In April, the spinach and other leafy greens are starting to bud. Although the leaves look lush and large, they become old as the weather warms up.
Shepherd's purse has started to bloom, while lamb's quarters are growing very well. Every morning, Grandma goes out for a walk, either picking a handful of dandelions to pickle and eat, or blanching the lamb's quarters and making a cold salad. In short, every spring, their family's breakfast salad is never the same.
In this season when wild vegetables are abundant, you can pick a handful at random, even if it's just the tender buds of a willow tree or the tips of a goji berry, and they can become a delicious side dish to enjoy with rice.
However, the power of the late spring cold snap should not be underestimated. It gets hot one minute and cold the next, causing seedlings planted during good weather to freeze to death when the weather turns cold. Once the temperature stabilizes, they have to be replanted. Being an old farmer is really not easy, as you are completely at the mercy of the weather.
This spring, Grandma never let her wear anything too thin. No matter how hot it was or how much she sweated, she couldn't just take off her clothes.
“My daughter Jiu’er has always been healthy. The late spring cold snap is not to be underestimated. A few days ago, your Aunt Tang’s little Bao’er had diarrhea and became dehydrated. Isn’t that scary? And your Aunt Zhao’s Tie Dan has developed pneumonia. The doctor said there are many infectious diseases in the spring. So Jiu’er, we should stay home as much as possible and avoid playing with them!”
Although this kind of avoidance is not a solution, Grandma is doing it for her own good, especially since everyone is busy during the day and she spends most of her time at home alone.
It was a bit boring, but it was free, and she also took the opportunity to cook a lot of food, so she lived a very comfortable life every day.
My third sister and brothers would carry a basket of firewood back every day; it had become a habit for them.
So the family always had a constant supply of small firewood, and the older firewood was always found by my father pushing a cart and taking my eldest brother to the woods every weekend.
At the end of April, my father rented a room in a tenement building in the county town. It was 20 square meters. The cooking was done in the hallway, and the sink and toilet were shared. It cost 80,000 yuan a month. The price was acceptable, but there was no privacy at all.
Fortunately, my mother and sisters left early and returned late, and never cooked there, which saved them a lot of trouble.
On Friday morning, Dad bought a lot of groceries from the neighbors. As he was pushing the cart away, he saw Xiaojiu looking at him expectantly.
"Does Jiu'er want to go too?"
Tao Tao nodded vigorously. She had been so bored lately; she had never seen a small county town in the early 1950s!
"Alright, come on up. Today I'll take you to see where your mother and the others work, but you're not allowed to make any noise!"
"Dad, don't worry, I definitely won't make a fuss."
The little one nimbly climbed onto the cart, carefully shifting the vegetables aside as if afraid of damaging them.
Tao Changyi was a typical big man from the Central Plains, standing at 1.8 meters tall. Considering that his uncles were both soldiers, their height was definitely no shorter than his father's.
Grandpa is already 1.7 meters tall, and Grandma, although a bit hunchbacked, is probably over 1.6 meters tall. This family has really good genes. It's a pity she's not a true member of the Tao family.
The thought of the biological parents of this body fills me with a sense of disgust.
Tao Changyi didn't say much. Tao Tao sat on the cart with her back to him, and he pushed her on foot into the city.
When we left the town, it was still dark. Everywhere we looked were dilapidated mud-brick houses and thatched huts, with hardly any houses made of blue bricks and red tiles.
Even the houses of these wealthy families in their town were covered in signs of patching, and some doors were so dilapidated that they were reluctant to replace them.
Even though the country has been established, there are still huge differences in the lives of ordinary people. People in towns are better off, but in villages, they often don't know where their next meal will come from.
In their Donghua Town, only the houses on this one street are decent; the surrounding area is basically no different from the countryside.
It's at least seven or eight miles from the town to the county seat, and you have to cross a river in between. I don't know when this Yihe Bridge was built. The road surface is full of potholes, and there are missing sections of the bridge railing every few meters. Now it's been reinforced with wooden stakes and wire, and it looks dangerous.
After crossing the river, it gradually got light. Most of the people coming and going were ordinary folks carrying baskets on foot, heading to the market. Occasionally, a bicycle would speed by, leaving behind envious glances from those around them.
When they were going uphill, Tao Tao wanted to get off to help her father lighten his load, but he pressed her down.
"Alright, Dad will turn his back and pull you up. Don't struggle. You're so small, how come you're so sensible? Sit tight and hold on. After we cross this river, it won't be far from here."
It's almost May now, and it's still a bit chilly in the mornings. Most of the people coming and going are women, wearing red or green headscarves, covering themselves up completely.
Tao Tao wore two little braids today, which her grandma tied with red ribbons. She wore a long-sleeved shirt underneath and a jacket full of patches that her brothers had made over it. On her feet were little red shoes that her grandma had made for her, with patches on the uppers and in places that were prone to tearing. Even so, she was still very vain. In this day and age, patches have always been a source of pride, and no one would complain about having many patches.
Humming the revolutionary songs of this era that his brother had taught him, he attracted his father's frequent glances and praise.
"Our little Jiu sings so well! Keep practicing, and you won't be shy in front of the stage when you go to school!"
After getting onto the bridge, Dad still pulled on it as usual, with a rope slung over his shoulder. When going down the bridge, due to the inertia of the slope, the speed was too fast, so he had to brake with his foot. No wonder Mom complained that Dad's shoes wore out quickly and were useless.
After going down the slope, the road surface became quite dilapidated, full of potholes and difficult to walk on. The old man complained as he walked.
"When it rains here, the water rises to ankle level. Even though it's so close to the bridge, there's a river right below, and it still can't drain properly. It's not even as good as the drainage ditches in our town!"
It seems like it rained more than a week ago, and there is still standing water in the low-lying areas on both sides of the road.
After descending the slope, you reach the village. Villages line both sides of the road. Because it's relatively close to the county town, a small market has formed here. From time to time, you can hear the shouts of elderly men and women. Most of the items they bring to trade are chickens and ducks they raise themselves, baskets woven with traditional techniques, stools made by carpenters, and fish caught from the river. The place is bustling with noise and activity.
Before she knew it, her father had turned the cart around and was pushing her along, perhaps afraid that someone else would take her away.
One kilometer later, we changed our route from the north to the east. The road in this era had no green belts, and only a few trees were planted along the roadside. The wheat seedlings had already turned yellow, and the summer harvest was just a month away. Although this place led into the county town, it was still a field of wheat fields because it had not been renovated.
The further east you go, the denser the population becomes, and the characteristics of the houses gradually change from thatched huts and mud houses to single-story houses and tiled houses.
The houses facing the street here are all painted white and have slogans from the era written on them.
Looking around after crossing the river, the tallest houses were no more than three stories high, and most were single-story houses.
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