Xiao Jiu cracked open the walnut, took out a small kernel, and stuffed it directly into Zhou Yue's mouth, who wasn't paying attention.
The reason I didn't dare to put too much in was because I was worried about allergies; quite a few people are allergic to this stuff.
Zhou Yue was caught off guard and glanced at her with a hint of helplessness.
"You can eat it yourself; it would be a waste to give it to me."
"Who said walnuts are good for the brain? The brothers study every day, they should eat more of them. How are you? Is anything bothering you?"
"Um?"
She quickly explained, "Last time at the hospital, I saw someone covered in red bumps because of a walnut allergy. It was really scary!"
"Oh, I'm fine, I ate it before."
After receiving his confirmation, Xiao Jiu peeled the skin and fed him, occasionally changing the subject to prevent him from refusing.
The two chatted and worked together, snacking as they went, and before they knew it, it was two or three in the afternoon.
Judging that the people who had come to visit should be heading back, the two went into the kitchen to cook dumplings, dipped them in vinegar and chili, and ate them with great satisfaction.
"I didn't realize you were so young, yet you can handle so much chili?"
"Shh, don't tell my grandma. She always says this is too 'heaty' and won't let me eat it. I've been craving chili peppers for so long. How about it? Isn't my grandma's chili oil delicious?"
These words startled Zhou Yue slightly, and then somehow he broke down, turning his face away uncomfortably.
Xiao Jiu immediately understood, "I'm sorry, Brother Yue, I forgot. My grandma learned how to make chili oil from Grandma Zhou."
"I'm fine, I just got some in my eyes. You should eat quickly and talk less."
His voice choked with emotion, as if he were in extreme pain. Even though he was eating dumplings, chewing them felt like chewing wax.
Xiao Jiu dared not speak again and ate the meal in silence. Fortunately, she only served herself six dishes, and after finishing, she quickly went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
As soon as she left, Zhou Yue could no longer hold back his tears, which fell silently from his eyes, and his shoulders trembled uncontrollably.
Four days, from New Year's Eve to today, heaven knows how he got through it. He picked up his pen several times to write to his brother, but he didn't even know how to start.
Although I haven't spent much time with my maternal grandparents, and haven't called them "grandpa" and "grandma" for very long, my love for them is boundless.
He couldn't understand why such a kind old man had to suffer such unfair treatment.
Zhou, Da, Shan!
He gritted his teeth as he uttered those three words, veins bulging on his forehead.
"Tonight, I'll make you pay the price!"
After the meal, the already silent people became even more silent, and a sense of oppression filled the air.
Xiao Jiu didn't dare to bother him anymore and went back to her room to read.
The books she was reading were comic books that her brothers had borrowed, and she was reading them with great interest.
She accidentally fell asleep, and when she woke up, the sun had already set. Her grandmother was sitting next to her, wearing her reading glasses and sewing shoe soles.
"Oh, you're sober now?"
Xiao Jiu rubbed her eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "Grandma, when did you get back? Why didn't you wake me up?"
"We've been back for a while now. You were sleeping so soundly, how could Grandma bear to wake you up? Are you looking for your brother Yue?"
"Oh, he and your brother went to town to grab seats. They said there's a movie tonight, and your parents will carry you there. Don't worry, they'll definitely take you to see the show."
She was reluctant to entrust Xiaojiu to those brats, so when she heard that the youngest brother was going to wake up her sister, she couldn't bear to do it and urged them to leave on their own.
Sigh, I knew it would be like this. When it really matters, they don't include her at all.
"Grandma, what delicious food did you eat at Sister Cuihua's house? Is that dark-skinned sister really Sister Cuihua's sister?"
"Yeah, probably. We had steamed dumplings with sauerkraut filling, stewed fish and vegetables. It was a lively meal, and most importantly, no annoying people came out to cause trouble. It was great. We came back after dinner. I heard that your sister Cuihua and the others are going to see a movie tonight. Maybe we'll run into them!"
This is truly a case of one call and a hundred responses; look at the enthusiasm of these young people, it's been mobilized without them even realizing it.
"Grandma, aren't you going?"
Grandma shook her head. "I'm not going. My old arms and legs can't go far. I can't get a ride on an oxcart anywhere today. If it's too late, you can stay in town and come back early tomorrow morning. Come on, get up. I'll make you some noodles. Eat your fill, and then your parents will take you. They can also make some pancakes for those rascals. They must be hungry if they leave without eating."
Grandma went into the kitchen as she spoke, and Xiao Jiu dressed herself and came out to find her parents busy in the yard.
They moved the cabbages that were previously covered with plastic sheeting into the cellar, and cleaned up the front and back yards, waiting for the soil to decompose so that they could put in compost. After the soil absorbs the compost and the temperature gradually rises, they can plant vegetables directly.
"Mom, I've cooked a pot of pumpkin and millet porridge on the stove, it'll be ready soon. I also prepared some dough in the basin this morning. The children love pies, so I've already mixed them with eggs, tofu, vermicelli, and cabbage. Could you please do me the trouble of making them for them?"
"You're pretty quick. Alright, you guys don't need to worry about this, get busy, leave the rest to me."
Listening to the lively conversation in the courtyard, Xiao Jiu got dressed, rolled around on the kang (a heated brick bed), stretched, and then sat up.
When I was in school, the school used "Crossing the River to Reconnoiter" as a patriotic education film, showing it countless times in various activities such as indoor physical education classes and class meetings.
They watched a lot of movies from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Although they had never experienced an open-air movie like this, they still remembered the memories of that era very clearly.
"The White-Haired Girl" and "Defending the Fruits of Victory" from 1950.
"People on the Grassland" and "Nurse's Diary" from 1953.
"Dr. Bethune" and "Reconnaissance Across the River" from 1954.
...
Wait a minute, there are basically new movies released every year, so it would be perfect to include these films in patriotic education.
She wasn't interested in movies; she just wanted to see the outcome.
"Xiao Jiu, come out quickly. Have some soup first. We have to leave soon. It's a long way. If we leave later, it will be too crowded to carry you."
Her mother called her from the courtyard, and Xiao Jiu quickly jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), put on her shoes, and ran out.
The pumpkin and millet porridge was cooked perfectly—it was yellow, sticky, and sweet. My mother even added a few dried dates, which made the flavor even richer.
She secretly put these dates into the bag of dried dates she bought at home. However, hers were Hetian dates, which were big and red, and too special, so she didn't dare to put too many in.
Grandma always marvels at how big the dates are, saying they taste so sweet. She says the dates from this store are great, and she'll buy more next time.
With a casual scoop of the spoon, you can tell she's scooped up another bowl of thick, juicy rice. It's always like this; it's not just one person who dotes on you, but the whole family does, without exception.
——
After Xiao Jiu returned to her room, Zhou Yue breathed a sigh of relief, and his thoughts drifted away, following the knitting motions in his hands.
He only snapped out of his daze when the gate was gently knocked on. With a long stride, he opened the gate in just a few steps.
"Brother, that guy carried his bundle and headed towards town. Looks like he's going to see that woman. He's heartless! He doesn't care about his own wife and kids, but he's going to take care of someone else's wife and kids. Ugh, does that idiot think Widow Qin's child is his? What a fucking moron!"
"Alright, is everything arranged?" Zhou Yue interrupted him.
Du Jiang, with a face full of pimples, had a somewhat rough voice due to puberty.
"Don't worry, you don't trust us to handle things? It's good that you were prepared in advance, now they've all come in handy."
"Okay, you guys go first. I'll come find you when Tao Zui and the others come back."
——
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Tao Zui and the others returned. Xiao Jiu was still asleep. The guys didn't wait for her and hurriedly headed towards the town.
The boys walked fast and arrived in just over an hour. Once in town, they went straight to Du Jiang's house.
Du Jiang was also from the town, and he and Zhou Yue became friends after a fight. Later, with Tao Zui and Tao Qing taking the lead, they became friends.
In fact, ever since Zhou Dashan's family caused trouble in the town, Zhou Yue had never stopped keeping an eye on him.
He only found out by chance that Zhou Dashan was having an affair with that old hag Qin from the town.
Du Jiang lives right across from their house. He comes and goes every day, how could they not see him?
So Du Jiang told Zhou Yue the news, and after keeping an eye on them, Zhou Yue quickly discovered a big problem.
To prove he wasn't wrong, he even had Du Jiang's family keep track of the people coming and going from the Qin widow's family every day.
He stayed at Du Jiang's house for several days.
On the day Xiao Jiu was bullied by Chen Xiaopang, not only Xiao Jiu saw the gun on the middle-aged man, but Zhou Yue also saw it clearly.
Xiao Jiu only knows about guns, but Zhou Yue knows much more than that.
——
By the time Tao Changyi and Zhao Lingli arrived in town with some wine, it was already getting dark.
"Why are you all alone? Where are your brothers?"
Tao An was the only one left in the courtyard playing with rolling iron hoops. When he saw his parents coming over, he sniffed.
"Mom, did you bring any pancakes? Hurry, I'm starving. Let me have a piece."
The young man wolfed down his food, and when his mother went to the kitchen, she found that not even water had been boiled.
I was worried that my son would get thirsty after eating the pancake, and that drinking cold water in the middle of winter would give him diarrhea!
Zhao Lingli turned around to boil water, while her third brother, Tao Qing, returned home panting.
"Father, Mother, Little Sister, you've arrived! We've already reserved the spots, I've come to pick you up."
Zhao Lingli boiled the water, poured it into a thermos, and handed the cake to Tao Qing.
"You guys eat something and drink some water. Tell us where it is, and we'll go there ourselves."
Tao Qing was still worried, so he led them over. His friends were already there, and although they weren't very close to the front, it was still pretty good. He sat down on a small stool and looked at the bustling crowd around him, and couldn't help but sigh.
“These kids are capable; they've managed to get into the positive position, which is much better than looking at them from the negative side.”
The screen has two sides. The front view is normal, but the back view is a bit strange.
Such a rare opportunity attracted people not only from the opposite side of the road, but also from the trees and rooftops.
If someone has a single-story house, they're overjoyed, and even their close friends will climb onto the roof.
Even the roof of the adobe house was being scolded by the homeowner.
"Get down here right now! We're reluctant to climb up here ourselves. If you break our tiles, I'll slap you to death! Get the hell down here right now!"
The bustling, noisy scene truly dazzled Xiao Jiu's eyes.
There were men, women, young and old, all kinds of people. Fortunately, everyone was quite considerate. Those with seats moved small stools so as not to affect those behind them.
Tao Qing dropped them off at their seats and then went home to eat pancakes. As for Tao Ran, Tao Zui, and Zhou Yue, no one saw them.
——
Taking advantage of the chaos in the town and the heated fight at the widow's house, Zhou Yue and Du Jiang managed to send a message to the middle-aged man who had brought a gun that day.
This man works at the township government and is a high-ranking official. On the third day of the Lunar New Year this year, he was celebrating the holiday with his parents, wife, and son in the township government's residential compound when there was a knock on his door. A child handed him a note, ran away without saying a word, and left.
He opened the note, but there was nothing written on it. The man's expression changed, and he immediately went back inside to put on his clothes.
"I have to go out for a bit. You guys go see a movie later, I'll be back later."
"Hey, where are you going? You haven't finished eating yet!"
"I have a mission, don't worry about it, I'll be back when the time comes."
The blank note was a secret discovered by following Widow Qin, hidden in the brickwork at the alley entrance.
This is how they communicate. The reason why the so-called promiscuous widow Qin has a constant stream of men is not because she is fickle, but because these men are all her informants. This widow Qin is a special case.
Zhou Yue had no evidence, but this time, once the man came to the door, the evidence would naturally come.
The county police are on their way here. Their job is to prevent these people from leaving before they arrive.
Xiao Jiu sat there looking around anxiously, thinking about what she had found in the bag of grain, and felt that tonight was going to be an extraordinary night.
Originally, she wanted to make the bag of grain heavier so that the police could find something to use against Zhou Dashan and sentence him to a few years in prison.
Fortunately, she rummaged through the grain bag and found something Zhou Yue had put inside beforehand. It was a good thing she found it; otherwise, it would have been pointless for her to put her own things in as well.
It was because she saw what Zhou Yue had put there that she realized how deep his thoughts were and how he had been eyeing Zhou Dashan for a long time.
No wonder he listened to advice and remained inactive until now; he was probably waiting for just such an opportunity.
Unfortunately, because of his young age, he didn't play with me at all, and naturally, I didn't know what happened next.
When the movie started, the third and fourth brothers quietly crouched down and squeezed in. The eldest and second brothers were nowhere to be seen. It seemed that these two were just there to reserve seats, while the eldest and second brothers were the ones who actually played a role.
In "Reconnaissance Across the River," as the sounds of gunfire rang out, gunfire also erupted simultaneously in an inconspicuous little courtyard in a corner of the town.
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