Xu Ning waited until the pancakes were cooked and the bones were stewed, then he took out the vegetables in a basin and put the pancakes in a small basket. The three of them were sitting there, preparing to eat when they heard Sun Hao shout, "Xu Zhiqing, come here and get your remittance slip."
After hearing this, Xu Ning stood at the door and responded to Sun Hao who was standing behind the Youth League House.
He went back to the house and got a big bowl. He scooped a spoonful of meat and a spoonful of blood sausage, covered them with a layer of pickled cabbage, and took three cakes from the basket and a pair of chopsticks.
Xu An asked, "Sister, you have to take it to the Youth League House to eat!"
"No, it's already past one o'clock and the weather is so cold. The postman must not have eaten yet. I'll bring him a bowl of food so that he can fill his stomach first. You two can eat first. You don't have to wait for me." After saying that, he took the food and pancakes to the Youth League Home.
When Xu Ning arrived, the postman was warming up in Sun Hao's room. When he saw Xu Ning, he gave her the remittance slip and the letter and asked her to sign in the book. Now the remittance slip must be signed by the recipient.
After Xu Ning signed the letter, he said to the postman, "Uncle, thank you for delivering it to me in such a cold weather. I guess you haven't eaten yet. I just cooked a bowl of food for you. Please fill your stomach first."
After saying that, he handed the dishes and pancakes to the postman.
The postman waved his hands and said, "No, no, I'll go back and eat. You can take it back quickly."
After saying that, he planned to walk out. Nowadays, rations are fixed and people generally won't eat other people's food.
Xu Ning pulled him and advised, "Uncle, it's not a good thing. It's just to fill your stomach and warm you up. Don't be polite. Eat it quickly or it will get cold." Sun Hao and the other two also advised him to eat before leaving.
The postman was persuaded by several people and took the dishes and pancakes from Xu Ning with embarrassment. Chen Xiangdong asked him to sit at the table and eat.
Wei Lanlan and Yang Xiaomei from the next room heard her coming and came out of the house. Xu Ning asked them if they wanted to go buy pears in the afternoon.
Wei Lanlan asked, "Where can I buy it?"
Xu Ning said, "It's the brigade next door. Many people in the village go there to buy pears in the afternoon. The pears there are very sweet. I bought 50 kilograms last year."
"Then I'll go buy some too," Wei Lanlan said, and then asked the people next to her if they wanted to go.
Several people said that they would go together in the afternoon. Several other educated youths in the Youth League also heard about it, and it eventually developed into a situation where all the educated youths in the Youth League had to go to the next brigade to buy pears in the afternoon.
The postman was eating alone in Sun Hao's room. After he finished eating the pickled cabbage on top, he saw that there was meat and blood sausage underneath. He was stunned for a moment.
I turned my head to look at the little girl who was talking to some educated youth outside. My heart warmed up. I lowered my head and continued to eat. After finishing a big bowl of vegetables and three pancakes, I felt a lot warmer.
He took the bowl and chopsticks out to wash them. Xu Ning saw them and took them away and said, "Uncle, I'll take them back and wash them later. You should go back soon. It looks like it's going to snow."
The postman looked at her and said, "Xu Zhiqing, thank you," and then took out food coupons and money from his pocket.
Xu Ning quickly pushed his hand back and said, "Uncle, what are you doing? It's so cold, and you brought me a letter, so I treated you to a meal. You also gave me money, but take it back now," and then he ran away with the bowl.
Wei Lanlan smiled and advised him, "Uncle, Xu Zhiqing won't take your money. Go back quickly. It's so cold." The postman had no choice but to put the money and ticket in his pocket and rode away on his bike.
When Xu Ning came home and saw that the two hadn't eaten yet, he asked, "Why aren't you two eating? Didn't I tell you to eat first?"
Xu Mo said, "Sister, we want to wait for you to eat together. It tastes better when we eat together."
When Xu An saw his sister coming back, he quickly took out the dishes that were hot in the pot, and the three of them sat around the table and started eating happily.
Xu An said while eating, "Sister, why are you bringing food to that postman uncle! Isn't it his job to deliver mail to us?"
Xu Ning smiled and said, "Xiao An, for the same job, it also depends on whether the person doing it is dedicated. Do you know that? Every time I go to the post office to withdraw money, I will encounter people who have lost remittance slips and letters. Do you know how many remittance slips and letters the post office loses every year? In order to save some postage, some people will put money and tickets in the letters. Where do you think these lost letters go?
Look at the letters and remittance slips sent by our eldest brother, Brother Lu, and Sister Xiaoran. When have they ever been less? Even if there is no remittance slip, but only a separate letter, the uncle will deliver it to us specially, and he will never leave it for us at the village committee in order to save the trip. Do you think his intention is worth me serving him a bowl of food? How many pancakes do you want? Xiao An, it won't do us any harm if we are kind to others within our ability. ”
Xu An thought for a moment and said, "Sister, why did you give him so much meat? Wouldn't that let him know that we have plenty of meat to eat?"
Xu Ning asked, "Who knows best how much money we receive every month?"
Xu An thought for a moment and said, "Uncle postman?"
"Yes, it's the postman. We have so much money sent by my brother every month. It's too conspicuous here. We have to let others know that we have used it all. We also have to go hungry every month. Next time the postman comes to deliver the letter, you should ask him if he has our remittance slip? Just say that I have used up all the money and have been hungry for several days. You should also tell others this in the village, okay?"
Xu An suddenly realized, "This way the postman will know that the thirty yuan we receive every month is spent on buying meat with you."
Xu Ning smiled and said, "Xiao An is really smart, but I served him the dishes and pancakes out of my sincere gratitude. If it were someone more irresponsible, I would only let him know that we ate the meat, but would never give it to him." After saying that, the three siblings all laughed.
After dinner, Xu An went to school. Xu Ning sent Xu Mo to the cowshed, and took her big backpack and tied it to the back seat of the car. She asked Grandpa Qi to put some hay in it. She had no experience last year, and many of the pears she bought were rotten.
This time she plans to put a layer of pears on a layer of hay so that they won't rot. She plans to buy 100 kilograms this year. Since she can't finish hauling them in one trip, she will have to make two trips.
Xu Ning couldn't go with the people from the Youth Hostel on her bicycle, so she asked them to wait at the entrance of the village for the aunts from the village to go together.
It took Xu Ning two trips to bring back 100 kilograms of pears.
After returning, they took out yesterday's pork to make bacon. One of the pork was left in the cowshed. After dinner last night, Father Xu and Father Lu brought this one over.
She brought 20 kilograms for Grandpa Wang today, and Zhao Jianshe and Su Hongying's family brought 2 kilograms. In addition to the pig's head and internal organs, there were still about 180 kilograms.
Yesterday, her father and Uncle Lu had already chopped the meat into small pieces. She just applied some salt on it. She didn't marinate all of it, but left a few dozen pounds, planning to roast it into jerky and send it to Xu Yang and Lu Xiaotang.
After dinner, the three siblings sat on the kang and read letters. The remittance slips were from Lu Xiaotang. There were two letters, one from Lu Xiaotang and the other from Lu Xiaoran.
Now Lu Xiaoran also writes a letter every month, most of which are written to Xu Ning. Last month, he also sent 20 yuan.
Xu Ning knew that she earned only a few dollars a month as a teacher there, and it was all recorded as work points. When he wrote back to her, he told her not to send money anymore, as the money was enough. She and Xu An were still young, and it was not safe for them to receive so much money every month.
Xu An opened Lu Xiaotang's letter. There were several tickets in the letter. He handed the tickets to Xu Ning.
Xu Ning took it and saw that there were industrial coupons, cloth coupons, sugar coupons, and three pounds of wool coupons.
Everyone in the family has a sweater, including Xu Yang. Why not ask Aunt Lu to knit him a sweater out of Sanjin?
Lu Xiaotang's letter was still only half a page. In it he said that he had received the things you sent him, and asked him not to send him anything in the future and to keep the things for himself. He said that there was everything in the army, and finally he asked how his whole family was.
Xu Ning thought, I told you not to send money, but you still send money every month.
Lu Xiaoran's letter was much more sentimental than her brother's, and it was filled with two large pages.
She said she couldn't come to visit them this year and expressed her longing for them and gratitude to Xu Ning.
After the three siblings finished reading the letter, Xu Ning saw that it was getting late, so he decided to show the letter to Uncle Lu and Aunt Lu tomorrow.
Ever since Lu Xiaoran wrote to Uncle Lu and Aunt Lu for the first time, they would not let Xu Ning take the letter anymore. They just let Xu Ning read it and tell them about it. They never wrote to their two children.
The same thing happened to Xu's father and mother. They wrote a few words to Xu Yang to let him know they were safe when they first arrived in Yushu Village, and then they never wrote to Xu Yang again.
Xu Ning would always take the letter over and wait for them to finish reading it before bringing it back. Even though he couldn't see the person, just reading the words was a comfort.
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