Before long, Li Shuren fell asleep.
Li Haochen walked into the house, grabbed a blanket, covered him, and then went home.
Pushing open the door, everything in the house was as before, without a trace of change. The only difference was the absence of nagging, the absence of love.
Making tea and changing cups, his emotions fluctuated frequently.
After a long while, he opened all the doors and windows. Rays of sunlight shone in, and a gentle breeze blew, dispelling the gloom.
Today was the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month, the day for thorough cleaning. Although the house had been cleaned spotlessly by Li Dehai and the others, it was still his own home, and some things had to be done personally.
The weather was excellent. Li Haochen took out the duvet covers, pillowcases, and mosquito nets, bringing them to the courtyard, and took out the old big red plastic basin.
Looking at the plastic basin, Li Haochen smiled. Childhood memories instantly surged forth.
"You child, stop splashing water, you've splashed me all over."
"Your dad, bring the rattan cane..."
"Alas...!"
Li Haochen sighed heavily, and it took him a good while to recover.
He picked up the duvet covers and pillowcases, put them into the large basin, poured in some detergent, added half a basin of water, took off his shoes, rolled up his pant legs, and stepped in to stomp.
Soon, the basin was full of white foam. Stomping on the quilts was quite fun.
After changing four or five basins of water and stomping until there was no more foam, he started wringing and hanging them to dry. In such dry, windy weather, they would be completely dry by afternoon.
After finishing these tasks, Li Haochen cleaned the house inside and out before leaving with satisfaction.
At this time, every household was doing a major cleaning. The village roads were quiet, with only a few guardian dogs, a big yellow and a small black, and the carefree children playing.
Seeing Li Haochen walk by, they were naturally happy because he always brought back a lot of candies and snacks for them.
After receiving the candies, their sweet little mouths could make one's mood pleasant all day long.
He walked out of the end of the village and headed towards the nearby desolate land.
A few minutes later, what met his eyes was no longer the desolate land of the past. The entire area had been neatly planned. To Li Haochen's surprise, the coconut saplings had grown so well. They were already as tall as a person after only a little over a month since planting.
At the base of each coconut tree, a breathable, weed-proof film of several square meters was laid, greatly reducing the rate of water loss and also reducing daily management tasks like weeding.
The area for planting coconut trees in Li Haochen's village was not very large, only about ten thousand trees. However, their village was now thriving in multiple areas, coupled with his uncle's soon-to-be-operational local specialty processing plant. By then, every household in their village would be well-off.
After walking around, Li Haochen was very satisfied. Returning home, he grabbed some nuts, lucky candies, and preserved plums, then rode his little Aimai to the city.
Last time, it was a happy accident. Forgetting to bring the little Aimai back was fortunate. See how convenient it was for going out? He could go wherever he wanted, and the battery was more than enough for a round trip to the city, so there was no need to worry about running out of power on the way back.
Arriving in the city, Li Haochen found a high-end fruit shop and bought a fruit basket. Perhaps because it was the New Year, the prices were outrageously expensive. For just a bunch of sunshine grapes, dragon fruit, apples, guavas, oranges, and tangerines, a fruit basket cost 388.
There were even more expensive ones, but Li Haochen didn't buy them. It wasn't because he was unwilling to spend, but because the expensive fruit baskets simply contained more lucky candies and the like, which he already had. There was no need to duplicate them.
Soon, Li Haochen arrived downstairs at his homeroom teacher Liang Qiujin's house. He had already called, and she was home.
"Knock, knock~"
Liang Qiujin, who was rolling out dumpling wrappers, heard the knock and guessed that Li Haochen had arrived. She wiped her hands on her apron and went to the door. Looking through the peephole, she saw him indeed.
Opening the door, she saw Li Haochen carrying many things and was a little unhappy. "Look at you, didn't I tell you last time, you don't need to bring anything when you come to see me, you just don't listen, you deserve to be punished."
Li Haochen put down the fruit basket and gifts, took a step forward, and hugged Liang Qiujin. "Teacher, I missed you."
"You child, hurry inside. I'm making your favorite pork dumplings. Eat a lot later."
"Really? Then I have to eat until I'm full."
Li Haochen put down the gifts, went over, washed his hands, wiped them dry, and then busied himself. "Teacher, is Xin Jie not back?"
"Her? She's celebrating the New Year in Modu this year and won't be back until the sixth."
Mentioning this, Liang Qiujin felt a hint of sadness. It was the New Year, and she was alone, feeling very lonely.
"Teacher, if Xin Jie stays in Modu from now on, will you go too?"
"Me?"
Liang Qiujin stopped, looked outside, and sighed, with a hint of forced laughter. "The environment there is not very suitable for me. Home is better."
"Teacher, after the New Year, would you like to come and stay with me in Binhai for a while?" Li Haochen wasn't just saying it; he genuinely wanted Liang Qiujin to come and stay.
"I'm very touched by your thoughtfulness. I'll let you know when I feel like going, hehe!"
Li Haochen stayed at Liang Qiujin's house for a long time. By the time he left, it was already dark. He didn't have anywhere else he wanted to go, so he headed home.
Back home, he quickly put away the duvet covers and mosquito nets he had hung out in the morning, otherwise, if there was frost in the morning, he would have to wash them again.
This year, the twelfth lunar month was a short month, so tomorrow, the twenty-ninth, would be New Year's Eve. There were many things to do on this day. Li Haochen took a shower, chatted with Murong Yanran for a while, and then went to bed early.
The next day, Li Haochen got up at five o'clock. He had no choice, as he needed to buy pork. If he waited any longer, he wouldn't be able to buy it.
Selling pork in the countryside was different from the city. There was no market as such. It was done by those "pork vendors" who rode motorcycles with large wooden boards attached to the back and two large bamboo baskets hanging underneath.
One route would pass through several villages. Sometimes, when business was good, by the time they reached the villages further down the road, only scraps would be left.
Li Haochen came out without washing up because he could already hear the calls. He had to hurry.
"Buy pork..."
At the banyan tree at the entrance of the village, many people were already waiting to buy pork.
At this moment, the calls had stopped, indicating that the vendors were doing business at the upper village.
After about ten minutes, the distinctive calls sounded again, and they stopped at the spot where Li Haochen and the others were standing two minutes later.
Fortunately, there was still quite a bit of pork, so there was no fear of not being able to buy any.
Li Haochen bought two cuts of premium meat, some spare ribs, and two large bones, then left.