With Qin Shu's help, and the fact that Wei Nian, Chen Xuan, and Wei Yin were all studying at university, it was not difficult for them to break into the Chinese community in Boston. Especially since Chen Xuan had an incredible skill in growing vegetables.
Speaking of this, Chen Xuan found it funny. For example, growing vegetables, which woman in the countryside doesn't know how to do it. But it's different when you come to a foreign country. In fact, many vegetables are also available in foreign countries, but there are also some that are not available. These vegetable seeds are not easy to bring to the United States. Some of them were put in a letter and sent to Qin Shu in advance, otherwise they were afraid that the customs would check them out. In fact, the inspection is not strict. The key is that those who go to college abroad are all educated people. In this day and age, those who can study and study abroad, even if some international students live in poverty, their families are definitely not farmers. In this era, landlords can support an international student, but it is difficult for farmers to support international students. The cost is too high, and ordinary farmers' families can't afford it.
Therefore, most international students do not know how to grow vegetables and do not understand these things.
Chen Xuan was different. She came from a poor family. When she first arrived, she shoveled most of the grass and then used farm tools to plow it into a vegetable garden. Old Mrs. Wei also helped to plant vegetables. She said, "You say these foreigners are weird. I see that they all have big yards, but they don't plant some vegetables to eat. They just plant some flowers and grass. What can they produce?"
This is the difference in national characteristics. Chen Xuan didn't know what to say. She scattered a few seeds and used her feet to cover the soil. Chen Xuan said, "The living conditions here are good, and the vegetables are not expensive. They all rely on buying them."
Old Mrs. Wei said, "You really don't know how to live."
Chen Xuan smiled, "Although there are some vegetables we often eat in the vegetable market here, there are also some that cannot be bought. It is better to grow some so that it is convenient to eat at home."
"That's exactly the truth." Old Mrs. Wei added cleverly, "It's also true for your profession." Then, Old Mrs. Wei couldn't figure it out again, and said to Chen Xuan, "Look at you, you have been farming in the countryside for more than ten years, and you still haven't gotten enough? Why do you want to continue learning farming after going abroad? In my opinion, you might as well learn some business skills so that you can help Ah Nian in the future."
Chen Xuan said, "Business studies require smart people, and it's better for people like Anian to study. I'm familiar with farming. Although you can't make a fortune from farming, it's stable. I heard that the land here is not very expensive. I'll ask people how to pay rent in foreign countries. If there is a suitable one, I can buy a piece of land to grow crops, vegetables, or flowers. Although I can't make a fortune, it's also an income."
"That's right. You are more suitable for doing this stable job." Old Mrs. Wei was also very concerned about the family finances. She asked Chen Xuan, "Can we still grow strawberries here?"
Chen Xuan thought for a moment and said, "There's no rush. We just arrived and I brought some strawberry seeds with me. Let's plant a few for our own consumption. There's a piece of land reserved over there. I plan to ask around and see how people build greenhouses abroad. If it's convenient and cheap, we'll build one and give it a try."
"That makes sense." Old Mrs. Wei was very supportive.
Coming to the United States, things in his hometown are not expensive, including cars, which are extremely expensive in Beijing. It is too inconvenient to not have a car here. After settling down and completing the enrollment procedures, Wei Nian took Wei Yin to take the driver's license test. Chen Xuan is pregnant, so it is not too late to take the test next year. After the two of them got their driver's licenses, Wei Nian first bought two second-hand cars with 500 US dollars, one for each brother and sister. 500 US dollars is certainly not a small amount, but compared to the price of domestic cars, it is very cheap.
Of course, this is not a famous brand car, just an ordinary family car.
After having her own car, the little girl became even more proud. She would arrange for the whole family to drive to the park or the zoo on Sundays. God knows where she knew these places. Chen Xuan guessed that she must have heard about them from other children at school. Anyway, she had many places to go. She made a schedule and posted it in her living room, preparing to go to a place every weekend. The courses in their kindergarten were interesting, and they also had to help with housework. Old Mrs. Wei said, what kind of school is this? We let children learn skills, not to learn to work!
However, the little girl was very active. She would put on her apron and work as soon as she got home every day. She would help her elder sister pick vegetables, clean up the garbage bags at home, and water the vegetable garden at home so that her strawberries would grow quickly. However, in the United States, there is no need to worry about not having strawberries to eat. Strawberries are not rare fruits in the United States and can be bought at the vegetable market. However, the strawberries bought at the vegetable market are different from those grown at home. Because of growing strawberries, the little girl missed her elder sister once. The little girl said to her grandmother, "When I see strawberries, I think of my elder sister. Grandma, don't you think it would be great if my elder sister was with us?"
It is true that Mrs. Wei said she didn’t miss her daughter. Not only did she miss her daughter, she also missed her eldest son’s family. Of course, Mrs. Wei also enjoyed her current life. Although these foreigners looked strange, basically if their body shapes were similar, Mrs. Wei couldn’t tell the difference between their faces. She always felt that these foreigners looked the same. Home was far away, but things were cheap here. Look, the family even had a car. Alas, it was a pity that my daughter’s in-laws were not good, otherwise they could have come to a foreign country together to find a job. And the eldest son had to take care of the shop at home. Besides, although Mrs. Wei was a little picky, she knew in her heart that the family would be two families after the division. She was following the second son now. That was the old man’s order, so of course she had to listen to him. Mrs. Wei suppressed her longing and comforted her little girl, “Then let’s write a letter to your aunt and uncle. Then ask your dad to send it out for us.”
The little girl nodded, "Write it now!"
"Okay! I tell you to write it!"
As a result, the grandfather and grandson spent a week writing the letter, and they only wrote about what happened on the boat. When Wei Nian heard about their progress, he said, "I don't know if they can finish writing by the end of the year."
"I'm sure I can finish it!" the little girl said, "We'll soon be able to get off the ship. I'll write about what happened after we arrived in America. It'll be finished in another week."
Well, anyway, when Aunt Qin Shu came to give her mother some amaranth seeds, the little girl was still writing. Qin Shu gave Chen Xuan the amaranth seeds and water spinach seeds, "My mother sent these to me. You should try growing some too, sister-in-law. Amaranth is especially delicious, and it's good to eat cold or stir-fry. Water spinach is also delicious."
Chen Xuan asked, "Which month's dish is this?"
"I don't know. There are foods available in spring and summer."
Chen Xuan knew the season already. Thinking that it was a little past the solar term, she only planted half of the water spinach seeds and amaranth seeds and would see how they sprouted and grew.
By the time the little girl and the old lady finished writing the first letter, Chen Xuan's lettuce had a good harvest. She gave some to neighbors she had good relations with, and also to friends in the Chinese circle, especially those like Professor Cui who had a wife who could cook by their side, or who could cook themselves. Mrs. White was actually very surprised. Just as Mrs. Wei didn't understand why foreigners didn't grow vegetables in such a big yard, Mrs. White asked Chen Xuan why she had to dig up a good lawn to grow vegetables. When Chen Xuan went abroad, she paid more attention to everything. Moreover, she knew that white people always had an unwarranted sense of superiority. Chen Xuan said, "I studied agriculture in college, and growing vegetables is beneficial to my studies in college. Also, it is to educate the children. Every day I let Alice grow vegetables and clean up the vegetable garden with me. She knows the hard work of growing vegetables, so she won't waste food casually. In addition, I love agriculture very much, and I hope to cultivate Alice's interest in agriculture from an early age and let her know the joy of harvest."
Chen Xuan praised herself as a great person, and Mrs. White was very impressed. She didn't expect that there was so much wisdom in growing vegetables.
As for Alice Wei, whether she felt the joy of harvest or not is not a question. Anyway, when Alice Wei visits other children's homes, she will give some vegetables and fruits produced by her own family. Because Alice Wei likes to make friends, she often invites children to her home to eat Chinese food, and the children will naturally invite her back. Therefore, Chen Xuan Wei Nian often accompanies Alice Wei to appointments. Fortunately, these foreigners are very casual in giving gifts. Besides, her family is not foreigners, so she should just follow the Chinese etiquette.
For the Wei family, surviving, living and studying in the United States were not a problem. Qin Shu was able to open a trading company in two years here. Wei Nian, Chen Xuan and Wei Yin were not stupid people, and even the little girl was doing well in school. However, that winter, the newspapers reported a large-scale student movement in Beijing. Moreover, not only college students, but also middle school students participated. The American newspapers were also vague about this matter, but the news from so many Chinese in Boston was often more detailed than that of the American newspapers. It turned out that this student movement was not only in Beijing, but also students in Tianjin, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai and other places also held large-scale movements.
Wei Nian didn't dare to mention this matter at home. Chen Xuan saw that he was uneasy and comforted him, "Don't worry, although Jie Ge'er is in high school, he is a stable child. Nothing will happen to him."
Wei Nian had been holding back on this for over half a year, and now he told Chen Xuan, "I'm not worried about the children, I'm worried about my eldest brother."
"What's wrong, brother? This is the students' business. It has nothing to do with you." The Wei family is just a business family, not revolutionaries.
Wei Nian sighed, "You don't know, my elder brother might have joined the Communist Party."
Chen Xuan was quite surprised and asked, "When did it happen?"
"I don't know the exact time, I guess it's time to go back home."
"How do you know?" Chen Xuan asked.
"When I went back to my hometown to see my elder brother, he was in great spirits and had quit smoking opium. When we talked privately, he always talked about national and ethnic issues. There was nothing he didn't understand."
"Then why didn't you ask?"
"When the newspapers reported that he had arrested a communist, my brother refused to admit it when I asked him. Besides, at that time, let alone saying that he believed in the communists, he could have believed in anything as long as he could quit smoking opium! I saw that he was in high spirits, and I didn't want to spoil his mood by saying these things."
"The Communists are really powerful. When my eldest brother first came home from outside the Great Wall, he loved to run away. I tried to persuade him two or three times in private but it didn't work. After he joined the Communist Party, he didn't need anyone to persuade him. He stopped smoking opium and understood how women were important. Oh, you see, the Communists are extraordinary." Wei Nian sighed repeatedly.
Chen Xuan asked, "Are you sure you are a communist?"
"How can this be wrong? The National Army didn't expand into the countryside either. It must be that group of Communists who went to the countryside to organize connections. Otherwise, why would they be called the Local Communists? It sounds a bit rustic." Wei Nian said.
“What exactly does the Communist Party do?”
"It's hard to say. The Nationalist government is arresting them, so they naturally won't say anything good about them. But I heard that the Communists also killed Japanese." Wei Nian and Chen Xuan were both simple businessmen. Even now that they were studying abroad, their understanding of politics was limited. Wei Nian said, "But I think that the three northeastern provinces outside the Great Wall were our Han territory, but now they are occupied by Japan. The Japanese wanderers are also rampant and cruel in our Beijing city. If they killed the Japanese, they are not bad people."
Chen Xuan made the final decision, "This is the good guy. The Japanese devils are the most hateful and the worst. The one who kills the bad guys is naturally the good guy!"
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