When only the three siblings were left in the room, Shen Anning said, "Anyu, Anxuan, I have to go back to Beijing first. I will be back in about ten days. During these ten days, I want to entrust you to the village chief's house. If there is an opportunity, the village chief can take you to see your grandparents."
After explaining it to the two little guys, they agreed. Shen An Ning packed up their things, took out five pounds of white flour and five pounds of cornmeal as their rations, and took out two bags of snacks, peach cakes and cow tongue biscuits, and gave each of them ten pieces of White Rabbit milk candy. This was snacks for the two children for ten days.
After I finished tidying up, I looked at the time and it was almost three o'clock. I was just about to see if there was anyone at home so that I could give them some rest when an old lady came in.
"Little Shen girl, right? I'm your village chief's grandfather, Lao Kuai. You can call me Granny Li."
The three of them greeted her first, "Hello, Granny Li."
When Shen An Ning said that she wanted to leave her younger brothers and sisters here for ten days, Granny Li readily agreed. Her old man was very kind, and she also liked these three children very much.
After chatting for a while and getting familiar with each other, Shen Anning found out the situation of the village chief's family. There were two sons and two daughters. The daughters were all married. The eldest daughter Geng Weijia married Wang Liqiu's second son Wang Qingshan, and the youngest daughter Geng Weifang married in the commune. Her husband was a formal employee of the grain store.
The eldest son, Geng Weimin, is the captain of the village production team. He married Liu Yan from Liujia Village and has a daughter and a son. The daughter is Geng Yue, whom we just saw. She graduated from junior high school and was admitted to high school, but the school was suspended due to unrest in the county some time ago. The son, Geng Guoqing, is eight years old this year and in the first grade. He studies in Duanjia Brigade.
The second son, Geng Weijun, graduated from high school and joined the county fertilizer factory. His wife is his classmate and they got married last year. She works in a food factory. The two of them live in the county and come back during the holidays.
"An Ning, you and An Xuan will stay with my granddaughter at night, and An Yu will stay with my grandson. They both have big kangs in their rooms, so there's plenty of room for them to sleep."
"Grandma, thank you so much. My brother and sister will have to trouble you from now on."
After a day of running around, she was really tired, so she took her younger brother and sister to sleep until everyone got off work. Only then did Shen An Ning realize that she hadn't seen Geng Yue in the afternoon because she was now the temporary scorekeeper of the team.
During dinner, they got to know each other and chatted for a while. Geng Guoqing was very warm and took Shen Anyu to wash up and go into the house. Geng Yue also took Shen Anning and Shen Anxuan to wash up in the woodshed.
After sleeping for the whole afternoon, Shen Anning lay on the kang and didn't feel sleepy. Seeing Geng Yue hesitated, she asked, "Xiaoyue, do you have anything to say to me?"
Geng Yue felt a little embarrassed after being seen through. "I want to ask you what Beijing is like. The farthest place I've ever been is the county town."
Shen Anning smiled and thought about how to describe Beijing. "Well, Beijing is bigger than Heishan County. It's not as cold as here in winter. The buildings are very high. There are many places to buy things and many restaurants. It's more prosperous than here. In addition to buses, a subway was built a few months ago. It's a small train that runs underground."
"There are cars driving underground?" Geng Yue was very surprised and sat up immediately.
"Well, there's only one line now, but they'll build more in a few years. Then the underground trains will be just like the ones above ground, so you can go wherever you want. Xiaoyue, you'll graduate from junior high this year, and when you go to high school, try to get a recommendation to the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University. You'll have plenty of opportunities to visit Beijing, Shanghai, and many other places in the future."
Shen Anning's words planted a seed in Geng Yue's heart, and many years later it grew into a towering tree.
At night, around half past ten, Shen Anning got up and the village chief opened the gate for her: "Go ahead, I'll wait for you at the door."
Without saying much, Shen An Ning walked in the dark to where his grandparents lived. They lived close to the cowshed at the foot of the mountain and close to the river. There was no courtyard, just two adobe houses with doors facing south. This was why Shen An Ning wanted to build the house near the river.
At this time, everyone in the village was asleep. He took out the prepared package from the space and knocked on the door.
Grandpa Shen came from a military background after all, so he woke up when Shen Anning knocked on the door for the second time, "Who is it? It's so late, what's the matter?"
"Grandpa, it's me."
When Shen Zhaolin opened the door and saw his eldest granddaughter, he thought he was seeing things.
Grandma Shen hurriedly pushed him away from behind, welcomed Shen Anning in, closed the door, and lit the kerosene lamp.
With the help of the light, Shen Anning looked at the layout of the house. There were two rooms, a bedroom, and a kitchen. The kitchen was a bit big, and firewood was piled inside. There was a small door between the two rooms, and a straw curtain was hung there to block the smoke.
The room was very tidy. There was a kang cabinet, a long table, and a wardrobe on the kang. The windows were made of wood, and there was a bunch of wild flowers on the windowsill.
Shen Anning felt a little relieved.
He placed the package on the kang, took out five pounds of millet, five pounds of rice, two sausages, twenty eggs, a small bag of dried vegetables, two pairs of thick socks and two pairs of cloth shoes for grandpa.
After helping grandma put things in order, the three of them sat down and had a good chat.
Shen Anning told the family about the matter. When they learned that their eldest grandson and his wife had already arrived at the Black Mountain Second Farm, the old couple felt both uneasy and relieved.
"Oh, blame grandpa, you can't judge people well."
Shen Anning hugged his grandfather's hand and said, "How can I blame you for this, Grandpa? It's not our Shen family's fault. At least the family is together now. The capital is too chaotic. You should think positively. We can just move to the countryside to avoid disaster."
These words made Grandpa Shen and Grandma Shen burst into laughter. They knew that the children of the Shen family were not cowards who were afraid of hardship!
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