Chapter 246 Everyone Returned
"Not that fast, I'm just wearing thick clothes."
Lu Chun'e warmed her hands and stood up to help her. She walked to the stove, sniffed, and said, "It smells so good, sister-in-law. Your cooking skills are really getting better and better."
Wen Wan laughed: "Meat, how can it not be fragrant?"
Lu Chun'e went to help her add firewood into the stove: "Do you want to cook dry rice?" Half a pot of meat, and dry rice soaked in meat soup is the perfect match.
Wen Wan nodded: "I've been soaking the rice for quite some time, just wait until the time is right and then boil the water and put it in the pot."
We don’t cook rice often at home, and every time we cook, we mix several grains together, which is very demanding of our skills. Wen Wan has only just mastered it.
Corn kernels should be firmer, so soak them before adding them to the pot. Once they've risen, add the rice. Once the rice has grown longer, strain the water with a colander. Pour the rice water into a strainer. Pour the pre-cut sweet potatoes into the pot, then add the rice on top. Keep the fire going until steam rises and you hear the rice kernels popping up, then turn off the heat.
Zhang Hongying and the others haven't returned yet, but Lu Dongping has returned, and Xu Qingming is with him.
Lu Chun'e sat behind the stove. The fire inside the stove made her face red, as bright as the peach blossoms in March.
He stood up and called out, "Brother, Brother Qingming!"
Lu Dongping nodded and asked Xu Qingming to sit down. Xu Qingming sat down and turned to look at Lu Chun'e: "Have you finished the exam?"
Lu Chun'e nodded in response.
Before I can say anything else, Dandan has woken up.
In fact, he had been awake for a while, his eyelids were twitching, and it took him a long time to make a sound, saying that he wanted to pee.
Lu Dongping quickly got him out and carried him outside. Wen Wan followed him out and said, "Don't let him get cold."
Only Lu Chun'e and Xu Qingming were left in the kitchen.
Xu Qingming asked her, "Have you thought about the work you mentioned before?"
"I've made up my mind. I still want to work in the textile factory. Both the Human Resources Department and the Propaganda Department are recruiting clerks, so I plan to give it a try." Being a teacher is fine, but the salary in the factory is higher, and there are more subsidies during festivals and holidays.
Lu Chun'e had always been very rational. She knew her family hadn't had a hard time supporting her education. Regardless of academic performance, she was the only girl in the entire Xihe Brigade who could attend high school. She was a woman, and while she hadn't planned on finding a partner or getting married yet, that was a matter of time. She simply wanted to earn a few years of money and repay her family before she started a family.
Xu Qingming nodded: "Okay, have you told your family?"
"No, I just arrived. I'll tell you in a few days. It'll probably be around May or June, so there's still a few months left!"
As they were talking, Lu Donglin's voice was heard from outside. The three of them came back together. Lu Donglin and Lu Mingjiang both carried firewood back, and Zhang Hongying was carrying a backpack filled with pine needles, with dry firewood she had picked up placed on top.
Lu Chun'e stood up and said, "Brother Qingming, please sit down. I'll go out and take a look." Then she walked out.
The whole family was outside, and Xu Qingming couldn't just sit there, so he followed them out.
Lu Mingjiang brushed off the leaves on his body and called out to him, "Qingming is here!"
Xu Qingming smiled and nodded.
Lu Chun'e said, "Brother Qingming caught a rabbit while he was chopping wood. It was so fat, so he stewed half a pot of it. We're in for another treat today."
Zhang Hongying smiled when she heard this: "I don't know how much I have benefited from you throughout the year."
Before Xu Qingming could say anything, Lu Donglin took over: "This is not thanks to Brother Qingming, this is thanks to Sister-in-law." If Wen Wan had not become a member of the Lu family, Xu Qingming would not know who they were!
The meal had vegetables and meat, and it was also dry rice that was rarely cooked. The whole family was extremely satisfied with the meal.
After dinner, Xu Qingming was not in a hurry to return to the educated youth site. He sat by the fire pit and chatted with Lu Dongping.
First, Lu Donglin raised his head and asked Lu Mingjiang: "Dad, my sister is on vacation. Should we kill the pig?"
"Dongfu hasn't come back yet, right? He'll probably be back in the next few days. When he comes back and everyone is gathered, I'll send a message to your brother Dongcheng to see if he and his wife have time to come back for a bath, and then we'll talk."
Zhang Hongying said, "I heard the pig farm gave birth to a litter last month, so it should be a full moon. If they're going to kill them in the next two days, you two should go check it out and catch a couple of suitable ones. Once the pigs are killed, there's grease everywhere, and the water used to wash the pots is wasted, and the rotten vegetable leaves and other things will have to be turned into manure."
Lu Mingjiang didn't respond. "Don't be so anxious. You've been pulling grass and feeding the pigs all year round. You can take a break before slaughtering them. I need to take some time to get all the manure out of the pen and clean it up. The wooden stakes outside are rotten, and the stone slabs don't feel stable anymore. I'll clean it up first."
He is the head of the family, and catching the New Year pig is one of the few big things in the family throughout the year, so naturally he has the final say.
The technical secondary school in the city and the county town have similar holiday times, but the journey is a little farther. Lu Dongfu took a bus to the county town, then went to Lu Dongcheng's, and then returned home with a lot of bags.
During this holiday, the family became lively with two more people in the family.
After dinner in the evening, Lu Minghai came over to visit, and Lu Dongfu followed him.
Lu Minghai told Lu Dongping about slaughtering the pig, and the two brothers agreed on a date: the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. Since that day fell on a Sunday, neither Lu Dongping nor Lu Dongcheng could delay. However, they still had to ask Lu Dongping to see if anyone from the commune had gone to the county, and to deliver a message to Lu Dongcheng.
As they talked, they came to the topic of Lu Dongfu's work.
Isn’t technical secondary school different from high school? High school is two years, and technical secondary school is two and a half years. But in a flash, one and a half years have passed, and what to do after graduation is still a problem.
The good thing about technical secondary schools is that they guarantee job placement, but where you will be assigned is still unknown.
Lu Mingjiang asked his nephew, "What do you want to do after graduation?"
Lu Dongfu remained true to his original aspiration: "I want to be an official."
He was planning to return to the county, or if that didn't work out, the commune would be fine. He was going to work in the government, not as a worker. If that didn't work out, he'd become a teacher. Even a technical secondary school student teaching in the county was fine.
"What about Chun'e?"
Lu Chun'e and Lu Dongfu had opposite goals: "I plan to join the textile factory. The salary there is good. I have been keeping an eye on it. When they start recruiting, I will go and take the exam to try it out."
Lu Dongping didn't say anything. He felt that he still needed to study the matter of work carefully. When Lu Dongcheng came back, he would have to trouble him to find out what position Lu Chun'e wanted to compete for so that he could make some preparations in advance.
There is a lot of potential in exams.
We chose Sunday to slaughter the pig so that Lu Dongcheng and his wife could come back and spend the day there.
Lu Dongcheng was at the county public security bureau, and Shengxia went to the county government. Although she was just an officer, this was already a special consideration given by the organization based on Lu Dongcheng's previous position and the contributions he made when he was injured.
The two people did not work together, but their work and rest schedules were the same. After hearing the message from the commune that a pig would be slaughtered on Sunday, the two of them rode their bicycles back on Saturday afternoon.
Lu Dongfu had already brought back the supplementary food and nutritional supplements he had bought for Lu Minghai and his wife when he came back two days ago. This time, he didn't bring anything else with him. He just bought a few pounds of liquor to drink when he slaughtered the pig the next day.
Except for the year of their wedding, the Lu family had not been so tidy for a long time.
Although Lu Dongcheng is no longer in the army, the couple now work in the city, which makes them the only respectable couple in the team. In addition, Lu Dongcai and Hu Qingqing got their marriage certificate in the twelfth lunar month, so this family is really complete.
1974 passed in the blink of an eye. It was not until the second half of 1975 that Wen Wan truly felt what Xu Qingming meant by the direction of the wind, because Zhang Huaiqing was really rehabilitated and could return to the city.
Subsequently, Lao Wen's letter was once again delivered to Lujiazui and into Wen Wan's hands.
The most important thing mentioned in the letter was that he returned to the same old house. The flowers on the roof were gone, but the grape trellis in the yard was still there.
He didn't ask Wen Wan to go back, but only said that he was fine now and not to worry. However, he described his home in great detail, saying that it was still the same as before.
But Wen Wan understood that it was impossible for it to be the same as before, because all the flowers in the house were gone!
In addition to this incident, there were also happy events happening one after another in the Lu family. Shengxia and Hu Qingqing became pregnant one after another. Lu Chun'e went to the propaganda department of the textile factory and was promoted within two months. Lu Dongfu graduated from junior college and returned to Xinxi County as he wished to join the county party committee. Although he was just a secretary serving tea and water in the office, he was less than 20 years old. To be able to enter that place was really a great honor for the Lu family.
From 1975 to 1976, good news came one after another. First, Uncle Xu San returned to the city, followed by Old Wen, and at the end of 1976, Uncle Xu Er also returned.
Wen Wan was far away in Lujiazui, and she would receive news from the capital every once in a while. While she was happy, a feeling of homesickness also quietly spread in her heart.
All the educated youth in the team whose families could find ways to get them back home gradually returned.
By the spring of 1978, apart from a few educated youth who settled in Lujiazui, the only ones left at the educated youth site were Xu Qingming, Huang Wancheng, Zhou Guoping and Xu Wenfang.
Dandan is almost three years old. The little guy is very strong. He was able to walk on his own when he just turned one year old. Now he is very agile.
The boy was naturally strong, and when he followed Chuyi, who was almost two years older than him, you couldn't tell the two-year age difference at all.
It was a beautiful season with flowers in full bloom and willows green. On Sunday, Wen Wan would not stay idle at home. She carried a bamboo basket and took her child to the wheat field not far below.
Not only did she take care of Dandan, but Chuyi as well. Hu Qingqing had given birth the previous summer, a boy named Lu Hongzhang, and midsummer, a girl named Lu Jiahua. The two were two months apart, so Gao Xiulan had to care for one daughter-in-law before the other. After the confinement period, Lu Qingqing took care of the children herself, and the couple took turns caring for them when they went to work. With two little ones at home, it was inevitable that they didn't pay as much attention to Chuyi as before. Fortunately, Chuyi was over four years old this year and had no problem running around and playing on his own as long as he wasn't thirsty or hungry. She would go out with them in the shade, but whenever Wen Wan was home, she would come over and not go. Wen Wan didn't mind. After all, the children were old enough to not need her to carry them on her back. She just had to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't run around and get bumped or fell. She just carried them, and carrying two children was like herding sheep.
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