Zhenzhen hadn't seen Guihua for half a month. After dinner, she waited for Wang Sufen to wash her hands and face, then crawled to Guihua, held her arm and stood up with difficulty, and tried to hug her neck with her two little hands.
Guihua smiled and hugged Zhenzhen in her arms, kissing her chubby face twice: "Are you missing your sister-in-law?" Zhenzhen smiled and stretched out her chubby hand, which held a bright orange girl, and she tried hard to stuff it into Guihua's mouth.
Guihua lowered her head and took it in her mouth, then picked up Zhenzhen to look at the things she had brought back. She saw that the kang on the north side was filled with a bright red kettle, an enamel washbasin, a spittoon, bed sheets, quilt covers, pillowcases, and a plastic mirror with a red peony on the back. Zhenzhen stared at the things on the kang in amazement, and couldn't figure out how many cloth bags Mingxi and Guihua had carried to bring back these things.
Guihua opened an oil-paper bag and took out a few pieces of cloth. After finishing her meal, Mrs. Li quickly washed her hands and came over to take a look. She carefully spread out the top piece of small floral cloth and measured it on Zhenzhen. Her eyes smiled and said, "Look at how vivid the flowers printed on it are. They make our Zhenzhen's little face look so pretty."
Zhenzhen also lowered her head to look. There were small red, green and blue flowers printed on the foundation. Although it looked rustic, it was already a very good style in this area. It could not be bought in Beicha District, let alone in Yidong City.
Old Lady Li picked up the bright red velvet and compared it to Zhenzhen, and began to think: "Let's do as we said before. Use the velvet to make a cotton-padded jacket. I still have the red cotton cloth your grandfather sent me a few years ago in my box. It's very soft. Use that to make a lining for Zhenzhen." She then picked up the pink floral cloth: "The velvet is thick, so you can wear it directly. You don't need to use this good material to make a coat. When it gets warmer in the spring, use this cloth to make a jacket for Zhenzhen. It will look good when she goes out and comes out."
Zhenzhen nodded repeatedly. Li Muwu was the only employee in the family. Cloth coupons and industrial coupons were issued with wages. They were only enough to make one set of clothes in a year. Sometimes, they could only buy two pieces of cloth for patching. The clothes she wore since she was born were all remade from her brother's old clothes. Although they were washed clean and very soft, they were either black or gray. Zhenzhen felt that wearing them really affected her cuteness as a fat baby.
The family finished their meal one after another. Guihua hurriedly got off the kang to help clean up, but Wang Sufen stopped her and pushed her aside: "You just came back and go take a rest. Tomorrow you can make new cotton-padded jackets for you and Mingdong in the house. You don't have to worry about these things at home."
Guihua looked at the things in the yard and knew that there was a lot of work to do at home. She gathered her hair and helped Wang Sufen clean up the table: "I sat all the way back, so I'm not that tired. You guys are tired when you harvest crops at home."
When Wang Sufen thought about the harvest from her own fields, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling: "If I can have such a good harvest every year, I am willing to work hard."
Upon hearing this, Zhenzhen puffed out her chest proudly and said: If I wasn't afraid that you would get tired, I would have no problem letting you collect once a day.
With two people back home, they worked much faster. Li Muwu and his three sons collected grain in the backyard all day long. The three of them took turns pushing the stone mill to thresh the grain. By evening, their clothes were soaked with sweat and water could be wrung out of them.
Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen were in the front tidying up the vegetables grown at home. They were storing, pickling, and drying. They depended on these for winter vegetables. After finally finishing all these, they also pickled the sauerkraut. Wang Sufen also pickled a jar of kohlrabi. In winter, they could be shredded and eaten with rice. In spring, when there was a shortage of food, they could be fried with lard and it would be a good dish.
Guihua sat on the kang, drawing and cutting with swift hands, stuffing up the cotton layer by layer. Zhenzhen sat on the kang opposite, eating fruit obediently. When she was full, she lay on the windowsill and watched Li Muwu and his three brothers work.
After the house was tidied inside and out, the weather gradually turned colder. Li Muwu took out the newspapers he had saved for a year and pasted them outside the windows layer by layer. When the weather turned cold, it could definitely block the howling north wind and snow in winter, even if there was a blizzard. However, although the thick newspapers blocked the wind, there was one disadvantage: the newspapers were too thick and no light could penetrate. The room instantly became dark, and even with the lights on, it was dim and not bright.
Just after November, Li Mingdong came back from Bingcheng. Old Mrs. Li, who was sitting in the kitchen, heard the door open and looked up to see her eldest grandson coming back. She was overjoyed and swept the dirt off his body with a kang-sweeping broom while hurriedly asking him, "Why are you back so early? Is the school on vacation?" Then she shouted, "Guihua, hurry up, Dongzi is back."
Guihua also heard the voice, put down the half-finished shoes in her hand and came out to greet them. They had just been dating for half a month and it was almost two months since they separated. Mingdong and Guihua had been missing each other for a long time. Mingdong was talking to Old Lady Li, but his eyes kept glancing at Guihua. Since Guihua came back from Bingcheng, Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen had not let her do any work outside. She stayed in the house for two months and her skin became much whiter. In addition, she had not done any other rough work except sewing these days. After scalding her hands with hot water at night and applying a layer of Gala oil given by Mingdong, her slender fingers became even whiter and more delicate.
Mingdong's eyes fell from Guihua's face to her hand that was lifting her hair. His heart, which had been empty for two months, was filled again. Guihua looked at Mingdong staring at her without blinking, and her face turned red again. She pursed her lips and smiled, and her voice was like honey: "Brother Mingdong, you're back?"
"Hey! Um, are you okay at home?" Mingdong asked stupidly.
"Very good." Guihua looked at Mingdong with her watery eyes, and she seemed to have almost taken Mingdong's soul away.
Zhenzhen lay in Wang Sufen's arms, watching her brother and Guihua looking at each other lovingly, one blushing and the other's ears swollen, but neither of them took a step forward. This made Zhenzhen very anxious. Will they fall in love? Can they hold hands? Can they at least consider the feelings of the onlookers
Unfortunately, not everyone in the Li family is as thoughtful as Zhenzhen. The two had just said three sentences when Mingnan and Mingbei came in from outside. Seeing Mingdong, they rushed to him and said, "Brother, why are you back so early? Second brother hasn't even had his day off yet."
Mingdong threw the two boys off, and then he saw Li Muwu and Wang Sufen standing behind him for who knows how long. He quickly stood up and called out, "Dad, Mom."
Wang Sufen grinned and said, "Don't block the door, come in and sit on the kang to talk."
Mingnan and Mingbei rushed to carry Mingdong's luggage to the house. The family put on their slippers and got on the kang. Zhenzhen got down from Wang Sufen's arms and crawled to sit between Wang Sufen and Mingdong.
Mingdong glanced at the little girl sitting next to him, smiled and touched her head: "It's only been a few months, and Zhenzhen has grown a lot."
Zhen Zhen opened her mouth, revealing eight small teeth: "Brother!"
"So good!" Mingdong pulled over a schoolbag that was placed beside the kang, took out a piece of candy from it and handed it to Zhenzhen: "Hide it well, don't let your third and fourth brothers see it."
Zhenzhen took the candy and put it in her small pocket, then leaned against Guihua's arms and listened to the adults talking. Old Mrs. Li saw that the candy wrapper looked very delicate and didn't look like cheap stuff, so she asked quickly, "Where did the candy come from?"
Mingdong said, "I used the candy coupons given by my fourth uncle to buy a dozen milk candies for Zhenzhen to eat, and the rest I bought ordinary fruit candies to entertain guests on the wedding day."
Mrs. Li nodded and said with some regret, "I forgot to tell your fourth uncle to bring back some good cakes. I see Zhenzhen doesn't like rough ones, but prefers these delicate ones."
Wang Sufen looked at the fair and tender Zhenzhen and couldn't help but smile and said, "She is spoiled by her mother. When Dongzi and the others were young, they were lucky to have enough food to eat. How could they dare to pick coarse grains or fine grains? They were so happy that they couldn't sleep even if they made three big pancakes in one meal."
Old Mrs. Li clicked her tongue and said, "The little girl has a thin throat, which is different."
Zhenzhen touched the candy in her pocket and listened to the adults talking happily. However, as she listened, she found that the space she was sitting on was getting smaller and smaller. Zhenzhen looked up at Mingdong and saw him moving closer and closer to Guihua. Zhenzhen couldn't stand the squeeze and climbed into the arms of Mrs. Li. Sure enough, as soon as she sat down, Mingdong was already close to Guihua.
Seeing that her grandson was no longer as awkward as before, Grandma Li felt that he had finally come to his senses. She immediately felt that it was worthwhile to let Guihua go to Bingcheng. In this marriage, both of them must be happy.
"Okay, Mingdong is very tired after just coming back. Dongzi's mom, you go cook, Mingnan and Mingbei go add firewood to your mom. Guihua and Dongzi, you two go into the inner room to discuss the wedding, and see if you can find time to go to the street to take some photos or something." Old Lady Li picked up the pipe, but put it down when she saw her granddaughter in her arms. She hugged Zhenzhen and got off the kang: "Come on, grandma will take you to the east room to eat pine nuts."
Old Lady Li left, and the others followed. Mingdong stretched his neck to look, and saw that the door was also closed. Then he boldly held Guihua's hand and said, "I wanted to write you a letter, but I was afraid that Mingbei would open it and read it."
Guihua's little hand was in Mingdong's hand, she dared not move. She looked from their tightly clasped hands to Mingdong's face, revealing a bright smile: "Then next time you should write a letter addressed to Guihua and only to me."
"Okay!" Mingdong nodded seriously. Suddenly he remembered something, and quickly let go of Guihua's hand. He pulled over the schoolbag, rummaged through it a few times, took out a small flower handkerchief from it and handed it to Guihua.
Guihua opened the handkerchief and saw a yellow round iron box inside. It looked very delicate. She looked at Mingdong in surprise and asked, "Snow cream?"
"Yes!" Mingdong grinned as he watched Guihua love it so much. "I wanted to buy it for you last time, but I didn't have enough money. I saved up two months' allowance and finally bought it for you before I went home."
Guihua was touched but also a little worried. Seeing Mingdong looking obviously haggard, she boldly reached out and touched his face: "You have lost a lot of weight? Did you miss a meal to buy this?"
"I'm full, really. We were harvesting carrots on the farm a while ago. After harvesting for a while, we would drag one to the water, wash it, and eat it. We ate seven or eight raw carrots a day. Do you think we could be hungry?" Mingdong winked at Guihua, who chuckled and was about to take her hand away, but Mingdong took it back into his palm.
Although Guihua was a generous and straightforward girl, she felt embarrassed when the person she liked held her hand and looked at her like this. She blushed all the way to her ears, which made her look even more charming and pretty. Mingdong felt itchy inside when he looked at her, and he just wanted to get married as soon as possible so that he could kiss her openly.
In the east room, Zhenzhen was eating the pine nuts peeled by Old Lady Li for her, feeling regretful that she didn't get to see her elder brother and Guihua fall in love. Just now, the two of them were flirting with each other at the door with shy looks on their faces. It must have been very interesting for them to be alone together.
Mingdong returned home, and preparing for the wedding became the top priority for the Li family. When the weather just started to get cold, large trucks carrying grain and non-staple food finally entered the Beicha District. For a while, people ran to the streets holding grain and meat coupons.
Old Li's family harvested two crops in a row, and both were bumper harvests. The family's grain reserves are enough to last for the next year. But there are not many families like Old Li's family. Although they have a bumper harvest this year, because they are all reclaimed by themselves, the land is large and small, and some are lazy and only grow crops in the yard. Some families live with three generations, more than a dozen people and seven or eight half-grown children. No matter how much grain they grow, it is not enough for the whole family. Old Mrs. Li thought about not buying grain this time, just leaving some grain coupons to buy some biscuits and cakes for Zhenzhen every month, and the rest can be exchanged for some cloth coupons, sugar coupons, industrial coupons, etc., so that she can buy more things for the family.
In those days, almost every household was short of food coupons. Old Mrs. Li only went to the houses of her close relatives, sat on the kang, and talked for a while before getting down to business. In just a few days, she had exchanged a lot of coupons for them, bought a lot of things, and even got a few sunflowers she grew herself.
Guihua tidied up the new house, spread out the newly bought kang mat, re-stuffed the old mattress and filled it with a new layer of cotton, replaced it with new quilt covers and sheets, and placed everything neatly on the kang.
Everything was ready. As the wedding day was getting closer, it was time to take wedding photos. Mingdong and Guihua got up early in the morning to boil water and wash their hair. Guihua sat by the stove and dried her hair until it was about 70% dry before she deftly braided her hair into a pigtail.
Beicha District is large in area but small in population. There is only one busy street in the street. Grain stores, grocery stores, barber shops, cooperatives, and photo studios are all next to each other. Many people get married in winter, and the photo studio is only busy for two days during the year. When Mingdong and Guihua arrived, there were three young couples queuing in front of them.
There are few opportunities to take photos in this era. The couple sat on a stool and it was their first time to take photos. The girl pursed her lips and stared at him, while the boy followed the photographer's instructions and sat on the stool straight and rigid. But when he smiled, his face suddenly looked uglier than crying. The photographer taught him over and over again, and when he finally got the expressions right and took the photo, he was sweating from exhaustion.
After waiting for half an hour, it was finally Mingdong and Guihua's turn. Mingdong had taken a photo when he was in high school, and he also took a photo when he first arrived in Harbin. When Guihua's family was not in financial difficulty, they would take photos two or three times a year. The two of them sat there, shoulder to shoulder, very naturally, revealing the sweetest smiles.
The photographer immediately breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pressed the shutter when the two were smiling the sweetest.
****
Time flies, and it is Laba, Zhenzhen's birthday. Zhenzhen still remembers the day she was born. Old Lady Li said she had a good birthday, because she was born on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the time of the year when there is no shortage of food. It is obvious that she will never go hungry.
Zhenzhen was not worried about being hungry, but she did not expect that her ability would be upgraded just after she turned one year old. Originally, Zhenzhen could only see everything outside when her consciousness was out of her body, but today, she was shocked by the scene in her mind when she just woke up.
The entire Beicha District appeared in her mind like a 3D model. She could clearly feel the existence of every mountain, every river, even every tree and every blade of grass. She could sense the hares hiding in the holes, the flying dragons alighting on the branches, the fish motionless in the water, the blind bears in the mountains, and the Siberian tigers.
Just as she was about to take a look at what a Siberian tiger looked like, the tiger's location instantly zoomed in her mind. Zhenzhen looked at it as if she were standing next to it. The Siberian tiger was staring at a gazelle, cautiously hunching its body, as if it was about to hunt.
Seeing the yellow goat in front of her that seemed to be unaware of the danger, Zhenzhen felt a little greedy. Since she was born in the Li family, Li Muwu and her brothers had brought back many wild animals, but they had never caught this yellow goat. It was okay that she couldn't eat meat when she was young, but now her teeth are growing fast. A pair of small teeth have appeared just after her birthday, so she must eat meat to satisfy her craving.
Zhenzhen couldn't help but feel a little itchy. She looked at the yellow goat and wondered how to get it home. As soon as she had this thought, the yellow goat seemed to be controlled. It ran all the way down the mountain, very cleverly avoiding places where people walked. After going down the mountain, the yellow goat continued to run at a high speed until it ran to the door of Lao Li's house without stopping. It used all its strength to hit the door of Lao Li's house. This is because the door of Lao Li's house is made of red pine wood. If it was replaced with a thinner board, it would definitely have a big hole.
At this time, Mrs. Li was discussing with Wang Sufen about celebrating Zhenzhen's birthday in the kitchen. In Beicha, only the elderly celebrated their birthdays in good years, and young people and children did not have such a tradition. But Mrs. Li thought that Zhenzhen was not only the treasure of the family, but also that it was thanks to her that the whole family did not starve during the most difficult years. Otherwise, who knows how worried they would be.
"You can roll a bowl of noodles for Zhenzhen later." Old Mrs. Li said while smoking her pipe, "Make the dough softer and put a fried egg in it. As the old saying goes, you should wrap noodles around the child's legs on his birthday to prevent him from dying."
Wang Sufen happily agreed since her mother-in-law was willing to celebrate her child's birthday. As they were talking, they suddenly heard the door outside being knocked open by something. Old Mrs. Li stopped smoking, took out her pipe, knocked on it, and put it on her belt. She walked to the door, grabbed the big cotton-padded jacket hanging at the door, put it on, and opened the door and went out.
Every morning when Li Muwu went out to fetch water, he would open the gate but not lock it, and only close it when he went out. When Mrs. Li came out, she saw that her gate had been knocked open, and inside the gate lay a yellow sheep with a bleeding head, breathing out but not in.
Old Lady Li was so happy. She didn't have to go hunting, and the prey came to her door. What a good thing. She was squatting there watching. A few neighbors heard the noise and came out to see. They saw the sheep lying in front of Old Lady Li's house and were envious: "Auntie Li, who hunted such a big and fat sheep? Did Mu Wu go up the mountain again so early in the morning?"
"Don't you think this is unusual? For some reason, this yellow sheep ran down the mountain and crashed into my door and died." Old Lady Li proudly pulled the sheep up and said, "Oh, it's not a small death. Dongzi will have enough meat for his wedding. Come and drink at the wedding."
"Aiya, Aunt Li, your family is so lucky. I see your family has not lacked meat this year." A family standing nearby looked at them with envy: "Do you think your place is good? Otherwise, why would they crash into your house?"
Old Mrs. Li was happy: "My house is close to the main road. If I want to go to your house, I have to turn around."
"That's not good." Suddenly everyone around laughed. Some people saw that it was getting early and were ready to go home and ask their husbands to take their wild guns to the mountains to see if they could encounter a yellow sheep that was even dumber than the stupid roe deer. "
Old Lady Li brought the yellow sheep into the yard and shouted, "Go and see if your father has come back from fetching water. Tell him to kill the sheep quickly."
Mingbei put on a dog-skin hat and a big cotton-padded jacket and rushed out. As he ran, he turned back and asked, "Do you want to have meat for lunch?"
"Eat!" Old Mrs. Li grinned and said, "Today is your sister's birthday, let's make mutton dumplings for us."
Li Muwu had just walked halfway with a load of water when he saw his youngest son running over, panting, and asking him to go back and kill a sheep. Li Muwu immediately quickened his pace, returned home, threw the bucket there, and ran towards the yellow sheep in the middle of the yard.
"This is good stuff." Li Muwu was delighted. "This yellow sheep meat is fragrant and tender. I'll prepare it and we can eat it at noon."
Zhenzhen sat on the kang with satisfaction: How can I celebrate my birthday without eating meat? I must have a pot of braised lamb!
The author has something to say: The update is here. I will quickly send out red envelopes to those who left good comments on yesterday and the day before yesterday. I will also send out red envelopes for every good comment on every chapter in the future. Xoxo.
Also, some readers asked if sheep live on the grassland. Actually, I only ate them when I was a child so I have this impression. Also, there were indeed yellow sheep in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains. I searched on Baidu but couldn’t find out. Just have fun here and don’t do any research. Cover your face.
Kaka's freshly completed novel recommendation: "The Lucky Star of Time Travel": She had great luck in her previous life, and after time travel, she still had good luck. Not only did she gain the magical trait of whoever she hugged getting pregnant, but she also had the strange luck of digging ginseng like digging radishes, and she also met a loyal little dog who loved her to the bone...
New article recommended by gay friends: "The Character Cannot Collapse" The story of a straight man who can only say "drink more hot water" and becomes a wife-loving maniac
Thank you to the fairies who voted for Overlord, muah
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