Chapter 105 Mother's Pride

Recently, Zhang Yunfeng has been busy with the transfer of fifth child Zhang Xiaoxiao.

The Zhangji Qifengdu Fish Noodle Shop has been renovated, the tables and chairs are all in place, the kitchen equipment has also been installed, and all preparations are ready, just waiting to open on April 9th.

Before opening the business, brothers Zhang Yunqi and Zhang Yunfeng agreed to go back to Yunxi Village during the Qingming Festival, one to visit the graves, and the other to bring their mother and the fifth child to live in the city. The fifth child is now in the first grade of Yunxi Village Primary School, and to live in the city, they need to solve her schooling problem first.

The house that Zhang Yunqi bought is located in Nanhu District. According to the zoning, Zhang Xiaoxiao can attend the nearby Gusuling Primary School.

In that era, transferring schools for elementary school students was not as difficult as it is now. In nowadays, if you don't pay the training fee or use the money to clear the way, many schools will simply ignore you. They will just find an excuse that there are too many students or the class is full to hang you in the air.

In the early 1990s, there were not so many gray transactions when elementary school students transferred schools, but the procedures were still very complicated, and both schools had to be connected.

Zhang Yunfeng took his household registration booklet, its copy and the property certificate to Gusuling Primary School to get an acceptance certificate, then went to the Nanhu District Education Bureau to find a staff member to stamp the official seal. After returning to Yunxi Village during the Qingming Festival, he had to go to Yunxi Village Primary School to get a transfer certificate. Next, he went to the Yunxi Village Primary School's supervisory unit to get the official seal, and then sent the materials to both schools before he could transfer.

The day before returning to Yunxi Village, Zhang Yunqi went to Xinglong Electronic Digital City again. He found Yu Lin's shop and bought three genuine Aiwa Walkmans from him.

Yu Lin was a little surprised. The Aiwa Walkman was a luxury item in that era, and the price was as high as seven or eight hundred yuan per unit. But that was not what surprised him. With Zhang Yunqi's financial resources, it would not be a problem for him to buy a hundred or eighty of these things.

He asked, "Why did you come to buy this from me? You should have a way to get better products at a cheaper price, right?"

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "Good and cheap stuff. We can talk about it after I'm done with this. I need the Walkman now."

Yu Lin came up and asked, "Is it for a girl?"

Zhang Yunqi ignored him and asked, "How much?"

Yu Lin took out more than ten genuine Aihua Walkmans of different colors and placed them in front of Zhang Yunqi: "You can choose it yourself, and forget about the money."

"Let's put things in perspective. We can't let you lose money in business." Zhang Yunqi didn't want to take advantage of Yu Lin in such a small matter, so he chose a pink one, a white one, and a black one, and then paid Yu Lin 2,500 yuan for them.

April 2nd, the day before Qingming Festival.

Zhang Yunqi and his brother took a bus back to Yunxi Village.

An hour later, they arrived in Fengyang County and the two brothers changed to a small passenger car heading to Yunxi Village.

After leaving Fengyang County, the minibus headed south, passing through countless low villages with curling smoke, and sped towards Yunxi Village. The wheels splashed a streak of white mist on the flooded dirt road. Looking through the car window at the vast wilderness, there were endless tobacco leaves. They thrived in the warm sunshine of early spring, and in August and September, they would be sent to the tobacco curing room and turn into golden leaves, becoming the whole year's food for hundreds of thousands of farmers in the Fengyang area.

When they arrived at the entrance of Yunxi Village, the two brothers got off the car and went home.

Qingming Festival happened to fall on the weekend, so Zhang Chunlan and Zhang Xiaoxiao were both on vacation at home.

Mother Zhang received a call yesterday that the two brothers had returned. She went to the market in Longwan Town to buy fish and meat, and killed an old hen from home. She cooked a table full of delicious dishes. The family gathered in the main room to eat and watch TV. Zhang Yunqi ate three bowls of rice. He hadn't tasted the taste of home for a long time.

After dinner, the family discussed moving.

The family moved to the city, and the mother and eldest brother opened Zhangji Qifengdu Fish Powder Shop together. These two things were promoted by Zhang Yunqi, but he had not discussed them in detail with Zhang's mother. However, through the eldest sister Zhang Qiulan and the eldest brother Zhang Yunfeng, Zhang's mother already knew about this.

Mrs. Zhang's personal wish is not to live in the city.

This is mainly because she has lived and worked in Yunxi Village for more than 20 years, and the people, land and lifestyle here have been integrated into her blood.

After all, older people are conservative. At her age, she went to live in a strange city and didn't know where to go when she went out. She kept hesitating in her heart.

But she also understood that the actual situation at the moment was that the eldest child was going to open a fish meal shop in the city to start a business, the second child had married a woman in the city a few years ago, the third child was also studying in the city, and the fourth child would take the high school entrance examination in three months, and he would probably follow his second brother's old path and go to the No. 1 High School in the city to study. As for the fifth child, Xiaoxiao, when he heard that they were going to live in a big city, he was extremely happy. These days, he would lie on her every night before going to bed, and asked in a baby voice: "Mom, mom, when will the eldest and second brothers come to pick us up to live in the city?"

As a mother of five children, Zhang feels an indescribable pride and honor in her heart as she watches her children rush from their hometowns in the mountains to big cities, some busy with their careers, some attending key schools!

Throughout her life, Liu Yufeng had experienced suffering, exhaustion, and despair. She had been looked down upon by the entire village. She had even been pushed into a mud pit when she had a fight over a canal for irrigating her tobacco fields. She even wanted to drink pesticides when her husband Zhang Liushun was thrown into jail!

Now, the hardship has finally come to an end.

She has food to eat and clothes to wear, and lives a worry-free life. When people walk around the village and talk about her children, no one can gossip about them.
Under such circumstances, she felt that her personal wishes were really insignificant. If she could make her children live better and better and make the Zhang family prosperous, she would be willing to live anywhere, not to mention in the city!

Besides, she didn't go to live in the city to enjoy life. The fish meal shop was just starting out, and her eldest son Yunfeng was too honest to run the business alone. It would be a waste of money to hire someone else. And if she went to the city, she could not only help her eldest son open the fish meal shop, but also take care of the family's daily life.

Thinking of this, Aunt Zhang no longer had any worries and immediately agreed to move to the city.

Zhang Yunqi didn't expect his mother to be so decisive.

He actually knew what Zhang Ma was thinking.

This is also the reason why he talked to his older brothers and sisters about moving the whole family to the city, but never mentioned it to his mother.

He didn't want to force his mother, but he and his elder brother had gone to the city, and Chunlan would be admitted to the No. 1 Middle School in the city. By then, only his mother and Xiaoxiao would stay in Yunxi Village. The younger one was too young, and the older one was too old, so this was definitely not an option.

Now that his mother agreed to go to the city, Zhang Yunqi felt relieved, but at the same time, he also had an indescribable feeling.

He believed that after his mother went to the city, she would slowly adapt and naturally get used to or even like the life there. When the business was booming, she could open seven or eight branches. His mother would drive a Mercedes-Benz and lead a group of flatterers. She would not have to do anything but go to the beauty salon every day. After a long time, she would be very happy.

Now that we have decided to live in the city, the next step is to pack up the things we need to move to the city, but there are a lot of things to deal with right now, so the family has to act separately.

Zhang Yunqi went to the town to find a truck to prepare for the move, and also to buy incense, paper and candles for tomorrow's tomb sweeping.

Zhang Yunfeng went to the village primary school to deal with Zhang Xiaoxiao's transfer. Although the school was on holiday, the school leaders and Zhang Xiaoxiao's class teacher were all from the village. They saw each other every day and had a good relationship as neighbors. They should be able to make some concessions on such a big matter as transferring schools.

Aunt Zhang, Chunlan and Xiaoxiao were packing things at home.

The most valuable thing in the house is the tractor that he bought last year for 7500 yuan. It’s hard to find a seller for the time being. In the early s, not many people in the countryside could easily afford to buy a few thousand yuan. During the meal, Zhang Yunfeng said he would entrust the tractor to his old classmate Zhu Da, asking Zhu Da to help find someone who wants to buy it.

At the end of last year, Zhang Yunqi had to take the expensive electrical appliances such as the large color TV and refrigerator he bought with him. As for other small items, according to Zhang Yunqi's wishes, he should not take them if they were not necessary, as every home in the city had them. But how could Zhang's mother bear to do that? She and the silent Chunlan went from one room to another, bundling up and putting everything she thought should be taken into snakeskin bags, and they were so busy that they kept their feet on the ground.

Zhang Xiaoxiao is quite free and happy.

Her two pockets were filled with chocolate with liquor filling and shrimp crackers that Zhang Yunqi bought for her from the city. After staying at home for a while, she jumped around in the village, and told her friends that she was going to live in the city.

Later, she ran to the home of her best friend in the village, Jin Biao, took out two chocolates with liquor filling from her pocket, stuffed them into Jin Biao's hands and said, "I'm going to live in the city. I'll take you to the park to see the giant pandas when I have the chance!"

As he said this, Zhang Xiaoxiao raised his little head. His increasingly white and plump face looked proud and arrogant, making Jin Biao's eyes sparkle with envy.

"Xiao Xiao, what did you say?"

Zhang Guorui, the village secretary of Yunxi Village, was sitting on the threshold of the courtyard, winnowing rice with a dustpan. He saw the conversation between Zhang Xiaoxiao and Jin Biao, the son of Guohua's family across the street. His hands trembled and the rice fell all over the ground. He quickly put down the dustpan, called Zhang Xiaoxiao over, and asked, "Xiaoxiao, you just said that your family is moving to the city?"

Zhang Xiaoxiao blinked her big eyes and said, "Yes, my family is going to live in the city."

(End of this chapter)