On September 1st, the first day of school, Chen Chunhua got up early as usual to deliver eggs to the county. Lin Guoqing was going to the township and would take his second child to school.
Early in the morning, Lin Shumei's two little eyes were rolling around. After her father took her second brother out, she ran to her grandmother and hung around.
"Grandma, are you going to take my third brother and me to school today?"
Liang Shengdi:?
"You two go straight out the door, pass your aunt's house, walk another 200 meters, turn right onto the bridge, and walk another half a mile after getting off the bridge. You'll arrive. Do you still want me to take you there?"
Lin Shumei hummed and said, "Yesterday my mother sent my eldest sister away, and today my father sent my second brother away. Then, you are the one sending my third brother and me away, right?" She pointed to the two small grain bags at the door and said softly,
"Today is the first day of school, and I still have to get my food bag~"
"Don't you know where your eldest sister studies? It takes an hour for the second sister to walk to the village, and their food bags are enough for a month. Can't you and the third sister carry enough rice for five or six days?" Liang Shengdi rolled her eyes at her. They had just finished their meal, and this little naughty girl wanted to drag her to digest it.
"Oh~ Grandma~ We are so young~ Can't you just give us a ride~" Little Lin Shumei's stubborn temper came up, and she hugged Liang Shengdi's waist and started twisting it, which made Liang Shengdi rub her so hard that she glanced at her.
"I won't send you off. If anyone wants to send someone off, it should be the third brother."
"Why?" The little girl's face was puffed up like a little frog, and her face showed unhappiness.
"Who told you to say I'm bad?"
Lin Shumei:!!!
It's been so many years! She doesn't even remember her childhood! Why is grandma still thinking about it? She keeps bringing it up to tease her!
"I didn't! Grandma is the best!" Lin Shumei continued to act coquettishly, making Lin Shuchao, who was squatting beside eating watermelon, feel sleepy.
His sister always has only these few tricks, nothing new. The little brother was too full in the morning, and he yawned again.
"Grandma, you can just take me there. Let's go. We're going to be late." Squatting down again, he could lie down and sleep on the spot.
Liang Shengdi tugged at her own pants and shouted helplessly, "Alright, alright, go, go! I'll take you there! You bastard! Let go! You're going to pull my pants off!"
Lin Shumei handed her food bag to her grandmother with a smile, then skipped towards the door.
Lin Shuchao stood up and tried to catch up, but Liang Shengdi grabbed him by the back of his collar and said, "Are you not going to take your own food bag?" Then she walked past him and moved forward.
Lin Shuchao:?
"No, grandma! Didn't you help us carry the food bags and send us to school?" You took the little sister's bag, why didn't you take his?
"I was taking a walk after eating, and I helped Xiaonan get it. How old are you? Why didn't you say you couldn't lift it when you were using the rake to pry the duck? A boy was still whining. Come out quickly, I'm closing the door!"
The Third Brother: ...I'm the one who got hurt again...
Lin Shumei walked in front, jumping and looking back at her grandmother and brother, waving at them and saying, "Come quickly."
Liang Shengdi was carrying a light bag of food and muttering, "I was thinking about how this little bit of food would last me until noon, but you insisted on making me walk a few more steps..."
When passing by the Ma family, Qini, Ba Ni and Jiu Ni had been standing outside waiting for a long time. Qini was in the fifth grade, and Ba Ni and Lin Shumei were in the same class. They had been going to and from school together before.
Jiu Ni officially started the first grade of elementary school today. The three of them also held a small bag of different colors in each hand, which they would hand over to the school cafeteria to make lunch.
"Grandma?" The three girls waved happily when they saw Liang Shengdi.
"Hmm~" Liang Shengdi walked up slowly, glanced up and down at her three granddaughters, then reached out and grabbed their bags, held them in her own hands, and continued walking forward.
"You are all as skinny as monkeys. Doesn't your grandmother give you any food to eat?"
The three girls and the Lin brothers and sisters followed their grandmother like little ducks, chirping and making noises.
Bani: "Some people are full. I even had two bowls of sweet potato porridge this morning!"
Qi Ni: "Last night, Fifth Sister gave each of us an egg to eat, saying that Auntie sold it to us at the employee price, hehe~"
Jiu Ni: "It's just too small. I finished it in a few bites. There was one left over. Sixth sister said it was for me to eat. Grandma said I eat more than a pig."
When Jiu Ni said this, her lips turned down and she was about to cry.
"Feeding a pig with just one egg can make it full? Why don't you raise one for me and let me try!"
When Liang Shengdi heard this, her eyebrows raised high and she was about to go back to quarrel with Old Lady Ma. Anyway, they hadn't gone far yet, so she decided to have a fight first. Qi Ni quickly stopped her,
"Grandma! Grandma and the others are in the fields now. There's no one at home. And my third sister had a fight with her yesterday, and the egg is in Jiuni's belly."
Yesterday, my third sister almost got into a fight with Grandma. Her father said that their family was now a village official family, and that they couldn't keep fighting. Besides, there was a difference between arguing behind closed doors and arguing in public. If my third and fourth sisters couldn't get their way, they would have to complain about their in-laws in the next few years, which would have a bad influence on them.
Liang Shengdi curled her lips. Her son-in-law was such a coward, even trying to stop the fight. However, when she thought about Sanni and Si Ni's marriage, she thought, forget it, the egg was already in Jiu Ni's belly, so she let the old woman go for now.
"Is your third sister still working in the fields now?" Liang Shengdi asked.
Qi Ni scratched her head. "She went to the flat knitting machine factory in the village today. She has finished sewing the sweaters she received two days ago and is going to deliver them."
Sanni works in the fields during the busy farming season, and when she is not busy, she finds odd jobs to earn money. In early summer, before the double harvest season, she went to the farm in the neighboring township to cut watermelon vines for people, earning 2.5 cents an hour. She slept in a straw hut there for half a month and earned more than 30 yuan.
When she came back, she was dark and skinny, and she couldn't even straighten her back. She was lying on the bed. Si Ni wiped her tears and massaged her waist. She also said that she wanted to exchange her work position with her and let San Ni go to work in the factory. San Ni rolled her eyes and sent her back to the factory to work.
Ma Sanni barely rested for a few days after pruning the watermelon vines before rushing to the fields to harvest rice. After the double harvest, she collected pieces for clothing and brought them back to sew. She earned 1.5 yuan per sweater, and she could sew three or four by lamplight at night. She never gave herself a break.
"Your mother was a ball of cotton, but she gave birth to an iron man!" Liang Shengdi smacked her lips. "The village flat knitting machine factory? Who got her this job?"
"It's the eldest sister. The eldest and second sisters are also doing work over there."
"Don't they work in the factory? They get paid every month, but they still want this kind of odd jobs?"
"My eldest sister and her husband are trying to save money to build a house. My third sister told me that the land for the homestead has been approved. They will pay 1,000 yuan to the village just for the land, and the remaining money will probably be enough to build half a house."
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