Chapter 214: Too Courageous
Lu Dongping told him the truth: "I want to go back with my wife to visit my family and meet my father-in-law during the summer vacation."
Lin Chenghai was stunned for a moment: "It's quite far. It will take some time to go back and forth."
Lu Dongping nodded: "I know, it's because it's too far, so I have to go and see her. The girl is following me, and I can't let her not even know whether I have a bald face or pockmarked face. It's just that the delay is a bit long, I will start to make up for it from this week." After saying that, he looked at Lin Chenghai with anticipation.
Young people!
Lin Chenghai laughed: "I can't believe that the lawless man in the past would get married..." He laughed first, then coughed lightly and said seriously: "There's nothing I can't approve of this. It would be best if you make up for the time you lost when you asked for leave in advance. But if you want to go far away, you must be well prepared and talk to your family about it. Besides, have you ever been far away? It's very unsafe on the road now. You'd better be careful with your wife." He was young once, and when he saw Lu Dongping, he thought of himself more than ten years ago. If he was like this young man at that time, his family might not have broken up, and he would not have transferred to here alone with his children.
Lu Dongping nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't expect Lin Chenghai to be so easy to talk to.
Before Grain in Ear, the production team held two PD meetings. Everyone in the team was united in their hatred, as if the Zhang family of four had committed some unforgivable crime. Wen Wan didn't understand. If they were truly guilty, shouldn't they be punished by being imprisoned or even executed? Was this what they meant by handing over to the people for punishment?
She never went to the wheat field for a meeting the second time. She didn't think there was anything worth joining in the hustle and bustle.
It was already the busy holiday when she saw Zhang Yongmin's family again. She went to the fields at noon to bring them lunch. The commune members were gathered in groups under the shade of trees, munching on dry food, drinking water, and resting, chatting and laughing. Only Zhang Yongmin's family huddled in a corner by the road, munching on their hard, blackened food, their expressions indifferent, not a single sound coming from them. A mischievous child from the commune, gleaning wheat ears, threw clods of dirt at them, but they remained indifferent, like the walking dead. Young Zhang Jianmin, perhaps unaccustomed to this kind of life, had just cried, his eyes red, his face covered in wheat dust and traces of tears.
When someone hit him with a clod of earth again, he could no longer hold back and started crying. He didn't dare to cry loudly for fear of being heard, so he buried his head in his knees and shrugged his shoulders.
Wen Wan stood there in a daze for a long time. She wanted to do something, but she didn't know what to do or how to do it.
Lu Dongping called to her from under the shade of a tree: "Wanwan, what are you doing standing in the sun? Go back quickly, or you'll get a heat stroke."
The sound made the people around laugh: "Dongping, hurry up and let your wife go back before she melts in the sun."
"The way you love your wife, she doesn't look like your wife, but more like your ancestor."
Hearing the joking voice, Wen Wan quickened her pace and ran away.
Lu Chun'e and Hu Qingqing, who were younger than her, were all working to harvest wheat, but she was the only one who didn't go. They all said one should be willing to endure hardships and have a sense of purpose, but she felt that such a sense of purpose was something she really didn't have. It was too painful, and she didn't want to have it.
Besides, she wasn't idle at home either. The family would eat breakfast before dawn and head to the fields, working under the scorching sun all day. She wasn't lazy in the mornings either. The family had two pigs and two chickens. When the others went to the fields, she followed, but she didn't cut the wheat. Instead, she went into the Hongliao ditch to gather pig grass. When her backpack couldn't carry it, she would use a bamboo basket, gathering two baskets of pig grass at a time. She'd make two trips, then return to feed the pigs and cook.
Make pancakes or flatbreads, then boil a pot of soup in a steel pot. Put the pancakes, vegetables, and bowls and chopsticks in a bamboo basket. Climb up the mountain with the steel pot in hand, sweating and exhausted.
At noon, lunch is delivered to the field so that family members don’t have to run home. They can eat and drink a little and then take a nap under the shade of the trees for the rest of the time.
Lu Minghai's family all worked in the fields, desperately trying to earn work points. Chuyi was already eight months old, and was still carried on a belt, with several adults taking turns carrying her. At noon, Hu Qingqing would carry her back, put her in a large wooden basin in a cool place, and then the whole family would busy cooking, feeding the pigs, washing clothes, or going to the private plot to pull some vegetable seedlings, sweet potato vines, etc., and bring them back to fill the pigs' stomachs.
During these busy days, the job of picking pig grass is rushed, and usually Hu Qingqing and Lu Dongfu work together.
Not to mention speed, the most important thing is that the weather is hot. At noon, the insects always come out to take a bath in the ditch or hide in the shade in the grass.
As for long insects, unless they are venomous snakes, the bamboo green snake will play dead to deceive people, and those that are as thick as a finger will rush directly towards people. The other non-venomous ones will slip away when they see people and will not deal with them directly. However, there are always exceptions.
Hu Qingqing and Lu Dongfu encountered this exception.
After pulling out two baskets of weeds from their private plot, they didn't dare delay any longer. It was time to eat and go to the fields, so the two of them hurried back with the baskets on their backs.
In summer, the paths were lined with grass on both sides, and no one would notice if there were some dead branches and rotten leaves lying across the middle of the path. Lu Dongfu raised his foot and stepped over the rotten bamboo pole.
Hu Qingqing lagged behind by two steps. Just as she got close, she saw the thing that looked like a rotten bamboo pole move, and then a flat head appeared from the bushes.
"Dongfu, there's a long worm!" She wanted to pretend not to see it and step over it, but she was not sure whether the snake would turn around and bite her.
Lu Dongfu turned back when she called him, and was terrified by the sight of the thing. A rat snake, as thick as a hand's neck, lay motionless in the middle of the road. Hu Qingqing's shout only startled it, causing it to raise its head briefly before it went silent again.
Lu Dongfu had never seen such a thick and fearless long insect.
"Second sister-in-law, stand there and don't move. Hold the knife in your hand and be on guard against it. I'll go back and call my brother."
After saying that, he no longer felt the weight on his back and ran home as fast as he could.
He had always been steady, but now he couldn't help but panic. Before he even reached the yard, he heard a voice: "Brother, brother, there's a giant worm, a really big one! My sister-in-law is still over there!"
Lu Dongcai had just held Chuyi in his arms when he heard Lu Dongfu shouting. He threw the child into the wooden basin and ran out of the yard.
Lu Minghai had just picked up the bowl in the kitchen, put it down and followed. He walked to the entrance of the yard and then ran back with a wooden fork.
Lu Dongcai thought he was running fast enough, but he was still a step too late. He was almost scared to death by the scene in front of him.
Such a skinny little girl didn't know where she got so much courage and strength. She threw the basket aside and held the back of the sickle in her hands, pressing down on the worm's head tightly.
The long worm struggled desperately, wrapping itself around the sickle in circles, wrapping around her arms and strangling them tightly.
When he saw Lu Dongcai coming, he shouted to him: "Come and help me quickly, I'm exhausted, why isn't it dead yet!" His arms were entangled and he felt very uncomfortable. This long worm was really lucky.
Lu Dongcai didn't care about anything else. He went over to help her press the sickle, and then exerted more force. The long worm finally stopped struggling. Lu Dongcai then peeled it off from Hu Qingqing's hands one circle at a time.
By the time Lu Minghai arrived with the wooden fork, the worm had already died, and its head and body had been separated.
Looking at the head, Lu Minghai took a breath and said, "It's so big!"
Hu Qingqing was so happy: "Yes, yes, this is the first time I have seen such a big worm. There is so much meat. Even if I take it back and peel it, there is still a lot of meat."
Lu Dongcai reached out and knocked her on the head. "Why do you think of eating everything you see? Haven't you been fed enough? You're so bold! Don't you see how big this thing is? If you're not as strong as it is and it bites you back, you'll die!"
Hu Qingqing had been at the Lu family for so long, but this was the first time he had spoken to someone in such a harsh tone. However, Hu Qingqing didn't feel scared at all. Instead, she felt warm and muttered, "Raphanus cobras aren't poisonous. I've caught them before."
Lu Dongcai: ...He thinks that this girl has only grown in courage and that’s why she hasn’t grown in height.
Lu Minghai finally understood that Hu Qingqing had killed the worm. This girl was really too bold. He wanted to say something, but Lu Dongcai had already said that she was his daughter-in-law, not his daughter. He couldn't really say anything. He simply went back and told Gao Xiulan that she needed to be taught a lesson. She was such a fool, how could she dare to do anything?
The snake was big, just as Hu Qingqing said. There was a lot of meat after peeling the skin. Snake meat was the most nutritious thing, and there was no reason to let it go since it was already dead. He dug a hole and buried the tongue, then picked up the snake's body with a fork and walked back.
Wen Wan had just returned from the mountain. She scooped up some food and went out when she saw a few people passing by the door. She greeted them, "Uncle, have you eaten yet?"
Lu Minghai paused for a moment: "Just cooked, hanging out!"
Only then did Wen Wan notice what was wrapped around the stick he was carrying.
She just took a look and didn't take it seriously. She had heard that there were a lot of snakes in the mountains in the summer, so when the weather got hot, she went to the health center to buy realgar, made a small bag and put it in it, and carried it with her when she went out. So far, she had never really come face to face with a snake, and she had no idea what Lu Minghai had picked out.
Everyone was busy, so Lu Minghai went straight back. When he got home, Hu Qingqing happily told Lu Dongfu, "We have meat to eat tonight. That long worm is so fat!"
Lu Dongfu, who had witnessed her kill the rat snake, was still frightened. He looked at her with admiration: "Second sister-in-law, you are really good. You dare to kill such a big insect. Aren't you afraid?"
Lu Dongcai also wanted to know, so he kept glancing at Hu Qingqing from time to time while holding the bowl in his hand.
Hu Qingqing washed her hands and said, "What are you afraid of? It's all meat. We can cook it and eat it."
Okay~_~
Lu Dongfu looked at her, with a bit of sympathy in his eyes besides admiration. How hungry must she be to want to eat everything she sees?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
