Chapter 13 Lifesaver
Winter was approaching and there was no work in the fields, so An Zhixia sat on the bed, using the light coming through the window to work on her cotton-padded clothes. After finishing the clothes in the afternoon, she started cutting cloth to make pants and coats for herself and her brother.
No one knew where Chen Sike had gone. Qi Yunlan was sitting on the edge of the bed with a book in her hand, obviously in a daze. No one knew what she was thinking about. Sometimes she smiled with her mouth bent, and sometimes she shook her head and sighed in distress.
Fei Zheng also came to the window with her sewing basket, smiled shyly at Zhixia, and shook the shoe soles in her hand: "I usually have nothing to do, so I make some shoe soles and insoles and sell them at the market. Although I don't sell much, it's enough to exchange for salt, matches, and kerosene."
An Zhixia nodded and moved to the side to make room for her.
"You are really good at sewing. You are fast and the stitches are dense," Fei Zheng looked at her with envy. Without enough cloth and needles and thread, it would be impossible to practice well.
"My mother is a female worker in a garment factory," An Zhixia replied without looking up, "She originally planned to let me take over her job, so she usually let me practice with the needlework at home."
The two chatted about random things without interrupting the work at hand.
The current clothing styles are monotonous, so she can't make too many changes. She simply made a set of work clothes for each person, which is suitable for work but also casual with a hip-hop style, and a set of four-pocket and rather formal cadre clothes.
After drawing the draft in her mind, she narrowed her eyes and cut with scissors without using chalk to draw lines, which made Fei Zheng tremble with fear. After cutting, she started sewing. It was not an ordinary flat stitch, but a lock stitch like the one produced by a sewing machine. She first picked up the horizontal stitch and then the back stitch. During the process, she also used hidden stitches and matching stitches, and various techniques.
Fei Zheng couldn't take it all in and could only offer dry words of praise.
In a day and a half, An Zhixia finished making the clothes and simply washed them with warm water. Thinking that the men would be back soon, she lit the kang and dried the clothes, then ironed them in a ceramic pot filled with boiling water and put them away.
The wind was howling outside. An Zhixia couldn't sleep, so she pricked up her ears to listen to the noise outside.
It was completely dark, and just when they thought that everyone would not go down the mountain until tomorrow morning, the dogs in the village began to bark. When one dog barked, the other dogs followed suit.
Everyone in the village couldn't help but open the door and look towards the mountain. It was pitch black, so how could they see anything? Just as everyone was worried, there was a flashlight on the mountain. It was the agreed signal for the hunters to come down the mountain. Every household excitedly wrapped themselves in cotton jackets and went to meet them.
An Zhixia smiled as she put on her new cotton-padded jacket and was about to go out, but she turned back, filled a kettle with hot water, added a large spoonful of brown sugar, and ran out.
The Youth League Institute was relatively close to the back mountain, so she lowered her head and jogged along the way, soon leaving everyone behind. Listening to the anxious voices of the group of people returning home in the distance, she ran even faster in a panic.
The dirt road was bumpy, and she struggled to run with the weak light of the flashlight. Suddenly, she bumped into a broad embrace stained with a faint smell of blood. Above her head was the burning breath of a man, and beside her ears was the sound of his strong heartbeat.
She was so frightened that she quickly took two steps back and looked up. She met a pair of eyes dotted with vast stars, deep and distant, like the unchanging night sky, making it impossible to focus on the person who came.
She heard footsteps nearby, and she came to her senses, nodded to the man, and stood aside. She tiptoed and tried hard to identify her brother among the dark shadows.
Some people were injured, but the injuries were not serious. Everyone was in a hurry to go home, and their voices contained worry but also joy of a good harvest.
"Brother? An Zhiqiu!" An Zhixia called out in a slightly higher voice.
"Hey," An Zhiqiu responded loudly, jogging over from the crowd. Seeing the women from the village just coming over, he poked her on the smooth forehead and said, "You are so brave, aren't you afraid of falling into the ditch?" After that, he smiled and introduced her to the people next to him, "This is the only sister in my family, An Zhixia."
"This is Fang Yuan, your brother's savior..."
"Brother, where are you hurt?" She pushed the kettle in her hand over to him. She didn't have time to check the boss's appearance. She worriedly pulled her brother around, sniffing him constantly, very anxious.
"I'm fine. I wore thick clothes in winter and only have some scratches on my hands. It's no big deal. Let's talk about it when we get back," An Zhiqiu pulled the person back helplessly.
"Everyone, don't keep blocking here. Men, move the prey to the warehouse and go back to wash up and rest. We'll divide it up carefully tomorrow morning," the village chief shouted.
Knowing that they would be back today or tomorrow, the villagers had already invited doctors from the commune to come to the village as usual. The injured were also carried all the way to the village committee.
An Zhixia felt relieved and didn't insist, so she went back to the yard first.
Qi Yunlan and Liu Yiyue did not go out, but were busy in the kitchen. They each occupied a stove and prepared hot meals for the man who had returned home.
They were no longer in a hurry and the meal was cooked quickly.
Without extinguishing the fire in the stove or lifting the lid of the pot, Liu Yiyue said to Qi Yunlan, "It's cold, the rice will be cold once it's out of the pot. Anyway, men are fast and can be back in ten minutes."
Qi Yunlan hesitated for a moment, looked at An Zhixia who was busy getting food, gritted her teeth and nodded, "Sister Yiyue is right, they have worked hard in the mountains for a few days, and they can't even have a hot meal when they get home, how aggrieved must they feel?"
An Zhixia had already kneaded the dough. While the dough was still warm, she cut the bacon into shreds, diced the pickled cucumbers and pickled radishes, and prepared the scallions and ginger slices. Seeing that they were standing by the stove without moving, she took the food and went out.
Liu Yiyue and Qi Yunlan looked at each other, and became a little uneasy when they saw that she was not going to the male educated youth's room to use the coal stove.
"Xiao An, where are you going?"
"Oh, I'm going to borrow the stove from my neighbor," she said, opening the door and going out.
Liu Yiyue threw off his sleeves in anger, trotted after him, and stopped the neighbor in front of his door. "We have a stove in our yard. You went to borrow it from our neighbor. Do you want to ruin our reputation? We are all educated youth. We can't let others laugh at us."
"Do you also know that this is a joke?" An Zhixia stopped and looked at him with raised eyebrows with a smile.
A man's voice came from far outside, and Liu Yiyue quickly pulled her back. "I didn't think clearly just now. Qi Zhiqing and I can just use the same stove to warm up the rice. Why do you really care about it? If there is anything in the future, let's discuss it properly. We are all young people who left their hometowns to work in the countryside. In the eyes of others, we are a small group."
(End of this chapter)
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