Siheyuan: Sizhu starts blindly and takes a new path

Chapter 279 Strategy Plan

Banggeng began his carefully designed "strategy plan".

Every day before dawn, he was the first to arrive at the team headquarters, polishing Captain Li's special dry pipe until it was shiny, and even scraping the old tobacco oil in the pipe bowl clean. When Captain Li came to work, he would always "just happen" to see Banggeng packing up his tools with sweat all over his face.

"Jia Zhiqing, you came quite early today." Captain Li finally spoke when he "accidentally" encountered this scene for the third time.

Banggeng smiled shyly and took out a small cloth bag from his pocket: "Captain, I saw some good tobacco leaves in the back mountain yesterday, so I saved some for you." These were wild tobacco leaves he had picked at the foot of the mountain overnight, and his hands were cut several times by thorns.

Captain Li took the tobacco and smelled it, raising his eyebrows: "Well, it's from Shanyangpo, very strong." He looked at Banggeng meaningfully, "You've been doing well recently, tomorrow you can go and learn to hold the plow with Tieniu and his team."

Banggeng was so happy that he kept a simple smile on his face: "Thank you, Captain! I will definitely study hard!"

Banggeng put a lot of effort into Captain Li's wife. He learned that the old lady had cold legs, so he took a long detour to the valley every day to pick mugwort. On the day of the frost, he went out wearing less clothes, and his lips turned purple from the cold, but he still delivered a bundle of fresh mugwort with dew to Li's family.

"Oh, this child..." Mrs. Li touched the wormwood that still had body temperature, her eyes moistened, "It's so cold..."

Banggeng rubbed his red, frozen hands and said, "It's okay, Auntie. I'm young and energetic." After saying that, he "just happened" to sneeze loudly.

The most amazing thing is the "strategy" for Li Tieniu's wife. Banggeng found that what she was most worried about was the homework of her two naughty sons at home, so he would "drop by" Li's house after work every day, squatting by the stove and teaching the two children to write by the firelight.

"Teacher Jia, how do you pronounce this word?" Tie Niu's eldest son raised a wooden stick and scratched on the ground.

Banggeng was patiently correcting his strokes, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Tieniu's wife secretly stuff two boiled eggs into his schoolbag. He pretended not to see it, but he was very happy in his heart - this was much better than giving it to him directly.

One month later, in the evening, Banggeng was helping Captain Li bundle wheat straw in the yard, and Maya "happened" to deliver food. The girl blushed and stuffed the fullest bowl of sorghum rice into Banggeng's hand, with a piece of bacon hidden at the bottom of the bowl.

"Hey," Captain Li suddenly said, "Go to the educated youth camp tomorrow and give our jar of soybean paste to educated youth Jia."

Maya was so shocked that she almost dropped her chopsticks, and Banggeng was also stunned - this was a huge signal! In the village, giving someone their own soybean paste as a gift was equivalent to recognizing that person.

That night, Banggeng lay on the kang, touching his round belly, and suddenly remembered Qin Huairu's "teachings" back then: "To capture a man's heart, you must first capture his stomach." Now he finally understood - to capture the hearts of a family, you must first capture their stomachs!

Outside the window, Wang Yuanchao was boasting to other educated youths: "See? This is called moistening things silently!" He patted Banggeng's shoulder proudly, "Just wait, I guarantee you'll be able to have the engagement dinner at the Li family before the spring!"

It turned out that after Banggeng was driven away by Tieniu brothers that day, Captain Li called his two sons to the inner room that night. Under the kerosene lamp, Old Li's face was so gloomy that water could drip out.

"You two bastards!" Captain Li slapped the table, shaking the teacup. "Ma Ya is already 20 years old. How long do you want to keep her?"

Tie Niu grumbled unconvincedly: "You can't find a tuberculosis patient..."

"Bullshit!" Captain Li was so angry that his beard was shaking. "Jia Zhiqing is from Beijing and can read! The commune primary school is short of teachers now. If he becomes our son-in-law, maybe he can find an easy job as a teacher!"

Tiezhu muttered quietly: "But his body is weak..."

"What's wrong with your body?" Captain Li stared, "Isn't he working very hard now? Yesterday he helped Old Zhao carry 200 kilograms of beans!"

The door curtain of the inner room suddenly moved, and Captain Li quickly lowered his voice: "Your sister has been called 'pockmarked woman' since she was a child. Now she finally has someone who doesn't despise her..." The old farmer's voice suddenly choked, "As brothers, are you so cruel?"

Tieniu and his brother lowered their heads and said nothing. They recalled that when they were little, Ma Ya was chased by the children in the village and called "Pockmarked Spirit". They waved their fists to protect their sister again and again. But as they grow older, they realize that fists can drive away bullies, but not gossip.

"Dad..." Tieniu's wife suddenly came in with a bowl of ginger soup in her hand, "I just saw Maya crying at the stove..."

Captain Li sighed, took the ginger soup and walked to the west room. When he opened his daughter's door, he saw Maya staring at the small mirror, her fingers unconsciously touching the pockmarks on her face.

"Hey..." Captain Li put the ginger soup on the table, "Dad wants to tell you something."

Maya hurriedly wiped her face with her sleeve: "Dad, I didn't..."

"What do you think of Jia Zhiqing?" Captain Li interrupted her.

Ma Ya's face instantly turned red like a cooked shrimp, and she twisted the corner of her clothes with her fingers without saying a word.

Captain Li stroked his daughter's hair and said, "Dad has seen that the boy can't do the work. It doesn't matter because I and your three brothers can help. We are not afraid of him if he is cunning, but he can't make any waves as long as he is in Wugou Village."

"But he...he is from Beijing..." Maya's voice was as thin as a mosquito, "sooner or later he will have to go back..."

"Silly girl," Captain Li stuffed the ginger soup into his daughter's hand, "As long as he takes root here, he can't go back."

The family had made up their mind and were just waiting to create another opportunity for Banggeng and Maya. However, who knew that Banggeng would actually follow Wang Yuanchao's plan and save the country in a roundabout way. Captain Li and his wife were overjoyed.

In the early spring, the ice and snow in Wugou Village began to melt, and the stream in Yelanggou began to gurgle. The village was decorated with lanterns and a big red wedding character was posted on the door of Captain Li's house - Banggeng and Maya's wedding was more lively than Chunyan's wedding that year.

The day before the wedding, Banggeng squatted at the entrance of the youth camp and wrote a letter to the courtyard with his red, frozen fingers. When he wrote "I'm getting married", the tip of his pen suddenly pierced the letter paper. He remembered how Jia Zhang sat slumped on the doorstep when he left home. If the old lady knew that her grandson was going to marry a "pockmarked woman", she would probably be so angry that she would pass out.

"Great..." Maya stood behind him without him noticing, holding a brand new blue cloth jacket in her hand, "Try it on to see if it fits you."

Banggeng quickly crumpled up the letter and took the jacket and put it on. Ma Ya's craftsmanship was very good, and the stitches were so fine that they looked like they were sewn by a machine. When he lowered his head to button his jacket, he found that Ma Ya was staring at his crumpled letter, and her eyes dimmed for a moment.

"Well..." Bang Geng suddenly grabbed Maya's hand, "Wait two years, when I turn 20, we'll go to the county to get a new marriage certificate." His voice got smaller and smaller, "Then... I'll take you back to Beijing to meet my mother."

Maya's eyes suddenly lit up, and the pockmarks on her face glowed. She turned around and took out a cloth bag from her bosom: "Here, dumplings for your wedding night... I made dumplings with your favorite pickled cabbage filling."

Bang Geng took the cloth bag which was still warm from body temperature and suddenly found a fresh wound on Maya's right middle finger - it must have been cut by accident when she was chopping stuffing. He suppressed his nausea and lowered his head, and gently kissed the wound.

Maya jumped away with a cry of "Ah", her face as red as a ripe hawthorn. Banggen was also stunned, he didn't expect that he would do such a thing.