After returning to Shuihuai Village, they had to spend two days cleaning up and then return to their daily work.
Cheng Rushan went home to rent a tractor and took Jiang Xinglei, Shang Zonghui and others to help the brick kiln factory transport some coal and sand. Then he went out with Dai Guohua. This time they were going to another province and would come back next month.
After he left, Jiang Lin continued to go to the brick kiln factory.
The brick kiln factory is busy day and night. Some people are constantly digging earth and sifting soil and mud, some are making bricks, and some are responsible for drying them. After they are dried, they can be loaded into the kiln for firing and sold directly after they are fired.
The brick kiln factory is not big, and she does not need to do everything herself. Each part has a dedicated person in charge, so her job is relatively easy.
She asked Jiang Xinglei to follow Shang Zonghui and not to rush to make bricks, but to familiarize himself with each part first and know how each brick and tile are made from beginning to end.
At the beginning, Jiang Xinglei was full of confidence, but after a week, he was so tired that he felt dizzy and his steps were unsteady.
"Sister, can I have one day off a week?"
Jiang Lin: "Rest? Ask Shang Zonghui if he has had any rest since he started working?"
Jiang Xinglei was about to cry, but he had to force himself to keep running with Shang Zonghui despite his aching body.
They are the same age, but Shang Zonghui is even shorter than him, but he is as strong as a calf and seems to never get tired.
He still wanted to cheat, but unfortunately he had no choice since he was here. If he didn't do his job well, he would have no food to eat! Want to sneak back to the city? Sorry, I don’t have a penny and can’t buy a ticket.
Shang Zonghui told Jiang Lin that Jiang Xinglei cried secretly several times, but when he asked, Jiang Xinglei said that his eyes were blurry, or that he was so tired that he cried and he didn't even know it! ! !
Jiang Lin just smiled and said, "It's normal to be tired. If you're not tired, why would I ask you to come here?" Even if you are not tired, I will still give you more workload.
Half a month later, the brick kiln factory's technology matured, production became more and more regular, and everyone was adept at it.
Jiang Lin convened a meeting of key personnel and decided to add three more kilns, making a total of six kilns.
Now is the slack season for farmers but it is not yet the cold winter when water freezes into ice. It is a good time to concentrate labor and stockpile more bricks and tiles. During the busy farming season next year, production will be reduced and all able-bodied laborers will have to go farming.
At this time of year in previous years, men would hang out and chat with nothing to do, and many would get together to play poker and gamble for money. Although they had no money, it did not stop them from having fun. The worst that could happen was that they would have to pay back with food or something else. The brigade cadres could not stop them from doing so despite repeated prohibitions. Even many cadres themselves like this. After all, human beings are born with an interest in gambling. Even if they think it is wrong and they will make mistakes, they can't help it.
Now that there are brick kilns, men can earn at least one dollar a day by working there. Many people have started to become active and instead of gambling, they work as laborers to earn money. Those who are strong can make a lot of money by making bricks, and those who are less strong can also make money by digging and sifting soil and mud. Even some strong women dig soil and mud and can earn more than some men.
Now, there are no idle men in the village all day long, as they all go out to work and earn money.
So after the brick kiln was built, both men and women were happy, and the brigade cadres were also happy. Even if someone from above came to inspect, the members and team leaders would take the initiative to help say this and that, and the bottom line is - there is absolutely no problem with our brick kiln!
Business is booming now. The names of people from our village who want to buy bricks and tiles have already filled up a large piece of paper, and the names of people from other villages have also filled up two pieces of paper. We are just waiting for the bricks to be fired in the kilns and taken home.
Of course, some problems will arise from time to time. The biggest one is interpersonal relationships. Everyone wants to work, but there is not enough space for so many people. So some people wanted to rely on backdoors and connections, such as relatives of the team leader, relatives of the commune cadres, etc.
Because of this matter, Cheng Yulian and the old lady of the merchant family offended a lot of people, because when Jiang Lin set up the factory, she told several key members that they and their team had the final say in terms of hiring, and the others would supervise.
Mrs. Shang knew how to live a sensible life. Cheng Yulian had experience as a women's director and could handle women, so she was naturally not afraid of dealing with men who sought connections.
If you want to work in a brick kiln factory, you can, but you need to take an assessment first. If people have doubts about his character and have solid evidence, then it cannot be used. If you don't want to work and just want to cheat and get paid, then I'm sorry, we don't support idlers here. As for others, as long as they are willing to work hard and do their job, they don’t need to use any connections, just come and get the job.
In this way, there will be no problem in selecting people, as those selected will be strong and willing to work. Those who are lazy and slack can only vent their anger in the village or be jealous in the surrounding areas, but they can't do anything.
Some people also wanted to follow suit, but unfortunately the brigade refused to approve it. One in a brigade is enough, and if there are more, there will be fights. Besides, to get soil from the mountain behind, one brick kiln is enough, and more than that will not work. Moreover, the brick kiln factory now also pays dividends to the team, and they also have a certain amount of bricks and tiles to approve. They have both money and face, so naturally there will be no more trouble.
This was done by others first, so you who came later to join in the fun should just cool down first. Don't rush in and make the team feel troublesome.
After Sun Qinghui and others came back, Jiang Lin directly asked them to participate. They didn't need to make bricks, but were responsible for accounting. Because the members come to help, they are paid by piece, and they are recorded according to how much work they do. The person who keeps the accounts must either have prestige or be well educated, otherwise the accountants will not accept the result and will feel that the accounts are under-recorded.
After stabilizing the brick kiln factory, Jiang Lin had an easier time. She only needed to supervise it every day to see if there were any problems that needed her solution. She would go home for lunch at noon and go to the brigade's embroidery point in the afternoon.
She also designed some new patterns, which she described as paintings by Cheng Yunzhi. She found that Cheng Yunzhi had a very good cultural foundation. Not only was he good at calligraphy, he also had a certain level of attainment in Chinese painting.
So she asked Cheng Yunzhi to help draw the pattern, and Yan Runzhi led the skillful women in the village to do the work. After the work was done, Yan Runzhi and Shang Lao Po were responsible for checking. The good ones would be kept, and the bad ones would be redone or have their money deducted.
The women were embroidering here, while Cheng Yunzhi was in charge of the brigade's red education class, teaching Wensheng, Dabao, Xiaobao and several other children to read, learn to read and tell stories.
Such a fulfilling and busy day passed quickly, and I went home around five in the afternoon to prepare dinner.
Dabao and Xiaobao were arguing about a new story they had made up, which was about Dongsheng taking Linlin out to do transportation.
Dabao meant that they caught the thief who stole the goods, beat him up, and sent him to the police station.
Xiaobao meant that they should pick up a little sister now and bring her home for Dabao and Xiaobao to play with.
After much arguing, Dabao changed the story to that they caught an alien thief, and Xiaobao changed it to that they caught a little dinosaur girl, whose name was Baosheng.
Jiang Lin: “...you guys..." The story is really based on reality, but it’s not this realistic, right? Are children’s stories inseparable from the people around them? She looked at Yan Runzhi.
Yan Runzhi smiled and said, "Dongsheng also made up stories when he was a child, such as building a house, marrying a wife, singing about the moon, and climbing mountains. It was really fun."
Jiang Lin couldn't help but shiver. Other people's stories might be stories, but Dongsheng's stories were probably all related to horror. Yan Runzhi didn't seem to think of it, and instead hummed softly.
"The red moon is rising, the yellow moon is shedding tears, the blue moon is losing its hair..."
Jiang Lin: “…” Stop singing, it’s even more creepy.
Wensheng put his big hand around Jiang Lin's shoulders and said, "Mom, are you cold?"
Jiang Lin: "That's right. It's the beginning of winter and it hasn't snowed yet, but it's already getting cold."
Vincent pulled her arm and said, "Run faster, you won't feel cold if you run."
As soon as they started running, Dabao and Xiaobao would chase after them, imitating the words "big dinosaurs" and "big bad wolves", making humming and ah-ah sounds in coordination with the sound of the wind and footsteps.
When they got home, Vincent took the initiative to ask Dabao and Xiaobao to wash their hands and faces. The two little brothers went to the city and became more sensible but also more naughty. If you said anything to them, they would refute you with reasons and evidence.
At this time, Wensheng dealt with them with one sentence, "If you don't listen, I won't let you call me mother."
The two little brothers immediately lowered their heads and obeyed the orders, because it was obviously their mother.
After washing, the children played with the radio. Because there is no electricity in the village, they can only use batteries. In order to save electricity, Dabao and Xiaobao only listen to a few interesting programs. Although I can receive some foreign stations, I can't understand them and have to give up.
During this period, Jiang Lin also paid attention to the news on the radio. On the day they came back from the provincial capital, the Central Radio Station issued an instruction that the group of four had been arrested. After that, all kinds of criticisms began to be made. These news were played on the radio every day. Even the songs and storytelling that Dabao and Xiaobao liked to listen to became less and less popular. They were so angry that they turned off the radio to save electricity.
Recently, we have started playing songs and storytelling programs. They like listening to them very much. After listening, they tell them to other children. Now they are the directors of the children's story club in Shuihuai Village.
The two of them did not retell the story directly, but instead processed it in a certain way. They added more scenes to the characters they liked and tortured the ones they disliked, and they were able to express themselves freely. They are still young and don’t have a deep understanding of the story. A lot of the content is specious. It becomes particularly fun when you interpret it with children’s thinking.
For example, when they heard the opera "Breaking up a couple in love" on the radio, the two brothers muttered to each other for a while and understood it to mean beating up ducks and geese. It can also be changed to beating up roe deer, especially silly roe deer!
Listening to the two brothers telling stories and whispering, Jiang Lin felt like she could laugh like a fool.
Yan Runzhi and Cheng Yunzhi were preparing dinner. There were not many fresh leafy vegetables in the local vegetable garden at this time of year. In winter, we either eat lentils and dried eggplants dried in autumn, or cabbage, tofu, radishes, carrots, and pumpkins.
Most people, even if they cook cabbage in salt water, don’t eat it every day. They eat it once every few days. The rest of the time they cook sweet potatoes, any kind of sweet potato. Because there is no work in the winter, it would be a waste to eat dry food, so sweet potatoes are the main crop.
Nowadays, those who go to work in a brick kiln factory cannot go hungry. If they don’t have the strength to do the work, they won’t make any money.
Yan Runzhi made a dish of cabbage and tofu, with a few slices of bacon inside, steamed pumpkin on top, and stewed eggs with green onions. Now there are always eggs at home, and Jiang Lin doesn't exchange them for money but keeps them for eating.
At around six o'clock after dinner, Jiang Xinglei came back from outside dragging his tired body.
As soon as he entered the door, he smelled the delicious aroma of bacon stewed with cabbage and tofu, and immediately perked up, "Aunt, you are so nice. Everything you cook smells so good."
Yan Runzhi felt sympathy for him, seeing that he was a handsome young man of about 17 or 18 years old, and looked so exhausted that he had no desire to live every day. "Then you should eat more and eat your fill. I cut a few more slices of bacon."
Jiang Xinglei said with a smirk, "Aunt, can I call you mother? You are closer to me than my own mother." At least you are much closer than my own sister.
Yan Runzhi smiled and said, "As long as you are happy, you can call me whatever you want. We don't care about that in our family."
We used to follow rules, but what was the result? So, what are the rules? It’s good to live happily.
Jiang Lin rolled her eyes at Jiang Xinglei and said, "Remember to read after dinner."
Jiang Xinglei: "!!! Why should I read books?" His sister was really torturing him. She took him to the countryside and brought back all the books he used to read in school. He thought they were prepared for Dabao and Xiaobao, but she didn't expect him to read them!
Jiang Lin: "Meng Yiyi is working hard, how can I fall behind? Besides, I praised you a lot in my letters to my parents."
She will take the college entrance examination next year. She is still young, so of course she has to give it a try. Jiang Xinglei can't escape either.
But she was too lazy to pick up the knowledge points she had learned when she was a child, so she had to urge Jiang Xinglei to study hard. Let him sort out all the knowledge points, and after he has sorted them out, he can explain them to her.
Jiang Xinglei: "Then study." He really cried, "Sister, dear sister, please stop torturing me, okay? I graduated and went to the countryside. It's bad enough that I can't get a job in a factory, but you still humiliate me and ask me to study. What's the point of studying?"
Jiang Lin: "Is there no exam required to enter the factory? If you don't study, what are you going to take the exam for? You're not expecting mom to retire and let you take over, are you?"
"No." Jiang Xinglei hung his head: "And my second brother."
"Then you should study hard." Jiang Lin smirked, "If you fall into my hands and don't obey me, I will starve you."
Jiang Xinglei: "Devil Lin."
Wensheng was unhappy: "Don't say bad things about my mother, my mother is the best."
Jiang Xinglei: "I was wrong, Bodhisattva Lin."
Wensheng: "Mom, I will supervise his study, don't worry, if he doesn't learn well, I will beat his hands!"
Jiang Lin patted his arm happily, "Vincent is awesome, thank you."
Dabao: "I can teach you to recite Tang poetry."
Xiaobao: "I can teach you how to write the size of the population, the middle and the lower hand..."
Jiang Xinglei: “…” I want to die, anyone of you can bully me.
Fortunately, Yan Runzhi's loving meals warmed his cold heart. It was just ordinary cabbage and tofu, but how could it be so delicious? The cabbage was sweet and the tofu had a full texture, which made people feel particularly satisfied when eating it. Coupled with the fragrant and salty bacon, it really soothed his broken heart.
After dinner, they had to move around as usual to help digest the food, and Jiang Lin couldn't let Jiang Xinglei go and gin cotton.
The brigade divided this year's cotton among three people, and picked cotton in the fall and directly gave them the dried cotton seeds. Each person received five kilograms of lint cotton, a total of 15 kilograms. The seed cotton was given in the ratio of 3 kilograms of lint cotton to 10 kilograms of seed cotton, and an additional three kilograms of seed cotton was given as labor subsidy.
If you press it out yourself, you can retain the cotton seeds and get more lint cotton. But you still have to fluff the cotton yourself before you can use it to stuff quilts and cotton-padded jackets.
Jiang Xinglei took 5 kilograms of cotton to the brigade custodian to borrow a cotton gin.
Even with a manual cotton gin, it wouldn't take much time to gin 5 kilograms of cotton, about the same time as walking. After ginning, he would take it home and gin another 5 kilograms next time.
Jiang Lin was already waiting for him, supervising him to read, "Don't waste time, you have to light a lamp to read at night, and this costs money."
Jiang Xinglei: "Then why don't you let me read during the day?"
Jiang Lin: "Okay, I'll read during the day and make bricks at night, which will save fuel."
Jiang Xinglei: “I read a book.”
Making bricks at night would tire me out.
Jiang Lin took a shower and wanted to wash her underwear, but she couldn't find the vest she had changed out of in the morning. Sometimes the kang was too hot at night and she would sweat all over when she slept, so she would get up early to change her vest and put it in the yard outside the bathroom before leaving, thinking of washing it when she came back in the evening. She quietly asked Yan Runzhi if she had received the wrong thing.
Yan Runzhi: "I didn't see it when I put away the clothes tonight." She asked which one.
Jiang Lin told her that the one made of fine white cotton cloth was sewn by Yan Runzhi. There were a few small cherries and cherry blossoms embroidered on the collar. It was very beautiful and Cheng Rushan liked it very much.
Yan Runzhi: "Could it have been blown away by the wind? Let's go and look for it."
The local wind is very strong during this season, and it is possible that your clothes will be blown away if they are not caught.
They went out to look for it but couldn't find it. The location of their yard was quite unique. There were no neighbors outside the east and west walls. To the west were some poplar, willow, and elm trees. To the east was a small open space where they could dry things. There were houses further ahead.
Vincent immediately became nervous, "Did someone steal it?"
But the house was fine, the door locks were fine, nothing was lost, and the other clothes hanging in the yard were not lost either. Besides, she didn't keep much money at home, all of it was kept in the county credit union, so no one could steal it.
Besides, now that Cheng Rushan goes home regularly, she doesn’t think anyone would dare to steal things.
But her vest was indeed missing! Could it be that a pervert stole it?
The next day, Jiang Lin asked the children playing on the street, and they all said they didn't see anyone. Now all the men and strong women go to work in the brick kilns, the older children go to school, and the younger children go to the red education classes. When the weather gets cold, the old women don't stay outside, and those who are skillful go to the brigade to embroider, so there are really not many people hanging around.
Jiang Lin and her family looked around and found that nothing else was missing. They thought that maybe they didn't know where to put it. This is what happened when they had too many things. They couldn't find them when they looked for them, and they didn't know when they would come out.
After a few days, when Jiang Lin had collected enough embroidery work, she rode her bicycle to the county town, handed the embroidery works to Tao Zhen, and settled the money for the previous batch.
Tao Zhen had an embroidered scarf wrapped around her head. She looked very happy and her temper improved a lot. Even if someone cut in line, she no longer yelled at him.
Jiang Lin waited until she was free before going over and asked with a smile, "Have you taken any secret medicine recently? How come you look so much prettier?"
Tao Zhen was originally a pretty girl, but she had a bad temper and seemed a little fierce. In fact, it was her bad temper that she developed day after day at work. Although it was a good job and everyone envied her, due to the nature of her job, she always had to deal with various members who were anxious and short of tickets and money and were easily irritable, so she became irritable.
She felt like she was going crazy having to repeat meaningless questions hundreds of times every day.
But now she was dressed beautifully, and people who came to buy cloth looked at her first, with admiration for her beauty in their eyes, which made her feel good, and she didn't care even if the other party made some stupid mistakes.
She smiled and touched the handkerchief on her head: "It looks good, doesn't it? Let me tell you, a lot of people have bought it recently. You don't know, they all say that black leather shoes, white socks, and Dacron handkerchiefs are must-haves for girls. The city supply and marketing cooperative came down to buy them, and they all want them."
Especially after those few people were brought down a while ago, the political environment has relaxed its suppression of culture a lot. People with culture and aesthetic sense are like grass growing in cracks in rocks. They immediately come out to absorb sunlight and take in beautiful things.
Even if the colors were all gray, blue and black before, beautiful women would find ways to make a red or green plaid pattern, or wear a red sweater inside, or dye the gloves yellow or red. Anyway, they always wanted to be different from others.
Now that someone was selling such beautiful embroidered vests, handkerchiefs, school bags, and cloth shoes, they immediately spread the word and came to find them.
"I made the decision and raised the price by five cents. Anyway, people who want to buy will buy it no matter how much higher it is, and people who don't want to buy it won't buy it even if you make it cheaper. So I might as well sell it as a high-end product." Tao Zhen was very proud.
Because it is not available anywhere else and she is the only one who has it, she thinks that promoting it as a precious and rare good thing can not only increase the price but also improve its quality.
Jiang Lin smiled, "Tao Zhen, you are a natural salesperson, and you are getting better and better. The grandmas in our village are all grateful to you for making money from malted milk."
The old ladies naturally didn't know about Tao Zhen's existence, but hearing this made Tao Zhen even happier.
She took Jiang Lin in her arms and chatted with her for a while, and at the end she did not forget to sell some of the internal goods she had stockpiled to Jiang Lin. In the past, she would save the money and take it back to do favors for others, but later she found that most of the people who did favors for her were not grateful to her, and instead found fault with her. So she simply kept it for Jiang Lin, and could even exchange it for money.
Jiang Lin told her about the radio again.
When the policy becomes more relaxed in the future, she can ask her elder and second brothers to assemble more radios of different models, which will then become popular items in the countryside.
Tao Zhen was pleasantly surprised: "Radio? Jiang Lin, how come you are so amazing?"
Jiang Lin smiled and said, "My brothers are so good. My eldest brother graduated from the provincial university."
Tao Zhen's eyes immediately lit up: "The college students back then were so great." She also looked down on the workers, peasants and soldiers students nowadays, curled her lips and whispered: "What are you so proud of? Most of them got in through the backdoor. They didn't even have a junior high school education but went to college. When they graduated, they knew nothing and were assigned to be cadres. It's really infuriating."
Jiang Lin said: "Some people go there based on their own abilities. Anyway, if there is a chance, we will go too."
"Where is the opportunity? I need recommendation from my unit." Tao Zhen pouted.
In fact, she was just feeling unfair. She herself was not qualified to go to the school, but she felt particularly unbalanced because there were people who were worse off than her who went there.
Jiang Lin talked to Tao Zhen and then said goodbye and went home.
When she arrived at the village entrance, she didn't go home, but rode her bike directly to the commune's slaughterhouse to get meat.
She usually takes three pounds of meat at the beginning of the month, one pound at the end of the month, and another pound in the middle. This is a more comfortable life than that of a captain.
Zhu Junjie was not here today, so he asked others to give her some broken bones in addition to a pound of meat, so that she could go back and make soup and noodles.
In the countryside, lard and fatty meat are the most popular, while lean meat is so-so. Offal and ribs can also be sold, but bones are despised by the members. Even though they were cheap, the members were not willing to buy bones because making bone soup required more firewood, and firewood was not easy to come by in the countryside. Therefore, the bones are usually handled and divided by internal personnel, or taken back by themselves, or used as favors.
Of course, meat is not available every day. It depends on the day when the commune slaughters pigs. Zhu Junjie would keep Jiang Lin’s things for her.
Jiang Lin also spent some money to buy some pork liver, took it home to cook it and dip it in mashed garlic, so that adults and children could eat it to replenish their nutrition.
She hung the meat on the handlebars and rode home. When she arrived at the entrance of Shuihuai Village, a large green truck came from the opposite direction.
Jiang Lin recognized them immediately, stopped her bike and waved to them.
Cheng Rushan braked immediately when he saw Jiang Lin, opened the door and jumped out. Looking at the pork hanging on the handlebar, he laughed, "My wife is getting better and better. She knew we would be back today."
Jiang Lin smiled and said, "It's just a coincidence that you ran into me buying meat." She went to greet Dai Guohua, "Brother Dai, it's getting late. Let's eat first."
Dai Guohua did not refuse. He was familiar with the place and did not need any guidance. He just turned into the village and parked his car.
Cheng Rushan pushed the bicycle and took her home. Wensheng, Dabao and Xiaobao had already heard the truck horn and ran out from the team together.
Dai Guohua jumped out of the car and, imitating Cheng Rushan's behavior, picked up Dabao and Xiaobao at once, holding one in each arm, and had a great time.
Wensheng followed Cheng Rushan, took the bicycle and said to Jiang Lin, "Mom, I'll take you out for a ride." He got on the bicycle and carried Jiang Lin on his back as they circled around the truck.
Dabao, Xiaobao and Wensheng were laughing happily, so innocent and romantic. Jiang Lin was infected by them and became like a child too. She felt she was getting younger and younger.
This time, Dai Guohua and Cheng Rushan brought back some rice, some specialties from neighboring provinces, and some coal and charcoal for heating in winter. Dai Guohua jumped into the car and took it down, while Cheng Rushan and Wensheng carried it back home. The coal was packed in wicker baskets and we went to the brigade to borrow a wheelbarrow to push it home. The rest were covered with oilcloth on the car, and no one needed to watch it. No one in Shuihuai Village dared to steal Cheng Rushan’s things.
Yan Runzhi and Cheng Yunzhi prepared to cook and help entertain the guests.
Dai Guohua smiled and said, "Uncle, aunt, just make something casual, no need to be particular."
Yan Runzhi: "Bao'er's mother planned for your return, so she went to buy some meat. Farmers have simple meals, so there's no need to be picky. I'll make sure you're full."
Steam a small pot of fresh rice. Yan Runzhi learned the technique of steaming rice from Xu Aimei in the provincial capital. Now she also likes to make it. After getting used to it, she thinks it tastes good when paired with white flour.
Wensheng rode his bicycle with Dabao and Xiaobao to call Jiang Xinglei back for dinner.
Jiang Xinglei sometimes couldn't get home for lunch, so he worked at the brick kiln factory with Shang Zonghui. Today, when his brother-in-law came back, Jiang Lin asked him and Shang Zonghui to come over to improve the situation.
As soon as he got home, Jiang Xinglei went to thank Dai Guohua and Cheng Rushan.
"Brother Dai, brother-in-law, you came back just in time. If you were two days later..."
Dai Guohua laughed and looked at the strong young man in front of him, feeling that labor is really a training for people. When he came, he was a fair and handsome young man, but now he is covered in dust and dirt. However, his eyes are brighter and his body is very strong. Unlike before when he was jumping around as if there was a spring on his legs, he is now much more stable.
Jiang Xinglei: "Brother-in-law, if I stay here any longer, you may not be able to afford my meals. I will eat you out of money."
Cheng Rushan said calmly: "Don't worry, we are already poor, we won't get even poorer."
Jiang Xinglei really wanted to hug his brother-in-law and beg him to take her back.
Shang Zonghui laughed, "Jiang Xinglei is very capable now. He can do anything."
Jiang Lin: "How many bricks do you make in a day?"
Jiang Xinglei: "Sister, even if we don't talk about making bricks, we are still siblings."
Jiang Lin: “Haha.”
Dabao and Xiaobao were eating the chocolate beans that Cheng Rushan bought for them. In fact, they were not real chocolate beans, but peanuts coated with a thin layer of sugar! So expensive!
Cheng Rushan also whispered to Jiang Lin: "This has less sugar, so it won't damage their teeth, so you don't have to worry about them eating too much sugar."
Jiang Lin: "But it's so expensive. Why not make some syrup and roast some peanuts and wrap them yourself?"
Cheng Rushan: "But... they all hope that Dad can bring back gifts when he goes away."
Every time Cheng Rushan goes out, Dabao and Xiaobao are particularly looking forward to it. Guess what daddy will bring back next time? After going into the city, they also started calling me dad.
Jiang Lin: "Okay."
Cheng Rushan whispered in his ear with a smile: "I also brought you a gift."
Jiang Lin turned her head to look at him. Why did she feel that he had some ill intentions?
Dabao and Xiaobao reported to Cheng Rushan on their study progress during this period, and also took the opportunity to make fun of their uncle.
Yan Runzhi rolled out some small pancakes, cut the pork belly into thin slices and marinated it with appropriate seasonings. Then she stir-fried it in a pan to release the oil, put it on a plate, cut the scallions into segments, prepared the sauce, and ate the roasted pork belly directly with thin pancakes.
In addition, we steamed a small pot of white rice and stewed a thousand-piece radish with lard. The whole family ate it hot around the table.
Although there was no concept of drunk driving at that time, Jiang Lin still instilled in them the idea that they should not drink and drive. She didn't want them to get into any car accidents because of drinking, or even hit someone or hurt themselves!
"It's not that I don't allow you to drink, but you need to keep your head clear when driving." She said to Dai Guohua, "If you stay, you can drink as much as you want."
Dai Guohua smiled and said, "If my sister-in-law says she doesn't want to drink, then we won't drink."
In fact, he didn't take it seriously. At that time, there was no driver who didn't drink. Even in the middle of winter, having a few sips would warm him up.
Cheng Rushan said to Dai Guohua: "My wife said you have to listen to her and drink as much as you want when you are not driving."
Dai Guohua looked like he had given up. "Okay, I'll remember. I won't be perfunctory. I won't drink if I'm driving."
Everybody laughed.
Yan Runzhi also said: "I think people are more relaxed after drinking and tend to dance. So, even if you are not drunk, you are not suitable to drive."
Dai Guohua quickly agreed and stated seriously that he really would not drink and drive, so Cheng Rushan let him go.
After dinner, Dai Guohua went to the brick kiln factory to buy some bricks and tiles to repair his own walls and roof.
At night, of course, the couple had their own indescribable moments...
The next day, Cheng Rushan also went to the brick kiln to make bricks, and dissed his brother-in-law by the way to avoid him bothering him all day long.
Wensheng also went over to help make bricks and encouraged Jiang Xinglei, "Look, brother-in-law, it's not that tiring. Just work hard and don't let my mother down, okay?"
Jiang Xinglei rolled his eyes and said, "You call me brother-in-law, and you call my sister mother."
Wensheng: "Leilei, come on, hehe."
Jiang Xinglei: “…” You should just call me brother-in-law.
While the men were working in the brick kiln, Jiang Lin took Dabao and Xiaobao to the mountain to dig some soil, pick up some southern snake vine roots, and collect some familiar herbs to prepare for Cheng Rushan.
It was almost noon and Dabao and Xiaobao were hungry. The men were still working, so Jiang Lin took the two brothers home first.
Unfortunately, the bicycle was flat, and the air pump was at home, so she asked Cheng Rushan and the others to push the bicycle back when they went home, and she took Dabao and Xiaobao home on foot.
Jiang Lin held one of their children's hands each, and the three of them walked home chatting and laughing.
She asked, "What have you learned recently?"
Dabao: "The smoke rises straight up from the desert, and the sun sets over the long river!"
Jiang Lin: "The title, the dynasty, the author, none of them can be left out."
Xiaobao laughed: "Mom, what is it?"
Jiang Lin: "Of course I know. I'm testing you now."
The two children just laughed and forgot what their grandma said that they should not laugh at their own mother.
Jiang Lin felt that she urgently needed to study so that she would not be laughed at by her son and would not have the confidence to look down on her brother. It would be better to let Jiang Xinglei sort out the mathematics aspects while she picks up the Chinese recitation aspects first. Of course, at this time the exam will not test Tang poetry and Song lyrics, but the poems of leaders, some ancient Chinese, as well as vocabulary and grammar.
She thought it was not difficult and she could handle it if she studied hard.
"Come on, mom will study with you guys at home. Let's check in every day and see who makes the fastest progress!"
Dabao and Xiaobao prefer to make up stories and are not very keen on studying, so Jiang Lin also wants to set a good example for them, and the three of them work hard together. Even if you like to make up stories, if you know more, the stories you make will be more exciting, right?
Dabao and Xiaobao felt that what their mother said was right and they decided to work hard with her.
When I reached an intersection, I suddenly heard a fierce dog barking. They looked towards the alley entrance on the left and saw a big black dog dragging an iron chain and growling at a local dog. The local dog was so scared that it dared not move.
The big black dog had its ears erect, its teeth bared, its canine fangs showing, and a ferocious look that was quite scary to look at. Moreover, it has thin legs, a long waist, shiny fur, and a drooping tail. It is obvious at first glance that it is not an ordinary local dog.
Suddenly the dog barked wildly at Jiang Lin, and its ferocious and cold eyes stared at Jiang Lin. At that moment, it seemed as if all the blood in her body was frozen.
She is most afraid of this kind of big dog!
When she was a child, she followed her parents to Hou Nainai Village. There was a big wolf dog in the village. For some reason, the dog broke free from the rope and ran out. She happened to pass by, and the dog jumped up and knocked her to the ground. If the owner had not chased her out in time, her neck would have been bitten off. From then on, I was traumatized by this and my legs would go weak when I saw a ferocious big dog.
She immediately led Dabao and Xiaobao and walked away quickly.
The boy from the local dog's family ran out and saw his dog being bullied, so he took a stick to beat the black dog.
"Roar--" The big black dog jumped up, dragging the iron chain, and pounced on the boy.
"Wow——" The boy was so scared that he cried and shouted, and hit his son with a stick.
When their grandparents heard the noise, they ran out and chased the big black dog away.
Because Jiang Lin had encountered the dog before, she didn't have the mood to say anything, so she took Dabao and Xiaobao home quickly.
"Where did that big dog come from!" A cry of surprise came from behind. An old woman and a child were getting grass at the door, and they saw the ferocious big black dog rushing out, dragging an iron chain and howling. They were so scared that they shouted and retreated back home, fearing that they would be bitten by the dog.
The big black dog seemed to know Jiang Lin and chased after her, Dabao and Xiaobao.
An old woman quickly warned them, "Dog! Dog!"
Jiang Lin turned around and found that the big dog was running towards them. Her heart was pounding, and she pulled Dabao and Xiaobao and ran.
After all, Dabao and Xiaobao are young. Xiaobao was so scared that his face turned pale, and his feet seemed to be stuck to the ground and he couldn't move. He was dragged by Jiang Lin and almost fell down.
Jiang Lin immediately picked them up and ran, but she was not as fast as the big dog and was about to be caught up.
If the dog hadn't been dragging the chain and tripped by something, slowing down its speed, it would have caught up in a few seconds.
Jiang Lin heard the swish sound of iron chains getting closer and closer from behind, and her heart was about to jump out of her chest. She saw a stick pressed down by the haystack next to her with her peripheral vision. She immediately turned around and pushed Dabao and Xiaobao to the side of the haystack, then picked up the stick and swung it backwards.
Just then, the big dog jumped up and opened its mouth to bite her neck, but Jiang Lin hit it with the stick.
The big dog was knocked to the ground by the stick, and it rushed over again, howling. Jiang Lin then hit it with the stick.
Dabao immediately went to pick up stones and threw them at the dog, "I'm going to beat you to death, I'm going to beat you to death!"
Although Xiaobao was trembling with fear, seeing his mother and Dabao beating the dog, he also went to pick up stones for Dabao.
Two old ladies came over with sticks and brooms, "Whose big dog is this? Hurry up and chase it away. It's frightening me to death!"
Generally, dogs bite people when the person is not prepared. If the person has weapons to resist, they will basically retreat. Those that attack people head-on are basically trained vicious dogs.
When the big dog saw that there were so many of them, it growled softly, backed away and turned away.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Lin hurried to comfort the children, but Xiaobao was still trying hard to pick up stones for Dabao to throw at the dog.
Suddenly, the big dog that was leaving turned in another direction and pounced towards Xiaobao along the wall.
"Oh my--" an old woman saw it and screamed in fear, watching the big dog pounce on Xiaobao.
"Xiaobao——" Jiang Lin subconsciously rushed towards Xiaobao.
She never knew she could run so fast. She threw herself on the ground with her whole body to protect Xiaobao.
The big dog opened its mouth and bit towards her. Jiang Lin saw its sharp teeth dripping with saliva and heard its heavy breathing, but she couldn't move immediately after she rushed over.
Just a moment.
"Mom—" As the dog pounced forward and opened its mouth, Dabao grabbed the chain and pulled it back with all his might.
The two old women’s first thought was “don’t try to pull the chain, the dog will turn around and bite you”, but they automatically rushed over to help Dabao pull the chain.
The big dog was about to bite its prey, but someone grabbed the chain. It growled and rushed forward. Dabao and the two old women could hardly hold it back.
Jiang Lin recovered her breath, endured the pain in her elbow, quickly propped herself up, took the stone from Xiaobao's arms and threw it at the dog's head, hitting it on the nose. The big dog screamed in pain and suddenly broke free and ran away.
Jiang Lin suddenly lost all his strength and fell to the ground. Over there, Dabao and the two old women also sat down on the ground, still in shock, and patted their chests.
Xiao Bao had been protected in Jiang Lin's arms. He came out and held Jiang Lin's face, "Mom, the bad dog ran away."
Jiang Lin didn't respond.
Dabao came running over, "Mom, mom, what's wrong with you?"
He saw Jiang Lin sitting on the ground without looking at them, and suddenly became afraid.
The two old ladies also came over quickly, "This is terrible! This is scary."
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