Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

Xu Jianju could tell clearly from a distance that it was Xu Huizhen. She ran a few steps and shouted loudly: "Cousin, it's you. I missed you so much!" It was the same line as when Feng Gong appeared. She was obviously a fake cousin, but she was called more intimately than her real cousin.

Xu Jianlin had grown into a big boy. He called out shyly, "Cousin, get in the car. I'll push you back."

Xu Huizhen quickly waved her hand and said, "No, I didn't sprain my ankle. I just wanted you to push the cart and bring things home."

As she spoke, she pointed to something in the ditch. Xu Jianju was a lively person, and she jumped into the ditch flexibly like a monkey, and brushed away the weeds on top, and a big, red, round apple appeared before her eyes.

She exclaimed in surprise: "Cousin, I have never eaten such a big apple. Are these all for our family?"

Xu Huizhen smiled and said, "This is not the place to talk. Let's move these back home first."

It was easy to put the apples down, but it was hard to get them up. A basket of apples weighed about 50 to 60 kilograms. It took three people working together to drag and pull the three baskets of apples up.

Xu Jianlin panted and asked, "Cousin, how did you bring the apple back?"

Xu Huizhen said perfunctorily: "A car delivered it to me, dropped it off at the entrance of the village and left." Xu Jianju's attention was not on this at all.

In her eyes, her cousin is an omnipotent being. Her older brothers and sisters were brought to the city by her cousin, and now they all have jobs. She has a small goal in mind, which is to cling to her cousin's thighs, marry in the capital in the future, and become a city dweller.

The apples were covered with weeds again, and it took the three men two trips to carry all the things back home.

After entering the house, Xu Huizhen found that Second Aunt Xu was holding a two-year-old child in her arms. This was her fourth son, Xu Jianbang. The most promising child of the Xu family in the future was only a few months older than Xu Jianmei's child. In this era, there was no family planning and people got married early. There were many examples of mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law staying in confinement together, which was not uncommon.

In his previous life, the fourth son Xu Jianbang was admitted to university. After graduation, he worked in the provincial capital and became the director of the Public Security Bureau.

Little Jianbang was not shy, and when he saw Kunkun, he pointed at him and called him Didi. Aunt Xu smiled and said, "There is a generation difference, he is your eldest nephew, not your younger brother." This sentence made everyone laugh.

After the greetings, Aunt Xu asked about the apples Xu Huizhen brought. Xu Huizhen had already prepared an answer. She said, "I got these apples by accident. They are not only big, but also crisp and sweet. I thought that Xujiawan has many mountains, which is suitable for growing fruit trees. After you eat these fruits, save the seeds and try to grow them. If you can grow such good apples, you will definitely be able to sell them for a good price! It is more cost-effective than growing grain."

In Xu Huizhen's memory, after the reform and opening up, when food was no longer in short supply, the mountains in Xujiawan were converted to plant fruit trees in accordance with local conditions. Xujiawan became a famous fruit town because the fruits produced here were particularly delicious.

As the saying goes, the land and water nurture the people. The soil in Xujiawan is very suitable for growing fruit trees.

Jianju was already drooling at the big red apple, and she interrupted at the right time to ask, "Mom, can we eat it now?"

Xu Huizhen said, "Eat it, and when you're done, leave the seeds behind."

Second Aunt Xu said angrily, "You are a foodie. You are not good at anything except eating."

Jianju smiled and went to wash the apples. Jiansen followed behind like a little tail, unable to shake her off, and asked, "Second sister, are these apples delicious? Let me have one to try."

Xu Jianju said unhappily: "Go ask our mom, my words don't count!"

Aunt Xu: "Cut it in half and each person can eat half."

Xu Huizhen: "You can't cut it. If you cut it from the middle, the seeds will break easily. Why don't we just eat one each? There are plenty anyway, enough to eat."

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a sound of "click". Xu Jianju had already taken a bite. After one bite, her mouth was immediately filled with sweet juice. She closed her eyes, sucked the apple juice, enjoying the delicacy. A feeling of happiness arose spontaneously.

Jiansen was not far behind, and Jianlin followed closely behind. Even the little kid Jianbang stretched out his little hands and shouted in a baby voice: "Next, next, next."

Xu Huizhen took the apple and handed one to Aunt Xu Er, asking her to taste it and feed Xiao Si at the same time. Jianju took one for Xu Huizhen with a look of courtesy and said, "Cousin, you are also inferior."

To be honest, some time ago, Xu Huizhen ate a lot of apples in order to get apple seeds. Even the best things will not taste good if you eat too much. Now, the first batch of seeds planted in her space have grown into seedlings.

But if she didn't eat it, others would feel embarrassed to eat it too, so she had no choice but to follow suit.

After that, the only sound in the room was the sound of crunching, and I couldn’t stop eating the delicious food.

At lunch, Xu Huizhen found that Uncle Xu had not returned, so she asked, "Aunt, where did Uncle Xu go?"

Aunt Xu said, "Your uncle is working on the reservoir. The government provides meals for the construction. It's on Dongshan Mountain, downstream of Moon Lake and upstream of Yadan Bay. People from several villages downstream of Xiaoqing River are working there."

Xu Huizhen searched her memories of her previous life and was sure that this had never happened. Although she had not experienced this era, Xu Huizhen was born in 1963 in her previous life.

But she learned from her father more than once that in 58, because the young and strong people in the village were transferred to the Great Leap Forward in Steel Production, there was a shortage of labor during the autumn harvest, and a lot of grain was not harvested in time and eventually rotted in the fields.

Every time my father recounted this incident, his face was filled with pain and regret. He said, "Because we wasted food, we were punished by God. In the next two or three years, natural disasters continued and every household went hungry."

Xu Hui really wondered if her letter, which came out of nowhere, had played a role in causing this change. When she wrote the letter, she was thinking that she would try her best to make a difference. The situation was so tense that a letter could not change it. Alas, there was no such thing as a certain audio or a certain Baidu in this era. The only ways to get information were newspapers and radio, and some information was internal information and could not be disclosed casually. It was very depressing.

Thinking of this, Xu Huizhen asked: "Second Aunt, don't we have a large-scale steel production here?"

Aunt Xu: "I heard that people in the city are making steel. We rural people only know how to farm. How can we do such work? Even if we force people to do it, we can't make quality steel."

Damn, is Second Aunt so insightful?

Xu Huizhen: "What about building a reservoir?"

Aunt Xu said, "This matter is more or less related to you. Because of your suggestion, the village has tasted the sweetness of raising fish and ducks in recent years. That's why the secretary came up with this idea."

Xu Huizhen: "Oh, is there such a thing?"

Aunt Xu continued, "After the autumn harvest, the commune held a meeting for all village secretaries, and asked them to send young and strong laborers to Bashang Village, 30 miles away, to build a reservoir. A large reservoir was to be built there, and it was said that in case of drought in the future, the reservoir could release water to irrigate farmland. The secretary of our village was also smart. Instead of running so far to build a reservoir for others, it would be better to build a reservoir at his doorstep, at least our village would benefit. We can also use the reservoir to raise fish and ducks. So he proposed to the commune leaders to build a reservoir in Dongshan of our village. The commune leaders came to the site to inspect and said that the terrain of Dongshan was very suitable for building a reservoir, so they agreed. And the villages downstream that could benefit in the future sent people to work together."

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