On New Year’s Eve, every household didn’t even have white flour, so luxuries like dumplings were just something they could only dream of. Every family would taste the deliciousness of having a little bit of oil mixed with pickles.
Gu Yan stood on the ground and chopped the radish into pieces, preparing to mix it with the pickled vegetables he had previously pickled to make stuffing. The wheat hadn't grown for two years, and she couldn't explain why. These are prepared for steaming wowo. The fried soybeans and sesame seeds are ground into powder and mixed into the stuffing, which is equivalent to adding soybean oil and sesame oil, and it smells fragrant.
"Mom, it smells so good!" The two girls did not go to pick up sheep dung today. They sat on the warm kang and played with their younger brother and sister. Recently the only supplement has been cereal, which has no taste. I sniffed the fragrance for the first time.
"It smells so good, mom, what are you doing?" Dahua held her younger brother in her arms and a rattle in her hand, but her eyes kept glancing at Gu Yan who was standing at the edge of the kang.
"It's Chinese New Year and we eat steamed wo wo."
The two children immediately pulled their younger brother and sister to clap their hands happily, "Oh, we have Wo Wo to eat. It's vegetable Wo Wo, it must be delicious."
"Little girl, do you want to eat?" Xiaohua kissed her sister and talked to the little baby very seriously. Naturally, no one could understand the answer. The almost two-month-old baby was drooling and dancing around for his sister.
"Haha, little girl, you're so happy, you must want to eat." Dahua pulled her body to kiss her sister, then turned around and kissed her brother. "Mom didn't even say I'd give you a name, you can't just keep calling me brother."
As soon as these words were spoken, the two young ladies looked at Gu Yan in unison. My younger sister started by calling them Aunt Xu and Xiao Ya, and they followed suit without realizing it. But the younger brother has never had a name. Until now, they both call him younger brother, while Gu Yan calls him bad boy or little rascal alternately.
Gu Yan took out a small bag of rhubarb rice flour from the space and prepared to mix it with corn flour to make dumplings. Yellow rice is sticky, which just complements the roughness of corn, otherwise it may not be able to wrap the filling.
"What should I call it? Mom doesn't know! Why don't you two come up with one?"
After the cornmeal is boiled, add the yellow rice flour little by little. This rough, loose, sand-like substance finally began to stick together.
"Call Stone."
"Oh no, our team already has four stones." Xiaohua pouted, her big eyes darting around. I was unhappy with my sister's suggestion, but I couldn't think of anything good at the moment.
"What's his name? How about Goudan?"
"Sister, can you please use your brain? Why do you keep saying names that have been used by others? They are not fresh at all."
"What's so new about it? It's just a name. What's the big deal? What should I call my brother?"
"I...I don't know either." The eyes that were rolling around just now stopped, and the child was obviously very lost. "I want a nice name. I want to give my brother a nice name, as well as my sister and Xiaoya."
Gu Yan looked up at this delicate and sensitive child, and felt sorry. She had already planned to give her child a big name, but she never told her child. Dahua is a bit careless and doesn't care about these things at all, but Xiaohua yearns for beautiful things. Wash and fold rags neatly after use.
"Yanxi, Yantong, Yanzhu, Yanlei, arrange them in order from oldest to youngest. Are you satisfied? Yan means talented and virtuous. It represents your mother's beautiful hopes and expectations for you."
"Okay, I like this name." Dahua took her brother's hand and clapped it twice, with satisfaction written on her little face. "Is the younger brother's name Yan Lei?"
"Of course, he's the youngest. Didn't mom just say that we should be arranged in order? My name is Yantong, my sister's name is Yanzhu, and my brother is of course the last one."
Xiaohua bent down and kissed her sister, then happily lifted her up high. "Yanzhu, our little baby is the treasure of mom and sister." The child turned around excitedly and asked, "Mom, does it mean treasure? And what does my Tong mean?"
Gu Yan nodded, answering her first question. Then she explained, "Tong means red. It means prosperous and thriving. I hope our little Hua will study hard and make progress every day. She hopes that she can get into a university for her mother in the future."
This “grand” goal made the child’s cheeks hot, as if the word flew directly onto his face and into his heart. She felt a little dizzy and couldn't believe it.
"Mom, do you want me to go to school?" Most of the boys in the brigade go to primary school, and the cadres also require that their children be sent to school. But many families will not let girls go, because when girls grow up they will marry into other families. If I stay at home, I can take care of my younger siblings, do housework, or go to the fields to earn work points. My mother used to say it was a waste for girls to study hard, but now she wants her to go to school and take the college entrance exam.
"Mom, I'm not going. I want to learn Kung Fu from you. If anyone dares to bully me in the future, I will beat him to death." Dahua clenched his fists, yearning for the power of force.
"You all have to go." Facing the older girl's depressed face, she chuckled, "At least you have to finish elementary school. If you can't read, you're just blind. If you're sold, you'll still have to count the money."
"Xiaohua is going to college, so just let her show it to me."
"Sister." Xiaohua's tone was full of regret. "Can I be with you forever? You can't read and can't even read centimeters. People can't beat you but they can cheat you. It's useless for you to just know martial arts. You have to be good at both civil and military affairs to avoid being bullied."
"Yeah." Dahua nodded, "Just like our mom. No one can bully her."
"My mother's best skill is magic." Xiaohua looked at the delicious stuffing and the dough that had become smooth and delicate because of something her mother had added. She was envious of the magic that could create objects out of thin air.
"This ability will disappear as mom gets older. So you all have to work hard and rely on yourselves for everything. Even when mom gets old, she will still have to rely on you to support her."
Don't develop a character that seeks to gain something for nothing. That's not my original intention. Thinking of this, Gu Yan's heart suddenly tightened. Speak up and guide your child quickly.
The two children were stunned for a moment and then nodded seriously. "Don't be afraid, mom. When you are old, we will be grown up and we will take care of you in your old age."
"Mom, I will study hard, learn a lot of skills, earn a lot of money and tickets, and buy you delicious food." Xiaohua tried hard to think about what she could do. After a few minutes of silence, she raised her head and said, "Mom, when I get a job in the future, I will be able to get a house. Then I will take you all to live with us. We don't have to endure the anger of grandma and dad anymore. They chased us away, but we didn't care about them."
I didn’t expect that such a young child could think so far, and have a new understanding of freedom, dignity, equality, love, and so on.
"Okay, mom will wait for our Xiaohua to pick me up and take me to the big city."
"You can eat rations and ride a bicycle. Xiaohua, work hard. I'm counting on you."
Gu Yan raised his hand and patted his eldest daughter gently, "If you want to eat the rations and ride a bicycle, then you should work hard on your own. It's nothing to rely on your sister."
"But... okay, I'll give it a try." Dahua looked worried and had no confidence in herself at all. "But it's really hard to write. Big Fatty taught us to write on the ground, but I never learned it. It's much harder than cutting grass for pigs or picking sweet potatoes."
Gu Yan smiled and said nothing more. Every child is an independent individual and we should respect their ideas. As long as the child finishes elementary school well and doesn't become blind, she doesn't care what his or her child will do in the future.
If we calculate the time, the movement will start in a few years, and schools will be the first to be hit. After three years of junior high school and three years of high school, Xiaohua had to come back to work. If she wanted to go to college, she had to wait until 1977. I wonder if this child can stick to his dream.
The mother and her daughter were talking when suddenly the door curtain was lifted. A woman wearing a red headscarf walked in.
"Crow, are you all okay? I've been busy at work and haven't had time to come and see you. I finally had some time today, New Year's Eve." The woman took out a handkerchief from her bosom and opened it to reveal the corn kernels inside. "I hid it with great difficulty. If you eat more, the child can have more milk."
Gu Yan found this person’s information in his memory. Her eldest sister from her mother's family. If it weren't for her when she was a child, she would probably have starved to death by her mother who favored boys over girls.
She was pushed to the edge of the kang as soon as she was born, and the woman was too lazy to even look at her. In order to feed this money-losing thing, the eldest girl had to beg and plead for it, and the woman only gave it to her after she scolded her. These were all said by the neighbors, and the original person was skeptical and evasive about it. As for her now, she knows it is true without any explanation. That cruel mother would definitely be able to starve a baby girl to death and still have milk left for her son.
The eldest sister is forty years old this year, but she looks older than those who are sixty years old in later generations. She married a man from the same village. If she hadn't supported and cared for her as a child, it's hard to say whether she would have grown up.
"Why didn't you say anything? Are you blaming me for not coming to see you earlier?" The woman's weathered face was full of helplessness. "I...my mother-in-law is paralyzed, and none of my sisters-in-law care about me. Your brother-in-law is watching me take care of his mother like a supervisor, and he keeps a close eye on me when I go to work and when I leave..."
Domestic violence in rural areas is very common nowadays. It is not so bad if the woman is strong or the man is kind and soft-hearted. It would be really bad luck for them to meet such a bastard man. I can’t beat him. To be honest, you will be beaten as soon as you open your mouth. Divorce is almost non-existent. There is no other way but to endure it. She was worried about her sister and wanted to come and see her earlier, but she was beaten twice. She finally found time to come here after catching her husband out for the New Year.
"I heard that you gave birth to twins successfully. I'm so worried about you! You only have so little food a day, and you'll be exhausted from feeding two kids." The woman reached out and held Gu Yan's hand. It was heartbreaking to see her bones ache. "Being pregnant and breastfeeding are the most damaging to your body. The milk is made from blood. How come you gave birth to a pair of babies at this time? How much blood must you have lost in feeding them this year?"
Gu Yan didn't know whether the milk was transformed from blood. However, she eats two more bowls of cereal and two boiled eggs every day, but she is still very thin. Without the support of space, it would be difficult to raise this pair.
"Sit down, sister." Gu Yan asked her to sit down by the kang, and smiled and comforted her softly, "Last time I went to the commune, I picked up half a bag of corn from the field. I can make ends meet these days. Sister, you are too thin. Are you tired from working and taking care of the patient?"
"Nothing, isn't it like this nowadays?" Sister Gu looked around and asked her in a low voice about picking up food, obviously she was more concerned about it. In this day and age, food is life, how can you just pick it up?
"Where did you pick it up? Wasn't anyone watching?"
"No. I figured someone stole it and hid it there, and I took advantage of it."
"Don't worry about that. It's good to have food. You don't know how worried I am about you. Your brother-in-law likes to work hard, but he is not lazy and has been working all the time. Your man is a bastard. He doesn't even raise his own children. I heard that you didn't get any tickets for the New Year and you even owe money to the brigade. How can you live like this?"
"Who told you that? Sister Xu?"
"I met her when she was returning to her parents' home and asked her a few questions." Sister Gu sighed and took out an old dress with a white background and blue flowers from her lapel. "Alter it for the child, enough to make two pieces." She reached out and took the little boy from Dahua's arms, saying with some regret, "It's a pity that there is no boy. His brother has to wear women's flowery clothes."
Gu Yan tightly grasped the old clothes stuffed into his hands, then looked at the corn kernels beside him. His heart was throbbing and his eyes were filled with moisture.
Everyone's life is hard. I wonder how the elder sister managed to hide these few corn kernels so secretly. As I recall, she seemed to have given this new gown to the child. If her eldest brother-in-law had known about it, he would have beaten her again.
As if she could see what she was thinking, the elder sister smiled nonchalantly: "It's okay, I have something to replace it. It's just a matter of adding a few patches, so the skin won't be exposed. Men are easy to fool, I say just keep it in the bottom of the box."
Gu Yan hesitated for several times, and finally took out a piece of blue cotton cloth with white dots from the box. This was originally a bed sheet, two and a half meters by two and a half meters wide, which is not comparable to the three-foot wide cloth of today.
"Hey, where did this come from? Why is it so big?"
"I stole my mother-in-law's eggs and exchanged them with someone. The other party felt sorry for me because of my big belly, so he gave me some scraps of cloth and leftovers."
I don’t want to say it, for fear of being exposed. But she really couldn't accept what this woman got in return for being beaten. I don’t know how many times I’ll be beaten for just one piece of clothing. No matter how afraid she was of being exposed, she couldn't accept it calmly. She could never do such a thing as harming others for her own benefit, even to someone who truly loved her.
Sister Gu pointed at her little girl's flowered quilt and said, "Use those to piece together."
"Um."
"Sister, you are so lucky. This cloth is so good, soft and thick, much better than what I got at the supply and marketing cooperative."
"So sister, take your clothes back. Don't give your brother-in-law an excuse to beat people up."
"Alas! When a man wants to slap someone, he will do it even if you do nothing. It's okay, I'm used to it."
Seeing that the girl could still live, she refused the steamed dumplings that Gu Yan had just made, put her clothes back in her arms and left in a hurry. She came here secretly and didn't have much time. The girl has grown up now and actually learned how to hide eggs at an early age. Good, good, it’s better than being stupid and letting others exploit you.
After Sister Gu left, Gu Yan gave one steamed bun to each of his two daughters. The two children were tired from playing and lay down on the kang to sleep. The mother and her two daughters were sighing about how delicious the steamed buns were when suddenly a loud wail came from next door. After listening for a while, I finally figured it out.
It turned out that Han Laoer had actually picked the lock and stole the food from the house. As for the purpose, needless to say, it is definitely for gambling. Food is already in short supply nowadays, and what he is doing is simply fatal. No wonder everyone is working together to attack him this time. The adults scolded him for a while and then went out to look for him.
Gu Yan laughed and put it behind his mind. However, the thoughtful Xiaohua sighed: "Fortunately he is not with us now, otherwise they will definitely scold us."
"Why are you scolding us?" Gu Yan asked as he cleaned up the chopping board.
"Because he lives with us, we are one team!"
Dahua nodded and agreed: "My father did something bad, so grandma and aunt scolded me."
"She didn't teach her son well. It has nothing to do with us. It seems that my decision is right. A dog will always eat shit. We can only rely on Han Lao Er. We can just wait to starve to death."
"Luckily I have mom."
"Mom is so nice."
After sighing again, the two children prepared to get off the kang. The diaper is still soaking in the basin and needs to be washed out. Otherwise it will be useless later.
"You two don't need to wash this." Gu Yan took the kettle from Dahua's hand and poured hot water into the basin. "I thought you two were going to the toilet, but you wanted to do something secretly. Hurry up and get on the kang. You two should rest for the next few days. You don't have to do anything except accompany your brother and sister."
The two children stared with their eyes wide open in surprise and excitement. Each of them hugged Gu Yan's arms and kissed her on the cheek several times.
"Mom, you can feed them, and leave the younger brother and sister to us. We will definitely take good care of them and teach them to talk."
"Hehe...it's too early to talk." Gu Yan shook his head and ignored it. If the children like it, just let them play freely.
As it was getting dark, the noise next door started again. Xiaohua came back from the toilet and gossiped to her quietly: "We caught them. Five men played dice and the food they found was returned to its original owner. They were fined to do infrastructure construction, and this time they have to do it for a month."
This guy is the laziest. If he continues like this, will he be able to change his gambling habit? Gu Yan shook his head, wondering why he was thinking this. What happens to him has nothing to do with me. I think it’s probably the memory of his original body that’s causing the problem.
The Han family was so angry that the old man even refused to give Han Laoer any food on New Year's Eve. Simple multi-grain porridge and small steamed buns. Eat with pickled vegetables picked in autumn. Han Laoer has no chance to do anything.
He was so hungry that he wanted to rob the food, but was beaten up by the eldest and third brothers. He screamed in pain, and Gu Yan could hear it clearly through the wall.
You deserve it. Anyone can say nice things as long as it does not harm their own interests. Once this involves yourself, let's see if you will still make sarcastic remarks. In the original book, it was the mother and her two daughters who went hungry on New Year's Eve. The instigator was eating with a bowl in his hand. The old lady also scolded her for not being able to control a man's heart, and said that marrying her would bring misfortune to the Han family.
Damn it, who is unlucky? You gave birth to such a bear, and you shielded him time and time again, and you were mean and cruel to your wife and granddaughter. It's really unfortunate for Gu Yan to meet your family.
After the New Year, spring arrived. The weather is getting warmer day by day. After several years of drought, it rained several times this year. Spring rain is as precious as oil, so now we don’t have to worry about spring sowing. Everyone was so happy that they started going up the mountain to peel tree bark and dig wild vegetables.
Peel off the rough dry outer bark of the elm tree, pick out the fine white bark inside, grind it into powder with a millstone, stir it into a paste with water, and pour it into boiling water to cook. When ripe, it becomes smooth like summer jelly.
Unfortunately, it's just a resemblance.
Gu Yan took a few children up the mountain to peel tree bark, brought it back in baskets and crushed it on a millstone. This thing is neither nutritious nor delicious. She took this as a spring outing to bring the children to experience nature. Secondly, it can also hide from people's eyes and ears.
People in this place don't have the habit of carrying children on their backs. They usually make a small wooden square cart for their children to sit in. Gu Yan couldn't possibly have that thing, so he made two imitating the baby slings of later generations, and always carried the child on his back while working.
"Dahua, carry your brother and sit over there. Stop pushing the car here." The child had to take care of the child while still working. Although it is very common in the village, Gu Yan can't stand it and always reminds the children to be lazy.
"No need. I'm strong enough to push the millstone. My brother is very light, and you're carrying your sister on your back, too. You can do all the work just the same."
"I am an adult, how can a child like you compare with me?"
The eldest was about to say something else, but the second one interrupted him, "Mom, don't worry about your sister, just let her push. I'll take my brother's turn later, we can take turns, it's not that tiring."
"That's right. Children should learn to be self-reliant from a young age. They can't be spoiled into lazy people. You said that yourself, mom, and you forgot it."
Gu Yan smiled and said no more. He piled the bark neatly, pushed the milling rod and started grinding. Children cannot be spoiled, but they cannot be treated as adults either. Exerting too much force at a young age may leave you with any sequelae. As a mother, she couldn't bear to see this.
Well, let’s go home and have a good meal. We can’t go hungry.
The mother and her daughter crushed the bark into powder, and Gu Yan rubbed it with a dustpan and prepared to pack it into bags. Looking back, I saw an old man walking unsteadily with a bag on his back, who must be using the mill as well.
It was almost dark and there was no one to even mention a lantern. Even if there is no need to screen the thickness, can I push myself at such an old age?
After searching her memory, she found that the old man lived not far from them. The eldest son works in the army, the youngest son drowned while swimming in the middle of summer on the eve of his wedding, and the daughter seems to have married in another village. Now the old couple are left alone. My wife is paralyzed in bed. I don’t think I’m as old as old man Han, so how come I can limp so badly? Is there something wrong with your legs?
Sweep the millstone clean and make room for the old man. The two little kids on her back started crying. Xiaohua pulled the bag and prepared to leave, urging them to leave.
"Mom, let's go. My brother and sister are hungry. Let's go home and feed them."
Gu Yan shifted his gaze away from the figure who was bending over and trying to push the milling pole, and pulled the bag up together with his daughter, grabbing a corner of it.
The little guy had spent the whole afternoon outside and had exhausted all his energy. He went home and fed the two children, who were both sleeping soundly.
Xiaohua had already lit the fire, boiled water, and cooked a pot of cornmeal porridge. The mother and her two daughters ate it with pickled vegetables and each had an extra boiled egg. Eat it till it's delicious.
"You two stay home and look after your brothers and sisters. Mom will go see if grandpa has finished his work."
The two children nodded obediently. Dahua added water to the pot to wash the dishes, looked up and said, "Grandpa Li fell while fetching water in the winter, and his leg hasn't healed yet. Mom, you go, take the lantern, and be careful."
So that's how it is. Gu Yan nodded and walked out of the house, walking as fast as the wind. The old man’s hunched back reminded her of her master in her previous life. The old man lives in isolation deep in the mountains and has always preserved raw grains. Grind your own flour and use your own mill.
The old man with a sage-like appearance completely lost contact with me after the end of the world, and I always miss him whenever I think of him. The hunched body of old man Li gradually overlapped with the peaceful figure in the impression. I was so absent-minded while eating that I couldn't ignore the elderly man.
Sure enough, the old woman was weak and the corn had not been ground yet when she arrived. He hung the lantern on a pillar beside him, faced the old man's surprised eyes and said nothing. He bent down and silently pushed the millstone.
"Squeak, squeak..." After a moment of silence, the sound of the millstone rolling could be heard from this mill room which had only a roof and was leaking air all around. She was silent, and the old man just lowered his head and pushed the millstone. There was a dim light next to her, and the quiet and cold night was warmed by her presence.
"I'm not doing this for this." He didn't take the small winnowing basket from the old man. The crushed corn in it was a bit dazzling. Gu Yan felt that his good intentions were misunderstood, and anger rose in his heart.
"I know." If you were asking for this, you would have said it before. You wouldn't have just worked silently without saying a word. "It's not easy for you to raise four children by yourself, so at least give some money." The old man said with a kind smile, "We are military dependents, and our children are eligible for rations according to their ranks. The food supply fell to our brigade, and we got more than you."
It seems that their son is a high-ranking official, so the old man's life is more relaxed than Gu Yan's. The price and quantity of grain supplied, and every settlement in cash, must be a sign of the son's filial piety. It's a life that many people in the brigade envy.
"No need." Gu Yan said firmly, poured the food that he had specially reserved back into the bag, threw it back with both hands, picked it up and walked away.
The old man probably didn't expect her reaction. He was stunned for a moment before he raised his leg and followed her. I heard that this woman had a falling out with her in-laws, and her man is such a jerk. She was under tremendous pressure to support four children, so how could she refuse him?
As dusk left, he noticed the woman's eyes. There was concern and pity mixed with his feelings. If it weren't for the two little kids needing to be fed and sleep, he would have probably helped them right then. If you are willing to lend a helping hand, this old man is not a miser reincarnated. I am better off than you and I don't give you much, so why are you so stubborn?
I sent the old man back home according to my memory. In the square courtyard, the old couple lived in the main room. The room was dark and I could hear a cough coming from inside the door.
"I'm back." The old man shouted and lit the oil lamp very quickly. Gu Yan subconsciously held his breath because of the indescribable smell in the room. If you are bedridden for a long time, no matter how diligent you are, you will inevitably have some smell. Add to that the smell of medicine, and the odor is truly indescribable.
"cough……"
As soon as the old lady opened her mouth she burst into a violent coughing fit. The old man quickly poured her a glass of water and held her head to feed her. After taking two sips of water, the old lady waved her hand and refused.
"Why doesn't this medicine work?" The old man's voice was full of worry, and he helped the old lady lie down again.
"It's better to die. Death will bring peace." The old lady, who has been suffering from illness for many years, spoke in a very negative tone. "I don't know what sins I committed in my previous life. I can neither live well nor die in this life."
After she finished complaining, she noticed Gu Yan standing in the middle. "You... ahem... who is this?"
"The second son's wife of the Han family." Gu Yan was silent and couldn't say anything. These words came from the old man's mouth.
"Oh." The old lady sighed and looked at her with wide eyes. "The Han family... the old lady is very powerful. I even had a quarrel with her when I was young."
Gu Yan smiled and accepted her kindness. Then he asked, "Auntie, didn't you see a doctor for your cough?"
"I checked it out and they said it was a cold. I took medicine but it didn't get better."
"Auntie, does your throat hurt? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere else?"
"It hurts, my throat hurts, and I've had a fever these two days." The old lady was dejected, and she was so depressed by the illness that she had no energy at all. But her old face and cloudy eyes give people a very gentle feeling. His kind look makes people feel pity.
Gu Yan reached out and touched it, and found that it was burning quite badly. Maybe it's an infection? Even though she doesn't know medicine, she knows that a fever must be a sign of a problem with the body's functions, and that with such a cough, the problem is most likely with the respiratory system. It was late at night and she couldn't see her throat without a flashlight, and she couldn't conjure up medicine out of thin air. I had to say goodbye first and decided to come back tomorrow to check the situation.
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