Aunt Wang is very angry!
Hearing the sound of gongs and drums announcing good news on the street, Aunt Wang became even angrier!
It's ruined...
Continuously refining waste...
Aunt Wang was helpless and began to seek scriptures everywhere.
At this moment, Lin Juhua, who was delivering the meal, took the opportunity to whisper in Zhou Jiao's ear: "Third Grandpa wants one of you to go back."
Zhou Jiao nodded.
Watching Lin Juhua leave, Zhou Jiao pinched the tortilla and sighed.
There had been little rain, and it still hadn't fallen. The old captain had called them, but they couldn't make it rain. She didn't know when to stop burning the stove.
She took a big bite of the corn flakes and swallowed it with water.
After a while, Zhou Jiao immediately stood up and walked out.
Since last week, Zhang Guoqing and his colleagues have been back to work. The blast furnace is still burning, but it has become a temporary job.
Zhou Jiao was really envious. She really wanted to listen to her father and run away.
Before we arrived at the place, we saw Zhang Guoqing coming out holding his son.
"Hey, you're willing to come over? I was just looking for you, come home with me first."
Zhou Jiao shook her head. "Let's talk about it here. I'm afraid I won't be able to come out once I get in. Aunt Wang has been very angry these past few days, so it's better not to hit the door. I came here to tell you that the old captain asked us to go back."
Zhang Guoqing whispered, "At most, we'll have to endure another month or so, and then this activity will be over. If you're bored, just watch the fun. Captain, let's see if you have time tomorrow."
"Yeah. What do you want from me?"
Zhang Guoqing held up a hand and said, "My son and I miss you. Corn pancakes and plain Chinese cabbage for lunch again? I haven't had the chance to make soybean paste or pickles this year. Mom must be worried sick."
Zhou Jiao thought for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, "I must go back to the village tomorrow. If I don't, everything in the yard will be ruined. And those chestnuts in the dense forest, I can't sleep just thinking about them."
Zhang Guoqing laughed heartily, "Okay. I'll take you home then."
The couple chatted and teased their child along the way, which made Zhou Jiao miss her free and easy days even more.
The next morning before dawn, Zhou Jiao sat on the back of Zhang Guoqing's bicycle with her child in her arms and returned to the village.
The couple first harvested their backyard, cleaned it up, and then found the old captain.
The old captain, who always had a smiling face, now looked worried. When he saw Zhang Guoqing's family, he forced an ugly smile and pulled him into the inner room.
"Xiaowu, Third Grandpa won't play games with you. Tell me the truth. When will the furnace be turned off? No one has the energy to work in the fields right now. If we don't work in the fields, what will we eat next year? Plus, it hasn't rained since the beginning of autumn. Third Grandpa is so worried that he can't sleep all night."
Zhang Guoqing discussed this with Zhou Jiao last night and now said, "The furnace can't be turned off anytime soon. The higher-ups have asked for it, so who dares? I think the county town won't be able to stop running until winter at best. There's no firewood, and even if we chop down trees, we won't be able to use firewood in the middle of winter, right? You can only drag it out slowly."
The old captain nodded and said, "I thought so too, but no one asked. Now that you've said that, I'm more confident."
Zhang Guoqing thought about it and said, "Third Grandpa, how is the food in the village cafeteria now? In our neighborhood, they've switched to corn tortillas and plain cabbage. Everyone is given a fixed ration."
"Good boy!" The old captain stood up, patted Zhang Guoqing on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Several villages around us are saving on food rations. No one dares to act recklessly unless it rains. Any troublemakers are suppressed by their families. We old guys have all been through those times and understand the ins and outs of this."
Zhang Guoqing smiled and nodded. "The county is under strict control now. I'll leave first."
"It's all right. I won't delay your work. Remember, as soon as the furnace in the county stops working, please send me a message immediately. Remember that?"
Zhang Guoqing followed him and talked. Forget about communicating, as soon as the stove stopped, his parents would rush home without even a minute's delay.
Standing at the foot of Beishan Mountain, Zhang Guoqing looked at the barren expanse nearby, his heart filled with sadness. He felt better only when he looked up at the Daqing Mountain in the distance.
Fortunately, he didn't kill the wolves. If the wolves' howling had disappeared, several villages in the surrounding area would have taken action, and Daqingshan would no longer be Daqingshan.
With the child strapped to his chest, Zhang Guoqing carried Zhou Jiao on his back and ran as fast as he could. He weighed her again, feeling a surge of helplessness.
Stepping into the dense forest again, in this familiar place, the couple finally felt the joy of freedom. The family could laugh without restraint and there was no need to hide their children's precocity.
"Jiaojiao, what are your plans for your son's first birthday? Do you want to go out for a walk?"
Zhou Jiao sighed, "Who knows what will happen next. We'll see later."
After saying that, seeing his worried face, Zhou Jiao pulled his hand and made faces at him, making the father and son laugh, and she felt relieved.
Autumn is truly a season of harvest. The mountains full of supplies made Zhou Jiao forget about time and worries.
Zhang Guoqing wanted to let his son see how to hunt, so he readjusted the harness so that his son could face forward and shoot pheasants and rabbits with small stones.
He was very proud of his son. If the child was not so young, he would really want to teach him all his hunting skills.
After a barbecue meal to satisfy their cravings, the family did not return to the village at noon, but sneaked back to the county town.
In the county town, Zhang's mother packed corn tortillas in a lunch box and took Zhang's father to his eldest son's house.
"Mother, is it okay for us to leave like this? Why don't we just stay there? It won't be tiring to knock on the stones anyway."
Mother Zhang whispered, "These past few days, we've been putting the iron lumps back into the furnace for refining. The piles of stones we knocked out haven't been moved. Except for the people who are burning the furnace, the rest of us have started moving around, so it's not a problem."
After opening the gate to the courtyard, Mr. Zhang and his wife entered the west room.
Zhang's mother subconsciously opened the cabinet, took a look, and said with a smile, "Dad, look at what your son has prepared. It's really complete. He's not worried that it will go bad when we're not here."
Father Zhang leaned over to take a look. The drawer was filled with several bags of roasted dried fruits, dried tofu, and several bags of cakes... He then glanced at the small wine jar on the ground.
He smiled happily and said, "He and Jiaojiao are worried that we won't have enough to eat. Didn't you see Jiaojiao secretly slipping food to us every time we have a meal? They will definitely bring back some meat later. Honey, let's have a drink..."
"Dad, Mom, are you home?"
"Speak of Cao Cao, and he will come." When Father Zhang heard the shouting outside, he immediately shouted happily for Zhang Guoqing and others to come in.
As soon as Zhang Guoqing and the others came in, just as Zhang's father had expected, Zhou Jiao took out two lunch boxes and placed them on the kang table, and there were four or five large mud balls on the ground.
Mother Zhang didn't bother to look at the chicken drumsticks in the lunch box. She asked in disbelief, "Are these balls on the ground **? Did you go up the mountain?"
Ping An in her arms heard it and immediately pointed at the mud on the ground, "Eat...eat meat..."
"My dear grandson, do you still have some meat for grandma to eat?"
Ping An immediately shook his head, "It's gone... It's gone..."
This made Zhang's mother and father laugh out loud.
Zhang Daddy amused his grandson, drank the wine poured by his eldest son, and listened to the conversation between his wife and daughter-in-law. He felt that life was getting better and better.
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