At night, Mom couldn't sleep, and Liang Qiuhua couldn't sleep either.
There are three earthen houses in the house. Mom, Dad and Xiaohua sleep in one, Dahua and Erhua sleep in one, and Qiuhua sleeps in one.
Life was tough at home. While there was plenty of labor, the main labor force, my father, was a worker sent down from Shanghai. He could forge iron but not farm, and he earned less work points than a woman in a year. My eldest brother was honest and old enough to marry a housewife. The little he earned wasn't enough to support the family, let alone build a house and marry a housewife. My second brother was idle and even begged my mother for money.
Liang Qiuhua tossed and turned in bed.
She thought that although she was short of a bundle of silk thread, she could use threads of other colors instead. If she worked quickly, she could finish the embroidery in a month. However, she still had to go to school, so it would probably take her until the New Year. That was perfect. She could sell the embroidery and get some money to pay back some of the work points owed to her family.
The most valuable thing in the house is the pig. It is slaughtered during the Chinese New Year and the meat can be sold for a lot of money. The remaining pig head can be used to make pig head cake. Just thinking about it makes me drool.
Qiuhua thought that after finishing junior high school, she could go to the production team with her mom and dad to earn work points. If she had more money, she could buy some chickens and ducks to raise. But what should she feed them? Do they eat grass? She definitely couldn't feed them rice.
She thought distressedly and turned over. The clear moonlight shone on her large face, which made her look quite pretty. Qiuhua had a large face. Although she didn't have much flesh on her body, her face looked quite plump. Fortunately, her eyes were also large, and the deep double eyelids made her look very comfortable.
Well, let’s not worry about what the chickens and ducks eat. As long as we can raise a few of them, maybe we can slaughter one at ordinary times. The chickens and ducks can also lay eggs, which can be sold and eaten by ourselves. It’s a wonderful thought!
The more Liang Qiuhua thought about it, the more she couldn't stop. The more she thought about it, the further away it went, as if these things were right in front of her.
She even thought she heard the clucking of chickens and ducks and smelled the stench of chicken and duck droppings, and a feeling of genuine joy rose in her heart.
A few chickens and ducks will slowly become a dozen, and then become dozens. Leave ten at home to lay eggs, and exchange the rest for money. Wouldn't that give brother enough money to renovate his house?
What about the money for marrying a wife? If we continue to raise our children slowly like this, when will my eldest brother be able to marry a wife?
This matter made her distressed. Raising chickens and ducks alone was not enough. She had to do more embroidery to make money.
This was her first time making embroidery. Her skills were immature and not as good as others, so she wasn't sure how much it could sell for. But if she could sell it for ten dollars, she would be satisfied.
If the second brother could be more sensible and stop being a slacker every day, in a few years when Xiaohua grows up, the family will have five and a half working people. She suddenly became happy and a little excited. She simply sat up and overturned everything she had just thought.
Starting over again, with five and a half laborers earning work points, the family raised dozens of chickens and ducks, two pigs and a sheep, and in their free time, they would embroider a piece with their mother. Liang Qiuhua laughed out loud as she thought about it.
She even thought of her unborn siblings. She hoped that her mother was carrying a younger sister. The other little mermaids in the village all had sisters, but she only had three brothers.
If Mommy has no milk, she can use the money from selling embroidery to buy some milk cream. That's how the family next door feeds their fat son.
But she didn't know when her mother would give birth to her younger sister. She couldn't even wait to ask her now. It would be best if it was after the Chinese New Year so that she would have money to buy milk cream.
As she was thinking wildly, Liang Qiuhua felt her eyes a little sore and she felt a faint urge to urinate. The room was pitch black and there were strange gurgling sounds outside. She was a little scared, so she held the urge to urinate and lay down, wrapping her head with the quilt.
At this time, Mom was still asleep. She was too heavy to lie on her side, nor on her back. Her waist felt like it had been run over by a wheel, and a sour smell came from her bones.
She also began to have wild thoughts, thinking about when she was a little mermaid in the city, living in an attic with stairs so steep that one could easily fall down.
Lao Liang originally worked as a blacksmith in Shanghai. He was not a good worker, but she dragged him back when she heard that the land was being divided in the countryside. Thinking of this, she couldn't help feeling a little sad.
"It's almost dawn, why aren't you sleeping yet?" Liang Genfa turned around and asked in a daze before falling asleep again.
She let out a sigh of relief, but she still felt unhappy.
Contrary to Qiuhua's expectations, her mother had no intention of keeping the child. The family already had four children, and adding another was simply too much to support. Her outlook on life was bleak. When the fifth child was born, she feared she wouldn't even have milk or rice water to drink, let alone milk cream.
If it's a boy, give it away; if it's a girl, throw it in the toilet and hold it in.
Thinking of this, she trembled for a long time, hoping from the bottom of her heart that it was a boy, at least he could save his life. These days, children's lives are as cheap as those of kittens and puppies.
Thinking of this, she bit the quilt to stop herself from crying out loud, and her hot tears flowed onto the pillow and seeped into the worn cloth. Everyone said Qiu Zhen was kind-hearted and a rare kind person, but now all she could think about was how to abandon her child.
"Mom..."
Xiaohua was murmuring in his dream. Qiu Zhen wiped away her tears, reached out and touched her youngest son's face, then lifted the quilt and tucked it tightly around his neck.
She was quiet for a moment, not wanting to think about these troubles anymore. It was almost dawn, so she decided to close her eyes and rest for a while.
"Mum, Mum... Mum."
"Um, need to pee?"
"Um!"
Xiaohua sat up from the bed and rubbed his eyes. His mother struggled to support his upper body with one hand, moved his buttocks to the edge of the bed, and then led Xiaohua out of bed.
It was like rain, drizzling at first, then pouring and finally drizzling again. The frequent peeing completely made Qiu Zhen lose her sleepiness.
When he returned to bed, the chickens next door started crowing. Perhaps because he was cold, Liang Genfa woke up with a start.
"Xiaohua urinated?"
She didn't answer.
"Why don't you wake me up? You're so heavy, why are you busy with all this!"
Qiu Zhen felt dizzy and her heart was filled with pain. She didn't want to say a word. After all, they were awake anyway, so why wake up one more person? Everyone had to work during the day. No one could be idle, and no one could eat enough.
When she opened her eyes again, it was already bright outside and no one was in the room.
Obviously, Liang Genfa asked for leave from the team for her so that she could sleep a little longer.
"Why didn't you wake me up? You're just talking to yourself!"
She was so angry that she threw back the quilt. She exerted force on her upper body and her shoulders were already over the edge of the bed, but her lower body couldn't get up from the bed for a while, and she rolled off the bed with a thud.
It's hot between my legs, it's bad!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
