"Little sister, where are you taking the child?" Someone around asked when they saw Zhang Xiaomei carrying her son on her back.
"Well, isn't it true that we can't afford to eat at home? I thought that at least I could go to the countryside and dig up some wild vegetables.
I'm planning to go visit my parents and see if they can help me out a little." This is already the third year.
Many people’s wells have no water anymore, but the well in Zhang Xiaomei’s yard is a deep well and still produces water.
In the past two years, she has planted some sweet potatoes on the few acres of land in the yard, and has a good harvest every year.
Although it is not big, it can at least fill your stomach.
Sweet potato vines can be collected and used as a dish. People are reluctant to throw away the older vines, so they chop them up and use them to make vegetable paste, which is much more delicious than wild vegetables.
The village's output has been declining over the past two years, and her nephews and nieces have become extremely thin.
Fortunately, they still have some food to get in the city every month.
Thinking of the help her parents had given her in the past, she felt that if she didn't repay them now, she would be worse than an animal.
"Do you think my younger sister can really get some food by going to her parents' home?" The two men started chatting after Zhang Xiaomei left.
"How is that possible? Even though the food supply in our city has decreased, at least we still have food to eat.
"I'm afraid the countryside has had a tough time these past two years. We're lucky here at the foot of the emperor, but I heard many places have starved to death." The man looked around and said quietly.
"Oh my God, the situation is so serious, why is Zhang Xiaomei still running back to her parents' home?" the man said in surprise.
"What else can we do? The husband's family is unreliable. I'll go to her parents' home. I heard that they also love their daughter and can at least trick her into eating some wild vegetables." The man shook his head.
"Aren't all the people in her husband's family workers?" the man asked in confusion.
"Don't you know? It was a big fight a few years ago..." So the two of them started gossiping about other people.
As for Zhang Xiaomei, she was carrying Xiaobao on her back and walking towards her parents' home step by step.
Xiaobao hid some coarse grains and sweet potatoes under her butt, which she prepared for her parents' home.
Although it wasn't much, it was the most she could offer.
"My little sister is here." The sister-in-law looked at her and gave her a weak smile.
It’s really starving. Now the villagers have started to eat one meal a day.
The weather this year looks good, and everyone is confident that everything will be fine as long as we can wait until the autumn harvest.
"Little sister, can't you see what's going on at home? Mother didn't even ask your brothers to go to the city to borrow food from you, so why are you coming to us to borrow it instead?
At least your city still has food supplies every month, but we haven't had a harvest for two years.
If there’s no harvest this year, I’m afraid you won’t even see my old bones next year.” Zhang Xiaomei’s mother’s voice came from the room.
“Mom, even though there is a ration in the city, they just give us the tickets and we have no place to buy food!
What's the point of having food coupons if you can't buy food now! If my family wasn't really struggling, I wouldn't ask for this." Zhang Xiaomei's voice came out with tears in her eyes.
"Forget it, forget it. Children are all debts. Big brother, please give some wild vegetables to my younger sister. I can't give her anything else." said Zhang Xiaomei's mother.
"Woo! Thank you, Mom. I'll go back first." After a while, Zhang Xiaomei came out of the house crying, holding Xiaobao's hand. A bunch of wild vegetables lay alone in the backpack.
There is a drama every time they come, because all the relatives in the village are related to each other, and everyone knows that their family has a daughter who married into the city.
Now everyone knows that people in the city are in high demand, so they all ask about it openly or secretly, hoping to borrow food.
But where can Zhang Xiaomei borrow any food? It’s good enough that she can take care of herself.
So he would come here from time to time to pretend to be poor, and secretly help his mother's family.
Of course, sometimes the brother would go to the yard to find the younger sister, and then they would cry poor to each other.
In this way, everyone worked hard and persevered until the autumn harvest.
It was not until the village’s grain was stored and the public grain tax was paid that everyone finally believed that there would be grain to be distributed this year.
Suddenly everyone cried with joy and hugged each other and cried bitterly.
After getting the food, I immediately sent some to Zhang Xiaomei. Although it was not much, it was enough for everyone to have enough food to eat for a few days.
Zhang Xiaomei hugged her elder brother and started crying.
I cried tears of joy, and was glad that everyone had made it through.
But she heard that several elderly people in the village died because they could not make it.
It is very unlucky not to have a full meal before leaving.
But there is nothing we can do about it. When the living have nothing to eat, how can we care about the dead?
Now it’s okay, I’ve finally made it.
That night, Zhang Xiaomei prepared a pot of steamed buns made from three-grain flour and cooked a pot of thick porridge.
The few people who came back were drooling at the sight.
"Mom, is today a good day?" Dahua asked her mother happily.
"Yes, today is a great day, go wash your hands and come over to eat steamed buns.
I'll let each of you have two tonight." Zhang Xiaomei said happily to her three children.
Xiaobao is already six years old, but because he has not had enough nutrition in recent years, he is thin and small.
At this moment, he happily followed his two sisters to wash their hands. He knew that his uncle had come, and there would be delicious food at home.
He followed his two sisters and told them little secrets in secret.
Zhang Xiaomei packed six steamed buns made of three-grain flour and gave them to Grandma Hao and the other woman.
She knew that in recent years, Grandma Hao and her husband occasionally fed the three siblings. Although it was not much, at that time, every bite was life-saving food!
Mrs. Hao and the other woman didn't want Zhang Xiaomei's steamed buns. No one had extra food these days, let alone fine grains.
In recent years, because her son is in the army and she and her husband are retired soldiers, she has not gone hungry.
However, I don’t eat refined grains very often.
"Grandma Hao, please accept it. Thanks to your care over the years, our family can live here peacefully.
There are also the little things in daily life. Your great kindness cannot be repaid with these few steamed buns.
This is the newly harvested grain from my mother’s family. It’s not much, but it’s just a token of my appreciation. Everyone, please have a taste.”
After some reluctance, Grandma Hao finally accepted the steamed buns.
The old couple were very happy, not because they had fine food to eat, but because they knew that the people they were helping were not ungrateful people.
In the past, they have helped many people, but there are too many people who are not satisfied.
Some people even thought they were two lonely old people and wanted to occupy the house.
In the end, he was definitely beaten out and sent to the police station, but the two old people were also heartbroken!
On Zhao Tingting's side, since everyone was hungry, there were fewer people causing trouble.
When you have free time, go around and see if there are any wild vegetables you can dig, or ask around for information, so as to buy rice, vegetables and meat as soon as possible.
So the work of Zhao Tingting and others became easier.
"So, in the past, they just had nothing to do after eating." The director made a summary.
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