The wind and snow were so strong that if you didn't speak loudly, you couldn't hear what was being said.
"You are students?" The uncle was a little envious when he heard it. "It's great to be able to go to school! My daughter has always wanted to go to school, but our family is poor and we can't even get enough food to eat. How can we have the spare money to send her to school? You must have spent a lot of money on your schooling, right?"
Tian Tian and Tian Yun looked at each other and said nothing. They both knew that they were very lucky.
"We spend a lot of money every month. It's better for elementary school. High school tuition, book fees, miscellaneous fees, dormitory fees, and other miscellaneous things cost almost ten yuan a year, which drains all the money in my family. But it's much cheaper to just go to elementary school. There aren't so many expenses, and there's no accommodation fees." Tian Tian said.
Anyway, her school expenses this semester must have been more than ten dollars, and the brand new thermos and lunch box were not cheap.
After hearing this, the uncle driving the ox cart was so scared that he didn't even ask about his child's studies. He could barely earn ten dollars a year, so how could he afford to send his child to school?
It just so happened that he was driving the cart and sitting in the front, and the wind was strong, and when he opened his mouth, he was filled with wind.
No one spoke for the rest of the journey, and all one could hear was the whistling of the north wind blowing past their ears.
Since the uncle couldn't send them to the production team, he sent them to the commune of the Hongqi Brigade.
After Tian Tian and Tian Yun jumped off the ox cart and thanked the uncle, they carried their luggage and walked home together.
After resting for a while in the car just now, Tian Tian has recovered a lot. It’s just that she sweated a lot after walking that distance just now, and her clothes were all soaked. After resting for a while just now, the clothes inside are now cold and stick to her body, which is very uncomfortable.
The two walked for another hour, until the scarf in front of their mouths and noses was covered with a thick layer of frost, and even their eyelashes and eyebrows were covered with frost.
When they arrived at the brigade entrance, Tian Tian was not warm at all.
"Did you always walk back by yourself in winter before?" Tian Tian asked breathlessly.
If she could walk back, Tian Yun would be really amazing. Her walking today would leave her with a psychological shadow for a long time.
"When I came back last year, the weather was warm and the snow on the road was compacted, but I wasn't as tired as I am today." Tian Yun was also very tired today. She only went to school for a year and a half this year, and she had never been as tired as she is today since she came back.
Fortunately, they have arrived home now. Tian Tian and Tian Yun separate and go back to their respective homes and mothers.
When Tian Tian got home, she was so tired that she couldn't speak.
Lin Meiyu and her friends had no work to do in the winter, so they were lying on the kang playing poker. After finishing one game, the four of them were about to start another when they heard the door being opened.
"Who is it?" Lin Meiyu shouted outside while getting up to put on her shoes.
"Mom and Dad! Uncle! Aunt!" Tian Tian walked into the room with the luggage in her hands, threw the luggage on the kang, and sat down on the edge of the kang exhausted.
Tian Tian's return made the whole family busy. Tian Lisong took the luggage into Tian Tian's room and heated Tian Tian's kang.
He didn't know that Tian Tian had returned home today. The kang in Tian Tian's room was not heated at all and was ice-cold, making it completely uninhabitable.
Chen Guihua went downstairs to pour hot water for Tian Tian. Tian Lilin went to the kitchen silently, scooped up a shovel of charcoal from the stove and put it in the brazier, then brought it into the house and went out.
When Tian Laotian saw Tian Tian coming back like a snowman, he was furious. He kept scolding Tian Tian for being so stupid, and then went to get clothes for Tian Tian to change.
"Why didn't you tell your dad in advance that you were coming back? So that your dad could pick you up? Look, you're frozen." Lin Meiyu hurriedly took off Tian Tian's hat, scarf and gloves. She felt distressed when she saw Tian Tian's red face and cold hands.
"If my dad comes to pick me up, he has to walk back, right? The snow on the road is so thick, my dad can't ride a bike!" Tian Tian struggled for a while and regained some strength.
"If you can't ride a bicycle, then let your father harness the ox cart. Even if you have to walk, at least he can help you carry your luggage." Lin Meiyu said.
She reached her hand into Tian Tian's clothes and felt around, "Look, you're all wet inside, go back to your room and change these wet clothes!"
As she spoke, Lin Meiyu helped Tian Tian take off her clothes.
"Hurry up and drink some water to warm yourself up." Chen Guihua handed the water with ginger slices in it to Tian Tian. Tian Tian looked at the ginger in it and didn't want to drink it. She hated ginger the most, but she was really frozen today. Now the soles of her feet were icy cold. She was afraid that she would get sick from the cold, so she pinched her nose and drank the ginger water.
"Look, your socks are all wet, and the inside of your shoes are damp too. Take off your socks quickly and get on the kang to warm them up." When Chen Guihua touched Tian Tian's feet, it was like touching a big ice cube, and the inside of her shoes was also damp.
After busying herself for a while, Tian Tian finally took off her cold clothes and put on dry clothes. She sat on the kang in warmth with a quilt covering her body. There was a pile of delicious food on the kang in front of her, including fried peanuts, boiled chestnuts, hazelnuts, mountain red, melon seeds, and frozen pears.
"Did you come back by yourself?" asked Old Mrs. Tian.
"No, Tian Yun and I came back together." Tian Tian drank the hot, sour and sweet mountain red water and felt completely warm from the inside out.
"You two little girls are really tough. It's so cold today, and it snowed two days ago. It's freezing outside, and you two come back just as you said you would. You didn't even bother to send us a message." Old Mrs. Tian spread all the clothes that Tian Tian had changed out of on the kang, preparing to dry them.
"How can I send you a message? No one has returned from the county these days. Everyone is staying at home during the winter. Who would send us a message? It is impossible for me to stay in school until the New Year and then wait for you to go to the county to buy New Year's goods. I will either freeze to death or starve to death." Tian Tian said.
Now, to send a message, one had to see if anyone from the brigade could enter the county town. It was impossible to send a letter to the production team from the county town, let alone make a phone call. Not to mention that the phone bill was too expensive, even their brigade didn't have a phone. There was only one phone in the commune, and even if they called Old Lady Tian, they couldn't answer.
"You're right." Old Mrs. Tian sighed. It was indeed not very convenient to pass on the message.
"Can't you install a telephone in our brigade? It would be so convenient to install a phone now. We can then call Tian Yuan and his troops. It's quite troublesome to send letters back and forth." said Old Mrs. Tian.
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