Chapter 41 Strange

Lao Lin and Lao Qi looked at each other and didn't dare to move.

Su Tong didn't look at the expressions of the two old men. He had already walked to the side and was busy hanging curtains on the windows of the main room.

Lao Qi stared at the bowl of medicine again and again, and stammered, "I...I drink it too?"

Su Tong replied without even turning his head: "Lao Lin's bowl is for curing diseases, and your bowl is for warming and nourishing."

Lao Lin said nothing. He took the medicine bowl first and drank it down in big gulps like drinking wine, and drank it all in one breath.

Lao Qi finally reacted and tremblingly picked up the bowl in front of him and put it to his mouth. He was not as eager as Lao Lin when drinking. He took small sips at a time and managed to drink the bowl of bitter medicine as if it were fine wine.

There is a window against the back wall of the main room. The glass was covered with old newspapers, which have turned yellow and broken over time.

Su Tong tore up the newspapers when he was cleaning yesterday, and today he bought a few scraps of cloth from the tailor shop. They were all the colorful pieces of cloth that couldn't be sold in the shop, and they were perfect for making curtains.

Once I bought all the pots, pans, and utensils and put them in order, the house finally looked like a home.

Su Tong clapped his hands, looked at the two silent old men in front of the square table, and said, "Okay, I have something to go out for a while, remember to wash the dishes!"

After saying that, he put on his backpack, took the newly bought hoe and went out.

When I was about to walk out of the courtyard gate, I heard Lao Qi answering from behind:

"Hey! We promise to wash it clean!" The voice had a distinct nasal tone.

Su Tong didn't look back, but smiled slightly with the corners of his lips raised.

Su Tong did not go up the mountain, but walked along the ridge of the field to the south of the village. The terrain there was higher and all the dry land in the village was concentrated there.

She looked around as she walked, and soon found the village's rapeseed field along a row of poplar trees. The rapeseed seedlings in the field had not yet grown up, and the flowers were lying on the ground. From a distance, it looked like a large green field.

It's the end of the year and there is not much work to do in the fields. Only three to five days will a few people be sent out to weed and prune the seedlings. Most of the people who come are aunts and sisters, and the men don't value these scattered work points.

Qiuyu said that Aunt Wangcai, who came back with her on the bus, broke her leg while weeding in the rapeseed field under the poplar tree.

Su Tong narrowed his eyes, walked around the field, and found nothing wrong.

Aunt Wangcai lived at the east end of the village. She looked up at the direction and chose the shortest way to Aunt Wangcai's house.

The ridges of the fields are wide and narrow. The ridges that are often walked on have no grass in the middle, and the soil is trampled solid and white, making it easy to recognize at a glance.

Su Tong walked slowly along the path with a backpack on his back. When he was almost at Aunt Wangcai's house, there was a small fork in the road.

This fork in the road is a little narrower. There are fields on the right and on the left. However, Yunshan Village is a hilly area, and the fields on the left are nearly two meters lower than those on the right.

Su Tong walked forward along the small fork in the road for only two steps before he found the place where Aunt Wangcai fell, because a large area of dead grass there was flattened and even a part of the road was trampled.

She squatted down and took a look, and she found the problem - the road was not collapsed at all, but a gap was dug in it.

There were obvious hoe marks on the roadside, and the turned-over soil was still slightly damp, indicating that the marks were actually new.

There was dense dead grass growing on the roadside, and the path was half-hidden, so it could not be seen without careful observation.

The ground is frozen hard in this cold winter. If you miss a step and fall down a two-meter-high step, you will definitely break some bones.

Su Tong stood up and looked around. This place was very close to Aunt Wangcai's house. Another fifty meters would reach her threshing ground, but the surrounding houses were farther away, so there was no need to take this path to go home.

In other words, except Aunt Wangcai, no one else has to take this road to go home.

Su Tong smacked his lips. This was interesting. Aunt Wangcai's fall was a bit strange.

Looking at the watch, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon. Su Tong had an idea in her mind, so she stopped moving forward and changed direction to Yunshan.

In her previous life, she had been in school, hospital, and the army, leading a collective life and had no great demands for material things or money, but now she needed to start thinking about the issue of survival.

There is less than ten yuan left in hand, and the food the family has bought now will not last long, not to mention that there are two elderly people who obviously lack the ability to survive and need help.

She was not being overly kind-hearted, but she knew that these "stinking ninths" who were sent down were intellectuals who had suffered a lot and been wronged, and she did not want them to lose their lives in vain due to disease and hunger on the eve of dawn.

She was most familiar with nature. Her grandfather took her and her brother to travel all over the mountains and rivers to identify herbs when they were young. Later, when she went to the battlefield, she spent almost every day in the wild during marches and garrisons.

In her eyes, Yunshan is a "natural medicine storehouse". Even in this bleak winter, there are countless herbs to be seen, such as Chinese rhubarb, isatis root, winter mulberry leaves, and Ligustrum lucidum...

There are also pheasants and mountain rabbits jumping around occasionally. In large mountain ranges like Yunshan, you may be able to see wild boars, wild deer, muntjacs and even other large animals.

Su Tong walked slowly into the depths of Yunshan Mountain. He had to survive first before considering other things.

——————

Behind the village committee there is a row of earthen brick houses, about five or six rooms connected together. The village primary school was located here in the early years.

Later, the commune built a new school building, and this row of houses was used by the village as a place for educated youth to settle in the countryside from the city.

Tian Qingrong was lying in one of the rooms, on an inconspicuous row of earth pits, and all she had was a small quilt.

I went to town today, originally intending to buy some New Year goods. Although I didn't have much money, I still wanted to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to see if the red wool scarf I bought last time had arrived...

Zhang Yaping has one of that kind of scarf. When you tie that red scarf around your neck, your whole complexion will become better. It will add a lot of color to Zhang Yaping's dull appearance. How beautiful you will be if you wear it.

Zhang Yaping always revealed intentionally or unintentionally that it was Xing Dongyang who brought it to her. Bah! Brother Dongyang obviously only brought her a package, not just a scarf!

All the packages for the educated youth in the village were brought back by Brother Dongyang on his tractor!

But after meeting Wu Tong on the road today, she changed her mind. Now it is necessary to have a good relationship with Wu Tong and the villagers. It is related to her future. The matter of the red scarf is not so urgent.

But when she saw Xing Dongyang giving money to Wu Tong, she felt upset again.

Although she knew that Xing Dongyang would not have any feelings towards Wu Tong, she just felt that it was strange that Brother Xing could be nice to everyone but always lukewarm towards her.

Tian Qingrong tossed and turned in the pit for a long time. The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became. She decided to get up and get something to eat.

When she came back, the educated youth had already had lunch. She didn't expect that she would come back so early and no one would leave any food for her.

At the very edge of the educated youth site was a public kitchen, where people would usually hand over their rations together and take turns cooking. When Tian Qingrong went in, she discovered that there was someone in front of the stove. It was Zhang Yaping, the person she least wanted to see.

Under normal circumstances, she would have walked away without looking back, but today she just stood there without moving.