He squatted down and said, "You brat, go line up for your father!"
"Hmph," Gu Zhengyu snorted and obediently went to line up for his father.
Gu Laoqi then gave a general account of the three educated youths who came to the village this year, since they hadn't been there for very long.
During this time, Shen Dong not only learned about Mianmian's life in the brigade, but also gained some understanding of the brigade as a whole. He asked a few questions about things he didn't understand, or about Gu Zhengrong's family. When he saw his younger sister finish preparing the pig feed, he said, "Thank you so much, Uncle, for taking care of my little sister."
"No need to thank me, the old man didn't do much. It was just chatting with you for a bit. You silly child."
"Uncle, it's getting late. We should have a proper chat with the two of you another time."
"That's right, I'll have my little Qi come find you when everything's alright."
"OK"
On the way back, the older brother didn't say anything, perhaps because there were other people around.
As they approached their house, Chen Enpeng suddenly said, "Mianmian, let your older brother stay in my room tonight, and I'll move to Jiezi's."
"Isn't this inappropriate?" the older brother asked.
"It's nothing, that's how it was arranged when Brother Shen the Third and Brother Shen the Fourth came last time," Chen Junjie said.
"Thank you both."
"No need to thank me, Mianmian usually takes care of the two of us more."
"What you're saying..."
After getting home, seeing that the vegetables in the bowl were indeed frozen, he said, "Brother, how about I make two new dishes?"
"No need, it can be eaten after heating it up. Besides, there's a lot of oil on top, it's just throwing it away if we don't eat it."
"It's not that bad."
"That's it! They just said you were taking care of both of them, what's the story behind that?"
"I didn't take good care of them, I just pointed fingers at them on a few things."
Tell me about it.
I observed that these two people were of good character and gave them some guidance in life, such as telling them to work properly and to go up the mountain to dig for medicinal herbs and find food after work, and so on.
"Well done"
That is
"Judging from their current character..."
"It's actually quite good."
"I just learned some things about the brigade leader's family from my conversation with Gu Zhengyu's father. As for whether or not to recommend his son for military service, I'll discuss it with your Uncle Shen and get back to you later."
Is there a problem?
"No, not really. After all, I've only just arrived. Even if I stay here for a few days, I still can't fully understand someone, let alone their inner thoughts. I plan to go into town tomorrow to visit Uncle Zhou and Uncle Ma, whom you mentioned in your letter, so they can get some information from a different angle before we start."
"Brother, why don't you go into town on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month?"
"What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
"This is what my brother and sister are thinking: today the production team is slaughtering its New Year's pig, and tomorrow the commune members will slaughter theirs. They're thinking of bringing some meat with you when you go to the county town. Firstly, these two uncles have always taken good care of me, and secondly, even if they have connections in the city, they can't buy much meat."
"That's fine too. Besides the things I brought for you, there are also a few bottles of good wine in my luggage, which are for them. I originally planned to buy some at the supply and marketing cooperative when I went into town, but since you asked me to bring some meat, then we don't need to buy anything else."
"Then let's put some more mountain produce or something in the basket."
"That's also acceptable."
"By the way, brother, since you're here, do you want to take some time to visit Grandpa Wang?"
"Grandpa Wang, you mean the Grandpa Wang from the military hospital?"
"yes"
What is he doing here?
"This younger sister doesn't know either. Anyway, every time she sees him or cooks something nice, she gives it to him while she's going up the mountain. When Grandpa Wang sees her in the crowd, he doesn't seem to want others to know that we know each other."
"Okay, I understand. I'll make time to go there."
"Then let me prepare some things for you to take with you."
"Okay, you can decide what to prepare."
On the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, everyone in the village who raised pigs began slaughtering them. My eldest brother took advantage of this time to visit Grandpa Wang's house, where he stayed for most of the day. Chen Enpeng and I went to watch the pig slaughtering. After we finished watching, Chen Enpeng found the third son of Grandpa Gu's family to act as an intermediary. He asked the slaughterhouse to reserve some meat for us to exchange for later that evening, and also asked him to inquire whether they wanted money or ration coupons, so we could prepare accordingly.
We selected three shops in the village. We wanted all parts of the body, and we wanted more than we needed. They didn't have to risk selling to the black market, so their prices were relatively cheaper.
The pigs from the three households were all about the same size, around 180 jin (90 catties). We each ordered 20 jin (10 catties) from each household, which meant we got 60 jin (30 catties) of meat in total.
The older man watching was a bit worried, afraid that someone would report us. He said, "You have to be more careful in the future, you know?"
"Don't worry, big brother! If it weren't for the small yard and the fact that we educated youth had a collective household registration, I would have been planning to raise pigs myself."
"Then why did you mention in your letter that you were raising geese?"
"Well, I heard that nobody's in charge this year."
"What about next year?"
"That's right, no, we need to tell both of them too."
"Just say something, at least you'll know what's going on."
"good"
On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, my eldest brother, Shen Dong, went to town alone. I had originally planned to go with him, but it was too cold outside, so he didn't let me go. I stayed home packing his things; his train was on the afternoon of the third day of the lunar new year, so it was important to prepare early. The roads are a little better now, though. Recently, more people have been walking through the snow into town, and the roads to the county town have been cleared, so there's no need to worry about getting stuck in the snow.
Moreover, Grandpa Huang has been driving his oxcart into town every day for the past two days, so he plans to have his older brother take more things back with him.
Last time I sent nuts, this time I plan to ask my older brother to bring me some dried persimmons, dates, wood ear mushrooms, and mushrooms.
They didn't bring too much. Each household received one pound of wood ear mushrooms and mushrooms, two dried persimmons, and half a pound of dates. It wasn't that they didn't have that much, but they simply couldn't bring out too much. Not only would their elder brother suspect something, but the recipients would also grumble. Less is more, at least it's safe, right?
When my older brother came back and saw the three sacks I had prepared, he said, "Mianmian, let's not talk about whether I can carry these three sacks. I've been saying for a long time that you always send such a large amount of stuff to the military region and military hospital. Aren't you afraid that someone will notice you?"
"Big brother, if you hadn't mentioned it, I really wouldn't have thought of this. What should we do?"
"To be honest, I don't know what to do either. How about this, halve everything, put it all together, and when we get back, I'll take it directly to the commander and let them decide how to distribute it."
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