After harvesting the wheat, the next step was to plant corn. The Seventh Brigade quickly became busy and did not completely rest.
The wheat harvest was late this year, so the time for planting corn is very close, and every family is busy preparing for the planting.
But it was also the hottest time of the year. After receiving three heat stroke cases from the cooperative in one day, Wang Ying simply started selling medicine. She picked several kinds of herbs from her own medicinal field and picked honeysuckle flowers from the mountain and boiled a large pot of them. Drink a little every day to prevent heat stroke and reduce plague.
Everyone who has tried it has good things to say about it.
Each patch of medicine costs only 20 cents, and it can be boiled repeatedly many times, enough for everyone to get through the hottest period. Suddenly, every household bought anti-heat medicine.
Wang Ying didn’t think that two cents was too low. After all, they were cheap things from the mountains and it didn’t cost her much.
Especially the honeysuckle, which grows in large patches on the mountains. It is naturally grown and is growing very well.
Cheng Yu still couldn't figure out that this plant that can be seen everywhere is actually a medicinal herb. She was eager to try: "Sister Ying, why don't we grow this specifically? I think it's easy to grow."
Wang Ying nodded: "It is very easy to grow. Remember the location of the honeysuckle nearby. After a while, we can transplant them to a certain area and try."
Wang Ying has not forgotten her previous thoughts. Shengli Commune is too poor. They have beautiful mountains and rivers, but they are so poor. One reason is that the transportation is not smooth, and the other is that they have not found their center of gravity.
Mountainous areas are not an advantage for growing grain. Compared with other grain-producing provinces, their mountainous environment means that they cannot rely solely on growing grain for development. Take the Seventh Brigade for example. Their main grain-growing areas are limited to a few plots. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and irrigation is not easy. Every year, they have to fight with other brigades for water. It was only because of the poor harvest this year that they did not fight over water sources.
There are obviously such treasures in the mountains. We can grow medicinal herbs and fruit trees, and develop breeding near the river.
Honeysuckle, for example, is easy to grow and requires little intervention. It is widely distributed. It can be grown from seeds or cuttings and harvested the following year. It can be picked every spring and summer.
Moreover, honeysuckle can not only dispel heat and dissipate evil, but also have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. In some folk remedies, people often soak honeysuckle in water to drink, which can kill bacteria and stop diarrhea.
Wang Ying: "If we grow well this year, I will talk to the team leader about it around winter, and we can try it next year."
The medicinal field opened by Wang Ying does not only contain one kind of medicine. After trying them, she selected several that are most suitable for local cultivation. Honeysuckle is the most suitable one.
Cheng Yu understood what Wang Ying meant, and nodded quickly, patting his chest and promising that he would take good care of the medicinal fields.
After the rush to harvest, Cheng Shufen did not join the others in the work and started to carry manure again. Cheng Yu also herded sheep in the mountains every day as usual.
The three sheep have been raised for almost half a year. Cheng Yu takes them to the mountain to graze every day, so each of them grows very fast.
Wang Ying was calculating in her mind when she could eat the mutton, but there was so little mutton, and with such a small amount of indicators, the most suitable thing to eat in winter was mutton soup.
There are also mutton hotpot, mutton soup noodles, mutton dumplings...
Wang Ying had been craving for mutton for several days, and Xu Shuang saw that she was really craving for it, so she made her some knife-cut noodles.
Wang Ying muttered: "How is this the same..."
She has been craving for stewed noodles recently, but sliced noodles and stewed noodles are too different.
But it’s also delicious.
Use a knife to cut the kneaded dough, keep the dough close to the knife, and cut each time six inches. The dough slices are usually thin on both sides and thick in the middle, and they are sprinkled in the pot like small fish.
Add two spoonfuls of chopped chili peppers to the cooked knife-cut noodles, pour hot oil on them, and add seasonings and mix them together. You will get a bright red bowl that smells delicious.
The pork at home was all gone, and Xu Shuang hadn't been to the city recently, so naturally there was no way to get meat tickets from the master. So she reluctantly made a bowl of topping with diced rabbit meat. After Wang Ying finished a bowl of oil-splashed knife-cut noodles, she couldn't help but order a bowl of diced rabbit meat noodles for herself.
The sliced noodles were chewy and tasted better the more you ate them. Wang Ying took the opportunity to suggest having fried sliced noodles for dinner.
Xu Shuang had never made stir-fried vegetables before, so under Wang Ying's guidance, she stir-fried tomatoes, eggs, onions and bean sprouts.
Wang Ying missed the taste of stir-fried shaved pork very much. When she was studying medicine in her previous life, there was a shop at the east gate of the school that specialized in stir-fried shaved pork. Lamb was stir-fried in a pot, and various side dishes were added. A large bowl of stir-fried pork only cost eight yuan.
Her highest record was eating there for half a month straight. She was so sick from eating so much that she never went there again.
When she went there again the year she graduated, the boss actually remembered her and made her a bowl of stir-fried pork with lots of meat…
Wang Ying started to daydream while eating.
Xu Shuang: "Not tasty?"
He took a bite and thought it was okay. Although it was not the cooking method he was used to, it tasted salty and slightly sour. The noodles were boiled first and then fried, so the texture was well preserved. Well, I'll see if I can add it to the restaurant's menu.
Fortunately, Wang Ying was only emo for a short while, and after she got over her excitement, she continued to eat and drink as usual.
After dinner, Xu Shuang and Wang Ying packed up and went to sleep on the ground.
Yes, sleep on the ground.
Why do people still sleep in the fields after the crops have been harvested
It’s because other brigades are experiencing food shortages.
The two brigades closest to the Seventh Brigade were not in a good situation, but that was not a big deal, after all, they were also close to the mountains, and it was hot, so they were tight in the past two months, and often went to the mountains to find some food, first eating vegetables, and then planting more vegetables. They could always get by during this period when the weather was not cold.
After this period of time has passed, the news from above should have been given.
But other teams were not so lucky.
Every year the autumn grain is distributed after it is handed in, but this year we faced a problem.
That is, if there is not enough food, should we hand it over first or distribute it first
Tian Youfu was extremely glad that he had handed in the grain first and distributed the rest. Now that everything was clear, he didn't have so many worries and didn't have to be questioned by other brigades and communes.
Haha, the commune was still unclear about what was going on, but the other brigades couldn't wait any longer. Some brigades handed in all their money, while others distributed all their money.
All the food has been distributed, from the team leader to the lower ranks, everyone is a nobody, which means I have already distributed it, and you can't take it back if you want to. Although the amount distributed may not be as much as in previous years, at least it can ensure that no one will starve to death. You said punishment, how should it be punished? The members have already distributed the food, and there is not only one team leader who distributed the food, so can everyone be arrested? Obviously, it is impossible.
As for those who have paid in full, it’s hard to say.
Some families had a hard life to begin with. They had to go hungry and rely on wild vegetables to survive before the autumn harvest, just waiting for the autumn grain to be distributed. Now, all their lives are in jeopardy.
I can still survive on wild vegetables this month and next, but what should I do after that
In two months, it will be time to prepare for winter. How can we survive this winter without money or food
Wang Ying heard from the people in the brigade that some parts of the brigade are in a bit of a mess now. You said it was because of the death, but that's not the case. But everyone is staring at their own food, and some families who are too poor to bear it are inevitably agitated. There are quarrels between relatives and conflicts between each other, and it keeps going on.
Those in bad circumstances borrowed food from relatives in better circumstances, married daughters sought help from their parents, and those who had divided their property also relied on each other. Suddenly, during this time when we should have been enjoying the joy of the harvest, the surrounding communes became much more lively.
Wu Guihua was even busier. In the middle of the day, her daughter Xinghua, who had just returned from training and successfully passed the exam to become a midwife, came to Wang Ying to ask for monk fruit.
Xinghua gestured to Wang Ying: "My mother's voice is hoarse, and there is a big bubble at the corner of her mouth."
Borrowing food is not so easy. Especially in this situation, the Seventh Brigade is just barely avoiding starvation, and there are not many families who can lend food.
As a result, all kinds of quarrels were inevitable, and some people even knelt at the doorsteps of their relatives and refused to leave unless they were given food.
Wu Guihua has been so busy that she doesn't even have time to ask the children to act.
If the dispute over borrowing grain can only be regarded as a matter between each family, then stealing grain seeds is a matter that concerns the entire team.
The Seventh Brigade planted corn seeds in a hurry and waited until winter to harvest the next crop. This is how they did it in previous years. However, this year the time is tight and the corn yield is expected to be lower than last year.
But having some crops is better than having nothing to plant. Otherwise, with the little food we were given, we wouldn’t be able to survive until next year.
Looking at several surrounding communes, less than one-fifth of them can be as stable as the Seventh Brigade and not delay the next crop.
After the grain seeds were planted, everyone in the team felt relieved.
Although this year was more tiring than previous years, and I worked non-stop without a break, fortunately I did not delay harvesting wheat or planting corn.
Who would have thought that just a few days after the seeds were planted, the team discovered something was wrong.
Someone came in the middle of the night and dug up the grain seeds!
The area that was dug up was not small, covering more than half an acre of land, close to several plots of land on the edge of the brigade.
This really made everyone angry.
"It must be the Fifth Battalion! They are the closest to us, and they must have come to steal our grain in the middle of the night!"
"They are so mean. They just can't stand the fact that our team is better than theirs."
"I heard that someone's private plot of vegetables was also pulled out! And there were quite a lot!"
"I planted peanuts in my family's private plot, and someone dug some of them out. I don't think it was done by the kids in our brigade."
"We don't have that in our brigade, but why are you planting peanuts at this time? Isn't it almost time to harvest peanuts?"
"My family has run out of oil, so how can I not plant some peanuts? So I cleared a small piece of the vegetable garden at home and planted some peanuts."
"What do you think those people are doing stealing our grain?"
"Who knew that the corn seeds in the field were all mixed with pesticides? They are inedible even if we take them back."
…
Tian Youfu had been very tired recently, and when he heard about this, he did not investigate who had stolen the grain seeds, but instead arranged for people to sleep in the fields.
There are many places affected by the disaster, and each brigade has its own situation. You can't find out who stole the grain seeds.
Besides, Tian Youfu was also afraid that someone might not know that the corn was mixed with pesticides and eat it and die. He made the arrangement without much hesitation.
Every family in the brigade contributed someone, who was arranged into shifts and slept in the fields to watch over the grain.
Even in the private plots of land, although there were no shifts, several families still took turns working there.
They are stealing grain seeds. If we allow them to do so, the team will not be able to harvest corn this year.
It is difficult for the Xu family. Old Mrs. Xu lives alone and needs to provide one child. Wang Ying and Xu Shuang also need to provide one child.
This is the difficulty of having a small family. If something like this happens, a family with a large population can take turns among themselves. But Wang Ying and Xu Shuang both have to go.
However, since they only had to sleep on the ground for a month, it was only four or five times for the couple to have their turn.
Wang Ying felt it was still bearable.
Xu Shuang whispered in her ear: "Wait until midnight, then come back to sleep and go again in the morning."
He can do it alone. Most of the thieves who come here are just delivering food to him.
But Wang Ying refused: "What's the big deal? Just think of it as camping."
On a summer night without light pollution, as long as it doesn't rain, it's very comfortable to sleep outside.
Wang Ying did not feel wronged at all. She took down the mosquito net at home and asked Xu Shuang to find some sticks to prop it up. Then she sprinkled mint water around and put a sheet on the dried wheat straw. The two of them lay on the ground and watched the stars.
The crickets around were chirping non-stop, and the scent of wheat straw lingered on the ground. Especially the stars in the sky, twinkling just like in the pictures on the Internet in my previous life, and I could see a long Milky Way running through the sky.
There were even a few stars flashing across the sky at one point, and Wang Ying was like a child who was looking for something new, unable to fall asleep. She pulled Xu Shuang to chat.
They chatted until midnight and then fell asleep in a daze.
And in a distant southern station.
After the hot summer night, it started to rain heavily. But the rain didn't seem to take away the heat, but it kept the air outside the house. There was no wind, only the rain. Even with the windows open, the house was still hot and heavy.
Zhao Jun tossed and turned on the upper bunk, with his eyes tightly closed, as if he was in a dream from which he could not wake up.
Suddenly, Zhao Jun opened his eyes.
My eyes lost their focus as I took in the surroundings. The cramped dormitory room, the neatly arranged tables and chairs, the green doors and windows that were already leaking...
Zhao Jun was shocked. This was the dormitory where he lived when he joined the army. It was a place he had thought about many times.
Zhao Jun stood up suddenly and looked around himself. His body was obviously much younger, and the fresh scars on his thighs showed that he had returned to his twenties!
Zhao Jun stood there in a daze, like a ghost.
He asked himself, was it a dream? It must be a dream, right
He is not a person with nothing, nor is he a daydreamer who pins his hopes on the past and thinks that everything will be fine if he starts over again. He has his own career, sensible children, money, and relatives... He has no desire for rebirth at all.
Suddenly, Zhao Jun felt a sharp pain in his head.
It was as if my brain had been opened up and a memory had been forced into it.
Zhao Jun felt that everything around him was absurd and ridiculous.
His memory of his life went wrong more than half a year ago, like two branches growing from a rhizome.
He did not marry Wang Ying, but Wang Lingling instead...
Wang Lingling abandoned her family and found him injured in the county hospital, offering to be his child's stepmother...
Wang Lingling moved into his home without asking for anything, and treated the two children as if they were her own...
Under Wang Lingling's instigation, he split up the family...
Zhao Jun pursed his lips tightly. His many years of life as a superior had made him accustomed to using silence to arm himself with surprise.
Amidst the overwhelming thoughts, Zhao Jun barely managed to sort out his ideas.
There is no doubt that he was reborn. Although he didn't know why, he always had a feeling in his heart that he would never have the chance to go back.
Zhao Jun rubbed his brows. If it was just rebirth, he would be surprised, but he would not be overly sad.
As long as there is no deviation from the things in the previous life, he can still follow the track. He can even make up for some regrets in his previous life in the process.
For example, his mother will die in the next year due to health reasons.
He could have gone home earlier and taken his mother to see a doctor.
And his business can also start earlier. In his previous life, due to physical problems, he agreed to transfer to his hometown the next year and was assigned a job in a state-owned factory. Not long after returning, he settled down in the city.
Later, several of his brothers helped him collect mountain products in the countryside, and he quietly ran his business in the city, laying the foundation for his later business.
He could have been more selective in his job transfer earlier in his life, and also seized some networking opportunities...
But now there is an additional variable in this plan.
That's Wang Lingling.
Zhao Jun's expression was gloomy. As long as he thought about the past and the present, he already knew why everything had changed.
Wang Lingling must also be a person who has been reborn.
Zhao Jun never had a good impression of his wife's cousin.
He vaguely remembered that in his previous life, this cousin had married well to a young man who worked as a cook in the town. His name seemed to be Xu Shuang.
But later, the cousin continued to do it until the man's life was in chaos. Not only did he lose his job, but he even broke his hands.
Zhao Jun frowned tightly. He could never have imagined that this sister-in-law in public would come to snatch his sister's marriage as soon as she was reborn.
And he married the other person without knowing anything about it.
All this was so unbelievable that Zhao Jun sighed deeply.
Wang Lingling was only reborn half a year earlier than himself, but she had already changed his life dramatically.
He has now separated from his brothers, and the children are also handed over to her for care, and...
Wang Ying.
I don’t know what her situation is in the Wang family now after Wang Lingling snatched the marriage.
Zhao Jun sat there for most of the night and finally made up his mind in the early morning.
When he asked for leave, the company commander asked him, "What's so urgent? Why do you want to take a month off all of a sudden?"
Zhao Jun pondered for a moment and simply expressed his thoughts. The company commander instantly understood the implicit meaning of his words.
The company commander sighed and patted him on the shoulder.
The war has subsided in the past two years and is no longer as tense as it was in the past few years. The army is indeed slowly retiring some low-ranking officers who cannot be promoted.
Zhao Jun’s academic qualifications are not up to standard and his physical fitness is gradually declining. If he fails to improve in the next two years, he will probably be transferred to another job.
It’s good that he has brought it up now. The organization will naturally take his opinion into consideration.
After considering this, the company commander quickly approved a month's leave for Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun staggered onto the train back home.
The train was on the road for a few days, and Zhao Jun got off and changed trains.
When he arrived at the village entrance, he was already exhausted and covered in dust.
Zhao Jun breathed a sigh of relief. The journey back home was actually longer than he had imagined.
He had never felt so clearly that he had really returned to his twenties.
Zhao Jun followed his memory from his previous life and walked towards his home along the village entrance. As soon as he entered the village, someone recognized him.
An elderly woman pointed at him and said for a long time: "Aren't you the third son of the Zhao family? Why are you back at this time? It's not a festival, what are you doing back in the brigade?"
Zhao Jun was a little uncomfortable with this. In his later life, he always spoke to people in a roundabout way. It had been a long time since anyone had asked him such a direct question.
"Aunt, I came back to see my mother and children."
"Oh, did you hear that our brigade had a poor harvest this year? Oh, you are too filial. It would be fine if you just sent the money back, but you still came back to visit me out of concern..."
Zhao Jun exchanged a few words with the other party before heading home.
He felt homesick, especially with Wang Lingling, the person who disrupted his life, around. He was thinking about what words to use to negotiate with her.
Before he reached the house, he heard a burst of crying coming from the front. The noise was so loud that it was especially loud at this evening when everyone was busy cooking.
"Wang Lingling, I will kill you!"
"Just wait, I'm going to sue you for murder! Just wait and sit in jail! Wang Lingling, just wait!"
"Mom, open your eyes and look at me, how could you just leave like this!"
"Grandma! Wuuwuwu, I don't want a stepmother anymore! Stepmothers are evil!"
…
Zhao Jun was completely stunned. He hurriedly grabbed a villager who was running out to look for someone.
"What happened up front?"
The villager recognized him immediately, and was surprised and sad: "Zhao Jun, why are you back? Go and see your mother quickly, something happened to her. She was fighting with your wife for food, and she died during the fight..."
"I told you I'd go find the captain and ask him to notify you..."