Chapter 2

When Xu Wen drove the well-fed and well-drunk sheep back to the production team’s livestock shed, the members of the community will also get today’s task of carrying all kinds of agricultural tools on their hands and shoulders from the courtyard in front of the production team’s public house to go out

Every day before work began, everyone had to come to the production team’s headquarters for a meeting, and only after the captain had assigned the day’s work could they go to work

At night, before they finished work, they had to go back to the production team and let the laborer mark their work points before going home

Her mother, Zhu Meizhen, came out with the members of the community and saw Xu Man calling out to her, patting her on the arm twice with a smile: “Ask, you’ll have dinner at home before you go to sleep I boiled two eggs for you in the morning and put them on the square table”

Auntie Zhang, who was on good terms with Zhu Meizhen, joked, “No wonder your family’s ask has a face as white and tender as an egg with its shell peeled off, so it turns out that she eats eggs every day”

“How can that be? Eggs are expensive! Can we afford to eat eggs every day when we’re eating chaff and food? Today is our birthday” Zhu Meizhen explained

“No wonder!” Auntie Zhang looked puzzled

There was also a mouthy old woman who picked a fight and asked Xu Wen’s sister-in-law, Sang Xiaoqing, who also had to go out to work, “Xiaoqing, look how much your mother-in-law loves your sister-in-law, do you have eggs to eat?”

Zhu Meizhen’s face was a bit bad, and her speech was extremely rude: “Sister-in-law Li, did you come out of the outhouse in the morning after you ate too much? If you don’t know how to speak, you should speak less If you can’t work, you’re good at picking fights”

Sang Xiaoqing glanced at Xu Wen, and busily said, “I also have Mother treats me the best”

This is true, Zhu Meizhen is really good to her, she does have everything that Xu Man has, including Xu Man’s birthday egg today, she was also given one, only she didn’t ask for it

How could she be so unintelligent? Birthdays are only once a year

Xu Man smiled and went forward to take Zhu Meizhen and Sang Xiaoqing’s arms, smilingly saying: ”Mom, sister-in-law Don’t bother with Dame Li, she’s probably never seen a harmonious family before and probably thinks others are like her family”

This broken-mouthed Dame Li’s family was known far and wide as a family that didn’t get along with her aunt and sister-in-law Her daughter-in-law and unmarried daughter-in-law often fought in the street

Li Da Niang was being squeezed by three people, either softly or hard, and her face was snappy See can’t take advantage of, skin smile meat not smile said “just a joke, but also a family of three ganged up to bully people! Can’t afford to mess with ”

The gray skulked away

Auntie Zhang patted Zhu Meizhen’s shoulder, advised: “We all know that she has a bad mouth and can’t speak, what kind of anger do you have with her?” After saying this, she turned her face to look at Xu Wen, “After your birthday, you’ll be 19 years old, right? She’s a big girl who can get a family! There’s no better looking girl in our commune than Ask, so just wait for the matchmakers to step over your threshold! Good young men will be lining up for you”

Zhu Meizhen frowned, very resistant, “Ask is still in school! Why are you in such a hurry to find an in-law?”

Auntie Zhang glanced at Xu Man and pulled Zhu Meizhen towards the field while whispering, “I know you like the idea of asking but you can’t let go, but the girl is too old to stay in the family In your family’s condition, it’s not convenient for a girl to sleep at home In addition, you are married to a daughter-in-law, and then add a grandson, your family can not be squeezed on the bed ”

Xu Wen went home and fell asleep, and did not eat the expensive eggs

He didn’t eat the expensive eggs He was mainly not in the mood to eat

Auntie Zhang was right when she said that she couldn’t sleep on the bed anymore, and if she did, she would have to die young again

How to solve this problem?

Xu Wen fell asleep thinking about it

In a daze, she smelled the aroma of food, Xu Man opened her eyes and went down to the bed

There were four dishes and one soup on the dining table

This is the only treatment for the New Year

It’s not a rare dish, it’s just seasonal vegetables grown in your own land

Cucumber, fried bean curd, stewed eggplant, cold groundnut leaves, and a mushroom and egg soup

In addition to the number of dishes, the biggest difference from weekdays is that there is meat in the main dish

Xu Wen was laying out the dishes when she saw Xu Man greeting her, “Wake up? Go wash your hands and come eat Our mom made fish for us”

Xu Wen swallowed her saliva and obediently washed her hands before Zhu Meizhen brought the braised carp to the table

Zhu Meizhen wiped her hands on her apron and greeted Xu Man, “I was just about to call you up for dinner! The family left a catty of meat just for today’s meal Your brother even went to the river to catch a fish for you”

Xu Wen poured Xu Qiushi a glass of white wine and half a glass for himself

Xu Wen gave one of the two eggs to Grandma and one to Xu Che

Grandma shook her head and refused to take them, “Birthdays only come once a year, keep them for yourself”

Xu Che’s movements were so fast that he cracked the egg skins on the table, but when he heard Grandma’s words, he reluctantly returned the eggs to Xu Man, “Sister, you should eat them!”

“You guys can eat, I’m not craving it!” Xu Man pushed the egg back, Grandma and Xu Che let it back again

Xu Man saw so let no one will eat, think about it, she shelled the eggs, cut into small pieces in a bowl, and took a few breaks of garlic knocked into a garlic paste poured on the broken eggs on the table, “Come on, add another dish for everyone!”

So that anyone can eat, save letting go to let all can not eat

Xu Che contentedly took a bite of the white bread with the egg and garlic, and said to Zhu Meizhen: “Mom, when it’s my birthday, can we have a pure meat dish?”

“Little glutton!” Zhu Meizhen lightly tapped Xu Che’s forehead, thought for a moment, and laughed, “By the end of the year for your birthday, when the pigs raised in the pen can be slaughtered, I’ll definitely make you a meat meal”

Xu Che nodded repeatedly, and couldn’t wait for the end of the year tomorrow

Amused the family

Now the people are also allowed to farm, that is, there is the rule of selling one and keeping one

For example, if you raise two pigs, you have to pay and sell one to the state, and the remaining one can be slaughtered

The pig will be sold to the commune’s food station, which will give part of the money, meat stamps and food stamps

Xu Wen gave Xu Che chopsticks of fish and glared at him, “Isn’t this meat?”

Xu Che bristled, “How can fish be the same as pork? Fish meat is half oily, it doesn’t satisfy the craving at all”

“Then don’t eat it!” Xu Wen dragged over the plate in front of Xu Che and gave Xu Man a chopstick of fish, “Happy birthday to our little ask!” Another chopstick was given to Sang Xiaoqing

“Thank you brother”

Who knew that when Sang Xiaoqing smelled the fishy odor in the bowl, her face whitened and she dry-heaved, covering her mouth and running out the door

Xu Wen put down his chopsticks and chased after him

Zhu Meizhen hurriedly poured a bowl of cool water and read on his lips: “Rash one, daughter-in-law vomited without water to run out what use?”

Xu Wen stood up and took the initiative to take the bowl in Zhu Meizhen’s hand, “Mom, I’ll go!”

She chased her to the outside of the house and saw that Sang Xiaoqing was talking to Xu Wen behind the outhouse in the southeast corner

The countryside was all dry toilets, and thatched huts were generally not built very high The Xu family’s thatched hut was just up to Xu Wen’s shoulders

Xu Man just wanted to go forward to bring water, when he heard Sang Xiaoqing crying to Xu Wen: “In our family’s condition, what’s the good thing about getting pregnant? What good is it to get pregnant in our family’s condition? There are only two full-time laborers in a family of seven, you and Dad, and Mother and I together work one and a half hours Grandma’s too old and her feet are too small to work The small amount of labor earned during the summer and winter vacations is not enough to pay for their tuition

If I get pregnant again and my belly gets too big for me to work, then my family of eight will have to live on the northwest wind It’s okay for me to suffer with you, but I really don’t want the baby to suffer with us

Besides, if we really give birth to a child, this bed is so crowded that it’s hard to turn over, can we still sleep eight people?”

Xu Wen sighed softly, “It’s my fault for making you suffer When the work is done at night, I’ll apply to the captain for a morning and evening job The captain also said today that he wants to recruit people to light lamps to catch moths in the cotton and rice fields at night, and then collect the moths in the morning, so that they can earn two more labor points When I go back to the granary to work a few more night shifts, I’ll earn a few more labor points”

“How tired are you then? Even the animals have to work one day and rest one night How can your body stand it? Besides, even if you’re exhausted, the money you get from the few labor points you earn won’t be enough to build a house that can accommodate our family of three” Sang Xiaoqing wiped her tears, “If I may say so, I’m already 20 years old, so even if you don’t want to get married, you don’t need to go to high school anymore, right? You can’t earn work credits and still have to pay tuition It’s not that I’m a sister-in-law who’s picking on her, but we don’t have a girl like her in the countryside”

Xu Wen disagreed: “Ask a high school student, there are only eight of them in the whole county, how marvelous!”

“High school students can’t go to college, and they can’t get a job ”

Xu Wen didn’t listen any further, put the bowl in a conspicuous place, and turned around to go back to his room

Zhu Meizhen raised her eyebrows and wondered, “Why are you back here? How is your sister-in-law? Is she hot today?”

Hot is the dialect of Wei Zhuang’s side, meaning heatstroke

Xu Wen did not return, once again surveyed the hall room, which was too full to fit a single bed, and gritted her teeth and made a decision

She swept her gaze over her grandmother, Xu Qiushi, Zhu Meizhen, and Xu Che in turn, and opened her mouth, “Grandma, Dad, Mom, I have two things I want to discuss with you!”

Xu Qiushi took a sip of wine, showing his teeth in a spicy grin, “You’re the biggest on your birthday today! There’s no need to discuss what to say we all agree”

Zhu Meizhen also nodded in agreement, “That’s right You’ve been an idea man since you were a kid, we’ll support you in whatever you want to do”

Xu Wen took a deep breath and closed her eyes to say her decision in one breath, “I want to quit school! I want to get married!”