As the Chinese New Year approaches, every household becomes busy.
The school was on vacation, and the students were all helping out at home. With her embroidery sold, Qiuhua had some free time, plenty of time to do some housework.
We have to make some wontons on New Year's Eve. The whole family likes to eat wontons with shepherd's purse and pork filling. Qiuhua sees that the weather is good today, so he carries a basket and goes to the field to dig shepherd's purse.
This is the best time for shepherd's purse to grow, but some of them are growing fast and have already bloomed. Most of them have grown big and fat, and their tender green leaves look greasy in the sunlight, looking fresh and lively.
Qiuhua was walking on the edge of the field carrying a basket, looking carefully for shepherd's purse with her head down and singing a song at the same time.
"The golden mountain in Beijing shines brightly in all directions..."
The voice of the little mermaid is like the call of a lark, tender, ethereal and penetrating, floating around in the open fields. The green rape flowers in the fields have not grown up yet, and they seem to be listening as they sway their leaves.
Qiuhua discovered another "treasure land", which was densely packed with fresh shepherd's purse. She squatted down and dug one by one happily and obsessively. She didn't need to turn her body at all. Every place her arms could reach was covered with shepherd's purse, one next to another, crowded and stacked, and each one was green and fat, much larger than her palm.
In just an hour, Qiuhua's basket was full. She used her hands to press the shepherd's purse into the basket to make it firm. At this time, she saw a black dot in the distance, which was a person. The person seemed to be looking over here. She rested for a while and continued to look forward.
"The golden mountain of Beijing shines in all directions. Chairman Mao is the golden sun, so warm and kind, illuminating the hearts of the emancipated serfs..."
The song was repeated over and over again, and Qiuhua sang it over and over, which was very interesting. She looked here and there along the ridge of the field. The sun was shining brightly today, and the wind was light, making her back feel warm.
After a while, the basket was no longer full, so Qiuhua stood up. Her waist felt a little sore, so she put the things down and straightened her back as she looked ahead.
It was then that she realized she knew the little black dot; it was none other than her classmate Wu Xin. She recalled how Wu Xin had helped Zhou Hehua, and how the three of them had been talking about him behind his back, and she suddenly felt her face burning.
"Wu Xin, why are you here?"
As they approached, Qiuhua took the initiative to greet him. Wu Xin was sitting on a large rock. He seemed to have just noticed her, suddenly looking up, nodding awkwardly, and giving a forced smile. Qiuhua looked closely. He was actually reading a book in the fields outside the village. This was really a novelty.
"Why are you reading here? Why are you in our village?" Qiuhua was curious.
Wu Xin had a blank expression on his face, but Qiuhua didn't mind. He was just that kind of person and often looked like he kept strangers away at school. However, Qiuhua was determined to say a few words to him today because he had helped Zhou Hehua and she had to thank him.
"When I come to my relatives' house, I'm not interested in what they say. I might as well come and read a book."
He closed the book. It was obvious that Qiuhua's appearance had disturbed his interest, but he did not show any impatience. He just had the same indifferent expression as usual. He glanced at Qiuhua's basket full of shepherd's purse and actually started to greet her:
"Come and dig shepherd's purse."
Qiuhua was stunned, opened her mouth and said "ah", looked at her basket, and said "ah" again, looking a little funny.
Wu Xin smiled faintly, and this time it seemed more natural. The atmosphere seemed less awkward, and Qiuhua's discomfort was also alleviated a lot.
"Well, last time you helped Zhou Hehua, we haven't thanked you yet. I didn't expect you to be so generous."
"No need to thank me, I just can't stand Black Dog bullying people."
"Thank you anyway. Be careful on your way to and from school next time, or he might cause you trouble. He's a bit of a psycho, so stay away from him."
He nodded to indicate that he would be careful, and the two of them suddenly fell silent, not knowing what to say next.
Qiuhua saw the book in his hand and asked, "What book is this?"
“How the Steel Was Tempered.”
He tilted the cover towards Qiuhua, and said something again in case she didn't see it clearly.
"I didn't expect you'd be interested in ironmaking. That's great. Do you want to be a worker in the future?"
Qiuhua didn't expect that Wu Xin could read such profound books, and she admired him from the bottom of her heart.
Hearing this, Wu Xin's smile deepened, and a dimple appeared on his thin, pale face. He hadn't expected this cold face to have such an infectious smile.
“What do you want to do next?”
"As for me, I want to do embroidery." Qiuhua simply sat down on a rock and said, "I like embroidery. I want to become an embroidery master in the future, but my current level is not good enough. After the New Year, I want to find a master."
Wu Xin sat down next to her. He squinted his eyes at the blue sky in the distance and said, "Will you continue studying after finishing elementary school?"
"Of course I will. My dad said that being uneducated is not a good thing. I still need to read some books. But I only plan to study until junior high school."
Seeing him nod, Qiuhua asked again: "What about you? Are you still studying?"
"Well, I want to go to college."
"What is university?" Qiuhua was surprised. This was the first time she heard the word university.
“University is a place full of knowledge, freedom and dreams.”
Wu Xin spoke very differently from others, perhaps because he read more books. Qiuhua didn't fully understand what he said. She still didn't know what university was, but she vaguely felt that it should be a better place.
"I'm going back now. Do you still want to read here?"
Qiuhua got up from the stone. The sun was still shining brightly, but there was still a lot of things to do at home. She thanked him and talked to him.
"I'm not going to watch anymore. My eyes are getting tired from watching under the sun. I'm going back too. Let's go."
Wu Xin also came down from the stone and walked side by side with her.
"I don't think you're that difficult to get along with. Why do you ignore people in class?"
Qiuhua doesn't like beating around the bush, so she just asks directly if there is anything.
"I can't have a conversation with them. They just talk about family matters. I'm not interested."
What a strange person!
"Aren't you having a nice chat with me? We're not talking about national affairs right now."
"..." Wu Xin was speechless for a moment, and after a long while he managed to utter, "It's different..."
"What's the difference? It's all the same. Zhao Meiying, Zhou Hehua, and I have a very good relationship. They are all very nice people."
"...I know that everyone in the class, except 'Black Dog', is nice. I just don't have anything to talk about with them."
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