Chapter 140 Everyone Has Their Own Destiny
Unable to resist muttering, Lu Dongping came back while she was still muttering, followed by Lu Chun'e. Lu Dongping walked into the yard with a cloth bag in his hand, called Zhang Hongying, and then his eyes fell on Wen Wan.
Wen Wan sat on the stool and looked up at him with a smile: "You're back!"
Lu Dongping hummed, stomped his muddy straw sandals on the stone slabs of the eaves, scooped water from a ladle to rinse his feet, and then put the bag into the kitchen.
Zhang Hongying stood up and put away the work in her hands. When she came out, she heard Lu Dongping say, "I bought a pound of meat. Let's make dumplings later!" Yesterday, the little girl went to the commune with someone to buy meat, but she didn't buy any meat. She carried a sack of books and was exhausted. He always remembered it. In the morning, he went to the butcher shop and bought a pound of fat and lean pork belly. As usual, he asked them to keep the pork bones. In the afternoon, he went to get one and brought it back.
While eating dumplings, Zhang Hongying was stunned for a moment, opened her mouth, looked at Wen Wan, but didn't say anything.
The family was running low on food. They'd been asked to borrow money, but it hadn't been processed yet. Fine grain was also scarce, and it was falling faster than ever before. Zhang Hongying, a survivor of the famine, was anxious when her food supply dwindled, but no one in her family took the matter seriously.
When he heard about eating dumplings, Lu Donglin cheered, "I'll do it, I'll chop the meat."
Zhang Hongying said: "Then I'll go to my private plot to see if the leeks are edible. I have to mix something with them." There are so many people in the family, and everyone has a good appetite. If there is only meat, how much will it take?
Lu Dongping looked at the hazy rain curtain and said, "No need to cut leeks, right? We have some dried mushrooms at home. I can chop some up. Bamboo shoots are also fine. They are all edible."
Zhang Hongying had never done this before and asked, "Will this work?"
"It should be possible, right?" Lu Dongping himself was not very sure.
Zhang Hongying felt that he was a little unreliable, so she took the sickle and put on the bamboo hat and went to the private plot.
Lu Chun'e consciously put down her book bag and went into the house to knead the dough.
Lu Dongping finally had time to talk to Wen Wan. He squatted beside her and said, "Why are you so diligent now, washing clothes and washing hair?"
Wen Wan glanced at him and said, "Are you not diligent enough to wait for you to come back and wash it for me?"
"What's wrong with that? It's not like they haven't been washed before." Lu Dongping said, reaching out to take the clothes from her hand.
Wen Wan patted his hand gently. "Don't worry about it right now. It's just a little mud. I'll just rub it and rinse it off." Then, looking at the water stains on his body and his feet in straw sandals, she said, "Go change into dry clothes? It's a bit chilly on rainy days. Mom was just telling me that the cold starts from the feet!"
Lu Dongping squatted there without moving: "I am a grown man, but I don't care about this. If it's cold now, how will I survive the winter?"
As he spoke, he took the empty basin and scooped up some clean water for her. He quickly rinsed out the clothes for her and left them to dry by herself. Lu Dongping took a shoulder pole and went to the well to fetch water.
It is common for farmers to get caught in the rain. On rainy days, if you don't go into the house or go to bed before it gets dark, don't even think about staying dry.
Wen Wan hung up the clothes, took the basin back into the house, put it down, and went to the kitchen: "Chun'e, can I help you?"
Lu Chun'e held the dough in one hand and said, "Wait a moment. I need to knead it and then roll it out on the table. I'll cut the dumpling wrappers first."
Wen Wan just stood aside and watched.
Lu Chun'e asked her, "Sister-in-law, you said before that the dumplings over there are different from ours. What are they like over there?"
Wen Wan thought for a moment and said, "It's almost the same, actually. Our dumpling wrappers are round. We don't roll them out and cut them before wrapping them. It's more like we cut the dough into lumps and roll them out and wrap them at the same time."
Lu Chun'e had never seen that before, and after a moment's thought, "Isn't that similar to how people make dumplings?"
Wen Wan was unsure and hummed, "It should be about the same, right?"
Two people were talking in the room, and Lu Donglin was chopping meat on the chopping board with a kitchen knife.
Zhang Hongying also came back from her private plot. She had harvested quite a few leeks growing on the edge of the field. Turning back, she saw Lu Dongping coming back with water. She called out to him, "Baojiaozi, go to the wheat field to see if your father is coming back. And call Wen Wan's brother as well." Even though there was a shortage of food, people still had to call for help. There had to be a give-and-take.
Lu Dongping responded, carried the water into the kitchen, put it down, put the shoulder pole behind the kitchen door, reached out to take the hat and put it on his head and walked into the rain.
Xu Qingming didn't go to work on rainy days, and he didn't stay at the educated youth camp. He helped string corn on the wheat field.
Ever since Wang Jianmao left to attend the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University, the atmosphere at the educated youth site has been weird.
Xu Qingming knew in his heart that this was a hope and he wanted to go back.
However, now that I have let it go, how can I go back just like that?
He knew the situation at home very well and knew that there was absolutely no way he could go back within three to five years.
So, he felt very peaceful.
It would be a waste wherever he went, but it was better here. With Anbao here, he was not completely alone.
It has been almost half a year now, and we have almost gotten used to it. As for the hardship, it is nothing compared to the training in the army.
Everyone in the Xu family is good-looking, and Xu Qingming is naturally no bad looker. The cynical and ruffian temperament that he originally had at this age has been honed and restrained during his time in Lujiazui. He reminds himself all the time that things are different now. He is an adult and An Bao's brother, and his aura has become more mature.
When Lu Dongping arrived at the wheat field he had visited first, the people who were peeling corn had already left one after another.
Zhou Lanhua and Zhu Feng were still there, as were the Lu Minghai brothers, and Xu Qingming, Liu Changqing and several other educated youth were also there.
After hanging up the last bunch of corn cobs, Lu Minghai shouted, "Let's go! It's getting late!"
Lu Dongping called Xu Qingming, "Come over for dinner?"
Xu Qingming refused: "Let's not go! It's raining, and it's not convenient to go back and forth. Let's go another day."
Lu Dongping smiled and said, "I'm not pretending to be polite. I really want you to come over."
Xu Qingming waved his hand: "I know, I'm not the kind of person who would be falsely polite to others. It's getting late, let's go back early!"
I just went to the Lu family for a meal a few days ago, and now I go there to eat for free again. It’s better to avoid doing such things.
He couldn't let An Bao stay at the Lu family because of him. Even if he wanted to go, he had to wait until he could offer something equal or better.
Lu Dongping didn't be polite with him. It was his decision whether to call him or not, and it was other people's decision whether to come or not.
No one was called, so he followed Lu Mingjiang and left.
It gets dark early on rainy days and you can’t see anything just after seven o’clock.
A kerosene lamp was lit in the kitchen, and the light from the bean-sized flame supported the entire room.
The dumplings made with meat and leeks and pure white flour skin are so fragrant that you want to swallow your tongue along with them.
There was not a drop of dumpling soup left in the pot.
It was a chilly day after the rain, so Wen Wan went back to the house after dinner.
Zhang Hongying blanched the bones in the kitchen, then added water into the pot. She sat down behind the stove, fanned the fire that had been lit earlier, grabbed a handful of dry pine needles, and blew at them with a blowgun. The flames quickly shot up.
Lu Dongping came in carrying an empty pig feed bucket, and Zhang Hongying called out to him, "Why did you think of buying meat again? We still have two pieces of bacon at home that we haven't cooked yet!"
Lu Dongping glanced at her and said, "Then I'll go get it and cook it for tomorrow."
Zhang Hongying: ...
"Is that what I mean? I mean you should save the money you have and don't waste it all day. Just make sure you have enough to eat. Why buy meat when it's not a festival?"
After saying that, he suddenly remembered: "Where did you get the meat ticket?"
Lu Dongping said, "Wanwan gave it to me when we had a wedding banquet before, but it was useless. I used it this time."
Zhang Hongying didn't know where Wen Wan got all those things, and frowned slightly: "I say too much, you think I'm annoying, but if you don't save money and spend lavishly, even if you have mountains of gold and silver, you won't be able to stop it. The fine grains we saved last year, and your subsidy at the end of December, have all been eaten up. No year has ever been faster than this year."
Not to mention that they were doing two different things, Wen Wan was a squeamish person. She always had to put a little rice in her porridge, and she had to eat pure fine grains every other day. With the family's conditions, how could she afford it? The food issue was a real headache for Zhang Hongying, but she couldn't bring it up, for fear of upsetting Wen Wan.
Lu Dongping glanced at her and said, "Of course it will be fast since we're building the house and hosting the banquet. If there's not enough food, I'll find a way. As long as I have something to eat, you won't starve."
After saying that, he took the kerosene lamp, opened the lid of the pot and looked at it: "It's boiling. Put some more hard wood in it and add a little more salt. It will be just right for tomorrow."
He said it was okay, and Zhang Hongying stopped hesitating and stayed in the kitchen in the dark, wasting kerosene.
Wen Wan has already crawled into the quilt.
It's cold in the house on rainy days, and your arms and legs feel chilly when exposed.
Lu Dongping washed up outside and came in. He locked the door and lay down. He blew out the oil lamp, lifted the quilt and got in. With a wave of his big hand, he pulled the person into his arms.
Wen Wan hung on him and said in a muffled voice, "I don't know if I can be diligent tomorrow. It's a bit annoying on rainy days. It's wet and it's hard to walk properly."
It’s hard to say. Who can predict what God will do?
Wen Wan nuzzled into his arms and asked, "Over there, is the matter with Lu Changgui's family over?"
Lu Dongping hummed, "It was all over last night. My uncle brought people to dig a hole in the private plot behind their house and buried the body."
"Chen Xiuping, are you with them too?"
Lu Dongping said, "Not together. They are buried separately. Uncle has reported this matter and will inform her family."
After saying this, he paused for a moment and then said, "We'll organize a meeting with the masses later. This incident has a relatively large impact, and it can be regarded as a wake-up call to every household in the team. This is not the old society anymore. Women can also hold up half the sky. Things like torturing others should not be tolerated."
Wen Wan sighed, "That's good, but Chen Xiuping can't see it. This move cost her her life."
Lu Dongping lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead: "Everyone has their own destiny, don't think too much."
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