Chapter 9

After the rice is harvested, the

two sides of the shovel are not over. They still have to plow the fields, harrow the land, irrigate the fields, plant rice seedlings, and plant late rice. During this period, the pumps at the hydropower station pump water 24 hours a day without stopping. They continue to pump for several days and nights, and only stop when the paddy fields of several nearby brigades are filled with enough water. When

the pumps start, the crayfish in the ditches in the fields are washed away. The rushing water flows day and night to transport water to the surrounding farmlands.

The children in the village are not idle either. Almost every household will bring fishing nets to the ditches to catch fish.

The closer to the source of the hydropower station, the more fish you can catch.

There were intact fish, but most of them were dead fish with heads and tails missing, shredded by the pumps.

During the pumping period, the river side of the hydropower station was very dangerous. Anyone who fell into the river would be sucked away by the huge pumps in an instant and shredded into pieces. Therefore, many brigade officers stood on the embankment outside the hydropower station, guarding them at all times and not letting naughty children fall in.

Most of the children who came to fish were also told by their families to fish in the ditches on the hydropower station side.

Grandpa Jiang was also fishing.

He made a fish basket out of straw and placed it beside the turbulent ditches. From time to time, there would be live fish leaking from upstream, or dead fish being washed down and intercepted by him.

The ditch was right next to the rice field. He took care of the fish basket while preventing sparrows from eating the rice. He kept running back and forth, sometimes to check the fish basket, sometimes to drive away the sparrows. He was sweating all over, but he was catching fish very vigorously.

When Jiang Xi came to bring him food, he picked up the fish he had caught, just like Xianbao, and showed it to Jiang Xi: "Xi Xi, look at how many fish I caught!" He lowered his voice, as if afraid of being heard, and whispered in Jiang Xi's ear: "Take them to the mountains and pickle them later. Don't let your parents know. When school starts, I'll cook them for you to eat at school."

Grandpa Jiang smiled with satisfaction.

"Wow, so many fish!" Jiang Xi looked at the fish in the straw basket that were missing heads and tails, and looked up at her grandfather with sparkling eyes: "Grandpa, you are this!"

She gave Grandpa Jiang a thumbs up, which made Grandpa Jiang laugh so hard that his hunched back seemed to straighten a little.

"Go get me your brother's fishing net. That net is big and can catch a lot of fish!" Grandpa Jiang was very energetic, as if he had already seen that he had caught a basin of fish and could fill three large cans for his granddaughter!

"Yeah!" Jiang Xi ran home happily with the straw basket.

As she ran, she was thinking about how to make money.

If she wants to get rid of Jiang's control, she must first be economically independent.

For her, the simplest and most direct way to make her first pot of gold is to roast crayfish and sell them, even though crayfish are everywhere and locals don't have the habit of eating crayfish, but even if she sells them cheaper, she can still make a few dollars. "

Without money, you can't move an inch." This is not just a saying here, but a real situation. Because if you don't take a boat to go to the town, you have to cross a ferry in the middle. The ferry costs one dime.

She doesn't even have a dime.

If you take a boat to the town, it costs one dollar for a round trip.

No matter what you want to do, you have to go to the town first.

Jiang Liu stopped roasting lobsters for a few days. She sent all the lobsters she caught to the hut on the mountain.

Lobsters have strong vitality and will not die if they are kept on the mountain for a few days. Just feed them some snail meat.

Jiang's father had not eaten lobsters for a few days and thought that the water in the ditch was washed away by the pump. She did not roast lobsters because she could not catch them. She picked up a basket from the ditch and went to the pond to wash them.

While washing, she called Jiang Liu to help him.

In the hot summer, Jiang Xi was too lazy to cook, so he boiled kelp, lettuce slices, potato slices, cucumber, fungus, etc., then rinsed them with cold water, put chili powder, white sesame seeds, pepper powder, thirteen spices, minced garlic, scallions, and chili peppers in a bowl, poured hot oil over them to stimulate the aroma, poured them on the boiled cold vegetables, added vinegar and soy sauce and other seasonings, and mixed them to make a sour and spicy appetizing cold dish.

It was a large enamel basin.

After the meal was ready, a large pot of bath water was simmered in the pot.

"Hey, hey! Bring down a pair of scissors and teach me how to handle this shrimp." After seeing Jiang Wu come out, Jiang's father kept muttering, "It's a pity that your elder and second brothers are not here, otherwise, the two of them could eat a whole pot each!"

"After this busy period, I will catch more lobsters and bring some to your second brother when you go to register." Jiang Wu was admitted to the best high school in their county, and Jiang Bai also studied there.

Jiang's father said regretfully, "If your elder brother was not far away, I could send some to your elder brother as well."

Jiang Song went to work in the provincial capital. There was no phone at home, and Jiang's father didn't know where to find him. School was about to start, and he didn't come back even when he was asked to.

Jiang's father sighed: "As a younger sister, you should also persuade your elder brother that working part-time is not promising, and the only right way is to go to college."

Jiang Xiao didn't say anything.

In fact, her elder brother would not listen to anyone's advice.

Oh, that's not right, he would only listen to outsiders, as if everyone in the family would hurt him, and only people outside were truly good for him.

It's amazing.

Under Jiang Xiao's instruction, Jiang's father quickly learned how to do it and handled it skillfully. While handling the crayfish, he also asked her about her studies: "How have you been preparing for the high school textbooks these days? Is there anything you don't know? If you don't know, come and ask me, Dad will teach you."

Jiang's father graduated from high school. When he was in his third year, he took the college entrance examination with the educated youth. In their era, it was really a battle of thousands of people. 5.7 million people took the college entrance examination, but only 270,000 were admitted. In the second year, more than 6 million people took the college entrance examination, but only more than 400,000 were admitted.

Not being admitted to college has always been Jiang's father's deepest regret, so he wanted his children to go to college, just like making up for his unfulfilled dream when he was young.

Over the years, he has never given up studying.

Jiang Song and Jiang Bo were very annoyed by this aspect of Jiang's father. They thought that he was imposing his unfulfilled dreams when he was young on them, hoping that they could fulfill them.

Jiang Song, who was highly expected by Jiang's father, was especially rebellious. Jiang's father hoped that he could repeat his studies, get into a good university, and become a civil servant after graduation, but he refused to do so. He went to work, and then went to work and do business with others.

Basically, no matter what Jiang's father asked him to do, he would do the opposite of what Jiang's father said.

Jiang's father and mother are very concerned about Jiang Song, and 110% of them are about Jiang Song. On the contrary, Jiang Bai and Jiang Xi, who are ignored, never let others worry about them. They have arranged their lives clearly.

Maybe this is how people are. The more time, money, and energy you spend on someone, the more you will love that child.

Jiang's father and mother are like this to Jiang Song.

Maybe it's not just like this for children, but also between boyfriends and girlfriends, and husbands and wives. The more time, money, and feelings you spend, the greater the sunk cost, the more you can't let go, and the more you care.

As the saying goes, where the money is, there is love.

Facing Jiang's father, Jiang Xi is silent. She doesn't know what to say to him. She just answers whatever Jiang's father asks. She doesn't have much desire to talk or chat.

Jiang's father thought she was always like this, and continued to say with great interest: "Your eldest brother is smart, but he just doesn't focus on studying. You and your second brother are not as smart as your eldest brother, but you are better at hard work. Let me tell you, girls are different from boys. Boys' grades are not so good at the beginning, but they can improve their grades in high school after a hard push. Girls start to work hard in junior high school, but they can't do well in high school..."

Jiang Xi became more and more annoyed as he listened: "How do you know that girls can't do well in high school? Have you seen any girls who can't do well in high school? How many girls have you seen in high school? They didn't

even graduate from elementary school, and they went out to work!" "Boys don't do well in high school, but they can do well in high school." Jiang Xiao sneered, "Boys don't have to do anything when they go home, they just need to study, of course they can do it, but what about girls? Take me for example, I just sweep the floor, cook, feed pigs and chickens, wash dishes, and clean the pigsty when I go home, what do my brother and his family do when they come home? They don't have to do anything! My family is still good, other girls will only do more, after finishing the housework, they have to do the outside work, how can their grades not drop?"

She laughed again sarcastically, "You always praise your brother, and belittle me every day, and beat and scold me. Now I haven't even entered high school, and my grades haven't dropped, but you are giving me a shot of vaccination, saying that girls can't do well in high school."

Jiang's father was stunned.

He had never seen his daughter talk to him like this.

In his impression, his daughter has always been gentle, introverted, quiet, shy, obedient and well-behaved.

Jiang's father frowned slightly: "Why do you talk to your father like this?"

"Am I wrong? How do you know that girls can't do well in high school? I haven't even entered high school yet, and you talk like this. Shouldn't you encourage me?"

"Okay, okay, I'm wrong." Jiang's father laughed: "Dad's fault, don't be angry, I'm also worried about your grades. High school and junior high school are like a watershed. There is a saying that the early bird catches the worm. Aren't you preparing for high school textbooks now? That's how you should do it, work hard! Diligent! The path to a mountain of books is made through diligence, and the boat to a boundless sea of ​​learning is made through hard work!"

The early bird flies first.

Since she was little, they had instilled in her the idea that she was stupid, as stupid as a goose, as stupid as a donkey, and they kept nagging and insulting her day and night.

This made her feel stupid from the bottom of her heart even though she had become a successful person in the eyes of others.

She looked at Jiang's father's earnest admonition and teaching, and smiled helplessly, with deep sadness in her eyes.

A person can either be bad to the end and let people hate you, or be good to the end and let people love you.

The most frightening thing is to be like Jiang's father, who has 100 points of love and gives you one point, but he thinks that he has divided it equally among the three of you.

He gave all his time, money, energy, and praise to his brother, but he loves you.