Chapter 17 Big Fat Chapter
Everyone knows why Liao Siyan is called Liao Siyan, but Liao Si without glasses... Oh no, that's called Xiao Liao Zhiqing.
"Liao Zhiqing, why aren't you wearing your glasses?" Wang Lifen was the first to notice something was wrong.
Liao Zhixian couldn't see anything clearly. He could only hold on to the edge of the field and fumble his way through the work. Fortunately, he was here to harvest rice straw, which was not a delicate manual job. He would become proficient after fumbling around a few times.
"My glasses are broken."
"This is no small matter. Why don't you just stop working and go to the hospital to get a new one."
"That's right. This guy usually doesn't recognize people when he wears glasses. Now that he's not wearing them, he's just like a blind man."
The aunties spoke directly, and Liao Zhixian was not angry, but he could not tell the truth. He was not ignorant, and knew that Lai Di was kind-hearted and took the initiative to help him with his eyes, but he did not have much hope. If he made such a boast now and failed to cure his eyes, everyone would say that Lai Di had no ability but loved to show off. He could not let her do bad things with good intentions.
"Brother Siyan, why did you go up the mountain with Sister Lai Di to collect herbs yesterday?" a child asked.
Ever since Cui Laowu's family was able to work in the fields, Qin Lai Di has once again become a celebrity in the village, and everyone is looking at her.
Liao Zhixian became even more nervous, "I, I am..."
Widow Liu rolled her eyes, "Hey, Siyan'er, is Lai Di treating your eyes? Don't treat a half-blind person and end up making him completely blind!"
Someone burst out laughing and said, "This is the first time in my life that I've heard that myopia can be cured."
"Who said it wasn't? This girl really likes to show off. She's afraid that everyone doesn't know her three-legged cat skills." Widow Liu got angry just thinking about it. The sickly child in Cui Laowu's family was cured. It was just a blind cat catching a dead mouse. It didn't mean that all diseases could be cured. The damn girl really didn't miss any opportunity to show off. No wonder her own Baozhu said to keep an eye on her. She would be a troublemaker in the future.
She's really not fuel-efficient, she consumes more fuel than her grandmother, that old widow!
Originally, after Liu Baozhu married Zhao Qingsong, Widow Liu should have been more powerful than ever in the village. But then the Sanhu incident happened and Zhao Qingsong was unwilling to help, so she felt very upset.
When Sanhu was arrested, she always felt that it was Widow Qin who was causing trouble. This old widow just couldn't stand to see her doing well.
But after so many attempts, both overtly and covertly, Widow Qin's performance proved that she was not lying and it was really not her doing.
Baozhu said that it was either Lai Di or Lai Di's husband, but how could she not know about Lai Di's hairy girl? She couldn't hold back her words, so she used provocation several times, but she didn't admit that she did it, so it shouldn't be her... Thinking that in the end, only He Liansheng was the suspect, Widow Liu gritted her teeth secretly.
Things were so good in the past, with Sanhu as her strategist to give her advice and plans. Not only did she win every battle against the widow Qin, but everyone in the family, young and old, had to obey her orders. But now, the grandchildren and their wives are making a fuss and are threatening divorce at every turn. Even Baozhu, who was always the most obedient, turns a deaf ear to her words.
She had already told Baozhu that it didn't matter whether she tamed the two brats of Zhao Qingsong or not. The key was that she had to get pregnant as soon as possible and give birth to her own flesh and blood. With a stepmother and a stepfather, how could those two brats cause any trouble?
Baozhu agreed readily, but also made a request in exchange, asking her to pay more attention to Lai Di's movements in the village and call her immediately if anything happened. She must not be allowed to be too prominent, and must not be allowed to hook up with people from the city.
In the eyes of Widow Liu, although Liao Siyan'er is not that great, he is a real city dweller... She, the troublemaker, has to mess with him today.
"If you ask me, Siyan, you were fooled by her. Others may not know how powerful Lai Di is, but we know it very well. She just learned a few tricks from old doctor He. Who would pass on the real stuff to a little girl like her? It's luck that she can cure one. If she can cure you, I can stand upside down and eat shit. Do you believe it?"
"Why can't Lai Di do it? She can even cure me who is only breathing. Don't forget who is treating you for free now." Aunt Cui Wu immediately retorted with full force, "Laidi is kind-hearted. She saved my life, but she refused the two eggs my family gave her. She said I needed to replenish my body and returned them all. Think about it with your conscience. In the past, you would run to the bathroom if you had a headache or fever. Who is treating you now? Has she asked you for a penny or a handful of rice?"
Widow Liu wanted to refute it, but that was the fact.
"Yes, Lai Di treated you for free and taught you to go up the mountain to dig herbs. She even saved you the money for the medicine. You are so shameless that you don't even give us an egg." Wang Lifen put her hands on her hips and cursed loudly: "If you ask me, this person should have some shame."
Recently, Lai Di has become the team's free full-time doctor. Most people are still polite and give her an egg or two cucumbers or something. However, some people are unconscious and say thank you more beautifully than anyone else, but they don't show any actual appreciation. Look, even after she recovers from her illness, they still make fun of her behind her back.
"Do you think you have any shame?"
The women all lowered their heads, firstly because they felt they were being wronged, and secondly because they were no match for the tigress Wang Lifen.
Liao Zhixian couldn't help but say, "I heard that Comrade Xiao Qin could treat illnesses, so I shamelessly asked her to treat me. She couldn't bear my pleading and said she would try her best. Regardless of whether she can cure me or not, I am grateful to her. Don't say bad things about her in the future. She is a good comrade."
This was the first time that he dared to say so many complete words at once in front of so many people.
Widow Liu wanted to exaggerate the situation, but suddenly she felt a pain on her back. Someone had thrown a piece of cow dung at her back. "Which little bastard?!"
No one paid any attention to her.
"Is it Wang Goudan?"
Before she heard any echo, someone threw a stone at her from behind. She turned around and spit fire. She was also hit on the calf. She screamed in pain and cursed all the villagers at once. Other women came up to her and started quarreling with her. The rice field was bustling with noise.
However, they quarreled, and Liao Zhixian never stopped taking medicine. His case was a typical case of warm and toxic gas fumigation, which aroused liver fire, and the fire nature obscured the clearness of the eyes. The eyes happened to be the place where the liver meridian traveled, which led to the decline of binocular vision. It was not difficult to treat, and the key was medicine.
In the prescription Qin Lai Di wrote for him, mulberry leaves, chrysanthemums, and white lilies were all available in the mountains, but the dendrobium was the only hard to find. She had been reborn for so long, and spent almost every day in the mountains, yet she had never seen it once.
"It's okay, Xiao Qin, I'll go look for it. Just draw a sketch for me." When Cui Laowu heard that she was looking for medicine, he volunteered.
"I'm sorry to trouble you, Uncle Cui Wu. It's all my fault that my eyesight is not good enough. Otherwise..."
"Hey, Liao, the educated youth, don't say that. Everyone gets sick sometimes. Lai Di treated us for free, and I don't know how to thank her." Although Qin Guihua usually refused to eat even a penny of food, she never accepted anything they sent her, and insisted on leaving it for the mother to replenish her body.
This kindness could never be repaid even if their family worked like slaves for them, let alone just finding some medicinal herbs.
"Don't worry, Lai Di. I've been setting traps for rabbits in the mountains since I was twelve. I know the hills within a radius of sixty miles as well as my own backyard."
Lai Di thought so too, so she sketched a simple picture on paper according to her memory and described it again in words, describing what the leaves and vines looked like and what the flowers would look like. She described it in detail.
As he was talking, Cui Laowu suddenly realized, "I think I have seen it before. I have some impression of it. Wait, I will go into the mountains to look for it this afternoon."
Lai Di and Liao Zhixian were afraid that he might be in danger, so they hurriedly said, "Uncle Wu, don't force yourself. If you can't find him after dark, just come home quickly." There are not only jackals, wolves and leopards in the mountains, but also poisonous snakes, mosquitoes and ants.
Cui Laowu left without looking back.
*
This time he was gone for three days and two nights, and even Qin Guihua began to worry, "Do you think your fifth uncle will be okay?"
"Yeah, I heard that Uncle Wu brought several days' worth of dry food into the mountains. It's all my fault..." Liao Zhixian said guiltily, "It was obviously me who was sick, but I bothered others to find medicine for me."
If Lai Di had known earlier that he had brought dry food with him and was determined to go all out, she would never have let him go. If anything had happened, she would not have been able to forgive herself.
Because the treatment was delayed for a long time, and she was afraid that Liao Zhixian's eyesight would deteriorate too quickly, she had to use other medicines instead. Although the effect of the medicines was not as good as that of dendrobium, it was acceptable. "Brother Liao, don't blame yourself. We just have to wait... By the way, how do you feel about the medicines you took a few days ago?"
"I had diarrhea at first, but it stopped the next day and I felt like eating more."
"Well, that's because the medicine is used correctly. The heat and toxins in your body are slowly being cleared. Remember not to eat anything that can cause internal heat during this period."
Lai Di withdrew her hand from taking his pulse and gave him a simple eye examination with a flashlight. Just as she was about to speak, there was a sudden banging sound on the door.
Cui Laowu, who looked like a wild man, stood outside the door with a bunch of things in his arms: "Here, Lai Di, take a quick look and see if you have found the right one." With an unshaven beard and covered in mud, he looked like a local god.
No matter how everyone persuaded him, he refused to go into the house. "Your house cannot be dirty. I will stay outside."
Lai Di thought that her family only had a small room, which was not enough for three people, so she didn't force him to go in if he didn't want to. "Is Uncle Wu injured?"
Cui Laowu grinned and said, "No, I'm fine." He even moved his arms and legs to prove that he was not lying.
"You didn't encounter any poisonous snakes or ants, did you?"
"Well, I grew up in the mountains, so I'm not afraid of snakes. We hunters all know that some herbs can repel snakes."
Lai Di breathed a sigh of relief - the next second, she saw some familiar things.
"You dug all these?!"
"Hey, it looks a bit like the drawing you drew, don't you think so?"
Not only is it true, it’s a surprise!
Because Uncle Cui not only dug up the Dendrobium she wanted, but it was also pure wild Dendrobium officinale!
Fifty years later, with the development of information, Dendrobium officinale would have become a well-known precious medicinal material known as the "gold of medicines". But in 1973, in the mountainous areas, it was just a wild grass on the cliffs.
When Qin Lai Di thought of its efficacy and price, her voice trembled: "Where did Uncle Lao Wu dig it?"
"It's the red stone cliff in the north, over the three hills behind us." He had his own way of memorizing geographical coordinates in order to find food to eat.
"So far?" Qin Guihua has lived here for fifty years. "There's no one living there."
Cui Laowu grinned, "Yes, but I'm familiar with them, don't worry... I wasn't sure if they were the medicine you wanted, so I only dug up three plants. There were still quite a few left, so I didn't dig any more for fear of wasting them."
Farmers cherish every blade of grass and every tree on the mountain, just as they cherish the crops in the fields, and they will never dig more than necessary.
Qin Lai Di sighed. In her previous life, she was busy following the army to join Zhao Qingsong, but she had no idea that the poor and backward Wuli Tun, which she had always wanted to escape from, actually had a lovely side and lovely people.
*
Fresh dendrobium has stronger effects in nourishing yin, clearing heat, benefiting the stomach and promoting fluid production, and the effect is immediate. At noon the next day, Liao Zhixian felt relaxed all over, and the scenery he saw was no longer blurry, as if there was a clear line across the edge, and he no longer saw double or blurry images.
Of course, Lai Di was reluctant to use up such precious wild Dendrobium all at once, so she used only two plants to be frugal. She planted the remaining one with the strongest vitality in the soil in the corner of the wall to see if it could survive.
So, while Widow Liu was eagerly waiting to see Qin Lai Di's joke, Liao Zhixian slowly began to change: from not being able to see anything clearly at first, to blurred double images, to gradually three-dimensional images, until Sunday morning, when he woke up and actually helped the female educated youth next door thread a needle without wearing glasses!
Liao Siyan can thread a needle for others!
This news spread quickly throughout the Wulitun production team. The members headed by Wang Lifen stopped working and came to the educated youth site to see the new things.
When we saw that Liao Zhixian could clearly see the words on a book five meters away without wearing glasses and without any help from others, we really believed that Lai Di was a very capable girl.
But Qin Lai Di was not present at this time.
The dried Arisaema had been processed into Gastrodia elata and then pressed into small strips. She delivered them to the county hospital at the agreed time. Because the quantity was large, more than eight kilograms, Pharmacist Sun gave her fifteen yuan.
You know, nowadays the salary of an ordinary worker is only about 30 yuan. She earned half a month's salary of others in one breath. Do you think she would not be happy?
Moreover, she used to ask Zhao Qingsong for living expenses. Whenever the family bought something or the children needed to pay tuition, even if he didn't ask, she would subconsciously "report" to him.
………Just think about it, the feeling of earning your own money and spending it on your own without having to account to anyone is so fucking great!
This was the first huge sum of money she had received since her rebirth. Lai Di was so excited that she didn't know how to spend it.
Meat, of course you have to buy it.
Grandma and Pan Di's shoes have exposed their toes, so they need to make a new pair of warm shoes, especially Pan Di. The little girl has never worn underwear, so she needs to be made one.
Winter is coming soon, and we need to buy new quilts and cotton-padded clothes for the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, and it’s time to re-make the kang.
Even the iron pot in the kitchen has several holes in it, so I either have to repair it or buy a new one.
There isn't enough firewood this year to last us through the winter. It would be nice if we could buy some coal.
…
With this calculation, even Lai Di, who has been a housewife for decades, has to sigh. She has more places to spend money than holes in a sieve!
Fortunately, she had already made an appointment with Pharmacist Sun, and he would prepare some other medicinal materials and send them to her every week. The quantity and price would not be as high as the previous two times, but she could still earn two or three yuan each time, which was considered a preliminary stable income.
It was too late and the meat had been sold out. I didn't dare to hesitate any longer and hurried over to the lady selling chickens and ducks not far away. I grabbed a fat rooster in the blink of an eye... It was three yuan and fifty cents, not cheap either.
If it were fifty years later, a factory where one month's wages were only enough to buy ten chickens would have closed down long ago. But now the income is so disproportionate to the price of goods. Qin Lai Di sighed in her heart, put the big rooster in the basket, and walked to the place where the cloth was sold.
Everything in the state-owned store required a ticket, and she didn't want to go through the trouble, so she preferred to pay a higher price and bought a meter of soft white cloth and striped flannel on the black market. She was lucky enough to meet a cotton seller, and she grabbed two kilograms of it at almost the speed of a 100-meter sprint. Now she had only five dollars left.
As soon as I got back to the village entrance, someone said, "Hey, our 'Dr. Qin' is back."
"What good stuff did you buy today, little doctor?"
Lai Di was a little surprised that they were teasing her all of a sudden, but she had just taken two steps when she ran into Liao Zhixian, who was smiling, "What's wrong, Brother Liao?"
Last time he said he was going back to Haicheng to visit relatives today, but because of the medication, Lai Di was afraid that it would be inconvenient for him to carry it on the train and all his efforts would be wasted, so she suggested that he go back after a week, which would be exactly half a month, so he could know if it was effective.
"I'm fine, I can see clearly." Liao Zhixian said with trembling lips.
Qin Lai Di was startled, "Can you really see it clearly?"
Liao Zhixian didn't even need her to guess the number. He pointed directly at a black spot on the narrow goat path in the distance and said, "That's Aunt Wang. She's wearing a green headscarf. Her left ear is exposed, and her right ear is covered in the headscarf. Is that right?"
Everyone looked over, but it was too far away. The women at the entrance of the village couldn't see clearly. Only Lai Di could tell that it was Aunt Wang. She judged based on her walking posture and clothes, thanks to her familiarity. But she couldn't see whether her ears were sticking out or which one was sticking out. After waiting for a few minutes, Aunt Wang's figure got closer and closer, and she realized that it was the same as Liao Zhixian said.
"Hey, congratulations, Brother Liao."
Liao Zhixian blushed, and his eyes seemed brighter and more energetic than before. "Thank you, thank you."
Qin Lai Di suddenly felt as if she had endless energy. The sense of satisfaction and accomplishment made her happier than earning 15 yuan. What made her even happier was the message Wang Lifen brought her - the training class exam was about to start!
Because the rooster had been castrated, it was very strong and weighed about 6 or 7 kilograms. Although Qin Guihua felt sorry for the money, she also felt sorry for her two granddaughters who had not had any meat for half a year. If her granddaughters could pass this exam, they might have a future in the future. She would eat this chicken as a good omen.
That night, boiled chicken was cut into two halves. One half was stewed in clear water so that you could drink the chicken soup and eat the meat. The remaining half was rubbed with salt, marinated, and hung in a place in the kitchen where it could be exposed to smoke, making it into the special smoked chicken of Hongxing County.
The rooster had been raised for almost two years, and its meat was very firm and hard. Lai Di was afraid that her grandmother would not be able to chew it, so she stewed it slowly over low heat. She then went to her private plot to dig up a large radish and pick a handful of green vegetables. It would have been even better if she had vermicelli at this time.
However, there is no need to feel sorry, this pot of chicken soup alone is fragrant enough! Just as the smell of chicken soup from the Qin family wafted out, a row of heads appeared on the courtyard wall. They were all the young grandsons of Widow Liu, and none of them were as annoying as Sanhu.
"Brother, it smells so good!" The youngest one slurped his saliva.
"Grandma, when can we eat meat?"
"Eat, eat, eat. All you do is eat all day. Is there meat or fat on your grandma's body? Bring a knife and chop off two pounds of meat." Although Widow Liu was cursing, her saliva was almost overflowing from her mouth. Their family had not eaten meat for a long time. The last time they had eaten meat was when Baozhu got married.
Those damn guys in the commune's armed forces searched for everything, but they chose to take away all her family's money and tickets, including Baozhu's betrothal money. She cried so hard that her tears almost dried up. Where could she go to seek justice from these bastards?
But the next second, thinking of Baozhu, she straightened her back and said in a pinched voice: "You guys are in for a treat. Your aunt called yesterday and said that she and your uncle-in-law will come back in a few days to accompany the leader. You will definitely have delicious food then. We are not like those poor people who have no place to go but eat one meal a day. We should be careful and live a long life... Hey, whoever is short-lived, hit me!"
It turned out that a naughty kid passing by threw a piece of mud into the yard, and it happened to hit her face. She was so angry that her lungs were about to explode.
On the Qin family's side, Qin Guihua couldn't help herself when she said "the family is wiped out", and was forcibly held back by Lai Di. Without Sanhu, the Liu family was just a bunch of garbage, and she didn't even want to deal with them.
"Grandma, I have something to discuss with you."
"If you have to fart, just fart." Qin Guihua gnawed viciously at a piece of chicken neck, as if it was Widow Liu's neck. She first ate the skin covered with goose bumps, then tore off the pitiful amount of meat bit by bit, and finally bit the bones into pieces, chewing them with a dozen crunches, as if it were a delicacy.
Thinking back to all the years when I was growing up, no matter whether there were guests at home or not, my grandmother never touched chicken legs or chicken breasts. She only ate chicken trotters and chicken necks, as if they were particularly delicious.
When I was little, I didn’t understand. I always thought that these things my grandma ate were particularly delicious, and I kept clamoring to exchange them with my grandma. But after eating them once, I never ate them again. I thought the chicken bumps were disgusting, the meat was too little and the smell was fishy, and the bones were too tiring to chew... In this world, no one can love them more than grandma.
"Grandma, I want to change my name."
"Change what?"
Lai Di knew that her mother didn't hear what she said, so she raised her voice and said, "I don't want to call Lai Di."
In her previous life, she was often laughed at because of this name. Whenever people heard her name, they would subconsciously ask her how old she was, how many children she had in her family, and whether she had a younger brother, and then look at her with sympathy. Even when Haiyang Haiyan went to school and needed to fill in her parents' names, they only filled in her last name, as if the two words "Laidi" were poisonous.
After moving to Beijing, there was a special lecture on the street promoting gender equality. Without her consent, she was asked to stand up and her name was used as a negative example to criticize her.
She knew it wasn't her fault, but the feeling of being denied for no reason was really unpleasant.
"Being looked down upon is okay, but the most important thing is that the word 'Laidi' is actually a shackle that has been forced upon me since birth. I just want to be myself. Even if I'm called Meihua, Juhua, Goudan, or Ludan, I'm still myself, not a sister who hopes to give birth to a younger brother." Because of this shackle, she almost got PUA herself, and she felt that a woman without a son was a failure.
Although she came to her senses in time after being enlightened by Lao He, she could have avoided the self-PUA and various mental exhaustion during those years.
Qin Guihua threw away the rag and looked at her quietly with an unreadable expression.
Qin Lai Di was not to be outdone. She admitted that her grandmother loved them, but her obsession was too heavy, so heavy that every girl in the family was forced to share the burden with her: three of her four granddaughters' names carried her obsession. Even though Ai Lan's name did not contain the character "di", she was always nagged by her to give birth to a son. Even when she ate and drank, she thought of giving birth to a son. In the end, she became obsessed with her inability to have a child.
Has she ever thought about whether they will really like such a name when they grow up? Will Ailan really not be able to hold her head up in her husband's family if she doesn't give birth to a son?
"Don't worry, grandma. I will take care of you in your old age. Even though we don't have a son, I will make sure you live a better life than old ladies with sons." In her previous life, she was reluctant to get married at first. She wanted to recruit a son-in-law to live with her, but her grandmother thought that missing out on Zhao Qingsong would mean missing out on hundreds of millions, so she forced her to get married. Later, she even refused to ask her married granddaughters for food and drink.
Yes, in this regard she is a reasonable old lady who always puts the interests of her granddaughters first, but...
Qin Guihua snorted coldly, "I won't drag you down."
Seeing that she was about to start making trouble again, Lai Di threatened her directly: "Grandma, there is no way we can have a boy in our family. It doesn't make sense to name our child this, right?"
The son died, the daughter-in-law died, and the grandson popped out from the cracks in the rocks!
Qin Guihua was so angry that she was gasping for breath and almost walked away.
Lai Di knew that this would be like rubbing salt into her grandmother's wounds, but she had to make her grandmother give up her worries completely to prevent any future troubles.
My grandmother in the previous life never gave up the idea of "leaving a root" for the Qin family. She even asked people to find out if there was any family that didn't want a boy. She was willing to spend money to adopt him. During the years when family planning was very strict, she heard that some families had induced abortions with boys who were already eight or nine months old and still alive. She wanted to buy the boy at a high price, but ended up being cheated and losing all her money.
She was reluctant to eat and wear, and even reluctant to take medicine worth a few cents when she was sick. As a result, she was cheated out of hundreds of dollars just to have a boy. Lai Di was angry and helpless. She was angry that she not only favored boys over girls and sacrificed her wealth, but also that she did not consider Pan Di.
At that time, Pan Di was already at the age for marriage, but she couldn't find a good partner because of her poor eyesight and short stature. If her grandmother had adopted a younger brother, Pan Di would have never had the chance to find her own happiness in her life.
Grandma only wanted the Qin family to have roots, but she didn't think about who would raise this "root" after she was gone. Food, clothing, housing, transportation and education all require money and energy. These practical problems tied a girl who was supposed to be in love to her side, and she would never be able to leave the mountains for the rest of her life. Is this fair to Pan Di?
Grandma's stubbornness in this matter is selfish.
"Old Four, will you change?"
Pan Di nodded vigorously, "I'm the same as you, Third Sister." She didn't understand it before, but now she knows how ironic this name is to her.
"Third sister, what do you want to change it to?"
"Qin Ji (jiāo)." People of different ages like different names, and different eras have different popular names. She had actually thought of many names in her previous life, but Zhao Qingsong thought it was troublesome to prove it. Every time she mentioned it, he frowned and said she was too fussy. After being rejected several times, she gradually gave up the idea.
"Is it the '嬌' character next to the female character?"
Qin Lai Di picked up a fire stick and wrote the two words on the ground stroke by stroke.
Pan Di repeated it several times to make sure she remembered it. "What does it mean, Third Sister?"
"Qinjiao is a common Chinese medicine that has the effects of dispelling wind and dampness, clearing heat and relieving pain."
Pan Di couldn't understand it. Since she wanted to change her name, she had to change it to a meaningful name.
"Although Qinjiao is as spicy and dissipating as chili peppers, it has a more peaceful and simple tenacity. I hope I can become such a person in the future." She was too aggressive in her previous life. She was brave but not strategic, and suffered a lot of losses. She was burdened by the reputation of "little chili pepper" in vain.
Pan Di nodded, "Oh, then I... I just need to remove the word 'Di'."
Whether it's Qin Pan or Qin Ju, both sound good.
*
At night, the two sisters got on the kang with a playful smile, and held Qin Guihua in the middle, one on each side. "Grandma, please don't be angry, okay? We haven't changed much, just one less word than before. Qin Pan and Qin Ju, listen to it, there is actually not much difference, right?"
Qin Guihua remained unmoved.
"Grandma, our fourth child will definitely go to college in the future. Don't you think her name Pan Di is so rustic? When others see her rustic name, won't they bully her?"
"That's right, grandma. My third sister is going to be a doctor in the future. It should be such a prestigious job, but now her name is Lai Di. Isn't that a joke?"
Qin Guihua snorted coldly, "There are many people in this village with more rustic names than you."
If she was willing to talk, it meant she had loosened up, so the two sisters coaxed her into talking with all sorts of words, all of which were about how they would be filial to her in the future and how they would make her a prominent figure in the village.
"Grandma, you don't know how difficult it is to write our character '娣'. It has so many strokes. Every time the fourth child takes an exam, before she finishes writing her name, other students have already finished several questions. Don't you think she feels bad?"
"Also, when I become a doctor, I will have to sign my name every time I write a prescription. But this is too difficult to write. The time it takes me to write one word is enough for me to see another patient. If there is a seriously ill patient waiting, his life may be delayed because of writing one more word."
Qin Guihua opened her eyes immediately, "Really?"
The two sisters swore to heaven. Anyway, grandma couldn't read, and even if she went out to ask others, there weren't many people in the village who could write.
"Miscarriage of life is no joke." Qin Guihua sighed. If she had known that her granddaughter would become a doctor, she should have given her a simpler name.
After a whole night of mumbling, the next morning, Lai Di, oh no, Qin Jue assumed that grandma had agreed, and hurried to the brigade headquarters to inquire what materials were needed to change the name.
Originally, it was most convenient to change her name when she was single and unemployed. Now that she is married, it is quite troublesome. However, she did not blame herself too much. After all, she had just been reborn and went to get the marriage certificate. She did not have time to think so much.
Fortunately, she had the contact information of He Liansheng's work unit, so she sent a telegram to explain the situation. They readily agreed and also issued a letter of introduction and an explanation of the situation. The brigade knew everyone there well, so she just needed to get a certificate from the team leader and the secretary, stamp it with the official seal, and take the household registration booklet to the commune to make the changes.
At present, the household registration books in Shilan Province have not yet started to use brown plastic covers. They still have hard kraft paper covers. Composition and zodiac signs are required items. If there are temporary residents or boarders in the family, they must be recorded and taken to the commune for stamping.
It only took one week for the two sisters to completely change their names.
"Qin Jiu, why don't you call this girl something else? Why do you have to call her Lao Jiu?" The captain felt regretful as he looked at the modified household registration booklet.
"Bah, what's Laojiu? That word is pronounced jiao, the same sound as the one in chili pepper." Wang Lifen laughed and hit him, thinking that it would be better to just call him Qin Xiao Lajiao.
Li Benfen read it twice to make sure there would be no mistakes next time, and then he returned the household registration book to Qin Lai Di, oh no, Qin Ju, "Don't lose it, remember what your aunt told you last time."
"Okay, uncle, don't worry. I remember it. I have also been reviewing what Dr. He taught me recently."
"That's good. The official registration list will be released tomorrow, so you've changed your name in time." If you change it one day later, it will be troublesome. If the higher-ups really want to investigate because the actual number of people participating in the training is different from the one registered in advance, they will have to run around for several days.
Wang Lifen rolled her eyes and said, "Girl, you didn't change it just before signing up, did you?"
Qin Ju showed his white teeth and blinked cunningly.
Who said no? She would never do anything without preparation. In her previous life, she also attended training in the military region at this time, so of course she also attended training in Hongxing County now.
She remembered that this training course was of a provincial nature and had been held throughout the province. The selection examination was organized by each county and district, and the time and place were determined by themselves, but the examination papers were uniformly set by the Provincial Department of Health and the examinations were held at the same time.
In the evening, Qin Pan saw the column with her name on the household registration book and was so excited that she almost jumped up, "Third sister, you are so cunning."
"It's smart."
"Hehe, so cunning." Qin Pan said in his heart, the most cunning one in the family is the third sister.
Qin Guihua had a sullen face at first, but seeing how happy they were, she couldn't bear to be so. However, she felt a little unhappy in her heart, so she deliberately said, "Laidi, Pandi, I'll use these two kilograms of cotton to make a jacket for each of you."
"Laidi, Pandi, bring me some water to wash my feet."
"Laidi and Pandi, make the kang first."
"Laidi Pandi..." Just call her, she just calls!
The two sisters looked at each other and knew that grandma was being "stubborn", but they didn't try to correct her. After all, it was her nickname, so she could call her whatever she wanted. If they took too big a step at once, grandma would be sad.
But when it comes to cotton clothes, they are just needed. "You don't have to make ours for now, make yours first, we are resistant to freezing."
Qin Guihua was reluctant to let them feel cold, so she worked on them first. The remaining white cloth was still soft to the touch, so Qin Ju made a small vest for herself and her sister. The Qin family was really poor from generation to generation. Grandma never wore a vest, and the eldest and second sisters only had one each, which they wore when they got married. She and the fourth sister have never worn any underwear to this day.
In fact, there are bras with underwires in this era, but you can only buy them at the Friendship Store with foreign exchange coupons. In China, cotton vests are still the main type of bras. If a woman is too well developed, she will wrap her chest and feel suffocated. Qin Pan is malnourished and only nine years old, so it doesn't matter whether she wears it or not, but Qin Ju is already an eighteen-year-old girl.
A few days ago, she found that her chest was tightly bound by the bra, and she wanted to throw it away immediately. Not only does it make her feel anxious and short of breath, but it also affects her development. It has nothing to do with men. In fact, women also like the perfect curves, right?
Qin Jue had been very good at needlework all her life, so she didn't need her grandmother's help at this time. After sewing the shape of a small vest, she thickened the chest area and stuffed some thin cotton into it. "Just wear it for now, and I'll have to buy a few better ones later." It would be great if she had a sponge.
While she was busy, she suddenly heard Qin Pan scream "Ouch!" Qin Guihua thought she had fallen down, "I told you not to walk properly. Now that your eyes are healed, you start jumping around."
"Grandma, Third Sister, come quickly!"
Qin Ju went out and found that in the rabbit nest, which originally only had a pile of dry grass, there were actually a few pink, hairless "little mice".
"Our rabbits have given birth to twelve of them!" Qin Pan was so happy that she would pick a handful of the fattest and tenderest grass on her way home from school every day to feed the rabbits, and she didn't know how many times she would check on them every day.
Qin Ju was very surprised. After all, as far as she knew, the gestation period of a rabbit was only about one month. But this rabbit had been pregnant for almost two months and there was no movement. Even if it was a rabbit, Nezha should have given birth by now.
What’s even more surprising is the “inventory” of this rabbit. It was bought without showing off, but it turned out to give birth to twelve rabbits in one go!
One fat rabbit is spicy rabbit cubes, braised rabbit meat, old rabbit head, and the twelve are...
"Third sister, we won't eat the little rabbit. I saw grandma secretly rubbing her waist that day. When it grows up, we'll buy some medicine for it." He puffed out his cheeks to help.
Qin Ju's saliva stopped for a moment, "Okay."
Because the weather was getting colder, Qin Pan was afraid that the little rabbits would catch a cold, so he blocked all the leaks in the rabbit nest with straw and replaced the dirty straw inside. Qin Guihua even took a handful of cornmeal and made a porridge for the first time.
"Eat quickly, eat something good so that you can have milk." Now the brigade only stipulates that each household cannot raise more than three chickens, ducks and geese, but it does not say that rabbits are not allowed, and there is no regulation on the number of rabbits. She took advantage of this loophole.
In the next few days, the Qin family suddenly became busy. These little rabbits were really greedy. In the past, half a pound of fresh grass was enough for a big rabbit to eat for a day, but now, they had to add half a pound of grass at a time. They were very picky and only ate the tenderest tips of grass. If they finished eating and were not fed in time, they would squeak and scratch the wall. Some of them were even naughty and learned to escape from prison.
The first thing Qin Pan does when he gets home every day is to look for little rabbits all over the yard.
Qin Ju had no time to catch rabbits. Another sow in the team had also given birth, and the cold weather could easily freeze the piglets to death. She had to build a fire in the pen and watch over the sows as they turned over and fed. Her grandmother brought her meals to the pen.
"They are all from the same boar, so why are they different? There are twenty pigs in the two litters in front, but there are only eight in these two litters." There was nothing to do after lunch, so everyone just stood outside the pigpen wall to admire the plump piglets. It was a feast for the eyes.
"Then your family has the same father, so why are the five sons so different in height?"
"Oh, this is hard to say. It's impossible to say."
"Bah, Zhao Juhua, what are you farting about?"
Just as the two women were about to fight, an old lady started talking about something else: "People in Qilitun heard that we have good piglets, so they have already made a reservation with the team leader. When the time comes, they will exchange one for fifty kilograms of rice."
"Fifty kilograms? That won't do. The two litters we sent out a few days ago, each one weighed fifteen or sixteen kilograms. They really know how to get a bargain." Bartering has always been a common practice among the brigades, so it's fine for other things, but if it comes to exchanging piglets, which is a hundred kilograms of food, they would feel like they're at a loss.
"Well, Sister Lifen will not let our team suffer this loss. I heard that she even lent us two mules for the spring ploughing. This will save a lot of manpower. We won't suffer any loss."
Everyone was smiling now. The livestock were managed by each team. Having livestock meant having labor and production tools, and no team was willing to lend them to others.
As he was talking, "Hey, has Liao Zhiqing come back from visiting his relatives?"
"Is your eyes okay?" Since you didn't need to wear glasses when buying tickets or changing trains, it must be completely fine.
Liao Zhixian came over with a net bag in his hand. He changed his usual self-deprecating attitude and greeted everyone openly. He handed the net bag to Qin Jue and said, "Laidi, take it quickly. It's a little specialty. My parents said they must thank you very much."
A woman stood on tiptoe and saw maltose, milk candy and a small jar of something she couldn't tell what it was. She almost drooled. What kind of people could afford these things these days? Suddenly, she looked at Liao Zhixian differently.
Sure enough, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.
Qin Jue was not being pretentious. Her grandmother had lived to such an old age and had never tasted these things. But - "This is too much, Brother Liao. I'll take half each, and you can keep the rest for your own nutrition." These were all good things that were hard to buy even with money.
Seeing that she would not accept it, Liao Zhixian took the things and went to Qin's house. Qin Ju saw that it was time for dinner and had no choice but to follow him. "Brother Liao, you are too polite."
As a result, just after turning an intersection and coming to a place with few people, Liao Zhixian suddenly took out a brown paper bag from his arms and said, "I have delivered your things to you. Unfortunately, Technician He was on a business trip and he couldn't receive it immediately." This caused quite a stir in the factory.
Technician He, who has always had no shortage of suitors, unexpectedly got married at a young age!
It would have been fine if the key partner was from a big city, after all, Technician He is a native of Beijing and works in Haicheng. Who would have known that the partner of his early marriage would be an ordinary rural girl from a remote inland mountainous area!
Although Liao Zhixian would not talk about the reason for his marriage, he could not resist the wisdom of the masses. Although the reasons guessed were varied, they were all basically right... During that half day, all the unmarried female comrades in Haicheng Wireless Factory No. 2 were heartbroken.
Qin Ju knew what he wanted to say, but she didn't care. As long as she marked Lao He, she could deal with the other things later.
"Oh, by the way, I returned to the commune today and happened to meet a postman. He is from Haicheng and he knew I was in Wulitun, so he asked me to bring your package back."
Qin Ju was confused. Who would send her a package?
"I think it was sent from the provincial capital."
Qin Ju looked at the stamp and it was indeed the address, but when she looked carefully, she found that the stamp had been torn and this one was pasted on again. The provincial capital should not be the real mailing address. This thing must have been disguised through several layers of disguise.
So I quickly checked the seal, but it was intact...which was even more strange.
Her interpersonal relationship is very simple. The only possible ones are Liu Baozhu and He Liansheng. However, Liu Baozhu is in the provincial capital, so there is no need to go to great lengths. Could it be He Liansheng? Thinking of this, Qin Ju immediately had countless guesses in her mind. Did he encounter some difficulties during the mission and need her help? Or is there any confidential information that is inconvenient to transmit and needs her help to hand it over? This is how it is played in spy movies.
Or maybe he was moved by their pure revolutionary friendship and wanted to give her some vanishing cream, handkerchiefs, scarves, etc.? The male protagonists in period dramas also captured the hearts of the female protagonists in this way.
Then she would just... accept it reluctantly.
However, when she opened the brown paper package, she was completely dumbfounded - "Human Anatomy"!
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