Seeing their surprise, the older sister sighed that the conditions in the town were indeed better than in their rural village, and immediately asked...
"Haven't you ever seen this way of writing before?"
The young men shook their heads in unison. Upon hearing this, the older woman said, "Actually, there are even more convenient methods, such as using stone slabs. Do you know what a stone slab that costs one yuan is?"
The older brother immediately nodded, "We know about slates. When I was in the combined-grade class, I saw some kids carrying slates."
Born in a good era, Xiao Jiu couldn't help but ask, "Brother, what is a stone slab? Stone slabs are so heavy, how do you do your homework?"
Tao Zui explained, "Back then, some children used slates to do their homework and would hand them in to the teacher the next day. They only used brushes and paper when writing compositions and diaries. I remember that a slate cost one yuan, and the writing pencils were made of talcum powder and could be sharpened like pencils. The writing pencils were square, about 15 centimeters long, and came in packs of 10 for two mao (0.2 yuan) each." That was before the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to calculate it in cents. You should know that the smallest denomination of the first set of coins was one yuan!
Using slates to do homework? They must have been small slates. It's unbelievable that such a way of learning existed during those difficult times.
She thought that using a sand table for homework was already very basic, but she didn't expect there to be something even more outrageous, no, she should say that this method is unique. At least the sand is free, but the stone slabs cost money!
It's a pity that she didn't come to a supermarket with her, otherwise she could have brought back so many good things!
They spent the Lantern Festival at home on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Grandma specially made glutinous rice balls with glutinous rice flour. The fillings were made of crushed sesame seeds, peanuts, candy, and other ingredients. This kind of luxurious dessert is something they might only eat once a year.
After the Lantern Festival, my brothers went back to school, and only then did my parents pack up and head to the city.
Life returned to its usual rhythm; people went to school and went to work, with nothing particularly new or exciting happening.
But Xiao Jiu has studied history and knows that big changes will begin this year: the public-private partnership will be officially put on the agenda, starting with developed cities. In just a few years, before the 1960s, small vendors may start to feel a sense of crisis.
Although the public-private partnerships were mainly for larger private companies or shops, small eateries like theirs were not worth the trouble. However, with the arrival of the 1960s, they would be gradually eliminated, and the phrase "tJdb" became the new synonym.
Because they live in a small, third-tier county town, Xiao Jiu doesn't have a particularly strong sense of crisis.
After her older brothers went to school, her grandparents took her older sister and her to start foraging for wild vegetables again, taking turns searching for them according to the monthly vegetable list.
This large group included not only them, but also many unemployed elderly, weak, sick and disabled people, especially those who had no savings and could not afford vegetables. They worked from dawn till dusk in the fields, riverbanks and hillsides. Wild vegetables were not as easy to find in those days as they are in later years, and sometimes they might not be able to eat them for more than a few meals in a whole season.
At the end of February, the mother sheep gave birth to three lambs, two females and one male. The family that bred them planned to take one male and one female lamb away after they were a month old. They needed to take care of the mother sheep for a month. In addition to trying to bring her some wild vegetables, they would also occasionally give her a few eggs as a reward for her hard work.
They were left with a female lamb.
Little Jiu was very excited and worked tirelessly from dawn till dusk to find fresh wild grass for its mother to eat. Fortunately, the dry feed stored at home was enough for her, so her milk was very good and she fed the three lambs very well.
She would sometimes secretly feed the ewes the fruit peels and vegetable leaves she had left over from eating, so the ewes would be especially affectionate towards her.
The older women diligently clean the pens of the poultry and livestock every day, and the accumulated fertilizer flows into the composting pit, ready to be used when planting crops in the spring.
After March, it stopped snowing and started raining. One spring rain after another fell, and everything began to revive. Willow branches began to sprout, which meant that the cold winter was finally over. But we still had to be wary of the cold snap in spring, so she took off her thick cotton-padded coat and trousers and put on old clothes. The old clothes were not as warm, which was naturally suitable for the just-right temperature.
Unexpectedly, on such a joyous day, someone was holding a funeral. The deceased was none other than Niu Laosan, who had climbed over their wall years ago.
Niu Laosan was healthy from a young age and rarely got sick, but his son was frail and sickly. Who would have thought that his son's urination would send him to the underworld?
The child was sick and had been given penicillin. The father was holding his son and playing on the bed when he urinated into his son's mouth. The son suffered a severe penicillin allergy and died of suffocation by the time he was taken to the clinic.
After Niu Laosan died, the old lady blamed her grandson and his mother for the whole thing and drove them out of the Niu family.
They thought the tragedy was over, but who could have imagined that the homeless mother and son would be kicked out of her parents' home by her brother and sister-in-law? Unable to bear it, they simply took their child and drowned themselves in the river. After their deaths, they were not buried in the ancestral grave, but were buried on the riverbank by kind-hearted people in the village.
How pitiful!
The family of three passed away one after another within a month. The grandparents have sighed more than once that the old couple from the Niu family were not decent.
"She has a grandson. If she didn't, look how much she cherishes him. Now that her son is gone and her grandson is gone, she starts wailing and crying. Where was she before? Maybe she's just saying it for show."
Xiao Jiu sighed beside him, "It's better that they're dead. It saves them from suffering again in a few years. Being born into such a family was already unfortunate. I hope they can be reborn into a better family."
Because the Niu family acted dishonestly, their reputation worsened. Now, almost no one in the neighborhood wants to associate with them. They still don't repent and even shift the blame onto their deceased daughter-in-law. The poor woman is even more pitiful to have such a family.
Sometimes I wonder, what are women born for? Are they just there to bear children for other people?
If you are unhappy and can't go back to your parents' home, and your husband's family doesn't want to go back, and you can't support yourself, then you have no way out.
But living in this era, you have to face the fact that after you get married, your family loses your household registration and land, while your husband's family gains your land and household registration. Even if you get divorced and return to your parents' home, you will have no place there. You can't take your husband's family's land with you, and you can't register your household without a man. How can you live under such circumstances?
So Xiaojiu only needed to think for a moment to understand why she would rather leave than accept the cold looks and ridicule of others.
Without a house, household registration, or land, how could she raise a child who was only a few months old?
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