Chapter 67: Visiting the Farm (Part 1)

  After buying the things, Ju An drove with Wang Fan in their car, following behind Lu Guangyuan and his wife's car to visit their farm. After leaving Dashuibucun, they drove for over 20 minutes before arriving at their farm, which was still quite close to the city. Outside the city, there were many small family farms along the road, with houses much more densely packed than in Ju An's area. The estimated area of each farm was around one or two hundred acres.

  As soon as you enter the farm gate of Lu Guangyuan and his wife, you can see seven or eight large greenhouses neatly arranged on both sides of the entrance. At the end of the road is a two-story small wooden building, which is not much different from the common houses here. Next to the house is a round grain warehouse, next to the grain warehouse is a circle of steel pipe enclosure, where sheep and cattle are raised.

  As they reached the entrance of the house, Ju An and Wang Fan had just gotten out of the car, following Lu Guangyuan who had just walked to the entrance. A Chinese old man came out from inside the house, seeing Ju An and Wang Fan looking very happy, stretched out his hand with a smile and said loudly: "Welcome! Welcome!" His voice was filled with the straightforwardness and loudness of a northerner.

  "This is my father."

  "Thank you, sir. You don't have to come out to greet us, we can go in ourselves." Wang Fan also shook the old man's hand and said, "Yes, it's our turn to see you."

  With Ju An and Wang Fan, they sat down on the sofa in the living room, watching Chang Dong Na brew a pot of tea for everyone.

  The house is quite large, although it's not as big as the one in China. However, the Chinese style is still very strong. On one wall, there are several calligraphy and painting works, as well as a large red Chinese knot. On another wall, there are many photos, almost all of which are of three boys from childhood to adulthood. The door also has a bright red background with golden characters that read "good fortune". On the table, there are several Qinghua porcelain vases. Near the window, there is a birdcage with a colorful parrot inside.

  Wang Fan looked at the old man and said: "Your body is quite robust, and your complexion looks very good too."

  "I've been here for five years now," the old man said with a smile, stretching out one palm and waving it in front of Ju An and Wang Fan. "Coming from home to this place, not even half a familiar face, if not for feeding horses, raising birds, and helping with some chores every day, I'm afraid this old body would have been lost here."

  "Isn't this place where some Chinese people have come? Can't there be any elderly people to chat with?"

  Lu Guangyuan smiled and replied, "There are indeed a few old people from the mainland who have come here, basically all from the southern coastal areas. My dad can't understand what they're saying either. Playing mahjong together is okay, but you know we can't do anything too exciting here. My dad thinks it's really boring, and after meeting them a few times, he lost interest. If it weren't for being able to raise birds or grow flowers, I'm afraid he would have thought about returning to the mainland long ago."

  Playing mahjong is a different story, in the US, no one cares if you play mahjong, but if you make money from it and get caught, it's not a joke, you'll really be sued, whoever's house you played at will be even more unlucky, fines and jail time are unavoidable, this crime is considered operating an underground casino, absolutely not comparable to being caught in China, detained for two days, fined a small amount of money, and let go. Besides, when Chinese people play mahjong, there's always some kind of reward, at least a small prize, it's all about entertainment.

  "Hey, my parents came here a while ago too, but they left because there was no one to chat with."

  The old man continued with a hint of desolation: "I used to go back two years ago, but now I don't want to go back, afraid of trouble."

  Wang Fan and Ju An looked at Lu Guangyuan with some confusion, Lu Guangyuan smiled and said: "In the past, our family was considered poor among relatives, and relatives were unwilling to visit us. After I graduated from high school, I didn't work, and then followed others to run Sino-Russian trade. We were one of the earliest batches, and after making some money, everyone slowly came to visit more often. Later, when we returned to China, some relatives thought you had made a fortune, and they had all sorts of ideas. Some wanted to send their children to study in the United States and have us take care of them. I disagreed, what if something happened to the child here? How could we explain it? Some relatives started talking nonsense, my dad was so angry that except for my mother's memorial day, he never went back again."

  It's understandable to stay in a safe place, but if the family conditions weren't bad, who would have taken the risk to go to the Soviet Union to do business in its last few years? The old guys there aren't easy to deal with. I myself had an experience like this, where someone took advantage of my kindness and then turned against me. It was when I was in junior high school, a distant cousin came to my dad's place, and my dad helped him find a job. After working for a while, he couldn't take it anymore and ran back home, telling his family that the work was too tiring and bitter. My dad didn't help him wholeheartedly, so when he got angry, he wouldn't eat well for several days. In the end, all that's left is resentment.

  The old man continued: "This decision in my heart, except for going back to the past and being buried with my partner, is rarely returned. Now that the grandchildren are grown up and not around me, I have nothing to do but raise flowers and birds, which is also a carefree life."

  "Next time when my parents come over, you can stay at my place for a few days and have some fun."

  The old man was delighted to hear that, and smiled as he replied: "Well, well, well! Your accent isn't too southern after all. Maybe everyone's taste in food is similar. Listening to you young fellow, it sounds like a Beijing accent." He pointed at Wang Fan.

  Wang Fan smiled and said: "I grew up in the capital since I was a child, to say that this taste of eating is really not much different".

  Lu Guangyuan smiled and said: "That really counts as a fellow countryman, but we are just suburban, not considered metropolitan".

  "Look at these photos on the wall. These are your grandsons, aren't they? They all look full of energy."

  Lu Guangyuan smiled and said: "The eldest is now in college outside, the second and third are in high school, they won't come home for lunch at noon, usually it's just the three of us eating."

  Old Sun's eyes immediately narrowed into a line as he smiled: "The big grandson is not bad, that American university he attended, what was it called... MT?"

  "MIT? That's a top-notch university, not just in the US, but globally renowned for its science and engineering programs." MIT is short for Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world's best science and technology colleges, and everyone knows it's tough to get in.

  Wang Fan also followed with praise: "MIT is really awesome".

  The old man immediately followed up and said, "Right! Right! It's that MIT!" With a proud look on his face, he was even more pleased than when Wang Fan had just praised him for having a good physique.

  Lu Guangyuan said: "The eldest son's grades are very good, the second and third sons are also good. To enter an American university, it's not just about grades, but also about other aspects such as sports, volunteer work, etc." This is something that Ju An knows because he once studied TOEFL with his girlfriend in college. He knows that every year, more than half of the top scorers on the SAT are rejected by Harvard and other prestigious universities. American colleges consider not only SAT scores but also students' grades, and once a certain threshold is met, grades become less important. They also take into account factors such as ethnicity, family education, and economic situation. Therefore, it's common in America for children with top grades to attend second-tier universities, while those with average grades attend first-tier universities.

  Following Lu Guangyuan, he said: "When I first came here, sending a child to school was really not easy."

  "Doesn't the school accept students who can't speak English?"

  "It's not that, as long as you live in this area, regardless of whether you have American citizenship or a green card, the school will accept you. It's just that teachers often write letters to you or invite you to discuss your child's situation, and from time to time they need to find you to talk about it. We have three children attending school at the same time, so you can imagine."

  Wang Fan smiled and said: "That's not bad either, there are more opportunities for communication, and the situation of the children is clearer."

  "At first, my wife and I were just learning English, we were still in class, the kids were also in class, and at that time, our English was not as good as the kids', so we made a lot of jokes. But being a teacher in America is really not easy, the salary is not high, and in winter, many schools will hold a fundraising event, if they raise a certain amount of money, the teachers have to jump into the water. Here in winter, it's often minus 10 or 20 degrees Celsius. Starting from the principal, one by one, they'll jump in, so when winter comes, you can see it for yourself, and at that time, the lakeside will be filled with students from various schools."

  "Even the Americans have charity shows."

  "Last year, my younger son's teacher told them not to donate too much because it was too cold. But these kids were mischievous and donated their own earnings from doing chores like babysitting, helping parents wash cars, and doing household work. At first, we weren't used to giving the kids an allowance for doing chores, but later found it wasn't bad and adopted the practice. Each time, the kids would donate 3-4 yuan or 5-6 yuan, just to see their teacher jump into the water on a cold winter's day. It happens every year, with parents and students going together to watch, making it quite lively."

  Wang Fan and Ju An had never heard of this before, Wang Fan nodded excitedly and said: "That's really fun, I'll come take a look when I have time this year."

  Actually, Halloween and Christmas are more interesting. If you like shopping, many stores have half price or even lower prices on Easter, so you can buy what you want at that time. It's a good deal to buy brand-name items then. My wife often takes advantage of the discounts during Easter to buy some domestic brand-name clothes for her little nephews and nieces, they all like them very much, and it's also much cheaper than in China.