The biggest headache for Ning Zhiyuan is the problem of eating.

Although there are 28 teachers in the central school of Qiancan Township, there are only five bachelors. During the lessons, the cafeteria is on fire at noon and solves it on its own in the evening.

Ning Zhiyuan bought a carbon round stove and pots and pans, and prepared to cook for himself. The carbon round stove is placed in the aisle outside the dormitory, and the desk becomes a kitchen table when cooking, and the books and homework can only be placed on the bed.

Burning carbon balls is a technical job, and it is not as convenient as burning firewood in my hometown. It needs to be ignited with paper or firewood, and if the carbon circle is wet, it will take a long time. Every time he burned carbon in the hallway, he always had to leave a few black marks on his face, and the students couldn't help but hide their mouths and snicker when they saw it.

Ning Zhiyuan was very helpless, so he bought a kerosene stove, but the cost increased a lot. His monthly salary is 194 yuan and 2 yuan, 100 yuan for Zhiyuan's mother, nearly 60 yuan for rice and vegetables, 10 yuan for toothpaste, soap, and laundry detergent, and now kerosene needs more than 8 yuan a month, and finally only about 15 yuan is left in his pocket.

Every Saturday afternoon, he walked 18 miles back to his hometown to see his mother and bought 10 yuan of meat, which his mother was usually reluctant to buy. In this way, the monthly salary is not enough to cover expenses. I had to save five yuan on grocery shopping to basically not owe money.

After school on Saturday afternoon, he carried two catties of pork belly and walked home. Along the way, the students kept shouting "Teacher Ning", and he was very useful. At this time, Uncle Fugui of the same village came over with a load of urea, and Ning Zhiyuan asked, isn't it closer to the street of Wolong Township? Uncle Fugui said as he walked, a pound in Qiancan Township is five cents cheaper, and this hundred catties is five yuan cheaper. Ning Zhiyuan let out an "oh", thinking to himself, the people are suffering, and they have to walk five miles more to save five yuan.

Walking into the yard of the house, Zhiyuan's mother was collecting firewood in the yard, showing a smile, and said, San'er, don't buy meat, your brother also buys it. At this time, Ning Qiushui came out of the house, third child, you cook tonight, fry a pot of meat to eat. Ning Zhiyuan said with a smile, then I'll pull some garlic seedlings. At nightfall, a family of three gathered around a small table in the courtyard and ate a fragrant dinner.

After the meal, Zhiyuan's mother cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, and the two brothers set up a farm array. Ning Zhiyuan said, brother, the Youth League Committee needs money to carry out activities, I wrote a report to President Lin, but there is no response so far. Ning Qiushui thought about it and said, you may not know that the school does not attach importance to the work of the Youth League Committee, has no direct effect on teaching, and costs money, so Principal Lin naturally ignores you. Only then did he come to his senses, but he was a little unwilling in his heart, and said, then what kind of secretary of the Youth League Committee should I be! Ning Qiushui smiled, and spit out two words for a long time.

The next day, the two brothers worked together to take care of the vegetable garden in front of the house. Since the contracted land farmers were transferred to relatives in the same village, only about five points of land were left in front of the house, and Zhiyuan's mother planted all the vegetables. After finishing the work in the morning, Ning Zhiyuan took out his fishing rod and went to the fish pond to catch a three-pound carp and a few crucian carp. When I got home, I started cooking dinner early, brought the carp to braised it, and boiled crucian carp soup. Zhiyuan's mother picked two bags of vegetables and said, you can bring them back to school after dinner.

For Ning Zhiyuan now, working at school for six days and going home to accompany his mother on weekends is a dull but extraordinarily warm life. Zhiyuan's mother also walked out of the shadow of widowhood, without hard work, her body slowly improved, and occasionally she had low back pain, just take some medicine. This is the life he wants, he thought.