Chapter 39: Cats and Dogs Yan Jiuru was so comfortable that he couldn't open his eyes...
Chapter 39: Cats and Dogs
At the end of the day, the team leader announced that the autumn harvest had been successfully completed.
The food rations for this year are secure, so there is no need to worry even if they have not yet received their own food.
After that, you can take a few days off. Anyone who wants to take leave to do something can be approved.
During the busy autumn harvest season, no matter who you are, you will have more than one child born in the fields, not to mention asking for leave for other reasons. Unless it is a life-threatening matter, it is basically impossible to ask for leave.
Yan Jiuru saw that several educated youth who were participating in the autumn harvest for the first time were even crying with joy, and some were even lying on the ground and crying loudly without caring about their image.
Not to mention the educated youth who had never done farm work, even he, a serious farmer, was exhausted. Let him cry, there is no shame in crying because of exhaustion.
When we got home, Grandma Yan and the others had already prepared hot water and food.
I'm so tired that I don't even want to talk.
Everyone washed up, moved their legs, and sat down at the dining table.
Today's meal was particularly sumptuous, with braised pork belly, squash, and beans, chicken stewed with mushrooms and vermicelli, tiger-skin eggs, a plate of eggplant with farm-style sauce, cucumber with mashed garlic, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes, as well as shredded pickles mixed with sesame oil and fried meat sauce.
The staple food is steamed buns made from new wheat flour and steamed rice cooked with fragrant new rice.
Wow, the food is better than during Chinese New Year.
Grandpa Yan picked up his chopsticks, picked up a piece of tender, slightly shivering pork belly, and said, "Eat."
Everyone used their chopsticks to pick up the dishes they liked.
The good thing about the Yan family is that men and women eat the same food, and there is no need to separate it. Unlike some families, if they don’t separate it, someone will definitely not be able to grab it.
Although the Yan family members also rushed to eat, they were well taught by the old man since they were young and knew their limits. After a few chopsticks, they no longer just stared at the meat.
"Have all the cadres from the commune who came to support the labor force gone back?"
"I left early this afternoon, so I don't have to distribute food tonight."
All the cadres in the commune had to go to the countryside to participate in labor, especially during the busy farming seasons in spring and autumn. Each brigade had cadres who went down to work. They lived in the empty houses of the brigade headquarters, and each family took turns to provide meals. Of course, the cadres had to be given food coupons and money.
If I didn't leave today, it would be my turn to have lunch at his house again tomorrow.
Grandma Yan nodded and said nothing more.
***
Shortly after he finished his meal, two educated youth came to him to borrow a bicycle.
He knew both of these people, one was Sun Xu who had fallen ill earlier, and the other was Zheng Zhongyi, the person in charge of the educated youth site.
Zheng Zhongyi said a little apologetically, "Everyone's been exhausted lately. Let's go early tomorrow morning to see if we can grab some more meat or something. Otherwise, we won't be able to hold on any longer."
The brigade's ox cart arrived too late, and by the time it arrived at the commune, not even a pig hair was left.
Yan Jiuru handed him the key to the car lock and felt quite sympathetic towards them.
He glanced at Sun Xu's small frame and said, "Tomorrow there will be a lot of people buying meat. If you're not strong, you won't be able to compete with them. And it's best to split up into two groups..."
As for where the other road is, those who know it don’t need to explain it explicitly.
Zheng Zhongyi said, "Thank you for the reminder. Xue Chenglin will go with us tomorrow."
That guy is in great shape and very energetic. We'll be relying on him to buy meat tomorrow.
Just as I borrowed the bicycle, two more groups came to borrow it, but they were a step too late and could only regret it.
Yan Jiuru returned to the room and lay down on the kang.
Chen Yin leaned against the wall and pressed on his stiff shoulders and back.
Six-month-old Zhuangzhuang was taken away by his grandparents to be cherished. He will probably be sent back when he is ready to go to bed.
"You must have lost more than ten pounds. Your shoulder blades are exposed." Although Chen Yin also lost a few pounds, it was still good compared to men.
Yan Jiuru was so comfortable that she couldn't open her eyes. She nodded a few times and fell into a drowsy sleep.
Chen Yin didn't hear any response for a long time. When she looked again, she saw that the person was snoring.
"Oh, this is really tiring."
Chen Yin massaged his head, shoulders and neck with her hands for a while, then pulled a blanket over him.
"Just lie down." She didn't dare to move for fear of waking him up.
***
When Yan Jiuru woke up again, it was already night.
There were candles lit in the room, Zhuangzhuang was sleeping beside him, and Chen Yin was sitting not far from the father and son, reading quietly.
Yan Jiuru's eyes and throat felt a little dry, so he sat up and looked for water.
"Which one are you reading?"
"One Hundred Thousand Whys, the book about plants."
Chen Yin put down the book, went downstairs and poured most of the cool tea from the enamel pot to Yan Jiuru.
"This is the refreshing tea I made this evening. I saw that everyone has been feeling a bit hot these days, so I made a pot of it. You can have some too."
Yan Jiuru said "hmm" and drank it down ton by ton.
Chen Yin went to get him some hot water for washing his feet and brought it to him: "Don't talk for now, just warm your feet and relieve your fatigue."
Then he handed him the foot towel.
"Don't bother, you should also get your hair permed."
"Um."
Chen Yin put her feet on his big feet and kept tossing them around. The water was a little too hot for her.
"How many days can I eat Zhuangzhuang milk powder?"
"It'll only last for three to five days. I originally had one pack left, but two days ago, Yaya from Sister Aihua's family had no milk to drink and cried so much that she got sick, so I lent it to Sister Aihua.
It's okay, now that I don't have so much work, my milk supply will be better."
Chen Yin has lost a lot of weight due to working too hard recently. The milk that Zhuangzhuang used to be unable to finish is now not enough for him.
Fortunately, Yan Jiuru brought back a few packets of milk powder from the provincial capital.
He didn't think much about it when he bought it. He just had money in his pocket and it was a rare opportunity, so he bought it. He didn't expect that he would actually need it.
Yan Jiuru felt the water temperature was right, so he put Chen Yin's feet in the hot water as well. He thought for a moment and said, "Let's rest for two days before going to the county town."
He glanced at his son who was sleeping soundly and whispered, "If Zhuangzhuang can leave it alone, we can go together."
Chen Yin had never been to the county before, so she couldn't help but feel a little excited after hearing this. She glanced at her son and glared at Yan Jiuru, then whispered, "Zhuangzhuang is already half a year old, so it won't be much trouble to take him with you."
Children should see more of the world from an early age.
"Okay, okay, we'll see what happens then."
After scalding Chen Yin's feet, Yan Jiuru asked her to rest while he went to pour water for foot washing.
After returning, he flopped down on the kang and rolled around comfortably for a few times. He announced, "Don't wake me up for dinner tomorrow morning. I want to sleep until I wake up naturally."
***
The next day, except for those who rushed to buy meat early, almost everyone got up later than usual.
When Yan Jiuru woke up, it was already noon.
The house was quiet and no one knew where everyone had gone.
After washing up, I opened the lid of the pot and saw half a basin of warm white flour buns and half a pot of chicken soup in the pot.
Yan Jiuru ate five big steamed buns with the pickles and chicken soup. He didn't feel bloated, maybe about 80% full. However, he didn't know if there were any other people who got up late, and he couldn't cook the whole meal by himself, so he just left it at that.
After strolling around the yard and looking into the vegetable garden at the back, he saw Chen Yin and his grandmother picking garlic, digging onions and other things in the vegetable garden.
"You two go and have a rest. I can finish this job in a while." Yan Jiuru took the fork, stepped down half a foot deep, and dug out a row of garlic.
Chen Yin didn't respond, but simply pulled out the garlic whip and shook off the dirt. The two of them worked together, making the work even faster.
When Grandma Yan saw them digging garlic, she went to dig shallots.
Yan Jiuru said unhappily, "Grandma, you should take a rest. It won't take us half a day to finish this little work."
"If I'm not tired, why should I rest?" The old lady didn't like to be idle. After a busy farming season, her grandson had become so thin that she felt bad. She was not unable to move, so any help she could get was appreciated.
Seeing that he couldn't stop her, Yan Jiuru arranged, "Grandma, you sit in the front yard and braid your garlic braids. Otherwise, there's no one in front and you won't know who's coming."
"That's okay too."
Yan Jiuru brought two baskets of garlic to his grandmother and went to the front yard, asking her to sit on a stool and weave them first.
"Where are Dad and Mom?" he asked Chen Yin after he came back. It was so late, and he felt like he didn't know anything at all. He was a little confused.
Chen Yin smiled and said, "I didn't get up that early. Grandpa said there's no work today. Dad and Mom should be going to Old Yang's house to look after the kittens."
Yan Jiuru felt like he was lagging behind. "What are you looking at, kitten? What's going on?"
"Oh, it's the tabby cat from Old Yang's family. Zhuangzhuang loves it so much that he always watches it for a long time and is reluctant to leave.
I heard a few puppies were born a while ago, and the Yang family can’t raise so many, so they asked if we want any.”
"When Mom and Dad were carrying Zhuangzhuang out, Dad was holding a few small fish in his hands. He must have gone to Yang's house to look for cats."
As the two were talking, his father's loud voice came from the front yard: "Erhua will be our cat from now on, remember this~"
The two looked at each other, immediately lifted a basket of dug garlic and carried it to the front yard, and took a look at the cat by the way.
"Hey, a black and white dairy cat, quite cute. Has it been weaned?" Yan Jiuru lifted the kitten by the scruff of its neck and looked down. "Luckily, it's a male."
Chen Yin was so distressed that she immediately rescued the kitten from his hands and scolded him, "You are so careless. Just look at it, why are you holding it?"
The kitten was already scared, especially when Yan Jiuru came over, it didn't dare to move. Now that someone came to save it, the kitten immediately stuck to him, meowing tenderly, and rubbed against Chen Yin's trouser legs a few times, and wrapped its tail around her legs with it raised high.
"Oh, oh!" Zhuangzhuang was so anxious that he leaned down from his grandmother's arms to reach the kitten.
Aunt Yan had to squat down and let Zhuangzhuang get closer to the kitten.
Zhuangzhuang opened his palm and saw a small fish about an inch long that was caught terribly!
I don't know when he hid it.
The kitten meowed twice, then hesitantly walked over and sniffed.
"Oh, oh!" Zhuangzhuang was anxious and yelled at the kitten twice.
The kitten walked over and stared at his hand, then with lightning speed, grabbed the fish from his hand with one claw, sat on the ground and began to eat it slowly.
Zhuangzhuang was stunned when he saw his empty palms. He looked at the kitten and then at his palms. He couldn't figure out how the kitten had 'taken' the fish from his hands.
The kitten over there licked its paws after eating the fish, combed its whiskers, and meowed at Zhuangzhuang.
I don’t know if he wanted more because he wasn’t full, or if he was expressing gratitude after eating.
Does the cat have lice? Should it take a bath first? " He was worried that Zhuangzhuang liked the cat so much that he didn't even cry when the fish was eaten, so he was afraid that he wanted to play with it.
Yan's father said, "Wash it later at noon when it's hot. Old Yang said it's been almost three months since I bought it, so it's normal to eat."
"When we went there, there were only four kittens left out of the litter of six, and two tabby kittens. One was white with a black nose, looking like a Japanese soldier.
Zhuangzhuang immediately took a liking to the little cow and started to ooh at it. I handed the fish to him, and hey, hey, the little guy was happy.
Seeing that his parents, Chen Yin, and Zhuang Zhuang all liked it, Yan Jiuru nodded and said, "Okay, okay, our family will have both a cat and a dog."
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