After the brother and sister left, the village head's wife closed the door and saw the things on the table and said, "Old man, do you want to take these things?"
The village chief stared at the things on the table, thought for a while and said, "Take it and take good care of it in the future."
The village head's wife sighed and said, "They are two poor kids. Building two rooms would cost at least a hundred dollars! Can her two kids come up with that much money?"
The village chief looked at his wife without saying anything. He thought about how when the brother and sister first came, Xu Ning said that she looked a bit like 15, and Xu An looked like an eight or nine-year-old, but the note said 13. Judging from their clothes and the luggage they brought, they didn't look like they had to move to the countryside because they couldn't get enough food in the city. They must have been sent to the countryside because something happened at home. With the money sent by the army every month, the two of them should not be short of money to build a house.
I went to a meeting today. The township said that another group of educated youth will come soon. Xu Ning and Xu An should move out. If the educated youths squeeze in, they should be able to accommodate them.
The village chief saw that his wife had packed up her things and said, "Go to bed early. Tomorrow I will go say hello to those skilled house builders and ask them to build Xu Zhiqing's house before the autumn harvest." Then he went into the house.
In a small courtyard in Chengnan County, Zhao Jianshe had just entered the house while pushing his bicycle when he smelled the aroma of meat coming from the kitchen. He parked his bicycle and walked towards the kitchen. Su Hongmei had just served the vegetables from the pot when she saw Zhao Jianshe coming in and said, "Go wash your hands quickly, the meal will be ready soon." Zhao Jianshe said with a smile, "Did you buy meat today?" Then he took the basin and went outside to wash his hands.
Su Hongmei put the food on the table, and Zhao Jianshe came in and asked, "Is your son asleep?" Sun Hongmei said, "He didn't take a nap at noon. I steamed an egg for him in the afternoon, and he ate it and went to sleep."
After Zhao Jianshe sat down and picked up his chopsticks to start eating, Su Hongmei told him about Xu Ning's visit today and mentioned Xu Ning's head injury.
Zhao Jianshe said, "My second brother called me last time and told me that his teacher's two children came to our county to work in the countryside, and asked me to find a reliable place for them. If they come to their house, I will try my best to help. You said he had a head injury, did he tell you how he was injured?"
Sun Hongmei said, "I asked her, and she said that she bumped into it on the edge of the well when she went to fetch water. I asked her if anything happened. She said nothing, she just came to get to know the place." Zhao Jianshe nodded and said, "I will ask for a day off tomorrow and visit Yushu Village the day after tomorrow.
After coming out of the village chief's house, Xu Ning was thinking that Zhao Jianshe should know about her visit today. If nothing unexpected happens, he should come over soon. Otherwise, there would be no need for him to visit her in the future no matter if he had something to do or not.
After leaving the village head's house, the brother and sister headed straight for the educated youth camp. Xu An said excitedly, "Sister, we can really build our own house now." Xu Ning touched his head and said, "Yes! When our house is built, we will each have a room, and sister will cook delicious food for Xiao An every day." Xu An's eyes lit up with excitement.
When they returned to the educated youth center, the other educated youth had already gone to bed. The brother and sister went to the kitchen to boil water, took a bath, and then went back to their rooms to rest.
The next morning, Xu Ning got up at five o'clock. The educated youths in the camp all got up at six o'clock to cook, so she had to prepare the meal before the other educated youths got up.
I went to my own plot and saw two tomatoes were red, so I picked them up and planned to make tomato dumpling soup.
After she finished cooking and washed the pot, Xu An and the three male educated youths also got up. It was their turn to cook today. Seeing that Xu Ning had already cooked, the three of them also got busy.
The kitchen was small, so Xu An and Xu Ning moved the dining table to the yard to eat. They had two large bowls of dumpling soup and one egg each.
Just as they were served, before they had eaten, Lin Qiuhua came out of the door and saw the brother and sister eating in the yard. She glanced at her bowl and paused for a moment before walking back to her private plot. After a while, she came back and pointed at Xu Ning's bowl and asked, "Did you pick the tomatoes?" Xu Ning put the peeled eggs in Xu Qing's bowl and replied slowly, "I picked them, what's the matter?"
Lin Qiuhua said angrily, "Those tomatoes are mine. Why did you pick them?" Xu Ning said, "Aren't the vegetables in the private plots planted by the educated youth? How come they belong to you alone? You are used to eating alone, and you feel so uncomfortable when you don't get to eat them once?"
Lin Qiuhua said angrily, "Who is eating alone? I planted the tomatoes, and I got the tomato seedlings from my aunt in the village."
Xu Ning said, "You planted it, and I watered it. Why can you eat it while we have to watch you eat it? Just because you have a big face and you are ugly." As soon as Xu Ning finished speaking, a chuckle came from the kitchen, and then there was no sound. It must be someone who couldn't help laughing.
Xu An also said, "The vegetables in the private plot are watered by Brother Chen, Brother Sun, Brother Ge, and my sister. You two are eating for free."
Lin Qiuhua pointed at the two siblings, her face turning pale with anger.
Xu Ning continued, "We grow the eggplants, beans, and peppers. Why didn't I see you eat less? Why are you so shameless? Go wash your face and see if you can make it thinner."
Before Xu Ning could finish her words, Lin Qiuhua screamed and threw herself at her. Xu Ning was afraid that she would knock over her food, which she hadn't eaten yet, so she pushed her hard to the side and threw her onto her back. There was a sound of tearing, and Lin Qiuhua's screams stopped. She got up and ran into the house. The brother and sister looked at each other, suppressed their laughter, and lowered their heads to eat. The kitchen became quiet.
When the brother and sister finished their meal and were clearing the table, the village chief and a middle-aged man came over. The brother and sister knew this man, named Chen Hongjun. Everyone who built a kang or a house would ask him to do it. He was a well-known craftsman in the village. The brother and sister hurriedly called out, "Uncle village chief, Uncle Hongjun,"
Three young men also came out of the kitchen to greet the village chief, who nodded to them.
Xu An ran to the kitchen to get the boiled water his sister had prepared, preparing to pour it for the two of them, but was stopped by the village chief, who said, "You just had a meal, you're not thirsty. Go measure your private plot first, and ask your Red Army uncle to take a look at that vacant lot, and you two can discuss how to build it." He then said to the three male educated youth, "Come and take a look too. I'm afraid the boundaries of the land will be measured for you, so you can make a mark." The three male educated youth also followed him to the private plots.
The village chief said to Xu Ning, "You have one mu and four mu of land here. Normally, each of the seven educated youths can get two mu of private plots.
But I went to a meeting at the township yesterday, and the township leader said that a group of educated youth will come to our Yushu Village in the near future, so we can’t divide it this way. We can only give you two siblings a private plot of land each.
Xu Ning nodded after listening to this. According to the plot of the original book, two more batches of educated youth will come to Yushu Village before the New Year. In the next few years, there will be a large number of educated youth going to the countryside, and Yushu Village should not be the least of them.
When they reached the end of Daqing Mountain, the village chief measured two mu of land and marked it. These two mu of land were considered to belong to her and her brother.
The village chief saw that there were only a few beans hanging on the ground and the bean seedlings were almost dry, so he said to Xu Ning, "There are not many vegetables left here. Pull them out, clean up the ground, and plant the cabbage quickly." Xu Ning nodded in agreement.
After the three male educated youths were divided up, they went back to eat. Chen Hongjun looked at the empty land and asked Xu Ning, "Xu Zhiqing, how many rooms do you plan to build?"
Xu Ning said, "Uncle Hongjun, I want to build two rooms. My brother is grown up now! I want to build him a separate room. Do you think two rooms can be built here?" Qin Hongjun looked around, measured the dimensions, and said, "Two rooms are no problem. I can also build you a shed on the right to store firewood, and a toilet in the left corner of the private plot." Xu Ning felt that Chen Hongjun was professional and made proper use of the location. There was a place to store firewood and a toilet. He nodded and said, "Uncle Hongjun, thank you. You have thought of everything. I'll trouble you to worry about it for me." He asked the village chief, "Uncle, do you think I can open a small door here? This way it will be more convenient for me to fetch water." Walking here is half the distance than walking to the educated youth point in front. When the original owner's parents are sent to the cowshed, it will be very convenient for them to move around and no one will notice.
The village chief had no objection, so he nodded in agreement.
Chen Hongjun asked Xu Ning when he planned to start building? Xu Ning said, "Uncle Hongjun, I want to finish building it and move out as soon as possible. Do you think it will be okay in a few days?"
Chen Hongjun said, "Okay, I'll go back and gather everyone, and I'll come over to build it for you tomorrow. Do you want to buy the adobe yourself, or should I bring it over for you?" When I came here, I had heard from the village chief that Xu Zhiqing wanted to move out before the autumn harvest.
Xu Ning said, "Uncle Hongjun, please bring all the adobes to me! I'll give you the money when the time comes." Then he said embarrassedly, "Uncle Hongjun, I have no place to cook for you. How about 80 cents a day?"
Chen Hongjun smiled and said, "We are from the same village, so it is convenient to go home for meals. Eighty cents is not a small amount. Don't worry, uncle will definitely let you live in the new house as soon as possible."
After the house issue was settled, Xu Ning was relieved. He sent the village chief and Chen Hongjun out of the educated youth camp, and several educated youths were ready to go to work.
As soon as she turned around, she saw Lin Qiuhua looking at her viciously. Li Fengjiao stood beside her, also staring at her as if she were an enemy. Xu Ning asked them, "Why, do you want to fight? Let's go and find a more spacious place, otherwise I can't move." Xu An immediately stood beside Xu Ning with a stick. Li Fengjiao and Lin Qiuhua looked unhappy, snorted and went to work. Xu Ning said, "Little guy, I'll beat you so hard that your legs won't break." Xu An followed from the side and said, "I'll beat you so hard that your legs won't break."
The three male educated youth also went to work while holding back their smiles. Xu An was also preparing to go out to collect grass for the pigs with his backpack. Xu Ning asked him to wait a moment, wrapped two egg cakes in oil paper and put them in his backpack, put four White Rabbit milk candies in his pocket, and filled the kettle with boiling water, asking him to hold it and drink when he was thirsty.
If you eat breakfast early, there are still several hours before lunch, and children will get hungry easily.
Xu Ning's head hasn't recovered yet, so she doesn't have to go to work. She's thinking about her private plot at the back. She's going to pull the beans on it and dig them out to plant cabbage. She needs to prepare more vegetables. After the autumn harvest, the original owner's parents and younger brother will all come over, so she has to prepare winter vegetables for five people. The winter here is long, and there are few green vegetables in her space, only some dried vegetables.
Xu Ning first soaked a handful of black fungus from the space, planning to make dumplings stuffed with leeks, eggs and black fungus at noon. She added water to the pot, took two handfuls of mung beans from the space, and slowly boiled the mung bean soup over low heat. Then she went to the backyard to pull bean seedlings.
After the bean vines were pulled, the mung bean soup in the pot was ready. It was placed in a basin and put in a water tank to cool down. When Xu An came back, he would be able to drink the cool mung bean soup. Xu Ning thought it was still too early to cook, so he went back to digging the ground.
Just as Xu Ning finished wrapping the dumplings, Xu An came back. Seeing the dumplings on the table, his eyes sparkled. He took a basin and went to wash his hands and face. When he sat down, Xu Ning scooped him a bowl of mung bean soup. When he finished the mung bean soup, the dumplings were out of the pot, so Xu An scooped him a big bowl.
Xu An burst into tears before he finished eating a dumpling. Xu Ning hurried over to ask, "What's wrong, Xiao An? Did you burn your mouth?" Xu An cried, "Sister, I miss my parents and brother Xiao Mo." Xu Ning also shed tears and hugged him to comfort him, "It's okay, mom and dad will be fine."
Xu Ning waited for him to stop crying and then fetched some water to wipe his face. He then pulled him to sit down and eat. Xu An blushed and felt embarrassed. He buried his head in the bowl and started eating.
After the two of them finished eating, they quickly cleaned up the kitchen. The educated youth were about to get off work. Xu An was cutting grass for pigs. He could come back when he had cut enough grass, so he could get off work early every day.
After the brother and sister had finished cleaning up, the educated youth came back and Xu Ning took him to see the private plot at the back. Xu An was about to dig with a hoe, but Xu Ning pulled him aside and said, "It's hot now, don't dig. I'll do it in the afternoon." She then told him where to build a house and where to build a toilet. Xu An was so happy that he jumped up and down on the land. Xu Ning was afraid that he would get heatstroke, so she took him back to rest.
When Xu An went to cut grass for the pigs in the afternoon, Xu Ning gave him a kettle full of mung bean soup and asked him to drink more water. She also packed two egg cakes for him. Xu An said to Xu Ning, "Sister, I gave one of the egg cakes this morning to Jianmin. Jianmin used to give me steamed corn bread."
Jianmin is the youngest son of Uncle Dashuan, and is about the same age as Xu An. They cut grass for pigs together every day and have a good relationship.
Xu An smiled and said to him, "Sister gave it to you. You can share it with whoever you want. Come to sister for more after you finish eating. Go!" Xu An ran away happily with the basket on his back.
When Xu An got off work, Xu Ning had already finished digging the private plot. The brother and sister ate the half bowl of dumplings left over from the morning and prepared to rest early as they would start building the house tomorrow.
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