Chapter 126 Three Chapters in One

After winter came, Su He was afraid that Feng's father and mother would feel cold, so he secretly gave them a few kilograms of cotton at night and asked them to stuff them into their quilts. Feng's father and mother had cotton-padded clothes.

Her third brother and his wife sent a few emails.

The team leader was a good man. He gave Mr. and Mrs. Feng a week's holiday so that they could stock up on firewood and try to stockpile as much as possible before the snow came.

Father Feng followed Father Gu up the mountain and stockpiled a lot of branches and stumps. One day, he was lucky enough to catch a pheasant and stewed it for food.

It’s not like they haven’t eaten meat since they were sent down to the countryside. Sometimes in the evening, Gu’s mother would bring them a bowl of chicken or pork.

Mr. and Mrs. Feng were once again thankful that the place where they were sent to was Xiangyang Village, where they knew people there and the village leaders were also very nice.

Never treated them harshly.

If it were somewhere else, I would probably suffer a lot.

At the end of the year, the brigade distributed grain. Because my father and mother went to work in the second half of the year, they received more grain than last year, and also got two more kilograms of meat.

Father and Mother Feng also received their share of food and meat.

When Su He went to the county, Comrade Su Changyuan gave her two pig trotters, half a pig head and lower jaw, intending to cook them and eat them during the Chinese New Year.

When they eat meat during the Chinese New Year here, they usually cook it the night before. They put a few logs on the stove, add water and boil the meat, and it will be cooked by the next morning.

The New Year in 1967 was a little later than the previous year. The first day of the Lunar New Year was on February 9th, and the Minor New Year was on the 2nd.

On the evening of the 1st, Gu's mother cooked pig's trotters and pork. There were also ribs, bones, pork belly, and slaughtered chickens at home, and these meats were saved for eating during the New Year.

The next day, Gu's mother got up before dawn. At about four o'clock, she took out the pork head, cut a portion, and brought it to Feng's father and mother in dark with a flashlight.

"Sister, we also got some meat." Mother Feng felt embarrassed.

Ever since they came here, the couple has been bothering their mother.

Mother Gu waved her hands and said, "What's the big deal? Go back to sleep. You can still get some sleep."

Xiao He's third brother trusted them and sent his father-in-law and mother-in-law here, so they had to take good care of them.

A New Year's Eve dinner was also delivered on the 8th, and of course Mr. and Mrs. Feng also sent back a portion of pork belly stewed with dried beans.

For ordinary people, the New Year in 1968 was no different from previous years. They ate meat and dumplings, wore new clothes, and set off firecrackers with their families.

But for some people, this New Year was not a pleasant one. Last year, all their families were together during the New Year, but this year...it was not a peaceful year.

Hope to return to normal life soon.

Feng Shuning and Su Che, who were far away in the capital, also prepared several dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner. Su Che cooked braised pork, braised lamb chops, and chicken stewed with mushrooms, all of which were meat dishes.

The villa they lived in before has been occupied by someone else. The house they live in now is the house that Su Che was allocated before. It is not big, only about 40 square meters, but it is big enough for the couple.

"I wonder if there will be meat for the New Year's Eve dinner at my parents' place." The food was good, but Feng Shuning did not enjoy it very much.

If her belly hadn't been so big that it was inconvenient to travel, she would definitely have gone to see her parents during the Chinese New Year this year.

Su Che pulled his wife's hand and said, "Don't worry, Xiao He Jianhua is here. Besides, Uncle and Aunt Gu are very nice people, and my parents shouldn't be too bad."

"Yeah." Feng Shuning nodded.

Su Che, "After we give birth to the baby, we can take a leave and go home to visit."

"Okay." Feng Shuning smiled.

Su Che said, "It's actually good for my parents to go to the countryside during this time. With my sister there, my parents won't have a hard time."

"Otherwise, if I stay here, I'll be called away every few days..."

Those people didn't treat people as human beings and tortured them violently.

Feng Shuning also thought that her parents' colleagues, who were also her teachers, were not having a good life.

It was good to go to the countryside early like her parents did. Her parents wrote to say that the team leader, village secretary and others there were very nice and did not make things difficult for them. They even assigned them easy jobs like herding cattle.

She knew her parents were not living too badly in Meng Province, but pregnant women always tend to overthink. Besides, as a daughter, how could she not worry about her parents?

"Be good, let's eat." Su Che picked up some chicken for his wife.

Su He and Gu Jianhua are among those ordinary people. They spend the New Year in much the same way every year, eating out, visiting friends and collecting New Year money.

This year, Sister Gu did not mention her eldest son's marriage, but Sister Gu asked about it. Sister Gu said, "No rush. Let's talk about it when he turns 20."

Su He found it a little strange. Although the book did not specify when Sister Gu's son got married, she always felt that he should be married by now.

She wondered if it was because she had foreseen it in advance and then did a series of things that caused a butterfly effect and changed Sister Gu's idea of ​​marrying a daughter-in-law.

In the past, people would just marry a good girl from the village, but now they are thinking of marrying someone who has a job in the city?

It's hard to say.

"That's right, it's too young to get married now, around 20 years old is just right." Third Sister Gu agreed.

Sister Gu smiled and said, "Yaoyao is old enough, why don't you two have another child while the iron is hot, a son, to make a perfect couple."

"It's a good opportunity to bring them out together."

Upon hearing this, Sister Gu shook her head wildly and said, "Forget it. Three children are enough."

Why pair up?

Su He saw Sister Gu looking at her and had a bad feeling. Sure enough, the next second Sister Gu spoke, "What about you, sister-in-law? Changyi and Changan are grown up. Do you and Jianhua plan to have another child?"

"It would be great if we could have another twin, two girls and two boys."

Her mother Comrade Chen Yuling, her second sister-in-law and Pei's mother have all mentioned this issue, saying that the elders like to have many children.

In fact, Su He is not opposed to having a child. After all, she has the system, and her pregnancy and childbirth are stable and she doesn't feel any pain during delivery.

She thinks that the two babies are still young, and even if she wants to have a second child, she has to wait until they are seven, eight or ten years old. Otherwise, the two babies will come to you and ask for a hug, but you will be too busy coaxing their younger siblings to hug them.

It's not good. Children grow up when they are seven, eight or ten years old. They go to school every day and have classmates and friends. They are not as clingy to their parents as they were when they were little.

You can have a second one at this time.

Besides, she is giving birth to her second child now, which will make her mother very tired.

She has to take care of her son's child, her daughter's child, and her son's second child, all non-stop. Even the donkey in their birth team wouldn't dare to order her like that.

Her mother-in-law also needs rest.

Su He expressed this idea, and Mrs. Gu, who was listening to it, was deeply moved. It was still Xiao He who was thinking about her.

It is tiring to take care of children. When the children go to work, she is responsible for washing their faces, preparing meals, changing diapers, doing laundry, and putting them to sleep.

If she had two more kids, she would find it hard to handle it for a while.

"That's right. It's okay to have another child in a few years. Two children are too lonely. They need some brothers and sisters so that they can have someone to discuss things with in the future." Sister Gu said.

Everyone agreed with this statement. Su He felt it was okay too. She thought having fewer children had its advantages, and having more children had its advantages.

Anyway, there is no way she can get pregnant this year since she has already taken the birth control pill.

Su He said to Sister Gu, "Sister, why didn't you have another child after you gave birth to Qingyu?"

Just like what Sister Gu said, the minimum number of children is four. She herself has given birth to three, so there is still one short.

"If you're pregnant, you'll have the baby. I'm not pregnant, but I'm already this age now. My eldest is 19, so there's no need to have another baby."

Sister Gu said.

"Sister-in-law, it's up to you. The three of us sisters are not planning on having any more children. We already have several."

This was said by Second Sister Gu.

Su He, "I just gave birth to twins, so I need to take care of my body. I'll have to wait a few years."

The New Year is over.

Those who should go to work at home go to work, and those who should go to school stay at home.

The school has not announced the start of classes on March 1st, so we will have to wait a little longer.

When the dragon rises in the spring and the soil thaws, work in the fields begins. The roots of corn planted last year are dug out, the corn is harvested in autumn, and the stalks are chopped with a sickle and stored to feed the cows.

Only the root is left in the ground.

When the land thaws in the spring, it has to be dug out one by one, sprinkled with cow dung, sheep dung and other kinds of dung, and then turned over so that the dung can be evenly mixed into the soil and turned into nutrients.

The purpose of tilling the soil is not only to evenly distribute the feces, but also to loosen the soil to make it easier to grow food.

This year Su He still did not go to the fields. She felt that she was not capable of doing those kinds of work and did not even know how to use farm tools such as hoes and sickles.

I accidentally cut my hand.

Feng's father and mother became complete cowherds. In the early spring, the team leader assigned them the job of herding cattle. Feng's father and mother thought that the team leader was a really good man.

Once, a few packets of noodles were sent from the capital, and Feng's father took the opportunity to give one packet to the captain.

No matter how small a captain is, he is still a leader, especially a leader who assigns work, so he must be treated well.

Besides, cows are not like sheep. Sheep have to rush everywhere and run very fast, but cows will take a long time to find a place to eat. The cowherds just need to sit on a pony and watch.

It's very relaxing and won't make you tired.

In mid-April, Mother Gu gave Mother Feng a handful of seeds and hatched a nest of chicks. She then asked Mother Feng to start a vegetable garden behind the house and grow vegetables so that she could be self-sufficient.

The same goes for raising chickens. If you raise a nest of chickens yourself, it will be convenient for you to eat eggs later.

The village secretaries and team leaders did not care about these things. Besides, the main purpose of their labor reform was to make the people do the same work and eat from the same pot as the working people.

Not to mention that it was the first time for Mr. and Mrs. Feng to raise chickens, so they looked very rare. Mr. Feng was very good at hands-on work and built a chicken coop right away.

Mother Feng said, "Sister Zhao said they will be able to lay eggs in a few months."

Father Feng, "Didn't the biology book say that chickens can lay eggs four to six months after hatching? We can eat our own eggs in the winter."

Mother Feng: "But I heard from Sister Zhao that chickens don't lay eggs in winter."

Father Feng, "That's after the severe winter, and some chickens will lay eggs in winter."

There are fifteen chicks in this nest that Mother Gu hatched.

If we raise all of them, we will have fifteen chicks.

There is no shortage of eggs and chicken.

"Let's take good care of him." said Mr. Feng to Mrs. Feng.

Mother Feng nodded, "I will definitely take good care of it." She added, "Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we will tidy up the vegetable garden in the backyard and plant some vegetables."

"OK."

They have all the farm tools they need at home. The home they live in now is no different from the homes of the villagers and has everything they need.

The farming season in Meng Province starts around May. In the spring, after we dig up the corn roots in the ground, we sprinkle various kinds of manure on it and turn the soil over again. It is almost May now.

Then just farm.

After planting the land, everyone can rest for ten days or half a month and wait for the corn to grow.

Since Gu's mother was not working, Su He was free, so she took the two children to visit Gu's second sister's home.

She didn't like visiting people before, but after visiting a few times, she felt that strolling around and chatting with people was quite nice.

Especially chatting with Second Sister Gu, listening to her gossip about the people in the village. When she chatted with others, they didn't tell her because they were not very familiar with each other.

I went to visit my second sister's house that day and found that there were other people at home.

There was an aunt, Su He had an impression of her, but couldn't remember her name.

But the other party remembered her, "Teacher Su is taking a walk."

Su He smiled and nodded, "I'm just bored, so I decided to go visit some friends."

"They are both so big now. Children grow up so fast." The auntie went over and held the hands of the two babies.

Changyi and Changan are big kids now, four and a half years old.

Second Sister Gu came over and said, "You have Uncle Cai's second aunt, just call her Aunt Li."

Uncle Youcai, I’m talking about the team leader Zhao Youcai.

"Teacher Su doesn't go out, so it's normal that we don't know him." Aunt Li said with a smile.

Gu Erjie, "I've been married for a short time, but we've gotten to know each other over time."

They chatted for a while, and Second Sister Gu waited for Aunt Li to explain her purpose.

This auntie, like her brother and sister-in-law, seldom visits neighbors.

Why are you coming to their house today?

"Yuncai, how many children do you have in your family?" asked Aunt Li.

Sister Gu, "I went out to play."

Children in the country go fishing in the river and picking mushrooms in the mountains. They just do whatever they want.

"Yuncai, your eldest child is about seventeen or eighteen years old, right?" asked Aunt Li.

Su He, who was standing by, understood the purpose of the visit. Could it be that the auntie was coming to get married?

Sister Gu nodded, "I'm seventeen now. I'll be eighteen during the Chinese New Year."

Hearing this, Auntie Li laughed and said, "Oh, she's already a grown-up girl."

Second sister Gu smiled and replied, she also understood the purpose of Aunt Li's visit.

Auntie Li, "Yuncai, this is what happened. My mother's family has a nephew who is 20 years old this year. He is not young anymore. His parents asked me, his aunt, to help take a look at him."

"I thought of your Mingyue. I saw her working in the fields the other day. She is pretty and hardworking."

"My nephew is not bad looking, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He is also very hardworking."

"His family conditions are pretty good. His parents built him a separate room, so he doesn't have to live with his parents-in-law in the future."

"I thought I'd come here to ask you, is your Mingyue engaged? If not, let the two children meet her." Aunt Li explained her purpose of coming.

To be honest, Second Sister Gu was not surprised by what Aunt Li said.

Before Mingyue went to school, few people asked about her. Later, when the school was closed, she went to work in the fields and Mingyue followed her, so many people asked about her.

It's true that it's impossible to keep a girl when she grows up.

Second Sister Gu said, "Auntie Li, my daughter Mingyue still has to go to school, it's too early to talk about marriage."

Auntie Li was surprised, "You're still planning to let her study? Mingyue is in junior high school now, right?"

Sister Gu nodded and said, "I have graduated from the first grade of junior high school. I will start the second grade of junior high school when school starts."

Aunt Li, "Girls don't really need to read that many books, just learning to read is enough."

"Auntie, what you said is wrong. This is the new China, the new society. It is not the old feudal society where girls are not allowed to go to school."

"Now, as long as we parents have the conditions, we should send all our children, regardless of whether they are girls or boys, to school. Only by reading more can we broaden our horizons."

"Otherwise, they will be like their parents, getting married, having children, working around the stove and taking care of the children, facing the earth and back to the sky."

"When my second sister and her friends were young, they had no conditions or opportunities to study. Now that they have the opportunity, do you still want them to follow your old path?"

"The great leader Chairman Mao has said that we women hold up half the sky. Auntie, you need to change your old ideas."

Su He couldn't help it. If Aunt Li hadn't said "Girls don't need to read so many books", she might not have said anything back.

This sentence really annoys me. No matter whether it is a boy or a girl, as a human being, she has to study.

If you don't study, will you be illiterate? You won't even know when you are cheated.

People like her mother who lived in that war-torn era worked hard to learn to read and write, so why is it not necessary in this era?

The future society will need more reading and more culture.

Otherwise, when you get old, you won’t even know how to use the mobile phone mentioned in the book.

Auntie Li didn't expect that Teacher Su would react so strongly to her words. She smiled and said, "Yes, Teacher Su is right."

"But Teacher Su, I think that unless people in our village are very good at studying and become college students like your third brother, it is enough for them to just graduate from elementary school. It is the same for boys and girls. Just let them learn to read."

"After all, it's hard to find a job in the city. No matter how much you study, you'll still end up farming."

Su He felt that Auntie Li was stubborn and said, "Auntie, what you said is absolutely right."

"Let's not talk about other villages. In Xiangyang Village alone, how many people have a junior high school diploma?"

"There's one person named Jinzhu from my second uncle's family. He didn't graduate from junior high school, but he doesn't work in the factory anymore?"

"And there's Mingyue from Second Sister Gu's family, the daughter of the captain's secretary."

"There are only these few children. The others didn't graduate from primary school, didn't learn well in primary school, or were not sent to school."

You let your children not even finish junior high school, so why do you say that studying is useless? No matter how much they study, they will still come back to farming.

Su He now remembered that Mingyue's cheating husband in the book seemed to be surnamed Li, and he might be Aunt Li's nephew.

Auntie Li felt that Teacher Su was too aggressive and had no respect for elders. She said, "Now if you want to study, there is no place to study. Schools are closed."

Su He: "This is only temporary, school will resume classes sooner or later."

Auntie Li, "Did you receive a notice from above?"

Su He gave an ambiguous answer, "There is that news."

Auntie Li: "Okay."

However, whether the school resumes classes or not has nothing to do with them, and none of her children go to school.

Humph, she just thinks that studying is useless, especially for girls. No matter how much she studies, what can she do? God, she still has to get married and have children.

It’s better to get married earlier.

How many people can get into college like Teacher Su’s third brother?

Only Wang Erhu and Gu Yuncai were stupid enough to send all three of their daughters to school.

She stood up and said, "I have something else to do at home, so I'll go back first."

Second sister Gu stood up to see her off, "Come when you have time."

After that, he came in and asked Su He, "Sister-in-law, is there any news from the school? When will classes resume?"

Su He, "I heard that classes may resume in the second half of this year. It will be very soon, either this year or next year."

"Second sister, you can't marry Mingyue and the others off so early."

"Second sister, believe me, studying is useful."

Second Sister Gu smiled and said, "How could that be? Second Sister believes you. How can studying be useless? If I hadn't gone to school for those years, I wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between male and female toilets now."

She believed it. She knew that studying was useful. As long as the children were willing to study, she and her husband could support them.

Su He nodded. She was very confident in her second sister Gu. In the book, she supported the third sister Xiaomei until she graduated from high school.

Later, the third child was admitted to university.

But now she really felt it, a girl cannot be kept at home when she grows up. Mingyue is only seventeen, not even an adult, but someone has proposed marriage to her.

From what Second Sister Gu said, this is not the first one.

Also in rural areas, many couples get married at the age of sixteen or seventeen with the consent of their parents.

The four children of Gu's second sister are all good-looking, especially Mingyue, who has a round face, almond eyes, and is tall. She is definitely a village beauty, and many boys in the village like her.

She thought she had to remind Mingyue not to talk about finding a partner.

Speak of the devil and he will appear.

While Su He was thinking about it, a few children came in carrying a wooden bucket, and they were all covered in mud.

When they saw her, several children shouted, "Aunt."

Little Red Army even reached out to hug her, but his elder sister grabbed him from behind by the collar and dragged him away, "You are so dirty, you have soiled your aunt's clothes."

Su He, "Did you guys go rolling in the mud? Why are you all covered in mud?"

Not only the Little Red Army, but even the boss Mingyue was covered in mud.

The second son Chunqing said, "The Red Army threw mud at us."

Several children changed their clothes and washed their hands and feet.

After several months of working in the fields, the eldest daughter Mingyue and the second daughter Chunqing's faces became tanned by the sun.

"Aunt, when does school start?" Mingyue came over and asked.

She really didn't want to go to the fields anymore; it was too tiring.

Su He, "It will be soon. There is news that classes may resume in the second half of the year."

Mingyue, "Really, please resume classes soon."

Last year she went to the fields to dig up corn, and this year she went to the fields to dig up roots, weed, and pick seedlings. She has never been idle.

The second child was willing to work in the fields, but she worked slowly and someone was needed to cook at home, so she had to go to the fields.

Second sister Gu was processing the fish they brought back, both big and small. She picked out two larger ones and said, "Sister-in-law, take these two back."

Su He went over to take a look and praised the kids, "You guys are amazing. You caught such a big one."

"Brother Shitou helped catch it." said the third sister Xiaomei.

Shitou is the son of the neighbor behind Gu's second sister's house.

His name is Bai Shitou. He is a grown-up boy, probably about sixteen or seventeen years old.

Su He looked at Gu Erjie, who understood her sister-in-law's look. She asked the children, "Shitou helped you catch the big fish."

Hongjun said, "Yes, it was Brother Shitou who helped catch them. He is really amazing."

Brother Stone always caught the fish accurately, but Little Red Army was a little discouraged because he couldn't even catch the small fish.

The girl was grown up and had her own privacy. As her aunt, Su He didn't want to ask her directly, so she talked to Second Sister Gu and went home with the two fish that Second Sister Gu had given her.

As the biological mother, Sister Gu must ask about this matter. It’s okay if it’s fish in the river, but if her daughter accepted something else from someone else, that would be hard to say.

Mingyue, "Mom, she just helped us catch some fish. It was the Red Army who called her over. It has nothing to do with me."

She was innocent, it was her brother who called them over.

Gu Erjie, "Anyway, you should be careful. You are a grown-up girl now."

Mingyue nodded. She only cared about studying.