu Ruhai needed to go out with Li Xuemei to do business, and the last bit of work in the field needed wrapping up.
Thankfully, early in the morning, Gu Xiaoqing and Gu Xiaoying were already up, swiftly preparing breakfast for the whole family, and even fed the chickens, ducks, and pigs.
Once Li Xuemei, Gu Ruhai, and Gu Xiaoying were sent off, Li Qinghai’s family headed to the field too.
The last bit of work was left.
For lunch, wanting to revisit the process from yesterday, this time Gu Xiaoqing stood by and watched as Han Xue and Liu Fen took on the cooking themselves. After the meal, Li Qinghai and his family found the taste almost exactly right.
During the cooking process, Gu Xiaoqing imparted quite a few secret details of the recipe. Starting with the ingredients of the stock; good stock really depends on its preparation, and the preparation is a stunning piece crafted by a master chef after extensive research.
Gu Xiaoqing definitely revealed years ahead of expertise to them, but regarding this matter, Gu Xiaoqing explained to Han Xue and Liu Fen quite thoroughly, giving them an intuitive protection of the secret recipe.
After lunch, Li Qinghai and his family went back.
The primary concern was that the Li family’s wheat hadn’t been harvested yet.
Li Qinghai and his family prioritized helping Gu Ruhai’s side first.
The men in the Li family are quite capable, skilled hands for fieldwork.
A lot of farmers at this time were still relying on the harvest for survival; the difference in field quality was quite significant.
Currently, the yield per acre was just about four to five hundred jin, not like the modern era where it’s thousands, even one thousand several hundred jin per acre.
Those are results of chemical fertilizers boosting the growth, yielding excellent numbers.
But now, that’s definitely not the case.
Like Gu Ruhai’s household, this time they harvested four thousand eight hundred jin of wheat, without husking.
A portion was submitted as public grain; the public grain was compensated with certain government-set prices.
Gu Xiaoqing estimated that at least two thousand four hundred jin of wheat was gone.
The remaining wheat was ground into flour for family business use, at least saving on purchasing white flour.
This somewhat cuts down some expenses.
The leftover wheat straw from the field was all collected and stacked in one corner of the yard, serving as firewood for winter heating.
This is something many farm families here must have.
After sending off Grandpa and the family.
Gu Xiaoqing ran into Gu Juying who came looking for her.
I originally planned to go find Gu Juying to learn how to ride a bicycle, but with Grandpa’s arrival, I had long forgotten about it.
Gu Juying directly came over with her bicycle.
The two decided to head out together to the threshing ground to learn to ride a bicycle.
The ground there is spacious and flat, a great place for learning to ride a bicycle.
Actually, Gu Xiaoqing can already ride.
But isn’t there a need for a pretext?
When they got there, Gu Juying set up the bike stand and began explaining in detail how to ride it to Gu Xiaoqing.
There was no one on the threshing ground; people were still busy harvesting wheat and hadn’t finished yet, so no one was there.
The earliest busy period would be in a few days.
Gu Xiaoqing imitated Gu Juying’s steps, holding onto the handlebars, kicked the stand with one foot, stepped on the pedal with one foot, and pushed off with the other foot, then quickly mounted as the bicycle moved forward, pedaling rapidly.
The bicycle circled around the spacious threshing ground.
Gu Juying initially started nervously directing from the side: "Over here, over here, Xiaoqing, pay attention, careful, careful."
"Brake!"
Later, looking at Gu Xiaoqing’s adept control, she didn’t need directing anymore, and felt a bit deflated.
Originally, she was excited to show off her skills, thinking that Gu Xiaoqing was good with studies, often helped her with tutoring, and learned together.
This might be her chance to flaunt some capability, after all, not many families in the village had bicycles.
Even among those who had, only a few owned bicycles.
Bicycles weren’t items easily bought just with money.
She thought she could teach a friend on this, thus making herself appear less useless.
It turned out it would’ve been better not to come; this was demoralizing.
She remembered vividly her own struggles learning to ride, falling off countless times.
Two brothers following behind, their hearts racing frightfully from her antics.
Here Gu Xiaoqing did it so well, hopped on, pedaled twice, and mastered it.