During the coldest winter of our time, everyone kept warm in the dormitory with a fire made of firewood.
Su Ye went to teach in the village primary school early in the morning. Ma Gensheng asked her to take special care of the two children in the class.
They were whispering.
One boy grabbed a ball of air and stuffed it into the other boy's mouth: "Fudan, are you hungry again? Okay, close your eyes, I'll put a bun in your mouth, you take a bite, two bites, Fudan, meat buns taste good, right? Do you feel full now?"
Fudan nodded, "It's delicious, the buns are soft, and the meat... well, the meat is fragrant."
His classmate Niu Dan said, "Now you are eating scrambled eggs with tomatoes and stewed chicken with potatoes. Do you smell it? Is it delicious? Well, Fudan, you have eaten too much now. Your stomach is about to burst. You are already full and you are not hungry at all."
But Fudan was still hungry, because he imagined that this was something he had never eaten before. He asked Niudan: "What do scrambled eggs with tomatoes and stewed chicken with potatoes taste like? I tried to think about it, but my stomach was still empty."
Niu Dan sighed and said dejectedly, "I haven't eaten it either, but my mom said it's the most delicious thing in the world and only rich families can eat it."
As he spoke, he wiped his saliva fiercely, looking even hungrier than Fudan who had his eyes closed.
Fudan shook his head reluctantly, "Yes, the most delicious thing in the world is braised pork. My parents said that braised pork is all fat, and one bite of it can keep you from eating for a week!" His eyes were full of longing when he mentioned braised pork, and his saliva flowed even more.
After hearing this, Su Ye realized that even his parents had never eaten braised pork.
Niu Dan argued with him, "The most delicious things in the world are scrambled eggs with tomatoes and chicken stewed with potatoes! What's so special about 'red braised pork'?"
Fudan was angry, "Eating a little can save you from having dinner on Sunday, but what is the most delicious thing?"
"A few bites of my scrambled eggs with tomatoes and chicken stew with potatoes can fill you up for the whole day!"
They argued over which was the most delicious thing in the world, their faces red and their stomachs rumbling like thunder.
Su Ye burst into laughter, feeling both miserable and funny.
The parents of these two children died in the famine last year. They usually lived on the relief food distributed by the brigade. They had to eat every day they had food. In the summer, the village ran out of food and they almost starved to death. Fortunately, Su Ye sold tea leaves in exchange for food, which saved their lives.
Although he would be full one day and hungry the next, at least he was not in danger of starving to death. After Ruan Ruliang grew high-yield sweet potatoes, he was even less likely to starve to death.
Therefore, his sweet potatoes are of great significance to many people. Now when many people in the village see Ruan Ruliang, they give him chopped firewood, help him wash clothes, and do farm work...
Su Ye brought the two children back to the dormitory and asked Liu Gang to cook chicken stewed with potatoes and scrambled eggs. There was no tomato scrambled eggs and braised pork for the time being, as they were all eaten up during the winter solstice.
She had just taken out some scrambled eggs for the two children, who were gobbling them up ravenously. After they had finished eating, they picked up the crumbs that fell on the table and ate them clean, sucking their thumbs until they were satisfied, as if scrambled eggs were the most delicious thing in the world.
Student Lin Yuan came back from outside and brought back a few letters for Su Ye.
Su Ye thought it was a letter from Gu Xiangqian, but unexpectedly it was from C City - it was a letter from He Meimei.
Su Ye was a little surprised to receive He Meimei's letter. In the letter, He Meimei told Su Ye about her recent situation, asked about Su Ye's situation in the countryside, and sent her some pickled mustard greens to improve her life. Su Ye thought that she must have imagined something strange and was so poor that she couldn't even eat the pickled mustard greens.
Su Ye was in tears and laughed as she sent back a portion of Liu Gang's newly made braised pork dish to He Meimei. This was made by Liu Gang and was the "new favorite" in the educated youth dormitory. Everyone loved to mix it with rice every time they had a meal, even Ruan Ruliang liked it very much.
He Meimei quickly received Su Ye's letter.
Now she is still a teacher in a middle school, but the famine is getting worse and worse. In the past, the school distributed cakes, sugar and peanuts as welfare. Now these benefits have been cancelled. Not only that, the 30 kilograms of food per month have been turned into 5 kilograms of fine grains and 25 kilograms of dried sweet potatoes.
Everyone tried their best to get food everywhere, but the harvest was not great. At this time, the military wives would miss Su Ye, who always had good luck.
He Meimei thought that life in the city was already so hard, so how could it be even harder in the countryside? Thinking of this, she sent a portion of pickled mustard greens to Su Ye.
A week later, she received two cans of pickled meat dishes sent by Su Ye.
The braised meat dish was covered with a thick layer of rapeseed oil, and the dark brown fried meat sauce was full of the fresh and salty taste of pickled mustard greens. It seemed that Su Ye was living a good life in the countryside, and he actually sent her the precious meat!
The soldier's wife Niu Cuihua was delighted to see this and asked, "Did Su Ye go to the countryside to teach? She is in need of something and I want to help her."
He Meimei remembered that Su Ye told her before she left that she could go to the countryside to find her when she became successful. It was just a joke at the time and she didn't take it seriously. She didn't expect that this sentence would come true.
He Meimei quickly shook her head and said, "Let's not cause trouble for her. She has an easy life in the countryside."
Niu Cuihua hurried to pack her bag. He Meimei could barely get by on this kind of life because her salary at school was quite good, but Niu Cuihua had been drinking the wind of the north for a long time. She only had a junior high school education, and although she was not capable of teaching in a high school, she was more than enough to teach a group of rural babies!
She has full faith in Su Ye. She wants to help Su Ye and build a vast new rural world with her!
Weeks later.
Su Ye was grading homework in the dormitory for educated youths when a villager came to the dormitory and told her, "Teacher Su, your former colleague is here!"
She put down her pen and hurried to the village entrance to see a few familiar faces.
He Meimei looked at her with a smile. Niu Cuihua was wiping her sweat while carrying several bags on her back. What surprised Su Ye the most was that Mr. He from the Chinese language group and Mr. Zhou Yi, who taught mathematics, were also here!
Teacher He quickly waved his hand at Su Ye, "Without Teacher Su in my life, I feel much less happy. Little Su, we have come to you for help. I hope we have not caused you any trouble."
After Su Ye left the school, many things happened. Factories in the city closed down one after another, resulting in many workers being laid off. Many students were forced to drop out of school, and the students who stayed in school were also inattentive in their studies because there was no food to eat. Everyone's thoughts were focused on this, and the teachers were like monks ringing the bell every day.
Teacher He suddenly missed Su Ye. Before He Meimei left her job, she said goodbye to him and told him that she was going to the countryside to join Su Ye and build a new countryside with her. At that moment, Teacher He's heart was suddenly moved.
That night he reread the interview with Su Ye that was published in the newspaper after she finished the college entrance examination. The emotional ups and downs in the article made him easily imagine how confident and high-spirited Su Ye was when she said this. She said she wanted to build the motherland, so she must have been building the motherland.
Because she will never break her promise, and what she said will never come true.
He recalled the past when they and Su Ye ran around together, selling watches to raise tuition fees, and when they worked all night together to organize review materials for students before the college entrance examination. He recalled the day when the college entrance examination results were announced, and the results that shocked the whole city. These days of working together and burning with passion were only halfway through, and now they seemed so strange that they had never happened.
Because the passion of the past has gradually turned into the lifeless and numb present. Since we both have to eat a full meal, why not make ourselves happier
After daybreak, he made the same decision as He Meimei: he wanted to go to the countryside to teach.
Su Ye shook his head after hearing what they said and smiled cheerfully, "Of course not. It's just right that you're here! You must be thirsty on the way. Eat some grapefruit to moisten your throat."
Don't be afraid of lack of food or feeding a few more mouths. Su Ye is not afraid. Is it just that little bit of food that she lacks
She smiled as she peeled some pomelo and shared it with everyone. This was a gift from a nearby farmer, but it was a little big and a little sour, so they ate all of it.
Before leaving the university, she had said that she welcomed her colleagues to come to the countryside to join her. At that time, she thought that they would probably be willing to give up everything and come to the countryside. Unexpectedly, they resolutely came to join her.
The new socialist countryside that Su Ye wants to build lacks talents like He Meimei, Teacher He, and Zhou Yi! Su Ye welcomes precious college students to build a new socialist countryside.
She smiled and said jokingly, "I have wanted to invite you here for a long time, but I was afraid that you would not come because the conditions in the countryside were too bad. Now the conditions are much better than before, and you came at the perfect time!"
Su Ye brought the three teachers to the dormitory for educated youths. Many students recognized them and were so happy that they could hardly speak. They never thought that they would see their former teachers in such a remote place!
He Meimei entered the educated youth dormitory, took a look at the room they lived in, and was suddenly stunned.
She thought that Su Ye and the students had suffered a lot in the countryside during this period.
She had heard other educated youth describe their life in the countryside before: the group of educated youth who went to the north lived in caves and slept on a kang, with more than a dozen people sleeping in a row, and they had to turn over at night; the educated youth who went to Xinjiang slept in tents every day, shivering with cold and eating frozen dumplings every day; the group who went to the Great Northern Wilderness was even worse, shouldering the heavy task of reclaiming wasteland. Not only did they have to go hungry, but they also had to do heavy farm work like a mountain.
But unexpectedly, Su Ye and his family lived in a newly built house with walls that had been finely whitewashed. They could afford a washbasin, enamel bowl, and thermos. The room was bright and drafty, but it felt warm when they walked in, and the warmth penetrated into their hearts.
Su Ye immediately brought over a plate of corn buns and handed them to them with a smile.
"You guys eat your fill first. I'll let Liu Gang make you a delicious meal tonight."
Corn steamed buns were a delicious meal for these tired travelers. The freshly steamed buns were moist, tender, with a smooth crust and a chewy texture. He Meimei had been eating black steamed buns for many days before going to the countryside.
Zhou Yi looked around. In addition to muddy shoes, tattered sweatshirts, farm tools and other things full of the flavor of rural life in the dormitory, there were books and a small blackboard on the students' desks, which showed that their leisure life was rich.
He probably didn't expect that after these students finished their farm work during the day, they would be forced by Ruan Ruliang to study every night, and their spare time would be spent studying.
Niu Cuihua had been eating steamed buns silently before, and she only stopped when she ate four steamed buns and her stomach was about to burst.
"Su Ye, can we have steamed buns for every meal from now on?"
Niu Cuihua quickly inquired about the food standard at the educated youth camp. She was worried that this meal would become the best meal she had eaten since she went to the countryside. If there were no corn buns in the future... sorghum buns would also be fine. In short, as long as she could have enough food, Niu Cuihua was not a picky eater.
As soon as she asked the question, the students burst into laughter.
Su Ye shook his head and said with a smile: "When I was young, I could eat steamed buns every day. How could such a thing happen?"
Niu Cuihua's eyes went dark. How could she even eat the steamed buns? She was extremely upset and regretted eating too hastily and not saving some food. It was because she hadn't eaten the real steamed buns for a long time. The corn was probably newly harvested in the fall, and it was full of fragrance. It was so fragrant that she wanted to eat more after eating one. If she ate sparingly, these steamed buns could last for weeks!
Su Ye handed her a cup of freshly brewed tea and said slowly and hurriedly: "In addition to steamed buns, we should occasionally eat rice, noodles, and porridge to change our taste."
Everything that happened in the educated youth dormitory next made He Meimei experience firsthand Su Ye's daily life in the countryside. If she had seen it with her own eyes, she would definitely not dare to believe it, as it all seemed like a dream.
In the evening, everyone gathered together to eat fried potatoes and pork slices and drink mushroom stewed chicken soup. The students behaved very freely, but this group of people who had just come from the city seemed out of place. He Meimei was so surprised that her eyes almost fell to the ground. They actually killed a chicken to stew soup and cut two pounds of pork belly.
Liu Gang introduced that they could have meat every weekend to improve their diet, and they could have stewed meat porridge and egg porridge every now and then. The teachers could have eggs every day, and meat could be added on holidays! The tea in Shanggou Village was also excellent. After eating and drinking, they could make a pot of tea and have a good time.
He Meimei felt the complicated experience of the students when they first went to the countryside. They thought they were here to suffer hardships, but unexpectedly they fell into a good nest