Colorful years

His voice was filled with pride and confidence, making everyone look forward to his duck farming business.

However, Zhang Zhong did not become complacent or stop moving forward. He knew that on the journey of duck farming, only by constantly learning and making continuous progress could he go far and achieve steady progress.

Therefore, he devoted himself to learning duck farming techniques and knowledge, systematically and deeply improving his breeding skills and abilities.

Through Zhang Zhong's unremitting efforts, his duck farming scale has gradually expanded, and the variety of breeds has also increased.

He not only preserved traditional high-quality breeds such as Muscovy ducks and white ducks, but also boldly introduced new high-quality breeds such as mallard ducks and Muscovy ducks. These new breeds grow rapidly, have delicious meat, strong disease resistance, and good adaptability, and have quickly won widespread praise and favor in the market.

During those arduous years of raising ducks, Zhang Zhong not only reaped considerable economic benefits and material wealth, but also accumulated valuable life experience and spiritual treasures.

His duck farming business has given him a deeper understanding of what perseverance, responsibility, dedication, and contribution truly mean!

Through his hard work and selfless dedication, the children gradually grew into adults...

Through his hard work and selfless dedication, his children have quietly grown into adults. They have inherited their father's perseverance and diligence and continue to forge ahead on their life's journey.

Let's focus on Zhang Cong again.

As mentioned earlier, after Congcong turned three, he began to share a bed with his grandfather.

In that era, rural areas were poor and backward, electricity was not yet widespread, and lighting mainly relied on kerosene lamps.

At that time, kerosene was expensive, costing 50 cents per pound. For farmers, this was undoubtedly a considerable expense, so every household was extremely frugal and dared not use it lightly.

Naturally, the duration of nighttime lighting was also strictly limited.

In addition, rural cultural life was extremely scarce at that time, with almost no cultural or entertainment activities available.

In the 1960s, it was considered a luxury for each production team to be able to watch a movie once every six months.

These films are usually shown outdoors by the county film company's projection team.

It wasn't until the mid-to-late 1970s that each commune built a simple cinema and assigned a projectionist. Only farmers living near the commune had the opportunity to watch a movie once a week.

Due to the lack of cultural and recreational activities and the high price of kerosene, farmers usually chat for an hour or two after dinner before going to bed early.

I usually go to bed no later than 9 p.m., mainly to save kerosene.

After going to bed, Congcong tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep, so he kept pestering his grandfather to tell him stories.

Although my grandfather was not particularly eloquent, he had an amazing memory, which did not prevent him from telling those fascinating historical stories.

The characters in the story are vividly portrayed, the plot is full of twists and turns, and the language is lively and interesting.

As we mentioned before, the family had declined in its early years. A merciless fire not only destroyed the Zhang family manor but also burned down the Zhang family's vast fortune.

The grandfather's father, Zhang Chuanzi, was unable to afford the children's tuition fees, preventing them from receiving a formal education.

Therefore, Grandpa never stepped into a school. All the characters he knew and the books he read were taught to him by his parents.

Given the difficult family circumstances, my grandfather had very few access to books. He only read three classic works: the Three Character Classic, the Expanded Collection of Wise Sayings, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

However, thanks to his amazing memory, Grandpa was able to memorize almost every word of the three books.

Most of the stories Grandpa tells are related to characters from the Three Kingdoms period. You know, there are so many characters in *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, enough for Grandpa to tell Congcong stories for years!

In this way, Congcong learned from his grandfather about a series of historical stories and their profound meanings, such as "The Oath of the Peach Garden," "Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage," "Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats," "Burning the Camps," "The Marriage Proposal of Eastern Wu," "Saving the Lord at Changban Slope," "His Body Was in Cao Cao's Camp but His Heart Was in Han's," "Why Did Heaven Create Both Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang?" and "Entrusting the Orphan at Baidi City."

As the sun sets and night falls, the dim kerosene lamp casts flickering shadows on the walls of the mud-brick house.

Congcong always nestled obediently beside his grandfather, his clear eyes sparkling with curiosity about the unknown world and a strong thirst for knowledge.

Grandpa's voice was deep and magnetic, like a magical force that brought the distant Three Kingdoms era closer to their humble little house...