Chapter 12: The Jia Family’s Character Emerges

After returning home, Wang Yuanchao dug out a few silk handkerchiefs that his mother treasured very much from the closet in his parents' room. He washed his hands again and again before taking out a few small bags of stockings from the space, taking more flesh-colored ones and two pairs of each of the other three colors. He wrapped them with silk handkerchiefs and put them back into the space.

You hardly see plastic bags outside these days, so using silk handkerchiefs for packaging is just the right thing to do.

He had nothing to do and wanted to show off his cooking skills, but he couldn't do it. There was no food at home, and as for buying food, he had no money and no tickets.

Since he couldn't check his phone, Wang Yuanchao had to run to his eldest brother's room, find a book and take it out to read, just to kill time.

How can I describe it? In the past, when there were no mobile phones, when I was squatting on the toilet, I wanted to read every word of the advertisements in the gap between the newspapers I used to wipe my butt.

I didn’t dare take the thick ones and only picked a thinner one, “Songtou Gejue·Volume 1”. At least it has the word “song” in its name, so I chose this one.

Since he was just killing time, Wang Yuanchao started reading from the introduction.

The origin of the rhyme is introduced. In the 33rd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty, an 80-year-old Chinese medicine doctor named Wang Ang summarized the ancient prescriptions of his predecessors and sorted them into 20 categories and 320 famous prescriptions. The rhyme was compiled in the form of seven-character poems, and the name, medication, indications, and additions and subtractions of each decoction were written into the rhyme. The content is concise and the rhyme is neat.

It can be regarded as a model of statement in the field of traditional Chinese medicine.

This made Wang Yuanchao think of "Thousand Character Classic". He felt a bit like that. If his skills were not deep enough, he would not have this ability.

The first chapter is about the tonic, Sijunzi Decoction:

Four Gentlemen Decoction is harmonious and righteous.
Compared with ginseng, tangerine peel, tuckahoe, and licorice,
Yi named the Six Lords Xia and Chen.
Expectorant, Qi-boosting, Yang-deficiency bait,
Banxia has a unique effect on removing the pathogens.
Or add fragrant sand to treat stomach cold.

Deep down, Wang Yuanchao found it boring and resisted it, but he couldn't help but read it a few more times before starting to memorize the next poem.

He was so immersed in it that his elder brother Wang Sheng stood behind him for a long time without noticing it.

It was the second brother Wang Heping who came back with a chuckle. Seeing the strange appearance of the eldest and third brothers standing and sitting, he shouted:
"Wang Sheng, Yuan Chao, what are you doing?"

Then, Wang Sheng and Wang Yuanchao both looked at the unreliable second brother.

Wang Sheng ignored him and said to Wang Yuanchao:
"Third brother, are you interested in Chinese medicine? I see you are fascinated by it."

Wang Yuanchao had never expected that he was so obsessed with reading medical books. He wanted to shake his head, but he still said honestly:

"I had no books to read, so I just found one from my elder brother."

Wang Sheng also felt that his third brother was gifted. He was so bored that he didn't go out with the second brother and stayed at home reading medical books.

But then I thought that the third brother should go to the street to find a job today, could it be?
He immediately asked with concern:

"You can read my book if you want. But how is your job search going today?"

He was afraid that his third brother would be hurt, so he turned to reading medical books. However, studying medicine was too difficult. He memorized a lot of medical books and thought he was well knowledgeable. However, until now, he has not even mastered the art of taking a pulse. It is really, really, really shameful.

[There are many people who can recite medical books but cannot feel a pulse, so Chinese medicine is difficult]

The second brother, Wang Heping, saw that he was being ignored and said unhappily:
"The third child has signed up for the art troupe. He'll go get the registration receipt on Wednesday and take the exam on Friday. Hey, Yuan Chao, weren't you reading music scores at home? Why are you reading Wang Sheng's medical book?"

Wang Yuanchao glared at his second brother in anger. If you hadn't been missing for a day, he would have bought the book to review the music score, right? !

But it was a blessing in disguise. If he had not had no money to buy books, he would not have gone to find Teacher Cao, nor would he have gone to the Children's Palace, and he would not have happened to meet the person who gave him his first pot of gold.

Forget it. There's no point in arguing with someone like my second brother.

"I saw the word 'song' in the title, so I flipped through it and found it quite interesting."

At this, both brothers burst out laughing.

The eldest brother knew that this song was not the same as that one, and the second brother thought that the third brother had become bad again after his brain was awakened? After all, he had never seen Wang Sheng sing a song.

The younger sister poked her head out. She had also returned early, but seeing that the third brother was reading a book in the main room, she did not dare to disturb him and went to his room to do homework. The eldest brother did not say anything and started to clean up the dinner. Father was coming back tonight, so it must be a little richer.

Not long after, my mother came back on her bicycle with a vegetable basket made of a woven belt hanging on the handlebar, which was full of vegetables.

My mother never leaves her bicycle in the yard; she always pushes it into the house.

Wang Li hurried forward to help his mother carry the vegetable basket.

Wang Heping, contrary to his usual behavior, helped his mother lift the bicycle.

The mother looked at her second son in surprise: Didn't he go to the farm? Why is he still at home? He wanted to please her by helping her lift the bicycle? It seems that she was not ruthless enough, and Wang Quan had to teach her a lesson!
The mother didn't pay much attention. After parking the car, she began to instruct her younger sister to pick vegetables, her older brother to bring water, and she to wash and cut the meat.

That piece of white fat meat must weigh at least two kilograms!
These days, the monthly ration for each person in the city was 8 taels of meat coupons, and the price of meat was 6-7 cents per pound.

Wang Yuanchao searched his memory and realized that his family had never wasted the fixed quantity. The main point was to buy less frequently and buy large quantities each time.

When eating noodles, add a little bit of meat oil with chopsticks, it is so delicious that you can't wait to lick the bowl clean.

If two grains of oil residue are missing one day, the mother will know which kid did it.

After all, what the uncle next door said is very true: if you have enough food to eat and enough clothes to wear, you will be poor, but if you don’t plan well, you will be poor.

The Wang family is neither as stingy as the third uncle's family, nor as ruthless as the second uncle's family. The Wang family values ​​fairness and justice, but if you don't live up to your expectations, there's nothing we can do.

My second elder brother dropped out of junior high school, but he also spent a few years leisurely at home, didn’t he?
The aroma of fatty meat spread to the central courtyard, and the Jia family became uneasy.

The "King of Thieves" Bang Geng started to throw tantrums at home and demanded meat.

The sound was so loud that it could be heard clearly in the front and back yards.

Bang Geng howled for more than ten minutes. Qin Huairu had not returned from get off work yet, so Jia Zhangshi could only coax him:

"My dear grandson, when Silly Zhu comes back, go get his lunch box!"

Bang Geng Dao:
"It's not like Shazhu's lunch box has meat every day!"

Jia Zhang said:

"Maybe it's available today? How would you know if you don't check it out?

Stop howling. There are two clever ghosts in the front yard, and they are both heartless.

It is impossible for a meticulous ghost to buy meat. It is impossible for a heartless person to cry until tomorrow and no one will come to comfort you.

It would be bad if you cried out your throat.”

Bang Geng's crying stopped instantly.

Grandma was right. If you bought meat from the middle yard or backyard and passed by your door, it would definitely not escape his nose. The front yard, ugh!

Bang Geng spat on the ground, but the saliva didn't come out.

"Grandma, I'm thirsty, give me some water!"

Jia Zhang casually ordered:

"Xiao Dang, why don't you go get your brother a glass of water? When has your brother ever left you out when there's something delicious? You have no sense at all."

Poor Xiaodang, who will be in the first grade in September, immediately ran to pour water for his brother Banggeng upon hearing the words. Fortunately, the teapot was filled with boiled water.

(End of this chapter)