Long Lasting Dreams Chapter 2

Ethan Jiang didn't really care about cell phones. He was probably not old enough, so he just read Doraemon for leisure. Nowadays, if you have attended preschool and know how to read, you are good enough. Although he has not gone to school in the city, he can still read simple comics like Doraemon.

As for mobile phones, he has heard that children younger than him in the city are better at using them than him.

Max and his gang are three or four years older than him. They treat the cell phone like a treasure. Many things are shared property among the kids in the countryside. Sam Shu's family is rich, and his parents bought him a cell phone. Max and his gang are as envious as dogs.

The egg-collecting game has been played since childhood. Ethan Jiang was young, so he acted as the referee. He sat on a tree stump outside the woods in warm clothes with two bags in front of him, waiting for Sam Shu and Max's team to bring out the eggs.

Max was really mad for a cell phone. He dared to steal the eggs laid by the chickens. Ethan Jiang could hear the shrill cries of chickens from the forest even when he was sitting outside. After a while, Max threw up his cotton coat and ran away. Under the coat was bulging with eggs, and there was no telling how many eggs were stuffed inside. Behind him was a big pheasant with a colorful tail. Its wings were as wide as a child's. Its cries were so loud that it sounded like thunder. It stretched its neck and jumped up to peck at Max's head.

Max wanted to reach out to stop it, but was afraid of smashing the eggs, so he kept screaming "ouch ouch" as he rushed forward. The chicken was particularly persistent and refused to let go. Ethan Jiang saw it rushing towards him and turned to run. Max shouted from behind: "Why are you running, you B@st@ard?!"

Ethan Jiang shouted: "The chicken is chasing us!"

Gou Mao was furious: "You are f*cking afraid of a chicken!"

Ethan Jiang: "Then why are you running?"

Dog hair: ...

In the end, Max persisted and did not return the eggs. The chicken probably forgot about the eggs afterwards and felt very proud. It walked around in front of Ethan Jiang and Max in a domineering manner for more than half an hour. It followed Max wherever he went to get the eggs and pecked at his head out of nowhere.

The poor dog had very few hairs to begin with, and half of them were pecked off.

Ethan Jiang originally wanted to say that it was not worth losing so much hair just for a cell phone, but seeing how desperately Max tried, he finally resisted the urge to throw cold water on him.

When Sam Shu came out, he was also frightened by the chicken and joked, "See how slimy it is, why not just keep it?"

Max got a cell phone and was very happy: "Why raise it? I can just kill it and eat it. Shenzi, do you want one?"

Ethan Jiang: "My dad said that we can't eat anything in the wild, they are all protected animals."

Gou Mao said, "What a hassle."

He found a soft willow branch, wrapped it around the chicken's neck, and the chicken pecked at it a few times, but when it couldn't see him, it didn't care and just marched behind Dog Hair.

"Take it back and let Qinglinzi raise it." Max was very proud. He gave the bag of eggs he won directly to Ethan Jiang. "I'll go to your house to eat eggs tonight."

Ethan Jiang certainly had no objection. The chicken was said to be taken back to Qinglinzi, but in fact it was almost free-range, and each household was close to the other, so the dogs they raised were indistinguishable from each other, let alone the chickens.

The rest of the people dispersed, leaving only Max, Sam Shu, and Ethan Jiang, plus a deep red and green pheasant. The forest was some distance away from the residential area, so the three people and the pheasant simply stopped a tractor halfway to give them a ride.

It was late, and the wind was still strong. The dirt road was blown up with a layer of yellow sand and mud, which never stopped falling like rain on the chicken-headed man's face. Ethan Jiang looked down at the thick sweater he had just changed into today, and was frightened when his mother Hannah Tan's face appeared in his mind. The chicken was probably frozen at the back, and it didn't even have the strength to call. Ethan Jiang held it in his arms, and Max and Sam Shu were on the left and right. The three of them looked embarrassed and funny.

By the time we arrived at the residential area, Lucas Jiang had already been found.

Ethan Jiang was holding the chicken, his body covered in dust, and he called out "Dad" tremblingly.

Lucas Jiang glanced at Max and Sam Shu who were in the Sam Shue situation, looked up to the sky and sighed. He really didn't even have the energy to curse.

Go home and take a bath first. The chickens are luckier than them. Ethan Jiang's family had raised poultry before and had a feeding trough. Hannah Tan added some food and repaired the original fence. After the pheasants were full, they squatted on the hay and took a nap.

When Ethan Jiang came out of washing his hair, he saw Sam Shu and Max had also changed their clothes and were sitting in his living room waiting for Lucas Jiang to fry some eggs for them.

"You guys are really naughty." Hannah Tan came in after feeding the chickens and started to scold, "You can't help but have fun when spring comes, right?"

Fortunately, Max still had a conscience: "Sam Shu and I wanted to play, so Shenzi accompanied us."

Hannah Tan glared at her son.

Ethan Jiang obediently concentrated on eating the eggs.

Hannah Tan: "Qinglinzi is back. He has been waiting for me for a long time and just left."

Max took out his cell phone like he was offering a treasure: "I'll go call her over."

Sam Shu was standing next to him, rolling his eyes and saying, "Do you have any shame?"

When Qing Lingzi arrived, Ethan Jiang and his friends had just received a delicious fried egg each. The seven or eight-year-old girl was more sensible and mature than boys of the Sam Shue age. Seeing her brother wolfing down the food, Qing Lingzi's expression was one of extreme disgust.

Their family dotes on their daughter much more than on Gou Mao. As soon as she entered spring, Qing Lingzi put on a new cotton-padded jacket and skirt. The little girl held a drawing board and called out in a coquettish voice: "Shen Zi."

Ethan Jiang took the head out of the egg: "Hey."

Qing Lingzi squeezed to his side, and Sam Shu could only hold the plate to make way for him. When the little girl sat down, she did not forget to spread the hem of her new skirt, and raised her chin in a very dignified manner: "I finished a painting today."

Ethan Jiang wiped his mouth: "Let me see."

Qing Lingzi was waiting for him to say this, and carefully took out the drawing board hidden behind his back. Max took a glance at it, biting his egg and said disdainfully: "It's not a treasure, look how nervous you are."

Qing Lingzi usually doesn't get along with her brother. Although Max won't bully others like other children, and he doesn't have the courage to throw paint or tear canvas, he is just rude, yes, vulgar.

Qing Lingzi couldn't stand the fact that he worked in the fields and climbed trees all day long. His clothes were never clean, his shoes couldn't be washed in a week, he didn't study hard, his grades were at the bottom of the class, and he even recited a text with a strong country accent. In the past, in preschool, Qing Lingzi wanted to walk around him, thinking it was shameful to have such a brother.

Among the several country friends, the only one Qing Lingzi likes is Ethan Jiang.

The little girl's album was very precious, Ethan Jiang picked it up and put it down carefully. Qing Lingzi said that today's painting was "Busy Spring", and Ethan Jiang didn't quite understand the artistic conception of the oil painting, so he said he was just going to take a look.

Qing Lingzi asked him: "Does it look good?"

Ethan Jiang nodded: "It looks good."

Qing Lingzi became happy, and her brother also wanted to come over to see, but was slapped back on the head by the little girl.

Gou Mao was so angry: "You bought the paint with my pocket money last month!"

Qing Lingzi hit him with his fist: "Your shoes were worn out before and I secretly bought you new ones. You paid me back for the paint!"

Dog Hair muttered, "You are so stingy."

Qing Lingzi put away the painting, stuck out his tongue at Gou Mao, and slowly walked out of the Jiang family's yard.

Sam Shu looked at Qing Lingzi's back and said with a smile: "Girl, why do you love her so much?"

"How can it not hurt?" Max still had the egg in his mouth. He spoke loudly and noisily, "She is the only sister in the family. She can learn whatever she wants. Shenzi, you don't know how expensive the paint is. When I went to buy it, I felt like I had to kill 500 more chickens to make enough money."

It would have been fine if Max hadn't mentioned the chicken. As soon as he mentioned it, the pheasants in Ethan Jiang's yard woke up at some point and started crowing arrogantly in the fence.

"Oh my god, I'm so scared." Dog Hair covered his chest and said in horror, "Does it recognize me? Will it peck me when it sees me next time?"

Sam Shu insulted him: "You are dumber than a chicken. Eat your eggs."

Compared with other families with better conditions, the Jiang family even has a first-generation seed drill, which is small and slow. For the Sam Shue acre of land, other people's seed drills can make one trip, but he has to use this old machine to make three trips.

Every year when sowing, Ethan Jiang would be outside at the edge of the field. He would have a hoe tied around his waist and a shovel in his hand, but he was not just playing around. The machine at home was too old, and occasionally there would be land that had not been well plowed, so he had to go down and sow the seeds manually.

After running back and forth so many times, the soles of his shoes were covered with mud. Lucas Jiang stopped the car and called Ethan Jiang over.

"Are you tired?" Lucas Jiang picked up his son and put him on the big tire, then took out a brush and cleaned the dirt for him.

Ethan Jiang smiled and said, "Not tired."

Lucas Jiang also laughed. He was actually not very old, less than 40 years old, but he worked hard all day long, and his face looked more haggard no matter how you looked at it.

"I'll send you to school in September." Lucas Jiang suddenly said, "I used some connections to get you into the third grade."

Although Ethan Jiang was young, he was not igNora Miaont of his family's financial situation. He said nothing, but frowned and twisted the belt around his waist that tied the hoe.

Lucas Jiang asked him: "Your mother said you wanted to learn dancing?"

Ethan Jiang didn't dare to say yes. He was silent for a long time and then said "hmm" in a soft mosquito-like voice.

Lucas Jiang sighed. As a father, he knew his son's temperament best. Even though Ethan Jiang's "hmm" was light, it sounded heavy in his ears.

"If you learn to dance, you won't be able to read comic books anymore." Lucas Jiang said half-jokingly and half-threateningly, "You have to save all your pocket money to pay for the tuition."

Ethan Jiang remembered when Lucas Jiang said that. He hurriedly took out the deposit he had returned from renting books from his pocket and stuffed it into his father's hand. After doing all this, Ethan Jiang seemed to finally have some confidence and said seriously: "I won't read comic books anymore. I will never read them again."

... Lucas Jiang looked down at the pile of coins and bills in his hand. He opened his mouth several times, but the words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't speak. He raised his arm silently, took Ethan Jiang down from the tire, and stroked his son's head with a heavy movement. "Let's go to the city tomorrow and ask your mother to buy you shoes."