Chapter 21 Taotao's Family's New Life
Yan Naqian was very unhappy.
The postman came to the village to deliver letters. Everyone else received letters from family or friends, even Song Zhi, but she didn't.
She couldn't understand why Song Sui didn't reply to her letter?
Just, so angry!
But she rolled her eyes, picked up Song Zhi's letter and studied it carefully.
I don’t know who wrote the letter to Song Zhi. It’s a thin letter, maybe there’s just a piece of letter paper inside? The sender's address on the envelope was written as "Address not specified", but judging from the postmark, the letter was sent from Kyoto.
——Song Sui and his adoptive father Song Xi are in Nandu, so this letter was definitely not sent by Song Sui or Song Xi. It is possible that it was sent by Song Zhi’s friend in Kyoto.
Who could have written the letter to Song Zhi? What did the letter say?
The more Yan Naqian thought about it, the more curious she became.
As if possessed by a ghost, she quietly grasped Song Zhi's letter, ran into her dormitory, closed all the curtains, got on the bed, pulled the quilt to cover herself, then reached for the flashlight next to the pillow and turned it on.
In an absolutely dark environment, the light of the flashlight appears particularly dazzling.
Yan Naqian lay flat on her back, holding the letter in one hand and shining a flashlight on it in the other. Through the white envelope, she could vaguely see the contents written on the letter paper.
Of course, this is also because the person who wrote the letter to Song Zhi did not write many words in the first place.
[Song Zhi: Hello to my letter!] I'm already processing your transfer order back to Beijing. This matter is extremely urgent. PS: Please send your reply to your wife, or call me directly. 】
The signature is the word "Huang".
Yan Naqian looked at each blurry word carefully, over and over again.
Until the light of the flashlight dazzled her eyes.
She turned off the flashlight, sat up, and began to breathe heavily.
——Song Zhi is about to return to Kyoto? sky! He had been in Ruyi Village for less than a month, and yet... he was about to return to Beijing? !
Yan Naqian felt uncontrollable jealousy and anger in her heart.
It has been almost two years since she came to this small mountain village where she couldn't even afford to eat. The longer she stayed, the slimmer her hope of returning to the city became, and the more urgent her desire to return became.
The problem is that she really seems to have no way out.
Now even Song Sui ignores her...
Yan Naqian bit her lip.
There was a fire burning in her heart.
It was the anger of having no hope of returning to the city, and also the jealousy of Song Zhi being able to return to the city.
Suddenly, another thought popped up in her mind - since Song Zhi was the only person she had met who had hope of returning to the city, was it possible for her to marry Song Zhi so that she could return to the city with him?
This idea began to grow wildly in Yan Naqian's mind.
She quietly put Song Zhi's letter back into the letter basket, and then began to think about how to get close to Song Zhi.
Yan Naqian feels that her success rate is quite high.
——Song Zhi was her savior, saving her from the contamination of the white shit pit. So she had a legitimate reason to approach him and "repay the favor" to him.
——She is the most beautiful girl in the village...well, okay, maybe Bai Taotao is more beautiful than her, but Bai Taotao is a fool! There was no reason for Song Zhi not to like the beautiful and cultured city girl.
——She and Song Zhi were both educated youth from the city, so they should have more common topics.
——Song Zhi was isolated by Jiang Hongzhi. If she showed kindness to Song Zhi, cared about him and paid attention to him at this time... wouldn't it be easy to capture him?
Yan Naqian smiled proudly.
While returning the letter, she accidentally glanced at the attendance board of educated youth posted on the wall and found that Song Zhi was on vacation today?
Ah, that's good news!
Song Zhi is on vacation today, and she doesn't have to go to work either. Most of the villagers go to work, so it's a good opportunity to get close to Song Zhi!
Yan Naqian happily went to look for Song Zhi, but after looking around, she found that Song Zhi was not in the village?
Later, I asked someone and found out that Song Zhi went to town today.
Yan Naqian was a little discouraged.
On second thought, I might as well wait for Song Zhi to come back.
She was even a little secretly happy: Song Zhi went to town, he must be going to buy something, right? Then, why not let her create an encounter? Maybe after chatting with him for a few minutes, he would give her something?
So Yan Naqian ran to the kitchen to ask for some rice washing water.
——In such a remote and poor place, relying on just a bottle of vanishing cream for skin care is not enough!
When Yan Naqian was still living in the city, her family could drink fresh milk. So she would save a small sip of milk every day and apply it on her face, and sometimes she would use egg white as a facial mask.
Now……
Only rice water can be used.
In the Youth League Station, everyone takes turns cooking, and the one responsible for cooking today is Jia Xiaohong.
Did you see Yan Naqian rummaging around as soon as she entered the room?
Jia Xiaohong snorted coldly, "Young Madam, do you want to eat egg custard again?"
Yan Naqian said with a stern face: "Don't say that!" If someone with ulterior motives heard it and labeled her a "capitalist", she would be finished!
Jia Xiaohong said sarcastically, "You weren't like this before. You were so happy when I called you Madam! You even laughed at me for not knowing what egg custard was. What? Are you scared now?"
Yan Naqian bit her lower lip and vaguely heard someone coming towards the kitchen? She immediately burst into tears and said, "Xiaohong, we are all proletarian brothers and sisters, why do you have to target me like this?"
As soon as Yan Naqian finished speaking, Jiang Hongzhi stepped into the kitchen and heard this. He got angry and said, "Jia Xiaohong, you are an intellectual after all. Why do you target your proletarian brothers and sisters every day?"
Jia Xiaohong, "I..."
Jiang Hongzhi ignored Jia Xiaohong and supported Yan Naqian, "Didn't you say you were not feeling well? Why are you out again? Come on, I'll take you back to your room to rest..." Then he shouted without turning his head, "Jia Xiaohong! Make a bowl of egg custard for Naqian!"
Yan Naqian's eyes were full of light, and she said to Jiang Hongzhi shyly, "Hongzhi, thank you." Then she said to Jia Xiaohong, "Xiaohong, please bring the rice washing water to my room later."
Jia Xiaohong's nose was crooked with anger.
At lunch time, Yan Naqian ate some tender egg custard, washed her face with rice water, applied some facial mask, and then went to have a nice nap.
Jiang Hongzhi, who was hiding in the next room, was opening the letter sent by his mother.
Last time he wrote to his mother asking for money, he should have received the remittance slip today, but why didn’t he receive the remittance slip and only a letter?
Surprised, he opened the envelope and saw two sheets of letter paper inside.
One was a handwritten note from my mother, with only a few words in large, very sloppy handwriting. The letter paper was even scratched by the tip of the pen. It was obvious that my mother was very excited and angry when she wrote it.
[Do you like this kind of thing?] 】
Jiang Hongzhi was stunned.
Then he suspiciously opened another piece of letter.
The entire piece of letter paper was filled with eloquent writing, and the handwriting was neat and beautiful, but the content was a bit strange as it had no beginning or end. The more Jiang Hongzhi read, the more confused he became. Suddenly, he remembered that this seemed to be Yan Na's handwriting?
He took another notebook, opened it and checked the handwriting -
This notebook contains thirty poems handwritten by Yan Naqian. It is a birthday gift from Yan Naqian to Jiang Hongzhi.
As a result, he compared the letter paper with the poetry notebook... and was sure that the letter paper covered with beautiful small characters was indeed written by Yan Naqian!
Take a closer look...
The paper was filled with affectionate words, all of which were Yan Naqian acting coquettishly towards a person named "A Sui".
She talked about how she was bullied in Ruyi Village, how much she missed this "A Sui", and how she and "A Sui" had a romantic relationship in the past. She also talked about how the head of the Youth Educator Station in Ruyi Village was a bandit and bully, and how he pursued the pitiful girl, and how much she hated this ugly and smelly head of the Youth Educator Station...
Jiang Hongzhi was so angry that he couldn't catch his breath and almost passed out!
——He is the director of the Ruyi Village Youth League Station!
He still held Yan Naqian in his hands and doted on her, unwilling to let her suffer the slightest grievance, but he didn't expect that she would actually -
Jiang Hongzhi was so angry that he walked out of the dormitory with a gloomy face, grabbing the letter paper, and wanted to confront Yan Naqian, but suddenly stopped.
How do you explain how Yan Naqian's letter ended up in his mother's hands?
——Opening other people’s letters privately is the most despicable behavior that the educated youth look down upon the most.
Jiang Hongzhi suppressed his anger and went back to the room.
He wrote a reply to his mother, asking her how she got Yan Naqian's letter...
But I still can't help being angry.
No matter how his mother got the letter from Yan Naqian, the content on the letter was definitely written by Yan Naqian!
When work started in the afternoon, Jiang Hongzhi still couldn't swallow his anger. When the educated youths gathered for roll call, Jia Xiaohong was asked to wake Yan Naqian up, called her over, and said to everyone, "Okay, everyone is here, let's go! Let's go to work!"
Yan Naqian was half asleep when she was suddenly dragged out by Jia Xiaohong. She still couldn't tell east from west, south from north, but she said very gently, "I, I still feel a little uncomfortable and dizzy. You guys go..."
After that, she decided to go back to the dormitory to catch up on some sleep.
Jiang Hongzhi said coldly: "Naqian, what's wrong with you? Do you want me to accompany you to the hospital for a physical examination to see if you have an incurable disease?"
Everyone was stunned.
Yan Naqian was extremely shocked, her clear eyes were filled with disbelief, "Hongzhi, you..."
Jiang Hongzhi glanced and saw the record of Song Zhi's leave on the attendance sheet hanging on the wall. Without thinking, he put a big hat on Song Zhi, "Even Song Zhi asked, why do you ask for leave every day? He is a newcomer and he has such thoughts. If I continue to favor you, it will disappoint other comrades!"
"Na Qian, we educated youth went to the countryside to work, not to enjoy life! If you are sick, go see a doctor. You can't always use illness as an excuse to refuse labor reform! Otherwise, we can't always make special arrangements for you alone, right? We must take into account the feelings of other proletarian brothers and sisters! Isn't that right, comrades? Come on, hurry up, let's go to work together!"
Jiang Hongzhi left after he finished speaking.
Yan Naqian bit her lip, feeling a hundred percent disbelief and ten thousand percent unwillingness in her heart.
Jia Xiaohong pulled her into the team without saying anything, and went to the fields with everyone to work.
For the whole afternoon, no one paid any attention to Yan Naqian because Jiang Hongzhi's attitude towards her had changed. Yan Naqian was watched closely by Jia Xiaohong and had no chance to escape. She had to bask in the sun for an entire afternoon and peel edamame for an entire afternoon. Her nails ached and she cried out of anger.
However, Yan Naqian was still thinking about Song Zhi who had gone to the town.
After dinner, she simply went to the intersection of Bai Zhenggan's house and waited.
——When Song Zhi comes back, he will definitely take this route.
Unexpectedly, after waiting for so long, it was actually dark? It was getting dark, Yan Naqian was scared and wanted to leave, but she was unwilling to do so. I don't know what happened to the people at the Youth League Station today. They treated her like this! So she can't leave now!
Yan Naqian thought calmly and felt that Jiang Hongzhi's attitude towards her was too strange. She had to find a new backup as soon as possible.
Furthermore, maybe she would chat with Song Zhi for a while, and Song Zhi, who had just returned from shopping in the town, would give her something... Then she could go to the Youth League Station to show off and regain her reputation as a goddess!
So she suppressed her fear and continued to wait.
Finally, someone came panting. In the dim light of the stars and the moon, she saw that the person was Song Zhi, and he was carrying an extremely large bag? ? ?
Yan Naqian was excited. She took a deep breath quickly, adjusted her tone, and called out in the most shy and gentle tone, "Brother Song Zhi——"
As a result, Song Zhi walked away with his bag, as if he didn't see her.
Yan Naqian:? ? ?
——Is he deaf or blind?
Just because of the big bag he was carrying, Yan Naqian quickly chased after him and called him more than ten times!
But he ignored her, pretending she didn't exist, and walked faster and farther away?
Yan Naqian panicked and wanted to chase after him, but she stepped on a small stone and fell down!
"Brother Song Zhi! Save me, save me——"
Unexpectedly, Song Zhi seemed to run faster?
Yan Naqian was stunned!
——What is going on? How could Song Zhi be such a person? Obviously, clearly on the first day he arrived in Ruyi Village, he bravely rescued her from the clutches of Bai Shikeng. Now she has fallen down and she also needs his help. Why did he just... run away without paying a blind eye?
Yan Naqian lay on the ground and cried for a long time, but no one came to help her out of her suffering.
In the end, she could only get up by herself, crying, and limping back to the educated youth station.
No one at the educated youth station paid any attention to her.
There were four people living in the female dormitory. Jia Xiaohong was there too, but she ignored Yan Naqian. She was sitting on her bunk and mending a piece of men's clothing. Judging from the style, it looked like Jiang Hongzhi's.
Yan Naqian looked at him for a few more times, and Jia Xiaohong yelled at her, "What are you looking at! What's so good about it!"
The female educated youth sleeping on the upper bunk patted the bed board and said, "Xiaohong, keep your voice down. I want to sleep."
Jia Xiaohong apologized immediately, "I'm sorry, Sister Liqin." Her tone was particularly gentle and sincere. However, when he turned around, he glared at Yan Naqian fiercely again.
Yan Naqian cursed inwardly that the person was crazy, turned around to wash up, then sat at the desk, took out the key, opened the padlock on the drawer, prepared to apply some cold cream, and have a good sleep.
Suddenly saw a piece of letter paper in the drawer?
Looking again, oh, isn't this the letter she wrote to Song Sui? Why are you here? !
Yan Naqian was a little flustered. Just as she picked up the letter paper——
"Na Qian, what's wrong with you? Why... did you come back so late? When you came back, your hair was messy and your clothes were dirty. Who did you make an appointment with? Did you go to the cornfield?" Jia Xiaohong suddenly asked.
"Don't talk nonsense!" Yan Naqian said in a low voice, quickly put away the letter, smeared some cold cream on her face, locked the drawer and climbed onto the bed.
She lay in bed for a long time, unable to sleep.
Sometimes she wondered if Bai Xingxing made a mistake when she helped her mail the letter, and sometimes she wondered if the piece of letter paper was the draft of the letter she had written to Song Sui before... But there were many people in the dormitory at the moment, and she couldn't open the drawer to look for the draft. After all, there were a lot of bad things about Jiang Hongzhi written on it, and it would be terrible if someone saw it.
Little did she know that Jia Xiaohong saw all of Yan Naqian's reactions.
——After dinner today, Jiang Hongzhi came to ask her for help in mending clothes, and also told her to pay special attention to Yan Naqian's reaction after she opened the drawer.
Are you angry or feeling guilty?
Jia Xiaohong observed carefully and came to the conclusion: Yan Naqian was guilty! And he came back so late, there must be something fishy! So she made up her mind to tell Jiang Hongzhi everything the next day.
It was late at night, but Yan Naqian still couldn't sleep.
She thought about Jiang Hongzhi's ridicule of her today and the contempt of the educated youth for her; then she thought about Song Zhi's letter and wondered who would find a way to transfer him back to Beijing. Finally, she made up her mind -
She must take down Song Zhi within a month!
But pursuing Song Zhi is not an easy task.
The next day, Yan Naqian took Song Zhi's letter and ran to him, "Brother Song Zhi, this is your letter."
As soon as Song Zhi saw the words on the envelope, he knew it was written by Professor Huang. Looking at the date on the postmark again, he knew what Professor Huang had written without even reading it. It was simply: Come back quickly, these projects cannot be done without you.
Considering that he had just spoken to Professor Huang on the phone yesterday, Song Zhi was not interested in the contents of the letter. He said "thank you" to Yan Naqian politely but distantly, and stuffed the letter into his pocket.
Yan Naqian: So why is he so indifferent about returning to the city? Does this prove that he is too powerful and can return to the city as long as he wants?
Yan Naqian looked at Song Zhi even more eagerly.
But before she could figure out how to approach him and find out his preferences, she suddenly heard that Song Zhi was going to be a blacksmith? And he proposed it himself?
Yan Naqian was too shocked: Isn’t Song Zhi going back to the city soon? How come he became a blacksmith? Besides, for a scholar and an intellectual, being forced to do farm work and farming is one thing, but being a blacksmith is so shameful! Did he ask for it actively?
The people in Ruyi Village were also shocked.
There is a reason why Ruyi Village and the neighboring Jixiang Village, two large villages with a total population of seven or eight hundred people, only have Bai Zhenggan as a blacksmith.
——Not everyone can swing that hammer.
——Not everyone can stand working as a blacksmith in such hot weather.
——Not everyone can bear this hardship.
However, when the educated youth Song Zhi took off his white shirt, put on a leather apron with his upper body bare, everyone realized that this handsome and elegant young man actually had a body full of strong and bulging muscles!
Bai Zhenggan also came of course. He sat on a chair nearby and taught Song Zhi how to deal with damaged farm tools in front of everyone.
Song Zhi nodded and followed the master's instructions. He lit the furnace, fetched water to soak the vat, then threw the broken farm tools into the furnace to quench them until they turned red. He then put them on the forging table and started hammering them.
Of course his movements were clumsy and unfamiliar.
But after half a morning, he had repaired a pickaxe head.
Bai Zhenggan and the villagers watched it together.
"I'm working on it. I think Song Zhiqing's cooking skills are pretty good!"
"This is what I did on my first forging. Of course I can do this!"
"Song Zhiqing is a scholar, I didn't expect him to be so strong!"
"That's great! The hoes in our team have been broken for a long time and now they can be repaired!"
"Song Zhiqing, thank you for your hard work and help us fix the farm tools!"
Everyone praised Song Zhi's work.
Yan Naqian was in mixed feelings.
She wanted to get close to Song Zhi, but there were always people going to the blacksmith shop to look for him, and she didn't have much time to look for him - she didn't know what was wrong with Jiang Hongzhi recently, and he had no regard for her at all. He cancelled the shared work points system and forced her to go to work every day. Now if Yan Naqian didn't go to work, she wouldn't even have anything to eat!
Finally she found an opportunity and hurried to the blacksmith shop, but saw Bai Taotao, the silly girl of Bai Zhenggan, entering the shop first with a small basket.
Song Zhi smiled and said something to the little fool, then pointed to the side. Seeing the little fool nodded, he put down the big hammer, picked up the little fool, and put him on the tall cabinet beside him? !
Yan Naqian was extremely shocked!
Song Zhi! And that little fool...is there really anything going on? What a fool!
Then, Yan Naqian saw the little fool sitting on the high cabinet, swinging his legs, taking something out of the small basket and stuffing it into his mouth to eat, and occasionally putting a few into Song Zhi's mouth? ? ?
Song Zhi continued to forge iron.
The two of them smiled and said something to each other...
After about ten minutes, the little fool kicked her legs and asked Song Zhi to carry her down.
This time, Song Zhi did not put down the hammer, but picked up the little fool with his left hand. The little fool fed him a few more... I don’t know if they were wild fruits or something, and then left.
As soon as he ran out of the blacksmith shop, the little fool seemed to remember something, turned around and ran back, pointing at his head at Song Zhi.
Song Zhi laughed so hard that he reached out and touched the little fool's head and said something very gently.
The little fool then ran away happily with the basket.
Yan Naqian was struck by lightning!
——Was the person she just saw really Song Zhi?
So he can laugh? He is not taciturn, he is even... gentle and patient. Is it because the target is Bai Taotao? Bai Taotao is a fool? He treats Bai Taotao as a three-year-old child, right?
right! It must be like this! ! !
Yan Naqian warned herself like this.
After thinking about it, she moved closer and called him in a sweet and timid voice, "Brother Song Zhi——"
Song Zhi's face was gloomy and he ignored her.
It was as if the person who was talking and laughing with Bai Taotao just now was not him at all.
Yan Naqian felt a little embarrassed.
She comforted herself: He was talking and laughing with the little fool because he was living in the little fool's home and was quite familiar with them. So she has to get in touch with him more...
"Brother Song Zhi, why didn't you respond to me when I called you that night?" Yan Naqian asked aggrievedly.
Song Zhili ignored her.
Yan Naqian: ...
It seems that he doesn't like this topic?
Yan Naqian immediately changed the topic, which she thought was very safe, "Brother Song Zhi, have you written a letter to Uncle Song or A Sui?"
Song Zhi's face became increasingly gloomy and he said nothing.
In fact, Yan Naqian was not clear about the relationship between the three sons of the Song family. She only knew that Song Zhi had been staying in the capital. Compared to Nandu, where the material conditions and living environment are not as good, Yan Naqian thinks that Song Xi let Song Zhi stay in Kyoto because he loves his biological son and wants to give him better conditions.
Seeing that he didn't respond, Yan Naqian had to continue, "Brother Song Zhi, you know, Song Sui always talked to me about you, and he said..."
“Sizzle—”
Song Zhi threw the forged reddish pure iron farm tool into the water tank, making a loud sound.
Yan Naqian was shocked!
Yan Naqian has already noticed that Song Zhi seems a little... dissatisfied with her?
While there was no one around, she boldly said, "Brother Song Zhi, are you......"
"roll."
Song Zhi said coldly.
He hated young women who always looked for trouble, talked for nothing, and didn't say what they had directly when they had something to say.
Yan Naqian was stunned and filled with shame and anger, "Brother Song Zhi, why are you——"
Song Zhi suddenly turned around and glared at Yan Naqian.
Yan Naqian was so frightened that she stepped back and turned and ran away.
Song Zhi got the peace and quiet he wished for.
==
However, after the Bai family split up, the eldest family moved into a new house and cooked for themselves. They no longer had to worry about Chen Juxiang, Li Cui'er and others, and the family lived a happier and happier life.
Although the food was still not enough, it was enough because of the ingenuity of the women in the family.
For example, in the past, everyone had two liquid meals and one dry meal for three meals a day. Whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner, beans should be added to the staple food and wild vegetables should be added to the dishes.
Now, the mother and daughter discussed: Since beans have to be mixed into three meals a day, why not eat liquid food in the morning, pure bean rice at noon, and dry rice in the evening?
Just do it when you think of it!
But pure bean rice is really not delicious.
My mother and her friends tried to make jelly with red beans and mung beans. The production process of bean jelly is almost the same. First, soak the beans, then add water to grind them into paste. Wrap the paste with gauze, wash and knead it vigorously, and separate the bean dregs and soy milk water.
Bean dregs can be mixed with homemade bean paste, steamed in a pot, and used as a side dish for porridge.
After the ground soy milk water is left alone for a few hours, the water and starch will automatically separate. Then boil water in a pot, add starch, alkali powder and salt, and simmer over low heat while stirring. The mixture is ready when the water becomes thick and transparent.
Let the cooked paste cool and solidify, cut it into long strips and put it in a bowl, then pour the homemade garlic chili sauce on it and sprinkle some balsamic vinegar and sesame oil on it...
Not to mention how delicious it is!
So, the Bai family’s menu recipe was changed.
Breakfast is thick red bean porridge or mung bean porridge, with bean dregs mixed with sauce and a boiled sweet potato for each person.
For lunch, there is plenty of red bean jelly or mung bean jelly, and usually a big pot of wild vegetable soup is cooked. After everyone finishes eating the jelly, they drink two big bowls of vegetable soup... It is so filling that it makes people feel extremely happy!
For dinner, everyone can have a big bowl of fragrant and hot white rice, usually with one half-meat dish, one fully vegetarian stir-fried dish and a soup.
Most families in Ruyi Village cannot afford meat.
Taotao’s family can’t eat it either.
However, Urian had given Bai Zhenggan many gifts before, including bacon, sausages, and cooked lard.
In addition, after the first and second sons of the family moved out of the ancestral house over there, they went up the mountain together to set traps - this was actually something that everyone in the village knew tacitly.
Bai Dongsheng and his two cousins from the second branch would take turns going up the mountain in the middle of the night to check for traps. If they caught anything, the two families would split the spoils in half. Of course, there were not harvests every day. Occasionally, she would pick up a rabbit, pheasant or something like that. Tang Liren would clean up the prey and put some in the dishes every two or three days to add a little meaty flavor to the vegetarian dishes.
Life is not yet prosperous, and we cannot afford to eat meat every day, but at least we don’t have to see annoying people all day long, and unpleasant things always happen... Everyone is very happy.
On this day, Taotao went out with a small basket.
She has been doing well recently, she is eloquent and often makes people speechless. Every night when Song Zhi assesses everyone's learning progress, Taotao is either first or second. Her parents and family members are therefore somewhat relieved about her and allow her to go out by herself, but they strictly forbid her to be more than 200 steps away from home, and also require her that as long as her family calls her, she must agree -
Otherwise, if she breaks the rules, she won’t be allowed to go out next time.
Taotao is very well behaved and cherishes the opportunity to go out.
But you can’t be more than two hundred steps away from home?
it's out of the question.
Taotao was very smart and often ran to find Song Zhi.
——The place where Song Zhi worked as a blacksmith was five hundred meters away from her home. She often walked around the blacksmith shop, with the shop as the center. In this way, once her family finds out that she has violated the rules, she will push Song Zhi out as a shield.
Same thing today.
Taotao first ran to the blacksmith shop, said hello to Song Zhi, and then pretended to play nearby for a while. When she saw some villagers coming to talk to Song Zhi, she quietly slipped away.
Not for any other reason, because Little Grape told her that there was a place a little far away from the village, which was both remote and desolate, as if humans called that piece of land a mass grave? There are so many potatoes hidden underground near the mass grave!
Little Grape explained that there weren't that many potatoes originally, but no one had taken care of the land for 20 or 30 years, and gradually, the few potatoes in the land grew more and more...
Taotao wants to go and take a look.
After many twists and turns, she finally found the wasteland, and then she actually dug out a bunch of potatoes at the place where Little Grape said!
Taotao took another close look at the dead vines covering the ground and understood - most of the potato seedlings on the surface were dead, and even those that were not dead were covered by other weeds. In addition, there was a mass grave not far away, so it was no wonder that everyone didn't dare to come here.
She happily put the bunch of potatoes into her basket, made a mark nearby, and quickly ran home.
As a result, halfway through the journey, Taotao saw the flustered and silly Xingxing?
Taotao knew it—something went wrong! It must be that her family couldn’t find her, so they sent Xingxing to look for her!
She quickly hid beside the cornfield, and with a "swoosh" she slipped in and lay on the ground. After Xing Xing ran over, she was about to leave quickly——
Suddenly, I heard a man and a woman walking out from the depths of the cornfield, still talking.
The woman said, "You are really good at judging people! You chose her at first sight! Humph, in this village, which young man doesn't like her!" Her tone was sour.
The man laughed, "Oh, are you jealous? It's normal for men to get married when they are old enough and women to get married when they are old enough. I'm going to get married eventually!"
The woman sneered, "Okay! I'll help you!"
The man said, "Are you really angry? You are so narrow-minded! Okay, okay, I promise you, even if I marry her, I will never forget you. You are my... sweetheart!"
After a pause, the man said, "Okay, it's settled. Take these two dollars. When I go to Bai Zhenggan's house to propose marriage in a few days, you go to the town to have some fun. Don't stay in the village! And don't cause any trouble, okay?"
Bai Taotao frowned when she heard this.
Woman: "Are you afraid that I will cause trouble?"
Man, "I'm scared! My aunt is so scared... You are going to ruin my business, and it won't be good for you, right?" Then there was a sound of frantic gnawing, and there was a sizzling sound.
The woman acted coquettishly for a while, then she and the man walked out of the cornfield one after the other and left.
Taotao was lying in the cornfield and felt that the woman looked very familiar, but the man was completely unfamiliar to her.
——But, will this man come to her house to propose marriage?
Who are you proposing for?
According to the order of seniority, it should be Sister Li.
Taotao frowned.
At this time, Silly Xingxing ran towards her again, crying and shouting, "Fourth sister! Fourth sister...where have you been! Wuuuuuu..."
Taotao picked up the potatoes from her small basket and threw them over!
Bai Xingxing was startled by the potato that rolled to her feet and shouted, "...Who?"
Taotao: "Guess!"
Bai Xingxing's eyes widened, "Fourth sister! Fourth sister, where are you? Come out now!"
"I won't come out! If you have the guts, come find me!"
Xingxing was so anxious that she was running around in circles, but the cornfield was too big and she couldn't find Taotao. Finally, she had to beg everyone for help to get this little ancestor out.
The two sisters returned home.
As expected, the disobedient Taotao was scolded by Tang Liren.
But Tang Liren still felt sorry for her daughter who was covered in mud, so she scolded her while feeding Taotao salt-fried peanuts. She scolded for ten minutes, and when she had finished a small bowl of salt-fried peanuts, she asked, "What did you say? Did you find potatoes at the mass grave?"
Bai Zhenggan thought for a long time and said, "I remember that before liberation, it was the land of the landlord Zhao, and Ma Er rented it and cultivated it. Later, he died at the hands of the Japanese devils, and the land became barren... Maybe he cultivated it at the beginning."
Tang Liren lowered her voice and said, "Let Dongsheng and Song Zhi go over to take a look at it tonight."
Bai Zhenggan nodded.
That night, Bai Dongsheng and Song Zhi went there with their loads and hoes, found the mark made by Taotao, and then dug around nearby. Sure enough, they found the ground was full of plump potatoes!
The two of them immediately dug a load of potatoes each and came back, then hurried to Uncle Bai's house to report the news. Uncle Bai immediately brought his two sons to join in digging potatoes.
That night, everyone worked together to carry back 400 to 500 kilograms of potatoes, and then ran back before dawn to turn over the soil and cover it with some wild grass...
By dawn, the five strong laborers were exhausted.
And there were five hundred kilograms of potatoes in the cellar of the main house!
At daybreak, the strong laborers went to work with dark circles under their eyes. Aunt Bai came over with her daughter-in-law and daughters, and the women happily started making potato jelly.
As for the 500 kilograms of potatoes in the cellar, I would wait until night and avoid people, and give half of them to my second uncle's house.
At lunch, Taotao ate potato jelly, which tasted better than mung bean jelly.
But she was a little unhappy.
——Who on earth wants to come to their house to propose to Sister Li?
She tried to ask, but her mother said that it was not a child’s business. !
Taotao made up her mind that if the person who came to propose marriage was the one she saw in the cornfield... then she definitely couldn't let Sister Li Zi marry such a person, bah!
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