Tian Yuan felt a little upset when he saw the gloomy atmosphere at home. Looking at Lin Meiyu whose eyes were swollen from crying, he comforted her, "Mom! Why are you crying? I'm just going to work. And this time I'm close to home. Maybe one day I can take a longer vacation and come back by bus."
"Okay, it's a good thing for the child to go out and earn money. There's no need to cry. Besides, Tian Yuan is so old now, it's normal for him to go out and try his luck." Old Mrs. Tian couldn't bear it anymore. She had experienced a lot and didn't think it was a big deal for Tian Yuan to go out.
Isn't this just like being a worker in the county town, except that Tian Yuan may have less vacation time, work longer hours, and cannot come back often.
Lin Meiyu is also capable of taking on responsibilities. Although she didn't know how long Tian Yuan would be gone this time, she felt better after crying for a while to vent her feelings.
"Just go out without worry, don't worry about us at home, we are all fine!"
Tian Lisong came in after cleaning the bike, and patted Tian Yuan on the shoulder, "It's getting late, let's go quickly, or we'll miss the bus!"
Tian Yuan nodded, picked up the luggage on the ground, and after talking to Lin Meiyu and the others for a few words, he walked out the door with Tian Lisong who was pushing a bicycle, sat on the back seat of the bicycle, and left.
When Tian Tian and the others returned home, they did not have much time to remain depressed as there was still a lot of work to do at home. Soon, Lin Meiyu recovered and cheered up to go up the mountain with Chen Guihua and Tian Lilin to collect firewood.
Old Mrs. Tian and Tian Tian picked out all the small and damaged sweet potatoes at home, boiled them and prepared to dry them.
Old Mrs. Tian has been very anxious these days. Winter is about to come, and she has to collect firewood, as there are still so many wild products on the mountain that have not been picked up, and there are still many vegetables in the fields that have not been picked up. There is also a lot of things to do at home, such as drying the skins of pickles, drying potatoes and sweet potatoes, pickling pickles and sauerkraut, and planting cabbage in the fields.
These jobs come one after another, and there is not much time left.
After the sweet potatoes and potatoes are all cooked, the very small ones can be taken outside to dry in the sun. The larger ones need to be cut into slices and then hung outside to dry.
There were a lot of things drying in the yard, including gourd peels, dried mountain red peels, and the dried sand apples that Old Mrs. Tian wore a few days ago. There was no extra space for them to dry sweet potatoes.
Old Mrs. Tian took a feather duster and swept the top of the wall of the yard to remove all the dust, and then spread the sweet potatoes on the top of the wall.
Fortunately, the walls of their house are made of stones, unlike some people's walls which are made of yellow mud, so they are not worried about getting mud stuck on them.
As for whether it will get dirty if placed on the wall, it's just a little dusty and it's no big deal if you eat it.
The environment at that time was still relatively good. There was neither car exhaust nor various kinds of pollution. Even if there was some dust on the food, you could just wipe it off and eat it.
They filled up the front yard wall before they finished putting out the sweet potato chips and potato chips.
After that, the remaining quilts were dried. Tian Tian and Old Lady Tian starched and washed the quilts, then stretched them out and hung them up to dry.
The sheets for the other two beds had already been washed and dried, so they were taken directly into the house and sewn up later.
The sheets were particularly hard after washing. Tian Tian didn’t know why the washers had to make these sheets so hard.
Later I learned that after washing, the flour and water would fill the gaps in the quilt, so dirt could not get into the quilt, and it would not be difficult to wash.
Moreover, the quilt can be preserved longer and will not become outdated. Nowadays, a quilt can be used for more than ten years without breaking, and some can even be used for twenty or thirty years.
When Lin Meiyu and the others came back in the evening, Grandma Tian had already sewed the two quilts, and the other quilts that had been starched and washed were also dry.
There will also be a duo performance tonight, in their group.
Tian Baobao and Tian Zhuo came back rarely, so instead of going out to collect grass for the pigs, they went straight home.
By the time they finished cooking and eating, it was already half past five. Tian Baobao and Tian Zhuo could not wait to move their small stools, picked up a few little sweet potatoes, and ran to watch the duo act.
Although Lin Meiyu and the others really wanted to go and watch, they had to sew the sheets tonight, otherwise they would have nothing to cover themselves with, so they didn't plan to go and listen to the Errenzhuan.
Sewing quilts is a serious job, and Chen Guihua has no complaints.
Tian Tian liked watching them sew quilts, so she didn't go to listen to the duo act. Instead, she huddled close to them, eating undried sand apples and reading a book.
Of course, the books she was reading were definitely not the ones she bought from the scrap yard, but the Chinese textbooks she used in the second year of junior high school.
Among these subjects, Chinese is the easiest for Tian Tian. Now the exams are all about quotations from the Red Book, and the Chinese book only accounts for a small part. All you have to do is memorize all the articles, and Tiantian is least afraid of memorizing things.
When it gradually darkened outside, Old Mrs. Tian took out the kerosene lamp, lit it and put it aside.
"You better be careful with your legs. If you roll over my lamp and burn the quilt, don't cry when I beat you!" said Old Mrs. Tian as she patted Tian Tian's outstretched legs.
Tian Tian chuckled. The kerosene lamp was too dim and reading was tiring for her eyes, so she put the book aside and sat next to Lin Meiyu to watch them sew the quilt.
The four edges of the quilt needed to be sewn. The mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law each sewn one edge, leaving one edge unsewn.
Tian Tian had wanted to help them sew before, but the quilt was too thick and she couldn’t insert the needle at all. She even pricked herself with the stitches several times, so she finally gave up.
Tian Tian reached out and moved the kerosene lamp a little closer to them, then sat beside them and peeled peanuts for them.
It’s not that they don’t have electric lights in their house, but Old Mrs. Tian is reluctant to use them. She only turns on the lights during the New Year’s Eve, and never turns them on at other times of the year.
One reason is that electricity is expensive and Mrs. Tian feels there is no need to spend the money.
The second reason was that although their brigade had electricity at that time, the electricity connection was not very good and power outages occurred frequently. Before, the house would often go dark while they were driving, so later Mrs. Tian simply stopped using it.
Moreover, on ordinary days, everyone goes to bed as soon as it gets dark, so there is really no need for lights. Kerosene lamps are rarely used, let alone electric lights.
Around eight o'clock, Tian Baobao and Tian Zhuo came back excitedly after watching the Errenzhuan, and sat on the kang, telling them about the play they had heard today.
Chen Guihua felt very sorry when she heard this. "If I hadn't made the quilt today, I would have definitely gone over to take a look. I don't know if I will go to Team 7 tomorrow."
"They said they would have one more performance tomorrow, and then they would go back to the county town the day after tomorrow. It seemed like they would perform for five days and then have two days off, which means they have more holidays than we do." Tian Baobao couldn't even open his eyes.
He had indeed gone to bed a little late these past few nights, and had to get up early in the morning to go to school, and he felt that he was really not getting enough sleep.
Tian Zhuo was also very envious of this, "I want to join the art troupe when I grow up! I will also sing opera! I also want to have two days off every week!"
They only have one day off a week now, and sometimes they have outdoor activities on Sundays. It is common for them to not have a day off in a week.
Tian Tian was reluctant to discourage Tian Zhuokao from joining the art troupe, but she had to say that the county art troupe was full of city dwellers, some of whom had learned to sing opera from their families since childhood, and some were children of high-ranking officials, who could only learn to sing opera if they had money. Moreover, the work in the art troupe was respectable, and those with good family backgrounds were all trying their best to get in.
This job is really not suitable for people from the countryside like them, and the most important thing is that Tian Zhuo sings out of tune.
But maybe Tian Zhuo really has some musical talent. Although he can't sing well, he can play music with leaves, and it sounds pretty good.
After all the quilts were sewn, everyone went back to their rooms to sleep.
After Tian Yuan was gone for a few days, everyone got used to his absence.
Two days later, Tian Yuan sent back a letter, and the address on the letter was indeed in the same county as theirs.
Thinking of the soldiers who chased the wild boar to their brigade, Tian Tian felt that Tian Yuan should also be in that unit.
Since Old Mrs. Tian and Chen Guihua were illiterate, Lin Meiyu took on the task of reading the letters.
There wasn't much in the letter, just one page to let them know I was safe.
Although there were few words, everyone was able to put their concerns to rest.
In November, the weather gradually became cooler, and the people in the village began to busy themselves storing food in preparation for the winter.
One day the mountain was full of people, chattering about all kinds of gossip, and the village became quiet.
There were more and more things piled up in the house, chestnuts and hazelnuts in sacks, pine needles for starting a fire, piles of firewood that were indispensable for the New Year, various dried vegetables and fruits, red string girls, sour and sweet dried sand apples hanging on the door frame, and pickled vegetables in vegetable jars. The things in the house became more and more abundant.
The daughters-in-law also started to iron the sweaters that were too small for the children last year and then knit them into new clothes.
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