Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space-Chapter 762 - 637: Why Am I Growing So Slowly?

After lunch, they hadn’t rested long when a cool breeze came by, and Little Ping’an succumbed to his drowsiness, peacefully falling asleep in Zhang Guoqing’s arms.

Zhang Guoqing looked at his son in his arms, and fondly patted his head, "Our son is very smart."

Hearing this, Zhou Jiao beamed a bright smile but said, "Don’t always praise the child, it can make him arrogant. A clever child may not make a successful adult. We still need to spend more effort on him regularly."

Zhang Guoqing shook his head helplessly. How could his son turn out poorly? Really, such lack of confidence!

"Let’s set up the tent so he can sleep inside safely."

Zhou Jiao chuckled, "Are you sure? Then I’ll hold the child, and you set it up."

Zhang Guoqing looked at the large bag that was formed after the tent was dismantled, rubbed his nose, and remembered that his wife was running out of space to pack.

Cautiously handing her the child, Zhang Guoqing squatted on the ground, opened the bag, set up the tent in a shady spot, and while busy with his hands, kept talking.

"Tonight, we’ll head out early and deal with some of the things inside. I’ve been thinking about selling the coal first, regardless of the price, and directly handing it over to the snakehead we met that night."

In this matter, Zhou Jiao had no objection. She’s not proficient in business; this was Zhang Guoqing’s area of expertise. She reminded, "Be cautious. Those who can mix in the black market are all savvy; don’t let carelessness cause failure."

"I’ll handle it. The only issue now is the lack of a big truck. But I’ve thought about it, I’ll talk to Uncle Dashan tonight. By the way, I’ll take some flour out, otherwise, it’ll be hard to explain where it suddenly came from."

Zhou Jiao nodded in agreement, "Alright. Remember to give Uncle Dashan more. I have plenty here, no fear of running out."

"You haven’t thrown the cart away, have you?"

Zhou Jiao laughed and gave him a sideways glance. That’s an essential item, all right?

Zhang Guoqing had just finished setting up the small tent, turned around to see, held her head, and gave her a couple of kisses. Seeing her blush with shyness, he laughed cheerfully.

"No shame at all, our son is still here."

Zhang Guoqing took the son, gently put him inside the tent, and playfully raised an eyebrow at her, "So you mean, as long as our son can’t see, I can be as free as I want?"

Zhou Jiao didn’t respond. This man, given an inch, would take a mile.

She hurriedly stood up, placed medicinal powder and bags around the tent, inspected all around, nodded in satisfaction, and smiled, "Okay, I’ll guard our son here."

"We have to stay up late tonight, you should lie down and sleep for a while."

"What about you?"

"I’m not sleepy now; I’ll sleep after we come down the mountain, and wake up just in time to leave. Be good, rest assured, you can see us from the pond out front while I wash stuff."

Zhou Jiao looked worriedly at the wooden cabin, "Remember to add water in the pot for me, I’m afraid I’ll oversleep and let it boil dry."

"Don’t worry, your husband handles things very well." Zhang Guoqing patted his chest, speaking with assurance. After she laid down, he zipped up the tent for her, reassuringly confirming there was a vent to prevent stuffiness before relaxing.

Standing up, he checked the time on his wristwatch; it was already past two in the afternoon, and it wasn’t early to head down the mountain. Thinking of this, he quickly left a silly deer and dragged the rest of the wild game toward the pond.

At the pond, Zhang Guoqing swiftly processed the wild game, occasionally looking up toward the tent. To save time, he left out the innards that required effort to clean, dug a pit, and buried them deep.

That’s not all; he even set up a wooden rack, hung a few small wild pigs over a fire pit, and quickly buried several large mud balls into the fire.

The remaining clean-cut wild game was tossed into a bamboo basket. By the time he finished, a half-hour had passed, and he felt proud of himself. He was incredibly efficient!

Thinking about the fish and snails his son mentioned, Zhang Guoqing, feeling like a model husband, was bustling about. While turning the racks with the small wild pigs, he ran over to spear a few fish and grab some snails.

Zhou Jiao was drowsily awakened by the aroma of meat and fish, startled awake, and found her son beside her also closed-eyed, sniffing the scents.

"Little lazybones, wake up. We’re going down the mountain."

Ping’an sprang up, giggling, "Mom, I just woke up." With that, he unzipped the tent and quickly scrambled out, "I’m going to help dad."

"Be careful."

Seeing him successfully meet up with Zhang Guoqing, Zhou Jiao smiled and shook her head, starting to dismantle the tent.

After tidying up, she returned to the wooden cabin and noticed there was still a deer left on the ground. She knew this was left by Zhang Guoqing for the village. She smiled quietly, relieved not to have decided to leave the large wild boar for the team; otherwise, they’d be nagged non-stop. Regardless of whether her mother-in-law felt sorry, leading the group up the mountain was unavoidable.

She packed up the stewed beef and potatoes, cleaned all traces of usage, then quickly went to Zhang Guoqing’s side, seeing the cooked pork and fish on racks and in bamboo baskets, "So fast? My man is really capable!"

"Of course, my dad’s the best!"

Zhang Guoqing laughed, "It’s such an honor to be praised by my wife and son."

"It’s only right, dad, no need to be so polite."

"I’m not polite; I’ll take all I can get. But my son is also very capable!"

Zhou Jiao watched amusedly as the father and son exchanged compliments. When there was a pause in the conversation, she pointed at the meat and bones in the two bamboo baskets, "How do we handle these?"

"Give me a sack. I’ll pick some to give to mom; she can decide whether to make cured meat or give them to others."

Zhou Jiao handed him a sack, "Take more; it’s mom’s birthday this weekend."

"This is enough. We’ll talk again this weekend."

Zhou Jiao said nothing more, seeing that a sack full along with the pig’s head weighed around a hundred pounds, which was indeed plenty.

Beside them, Ping’an asked, "Dad, won’t grandma know there’s little meat left when she sees such a big pig head?"

Zhang Guoqing gave him a thumbs up, "Noticing all the details, very clever! Grandma won’t mind, she won’t ask. She’ll think dad gave the rest away."

Upon saying this, seeing the child seemingly deep in thought, he laughed again, "Want to eat the cooked fish? Even the beggar’s chicken inside is done."

Ping’an glanced at the racks and said, "Forget it. The roast suckling pig is for my maternal grandfather, and the rest goes to my paternal grandparents."

"There’s plenty; if you want to eat, just go ahead."

"No need, I can eat when we get back. Dad, are we leaving now?"

Zhang Guoqing washed his hands, signaled Zhou Jiao to pack up, then picked up his son with one arm and the sack with the other, "That’s right. It’s dangerous to leave the mountain late."

After they left, Zhou Jiao quickly swiped her hand, and suddenly several mud balls on the ground, the suckling pig on the rack, and the bamboo basket on the ground vanished. She filled a basin with water and poured it over the extinguished fire pit.

After ensuring no traces were left, she dashed to the front of the wooden house to meet up with Zhang Guoqing and their son. The couple glanced at each other, confirmed nothing was forgotten, smiled, and walked away hand in hand.

Ping’an nestled in his dad’s arms, watching Zhou Jiao striding briskly ahead, then plaintively asked, "Dad, why do I grow so slowly? When can I run on my own?"

Zhang Guoqing laughed, "No rush, let’s take our time. Growing up isn’t all fun. Dad wants to be held, too, but there’s no one to hold me, how pitiful!"

Zhou Jiao and Ping’an laughed heartily at this.

"Dad, wait till I’m bigger; I’ll carry you."

"No way, people will laugh. Just think, if I carried your grandpa or grandpa up the mountain, wouldn’t they be embarrassed to anger?"

He laughed at the thought, the image just so strange to imagine...

The laughter of the family of three echoed through the woods, startling passing animals into fleeing. The sound was all too familiar, quickly telling their friends an enemy had arrived.