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February 16, 1969, Lunar New Year’s Eve.
In fact, the new year has already begun, but in rural areas, everyone generally celebrates the lunar calendar. As long as New Year's Eve has not passed, everyone is still in 1968.
Early in the morning, the brigade's loudspeaker began to blare: "Come to the brigade at noon to eat the "Remembering the Bitterness and Thinking of the Sweetness" meal."
As soon as these words were spoken, it felt like 80% of the festive atmosphere of the New Year disappeared immediately.
Then, the loud speaker continued, "You can go to the brigade now to get the Spring Festival couplets."
The festive atmosphere has recovered by 30%.
Spring Festival couplets are the only traditional Chinese New Year custom that remains. Other customs, such as setting off firecrackers, have been banned.
Xie Yun made paste at home and asked Xie Shen to go to the brigade to collect the Spring Festival couplets.
When he brought it back, Xie Yun opened it and saw that the main room had a painting: eat to your heart's content and work hard to produce; the front door had a painting: be loyal to the Party and work hard for the revolution, and rush to be the first to promote production; the pigpen had a painting: a bumper harvest and thriving livestock.
Xie Yun: “…”
It really has the characteristics of the times.
"Has the team started cooking yet?"
"Let's start. Sister, give me the steamed bread when the time comes, and you can go home and eat something else."
Xie Yun said as he applied paste to the door frame, "It's okay. A small steamed bun, how can it really be difficult for me? A few years ago, when we had nothing to eat, this kind of steamed bun was also good."
In the original owner's memory, this thing tasted very bad, but he could still eat it.
She smiled on the surface, but cursed inwardly. Life really isn't as difficult now as it was before. Being able to endure hardship when it's necessary is a beautiful quality, but those who actively endure hardship when it's unnecessary are fools.
At noon, the brother and sister arrived at the brigade headquarters. The courtyard was packed with people, and Zhao Fuguo called out names, telling them to get their steamed bread. Even after they got their bread, they couldn't leave; they had to eat it at the headquarters. After they finished eating and listening to the White-Haired Girl, they could leave.
Xie Yun took the steamed bread and led her brother to find her friends. She originally wanted to finish it in two bites, thinking that a short pain is worse than a long pain. But after taking a bite, Xie Yun regretted it and couldn't swallow it at all.
It’s not that it tastes bad, but it’s irritating to the throat and hard to swallow.
Xie Yun had no choice but to pick at the food bit by bit with his front teeth like a mouse, looking as if he had lost all hope in life.
After the White-Haired Girl had finished her meal, she ate half of her steamed bread and hid the remaining half in her pocket, which actually entered the space. She was afraid that someone would check at the door.
When they went out, everyone hung their heads.
Fortunately, the brigade leaders didn't "kill them all" and turned a blind eye to some people not finishing their food. It wouldn't go to waste anyway, and they could feed the chickens back home.
That's what Xie Yun did. After returning home, he crushed the remaining steamed bread bit by bit with his hands and threw it into the broken clay bowl used to feed the chickens. Watching the chickens scrambling for the food, his mood, which had been ruined by the meal of recalling the bitter past, improved a lot.
In the afternoon, she and Xie Shen worked together to make dumplings. She kneaded the dough while Xie Shen chopped the filling. He held the knife handle with both hands and just chopped it gently, without any danger.
Xie Shen can also roll out dumpling wrappers, and he has mastered the method of rolling the wrappers with his hands.
By the time Zhang Ruifeng got off work, the brother and sister had everything ready.
All "feudal superstitious activities" were stopped, but that was on the surface. Behind closed doors, people would still offer sacrifices, talk about their deceased relatives, talk about the changes in the past year, and the growth of their children, and then ask for his blessings, hoping that the future will be better.
Xie Yun and Xie Shen also kowtowed.
Then, start eating dumplings.
A year passed just like that.
There was no staying up on New Year’s Eve, but the original owner would sleep with his mother that night.
"Every festival makes me miss my family more" is not an empty saying. On such a night, people will be particularly emotional, easily happy, and also easily sad.
Missing a loved one who has passed away can be heart-wrenching. At this time, having loved ones by your side, sharing memories and conversations, can be a warm and beautiful moment. Even silent companionship can be wonderful. But being alone can leave you feeling utterly desolate.
Xie Yun followed the original owner's habit and slept in his mother's arms.
Nestled in her mother's warm embrace, she had another dream.
In the dream, she died of heavy bleeding during childbirth. Because she was worried about her child, her mother and her younger brother, her soul kept wandering around here.
She watched as her husband and children quickly started new lives, erasing her existence completely.
Seeing her mother and brother heartbroken, she poured all her love into her children. Worried that the children would not be well taken care of in the Zheng family, they even proposed to take the children home to take care of them personally so as not to delay Zheng Guoqiang's remarriage, but the Zheng family disagreed, because they were the Zheng children and there was no reason to give them to outsiders.
She watched her mother and brother deliver things to the Zheng family again and again.
Later, Zheng Guoqiang remarried, and not long after, he took his new wife and children to join the army.
Zhang Ruifeng and Xie Shen lived frugally, saving the good things to send to their children. However, they accepted the gifts but never responded, not even writing a letter.
They once went to the military headquarters to visit them, but Zheng Guoqiang was very cold and indifferent. The three children also responded by saying, "We only have one mother. Don't send us anything anymore, and don't come to visit us."
Zhang Ruifeng and Xie Shen gave up and returned to their hometown, no longer caring about the child. They cried and apologized at the original owner's grave, saying that they had not taken good care of the child, causing the child to forget his mother and unable to come back to see her.
She was still around at the time, and she told her mother and brother that it didn't matter, that she didn't mind anymore. The children had forgotten her, so she didn't need to care about them anymore. She just wanted her mother and brother to live a good life and not feel sad about her anymore.
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