On the last day of 1968, New Year's Eve, Xuemei went to work at the supply and marketing cooperative as usual. However, starting the next month, her salary would be 25.60 yuan, plus a 2.70 yuan subsidy, for a total of 28.30 yuan, a 5.30 yuan increase. Her fuel coupons would also increase from one liang of oil to two liang of oil.
When Xuemei came back from get off work, Liu's mother and her family had already prepared the dishes and were waiting for her to come back before heading to the old house for the reunion dinner.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Xuemei went out to pay New Year's greetings in the morning, then spent the afternoon in the kitchen with Liu's mother. They toiled for four or five hours, making four pounds of chestnut cakes. After dinner that evening, Xuemei baked another two pounds of fried pancakes.
After Xuemei finished baking the pancakes, she and Liu's mother began packing things for Zhiwen to take to the army tomorrow. Zhiwen was currently serving in the army in the northwest. The area where he was serving was sparsely populated and the conditions were harsh. There was no postman, and the nearest post office was thirty or forty kilometers away. The army generally didn't allow travel outside, except for supply trucks. Unlike his second cousin Zhiqian, who was serving in Heilongjiang Province, Xuemei's family could still mail him some things from time to time.
Liu's mother and Xuemei put two pairs of rabbit leather insoles, two cans of chopped chili peppers, a can of chopped chili and radish, a pound of chestnut cake, a piece of dried bacon weighing more than a pound, and more than a pound of glutinous rice cakes in the package. The Liu family made more than ten pounds of glutinous rice cakes this year. When they want to eat them, they can just fry them with salt or roast them directly over the fire.
Xuemei also put two boxes of clam oil and a box of vanishing cream into the package while Liu's mother was not paying attention. The last time Xuemei saw the frostbite on Zhiwen's face, ears and hands, she bought them for him when she was at work before the New Year.
After packing the package, Liu's mother went to pack things for the New Year's visit to Wangjia Village tomorrow. Xuemei wrapped the oil cakes two by two with oil paper. Xuemei planned to take them to Zhiwen tomorrow so that he could eat them on the train the day after tomorrow.
The next morning, as soon as Mingzheng and Xinyan arrived, Xuemei and her family set out for Wangjia Village to pay New Year's greetings.
Xuemei went back to work on the third day of the Lunar New Year, but the good thing was that she got off work at around four o'clock today.
"Dad, Mom, I'm back. Qingya, what are you guys drinking?" Xuemei looked at Qingya and the other two who were drinking happily from their bowls.
"Milk, sister, you've never drunk milk made with milk powder, right? I'll make you a cup." Ruirui said, then drank the remaining two sips of milk in the bowl in one gulp and went to the kitchen to get a bowl.
"Mom, where did the milk powder come from? Did my second and third uncles bring it?" Xuemei put down her schoolbag and asked Liu's mother who was sitting in the fire box.
"Yaoyao brought it here. She said that her brother opened a milk factory where he served in the army, so it would be more convenient to buy milk powder there?" said Liu's mother, stopping her hands from sewing shoe soles.
"Yaoyao came today, why didn't she tell me in advance? Has she gone back now?" Xuemei said as she walked towards her room.
"Don't go and see. She came here with her parents today. Someone will come to pick them up in the afternoon!" Father Liu said as he walked out of the fire box.
"Her parents are here too. What are they doing here at our house?" Xuemei looked at Father Liu in confusion.
"It's nothing. They said you and Luo Yao got along well, so you came to our place today to get acquainted with the route since you had time. Why did you get off work so early today? I'll go cook first!" Father Liu looked at Qing Ya and the other three and changed the subject.
…
That evening, Liu's father and mother told Xuemei that Luo Yao's mother was the same doctor who had performed the surgery on Liu Xiu. They had come this time because Luo Yao had told them that Liu's father was the head of Liujia Village and that Dr. Gu wanted to send his master and granddaughter to the village to work as sent-down youths, and asked Liu's father to look after them.
Dr. Gu also used to work in the army. When Luo Yao's father retired from the army and returned to the county, she also transferred her job there.
To reassure Liu's father, Dr. Gu explained the situation of his master and his colleagues. Although they were seeking refuge in the countryside, they wouldn't cause any trouble for Liu's father and his friends. They would be approved by the county government and go through the necessary procedures to join the production team in Liujia Village. Their official title would be retired military doctors providing rural support.
After hearing this, Father Liu agreed. Not to mention that the person who asked him for help was Dr. Gu, even if no one asked him for help, Father Liu would take good care of them because he was a military doctor.
As soon as the notice from the commune came, Liu's father took the 400 yuan issued by the commune and gathered the villagers to make earth bricks. He planned to build two 30-square-meter rooms on the more than one-acre land behind the threshing ground to build a village clinic, one as a doctor's lounge and medicine storage room, and one as a place for seeing patients.
After completing the village clinic, Liu's father built a house across from the educated youth center for the incoming military doctors. Initially, Liu's father had planned to simply add another room next to the educated youth center, but Luo Yao's father went to Liu's house and told him they wanted to live alone, as they had a one-and-a-half-year-old child and didn't want to disturb anyone else.
Liu's father chose a site for his house, a relatively flat, stone plot about two fen wide, about five or six meters from Liu Xiu. He built a 60-square-meter house with mud bricks, dividing the first floor into three rooms. One of the rooms served as the main room, and the second floor was a wooden half-story. By the time the kitchen, firewood shed, and toilet were finished, the 400 yuan he had provided was gone. The family had to fill any other necessities themselves. However, the village even provided two beds to welcome them.
While repairing the room for the two military doctors, the village received another piece of good news.
The commune allocated a tractor to the village, and Mingzheng also got one for the village from the machinery factory. The villagers unanimously decided to use all the money the village had saved in the past two years, and also borrowed 500 yuan from the commune to buy the two vehicles. After all, if they missed this opportunity, they would never have it again.
Before the tractor returned, the commune issued a notice saying that they wanted to select tractor drivers.
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