From Cultivator to Widow

Zhou Xiaolei put the feeling of déjà vu aside and stopped Zhang Baoguo, who was about to leave. He saw everything, and it didn't matter. He now wanted to talk to someone.

He didn't want to look for his sister, or the second brother said that looking for them is of no use at all except to make everyone feel lower and sadder.

He wanted to find an outsider to vomit.

Just so, I met Zhang Baoguo.

They received a letter from their eldest brother, saying that their mother was ill, and they asked them to send some things to their parents if it was convenient for them.

This time, the eldest brother finally let go and gave them the detailed address of his parents. He was afraid that they would be impulsive before, so he would not give it. He only gave a rough address. To the elder brother, he will forward it.

The mother's illness made the three of them very worried, and there was another one, as the eldest brother said, his life was difficult and he was unable to help his parents who were far away on the farm in the north. The news revealed also made the three of them very worried. disturbed.

Before, the eldest brother had a formal job, and the salary was not low. When an accident happened, the parents broke up with the eldest brother in time, but the eldest brother was still affected. The hot job became an idle job, and the salary was definitely not as high as before. Now, my sister-in-law has no job, and there are three children and a family of five. They rely on the eldest brother's idle job. Moreover, they can imagine the working environment of the eldest brother. He will definitely be despised and rejected by his former colleagues. .

As long as I think about it, think deeply, I feel that my heart is being pulled and can't breathe.

Mom was sick. It took so long after the letter was sent to them, and they didn't know the situation on Mom's side. As soon as they received the letter, they immediately hid some things and money tickets in their old clothes and sent them In the past, I hope it can be safely delivered to their parents.

The thing has been sent, but can it be in time?

It's been so long, is mom's illness cured?

All kinds of speculations made him unable to take his breath away, so he found a corner to shed tears, but Zhang Baoguo saw this rare connivance.

I saw it and lost my face.

Broken cans.

After Zhou Xiaolei stopped Zhang Baoguo, the two looked at each other for a while. Zhang Baoguo compromised and squatted down: "What's wrong?"

What's wrong?

As soon as this question was asked, Zhou Xiaolei remembered the repeated instructions from his sister and second brother, telling him not to tell the situation at home, because if they tell it, their situation will definitely change, and it is likely to be the same as the big brother. To be excluded, to be looked down upon by others.

He pursed his lips, lowered his eyes, grabbed the grass on the ground with his hands, and weaved the twenty-centimeter-long grass into a ring.

"...I remembered something." Family matters can't be said, but he can change the reason.

"When I went to the town before, I saw a person being pressed by the Revolutionary Committee to conduct a self-criticism because he had overseas connections. His home was smashed, and there was nothing left. His children were divorced from him. , his wife and son were separated, so he stood alone on the stage, and was thrown vegetable leaves and rotten eggs."

Zhang Baoguo did not speak and continued to listen.

Zhou Xiaolei looked at the ring, opened it little by little, and pulled off the leaves: "...Seeing him like this, I remembered the past, and a friend who suffered similar things, do you think I'm funny? Because There's nothing I can do to help him, he's not doing well right now, and when he's sick, I don't know if anyone will help him get medicine." He choked with sadness.

Zhang Baoguo looked at the expression on his face and remained silent. This friend should be his very, very good friend. There were no tears on his face now, but the sadness was even stronger than when he shed tears.

"What do you say he should do? What can I do to help him?"

Zhang Baoguo immediately took his words and replied: "You can send him something, if he is sick, you can send him medicine, and if he has nothing to eat, send him some dried vegetables and sweet potatoes that he harvested, and he can also write a letter. Comfort him, give him something unique here to give him spiritual support, and he will definitely be very happy knowing that there are friends who care about him like this."

They have already sent it, and they have left what they can barely support. They have sent all their excess rations, and they are not afraid to send too much. If they have money and tickets, they have to put them in the corner of old clothes, because the elder brother mentioned before, if The things sent are valuable and will be confiscated, because they are going to reform through labor, and they should not eat such good things.

"I also have something to send to my friend. He has traveled far away. I want to send him some things from his hometown. Would you like to go into the mountains together?" Zhang Baoguo didn't want to hear him talk too deeply, he just said The kind of rough, just in line with his taste, comforted a few words, put forward his own opinions, he quickly put forward.

When they act, he won't hold him to continue talking.

"Okay." It's okay to go into the mountains. If he finds something to eat, he can send it to his parents. It's not easy for the eldest brother, so he can send some to him. He grew up in the city, and the food in the city has been set. Dead, like my brother's current situation, life is really difficult, parents, he can find some herbs, he remembers a very simple recipe, you can try it if you have a headache, and it's harmless to your body.

Seeing Zhou Xiaolei stand up, Zhang Baoguo heaved a sigh of relief, that's great, now you don't need to listen to him continue.

"Well, let's go now, and we'll have to work in the field later." So hurry up and don't drag him to continue talking.

When the two of them entered the mountain, Zhang Baoguo had to stay for a few more seconds when he saw something that caught the eye, thinking about whether it was appropriate to send it to Liu Weizhi.

Zhou Xiaolei, on the other hand, held a branch and scanned the grass carefully. The food and medicinal herbs he could eat were good.

However, in the periphery of the mountain, basically all the good things have been cleaned up, and they can only go inside.

Relatively few people came from deeper places. Zhang Baoguo found an oval yellow leaf, very beautiful, like a small fan, he put the leaf away and put it in his pocket. Its meridians are very beautiful. When the time comes, the leaf flesh will be pulled out, and only the meridians will be left. When that time comes, it will be pasted on the hard paper, and it will be a very beautiful bookmark.

Zhou Xiaolei picked a handful of wild fruits and wrapped it in a large leaf.

You can take this to my sister.

Then they lucked out and found a pheasant that came out for food. Once they found it, the two of them immediately became full of energy.

No leaves, no wild fruits.

The pheasant was bound to be caught, and the pheasant successfully fell into the enemy's hands under the fierce pursuit of the two men.

One leg was broken and lifted upside down, cooing in despair.

Zhang Baoguo weighed the weight on his hands. The chicken weighed more than a pound, and it was only a pound if the hair was removed. The two people shared it equally, and each person had half a pound.

The two of them fought together to fight this chicken, Zhou Xiaolei looked at it and swallowed, he hadn't eaten meat for a long time, but he gritted his teeth: "This chicken, my share can be exchanged for you. What about some sweet potatoes?"

Hearing this, Zhang Baoguo looked at him in surprise, Zhou Xiaolei's face became hot and his tone stammered because of his gaze.

"I, I didn't eat enough there, and I couldn't fill my stomach, so, so this time, I want to replace the half chicken with some dried sweet potatoes that can fill my stomach..." Lie, his tone was not smooth.

However, Zhang Baoguo thought he was embarrassed, but he didn't think too much, and his brows were slightly wrinkled. He had also heard some rumors that the two brothers could not carry them on their shoulders or lift their hands, and they were two charming young masters. , Is the other party really like the legend? Not enough food to eat?

But isn't it enough now? .

What to do in winter? What about spring?

"...Not now, but in the future, you have to prepare in advance. Today is also an unexpected harvest hahaha." Zhou Xiaolei stammered as he explained.

Zhang Baoguo's brows loosened: "How much do you want to change?"

He tentatively proposed a number: "Is it okay to change 3 catties of dried sweet potatoes?"

The price is about the same.

Zhang Baoguo nodded.

"But I don't want to change my house with you. I can ask someone else's house for you. Your price should be fine. I'll be a middleman, how about that?"

"Yes, yes." Zhou Xiaolei nodded quickly.

There was also a bright smile on his face.

When the time comes, I will send dried sweet potatoes to my eldest brother. Their rations are a bit tight, but he and the second brother are diligent and go to the mountains to find more wild vegetables. After drying and storing, they can make do with enough water.

My eldest brother is in the city, but there is nowhere to find even wild vegetables.

Zhang Baoguo exchanged his own sweet potatoes for him. After asking his mother's consent, he exchanged the half pheasant with him in the name of someone else.

There should be some difficulties in his situation. If he wants dried sweet potatoes, let him exchange them.

Su An: "This pheasant killed the stew, and then you can give some to your grandparents."

In most cases, the harvest of their brothers is divided into filial piety to grandparents. The amount is not large. If there are two grandparents, there is no problem, but if it is given to a large family, the amount will definitely not be enough. Anyway, it will be calculated according to two people. It is their own business whether they want to share it or not.

"Is it used for stewing soup?" Zhang Baoguo said, "How about we make a chicken stew with mushrooms?"

It's okay, seeing that he wanted to eat this, Su An easily changed the menu, and it was all delicious.

Zhang Baoguo sent the chicken over, and Li Manfen had a bright smile on his face, and gave him half of the kidney beans they had just cooked in a plate.

"Add a dish to your table."

As for the small bowl of chicken he brought, she put it directly into the pot and poured it into the sweet potato multigrain porridge, so that the whole family could taste the chicken flavor.

However, she still picked out the pieces of meat when they were out of the pot. There were only a few pieces of chicken. She wanted to chop them into smaller pieces. Zhang Gen would eat the largest piece, Zhang Quan and Zhang Jinhua would eat the smaller pieces, and the smallest would be A few of them were eating. Looking at these pieces of chicken, Li Manfen sighed, and only gave a few pieces. How can a family get enough?

...

Looking at the 3 kilograms of dried sweet potatoes that his brother brought back, Zhou Xiaodong opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but there was a lump of cotton in his throat, and he couldn't say anything.

In the past few days, their interest was not high, but they couldn't express it. To hide the truth from the other educated youth, he was also immersed in his own thoughts, ignoring his younger brother, but he didn't expect him to bring this back today.

Listening to his brother's story in silence, Zhou Xiaodong hugged him, his voice a little hoarse: "It will be fine."

"You've grown up too."

Hearing this, Zhou Xiaolei's eyes turned red, and he replied in a low voice, "Yeah."

I grew up.

After that, Zhou Xiaolei seemed to unilaterally think that there was a friendship between Zhang Baoguo and Zhang Baoguo. "Let's go into the mountains."

Zhou Xiaolei and his second brother did not encounter a pheasant when they entered the mountain. They met Zhang Baoguo as soon as they entered the mountain. Of course, he was looking for this lucky star. Maybe there was some luck. The second time was a pheasant, the second time was an egg, the third time was a duck egg, and the fourth time was a snake, non-venomous, weighing two pounds.

Except for the first pheasant, the rest are divided equally by themselves.

A few eggs, a few duck eggs, can't change too many things, it's better to take them back to make up.

The snake is also divided equally, but the snake is very complementary.

My sister's health is not very good, so I can take some supplements.

When Zhou Xiaoqing learned that her younger brother and Zhang Baoguo often hang out together, the surprise on her face was not fake. She watched her younger brother speak with great interest, and then looked at the pot of snake soup in front of her, she was silent. Yes, the mood is delicate.

Zhang Baoguo is Su An's son. She had always wanted to overpower Su An before. After her parents' accident, she lost her mind, but she wasn't too happy to hear good news about her.

Now, seeing the younger brother so excitedly talking about the good luck that he and Zhang Baoguo went to the mountain together, she hummed and didn't say anything, just looked at him silently.

While talking, aware of her sister's silence, Zhou Xiaolei's dull nerves finally sensed something was wrong, and asked in a low voice, "Is there anything wrong with what I said?" The atmosphere felt a little weird.

Zhou Xiaoqing smiled: "No, there is nothing wrong, you continue to say."

Until he left his sister's house and was walking on the road, Zhou Xiaolei was still a little puzzled. He asked his second brother, "Did I say something wrong just now? I feel that my sister's expression is not right."

Zhou Xiaodong glanced at him with pity: "It seems that your nerves are not without help, don't you know? My elder sister has always been convinced of Zhang Baoguo's mother, who is her second sister-in-law."

"Not very convinced, what do you mean?" he repeated.

"...I feel a little uneasy, I can't compare to others or something."

A self-deprecating smile appeared on Zhou Xiaodong's face: "Just like us."

When they went to the countryside, it wasn't that they didn't think about showing off their talents and having a bright future, but after arriving here, reality gave them a slap in the face.

Useless is a scholar.

This sentence is not without reason.

Zhou Xiaolei didn't speak, and looked at his calloused palm.

Before, there was nothing here.

After coming here, blisters grew, the blisters burst, and they grew again, and then the cocoons grew, and finally there were no blisters.

Uneasy?

Surely there are.

However, he clenched his fists tightly, what's the use of being uneasy, he might as well find more food.

——

When Liu Weizhi heard that he had a letter of his own, he ran to get it.

Seeing his appearance, the others laughed.

no offence.

Who are they not.

Seeing him like this is like seeing himself.

Some even followed.

Looking forward to the same.

"Who gave you the package, did your parents receive it not long ago?"

Almost all of their letters are shared, dear, among the piles of letters, Liu Weizhi's letter is particularly eye-catching.

Because it is too thick.

His dad wrote it, his mom wrote it, his grandparents wrote it, and his uncle... tsk tsk tsk, it's amazing to read.

This is too much to write.

Liu Weizhi had a guess, but when he didn't see it, he couldn't be sure.

Compared to the big package sent by his parents, this one was small, but when he saw the words Zhang Baoguo, he split his mouth.

"Zhang Baoguo? Who are you?"

"Not your relatives?"

"It's not my relative, it's my friend." When it comes to the word friend, Liu Weizhi's tone is very different.

Back at the dormitory, a group of people gathered around.

"Look, look, what was sent to you, there must be more than letters."

"I'll tear it down now, don't worry." In fact, he was the most urgent.

The package is not big, it contains a letter, two jars, a paper bag, a small book, and a colorful feather shuttlecock.

He sent two bottles of sauce, made by himself, and a pack of mosquito repellent, prepared by himself, a small book, copied by himself, chicken feather shuttlecock, made by himself with pheasant tail feathers.

"Is this a mushroom?"

"This is soybeans!"

"I brought you something to eat, can I smell it?"

Speaking of this, Liu Weizhi unconsciously licked his lips and said greedily, "His sauce is very fragrant! You can smell it, and we will taste it when we go back to the cafeteria, and you will know."

Someone opened the lid and took a closer smell: "It's really fragrant!"

“Mixed buns are delicious!”

“Bibimbap will be delicious too!”

"I haven't read this villain's book before. When you finish it, lend it to us."

"We can kick the shuttlecock together."

Everyone was looking at other things, and those who believed in the same aspirations didn't mention it.

This letter must be read by the master first.

There is not much content in the letter.

Zhang Baoguo deliberately made the characters big enough to fit on the second page.

In this way, Liu Weizhi was also satisfied.

With him, Zhang Baoguo has always been a person who doesn't talk much. If he wrote a few pages full, he would find it strange.

There is nothing that can't be seen by others, he sent the letter to others: "Do you want to see it?"

Their letters from each other's homes were circulated to each other.

"If you want, let me see. Your friend is fine." The first thing that catches the eye is Zhang Baoguo's correct character.

"Yes, his handwriting has always been very good."

"I didn't write anything. I thought I wrote something when I saw the smile on your face."

"Hahaha, he replied to me, shouldn't you be happy? Hahaha."

When they had dinner, Liu Weizhi brought the mushroom sauce over.

As soon as it opened, it immediately ushered in a frenzy.

"You save it, there's only so much, and there's nothing left after eating, hey, hey, what about you, it's too much, too much..."

There is no doubt that when he came to the army, he adapted well and got along well with other people.

In his father's words, since he doesn't know how to say it, don't say it, it's enough to listen to others, talk less about family affairs and listen more.

In this strange place where no one knew him, he had been doing well so far.

Besides Zhang Baoguo, he also has other friends.

Although they haven't known each other for a long time, they still have a long time to get along.

…………

This winter is colder than ever.

They are located in the south, and the winter is the shortest in all seasons of the year, and the snow rarely falls.

This year's winter was extraordinarily cold, and some crops were too late to freeze to death.

The cold wind was blowing, and there were hardly any children on the road.

Cotton is too rare, and winter clothes are not enough. Many families only have one winter clothes. Others hide at home and stay in bed during difficult times. It is not necessary and they do not go out at all.

Even children with strong firepower stay at home and bake braziers under the control of adults.

They don't have a kang in the north here. If they want to keep warm, in addition to the quilt, it is the brazier.

There are also coal stoves, but there are very few coal stoves. There are not many coal stoves here, but the coal stoves have been changed, and a lot of carbon is used below.

When the weather is cold, there is another thing that is very popular, and that is the warm water bag.

However, hot water bags are not cheap, and some will collect potion bottles and other glass bottles to make hot water bottles.

Pour in hot water and make a piston yourself, which is a different kind of warm water bag.

Zhang Gen has a warm water bag.

When the old man is old, his blood is not strong. When it is cold in winter, his hands and feet may be cold all night, and his sleep is very unstable. If he has a warm water bag to cover his hands and feet, he will be much better that night.

Not every house has it. Most people soak in hot water before going to bed, and then get into the bed while it's hot.

Winter in the south is not as dry and cold as in the north.

Especially when it rains.

A rain fell, and it was a few degrees colder.

Su An's house has a small stove.

Put charcoal below, put a few sweet potatoes and taro on it and simmer slowly, you can also put a pot of water, so as long as you pay attention to adding charcoal, the water will be hot at any time.

However, Zhang Baoguo and the others are more willing to put the sweet potatoes in the charcoal than to put them on top, so that they will be cooked faster and more fragrant.

Zhang Anguo took a small wooden stick and poked the roasted red sweet potato inside, and turned it over.

The other side is the original color.

Zhang Dingguo stretched out his two hands and baked them in front of the stove, enjoying the warm temperature.

Zhang Weiguo squatted beside him, his face flushed red by the firelight, and he looked down at the little book on the ground.

Zhang Baoguo was beside him, sitting upright, with a serious face... in a daze.

Su An was not sitting around the stove, she was sitting at the table, knitting a sweater.

Her movements were fast, Zhang Baoguo watched the movements of his mother's hands, and his expression slowly froze.

Is this too fast?

Seeing that the elder brother kept looking at his mother's hand, Zhang Weiguo turned his head to the side with a look of surprise on his face: "Brother, do you want to knit a sweater???"

Zhang Baoguo heard this and turned his head: "???"

A strange look on his face.

He stared at the sweater, just wanted to knit a sweater?

When Su An heard this, she stopped, and the corners of her mouth twitched: "Okay."

OK?

What good?

Zhang Baoguo and Zhang Weiguo received two bamboo poles from their mother together.

The rod is round with a pointed head.

"You are just learning, I will teach you simple, just learn to knit a scarf."

Zhang Baoguo and Zhang Weiguo looked at each other and said quickly, "Wait, Mom, we're not..."

Su An blinked: "I'm knitting sweaters for you, my hands are very tired, the scarf is very simple, you have nothing else to do, help me share the burden? Isn't there a saying that too much skill does not overwhelm you? Protect the country , you will go to the army in the future, there is no one in the army to help you do this, I will teach you needlework another day, lest you don't know how to mend your clothes if you lose the thread."

Zhang Baoguo: "..."

Zhang Weiguo: "..."

Something is wrong, but I can't tell where.

Zhang Anguo pulled the roasted sweet potatoes out of the charcoal pile and blew silently. He didn't push himself too hard. In fact, his mother just wanted to be lazy.

Zhang Dingguo also pulled the sweet potato silently.

Knitting sweaters, knitting scarves... Although it is said that wool is very precious, these are usually made by women, right? But Big Brother wants to go to the army. There are basically no women in the army. In this case, it is necessary to learn needle and thread.

This year, the four brothers all got a sweater vest, which was made of wool. It was warm and comfortable when the cold wind blew.

In the cold wind, the New Year of 1974 came.

With the arrival of the end of the year, everyone's interest is also high, and the cold wind can't blow everyone's enthusiasm.

This year, it rained heavily and the crops were damaged. The food that everyone received was not as much as last year, but the money distributed this year was more than last year.

This year, Su Hui and his family have been allocated more than 27 yuan. This year, Zhang Baoguo and Zhang Weiguo's tuition fee is 2 yuan per semester and 5 yuan per year. The total tuition fee for a year is 16 yuan, and other miscellaneous expenses are included, 20 yuan a year.

But next year, Zhang Anguo and the others will go to junior high school. He wants to go to high school, and the tuition fee for high school is even more expensive. It costs three yuan and five yuan. Then the next year, the tuition fee will be nineteen yuan, including other Miscellaneous expenses, but also more than twenty.

Zhang Baoguo did the math, and it seemed that next year, he would also have to pull his two younger brothers to work.

After this year, the twins are also ten years old, and they can be counted as work points. Now the work points in their village are valuable. In several nearby villages, it is the first one, and there are people from other villages who want to learn how to learn. Burning tiles, but their village has kept it a secret so far.

In their family, only Su Hui has a full work point. He can get seven or eight work points when he comes back on a rest day. Zhang Weiguo goes to work in the afternoon, maybe he can get two or three work points, and he will have twenty-seven yuan. Others get more. Zhao Xialan and his family of five have more than 60 yuan.

So much money was taken all at once, and in a few years, the next stone house can be built.

Zhang Gen planned to build another room.

Originally, they lived in four rooms, but they shared one room for their youngest son, Zhang Gui. It was three rooms. Eight people lived in the three rooms, which was not very spacious.

As soon as the money for this year arrives, he will make plans.

Now that there is still time before the Chinese New Year, you can make the blue bricks first and the tiles first. When the New Year is over, you can start immediately. There are many people and great strength. It doesn't take long to make a room.

As soon as he said it, Li Manfen had no opinion, and Zhang Quan and Zhao Laidi had no opinion.

As soon as the year is over, Zhang Jinhua will be sixteen years old, and he is already at an age where you can say kissing. If you want to say kissing, you must have a separate room for yourself, otherwise, where will your grandson come from?

Zhang Fenghua and the three sisters are also very happy. With the new room, they can live more comfortably.

With this decision, Zhang Gui and Su An were notified, and they were free to help.

Zhang Gen also notified his younger brother, this notification, well, this is a coincidence, the younger brother's family also plans to build a house, and plans to ask them to help.

Then Zhang Gen went to ask other people, this is not a family or two, there are quite a lot of people in their village who have this plan.

It’s all because of the more money that has been shared in the past two years. In addition to the previous savings, the family has a lot of strong labor, and they all plan to go. No, once the money is available this year, when everyone adds up, they can only schedule separately.

Otherwise you can't be busy.

This is a waste of notice. The situation of Zhang Gen's family is not urgent, so they have to wait in line. Based on the situation, it is estimated that it will be September or November next year.

After all, the farming season is not enough, and the rainy season is not enough. There are many times when it is suitable to start construction.

This year has come to an end in the warm atmosphere of everyone talking happily about the new house.

In 1975, the beginning was ushered in.