Chapter 37 Want to Go to the County
Lu Mingjiang said, "It will have to be built sooner or later. No matter if it succeeds or not, he will have to get married when he is old enough. No matter if it is good or bad, he will have his own house."
"It's just a small amount of money. The little I get from the team at the end of the year isn't enough to cover my family's expenses. It's just the salary I've earned in Dongping over the past two years, which is about 200 yuan I've saved."
Lu Mingjiang understood what was going on and nodded. "That's more than we'll need. The main thing is buying tiles. Building two rooms will cost some money. I don't plan to hire more people. If he wants to repair the house, then he can do it himself. I'll discuss it with my eldest brother later. We can do the demolition and mudding of the wall ourselves, and we can hire people to do the tamping for a few days. This way we can save some food."
Zhang Hongying had no idea about these things and couldn't make the decision: "It's up to you, as long as you know what's going on. You'll be worrying about them all the time and won't have a moment of peace."
Lu Mingjiang laughed: "Life is like this, unless one day you collapse and can't breathe out of your nose, then it will be over."
The next day, the sun was still shining brightly outside. After breakfast, Lu Dongping rarely coaxed Wen Wan to go up the mountain.
"Do you want to go back to the educated youth camp to rest? If not, my mother is going to the fields to pick grass for pigs. Do you want to go with her?"
Wen Wan asked him puzzledly, "You're not going up the mountain anymore?"
"I have something to do today, so I won't go up the mountain."
Wen Wan said, "Then I'll go to the fields with my aunt to pick pig grass. I only learned two things from a group of children: shepherd's purse and wild onions. They're edible. If I go out more, I'll learn more."
Lu Dongping smiled: "Come on!"
After Wen Wan followed Zhang Hongying out, Lu Dongping went to boil water, took out the quilts that he and Lu Donglin were covering, removed all the quilt covers, and washed them over and over in hot water until there was no longer any cloudiness in the water. Then he wrung them dry and hung them up to dry.
I took out the cotton wool inside to dry in the sun, thought about it, locked the door and went to the commune.
The items in the commune's supply and marketing cooperative were not that comprehensive. There was no vanishing cream, only clam oil. I did buy a bar of soap and a pair of gauze hairbands similar to the one Wen Wan had on her head.
He then bought Fuqiang toothpaste and two toothbrushes. He was reluctant to replace the toothbrush at home even though the bristles were bald.
He silently calculated in his mind the money he had spent on buying some small things, and found that there were still many things he had not bought. There was a gap between him and the young educated youth, and the name of the gap was "money"!
The elementary school exam only lasts one day, and there is only one subject in the afternoon. After that, we do a general cleaning and go home early.
The door was locked and no one was at home. Fortunately, no one was there. Lu Donglin stuffed the book bag into the crack of the main door, then ran to the mountain with his own backpack on his back.
It is undoubtedly a happy thing to have a holiday after the exam, but Lu Donglin is not happy at all at this moment, because he still has one hurdle to overcome after the exam, and that is the test results.
He felt like he might be finished, because he didn't know how to answer many of the questions on the exam...
Therefore, he must perform well and try not to kneel on the tiles. Once he receives the notice and passes that hurdle, he will be a hero again!
He thought Wen Wan was on the back mountain, but after running up, he found that the beautiful sister Wen Wan was not there. Only his brother Lu Dongping was chopping wood there alone in a layer of autumn clothes, oblivious to the cold.
"Brother, why are you alone? Where is Sister Wenwan?"
Lu Dongping didn't answer him: "Have you finished the exam?"
"Isn't this nonsense? Can I come back before I finish the exam?"
Lu Dongping swung the hatchet in his hand, and the water oak tree, as thick as a wine glass, broke into two pieces.
He sneered, "You speak with such confidence. It seems you did well in the exam this time?"
Lu Donglin pursed his lips and stepped back: "Don't talk about whether the exam is good or not at this time. I will feel very pressured if you do this."
"Okay, I won't tell you. Anyway, you're twelve this year, and you'll be thirteen after the New Year. If you repeat a grade again, when you're sixteen, others will be in middle school or high school, and you'll still be in elementary school. Even if your family is willing to support you forever, sitting in the same classroom with people who are half a head shorter than you, do you think it's embarrassing?"
Lu Donglin scratched his head irritably: "No, I was asking about your sister Wen Wan. Why did you bring up my elementary school graduation?"
Lu Dongping dropped the knife in his hand and wiped the sweat off his face: "I went to the field with my mother. She said she wanted to identify which are the wild vegetables and which are the pig grass."
"Aren't wild vegetables also pig feed? Pigs can eat them all, so what's the difference?" As he said this, he took off the backpack, threw it aside and started raking the leaves.
Lu Dongping took a breath, picked up the hatchet and said, "Pigs will eat what humans eat, but pigs won't necessarily eat what humans eat. Do you think there's a difference? The books have gone into a dog's stomach, and the more you live, the worse you become."
After that, she started chopping wood again, saying as she chopped, "You and Chun'e are both on vacation. I can handle chopping wood, and Mom won't be working in the fields during this period. You should be honest and don't be away from home all day. Read your books carefully. Ask Chun'e if you don't understand. I don't expect you to study hard, but at least you have to finish elementary school well, be able to recognize words and do accounting, so that you can be fooled in the future."
Lu Donglin snorted a few times: "I won't ask her, I want to ask Sister Wen Wan, only then I can understand what she says."
As he spoke, he pounded the rake and said, "Hey! Brother, tell me the truth, what's going on between you and Sister Wen Wan? You need to be more direct. Don't be like those people on the team. They're so shy and embarrassed that even a cooked duck can fly away."
Lu Dongping sighed deeply: "What do you know, kid? If you think too much, you won't grow taller."
He couldn't tell how to answer.
I like her more and more every day, and I wish I could take her back to my home immediately so that I can see her day and night.
But after spending a few days together as a couple, he deeply felt the gap between them, which was too big.
The little girl was delicate and tender, covered in the newest quilt, and had to apply vanishing cream on her face and hands every morning and night. Her autumn clothes and sweaters were all new, but they had to be washed after two days of wearing. She used soap to wash her clothes and shampoo to wash her hair.
She asked him to dry the quilt in the sun, but when he thought of the black quilt full of patches that he was covering himself with, he didn't dare to agree.
She was like a delicate flower, so beautiful and fragrant that people couldn't help but want to pick it. But such a flower needed careful care, and he was afraid that he would accidentally break it.
He didn't stay in the mountains for long. He didn't forget that there were quilts drying at home, so he carried a bundle of them back and hit the quilts back and forth with a stick several times.
The quilt lining and quilt cover are still damp, and they need another sun exposure to dry them. I can only cover them with cotton wool temporarily at night, but it is still warm after being exposed to the sun.
Just after she finished cleaning up, Lu Chun'e came back and shouted, "Brother!" She put her book bag into the house neatly, came out to look at the sun that was about to set and said, "It's getting late. I won't go to the fields and will cook directly." They have been eating earlier in the afternoon recently, saying that eating early saves kerosene. In fact, she knew that it was because Wen Wan came to share the meal, and she was afraid that if she ate late, it would be difficult for her to walk back to the educated youth site.
Lu Dongping responded, "You go ahead and do it. I'll go to the beam and bring back some firewood."
Lu Chun'e responded and went into the kitchen with firewood in her arms.
After adding water to the pot, Zhang Hongying came back, followed by Wen Wan, packing the basket she was carrying, which contained half a basket of wild vegetables. This time, in addition to shepherd's purse and green onions, there were also Qingming vegetables.
This thing can be chopped up and mixed with flour to make dough balls or sheets.
As soon as Wen Wan came back, she called Lu Chun'e: "Chun'e, look, there are so many wild vegetables. We can eat them tonight."
Lu Chun'e smiled and said, "Sister, how do you want to eat?"
Wen Wan waved her hand: "It's all fine, Chun'e, you are a good cook, you can eat anything." She wanted to eat shepherd's purse dumplings, or mixed flour pancakes wrapped with shepherd's purse, but the conditions did not allow it.
She thought that even if she was going to live with someone, she would have to find a way to get some fine food.
Lu Chun'e said, "Then let's cook some shepherd's purse paste. Add some scallions and a little salt and it will taste very good." After saying that, she glanced at Zhang Hongying.
Zhang Hongying put the backpack against the wall and stood up, saying, "It's up to you. Those are all the things I have at home."
Wen Wan cheerfully went into the house and asked Lu Chun'e for a basket. "I picked them while I was picking wild vegetables in the fields. I washed them in the ditch while the sun was still shining. You can just rinse them."
Lu Chun'e said, "Sister Wenwan, we still have one day tomorrow. After the exams, we will have a day off. We can go up the mountain together during the day off."
"Are you going to have a holiday? Well, when you have a holiday I'll have company and we can go up the mountain together."
Lu Chun'e nodded in agreement, stood up and took a basin to scoop up the grain.
Wen Wan had nothing to do, so she sat behind the stove and warmed herself by the fire.
Hearing Lu Chun'e's voice calling "Brother", she turned her head, and Lu Dongping patted the leaves stuck on his body and went into the house.
Wen Wan pointed at him: "There's still some on your head."
"Where is it? I can't see it. Help me take it down." As he said that, Lu Dongping came over.
Lu Chun'e stood outside for a long time, and only came into the house with the basin after he got up.
Lu Dongping got up and was not idle either. He gathered the lumps that had been cleared out of the fire pit together again, added some dry firewood, and led the fire from the stove cavity.
Wen Wan asked him, "How long does it take to walk from Lujiazui to the county town?"
Lu Dongping sat down and looked at her: "If I walk, it will take two hours, and for you, it may take four hours." I guess she will cry halfway through the walk. After all, it is difficult for people who have never walked a long distance to withstand walking such a long distance at once.
Wen Wan pursed her lips secretly. She wanted to go to the county town, but it seemed not easy.
Lu Dongping asked her at this moment: "Are you going to the county town? After dinner, I'll get you a letter of introduction. Tomorrow, we'll walk to the commune and borrow a bicycle to take you there."
Wen Wan's eyes lit up: "It would be great if I could borrow a bicycle!"
Lu Dongping nodded: "Yes!" Looking at her happy expression, he could do it even if he couldn't.
The words from the kitchen drifted outside. Zhang Hongying paused with the knife in her hand, then raised it again and started chopping.
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