The place where the old man asked them to buy apples was in a somewhat remote village outside Beijing.
After parking the car at the entrance of the village, you still have to walk for more than ten minutes on the dirt road before you can see the earthen-walled houses with smoke rising from the chimneys.
This was obviously not Lu Changzheng's first time here. Relying on his memory, he quickly found the family where the old man had asked them to buy apples.
"How do you know the place?" Liu Meiyu asked curiously.
"The year I joined the army, my grandfather brought me here once." Lu Changzheng looked at the house that had changed from a thatched hut to a yellow mud wall, and he was in a trance for a moment: "Uncle Li was a comrade-in-arms with my father. He used to be a soldier under my grandfather. After he retired, he went home to farm. He only started growing apples two years ago. Before, when he went to visit my grandfather, Uncle Li would quietly put the apples in the guard room and leave."
"When Uncle Li brought my father's urn to my grandfather, he said nothing. Instead, Uncle Li kept feeling remorseful and blamed himself, saying that he owed our Lu family a life. Later, when I wanted to join the army, my grandfather took me to Uncle Li's house and told me what it meant to join the army."
"What does it mean?"
"It means that once you put on this military uniform, your life belongs to the country, not to yourself, and certainly not to the Lu family, so Uncle Li doesn't owe anyone anything."
Dressed in military uniforms and full of passion, they are fearless and ready to stand up for their country at any time and in any era.
Liu Meiyun admires and respects them. Without them, there would be no peaceful and beautiful life now or in the future.
"Long March?" A deep voice came from the hillside next to them.
The middle-aged man came down the hillside with a bundle of firewood on his shoulders. He looked at Lu Changzheng in disbelief and asked, "Are you Lu Changzheng?"
Although so many years have passed, the man was still impressed and found that Lu Changzheng looked particularly similar to his father.
"Uncle Li, it's me." Lu Changzheng replied with a smile.
"Why are you here?" The man put down the firewood in surprise and pushed open the door: "Hurry, come in quickly, it's windy outside."
"I heard that you are growing apples yourself. It's almost Chinese New Year, so Grandpa asked me to buy a few boxes from you to bring back for his comrades to taste."
"What are you buying? I'll take you to pick them later. Pick the freshest ones. Pick as many as you want."
The man invited them in, and hurriedly washed the cups and made tea. He also found some melon seeds, peanuts, candies, and other snacks and put a plate in front of Liu Meiyu. Then he moved a stool and sat down opposite them: "Is this your wife? You have a good eye."
"That's right." Lu Changzheng said without any modesty.
"Changzheng wife, I grew these peanuts myself. Try them. They are definitely more delicious than those sold in the city. If you like them, I'll pack a bag for you later."
Uncle Li was too enthusiastic, and Liu Meiyun couldn't be too polite. She grabbed a few peanuts and said with a smile, "Thank you, uncle, these are enough."
As soon as they sat down, Uncle Li looked eager to have Lu Changzheng and his wife empty out all the good things in the house.
You are strictly prohibited from buying apples, you can only take them. As for the mountain products we have at home, we will give you as many as you can.
Even when picking apples, I would have to wait until after dinner to take them there.
Then Liu Meiyu watched helplessly as Uncle Li caught the fattest old hen from the backyard, wiped the chicken's neck in a few seconds, cleaned it, and stewed it.
While he was speaking, he had to climb up to the roof beam to cut the bacon, which Lu Changzheng had managed to get with great difficulty.
After dinner, it was finally time to pick apples.
The couple were a little full after eating an old hen, and working was just the right thing to do to help digest the food. But Uncle Li said he would ask his fellow villagers to help pick some fruits, so the couple could rest at home.
Liu Meiyu, who was in desperate need of exercise, refused to rest and followed them up the hillside carrying a bamboo basket.
When they reached the hillside, Liu Meiyu looked at the large area of apple trees in front of them and was a little at a loss as to where to start.
Uncle Li found two pairs of clean gloves from the basket and gave them to them: "Changzheng couple, put on the gloves before you take them off, otherwise you will get cuts on your hands."
Then he picked a bright red one nearby and threw it to Lu Changzheng: "This one is sweet, you guys eat it first, I'll go pick some."
Lu Changzheng wiped the apple on his clothes and gave a bite to his wife first.
Liu Meiyu took a bite and found it quite crispy but not too sweet. However, that was the case with most apples at that time.
Before the introduction of Red Fuji, this kind of "Guoguang" apple was once the mainstream in the market in the 1980s. It was not until the introduction of Red Fuji varieties in the late 1980s that the market share of Guoguang apples began to decline year by year. Later, many young people even didn't know about "Guoguang" apples.
Liu Meiyu had just been picking fruits diligently for a while when Lu Changzheng brought her a cup of tea and asked her to take a break.
Just take a break, it won’t take long to pick all the fruits anyway.
Liu Meiyu stood on the hillside holding a teacup and looked around. The houses in the village were not built densely. She counted and there were less than twenty households.
Uncle Li told her that everyone in the village had the same surname, and there were indeed not many people. The young people either went to school or went to the city to find work. Especially at the beginning of this year, when they heard that someone had made money on the construction site in Pengcheng, someone in their village took a dozen strong laborers with them and left the elderly at home to farm.
Uncle Li has two daughters, both of whom are married to the next village. His daughters and sons-in-law are filial and come to help every now and then.
"Uncle, is that mountain opposite also part of your village?" Liu Meiyu suddenly asked, pointing to the barren mountain not far away.
"Yes, that whole area belongs to our village. I picked up firewood there this morning. What's wrong?"
Uncle Li curiously watched Liu Meiyun walk around his apple orchard, then stare at the mountain opposite for a long time.
"Can you give the contract to someone who is not from this village?"
Uncle Li nodded. "Of course I can. When I signed the contract, the village chief said that the price would definitely be higher than other villagers' contracts. But why would you sign the contract for a barren mountain? If you want to grow apples, there's another piece of land next to it."
Liu Meiyun shook her head. She didn't grow apples, she wanted to grow cherries.
Cherries are expensive in the market, and Liu Meiyun looked around the village and thought that if she had the ability, she could just lease the entire mountain to plant cherries, and later develop a tourism project, just like the "Cherry Orchard" and "Cherry Valley" in later generations. She could go there for a walk and pick cherries herself, but they would cost dozens of yuan per pound.
"If you really want to take over the contract, after we finish picking the apples, I'll take you to ask the village chief."
Uncle Li had never eaten cherries, so he didn't know what they were. But from chatting with Lu Changzheng before, he knew that his wife was a businesswoman and a college student, so he didn't ask much.
He can't keep bossing around in front of Renmin University students.
So after picking the apples, Liu Meiyu followed Uncle Li to find the village chief, while Lu Changzheng stayed at home to pack the things. Anyway, he couldn't help his wife with what she wanted to do, so he just supported her!
"You want to contract that barren mountain?"
The village chief squatted in his yard and knocked on his pipe. He saw that Liu Meiyu was quite arrogant for a girl. She wanted to contract a whole mountain right away. The mountain was more than 500 mu. The contract fee would be several thousand yuan a year.
However, since the person was introduced by a villager, he did not ask any more questions. Anyway, the barren mountain had been idle for a long time, and if it could really be contracted out, it would be a good thing for their village.
Even for such a big contract, the decision must be made in a village meeting. So the village chief, fearing that Liu Meiyu would go back on her word, put down his cigarette bag and went to the village committee office to use the loudspeaker to call a meeting for everyone.
"Do you have enough money?" Lu Changzheng asked Liu Meiyu who had just returned from outside while packing apples.
Uncle Li also stayed in the village office for a meeting, so now only the couple were in the yard.
"The contract fee alone is definitely enough." Liu Meiyu nodded affirmatively.
Uncle Li only paid 6 yuan per acre for the apple orchard he contracted. She contracted a barren mountain with such a large area, so even if she was from another village, the price wouldn't be much more expensive.
The main cost is the subsequent purchase of seedlings for cultivation and manual management, and the first three years are just investments. It usually takes another three years before production begins, and there must be no problems during this period.
One year's land contract fee was nothing to her, so she directly contracted a mountain. Even if she didn't have enough money to eat so much at once, she could leave the crops there and plant them slowly when the money was in place.
Liu Meiyu waited in the yard for about forty minutes before Murakami's meeting was over.
After the discussion, the old village chief asked a child to call Liu Meiyu and her husband to go to the village office.
The old village chief asked tentatively: "How many years can you take over the contract?"
"I will sign for as many years as the contract can last."
As soon as Liu Meiyu finished speaking, the several village officials who were sitting there all showed expressions of disbelief.
"But, village chief, please tell me how the contract fee is calculated first."
The village chief glanced at the village party secretary and said, "How about 8 yuan per mu?"
8 yuan per mu, and that piece of barren hill is 500 mu, 4,000 yuan a year, she would only get 200,000 yuan if she contracted it for 50 years.
Seeing that Liu Meiyun didn't say anything, the village chief thought she thought it was too expensive, so he said, "This price is already very cheap, because you were introduced by Lao Li. If someone else came, our price would be 3 yuan higher than that of the villagers."
Several village officials nearby also nodded in agreement.
"Village Chief, I have no problem with this price, but I want to ask how long the contract can last?"
When they heard Liu Meiyun say that the price was okay, several village officials breathed a sigh of relief. The village chief was even more smiling, and spoke to Liu Meiyun in a more friendly manner: "I heard someone say 50 years before, but if you think it's not enough, I'll go to the county after the New Year to ask for details."
"It would be even better if we could contract it for 70 years." Liu Meiyu was a little greedy.
The villagers naturally hope that Liu Meiyu can contract the land for as long as possible. For now, they can indeed collect some firewood from that large piece of barren mountain. Since someone is willing to contract the land, wouldn't it be more comfortable for them to sit at home and wait to be paid than to collect firewood?
The village chief thought further ahead, mainly because Liu Meiyu had contracted the mountain, and no matter what she planted, she would need labor, and there would definitely be no one more suitable than the people in their village. Moreover, such a large forest would definitely require a lot of manpower.
After the contract was settled, Liu Meiyu and Lu Changzheng prepared to go back. After the new year, when the specific details were finalized, Liu Meiyu would come back to sign the contract.
They took twenty boxes of apples back with them. Uncle Li found a cart to help pull them to the entrance of the village, and then he stuffed the apples onto the cart one by one.
After they had finally managed to fit the apples in, Uncle Li stuffed two bags of mountain products into their bags. The products sold on the market were not cheap, and they insisted on giving them the apples and mountain products for free.
Lu Changzheng was pushing and pulling the car with Uncle Li in front of it, and he was sweating, but he just couldn't give the money away.
Liu Meiyun watched for a while, then walked over and pinched Lu Changzheng secretly, then said with a smile: "Forget it, I think you guys are going to push it until dark, Uncle Li, we won't dare to come next time if you keep doing this. You made me finish a whole plate of peanuts, and even took a bag away. You are really shameless."
Uncle Li waved his hands and told them to go back quickly and talk about it next time. He was determined not to take the money anyway, and he seemed to remember that his wife didn't eat many peanuts during the Long March.
After receiving a hint from his wife, Lu Changzheng stopped arguing with Uncle Li. He waved his hand, took the money that he couldn't give away, and drove home.
"Did you leave some money for Uncle Li?"
Even when the car was about a hundred meters away, Lu Changzheng still saw Uncle Li standing on the side of the road waving at them from the rearview mirror.
"I put it on a plate of peanuts when I left the house."
"Wife, you are really smart. I didn't expect that." Lu Changzheng grinned happily, "Why didn't you tell me that Uncle Li's hands are really strong. I was sweating."
Liu Meiyun wiped him with a tissue and said, "I saw that you ate too much hen meat, so I told you to exercise more. It's time to go back and have lunch."
Lu Changzheng: “…”
On New Year's Eve in 1981, every household in the military compound was filled with lively laughter.
The Lu family has triplets, and they are especially lively.
The three brothers filled their bags with firecrackers, followed by a group of idiots younger than them, and set off firecrackers on the military training ground all morning long.
This caused the old man's comrade-in-arms to come to her house with a bag of oranges to ask how much "fire and powder" her family had prepared for the three boys and why they never stopped.
Liu Meiyu also wanted to know, and then she looked around the room. Grandpa, Lu Wanjun, and Wu's mother, one by one, avoided her gaze and said that they didn't buy anything.
“…”
I didn’t buy any. Where did those boxes of drawers in that store come from?
After the family reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, the three brothers received their New Year’s money and grinned until their teeth disappeared.
Especially the one given by my grandfather, which gets more every year.
Compared with other children of the same age, the combined New Year's money received by the three brothers is a huge sum, not to mention the money they will receive after the New Year.
At this time, most of the New Year's money given to other children is finally handed over to their parents. Some are forced to hand it over, while others have the custody period extended indefinitely in the name of safekeeping.
If the child can have thirty or fifty cents on him/herself, it would be good enough.
But Liu Meiyu doesn't care.
It's fine if you carry it with you and buy whatever you want. But if you have spent all your New Year's money, just don't be jealous of your brothers and sisters. If you accidentally lose it, you will feel unlucky.
When Dabao and his two brothers were the youngest, they didn’t have much money, so they would just buy two pieces of candy the next day and it would be gone. But they didn’t have much of a concept of money at that time.
As they grew older and their New Year's money increased year by year, Liu Meiyu asked a carpenter to make a "safety box" for each of them, even one with a key.
You should keep your own money and she won't interfere with how you spend it. There is only one rule: you should develop the habit of recording every expense.
So the three brothers now all have their own piggy banks, and they have also learned about money faster and earlier than other children of the same age.
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