Chapter 94 Phone Call
Father Lu was indifferent.
No matter how deep their feelings were, they were ruined by Lu Shaocai's stupidity over the years.
This bastard burned paper money, and he would catch the ashes that flew onto his second grandmother's grave, fearing that his second grandmother would get some of the benefits.
Why did he care about what he did?
Let him howl.
At the beginning of winter, everyone dug up the cabbage from the vegetable garden and stored it in the empty house.
The cellar was full of sweet potatoes and there was no room for cabbage, so Fang Dihua put it in the south room.
In the free time in autumn, Fang Dihua and Second Brother Lu built two more straw sheds.
There was thick dry grass around, which was just right for storing cabbage.
In her previous life, when watching TV, Lin Shu thought that people of that era either ate cabbage or potatoes in winter, which was very pitiful. After traveling through time, she found that only people in the city could eat cabbage, and many country people didn't even have a few cabbages to eat.
Most families had their own plots to grow food, and vegetables were planted in the yard, in front of or behind the house, on the edge of the field, or along the river.
Lin Shu's family was the best, and could store more than 2,000 kilograms of cabbage. Most families were lucky to have enough to eat for five meals a day. Some families couldn't eat a few cabbages in the whole winter, and could only eat sweet potato porridge and boiled sweet potatoes every day. Some pickled cabbage dumplings were good, but they couldn't even think about farm sauce, Chinese toon sprouts, and salted duck eggs.
The whole society was poor, and Lin Shu had no choice. Sympathy was sympathy, but her family still had to eat.
In the fall, she dried a lot of beans, long beans, sword beans, oil beans, lentils, and also dried eggplants, dried pumpkins, and dried gourds. She also harvested a lot of big pumpkins, pickled a big jar of kimchi, mustard greens, a jar of salted duck eggs, salted eggs, and made 蓮衣蓮膽薑, etc. Anyway,
with such a large vegetable garden, Lin Shu would not let her family go without vegetables.
The hard days of eating pickled vegetables every day in previous years are gone forever.
Now that the cabbage has been harvested, Lin Shu and Fang Dihua and Lu Dasao have made spicy cabbage.
There were a lot of cabbages at home, and they made four jars, but it was not enough, so they bought three new jars to fill them.
In addition, she pickled two large jars of sour cabbage using the Northeast pickling method.
Sour cabbage is delicious and can be stored for a long time, so it can be eaten until March next year.
Fang Dihua helped her crush the chili powder for spicy cabbage with a garlic mortar, and Lu Shaotang brought back the shrimp sauce one night.
Lu Shaotang came back twice at night these days, and he never came back during the day. She didn't dare to ask what he was busy with during the day. He couldn't squeeze in a little time, so he had to come back in the middle of the night to compete with Panpan for the quilt.
Although there is no need to go to the fields in winter, the members are actually busy.
At the end of the autumn harvest, the production team organized everyone to cut a lot of ramie and hemp, and also prepared a lot of sorghum stalks. After winter, those who had some skills went to the production team to weave baskets, baskets, hemp ropes, and mats.
In addition to meeting the needs of their own production team, they could also sell them at the market for money or exchange them for other items.
Fang Dihua and Lu Erge were strong, and they went to the team to weave baskets and baskets. They were fast and easy, and they were strong and beautiful.
Lu Erge also learned to weave mats, and every winter he continued to weave mats in the production team to earn work points.
Now Lin Shu has a lot of free time. In winter, the days are short, and everyone changes to eating two meals a day to save food.
The pigs haven't left the pen yet. Usually, Mrs. Lu and Fang Dihua help her feed them at home. Fang Dihua will also help her with the washing. She only needs to cook two meals.
Recently, she has been busy making new clothes for the two children for the New Year. She took off her gloves and knitted sweaters and trousers, the kind that are new inside and outside. She also needs to make new shoes.
During the New Year, the two beautiful and clean children can go out with their tall and handsome father Lu.
Lin Shu found that she didn't feel any fear or resistance when she thought of Lu Shaotang now. On the contrary... she quite liked thinking of him.
Although he is strong, he doesn't use brute force, and he won't touch her casually, so as not to make her disgusted.
Although he has great abilities, he never brags. When he looks at her, his eyes are firm and calm, without judging her, which makes her feel refreshed.
He has never shown his intention of teaching you or testing you. Instead, he would ask others for advice on things he doesn't know.
"Mom, mom, are you missing dad so much?"
Panpan lay beside the sewing machine, tiptoeing to look at her.
Lin Shu's face flushed and she denied it flatly, "No. Where's Tiantian?"
Panpan: "My aunt is here, I've called you several times."
Hearing this, Lin Shu hurriedly got up and followed Panpan out, and saw Sister Lu riding a bicycle back.
Lu Shaotang's brothers and sisters are all tall and handsome, and Sister Lu is no exception.
She has fair skin, a tall figure, and a plump figure, which is considered very wealthy in that era.
There was a five-jin oil drum hanging in front of the bicycle, and a bag of flour tied to the back.
Sister Lu was untying the rope, "Shaotang's wife, hurry up, come and help me."
Lin Shu came over to help, "Sister, you brought back so much flour, I'll get you some grain coupons."
I don't know if there are enough grain coupons at home, because I spent a lot of them when I went to my second sister's house before.
Sister Lu, her father-in-law, and her brother-in-law all worked at the commune grain management office. Her father-in-law was the deputy director of the commune grain and oil station, her husband was an accountant, and Sister Lu was a warehouse manager.
In the past, Fang Dihua often brought grain coupons to ask her to help exchange some flour and oil.
Sister Lu: "Why do you need food coupons? These are issued by me. I bring them back for you to eat."
She explained: "This is new food. The warehouse has released a lot of food reserves. This cannot be recorded in the accounts, so the grain station will distribute it to employees. My father-in-law asked me to bring it back. Tiantian and Panpan are still young, so they need to eat soft and fine grains."
The two boys immediately thanked her, "Thank you, aunt! The brigade praised you at the meeting a few days ago."
Sister Lu was surprised: "Praise me?"
Lin Shu explained: "It's for paying public grain and cotton. Thanks to you and brother-in-law, our brigade can save more money in paying public grain." Paying
public grain every year, whether it was wheat, corn, or cotton, was like fighting a war.
Sister Lu's father-in-law was the deputy director of the grain administration office. Although he was not a high-ranking official, he was very popular and all the brigade cadres had to flatter him.
After all, the grain station had the final say when it came to handing in public rations. They would take the instrument and measure it. If they said your grain was not dry enough, you had to go back and dry it before coming back. If you didn't want to go back, you had to dry it in the square outside the grain administration office.
Is it troublesome?
If someone familiar has a word of advice, the surveying staff will not deliberately make things difficult.
Because of Sister Lu's father-in-law and husband, Lujiazhuang has never been made difficult.
Of course, the team leader also has to have face, and every time he asks the production team to dry the public rations before going. If they have to hand in the public rations without drying them, he will not do it.
Isn't that embarrassing?
Sister Lu looked at Lin Shu, thinking that her mother and sister-in-law did not lie to her, and her third brother's wife has indeed changed a lot.
Now she looks open and confident, unlike before when she frowned all day and seemed unhappy.
I heard that she was praised for her meritorious service, learned to drive a tractor, took pictures, and worked as an accountant for the team. She looks as capable as the characters in the movies.
After she heard about Lin Shu's changes, she was very curious and wanted to come back to have a good chat, but unfortunately she was too busy with the autumn harvest and had no time.
She came back once during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but she was in a hurry to go home to cook and left without saying a word. Her father-in-law was very particular about the family reunion during the festival and she couldn't delay.
Today she came back to talk to Lin Shu. After
entering the house and sitting down, Sister Lu took out five yuan and gave it to Lin Shu, and said with a smile: "Shaotang's wife, I will give you five yuan every month in the future, just spend it."
Lin Shu was very puzzled. It was normal to give money to parents during festivals, but why did he give it to... me every month?
There must be something wrong when things are abnormal.
She smiled and said: "Sister, what does this mean?"
Sister Lu's eyes turned red and she began to wipe away her tears.
"Shaotang's wife, you've suffered so much, oh, Shaotang..."
Lin Shu wondered, "Sister, don't you know?"
Sister Lu: "What?"
Lin Shu: "My child's father is back."
Sister Lu's eyes widened, "What? My third brother is back? Where is he?"
Tiantian and Panpan immediately spoke for their mother, chattering away.
"My grandma is handing out candies all over the street, don't you know, aunt?"
Sister Lu frowned, "I didn't know, and no one told me."
Lin Shu: "Sister, don't worry, mother said she would tell you at the commune, but the team had meetings and dividends, and my brother had to help with the accounting and accountant election, so she was so busy that she forgot." Sister Lu
was not angry, but breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately... it almost made a fool of herself.
She came back with a mission today.
Her father-in-law asked her about her third brother's wife's plans. Her husband had been gone for almost half a year. Did she want to remarry?
If someone else's husband had just passed away for half a year, he would naturally not ask whether they wanted to remarry. But Lin Shu and Lu Shaotang were in a special situation. They separated three days after their marriage and had not seen each other for several years. Now that her husband had sacrificed her, it was understandable if she wanted to remarry. That's why he asked this question.
He thought it would be better for Lin Shu not to remarry. Although he didn't want to erect a chastity arch for her like in the old society, Lu Shaotang was a martyr. It would be bad for his daughter-in-law to remarry, and the old Ding family would also be implicated. So for the sake of the family's reputation, it would be better not to remarry.
In order to prevent Lin Shu from remarrying, he was willing to help with food rations and living expenses, saying that Sister Lu would send twenty kilograms of grain and five yuan back every month.
This is very generous.
Sister Lu had tested Fang Dihua before, and Fang Dihua asked her to stay away from her younger brother's affairs, so she came back to test her younger brother and sister.
She really didn't know about Lu Shaotang's return. She was busy with the grain station's import and export and settling accounts, so she didn't have time to go back to her parents' home.
The commune did not receive an official document, and Fang Dihua didn't go out of her way to tell her. Even if others went to town, they couldn't go out of their way to tell Sister Lu that your brother was back. After all, wouldn't her mother-in-law tell her?
She really didn't know.
Sister Lu suppressed her embarrassment and stuffed the money to Lin Shu, "Take it, don't complain about it being too little."
Lin Shu refused, "Sister, you gave money to my parents during the Mid-Autumn Festival, I can't take your money."
If Lu Shaotang was really dead, she would not refuse the help from her sister-in-law, but now that Lu Shaotang was fine, she naturally didn't want it. Sister
Lu forced it on her, so Lin Shu accepted it on behalf of her mother-in-law and told her about Brother Lu being an accountant.
The eldest sister Lu and the eldest brother are of similar age and have the deepest affection for each other, so she is also the closest to her eldest niece. When she heard that her eldest brother was an accountant, she was so happy that her eyebrows curved, "Really? My eldest brother is so promising? I really didn't expect this. I thought his intelligence was only used for eating, but I didn't expect that he could also do accounting."
After chatting for a while, Lin Shu invited her to have lunch. She was not in a hurry to go home today, so the eldest sister Lu agreed. While
Lin Shu was cooking, she went to the infirmary to find old man Lu.
Her father-in-law was very impressed when he heard that her father became a barefoot doctor. He kept praising her father for his diligence and love of learning, and he was worthy of being the second master Lu of the year.
She also felt very proud. She remembered that her father had always been very good.
When she was little, she grew up almost in her father's arms. Her father could read and write, raise livestock and farm, give injections and prescribe medicine, and even braid her hair.
She was her parents' first child and a daughter, so her parents doted on her.
When she was little, she and her older brother would fight for meat. When there was a plate of braised pork on the table, they would both grab the lean meat. As a result, she didn't like fatty meat, so her older brother would eat the lean meat and then the fatty meat.
Later, when there was braised pork again, her father would give her more lean meat. When
she quarreled with her older brother, her father always sided with her.
Because she and her older brother always quarreled, her relationship with her older brother became better.
Now when she thinks of her childhood, her heart is sweet.
Father Lu was very happy to see his eldest daughter back, and he chatted with her when he was not busy, "Your parents-in-law are all well." Sister
Lu said they were all fine, and was happy that her third brother returned safely and that her eldest brother was an accountant, "Dad, our family is getting better and better."
Father Lu: "That's all thanks to your third brother and his wife."
No matter whether he was a barefoot doctor or the eldest brother was an accountant, she was the first to know that the third son was not sacrificed.
At noon when it was time to get off work, Father Lu took a small basket of eggs and went home with his daughter.
At home, Lin Shu waited for her mother-in-law to come back and gave her the five yuan from Sister Lu.
Fang Dihua: "Just keep the money she gives you, and don't pay attention to what she says."
She knew that the eldest daughter had a trouble-making temper, and now she was even more influenced by her father-in-law.
Lu's second sister-in-law came back and saw Lin Shu put five yuan in her pocket. She subconsciously thought that it was given by her mother-in-law, and her nose was crooked at that time.
She didn't go into the main room, but turned around and went back to her room to get angry.
Lu's eldest sister came back with Lu's father, and saw Fang Dihua was already at home, so she went over to talk to her warmly.
After dinner, everyone in the family had to go to the team to work, so Lu's eldest sister said goodbye.
Fang Dihua prepared some pomegranates, apples, pears and other things for her, as well as pickles and salted duck eggs made by Lin Shu herself, and gave her a bottle of maltose, "for your mother-in-law to nourish her body."
Sister Lu didn't want the maltose, "They couldn't finish it, and asked me to send some to you. I said I wouldn't bring it again after the Mid-Autumn Festival."
Fruits are good things, and she accepted the pickles without having eaten them.
When Sister Lu returned home, her father-in-law Ding Jiachang was listening to the radio at home. He was keen on listening to various current affairs and policies.
Seeing Sister Lu coming back, he smiled and said, "How are you, my family?"
Sister Lu said with a smile, "Okay, my parents brought some fruits and kimchi that we haven't eaten before, and they also brought malted milk for you. I thought I had taken it back, so I didn't ask for it."
Ding Jiachang smiled happily: "You did the right thing. "If our conditions are better, we should help our relatives more. That's because your parents are not outsiders. If you have any good food and fun, please send them back. Don't worry that your mother and I will be unhappy. We will only be happy that you are filial."
Seeing her father-in-law say this, Sister Lu was also happy. She was still very happy that her father-in-law was open-minded and did not stop her from getting things from her parents' house.
She also knows that she will not go to great lengths to subsidize her parents' family. She will do what she can.
"It's rare to see someone as open-minded and generous as dad. My parents both praise me. By the way, their brigade praised me. I know it must be for you, dad."
Ding Jiachang: "It's right to help me. The public rations paid by their brigade are not bad. Why don't we raise our hands? Do it?"
Sister Lu said happily: "Dad, my third brother is back! He didn't sacrifice himself!"
Ding Jiachang looked at her in surprise, "Come back...?"
Sister Lu said happily: "My brother-in-law said it, and my parents have also seen it.
" "Back? Is what everyone said a while ago true?"
Sister Lu: "A while ago? Why didn't I hear about it?"
Ding Jiachang: "I heard it from people outside. They said that there was no document. Most likely, the in-laws wanted their son to make it up to fool themselves. I didn't dare to think of it as a good thing."
Sister Lu laughed and said, "Who is so boring? How could my parents fool themselves? It must be that my third brother is really back."
Ding Jiachang nodded repeatedly, "Okay!"
The most promising brother of his daughter-in-law is this Lu Shaotang. It's great that he is fine. He will also be a help to his grandson in the future.
Although he was a little uncomfortable that his father Lu didn't come to inform him in person, he is a person who will do his best to make you happy. This kind of small dissatisfaction is nothing. He also thought that he should go to Lujiazhuang to congratulate him in person to make it more solemn.
Two days later, the production team distributed a certain amount of cloth coupons to each person, and also encouraged everyone to raise more pigs next year. If they sold a task pig to the pig collection station, they could kill the rest for meat or sell them to the pig collection station to earn money, and they could also be rewarded with cloth coupons and other coupons.
Now that no young people in the family were getting married, Fang Dihua gave the cloth coupons of each room to her daughter-in-law, and she and Lu Laodie gave all theirs to Lin Shu.
She asked Lin Shu to buy more cloth to dress herself and her son, as San'er would be back for the New Year.
The next day, Fang Dihua borrowed a bicycle and took Lin Shu to the supply and marketing cooperative to exchange the cloth coupons and other coupons in the house for things that could be bought.
Now all production teams are distributing dividends and tickets. Members will flock to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy New Year goods. By then, everything will be out of stock and it will be difficult to buy.
Those with money and tickets will naturally grab things first.
While grabbing things at the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhou Weimin happened to come out of the post office. When he saw Lin Shu, he excitedly shouted, "Sister Lin Shu, I was just about to look for you. The post office has your phone number. It's our second sister from the city."
Lin Shu told her mother-in-law and went to the post office to call her second sister back.
The second sister must have told her good news. Maybe she passed the third-level electrician test, or she was pregnant?
There is no need to transfer too much manpower to make calls within the city, and the call can be connected quickly.
After the call was connected, Lin Xia's surprised voice came from inside, "Third sister, how come you are so fast?"
Lin Shu said that she just came to the commune to buy something, "Second sister, is there any good news?"
Lin Xia said happily, "Yes, I passed the third-level electrician test, and the factory promoted me to team leader, and my salary increased by 6 yuan!"
Lin Shu stamped her feet excitedly, "Second sister, you are really amazing!"
It is so difficult to pass the electrician test, especially for women.
She also asked whether Qian Lisheng was promoted to deputy director and whether the second sister had a baby.
Lin Xia hesitated for a moment before saying, "Your brother-in-law has not been promoted to director."
She changed the subject and asked about her parents, Tiantian, Panpan, Fang Dihua and others. "Third sister, I just told you this good news. There is nothing else. The phone bill is very expensive. Let's hang up first."
After hanging up, Lin Shu felt something was wrong. Her second sister was very abnormal.
There was nothing to do at home now. She had to ask her eldest sister-in-law to accompany her to the city again.
Lin Xia hung up the phone. She didn't want to worry her third sister. Not only did she not have a baby, she might even have to divorce Qian Lisheng.