The heavy snow continued until the afternoon of the third day. Xu Ning and Xu An used shovels to clear the snow at the door, and went to the cellar to get some cabbage and radishes. They planned to eat mutton hotpot on the stove in the evening.
The mutton was the one she took out from the space when she went into the city last time. She buried it in the snow and never ate it.
She put wild boar bones in a casserole and made stock on the stove.
Xu An soaked the black fungus and mushrooms, sliced the potatoes and radishes, tore the cabbage with his hands, and cut the mutton and wild boar meat into thin slices.
Xu Mo stood beside the casserole on the stove and sipped his saliva
Xu An put the dishes on the table and said with a smile, "Xiao Mo, be careful not to drool into the pot."
Xu Mo said seriously, "Second brother, whose saliva is flowing into the pot? I was checking to see if the bones are cooked?" As soon as he finished speaking, he couldn't help but sucking his saliva again.
Xu An and Xu Ning were both amused by his greedy look.
Xu Mo looked at the two of them, snorted, and turned back to look at the pot.
The three siblings gathered around the stove to eat the hot pot dishes. Xu Ning passed the cooked mutton slices to Xu Mo, and Xu An also gave him some vegetarian dishes.
Xu Mo waved his hands and said, "Sister, second brother, you guys eat too. You don't have to take care of me. I'm an adult now and I can eat by myself."
After that, he picked up another piece of meat from the pot and said, "This is really delicious. If I could eat like this every day and become a god, I would not go."
Xu An laughed and said, "Look at how capable you are. You can become a deity if you want to."
After hearing this, Xu Mo glanced at his second brother and said, "What's so good about being a god? If gods don't even eat, what's the point of living?"
"So you live just to eat?"
Xu Mo looked at him in surprise and said, "Isn't the purpose of living to eat? The third grandmother in the village said that people are busy all year round just to feed themselves."
Xu An was speechless and felt that what he said seemed to make sense.
Xu Ning looked at Xu An who was eating turtle, and Xu Mo who was talking while eating, and felt that life was really good now.
This winter was particularly cold. The three siblings rarely went out after the snow. They stayed at home every day listening to the radio and reading books. This lasted until the end of 1972.
Wei Lanlan and Yang Xiaomei came to call Xu Ning to go into the city to buy New Year's goods. She was originally planning to go to the city to give some things to Grandma Wang, buy some daily necessities, and take some things out from the space for the New Year.
The road is too slippery now. Xu Ning doesn't dare to ride a bicycle for fear of falling. She, Wei Lanlan and Yang Xiaomei plan to take Old Chen's ox cart into the city.
When the three of them reached the entrance of the village, they saw villagers walking towards the city in groups of three or four. Sitting on the ox cart were several female educated youth from the educated youth compound, including Gu Wenjing, Chunhua, Wang Juanjuan and Liu Fang.
The three of them sat on the ox cart and greeted those they knew, and then they didn't talk much. The weather was too cold, and everyone was dressed warmly, with only the eyes exposed, and the rest of their bodies were wrapped tightly.
When Xu Ning arrived in the city, she said she wanted to visit her relatives, so she separated from the others. She found a place and took some food and meat from the space to send to Grandma Wang.
I went to the post office again to withdraw the money sent by Xu Yang. Since Lu Xiaotang sent the letter and the remittance slip, there has been no news since then. He must have gone out to carry out a mission.
Maybe it was because the New Year was approaching, and there were a lot of people in the supply and marketing cooperative. Xu Ning saw that there were a lot of people queuing up at Su Hongying's place, so he didn't go over to say hello. Instead, he bought some things for the New Year and used the ticket that was about to expire.
She found a deserted place outside the supply and marketing cooperative, took some things from the space and put them in her backpack. She didn't dare take much, as she planned to take out more when she got home. There were so many people on the ox cart, and someone might be so blind as to lift up her backpack and look when she wasn't paying attention.
Xu Ning walked to several places today, which took her a long time. She walked very fast when she returned, fearing that she would miss the ox cart.
When she arrived at the place where Old Chen kept the ox cart, there were already several aunts and young wives from the village sitting on the cart. They must have walked here in the morning.
After Xu Ning got on, the ox cart was already full, so Old Chen prepared to go back. Those who didn't get on had to walk back.
She looked towards the city again, but didn't see Wei Lanlan and Yang Xiaomei. It would be very painful to walk back in this weather. Now that the two of them came back, they could squeeze in.
On New Year's Eve, Xu Ning and Xu An started preparing the dinner right after lunch. She planned to cook a few more dishes and ask Xu An to send them to the cowshed when no one was around.
A few days ago, Xu's father asked Xiao Mo to come over and tell them not to go to the cowshed to eat on the 30th of this year. Several educated youth often went there for a stroll after dinner.
It was already dark at around four o'clock in the afternoon. Xu An went outside to look and saw that there were not many people on the road. The educated youth should also be preparing the New Year's Eve dinner. Xu Ning put the dishes in a backpack and asked him to deliver it.
After the New Year, Xu Ning went to the mountain again and took out the two smaller wild boars from the space. This time she learned her lesson and went straight to the cowshed after coming down the mountain. Before the others could react, she left the two wild boars there and ran away.
At night, when Xu's father and Lu's father brought the trained wild boar over, they scolded her again.
It wouldn't be long before the weather got warmer, so she pickled some of the meat and made a jar of meat sauce, and roasted some of the meat to be dried, intending to eat it during the spring planting season. She asked the men in the cowshed to put the dried meat in their pockets and eat it while they worked.
When the snow was almost melting, Chen Hongjun brought a few men, carrying bricks, to help Xu Ning build the wall.
Wang Juanjuan saw these people pulling bricks over at the door and thought they were going to build a house for her. A few days ago, when the snow melted, Gu Wenping took her to the village to find Chen Hongjun, and he agreed.
Unexpectedly, these people did not stop at the Youth House, but directly pulled the things to Xu Ning's place, and asked hurriedly, "Aren't you going to build a house for me?"
Chen Hongjun smiled and said, "This is to build a courtyard wall for Xu Zhiqing. His brother told me about it last year. Don't worry, she will build the courtyard wall in two or three days, and then she will build it for you."
Wang Juanjuan was a little unhappy when she heard this and said, "Uncle, can't you build it for me first? I'm in a hurry to move out. Doesn't Xu Ning have a house to live in?"
Chen Hongjun's smile faded a little, and he said, "Wang Zhiqing, in our line of work, we believe in first come first served. If you are in a hurry, why don't you find someone else?"
Wang Juanjuan immediately smiled and said, "Uncle, I've already told you, how can I find someone else? I'll wait for two more days."
After saying that, he went back to the Youth League Home. When he walked into the house, his face immediately fell.
Several female educated youth were sitting on the kang and talking. When they saw her come in, their faces looked strange. Liu Fang asked, "What's wrong? Juanjuan."
Wang Juanjuan collected her expression and said with a smile, "I just went out and saw some people from the village who were building a house coming over. I thought they were here to help me build a house, but they turned out to be helping Xu Ning build the courtyard wall."
Chunhua asked, "Doesn't she have a wall there? Where else is she building a wall?"
Wang Juanjuan also sat on the kang and said, "I don't know either. The people who were building the house in the village just said so."
Liu Fang got off the kang and said, "Let's go to the backyard and take a look."
Wang Juanjuan, Chunhua and Jiaohua also followed them. Lin Qiuhua did not move and sat on the bed and continued to do her needlework.
A few people walked to the private plot at the back and saw several men who had already started leveling the foundation of Xu Ning's private plot. Chen Xiangdong and several other male educated youth also heard the noise and walked towards the backyard.
Xu An went to school, and Xu Ning was boiling water in the house, and didn't know these people were coming.
Liu Fang saw that there were only a few men working here, and Xu Ning and his brother were not there. She snorted and said, "They want to separate from our Youth Home completely!"
Wei Lanlan glanced at her and shouted over there, "Xu Ning, someone said that you and the Youth Academy have separated!"
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