The day of distributing grain soon arrived. In the drying yard in front of the village committee, everyone's face was filled with the joy of a good harvest. The harvest of the year depended on today. Xu An, who was keen on going up the mountain to stock up on goods, did not go to the mountain today. After breakfast in the morning, he pulled Xu Ning and waited here with a bag in his hand.
After the brother and sister brought the food back home, they carried their baskets up the mountain again. After several days of picking by the villagers, there was nothing left. The brother and sister collected firewood and mountain products at the same time.
When the brother and sister were coming down the mountain carrying mountain products and firewood, they saw their benefactor uncle and his wife coming back with food on a cart. They shouted in unison, "Uncle, Auntie." The middle-aged man looked around and saw that there was no one around, so he said, "Don't send anything here in the future, and don't say hello when we meet. It's not good for you." After saying that, he pulled the cart back to the cowshed. The middle-aged woman smiled at them and went in as well. Xu Ning and his sister looked at each other without saying a word.
The next day, when Xu Ning opened the door, he saw a thin layer of white frost outside. Xu Ning looked at the cabbages in the field and planned to cut them all today. It was getting colder in the past two days and he was afraid that it would snow.
Xu Ning moved the two large jars for pickling sauerkraut from the kitchen and placed them at the door, cleaning them. She planned to pickle sauerkraut after chopping the cabbage. Before she traveled through time, her family was also from the north. Every year, her grandmother pickled sauerkraut and she helped, so pickling sauerkraut was very easy for her.
Xu An also got up when she heard the noise outside. Seeing her sister washing two large vats, she went to the kitchen to cook millet and sweet potato porridge. When Xu Ning came in after washing the dishes, the porridge was just ready. She served the porridge and fried some shredded radish with oil residue.
I thought that one pot was inconvenient. Next time I went to the city, I would buy a stove and a casserole. It would be more convenient to use a casserole to stew soup or cook porridge in winter.
After breakfast, the brother and sister went to chop cabbage. It took them half an hour to finish chopping two acres of land. They kept the cabbage for pickling sauerkraut and neatly stacked the remaining cabbages under the eaves and covered them with oil paper. The brother and sister began to pickle sauerkraut. Xu An pulled out the old leaves on the outside of the cabbage and cleaned them. It took the brother and sister a whole morning to pickle two jars of sauerkraut. In the afternoon, they went up the mountain to chop firewood and look for mountain products.
During dinner in the evening, Xu Ning said to Xu An, "Xiao An, I'm going to the city tomorrow. Would you like to come with me?" Xu An thought that there were not many products left in the mountains, so he said that he would go.
The next day, as soon as they arrived at the county town, Xu Ning took Xu An to the supply and marketing cooperative to find Su Hongying. In the backpack were chestnuts and hazelnuts that Xu Ning brought to Su Hongying.
When he arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, he saw Xu Hongying sitting there, eating melon seeds and talking to someone. Xu Ning went in and called out, "Sister Hongying."
Su Hongying saw that it was her and stood up and said, "Xiaoning, you're here! This is your brother."
Su Hongying had already learned about the siblings from her sister.
Xu An shouted, "Hello, Sister Hongying,"
Su Hongying said, "Good, you are so good," and gave him a handful of melon seeds.
Su Hongying said to the person next to her, "Help me watch for a while," and then she took the siblings to the warehouse at the back.
Arriving at the warehouse, Xu Ning put down the backpack and said, "Sister Hongying, these are the mountain products we picked in the mountains. I will bring some to you when I go to the city today."
Su Hongying said, "Xiao Ning, how can I accept your things?" Xu Ning said, "We picked these up in the mountains and gave them to you to taste."
The two exchanged a few polite words, and Xu Ning asked again, "Sister Hongying, does your supply and marketing cooperative have stoves for sale?"
Su Hongying said, "Yes, but it requires industrial vouchers."
Xu Ning said, "I'll take the industrial coupons!" Su Hongying packed up the chestnuts and took her to see the furnace.
Xu Ning bought a stove and a clay pot at the supply and marketing cooperative, and bought 500 kilograms of coal on the recommendation of Su Hongying.
Then she went to see Old Chen, gave her fifty cents and a handful of candy, and asked him to help her take it back.
Old Chen drove the ox cart to Xu Ning's yard and helped the siblings carry the stove into the house. He saw that the house was clean and tidy, with a lot of mountain products picked up, and the firewood room was piled full. He thought to himself, these two children really know how to live. When the adults are not around, the siblings live a decent life.
In the afternoon, Xu Ning went to the carpenter's house in the village and ordered a wooden barrel for bathing. In the summer, she only needed to boil a bucket of water to take a bath, but it was inconvenient to take a bath in the winter. She absolutely could not bear not taking a bath in the winter. With a wooden barrel, she could take a bath in the house in the winter. Anyway, there was a kang and a fire wall in the house, and it would be warm in the winter. It just consumed some firewood, but that was no big deal. They lived close to the mountain, so they just had to make a few more trips up the mountain.
The next day at noon, the brother and sister happily came down from the mountain, each carrying a full basket of chestnuts, and Xu Ning also carried two bundles of firewood on his shoulders. Today they found a tree that had not been picked by anyone, and the chestnuts had already fallen to the ground. The two had already carried the chestnuts home twice today, and they had just finished picking them up.
As soon as they reached the foot of Daqing Mountain, they heard a noise coming from the Youth League Courtyard not far away. When the brother and sister were about to reach the cowshed, they saw the village chief, Old Chen, two men and one woman with a child walking towards the cowshed. Xu Ning knew that these were the original owner's parents and younger brother, but she couldn't stop and could only keep going. She grabbed Xu An's hand, and Xu An thought her sister was afraid that he would fall, so she held him.
After taking two more steps forward, Xu An's eyes widened, and he wanted to run over immediately. Xu Ning held him tightly and said sternly, "Don't talk, we can't recognize each other now." Xu Ning saw the man opposite quietly shook his head at her, and then lowered his head. The woman opposite also lowered her head and held the child to her chest, not allowing him to look around.
The village chief saw the two of them and said with a smile, "Xu Zhiqing, Xiao An has gone up the mountain to collect firewood."
Old Chen next to him also said, "The brother and sister are both very capable. You don't know that when I went to deliver a stove to her yesterday, there was such a pile of firewood. When I got back, she beat my little son up." The village chief laughed on the side. Suning saw the woman opposite whimpering.
Suning said to Old Chen, "Grandpa Chen, please don't hit Brother Hongdang. Brother Hongdang is a good student. Brother Hongjun is also famous for building houses in our brigade. If it weren't for the face of the village chief, I wouldn't have invited Brother Hongjun to build a house for me." The two of them laughed.
Old man Chen opened the door of the cowshed and said to the inside, "Seventh Brother, Seventh Brother." After a while, Grandpa Seven came out and said, "Why are you back so early today? Just lead the cows in. The house has been cleaned up."
Outside, Xu Ning said to the village chief, "Uncle village chief, what are these people doing? They don't look like they are from our village."
The village chief sighed and said, "They were arranged by higher-ups to come and reform our village."
At this time, Grandpa Qi came out and said, "Let them live here? There is only one room, and there is no kang in that room. If we want to arrange them here, we need to build a kang."
The village chief frowned and said nothing, thinking, the government provides subsidies for the educated youth who come to the countryside to build houses, but there is nothing for those who go to the countryside to renovate. Does the village have to pay for them to build a kang?
Xu Ning whispered to the village chief, "Uncle village chief, the last time I went to the city, I heard from my uncle Jianshe that there was a village in the north where people froze to death in the winter, and the village chief was dismissed. Why not let the Red Army uncle come over and build a kang for them? The money spent will be deducted from their work points next year." Although Xu Ning spoke quietly, everyone around heard it.
Grandpa Qi said to the village chief, "Baoguo, we can't survive the winter without a kang. Look, there is such a small child."
The village chief thought for a while and said, "Tomorrow I will have people bring in bricks to build the kang, and the money will be deducted from your work points."
The original owner's father nodded and said, "Okay, we'll listen to the village chief," and Grandpa Qi led them in.
The village chief and Old Chen returned to the village.
Xu Ning dragged Xu An home. Before they got home, Xu An cried and whispered, "Sister, it's mom and dad and Xiao Mo. Mom and dad and Xiao Mo are here."
Xu Ning's eyes also turned red, and she said to him, "Xiao An, just pretend you don't know us outside, okay? If others find out, we will both go to live in the cowshed, and then we won't be able to take care of our parents and Xiao Mo, and our parents will have to split their attention to take care of us. If no one knows, we can secretly send food to our parents at night, or ask them to come to our place."
Xu An cried and nodded, "I know, sister, I won't tell anyone. I won't talk to my parents outside."
The brother and sister were not in the mood to cook, so Xu Ning took out the egg cake, soaked it in some milk powder, and ate a little each.
Xu Ning wanted to find an opportunity to send them cotton-padded clothes and quilts at night. None of them wore cotton-padded clothes when they came. The three people in the cowshed had seen the behavior of their savior couple during this period, and they thought they should be good people, not the kind of people who meddle in other people's business. They saved the two siblings and were afraid of getting them into trouble.
Grandpa Qi was also a nice person. Sometimes when I passed by the cowshed, I could hear him and Uncle Benefactor talking and laughing. Some time ago, when picking mountain products, a child passed by the cowshed and saw Uncle Benefactor shouting "bad elements". Grandpa Qi scolded them, and then no one dared to shout "bad elements" anymore.
The brother and sister went up the mountain again in the afternoon and prepared more firewood before it snowed. It was not easy to go to the cowshed during the day because there were too many people around. Now every family in the village went up the mountain to chop firewood every day and had to pass by the cowshed. There were also many people at the educated youth site and they had to fetch water several times a day. There were often educated youth washing clothes by the well. No matter how anxious the brother and sister were, they could only wait until night to act.
The brother and sister came back early today. In the past, they had to make two trips back and forth in an afternoon, but today they only made one trip and did not plan to go up the mountain. The sun has not set yet. There are a few unfamiliar educated youth washing clothes by the well in the cowshed. They should be the new educated youth who arrived today. The older educated youth would come to wash clothes at noon when the sun is strong and it is not so cold.
When they reached the door of the cowshed, the brother and sister slowed down their pace and took a look inside. They saw Father Xu and their benefactor uncle cleaning cow dung. Father Xu was wearing an old cotton-padded jacket, which he had seen Grandpa Seven wearing when he was working before. Grandpa Seventh must have given it to him because he saw that none of them were wearing cotton-padded jackets when they came.
When Xu Ning got home, she took out the cotton coats and trousers she had prepared for the others, and put together the beggar smocks she had made, and put a pound of milk powder, a pound of biscuits, and a pound of brown sugar in the clothes. They couldn't go there during the day, so the milk powder and biscuits were for Xiao Mo to eat when he was hungry. Thinking that Xiao Mo didn't have cotton shoes yet, she put some cotton and the scraps of cloth used to sew beggar clothes in the clothes, and wrapped them all together in a bundle.
Hearing Xu An collecting chestnuts picked up from the mountain at the door, she took out a piece of meat from the space and walked to the kitchen, mixed the dough first, and then began to chop the meat. Xu An heard the noise and walked into the kitchen and said, "Sister, are you cooking so early?" Xu Ning said, "I'll make some dumplings and send them to my parents in the evening. Go outside and get a cabbage, wash it, and peel two onions."
When Xu An heard this, he immediately went outside to get some cabbage. By the time he finished wrapping the dumplings, it was almost dark. Xu Ning saw that it was almost time and those who had been chopping wood in the mountains should have returned to the village. It was cold now and the educated youth would not go out to fetch water at night, so she asked Xu An to light the fire while she cooked the dumplings.
Xu Ning carried a large bowl of dumplings, enough for five or six people, and Xu An carried the bundle of cotton-padded clothes. Taking advantage of the moonlight, the two quietly walked towards the cowshed. When they reached the door, Xu An called out softly, "Seventh Grandpa, Seventh Grandpa, I'm Xiao An."
Grandpa Qi was about to come out and lock the door, but when he heard Xu An calling him, he opened the door and saw the brother and sister standing at the door. One of them was holding a basin covered with a cloth, and the other was holding a large bundle. He knew that they were here to deliver something. The brother and sister had delivered something several times during this period. If they didn't accept it, they would just leave the things behind and run away.
He said, "Xu Zhiqing, Xiao An, why are you bringing so many things again? Didn't I tell you not to send them? Take them back quickly, and keep them for your brother and sister." After saying that, he was about to close the door.
Xu Ning hurriedly said, "Grandpa Qi, I see the three people who came today didn't bring cotton clothes. These are what we don't wear. Give them to them. These are the dumplings I made tonight. I'll bring some over to you. Can you let us in?" Grandpa Qi glanced at the two of them, opened the door, and said, "Come in!"
The brother and sister followed Grandpa Qi and walked into the house. The yard of the cowshed was very large. The main house consisted of two adobe houses. One was where Grandpa Qi lived and the other was the kitchen. The three adobe houses on the left were connected and the cows were tied there. The two houses on the right were built two years ago. One was where the benefactor uncle and his wife lived. The door of the other one was open. It was swept very clean and there was nothing inside. It should have been cleaned today and a kang will be built tomorrow.
As soon as the three of them reached the door of the house where the cow lived, they saw Xu's father and the benefactor uncle carrying a bundle of straw each from the backyard. Under the moonlight, Xu Ning couldn't see the expressions on their faces. Xu An ran forward two steps and stopped again. The two people opposite were stunned for a moment when they saw the siblings. Grandpa Qi said from behind, "Come in, it's cold outside." After that, he took the siblings to the kitchen. His father and the benefactor uncle put the grass prepared for the cow to eat in the evening into the cowshed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com