It snows in Niutouwan in winter. During the difficult years in the past few years, it was common for people to freeze to death.
The first is that the houses are built with earth walls and thatch, which are easy to leak air. The second is that the cotton in the clothes has been worn for many years and has become lumpy. There is no fresh cotton filling, so the clothes are hard and cold, and the warmth-keeping effect is very poor.
Besides, there is no earthen kang here, so at most we can put a brazier in the room.
Lin Miaoyin was very afraid of the cold, so she bought cotton and cloth on the black market early on and spent money to make cotton-padded clothes, quilts and cotton shoes.
When I had some free time, I went up the mountain with Meng Yuanzheng to chop a lot of firewood, burned it into charcoal, and prepared to make a charcoal basin when it snowed.
Lin Miaoyin felt a little complicated because she didn't know which night she had rolled into Meng Yuanzheng's bed and kicked him in the face.
Meng Yuanzheng was really a good person for not kicking her out.
In fact, after living together for so long, Lin Miaoyin feels that she has integrated into this world, and many things have become natural.
Since you're not getting divorced, just make do with what you have.
It’s so cold in winter, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone warm the bed?
After Lin Miaoyin comforted herself in this way, she felt at ease covering herself with the same quilt with him and sleeping on the same bed with peace of mind.
She thought that if Meng Yuanzheng took the initiative, she would just give in reluctantly.
What's the result?
As a result, this person always goes to bed when it's time to go to bed, and gets up when it's time to go to bed, and never does anything.
After a long time, she only regarded him as a simple "bed partner".
Grain was distributed at the end of the year. Thanks to Lin Miaoyin's hard work over the past six months, the grain she received was enough for one person to eat through the winter. Add to that the money she earned from selling her designs, so she shouldn't have a hard time.
Meng Yuanzheng did not become the chief director in the end, but he became an assistant director. He did very little in his daily life and only appeared in important scenes. Of course, he himself said that if there were any awards from the organization later, he would not want them and all would go to He Tian alone.
The actors like him very much. Usually He Tian would be very strict and even overbearing with them, but she wouldn't dare to do that when he was around.
The rehearsal went smoothly.
At the same time, as New Year's Day approaches, Lin Miaoyin is happy but also worried about some things.
The first thing is whether Meng Yuanzheng will return to his home during the New Year?
She knew that Meng Yuanzheng's father had been in prison and had not yet been rehabilitated. His mother and grandmother moved out of the military compound and lived in a shabby little house.
That winter, his grandmother would die of illness.
No matter what, she should urge him to go back, but should she go with him?
Firstly, they had no place to live, and secondly, they didn't have enough money. One more person would mean a lot of extra expenses. If they wanted to treat the old man, the money they had would not be enough.
Besides, Meng Yuanzheng only remembered some basic things. He might remember who his parents were, but he couldn't remember some things from his childhood. She was worried about him going back alone.
It all comes down to money.
If she had enough money, she could go with him.
After thinking about it, she thought of someone, her old classmate Zhao Shengli.
She went to the county in November and met Zhao Shengli by chance in the black market.
The two met and chatted, and were surprised to find that the other was a fellow traveler. It turned out that Zhao Shengli was also in the cloth business, but he was dealing in raw materials. He bought cotton and the like from the villagers and then resold them.
The cotton was then made into cotton cloth in secret small workshops and then ended up in the hands of people like Lin Miaoyin who sold ready-made clothes.
After the chat, he told Lin Miaoyin that dealing in raw materials was very tiring, but the money earned was less than making ready-made clothes. If one wanted to make ready-made clothes, the market had already been occupied by a few stores, and it would be difficult to get customers.
There was one store in particular whose designs were very trendy, and every time a new product came out, everyone rushed to buy it.
Lin Miaoyin thought, this couldn’t be the store where I stayed.
She thought, since making clothes was not competitive, she could choose to make other things, such as shoes and bags.
She thought it was feasible. Besides, although she had promised the boss that the clothes she designed would only be sold to one store of his, there were no restrictions on shoes and bags.
How about opening a leather goods store?
The two hit it off immediately and agreed to start when the wind was a little lighter.
So this time she went to Zhao Shengli to borrow money and asked him to help buy two train tickets.
…
It’s New Year’s Day, a holiday, and everyone is busy and happy because there will be a performance tonight.
This kind of performance is rotated among several nearby brigades, and this year it is the turn of the Niutouwan Brigade.
The weather is nice today and the sun is out.
The stage was set up from morning until sunset, and almost all the men in the team helped.
The women fried snacks such as pumpkin seeds and peanuts at home and let the children eat them while watching the show in the evening.
It gets dark early in winter, and by around six o'clock it's already half dark.
Villagers from nearby brigades all came to watch the show, bringing their own small stools and snacks, while the actors changed clothes and put on makeup backstage.
Leaders were sent from both the commune and the county to show their support for this grand drama that promoted the revolutionary spirit.
The costumes were all borrowed from the county cultural troupe, and the makeup, background music, lighting, etc. were all directed by people from the cultural troupe.
There were crowds of people under the big stage, and it was estimated that there were thousands of people there.
Even if the people behind can't see clearly, it's good to join in the fun. There are few entertainment activities in the countryside.
Soon the stage was lit up, the headlights shone, and the loudspeakers were ready.
Secretary Li gave an opening speech first, followed by speeches from the leaders, summarizing this year's work, praising everyone's hard work, and encouraging everyone to keep up the good work.
It took about half an hour to finish the speech. By then it was completely dark, but the crowd was very enthusiastic. Everyone turned their eyes to the stage. Some people even climbed onto the roofs and trees to watch, while children sat on their fathers' necks.
Zhu Wanqin had a camera that she brought from home, but she rarely used it because film was hard to come by.
Because an important occasion needed to be photographed today, she was asked to help take pictures of the stage, the leaders' speeches, and finally the group photo of the actors.
After taking a few photos of the leaders, the show began.
The opening scene was a wedding of a young couple, but her eyes were always fixed on Lin Miaoyin who was not far away.
Lin Miaoyin didn't know what she said to Meng Yuanzheng, so she left alone. Meng Yuanzheng was the assistant director and couldn't leave, so he stared at the stage again.
She frowned, called her good sister over, greeted her and said that she was feeling a little unwell and was going to take a rest. If the leader asked, she would help to tell him and she would come back to take pictures after the show was over.
This scene might take two hours, so it’s okay to leave temporarily. The good sister agreed without any doubt.
But Lin Miaoyin was walking hurriedly up the mountain at this time.
She just remembered a few days ago that a rape case seemed to have occurred in the team's pig house on New Year's Day when everyone was busy.
After the review meeting, Zhang Hui was assigned to raise pigs.
Raising pigs is a very tiring and dirty job with low work points. You have to live next to the pigsty and keep an eye on them to prevent anyone from stealing the piglets in the middle of the night.
The hard work every day for the past six months has made her lose her fighting spirit and dulled her edge. She looks several years older and has a foul odor on her body.
Life seemed hopeless.
Those who raised pigs with her came from poor families, but at least they still had relatives around, while she was all alone.
Today is New Year's Day. As long as she can hold on until the New Year, she can go home.
While everyone else went to listen to the opera, she chopped grass in the pigsty, cooked it and fed it to the pigs.
She watched these pigs grow up. When she came in the summer, they were still half-grown, but now they have grown plump and plump.
Thinking that the team would slaughter the New Year pig in a few days, she felt sad and poured a few more ladles of staple food into the trough.
"Eat, eat more."
Along with the squeaking sound of pigs eating, she heard an unusual sound. Looking up, she saw a man staggering along the path.
The man seemed to be an old hooligan in the team. He was in his forties and still unmarried. He spent all his earnings on drinking. He wore a tattered cotton-padded jacket with holes in it and had an untidy beard, looking like a tramp.
This man was drunk and probably took the wrong road.
Zhang Hui frowned, knocked on the pigsty railing with a ladle, and said, "Comrade, you've taken the wrong road, your home is not here!"
The man raised his head and heard Zhang Hui's words. He didn't know what had happened to him. He threw the bottle of wine on the stone in dissatisfaction and shouted, "This, this is my house. Who the hell are you, you dare to stop me?"
Zhang Hui was also in a bad mood. Hearing this, she shouted, "If you don't leave, I'll call someone!"
"Call someone? Hey, call, you call? They are all, they are all watching the show, you call, see, see who will come."
The man's eyes were blurry, he was speaking incoherently, and suddenly he pounced on her.
Zhang Hui screamed in fear and tried to run away, but there were only pig pens here and no houses. The man caught her in a few steps and threw her to the ground.
"You, run, run, I told you to run." The man slapped Zhang Hui hard several times, and the smell of alcohol and bad breath sprayed on her face.
Zhang Hui was pinned down by him and could not break free. She could only scream in resistance.
The man put his hand into her collar, but before he could touch her, he was suddenly hit hard on the head by a stone.
At this moment, a slight shutter sound was heard not far away.
He didn't react for a moment, his mind went dark, and he fell down with a thud, landing on top of Zhang Hui.
Zhang Hui realized that someone came to rescue her, and she used all her strength to flip the man over. His head hit the stone steps on the side with a thud, and blood slowly flowed out.
At this moment, the sound of fireworks exploding was heard in the distant sky, and the entire sky was lit up.
Zhang Hui stood up and kicked the man's motionless body several times.
When Lin Miaoyin came, she picked up a big rock on the road. She didn't hold back when she hit the man, she just wanted to knock him down.
Now he immediately stopped Zhang Hui and said, "Stop fighting, go and see if he is dead. If he is dead, neither you nor I can escape."
Although Zhang Hui didn't know why Lin Miaoyin wanted to save her, this was not the most important thing at the moment. She squatted down, took a breath, and nodded, "She's still alive. What should we do next?"
She was still a little frightened and subconsciously looked at Lin Miaoyin.
Lin Miaoyin said, "Go find Secretary Li right now and tell him that this guy got drunk and came here to cause trouble, but ended up falling and hitting his head on a rock. I'll throw the rock into the pond later."
As she spoke, she raised the stone in her hand and said, "I don't need to teach you what to do next. Don't reveal that I was there."
After saying that, she turned around and was about to leave, but Zhang Hui stopped her.
"Wait, why did you save me?"
Lin Miaoyin turned around and smiled, "Because of conscience."
The author has something to say: They will not become friends, the heroine just wants to make her conscience go away
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