Chapter 6 Sow Keeper

The next morning, Qin Lai Di did not wake up early for the first time. She felt as if she had returned to a familiar place. The big pear tree outside the window was swaying in the wind, making a rustling sound...

"Why aren't you getting up yet, Third Sister?" Suddenly, a round little head popped out from the crack in the door, with two small yellow and fluffy braids fluttering.

Qin Lai Di rubbed her eyes quickly. She was reborn now. She was no longer the lonely old lady who needed Lao Hetou's support. She squinted her eyes and asked, "Pandi?"

This girl didn't come back last night. I heard that the school organized her to go to the county farm to learn about farming and industry. She lived there and came back this morning. At that time, students could only attend a few classes a week. They all learned about farming and industry, brought their own dry food and bedding, and stayed away for more than half a month.

The little girl seemed a little surprised, and looked at her with a look of scrutiny in her eyes like a little adult. She always felt that the third sister was a little strange today, as if she hadn't seen her for a long time and didn't recognize her at first sight.

"Here, porridge cooked with milk."

It is called porridge, but in fact it is just a "big stew" of a few pieces of dried sweet potato and rice bran. There is not a single grain of rice in it, and it cannot stick to the intestines.

Qin Laidie touched Pandi's little head lovingly. It was soft and round. She was obviously nine weeks old, but because of long-term malnutrition, she looked only six or seven years old. Even her teeth had not yet been replaced. She looked like a hungry little hamster.

Not long after her mother gave birth to her posthumous child, she died of illness. Pan Di was not actually their biological sister, but was found by Qin Guihua on a snowy day in the mountains. The little girl was frozen to the point of being blue and purple, and she was a kitten that breathed more than it breathed in. After raising her for so many years, she gradually developed the characteristics of the Qin family - big eyes.

As for the name Pan Di, it was probably Qin Guihua's lifelong obsession.

Qin Lai Di looked at her big round eyes, which almost took up one-third of her face. Unfortunately, they did not have the clarity and liveliness of an ordinary child.

People in the village said that this girl had dull eyes and always squinted at people, especially when it got dark, she couldn't see anything and seemed like she was not very smart.

But the truth is that Pandi is not stupid at all, on the contrary she is very smart. Although she has not attended classes for a few days, she always gets full marks in math. She also got full marks in physics, chemistry and biology in junior high school. She is a real little academic master!

Qin Lai Di only found out after she became a doctor that this was typical night blindness. She didn’t know about it in the village before and didn’t take it seriously. Later, before she was 30, she became completely blind in her left eye and could only survive with her right eye, which was highly myopic.

Qin Pandi had poor eyesight, was short in stature, had no parents, and had an elderly widow. She felt that she did not want to be a burden to others, so she never had a partner or got married in her life. After sending her grandmother away, she went to a nearby nunnery and lived in isolation from the world.

"Third sister, what's wrong with you?" Pan Di asked habitually with her eyes narrowed and her head tilted back.

"Nothing, I just miss our little fourth child."

Pan Di didn't believe it, wrinkled her nose, thought for a moment, and nodded like a little adult, "Well, Third Sister has become more sensible after getting married."

It seems that marriage is a cure for those who are ignorant.

"Puchi... Little girl, who did you learn to be so arrogant from? By the way, is our rice jar empty?"

Actually, it was her fault. Ever since they got married, the Zhao family had sent them a lot of rice and flour. Old Mrs. Zhao even took her to the city to make two new sets of clothes. She was so immersed in the joy of getting married that she forgot to pay attention to the situation at home. After she joined the army, she only came back twice a year. Every time she came back, her grandmother said that they had enough food and drink and were living a good life and she didn't need to worry about anything.

Now, she is the pillar of the family and cannot let grandma and the little one go hungry anymore.

Pan Di was a little confused, "Don't you know that our rice jar has been empty for a long time? Last time I asked my second sister to bring some food, but I guess she forgot again."

The current situation is that the Qin family has no work points or money in the village, and can only survive on the basic per capita rations. Qin Lai Di remembered the things that He Liansheng left behind yesterday, and quickly took them out from under the pillow. There were a total of 15 yuan and a few national grain coupons, and this was all he had to dig out from his own rations.

"Third brother-in-law is so nice. He knows how to give us money. He is better than eldest brother-in-law and second brother-in-law." The little girl was very smart. As soon as she came home and saw her grandmother counting money, she knew that "third brother-in-law" had given her grandmother 60 yuan yesterday. She guessed that was called "bride price". Eldest brother-in-law and second brother-in-law had never given a bride price.

Qin Lai Di didn't know if it was because she was reborn and had a younger mentality or what, but she actually pouted like a young girl, "That's right, from now on, all the money he earns must be handed over to me."

Otherwise, should I keep it to buy health supplements for him? Humph, the old man is very stupid.

"What are health supplements?"

Qin Lai Di laughed, put on her clothes, walked out of the house, and looked around the yard. The Qin family was now a poor family in the village. Their ancestors had lived a prosperous life for a few days, but later Qin Guihua's husband, parents-in-law, son and daughter-in-law fell ill one after another and sold everything that could be sold in the family. Most of the house and homestead were also sold out. Only a small and narrow room was left in the house, sandwiched between the two families on the left and right, leaving a piece of open space of seven or eight square meters for their yard.

A small compartment was built with adobe bricks against the wall in the yard to serve as the kitchen. The grandparents and grandchildren all ate, drank, defecated and urinated in the only adobe house. There was only one kang, which often did not heat well in the winter, and it was common for people to wake up from the cold in the middle of the night.

To be honest, such a house is not as good as the tube-shaped building in the city. No wonder the villagers laugh at them. The neighbors often take this as an excuse to occupy their space. They can't be beaten or scolded for their family of old, weak, women and children. Anyway, she has enough life in the countryside.

The origin of Qin Lai Di's nickname "Little Pepper" is that in order to protect the yard from being occupied by neighbors, her grandmother was too sick to get off the kang, so she, a twelve-year-old girl, blocked the yard wall with a kitchen knife and threatened that if anyone dared to occupy an inch of the yard, she would immediately make the knife draw blood... At first, the neighbors didn't believe it, but she was so irritated that she actually cut the man's hand.

Such a little girl, with yellow hair and a pair of big copper-bell eyes, was full of ruthlessness and determination. From then on, the neighbors restrained themselves a little and dared not take advantage of them blatantly.

Of course, there was another time when the eldest sister Qin Ailan was spotted by a village scoundrel. While my grandmother was queuing up to pay public grain in the city, she climbed over the wall in the middle of the night and was chopped by the village scoundrel with a kitchen knife. She was so scared that she peed and farted... After this incident, everyone in the eight villages knew that she was not to be messed with.

Although she has a bad reputation, she has gained a lot of fans. Not to mention her sisters at home, even the children in the village follow her lead.

Look, wherever Qin Lai Di went, Little Fourth would follow her with half a bowl of rice bran porridge in his hand, trembling with fear. If a drop of rice porridge spilled, he would inhale in pain and immediately put it in his mouth to lick it clean.

The dried sweet potatoes in the cellar had been there for too long and had a moldy smell. They were old and hard to chew. No matter how hungry Qin Lai Di was, she couldn't muster up an appetite. "Let's eat together."

The two sisters were drinking porridge one after another. Before they put down their bowls, someone called out at the door in a hurry, "Is Lai Di home?"

"Yes, what's the matter?" Qin Guihua was very alert. Who was so blind that he came at the right time when they were having dinner instead of earlier or later?

The person who came was Xiao Liu, the scorer of the production team. "It's urgent. Auntie, please ask your daughter Lai Di to go to the back mountain. Something happened to the piglets that were born yesterday!"

It turned out that the brigade accountant was asked to watch over the twenty piglets yesterday, but he had no experience and didn't know to stay alert and get up often to check, so he fell asleep. When he woke up this morning, he found that two of the piglets had been crushed to death under the sow.

The loss made the whole village very sad. Two big fat pigs were gone! The dumplings for the next Chinese New Year would be soaked in soup!

The captain and the secretary were so anxious that their mouths were covered with bubbles. Fortunately, Wang Lifen suggested that Lai Di be the full-time sow keeper. Since she knew how to deliver a baby, she also knew how to take care of the sows. Animals are just like humans. If you don't take good care of your first baby, it will be difficult for you to have more babies in the future.

We all not only count on this nest, but also on several nests in the future.

Qin Lai Di felt a little sorry after listening to Xiao Liu's story, but what she lacked most now was not sympathy, but food - "Xiao Liu, you also know the situation of our family. If I go to help, there will be no one to earn a share of the work in this family. My grandma and Pan Di..."

There is nothing more to say, so you can experience it yourself.

"It's okay, don't worry. The captain and the secretary just said that as long as you go, including the night shift, you will get 20 work points every day."

Twenty work points! That would take two strong men two days to earn!

Qin Guihua, who was standing by, said firmly, "That won't do. The night shift requires constant supervision, and it should be counted as at least 30 work points."

Xiao Liu was furious, "This, this, this is too much!" A young man working seven hours on the farm would only be counted as ten work points. She really dared to ask for such a high amount.

"Who can stare at it without blinking all night? Find him."

Xiao Liu felt as if someone was strangling him.

"Besides," Qin Guihua paused and said in a hard voice, "work points can only be redeemed at the end of the year. We can barely make ends meet now. The whole family is eating bran. You should redeem the grain for me today."

Life was not easy for everyone in the team, but other families could at least have some corn grit porridge, sorghum nests and the like. However, the Qin family could only eat bran, and they had to be frugal.

Qin Guihua's advantage never lasts overnight, let alone for a long time. Moreover, her family now has a backer. "You know my grandson-in-law Comrade Xiao He, he is a worker in Haicheng. Don't think you can bully us orphans and widows like before."

"Hey, auntie, let's not talk about your son-in-law for now. You are asking for too much. Our team doesn't have much food. We will have to..."

Qin Guihua looked calm and composed.

Yesterday she was unsure whether her granddaughter could deliver a baby, but today she is sure. The team really needs this technical backbone, and she is not stupid.

Xiao Liu said all the nice things he could, but seeing that the old lady was unmoved, he could only calculate in his mind. According to last year's exchange rate, taking care of the old lady for half a month would be 450 work points, which he would have to exchange for 45 kilograms of coarse grain for them. It would be easy to deal with Aunt Lifen, and as for the team leader... as long as Aunt Lifen gave the order, it would be possible.

"Okay, it's settled. I'll deliver the food later."

So, under Qin Guihua's instructions, Qin Laidi came to the pigpen again and officially became the first female professional sow keeper in the village's history!