Thank you so much, Hy筕陈涵乐 and Mido!
The children jumped up excitedly after hearing Zhang Hongmei's words and automatically made way for her.
Zhang Hongmei first had Shi Tou push the cart. Looking at the six-year-old Shi Tou, who could barely reach the handlebars, Zhang Hongmei couldn't help but laugh.
"Yes, that's how you push it. You're not tall enough to ride on the stone, but I can teach you how to lift the main beam. I'll demonstrate for you to watch carefully."
"Sister Hongmei, how do you know that?"
"Of course it's because I'm smart!" Zhang Hongmei boasted in front of a group of children, without feeling embarrassed or ashamed.
The kids actually believed her, and their faces were filled with admiration and envy.
Zhang Hongmei took the bicycle and demonstrated how to remove the crossbar; her father had taught her this when she was a child.
"Hold the handlebars with both hands. First, place your left foot on the pedal, then push off with your right foot to move the bicycle forward. Next, lift your right foot and reach it under the crossbar. Put your right foot on the pedal and use your hands for balance. Did you get it?"
"I've got it." The reply was loud and clear.
"Sister Hongmei, let's go eat first, and we'll come to see you tomorrow morning."
“Okay, but we only have a short time in the morning, so it’s only one lap for each of the three of us. I’m worried you’ll get hungry if you keep running around. We don’t have much food left at home, so please conserve your energy.”
The children all nodded in agreement. In fact, she was only two or three years older than them, but she always forgot that she was only ten years old.
Zhang Hongmei pushed the car into the yard and locked the gate. A group of children, smelling the aroma of meat, ran towards the brigade headquarters.
I've eaten meat three times in the past six months, which is much better than in previous years.
The courtyard was still as lively as ever. Although it was hot, it didn't dampen everyone's spirits.
Wang Hongxi stood on a bench and said, "Everyone, be quiet. Don't talk about what happened these past two days, not even your married daughters, and all the wives in the family, keep your mouths shut."
Imagine if everyone else was starving to death, and our village still had people bringing us food. We could eat rice and meat, do you think we'd still have a peaceful life? Borrowing is always good, the real fear is someone coming to rob us.
"It's not wrong for us to share more food with our relatives, but look at ourselves, which family hasn't starved to death? We should eat sparingly so our children don't go hungry."
Everyone fell silent, but what Wang Hongxi said was true. People are selfish; how can they help others when they themselves are starving?
The atmosphere isn't as good as it was before, but it's not that everyone is ungrateful; they're just a little reluctant to do it.
Just like last time, there were three men, two women, and two children eating cornbread. Four large pots of pure meat and several large basins of mixed wild vegetables.
Liu Erya came over to Zhang Hongmei and asked, "Hongmei, are you teaching Shitou and the others how to ride bikes?"
"Yes, I'll teach you tomorrow night. It's faster than leaving if there's an emergency."
"That's wonderful!" Who wouldn't want to ride a bicycle? Nowadays, bicycles are like luxury cars in later generations.
The food was ready, but because it was so hot, everyone ate it here, afraid that it would spoil if taken back.
After a satisfying meal, the women stayed behind to clean up, while the men took their children home—the mosquitoes were too fierce. They couldn't let the mosquitoes suck away the blood they had finally replenished.
The next day, Zhang Hongmei went to water the plants again, and it took her three days to finally finish watering them.
The sorghum in the field has sprouted ears; the stalks don't look very tall, but the sorghum ears are quite large.
Seeing hope, everyone worked even harder to carry water.
A week later, the radish sprouts finally grew. Zhang Hongmei also dug several traps nearby. Although she was tired, she persevered because she thought that there might be wild animals to eat.
Liu Erya came with Zhang Hongmei. When she saw the traps, she thought of meat. She dug three traps by herself in one day.
Another week passed, and the radish sprouts had grown to about a bushel tall. Zhang Hongmei started thinning them out. When she got home, she blanched the tender radish sprouts, mixed them with chives, and steamed a large pot of vegetable buns. She ate two in one go.
For two days in a row, I thinned out the radish sprouts and put them into my ring. Now it's time to plant cabbages.
I stripped the tomato plants from the yard and planted a row of cabbages, planting them very densely so we could eat the baby cabbages.
Large quantities of cabbage still had to be planted in the mountains. Since there was no suitable place, they planted cabbage on a small plot of land.
That day, Liu Maocai followed Zhang Hongmei up the mountain to the sweet potato field. He squatted down, parted the vines, and dug up a cluster of sweet potatoes. "Hongmei, this year's sweet potato harvest is going to be a bumper crop. What are you going to do?"
“Let’s all come and harvest this, and then we’ll divide it up in the fall.”
Liu Maocai had mixed feelings. The child had such big hands, but he couldn't bear to see everyone starving. Oh well, he'd just consider it a favor for Hongmei.
"Okay, I'll let everyone know when it's time to clear them out. But I want to clear them out here first, so we don't wait until there's no food left on the mountain, then it'll be troublesome if wild animals come down."
“I’ll listen to my third uncle. I don’t understand these things, so it would be easier to get rid of him early on.”
Two busy weeks have passed, and it's already September.
Wang Hongxi returned from a meeting in the township with his head down and went to the old lady's house.
"Second wife, we're going to establish a collective cooperative. From now on, we'll eat together, work together, and everything will be distributed equally."
The old lady didn't speak, but finally sighed, "Just follow whatever instructions come from above. Is there a specified time?"
"They only said to complete it as soon as possible, but didn't specify a timeframe."
"Then let's postpone it until after the autumn harvest. You keep an eye on things."
"Okay. Wang Jianguo looks listless."
"Don't worry about him, it has nothing to do with us." The old lady squinted and said nothing more. She didn't completely trust Wang Hongxi, so she wouldn't talk to him in detail.
Just after dinner, Wang Hongxi rang the bell. Everyone gathered at the brigade headquarters, puzzled.
"Everyone is here. I'm here to deliver the documents from above. We're going to establish a commune. Everyone should hand over all their grain and money, and we'll distribute it equally."
"So the famine was also distributed equally?"
Wang Hongxi ignored Erlaizi from the village and spent his days daydreaming.
“Our village is different. We don’t harvest anything now. After the autumn harvest, we won’t distribute the grain anymore. We’ll all work and eat together every day.”
Everyone was stunned. They looked at each other, not quite understanding.
Wang Hongxi wasn't particularly knowledgeable either. He only knew a few characters and was nowhere near as good as Liu Maocai. He always came back from meetings completely clueless.
"Alright, everyone go to sleep. We need to step up our efforts. These days are the time when the sorghum is filling out, so we can't slack off. We still need to water it. The harvest is just around the corner, so we can't let our guard down."
They are all genuine farmers, so of course they know the importance of crops.
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