Chapter 112 Chapter 112
On the 30th day of the 11th lunar month, early in the morning, several girls got up and started cleaning the house. They cleared the snow on the roof and outside the yard, wiped the windows clean, and pasted windows and hung red lanterns. They also hung strings of peppers, corn, and garlic on the walls. They also found red paper and boiled some paste, and urged Ye Qing to write couplets.
Ye Qing was really not good at this. After thinking for a long time, his mind was still blank. He quickly pulled Song Chunhua over to help her out.
Song Chunhua was a teacher and her family was also a scholarly family, so she thought for a moment and began to write:
The earth is returning to spring, everything is renewed and flowers are blooming; bidding farewell to the old and welcoming good fortune, the Long March begins again.
Ye Qing couldn't help but cheer loudly and immediately asked a few apprentices to paste the couplet on the door.
This couplet fits Song Chunhua's current mood very well, and also perfectly matches the circumstances of Ye Qing and the other girls in the family.
Song Chunhua and Han Yabo have endured many years of hardship and finally met each other. Although they have suffered a lot of grievances and injustices, there is no need to mention that the past cannot be retrieved. As long as the person is still there, there is hope for the future, and there will be a day of light sooner or later.
As for Ye Qing, she came from the end of the world to this strange time and space, and she has to start all over again. All she can do is to truly let go of the past, not look back, not settle for the rest of her life, and give full play to her abilities to the utmost, and try her best to shine in this world.
The remaining girls each had their own sufferings and misfortunes, but fortunately, they did not sink in pain, but soberly broke free from the shackles of fate. As long as they are willing to endure hardships, they may be able to turn their lives around.
In short, there is still hope, and the future is full of infinite hope and possibilities.
After putting up the couplets, several people were busy preparing fried meatballs, steamed pork elbows and stewed meat for the New Year's Eve dinner. Ye Qing had to go to the farm of the neighboring army to have New Year's Eve dinner at noon as Zhao Yuliang had invited her to do, so she asked Song Chunhua to prepare some local dishes before she left the house so that she could take them to the farm later.
When Han Yabo saw Song Chunhua yesterday, he complained loudly that the Northeastern cuisine in Mohe was bad. It was obvious that he missed Song Chunhua's cooking skills very much.
Although he had been transferred to the military farm, Han Yabo was still a labor reform inmate. He was usually detained in a fixed area with other labor reform prisoners, guarded by special personnel, and had to do heavy labor. Ye Qing could not visit him too often.
But during the two days of the New Year, Ye Qing felt that there was no problem in asking Zhao Yuliang to help deliver a box lunch so that Han Yabo could cook some Ben Gang dishes to satisfy his hunger.
In addition to Han Yabo, Ye Qing did not forget that among the people who were undergoing labor reform this time, there was another person who was entrusted by Gu Weidong's friend to help take care of him.
Ye Qing did find the name of that person in the list of people who were sent down to work. His name was Chen Liqun and he was in his fifties. The files said that he was doing cultural relics research at the Jicheng Museum and was very famous in the antique collection circle of Jicheng. But because a nephew from his wife's family fled to Gangcheng, he was reported. Not only was the whole family implicated and sent down to work, but all the antiques collected in Chen's home were considered to be feudal dregs and were smashed.
When Ye Qing saw this person's file, his breath stopped.
Regardless of other things, how many old items must a famous antique collector have collected at home? All these things were smashed, how much loss is this? These lunatics are simply squandering and heartless. The treasures left by our ancestors are destroyed like this. Don’t they feel guilty? Ye Qing felt his blood flowing backwards just thinking about the scene, and he was so angry that he almost cursed his mother on the spot.
Most of his life's hard work was destroyed in an instant. I wonder if Mr. Chen can hold on after such a huge blow and trauma.
Although he sympathized with Mr. Chen, Ye Qing did not go to meet him alone.
However, Gu Weidong's friend was so helpful in transferring Han Yabo back to Qingshan Farm, Ye Qing would definitely take the matter entrusted to her to heart, so she told Zhao Yuliang yesterday and asked him to help take care of this old man Chen and try to arrange a slightly easier job for the old man.
In addition, after Ye Qing came back yesterday, he also prepared a set of winter cotton-padded clothes, thick winter boots and a bottle of ginseng and ganoderma lucidum pills for the old man to strengthen his body, and also brought a New Year's Eve lunch box. When he goes to the farm later, he asks Zhao Yuliang to help deliver it.
But more often than not, Ye Qing was powerless. Unless Chen Liqun fell ill and was on the verge of death, Ye Qing would not take any unnecessary action.
After all, in the current situation, it was good enough for Ye Qing to take care of Han Yabo. One more person meant more risk, and she certainly didn't want to put herself in danger for a stranger.
Fortunately, Ye Qing still had confidence in the pills she made. As long as the old man had not lost his will to live, and if he took a pill every day, Ye Qing was at least 70% to 80% sure that the old man's body would not collapse.
After arriving at the farm, Zhao Yuliang quickly found someone to deliver the things Ye Qing brought in.
When they came back, Zhao Yuliang did not forget to tell her that he had arranged Han Yabo and that old man Chen to sleep in the same bunk bed.
Although the Chinese New Year was approaching, the labor reform personnel had to work all year round without a break, and had to continue working even in the middle of winter. However, Zhao Yuliang specially assigned the two men to a labor group, and their job was to push wheelbarrows to transport lumps of earth to the people who went down to the river to repair the river embankment.
This job was relatively simple and the two of them got the hang of it quickly. According to Zhao Yuliang, both of them seemed to be in good spirits and did not suffer from any physical discomfort due to the unfamiliar environment.
Ye Qing no longer had anything to worry about. He could stay safely on the farm without having to worry about being dragged out for a parade or a fight. It was also good to do something to enrich himself. At least he didn't have time to dwell on random thoughts or get caught up in trivial matters.
The New Year's Eve dinner at the army farm is quite sumptuous. After all, the soldiers have worked really hard to reclaim wasteland and guard the fields for a whole year, so as a reward, they must prepare some big dishes.
Of course, after the meal there will definitely be a performance by the art troupe to show their consolation.
The literary and artistic performances of this period were not as varied as those of later generations. The performances of today's art troupes were mainly musicals and model operas. Ye Qing had never seen such programs before, but he enjoyed watching the excerpts from "Red Lantern" with gusto.
After the show, Xiao Zhu sent them back to the village. Before they even entered the yard, they could already smell the rich aroma of food. Ye Qing could not wait to rush into the house. As expected, as soon as he entered, he saw that the house was bustling with activity. The old lady was holding little Zou Yun and directing with a smile beside her. Wang Chunhua was helping Zheng Xin and Meng Jia roll out dough and make dumplings. Song Chunhua did not know how to roll dough or make dumplings, so she could only be responsible for chopping the fillings and seasoning. At least she did not have to stand by and do nothing.
On the stove in the main room, the pork elbow in soybean paste had been steamed until it was very soft, and the braised fish was also served. In another pot, there was bubbling with the well-seasoned pheasant and mushrooms. In addition, there was a large pot of fried meatballs, pot-wrapped meat and fried hairtail. It was full of the flavor of the New Year, and Ye Qing was so greedy that his mouth was watering. He immediately stretched out his claws while no one was paying attention, grabbed several fried meatballs and stuffed them into his mouth.
While enjoying the delicious food, Ye Qing also went into the cellar and scooped out a jar of her homemade fruit wine. This wild-brewed fruit wine is sweet and low in alcohol. It will not make you drunk and can also warm your body. It is just the right drink for the New Year's Eve dinner.
This was Ye Qing's first New Year in Kaoshantun, and it was also the most lively New Year that Old Lady Zou had celebrated since she returned to the Northeast alone. It was also the most satisfying and enjoyable New Year that Meng Jiazhengxin and Wang Chunhua had eaten in all these years.
The alcohol content of the fruit wine was not high, but the girls ate and drank it to their heart's content, really treating it as a beverage. Later, when the aftereffects of the fruit wine took effect, they could no longer hold back. Their faces turned as red as monkeys' butts, and they staggered as they walked, obviously already drunk.
Ye Qing, however, remained sober, so he had to resign himself to helping these people back to their room, placing them on the kang, washing their faces, adding firewood to the stove, and making sure that the room would not be cold for sleeping at night, before returning to the main room to clean up the messy table full of cups and plates.
The old lady had taken little Zou Yun to bed early. Ye Qing sat alone in the house to keep watch until twelve o'clock. She sat on the warm kang, stroking the soft little wolf cub, looking at the dark night outside, listening to the silent falling snow. Her mood was more peaceful than ever before. The shadow trauma brought to her by the long period of extreme cold at the end of the world seemed to be slowly healed by this peaceful and prosperous era.
At the beginning of the new year, Ye Qing opened his eyes to the sound of children outside the yard rushing to cheer.
It was barely daybreak outside, but many children were already setting off firecrackers. According to the custom in Northeast China, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the children in the village would go to each household with an elderly person to kowtow and wish a happy new year, in order to pray for the elders' blessings and to wish for a healthy and smooth new year.
Grandma Zou is old and of high status, and is also a relative of a martyr, so she has a very high status in Kaoshantun. When the children want to pay New Year's greetings, the first place they come to is Grandma Zou's house.
But what people didn't expect was that this group of children came to the door of Ye Qing's house laughing and joking. They were surprised by the flower footprints in the snow. When they took a closer look at the yard, they saw a figure. prostrate lazily Crouching in the middle of the yard, he glanced disdainfully at the two-legged beasts outside the yard, opened his big mouth and yawned, frightening the naughty children who came to pay New Year's greetings so that their faces turned pale. He kept retreating.
Then Ye Qing was awakened by the children's screams.
In a daze, she heard a child shouting "The tiger is coming down the mountain". She thought she was dreaming, but when she opened her eyes and listened carefully, she really heard a chaotic noise outside.
"What a big tiger!"
"A tiger is lying in the yard of my educated youth sister's house. It's so scary!"
"Big bugs can eat people. Go and call the captain and the party secretary!"
“…”
Ye Qing's mind suddenly became clear, and he immediately had a bad feeling in his heart.
He couldn't wait to put on his clothes, got off the kang, and opened the door.
Good man, I really saw a huge adult tiger lurking in my yard!
When the big tiger saw her get up, it immediately turned its head and blinked its big eyes at her innocently. Then it stood up from the snow and walked gracefully to the kitchen door. It stretched out its claws to pull at the lock on the kitchen door while winking at her.
Ye Qing couldn't help but stroke his forehead: ...
I am really impressed. On the first day of the Chinese New Year, why do you have to play such a trick on her? Is this to give her a surprise or to scare her?
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