Qiu Yuling had to go to school and left early. Her mother told her to wait for her after school at noon. She didn't have to work today, so she bought an aluminum lunch box for Qiu Yuling and brought her food in a clay pot.
Qiu Yuling sighed and hurried out.
Two of the remaining four people were shocked by what was said at the dinner table. Qiu Dashu asked in disbelief, are you sure you want him to go to school again?
Mother Qiu angrily asked, "Is it given to him so that he can go with the meal?"
Qiu Dashu thought about it and refused.
He has been idle for more than a year. Besides, the livestock raised by the family this year all depend on him. He only earns half of the work points and contributes the other half to the backyard, so everyone is busy as hell.
If he quits again, the mouths to feed in the backyard will make the rest of the people exhausted.
On the other hand, Qiu Dashan was unusually opinionated and strongly supported letting Qiu Dashu go back to school. His family didn't have the conditions before, but now that life was better, he thought that there was hope after all if he continued to study.
That is, Qiu Yuling is not around. If she were around, she would have to give her third brother a hard time. He usually looks smart, but at the critical moment, his brain cells fail and he can't figure things out.
If he had taken the opportunity to finish high school before the turmoil, not to mention that he would have made great achievements outside, even if he stayed in his hometown he wouldn't have to work in the fields to earn work points. Even if he worked as a barefoot doctor in the brigade, it would be easier than it is now.
After a while, they couldn't come to a conclusion and the family was anxious to get back to work, so the conversation stopped there.
Because of Qiu's mother's arrangements in the morning, Qiu Yuling sat at the school gate early to wait for Qiu's mother. Qiu's mother saw her daughter from a distance leaning against the old elm tree, nodding her head like a chick pecking at rice.
Mother Qiu woke up her daughter and brought her some garlic-mashed eggplant, vegetable pancakes, and two washed young cucumbers.
Her daughter was picky about food and could only eat a few more bites. Qiu Yuling waited until she was hungry, so she moved behind a tree with her mother Qiu and ate something a little sweeter than usual.
After eating and wiping her mouth, Qiu's mother took her daughter to the supply and marketing cooperative. Her daughter grew very fast from last year to this year, and her clothes became shorter after two or three months.
She thought about adding some more of the blue cloth she bought last time to hem Qiu Yuling's overalls so that they could still be worn. She also wanted to alter the sleeves of the white shirt as it would be hot soon and it would look better if it was shorter.
While thinking this in his mind, he was also busy talking, recounting in detail what happened at the dinner table after Qiu Yuling left in the morning, meaning that this way he could take care of the brother and sister when they went to and from school.
At that time, the town’s primary school could only go up to the fourth grade, which was called “junior primary school”. The fifth and sixth grades were set up separately as “senior primary school”, and students in the “senior primary school” had to live on campus.
However, their principal said that the higher-ups are implementing reforms, and it is possible that the "high primary school" will be abolished, and a fifth grade will be added to their school, while the junior high school will be extended to a three-year system.
Qiu Yuling hopes to catch up, and she hopes to graduate with a high and good academic degree.
Even though Qiu's mother had the money in her hands and the flowers were blooming, she still couldn't move her arms. If Qiu Yuling hadn't been in a hurry to go to class in the afternoon, she would still be looking around undecided under the salesperson's contempt.
In the end, two red hairbands were forced to be tied on Qiu Yuling's pigtails. An aluminum lunch box and a porcelain basin were also provided, and a seven-foot-long piece of green cloth was torn off for Yuling's grandmother.
Mother Qiu calculated the time to go back. That period was the hottest time of the day at noon when everyone took a break. Mother Qiu took a shortcut and entered the house just before work started. She hurriedly put down her things, drank a sip of cold tea, and went to work with everyone else.
"Aunt Qiu, your face is so red from the sun, did you not rest at all during lunch?"
When Qiu's mother passed by the neighbor's gate, she ran into a woman who was about to go to work, and they started joking with each other while talking.
They were all walking towards the same place, and more and more women were crossing over the ridges of the fields.
"Qingmei picked such a big basket of grass in the middle of the day." Someone said behind her. Mother Qiu thought that maybe she covered the basket with some grass when she came back and was seen.
Everyone is used to it, as the Qiu family members are all very hardworking.
The sun is very strong here at noon, so the working hours are postponed by an hour. Many people go out at noon to collect grass for pigs, dig wild vegetables, pick red fruits, etc.
There's nothing unusual about it, I just mentioned it when I had nothing else to talk about.
A group of women chatted about the place where they were going to work.
Due to its special geographical environment, Yumin County is located at the junction of the Tengger Desert and the Badain Jaran Desert. It is an arid and semi-arid area and is known as a desert oasis.
However, this is a famous cultural county, and it produced a large number of Jinshi and Juren during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The idea of studying is very positive.
The crops here are still relatively simple at present, mainly wheat, corn, cotton, etc., and fennel, hemp (used for extracting sesame oil), and sunflower are also planted in the fields.
The wheat here is planted in March, the cotton is planted in mid-April, and since May, we have started to intercrop corn in the wheat fields. In fact, corn can be planted from May to July. After the wheat is harvested in mid-June, there is still time to plant another crop of corn.
Most of the work in the fields right now is thinning out the weeds and seedlings. I estimate that the wheat harvest will be in another month, so things will really get busy then.
The brigade also raised livestock, and the grass and fodder they pulled all belonged to the team, so after work everyone had to continue working and also take some for their own homes.
Qiu Yuling returned home a little late today. She had been frantically picking wild plants, not even leaving out a blade of grass. She happened to run into the aunts who were working their "second job."
"Yuling is very capable. This basket is overflowing with food."
"The children of Qiu's family are all very sensible."
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