Searching for the Qin Shi Huang Token

Waking up, the sky was bright.

As soon as Chen Guiliang opened his eyes, he saw the light filtering through the tiles on the roof.

The family's house had mud walls and a tiled roof; drafts and leaks were common. During heavy rain, they even needed buckets and basins to catch water.

It should have been rebuilt into a two-story building several years ago, but it had been delayed until now because his father was swindled.

They didn't even have decent furniture, only old items bought when his parents got married or brought as dowry.

Lying in bed, Chen Guiliang began to think about repairing the house.

If they bought a house in a big city, his grandmother would likely not get used to it.

Moreover, his grandmother got carsick.

Earning money to build a new house could wait until after he started a business in college.

The most urgent task was to study hard, get into a good school, and bring honor to his parents, grandmother, maternal grandfather, and maternal grandmother.

This was very important.

Excluding vocational colleges, so far, only one university student had come from the village. After graduation, he became a doctor in a hospital in the provincial capital. That family was highly respected because of this, and no matter what happened, the villagers would actively help them.

Although ordinary families also helped each other, the treatment that family received was clearly different.

Chen Guiliang had the ability to be the second university student in the entire village!

His grandmother and the others would definitely be happy.

Being recommended for admission through competitions was unstable, so Chen Guiliang had to prepare for both possibilities and honestly improve his academic performance.

"Grandma, Grandma!"

Chen Guiliang got up and called out a few times, finding his grandmother feeding the chickens outside.

The family's land had been "given" to neighbors to cultivate, leaving only two plots of private land for growing vegetables.

Completely opposite to how landlords in ancient times recruited tenants, now "giving" land actually put them in debt of gratitude. This was because if the land was left fallow for a few years, when Chen Guiliang's parents returned home, they would have to put in effort to reclaim it if they wanted to farm again.

Moreover, as more and more people went out to work, the amount of fallow land in the village increased year by year. Only those with good relationships were willing to "help" your family farm.

The grain grown on the land, of course, belonged to the actual cultivator.

However, agricultural taxes, including the three extractions and five unified fees, had to be paid by the original owner of the land!

His grandmother was always busy. Besides tending to the private plots, she went out to cut firewood every day and raised many poultry.

"Food's in the pot!" his grandmother called out.

Chen Guiliang went to the kitchen to get the food, and his grandmother also sat down at the table after feeding the chickens and ducks.

Porridge and pickles.

After breakfast, his grandmother didn't rest much and went to weed the vegetables in the private plot.

Chen Guiliang followed her and said, "Grandma, there's enough firewood at home to last for several years, so don't go out cutting firewood anymore. What if you fall while climbing slopes and hills?"

His grandmother said, "Alright."

Chen Guiliang didn't say anything more and didn't go to help weed.

He knew his grandmother was just too idle and looking for something to do. If he helped finish weeding now, his grandmother would definitely go do other work.

It was as if farm work was never-ending, always appearing from somewhere.

"Brother!"

His cousin, Chen Guirong, stood in the courtyard and called out.

Chen Guiliang smiled and walked over, "You've grown taller again."

Chen Guirong sat on the doorstep, looking quite helpless, "It's finally the weekend, and I originally wanted to go play with my classmates. My dad insisted I come over and said to ask you for study methods. With my grades, who am I going to ask?"

His cousin was in the third year of junior high this year, and his academic performance was terrible, only good enough for a trashy high school.

Later, he didn't even graduate from high school, dropped out to attend a technical school, became a chef, and lived quite well, even making cooking videos and becoming a small internet celebrity.

"Brother, do you have cigarettes?" Chen Guirong asked in a low voice.

Chen Guiliang said, "No."

"I heard you were handing out Hongtashan everywhere yesterday," Chen Guirong said.

Chen Guiliang reminded him, "You're a minor."

Chen Guirong thought to himself: You'll only be eighteen next year too.

Chen Guiliang asked again, "Is your school still that chaotic?"

Seeing that he couldn't get a cigarette, his cousin gave up, "Brother, did you forget? Last year, the city cracked down hard, the police were arresting people everywhere, and the school is very quiet now."

Chen Guiliang immediately remembered that the city television station had even broadcast the results of the crackdown, displaying rows of guns, knives, and steel pipes.

Hundreds, even thousands, of chaotic criminal elements were arrested.

In 2001 and 2002, there was a nationwide crackdown, and Longdu City was naturally no exception.

Chen Guirong chuckled, "Actually, even without the crackdown, as long as I mention your name, those thugs wouldn't dare mess with me."

After chatting with his cousin for a while, Chen Guiliang wandered around the house.

He finally found a few empty soda bottles that his grandma had picked up in the empty pigsty where they didn't raise pigs anymore.

"Come with me." Chen Guiliang picked up a Sprite bottle and headed out to the riverbank a few hundred meters away.

Chen Guirong chased after him and asked, "Brother, what are you doing?"

Chen Guiliang said something his cousin didn't understand: "Qin Shi Huang needs a token."

"Qin Shi Huang?" Chen Guirong scratched his head.

The small river in front of the house had made great contributions during the Anti-Japanese War.

At that time, the salt-producing areas in the coastal provinces were occupied by those damned little devils. The salt produced in Longdu City needed to supply several surrounding provinces and was the main salt-producing area in the great rear during the Anti-Japanese War.

Much of this salt was transported out through this small river, and the nearby salt transport wharf was even bombed.

Looking out over the riverbank, all you could see were pebbles.

Chen Guiliang drilled a hole in the middle of the Sprite bottle cap, filled the bottle with river water, and said to his cousin, "Help me find small, good-looking pebbles."

"What are you looking for pebbles for?" Chen Guirong asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "To give as a gift to a girl."

"Hahaha!"

Chen Guirong immediately laughed, "Brother, you're too old-fashioned. Who gives pebbles to girls? You'll definitely be disliked like this."

"You don't know anything."

When Chen Guiliang was studying, he always felt that you needed money to date. A gift worth a few yuan was too cheap and embarrassing, and he couldn't bring himself to give it.

But after being reborn, he dared to give a worthless broken stone.

Despite the ridicule, his cousin still squatted down obediently and helped him look for beautiful pebbles.

"How about this one?" Chen Guirong picked one up.

Chen Guiliang squirted water from the Sprite bottle to wash off the mud on the surface of the pebble: "No. It has cracks and it's too big."

Throwing away the broken stone, Chen Guirong searched again, saying as he searched, "Brother, let me teach you how to pick up girls. Your method is already outdated."

"You dated in junior high?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Chen Guirong said, "Why can't you date in junior high?"

Chen Guiliang said, "How did you date?"

"Invite girls to play computer games. There are internet cafes in town, but unfortunately, they can't connect to the internet," Chen Guirong said. "Also, roller skating. A roller skating rink opened in town. They play Jay Chou's songs on a big speaker, and it's really fashionable to skate. I even dyed my hair yellow a while ago, it was so damn cool. Sigh, I got beaten up by my dad when I got home, so I had to spend money to dye my hair back."

"You deserved to be beaten to death!"

"Brother, do you think this one is okay?"

"It's too flashy, the colors are too messy."

"How about we go to the city and pick out a bracelet for your girl... for sister-in-law? The crystal kind, sparkling and really beautiful!"

"Shut up and take your time looking!"

The warm sun of a early winter morning shone on the two teenagers on the riverbank.

After an hour of searching, the two brothers selected over thirty pebbles.

Chen Guiliang took them to the river and washed them all, comparing them one by one repeatedly.

Finally, he kept one and threw the rest into the river.

Back at home, Grandma was gone again. She probably finished weeding and went somewhere to find farm work.

Chen Guiliang lit firewood to boil water and said to his cousin, "Go catch a chicken."

"Okay!"

Grandma was too frugal and was reluctant to buy meat or kill chickens.

Near noon, Grandma came back carrying a bundle of firewood and found that her two grandsons had killed one of her laying hens.

"Grandma, the chicken is stewing in the pot. It'll be ready in half an hour," his cousin said with a chuckle.

Grandma also smiled and walked to the main room to turn on the TV.

She liked this color TV.

Chen Guiliang told his cousin to keep the fire going and went to watch TV with Grandma: "Grandma, when I come back next time, I'll buy you a kitten. You can play with the cat at home and don't go out looking for things to do and being busy."

Grandma made a request: "It has to be a local cat that can catch mice."

"Then I'll buy a black and white one," Chen Guiliang said.

Grandma didn't like visiting neighbors much, and when she met old ladies in the village, she usually just listened to them talk.

Raising a lively milk cat would probably make life more interesting.

Estimating the time, Grandma went to the kitchen, lifted the lid of the pot, and poked the stewing chicken with chopsticks: "It's not done yet, it needs to stew a little longer. Rongrong, you take a bowl back at noon."

My cousin smiled and said, "Alright."

Although the two families weren't on the best terms because of Grandpa and Second Aunt, they still maintained basic interactions.

For example, if they cooked meat, they would send a bowl over to the other family.

But Second Aunt also had a countermeasure; she would only buy a small amount of meat each time, just enough to stir-fry a small plate in total, making it difficult for Second Uncle to offer any to Grandma.

After the chicken was stewed, my cousin scooped out a bowl and said, "Grandma, Brother, I'm leaving."

"Watch your step, don't fall," Grandma instructed.

"Got it, got it," Chen Guirong ran off.

After his cousin had gone far, Chen Guiliang took out five hundred yuan and said, "Grandma, this is from my dad. Everyone in the village knows my dad got rich, so someone will definitely come to borrow money, and it's also possible we might attract thieves."

"I know better than you," Grandma took the money and went inside to hide it.

When elderly people encounter thieves at home, they usually lie down and pretend to be asleep. The thieves then rummage through everything, and whether they find money or not, they will leave.

Two years ago, all the chickens and ducks Grandma raised were stolen by a group of thieves during the night.

At the time, she had already discovered it and even heard who the thieves were.

But she didn't dare to shout and could only continue sleeping.

After lunch, Chen Guiliang watched television with Grandma for half an hour, then got up to pack his things and said, "Grandma, I'm going to school."

"Go on, I'll see you off," Grandma turned off the television.

Chen Guiliang took his textbooks for the first and second years of high school and walked towards the village road with Grandma, one behind the other.

"Grandma, you don't need to see me off anymore."

"Alright, you go on."

Chen Guiliang walked along the village road for a while, then turned back to look and saw Grandma still standing on the hillside.

He knew that Grandma wouldn't feel at ease and go home until he had crossed the mountain pass and was completely out of sight.