Chapter 329: The First Pot of Gold
The most annoying thing in life is guarding the granary with an empty stomach. If she could make a fire in the space, what would she worry about? She could be sure to have a full meal every day.
Xiangshuigou is really too far from the county town. Li Laiyu has always wanted to go to the city to find an opportunity to exchange money, but he has never been able to do so.
She remembered that the first money she earned was not in the city, but in Yangping Town, about twenty miles away from home.
Yangping Town is not directly connected to Songning County, requiring at least three or four hours of walking. It's also about the same distance from the neighboring county seat. Its location is unique, as it's considered the largest town in Songning County, nestled between the two county seats. While it lacks the typical steel and textile mills found in the city, it has its own advantages: the Songning County train station is in Yangping Town.
Li Laiyu followed Wang Chengying to get familiar with Yanjiang Commune, and then changed his destination and headed towards Yangping Town.
That year, she was ten years old.
For Li Lai Yu, who longs to grow up and change her current situation, she has lived in this world for ten years, and these days are really too long.
She thought that she couldn't stay in this place forever and would have to leave sooner or later, so she had to work hard now for the future.
The winter of 1970 was exceptionally cold. After the food rations were distributed, people began to hibernate and the land reclamation work was temporarily stopped.
Following six or seven years ago, another group of educated youth came to the production team this year.
There was still no educated youth point in the team, so this group of people were placed in the homes of the members.
The Li family's CF is not good, so they are not qualified to receive the educated youth, and Li Lai Yu does not want to have that qualification.
Farmers can't sleep in, so Li Guangwen got up early, carried firewood, started a fire in the fire pit, and added water to the pot and hung it over the fire.
Wang Chengying stood up at the same time as him.
During this almost one month at the end of the year, I don't work, but I'm not idle either. I have to work harder to chop wood, whether it's dry pine needles in the woods or chopped tree branches. Someone has to get them.
It is not easy to save enough firewood for the next year in such a short time.
It was cold in the morning, so I simply made something hot to eat and went out when I felt warmer outside.
Li Guangwen warmed his hands and feet, then took the shoulder pole behind the door to fetch water. Wang Chengying transferred the fire from the fire pit to the stove and added water to the pot.
Li Laiyu came out of the house and called her, "Grandma!"
Then he took a basin and scooped water from the pot to wash his face and rinse his mouth.
After finishing, he sat by the fire and slowly combed his hair with a comb that was half bald.
"Grandma, I want to go to town after dinner."
Wang Chengying paused with the fire poker in her hand and glanced at her. "Why do you keep running to town all day? I went the day before yesterday, yesterday, and today. Walking back and forth for hours, is that fun? You're full, but you're hungry, right?"
Li Lai Yu pursed his lips and said nothing.
Can Wang Chengying control her?
Obviously, it is impossible to control her. When it is possible to control her, it is because she is willing to be controlled. When she is unwilling, no one can control her.
Li Guangwen, carrying water, had just reached the door. He smiled and asked, "Where are you going when the rain comes?"
Wang Chengying said angrily, "Where to? She wants to run to town again. You said she's been running around all day these past few days. Town is a long way away, and she's so young. If she goes back and forth once or twice, what if she's unlucky and runs into a bad guy?"
Li Laiyu said, "It's broad daylight, there won't be any bad guys around. I'm walking on the main road, and no bad guy would dare to do anything bad on the main road."
She wandered around town for two days and explored the area pretty much.
The town was different from the mountains where they lived. Although it was also very poor and deserted for her, it was much better than the commune.
There is a town government, post office, health center, school, railway station and everything else.
When she went there yesterday, she accidentally made a deal at the hospital and sold ten eggs.
Although the money is not much, it is a good start.
Supplies are in short supply everywhere now, so the elderly person's family conditions must be good, otherwise the daughter-in-law would not be sent to the hospital for delivery.
She still had to recuperate after giving birth, so she only dared to take ten eggs yesterday. She used the excuse of discussing something with the adults and agreed to deliver the things today.
So, whether Wang Chengying agreed or not, she had to go today.
I'm just saying this now so that if I can't find her later I'll know where she went.
Li Guangwen put down the bucket and the shoulder pole, returned them to their original place, sat down by the fire and said, "Your mother-in-law has a point. Logically, we're not busy now, and there's not much work for you to do at home. You can't carry more than a few sticks of firewood up the mountain. You can go wherever you want, but it's really worrying if you go too far."
The only child in their family!
He is already in his twenties, but given his family situation, no girl is willing to come with him. This is probably how his life will be.
It is difficult to have any regrets, as he treats his second brother's child as his own.
However, Li Lai Yu's decision could not be changed by just a few words.
After breakfast, he left without waiting for them to leave.
Carrying the small bamboo basket that Li Guangwen had woven for her on her back, she rushed out of the yard like a gust of wind and landed at the small river below.
She met Li Guangyuan, who had disappeared after dinner.
Li Guangyuan has been crazy for several years. He was crazy before Li Guoping died, and he became even more crazy after his death. He didn't even feel cold or hungry, and he couldn't even remember his own home. Occasionally, he would run to the door, and Li Laiyu would give him some food, and he would take it and run away.
His clothes were tattered, his hands were covered in chilblains, his face was dirty, and his features were almost invisible because they were hidden by his dirty hair and beard.
He could not recognize Li Lai Yu, and curled up against the straw stack, shivering.
Li Lai Yu paused for a moment, thinking about how he had thrown away the clothes he had found for him, how he had scattered the clothes everywhere when he had made a fire for him, and how he had burned the straw stack in the team. In the end, he did not go over and left from the side.
What Wang Chengying said was not without reason. She was really still young. Even though she was ten years old, she looked like a child of seven or eight years old. The bamboo basket was woven for her by Li Guangwen two years ago to practice. When he was woven it, he thought about her growing taller day by day, so it was a little bigger. Now it is still too big for her to carry on her back.
She took the main road, bypassing the brigade headquarters, and walked for more than an hour before reaching Yanjiang Commune.
I just stood on the main road below, looked at the stone tablet on the side and the large courtyard above, and continued walking forward. By the time I arrived in the town, I was really exhausted.
The bowl of rice I had in the morning had already been finished on the way.
Although Yangping Town is a town, it has a large supply and marketing cooperative, and there is also a state-owned restaurant between the station and the hospital. Unfortunately, you not only need money but also food coupons to eat.
She made a little money from selling eggs yesterday, but she didn't know if it was enough to buy a bowl of rice. She didn't have any food coupons, so even if she took the money, people might not sell to her.
The bamboo basket was covered with grass and contained two chickens that she had taken out from the space when she arrived in town. She also had a basket on her hand, which contained a basket of eggs, about thirty or forty of them.
Fortunately, she has been exercising according to the methods of her previous life, otherwise it would be a bit difficult for her small body to carry these things.
When she arrived at the entrance of the town's health center, she didn't go forward, but went to the entrance of the alley next to the gate. The old lady was really something. She actually believed the words of a ten-year-old child and waited there early.
With her was an elderly man of similar age.
Li Lai Yu hesitated for a moment.
The old lady had already seen her and waved at her with shining eyes: "Hey, little kid, here."
Li Lai Yu breathed a sigh of relief and felt that there were no dangerous people nearby. Then he walked towards her with his things on his back and the basket in his hand.
"Where is your master? Why did he call you here?"
Li Laiyu put down the basket and bamboo basket and said, "My mother has to take care of my younger brother and work, so she's busy, so she asked me to come. I can do the accounting."
After that, he said nothing more: "Two chickens, one male and one female, and forty eggs. I want both the money and the tickets."
The old lady picked up the chicken and looked at it, then reached into its butt and felt around: "Is this chicken not laying eggs?"
"It's stopped raining for half a month. It was raining half a month ago. My mother didn't have time to take care of it, so she asked me to get it and sell it. I have to start raining again in the spring."
If you tell a lie once, you will gain experience the second and third times.
The reason why she chose to deal with the elderly was because the elderly were kind-hearted and would not fool her just because she was a child. They were not too cunning.
Of course, not everyone is like this, so you also need to be able to judge people when doing business.
After settling the bill, Li Lai Yu waved goodbye to them, ran around the town with the bamboo basket on his back, and then entered an alley in the east. After making sure that no one was paying attention to him, he took a detour to the train station.
The things in the space have accumulated over the years and cannot be consumed in a few days or three days. She doesn't dare to be too reckless and decides to stop while she is ahead.
Just like that, she had a fruitful year, she had money and savings.
She had a particularly happy New Year when she was ten years old. That winter she had money, so she bought some cloth to make clothes for everyone in her family. She also bought some meat, and after Wang Chengying went to the commune to buy meat, she quietly mixed in, cooked a pot of oily vegetables, and made some white flour dumplings.
However, the joy did not last long, as Li Guangyuan died.
He survived one harsh winter after another, but froze to death in a river dam in the spring of 1971.
When Li Guangyuan was carried back by his team, he was completely stiff.
Wang Chengying's eyes were red, but she didn't cry. She cut his hair and beard with scissors, wiped his face, and asked someone to dig a hole next to Li Guoping's grave not far behind the house and bury him.
"It's better to die. Death will free him, and so will I."
She said so.
It seems like after so many years, we no longer have that blood-related feeling, but I'm not sad at all.
But Li Lai Yu knew that she was sad because she collapsed as soon as Li Guangyuan died.
In her previous life, she was trapped in Changping City for several months when the enemy was at the gates. It was difficult at that time.
But I have never felt so powerless as I do now.
She has tried very hard, but her family, the people she wants to protect, cannot wait for her to grow up and for life to get better.
I have never felt that life is so difficult.
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