The winter of 1966 passed, and the spring of 1967 arrived.
The busy spring planting season has begun.
Uncle Bai said that every adult should work in the fields, otherwise there is something wrong with their thinking.
Bai Xiaoyue secretly asked her uncle, who said it was an order from above.
Bai Xiaoyue, Li Mingyue, and Wen Tong, mother and daughter, all need to work in the fields.
With schools closed, Chang Le and Ping'er stayed home to take care of Xiao Bai, An An, and Rui Rui.
Bai Wen'an didn't go to work either. He went to till the land with Wang Weiguo and Yan Ci. They were all capable workers and had no problems at all.
Bai Xiaoyue led a few people to go weeding with Ye Fengqin.
If you don't care about work points, going to work is not bad. There are many people, it's lively, and you can listen to gossip.
And look, there's a sequel to the TV series.
Ye Fengqin said, "Xiaoyue, I want to separate from the family?"
Bai Xiaoyue asked, "Sister-in-law, why?"
It turned out that Uncle Bai saw Li Mingyue's family transfer their household registration back to the village.
In order for their daughter and her family to be together, they brought Lin Hua back to the village as well.
Lin Hua was spoiled since childhood. He would lie on the kang (a heated brick bed) at home all day, doing nothing but waiting for food.
Bai Xiaomei spends all her time taking care of the child and does nothing else, not even cooking.
Bai Wenyi's wife, He Miao, used to be a teacher. Now that the school is closed, Bai Wenyi can't bear to let her work, so she stays home every day to take care of the children.
After Ye Fengqin finished speaking, she sighed deeply: "I do everything at home, and Wenli won't even let me say anything."
Bai Xiaoyue: "Sister-in-law, why don't you ask my brother to talk to my uncle?"
Ye Fengqin: "I just complained a bit, but my mother-in-law will never agree to separate the family."
If they really split up, Xiaomei's family will starve!
Bai Xiaoyue simply listened; she wasn't good at these kinds of mundane family matters.
Wen Tong and Li Mingyue had just started working in the fields and were diligently pulling weeds.
That night, Wen Tong developed blisters on her hands and cried out in pain, which distressed Bai Wen'an greatly.
Li Mingyue took a sewing needle and popped the blister on her hand, then gave Wen Tong a disdainful look.
Wen Tong shouted, "I can do heavy work, I'm strong, I'll go with Wen An tomorrow. Humph..."
Bai Wen'an quickly comforted him, "You're rushing things. You need to take it slow."
Wen Xiya also developed blisters on her hands, but she didn't like to complain and just quietly picked at them.
At night, as Bai Xiaoyue lay in bed, she looked at Yan Ci's hand and saw that it was covered in calluses, which pained her deeply.
She touched Yan Ci's hand and said, "Yan Ci, you've worked hard."
Yan Ci gently patted her head: "I don't feel tired."
Bai Xiaoyue sighed, "Sigh, we still have to work hard for more than ten years."
Yan Ci let his wife lean against him and gently patted her back:
"Honey, I think this kind of life is great, simple yet fulfilling."
Bai Xiaoyue said, "But it's not free!"
Yan Ci: "Wife, be patient, time will pass quickly."
The next day, Wen Tong somehow got hold of a pair of gloves and happily went to pull weeds again.
Ye Fengqin said to Bai Xiaoyue:
"Lin Hua earned two work points yesterday, but today he said he was sick and couldn't go to work."
Bai Xiaomei said that Lin Hua should stay home to take care of the children, and she would earn work points to support Lin Hua.
Bai Xiaoyue burst into laughter upon hearing this:
"No wonder Uncle didn't look well today."
Although life was a bit tough, it was still quite interesting.
Spring planting is a time-sensitive activity. We worked from dawn till dusk for more than 20 days. After the seeds were sown, everyone was less busy.
Li Mingyue then began hiring people to build a house.
She only built three mud-brick and thatched houses, and Li's father and eldest brother and sister-in-law came to help.
Yan Ci and Bai Wen'an also went to help build the house, while Li Mingyue and Bai Xiaoyue cooked at home. Bai's mother was afraid that the two of them would waste food, so she kept an eye on them at all times.
Two kinds of steamed buns made from mixed flour are served with vegetable soup, and occasionally some meat is added.
Wang Weiguo would often give out cigarettes to everyone, and many villagers came to help build houses.
The house was repaired in just over half a month.
Once the kang (heated brick bed) was completely dry, Li Mingyue and her family moved into their new home.
Bai Xiaoyue took out a pot from her stash of iron pots, containing 100 jin of coarse grains, 100 jin of fine grains, salt, and matches.
Anyway, I sent Li Mingyue some of everything that I could use in my daily life.
Li Mingyue was so moved that tears welled up in her eyes.
Bai Xiaoyue couldn't bear to see her friend like this, so she quickly said:
"Mingyue, so many things here were left for me by you."
Li Mingyue wiped away her tears and said with a smile:
"I always wondered why you bought so much stuff and never used it all up. Turns out you were saving it for me!"
Bai Xiaoyue smiled and said, "Yes, I'm always afraid that prices will go up, so I buy more and stock up."
So don't worry, our lives will be fine.
"You still have a lot of flawed fabric left for me. When you have time, we'll make new clothes for the children."
Li Mingyue nodded, her gratitude beyond words. She only hoped that life would improve in the future before making any further plans.
Summer arrived in the blink of an eye.
Xiaobai is four years old now. He goes running with his dad every day and is in great shape. He runs very fast.
When Yan Ci finished work, he would always take him for a stroll, going up the mountain to hunt birds and down the river to catch fish.
The weather was hot, and Yan Ci often took Xiaobai to the river to practice swimming after work.
Little Bai loved playing in the water. Before long, he was able to swim around on his own and was having a great time in the water.
Bai Xiaoyue was very worried: "Aci, Xiaobai is so young. If you teach him to swim, it would be so dangerous if he secretly went to the river by himself!"
Yan Ci said, "If you don't teach him to swim, will he stop going? Children are very curious; the more you forbid them from going, the more they want to go."
Bai Xiaoyue instructed, "Then you must tell him properly that he is not allowed to swim in the river by himself."
Yan Ci nodded: "Wife, don't worry, that boy is very smart."
Later, Ping'er also learned to swim with Yan Ci.
Since there's less work in the fields during the summer, Uncle Bai didn't force everyone to go to the fields.
Working in the cornfield was difficult; the corn leaves were very sharp and cut people, so Yan Ci didn't let Bai Xiaoyue work in the field.
Besides doing housework, she spends her free time walking her little white dog around the village.
That day, she, Li Mingyue, and Wen Tong listened to the aunties chatting under the big locust tree.
Xiaobai, An'an, and Ruirui were playing in the big sunbathing area, with Chang Le following closely behind.
From afar, we could see Grandpa Wang driving his oxcart back, with Ye Jianguo and several strangers sitting on it.
The oxcart stopped, and several people got off. A couple in their thirties helped an elderly man in his fifties.
There was also a middle-aged man, making a total of four people.
Everyone was carrying a small bundle.
They all looked exhausted, listless, and their eyes were lifeless.
Bai Xiaoyue was still observing the group when she felt her hand being gripped painfully by Wen Tong.
Wen Tong stared intently at the middle-aged man, her eyes red-rimmed, her expression extremely agitated.
Bai Xiaoyue knew something was wrong and pulled her home with all her might.
Fortunately, everyone was too busy watching the excitement to notice Wen Tong's unusual behavior.
Just then, Bai Wen'an came home from work. She handed Wen Tong over to Wen'an before going to call the child home with peace of mind.
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