Chapter 24: Going to deliver grain—wasn't this the familiar "scroll"?...
On the day the grain was to be delivered, before dawn, the people of the Tonggan production team were already busy.
Deng Xia hurriedly wrapped the freshly baked pancakes in a clean steamer cloth. "Miao'er, take these. Just like last year, you push the cart and let Guoqiang sit on it."
Miao Suyun responded and quickly took the family's food rations for the day.
Old Man Zhong and Zhong Xin rummaged through the house and found all the carrying poles, straw baskets, and wheelbarrows, as they would need them later.
Zhong Ying took the leftover bran from grinding flour, mixed it with water, and fed it to the chickens. She spotted the chicken feed trough, closed her eyes, and poured it in. She had no choice; she had only slept for a little over three hours the night before and was just too tired.
Li Linshi saw Zhong Ying squatting there, dozing off while feeding the chickens. As her body unconsciously swayed, her hand, which was pouring bran water, also shifted position. Just as she was about to pour it out, he couldn't help but reach out and support the porcelain bowl in Zhong Ying's hand, thus saving the feed for the three chickens.
Zhong Ying only opened her eyes a crack to glance at him before closing them again, letting go of his hand, and continuing to doze off.
"Have you finished feeding the chickens?" Deng Xia called from outside. "We should go—"
"Hey, right away!" Zhong Ying immediately opened her eyes, snatched the porcelain bowl back from the dead man's hand, got up and quickly walked out of the chicken coop.
The whole family came out, with Deng Xia bringing up the rear to close and lock the door.
When you reach the threshing ground at the village entrance, you'll see a lively scene on the flat ground.
The dried wheat in the warehouse was packed into burlap sacks, the openings of which were tightly bound with hemp rope. The commune members lined up, carrying loads on shoulder poles, and filled the sacks into the straw baskets on either side of the poles, bending their backs under the weight.
The Zhong family also joined the queue and moved forward.
Old Zhong carried two full baskets of grain. Deng Xia, like the other women in the production team, was just as capable as the men. Although their steps were heavy as they carried the loads, their eyes were resolute and they walked steadily with each step.
Two large burlap sacks were placed on the wooden cart. Miao Suyun lifted her son onto the sacks, sat him on her knees with her knees slightly bent, and pushed the cart with all her might. Xiao Guoqiang sat on it excitedly, looking around.
Zhong Ying and her brother, who was only partially able-bodied, carried the two ends of a carrying pole together, lifting baskets filled to the brim.
As they carried the grain out, Zhong Ying saw Uncle Zhong's family of three standing behind them in the queue. Zhong Qiushou pretended not to see his younger brother's family, while Zhong Ni and Zhong Shuanzhu behind him waved.
Behind the two, Cao Fang, who was floating in the air, also greeted Zhong Ying with a smile. "My dear niece, thank you for telling my daughter to take my memorial tablet with her. I can go to the commune today! I won't go over there. I still need to help my daughter carry the basket later."
Zhong Ying nodded slightly, indicating that she understood.
People carrying loads on shoulder poles and pushing carts walked out, like a long dragon. The entire Tonggan production team poured out, and even the three ghosts in the production team left the village together.
Li Changgui also helped his parents. Because of the pain of losing his son, his father Li Ming seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. He walked with difficulty carrying the load. His mother Shan Shuhui, with her red and swollen eyes, followed beside him with a cloth bag, helping him from time to time. They seemed to depend on each other for survival.
Li Changgui felt a pang of sadness, unsure of who to blame for the current tragedy.
Is it his mother's fault for only giving birth to him? But his mother also suffered; she endured great pain and ruined her health during childbirth.
Is it because his father wasn't as open-minded as his eldest uncle, and stubbornly insisted on keeping his son by his side to fulfill his filial duties? But his father wasn't as educated as his eldest uncle, so naturally his thinking couldn't keep up;
Why couldn't he have been more patient? But he had already endured it for far too long. His parents' wishes were like a cage, trapping him in darkness.
Li Changgui could only grab the rope on the straw basket to help lighten its weight, his eyes filled with mixed emotions as he looked at his parents. "Father, Mother, I'm unfilial. I'll go first in this life, and in the next life you can be my children, and I'll let you go to school..."
His voice choked with emotion.
Only by reading can people understand the principles and avoid repeating the tragedies caused by these ignorant ideas.
The atmosphere became much more cheerful in the latter half of the journey. People carried their loads on shoulder poles and chatted as they walked. Several children ran around among the adults, chasing and playing happily. Their innocent laughter dispelled much of the hardship and gloom of the long journey.
"I woke up thirsty in the middle of the night last night, so I wanted to go to the river to fetch some water." Lai Hunzi moved the flat strap to his other shoulder and talked to the person next to him.
Nie Ying wiped the sweat from her forehead. "If you were more diligent, you could dig a well at home and then you wouldn't have to run to the river to fetch water in the middle of the night."
Lai Hunzi pretended not to hear what she said and continued talking, "You have no idea what I saw! It scared me so much that I couldn't sleep all night!"
His exaggerated, startled tone drew the attention of those around him.
After enjoying the attention of the crowd, Lai Hunzi continued, lowering his voice, "I was just about to walk towards the river when I saw a huge black shadow in the distance, as tall as a house!"
Zhong Ying couldn't help but turn her head and meet the gaze of the male ghost behind her: There are monsters like this in the production team? Weren't we by the river last night? Did you see us?
Li Linshi was also puzzled. After thinking about it carefully, he shook his head.
But then Lai Hunzi said, "It has a very strange head, like a big head with a small head stuck on it..."
This prompted someone to exclaim in surprise.
Zhong Ying was speechless.
...What a big head with a little head on top of it? That's her bun hairstyle, which she casually tied up to make it easier to work.
What Lai Hunzi probably saw was her elongated shadow cast by the oil lamp.
Because of the tight schedule, Zhong Ying only managed to recarve Li Linshi's memorial tablet during the whole day yesterday. However, she had to go to the public food distribution center the next day, so she could only work overtime at night to recarve Li Changgui's memorial tablet.
Li Linshi went back to his house and brought over the oil lamp. Zhong Ying was afraid that the light in the house would be seen by her family members who got up at night, so she quietly slipped away to the riverbank and worked hard by the light of the oil lamp.
Who would have thought that someone would walk towards the river in the middle of the night?
Lai Hunzi continued, "That thing was still making a grinding, humming sound. Can you imagine how terrifying that sound is in the middle of the night?"
Zhong Ying said expressionlessly: "That was me carving wood. By the way, I'm not an object, I'm a person."
Hu, who was walking behind, couldn't help but hurry up a couple of steps. "Could it be that a water ghost from the river has run ashore?"
The people around turned pale with fright, and even Deng Xia looked terrified.
Zhong Ying's expression was numbly calm. Although there were indeed water ghosts in the river, sorry, what Lai Hunzi saw was her, a living person.
While everyone else was filled with fear, one person eagerly stepped forward to greet them.
Liu Hongyan, carrying a shoulder pole, squeezed through the crowd anxiously and asked Lai Hunzi, "Did you see clearly? Could it be my fourth son? He also died in the river..."
Who wouldn't be afraid of a river ghost? Liu Hongyan was afraid too, but when she thought that maybe the water ghost was her son, she wasn't so afraid anymore. She even wanted to see the river ghost.
"This..." Lai Hunzi hesitated. How could he have seen it clearly? After seeing the dark figure, he was so frightened that he ran home in a panic, not daring to look at it again.
Seeing his hesitant manner, Fan Wu, who was in the lead group, couldn't help but speak up, "Sister-in-law, don't listen to his nonsense. This guy has probably misunderstood something again. Once, Lai Hunzi and I were guarding the granary at night, and on the way back, he said he saw a female ghost with drooping hair, tilting her head and staring at us. We were so scared that we practically ran home. But when I went to check again the next day, there was no female ghost at all, just a crooked willow tree!"
As someone with experience, Fan Wu exposed Lai Hunzi's charade, saying, "Don't listen to his nonsense. He can exaggerate the truth of something as simple as ten!"
The way people looked at him changed.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him like a coward, Lai Hunzi retorted with his neck stiff, "It's so dark at night, who hasn't misjudged things sometimes?"
Hu asked, deliberately making fun of him, "Didn't you go to the riverbank again this morning? Which tree did you see as having big heads strung together with small heads last night?"
Liu Hongyan sighed and gave a bitter smile to the person next to her, "I both hope that he will be reincarnated as a human soon and hope that I can see him again."
Nie Ying, who was holding the rope on the straw basket, freed one hand and reached out to hold Liu Hongyan's hand. "I understand. When my fourth daughter passed away, I hoped for the same thing. Things will get better. Those who are alive must look forward."
Zhong Ying couldn't help but look up and take a serious look at Nie Ying. This aunt next door who was always arguing with her mother didn't seem to be a completely one-dimensional villain.
Unbeknownst to them, the Tonggan production team had caught up with the members of the Liwangou and Yuqianwa commune ahead. The procession stretched on and on, each member carrying a heavy load and moving forward without stopping, as if heading to a grand feast for the farmers.
They set off at dawn and didn't arrive at the commune until noon. The grain station was located in the heart of Liuzhang Commune. Its blue brick and tile houses, so different from the rural houses, seemed to radiate a unique brilliance. The production brigades of Panpokou and Zhoujiawowo, which were closer to the commune, and the production team of Shenjiagou, which was a little further away, formed a long queue in front of them. The people of Tonggan Production Team, who were already trailing behind the queue on the road, could only stand at the very back.
Sweat streamed into his eyes. Zhong Chunsheng put down the straw baskets filled with two full sacks of grain, unloaded the carrying pole from his body, and finally freed his hand to wipe the sweat mixed with dust from his forehead. He squinted at the long line of people who had come to pay their grain tax and couldn't help but sigh, "It's going to be a long wait again."
"We set off earlier this year than last year, so why are we still lagging behind?" Deng Xia put down the food and couldn't help but complain.
Hearing Deng Xia's voice, Nie Ying turned around and glanced at her, then pouted, "Everyone knows that waiting is unpleasant, so they all set off early."
Zhong Ying wholeheartedly agreed; wasn't this just the "curl" she was familiar with? If everyone "curls," it's like standing still.
Hu, who was standing nearby, sighed, "Our production team is also the furthest away. Panpokou, on the other hand, is the closest to the grain station. If we leave a little earlier, we can still get ahead."
People chatted casually, and the children were tired from playing all the way. Two- or three-year-olds like Zhong Guoqiang fell asleep in their young mothers' arms, while the older children climbed onto the sacks to find a place to sleep.
Zhong Ying seized the opportunity, "Mom, since we'll be waiting a long time anyway, I want to go for a walk around the area."
Deng Xia didn't think much of it. Zhong Ying had wandered around every time she came to the commune; it had become a habit. So she only reminded her, "Don't wander too far."
Zhong Ying nodded obediently, it was hard to imagine that there were miniature wooden tablets in the two large pockets on either side of her two-way shirt.
The two ghosts saw Zhong Ying leave the group and quickly followed.
After walking out of the long queue in front of the grain station, Zhong Ying stopped at the intersection. She really didn't know how to get to Liuzhang Commune Middle School, but she knew how to get to the supply and marketing cooperative, having been there several times in her memory.
When Zhong Ying looked at Li Lin.
Li Changgui, unaware of what was going on, followed her gaze to Li Lin.
Li Linshi silently walked to the front and led the way.
As she brushed past two boys wearing red armbands, Zhong Ying, seeing no one around, quickly caught up with the male ghost in front of her. She lowered her voice and asked, "Is it easy to get into the school?"
After all, people can't see those two ghosts, but they can see her as a person.
Zhong Ying was a little worried that she would be stopped by the school gatekeeper. "Is there a side gate? Or should I wait for you at the school gate? You two ghosts can go in and reminisce about the past by yourselves?"
Turning the corner, after seeing the school with the sign "Liuzhang Commune Middle School", Zhong Ying realized that she had worried too much. "...Your alma mater is quite warm and hospitable."
The school gate was wide open, like a mangled body that had been disemboweled.
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