Liu Haiming and Lu Xiuchun are an intellectual young couple. Liu Haiming is an intellectual young man on the street of the county seat, and before he went to the countryside, a relative proposed to him, talking about the intellectual youth on the street of the neighboring county, and Liu Haiming is the same high school student in the sixth or sixth grade, and he is handsome and virtuous. The two met, and they were both satisfied. The adults of the two families are especially satisfied, and feel that it is more reassuring for the two children to live together. Since it is to settle in the queue, it is the real settlement when you become a parent. There is not much difference between the life in the county town and the rural area, every family has relatives in the township, and there are also some relatives in the township. They believe that there are people who can live and those who can't live everywhere, and those who can live can live well anywhere! Therefore, they do not care about settling down in the countryside, but on the contrary, they have all kinds of serious ideas and preparations for life in the countryside. Liu Haiming got married before he went to the countryside, and his partner was named Lu Xiuchun.

Each intellectual youth had a settling-in allowance, plus 0.3 cubic meters of wood, and the two of them together were quite considerable, and each of them had a little more help from his family, so he built two huts, still half a brick. The location is behind the home, under the dam. Although it is a little lonely, there is a small school not far away, there is a bell for classes and classes, the national anthem raised in the morning, and the sound of elementary school students reading, so it does not seem so lonely.

As for the production team, although they do not welcome the young intellectuals very much, because they occupy their acres of grain and grassland, they are still happy to see that the young people are serious about their lives. Because there is a kind of respect and affirmation for their rural life for generations. They generously granted the couple a homestead and a plot of land for themselves, and gave them the settling-in money at their disposal. Instead of converting the old houses into settling-in money and timber for them, as was the case with other intellectual youths, the land reserved for themselves was offset by providing melons and vegetables. Other young people also have an indifferent attitude, not like Liu Haiming, who has to calculate everything with the team and understand it, and is very protective of their own interests. At such a time, on the one hand, the team felt that he was difficult to deal with, and on the other hand, they also felt that this was a person who really took root to make a living. They said half admiring and half sarcastically saying that if it was in the old society, Liu Haiming would definitely become a landlord.

If Liu Haiming is not very delicate, he will look powerful. He was very fair-skinned, with eyebrows and eyes somewhat like a girl, with a slender and well-proportioned body, quite neatly dressed, and a gentle attitude. But he looks more like a Peugeot peasant than a student in the city, because he has a withdrawn and at the same time alert expression that comes from a narrow, closed state of mind. He has a very careful mind, has a lot of plans, and is buried in his stomach, and he usually talks to and deals with people, and he is also quite easy-going and generous, but as soon as something happens, his mind is fully revealed.

His object Lu Xiuchun is a different type. She was indeed as the introducer said, handsome and virtuous. She was born with dark skin, and if she was in the city, she would be called "Black Girl". Her eyes were originally large and round, with deep double eyelids, but they were crooked when she smiled. But it's not flattering at all, it's a special kind of heart. Her face is slightly square, but the contours are soft, and she looks very atmospheric. The complexion is always very good, black and bright. The hair is cut to a little more under the ear, pick a side way, and clip a flower plastic clip on the side of the hair, which is a bit rustic, but it is a good-looking rustic. She spoke the accent of the neighboring county again, and in the minds of the self-centered villagers, the countryside is always remote, so she feels that she is more rural. That kind of accent is to pronounce the sound of "hey" into the sound between "hey" and "ah", the mouth is wide open, but the root of the tongue is upward, "belch" and "belch", people call it "leper cavity", also called "yu cavity", there are some prejudices in the folklore. There are children who learn her to speak, and she is not angry, but a little shy, smiling, and scolding softly. She is such a gentle daughter-in-law, and the people in the team call her like those daughters-in-law who marry outside the village, with the word "Xiao" in front of her surname, and call her Xiao Lu.

These two people, one is shrewd and the other is honest, and they add the high requirements of the people on the street to the hardships of the villagers, so they live a very good life. As I said, there is not much difference between life in the village and on the street, carrying water and boiling pots, which are regarded as daunting labor for ordinary intellectual youth, but they are handy. There is also feeding pigs and chickens, which is also experienced. Their pigsty is also exceptionally clean, as is the stove. The house was covered with cement and swept like a mirror. The piece of land in front of the house, although it was mud, was swept like a mirror. The boards, stools, and shelves are all freshly made, unpainted, and exude the fragrance of wood. Some of the belongings were brought from homes on the street, which were not visible in the villagers' homes, but they were not luxuries, but extremely practical. For example, a small cupboard with a screen door contains bowls and spoons, chopsticks, alkaline noodles, matches, and leftovers. There are also aluminum pots, which are also not available in the township, with the breath of life on the street. In short, their home, you have to walk in, you really feel satisfied. Xiao Lu is very close to people, and when he sees people coming, he asks people to sit and is busy making tea. Liu Haiming is a gentleman, naturally reserved, with a smile on his face, which also means to welcome people. It can be seen that both of them are very satisfied with this family and look forward to the praise and envy of others.

Soon they had a child, a boy. The face mold, eyebrows, eyes, and skin are all like very small Lu, but they are very subtle, and the face is like bangs, and the face is thin. And what's even more amazing is that these two things together are not like anyone. He is neither honest and gentle like Xiao Lu, nor Liu Haiming's exquisiteness, but a little unfathomable and mysterious, and no one can see what kind of person he will become. With a child, Xiao Lu became more gentle and sweet, watching the baby in her arms, her cheeks smacking milk one by one, and the smile on her cheeks was also hidden, and she gradually fell into her mind. Now, she basically doesn't go to the ground, the baby is in her arms all day long, and the team is especially tolerant of her. Because he is an intellectual young man, and because Xiao Lu's humanity is really good, he can't pull that face to talk about her. The baby is very delicate, and he can't leave his mother for a moment. In the torturous days that followed, both mother and son suffered greatly because of this.

It's the first and second year, and life passes peacefully and peacefully, even happily. Whether it is marriage or the days of cutting in line, they are all fresh, the beginning is not long, and there are some unfamiliar funs. The intellectual youth in the team all regard their home as their own home, and come to sit and chat when they have nothing to do. Their life in the queue is a lonely life, their appearance is also very unruly, their clothes are dirty and torn, their hair is uncut for many days, their faces are gloomy and miserable, and they treat people and things as dissolute and cynical. They have no sense of responsibility, no restraint, no restraint in their speech, and no restraint in drinking. They look like this is the kind of unsettled appearance. However, it is also a foregone conclusion. What their future life will be like is still unknown. Liu Haiming's is already in front of him.

That's where things change. When young intellectuals gather, most of them talk about their anguish. These anguish are undoubtedly due to dissatisfaction with the current life, and Liu Haiming and others are living such a life. Their anguish is sometimes like a mirror, reflecting the hopelessness of Liu Haiming's life. Liu Haiming also knew that although they came to his house to sit, play, and eat, and enjoyed a moment of happiness, they would not do it if they were asked to exchange their boredom for this happiness. Liu Haiming listened to them complaining and scolding his mother, and he should also have a few words from time to time, but he was actually more depressed than them in his heart. Their situation is simple, while their own situation is quite complicated, and the struggle is more tortuous.

When the news of the first recruitment came after going to the countryside, all the young intellectuals who had been in the queue for more than two years could not stay. They ran to communes, county seats, and even districts, listening for news. Or the educated youth points and the educated youth points are running with each other, exchanging news. Sometimes it's just running blindly, repeating what little bit of news there is. Although this is only a recruitment, it shows a prospect to the young intellectuals, and they think that they will eventually have a way out. When people were running around like this, Liu Haiming calmly went to work, called it a day, and lived as usual. The villagers said that Liu Haiming didn't have to run, and if he did, he would run in vain. As we all know, there is a rule in the recruitment regulations that intellectual young people who get married and start a family are not within the scope of recruitment. When Liu Haiming heard this, he didn't say anything, but he couldn't help but feel it in his heart. Although he is married and has children, he is also an intellectual young man with a background and experience in city life, why should he decide his fate and become a farmer?

However, he is a scheming person, and the experience of getting married and having children also adds to his sophistication. Since he is a family man, he has to go deeper into the lives of the peasants than ordinary young intellectuals, and therefore he also understands the needs of the peasants better. It was a long time before people thought that during this period of time, he and the cadres of the production team and the brigade formed a tacit agreement. And all this will never be done without Xiao Lu's knowledge from beginning to end, as people think. In fact, it is hard to imagine that a husband and wife can do something completely behind each other's backs, especially such a young couple who can be called affectionate. So, in fact, it is very likely that this plan was approved by Xiao Lu, but later it was so bitter that he couldn't stand it, so Xiao Lu pushed the matter on Liu Haiming. Thinking about it this way, Liu Haiming is really bitter.

Liu Haiming's thoughts soon began to emerge, and it was at the funeral of Director Zhang's grandmother.

Director Zhang is the director of the commune, his home is in Daliuzhuang, and he is the women's director of the brigade. Director Zhang is a very capable director, and he remembers his hometown very much, and always does not forget to seek some benefits for the village. Of course, there is no lack of energy and showmanship. Because he was still a man of great spirit, he loved to listen to flattery, and loved others to support him. But he did not suffer in vain, he must remember it in his heart, and once he has the opportunity, he will repay it doubly. Therefore, he is righteous again. People like him have a lot of friends and a wide range of social connections. His grandmother held a funeral, and there was an endless stream of people who sent wreaths to the funeral tent, and on the dirt road leading to Daliuzhuang, there were bicycle bells all day long, and the wheels of the car ran over the dirt and dirt, and the sound was loud. Wreaths were piled up in front of the gate of the three-room two-entry courtyard of his house, and a piece of white flowers. The funeral tent is hung in the mourning tent, layered on top of each other, like three curtains and four curtains. The production team where Director Zhang's family is located took a break from work to help with errands, and it was the season of wheat harvest. The intellectual youth of the brigade has a leader, named Qian Tao, a native of Bengbu, a high school student. Older, and that type of leader, although the intellectual youth in the team are scattered in various production teams, he still plays the role of convener, intentionally or unintentionally. Negotiate something with the team on behalf of everyone, or gather young intellectuals to do something. At this time, he came to connect with the intellectual youth.

At that time, the young intellectuals were like weary birds, resting on their branches. All of them hit a wall. There is a large piece of news about recruitment, which is to be confirmed, but it is still a little bit. They are running around outside, but in fact, they are all busy with the end of the festival, what unit is recruiting, how many places are there, who is responsible for recruiting workers in the commune, who is responsible for the county, and so on. But things have to start from the root, and this root is that it must first be recommended by the production team and the brigade. Without this, nothing is useless. At this time, they were all scared, and before they started a little bit, they had lost confidence. Nearly one day of recruitment, but it has become slim. At this time, Qian Tao summoned everyone again. There are a total of ten intellectual youths in the six or seven production teams, and there are twelve with Liu Haiming and Xiao Lu. Qian Tao did not exclude Liu Haiming and Xiao Lu from the intellectual youth, but greeted them together. This is the reason why Qian Tao has prestige, he is thoughtful, and understands both policies and human feelings.

What Qian Tao convened everyone to discuss? What was discussed was that everyone would express their meaning to the funeral of Director Zhang's family. He suggested that eleven people send a wreath together, why is it eleven people, it is because Liu Haiming and Xiao Lu are counted as one person, and they are a family! Everyone is very much in favor of it, and at the same time they are very grateful to Qian Tao, if it is not for his timely proposal, how rude they would be, and what impression will this leave on Director Zhang? And now, the situation is completely different. They all perked themselves together and suddenly realized that it was time to act. Although this matter does not have any direct benefit to recruitment, because everyone participates together, and they are in a competitive relationship in recruitment. But this tangible action saved them from their depression and made them feel the feeling of being in the same boat. They got busy again, sent a few people to the county seat to buy wreaths, then settled accounts, sent people, wrote elegiac couplets, prepared eulogies, and finally carried wreaths together and presented them to the mourning hall of Director Zhang's grandmother.

Their group of people was a little imposing, and their expressions were very **, and they entered the mourning hall. Two oil lamps were lit in the mourning hall, and when they were blocked by these many people's hula, they suddenly dimmed, and the fire swayed. Under the leadership of Qian Tao, they bowed three times to the old lady, bent down, and were black. After bowing, the eulogy is read. Director Zhang was drinking with people in the room behind the mourning hall, when he came out, lit a glass lamp, and participated in this small memorial service from beginning to end. The next day, his eldest daughter, a young intellectual, went to Qian Tao's residence and, on behalf of Director Zhang, invited all the young intellectuals to the funeral. Director Zhang is such a heroic person.

Director Zhang's eldest daughter was ordered to go and invited, and she was polite according to etiquette, but it was with her own attitude towards things. She had a secondary education, she was quite intelligent, and she was very noble, and she did not think much of the visit of the young intellectuals, and she thought it was very artificial, and the eulogy was written in a nondescript manner, which she thought was funny at the time, and now she is saying words of thanks, but in an ironic tone. Say, why do you bother? My old lady doesn't recognize you, how can her death be as heavy as Mount Tai all her life? And so on, and he also made a special mention of Liu Haiming, saying that it meant that it was enough, but he gave double copies, and the day before yesterday he sent a piece of account, and yesterday he gathered your share to send a wreath.

When Qian Tao heard this, he didn't say anything. Then it was this day to go to Director Zhang's house for a banquet. Director Zhang sat with several secretaries of the commune in the back room, but did not show up, but just asked the eldest daughter to persuade everyone to drink and serve. The banquet was shrouded in a harmonious, even lingering, atmosphere. The intellectual youths in the brigade are usually relatively estranged because they are scattered in various teams, and at this time, this collective activity connects them, and they are all frustrated. As a result, some exaggerated friendship was born in my heart. They sat around a board next to each other, humbled to each other, and ate and drank as they could. After a few glasses of wine, the mood was softer, and they were almost gentle with each other. At this moment of warmth, Qian Tao took out a small roll of gross tickets from his pocket, put it on the table in front of Liu Haiming, and said: You have already sent the account, don't make up the wreath. Liu Haiming's face turned red, and everyone stopped their chopsticks and looked at him, and the light in their eyes calmed down sharply. The veil of warmth fell, and they saw reality. The reality is that they were dumped, and at such a pivotal moment.

Liu Haiming opened his mouth a few times, and the red on his face receded again. He pushed the roll of wool tickets away from his front and said: The wreath is a wreath, the tent is the tent, Xiao Lu and I have settled here, we are members of the team, and we are taken care of a lot, and we have more relationships than everyone. He said it very calmly, but Qian Tao was speechless. People were also puzzled and hesitated to accept Liu Haiming's explanation. Liu Haiming has calmed down and continues to drink and eat. A few young and simple-minded people thought it was okay, and they also moved their chopsticks. They all felt a little sorry and wanted to save the atmosphere of Fang Cai, so they persuaded Qian Tao to drink. Qian Tao pushed away the wine cup, but lit a cigarette and smoked it with his head down. In this way, Liu Haiming had to put down his chopsticks, and he didn't want to be angry with Qian Tao. The two were dull for a while, and Liu Haiming said: Brother, don't blame me, here, I am the biggest, I am a person with a family, and I have to be more good than you in life, and I never wanted to offend you, brother. Qian Tao said: What is this called? It means that people have a thousand worries, and they will make a mistake. Liu Haiming laughed: Am I still afraid of making a mistake? I have lost a few mistakes, what can I lose again? Qian Tao also smiled: I can still lose the chains! Doesn't it mean that the proletariat has only lost the chains? As soon as I said this, everyone laughed and felt that this was particularly humorous. The atmosphere became better again, and a chaotic happiness in the dark spread.

The two of them talked with each other, as if they had expressed their hearts to each other and made up their minds. They breathed a sigh of relief, picked up their glasses, and drank them all.

Now, the recruitment matter has been concretized, and it is a matter recommended by the production team. The production team recommended all the young intellectuals in their team. No one wants to get along with young intellectuals. Besides, I don't recommend it this time, and I have to recommend it next time, and I will recommend it in the end. What are they left for? They will not produce grain and grass, and if they want to give birth, they can only give birth to sons and eat raw. Da Liu Zhuang was originally more crowded and less landed. This time, the difficult things were pushed to the brigade, because the brigade only has four recommended places, which is according to the recruitment ratio of 40%. There are ten intellectual youths in the Da Liu Brigade, of course, not counting Liu Haiming and Xiao Lu, they are married young people, and they are not recruiting workers. Who are these four recommendation forms for? Everyone looked at the face of the brigade secretary so badly that they went to his house and sat down when they had nothing to do. At first, there was some avoidance between each other, but later they couldn't avoid it, so they sat together in his house, and there was some anger and harmony. The secretary can't heat anyone, nor can he cold anyone, so he simply doesn't care about anyone and drinks porridge with his head bored. I feel a little sad in my heart, as if the palms and backs of my hands are full of meat. Things have entered a white-hot stage, and no one can take care of anyone, anyway, the eight immortals cross the sea, each with their own ability. Of course, no one will notice Liu Haiming. He seems to have learned a great lesson from the matter of sending the account last time, and he deliberately distanced himself from the intellectual youth and the cadres in the brigade. So, it's almost impossible to see him. Xiao Lu, it seems that he can't see it, maybe he took the child back to the old woman's house in the county. If you want to keep a snack, you will find that the two huts behind the house are often locked and deserted.

Later, no matter how people thought about it, they couldn't think of how Liu Haiming did it. How many passes there are in the matter! How many pairs of eyes are staring, and he has done it step by step without anyone knowing it and ghosts knowing. Like those intellectual youths, how much commotion has been made. This is Liu Haiming's ability, he is calm. If you think about it, there were still some signs at the time. Let's just say that Xiao Lu took the child back to her mother-in-law's house, it's not so simple. In fact, at this time, the two of them were already preparing for the return of the brigade's settling materials. At the same time, Xiao Lu later deduced that he did not know and had an alibi. Also, 40 percent, this recommended ratio is also an opportunity. Forty percent of ten people is four, so what about twelve? Rounded up, it might be five. If Liu Haiming and Xiao Lu are also included in the intellectual youth of the Da Liu Brigade, aren't they just 12 people? Therefore, it is very likely that the Da Liu Brigade has five recommendation sheets from the very beginning, instead of four. So, where did the fifth one go? No one knew that there was a fifth recommendation form, and all the disputes and struggles revolved around the four recommendation sheets. Another question, who inspired this fifth recommendation form to win it? The secretary of the brigade would not have thought of the ingenuity of percentages, he was a typical peasant, with a pragmatic mind, and he became a cadre by virtue of his hard work and willingness to work, and with the background of the surname Wang. He is sophisticated, even cunning, and his ingenuity requires the mind of an educated and cultured man. However, if someone reminds him that one more intellectual youth can give up one more person's rations, grass burning, self-reserved land, and homestead, and if this intellectual young man is not an ordinary single young man, but drags his family with his family, then it is not just one person, but several people, or even more people, who will give up their rations, grass burning, self-reserved land, and homesteads...... Moreover, recommending one more young intellectual, it will also prove that the brigade has done a good job of educating young intellectuals. Although he is only a farmer, after all, he is an old party member, a branch secretary for many years, and he attaches great importance to his political achievements. Although he has no ambition in his career, he knows that he has done a good job, so he has a good deal with the above. Wheat seeds, chemical fertilizers, tractors, resale of grain, and handing over public grain for yield estimation are all to be dealt with. Therefore, he will gladly accept such a suggestion, and then he can report the number of twelve intellectual youths to the above, and he only needs to be a little trick, not even a hand and foot, just a concealment, concealment of the marital status of the intellectual youth. He could also praise his young intellectuals for how they were well received by the villagers. As a token of his appreciation, he will give him this extra place, as he not only made the suggestion, but also best met the principle of maximum savings. Who is this person? Needless to say, I know that it is Liu Haiming.

Therefore, in this recruitment, the Da Liu Brigade walked five intellectual youths, not the expected four. Five intellectual youths, three from Bengbu, returned to Bengbu, and Qian Tao was among them. In the other two counties, one went to the hand management bureau, and the other, Liu Haiming, went to the Huaibei coal mine. After he walked for a while, people learned that he had gone to Huaibei. In fact, this is also made by Xiao Lu. It was Xiao Lu who couldn't stand it anymore, so he made a fuss. It's possible that others don't know, but it's strange that young people with knowledge don't even know about it. They all have a well-connected relationship, and they know no less than the actual situation, only more, and the extra part is a rumor. And on the issue of Liu Haiming, they have become so closed. This also makes people think that Liu Haiming has also formed a tacit understanding with the intellectual youth, especially with Qian Tao. Among the intellectual youths in Daliuzhuang, the only one who could fight Liu Haiming was Qian Tao, and they probably made a non-aggression pact, which was also based on that percentage. Liu Haiming promised that he would never occupy the quota of the intellectually young people, and he would solve the source of the quota himself. At least this is not unfavorable to Qian Tao, and it also eliminates Liu Haiming's threat to Qian Tao. If Liu Haiming insists on squeezing into the four places, Qian Tao will have one more opponent, and he knows the weight of this opponent. The matter of sending the account is also a lesson for Qian Tao. Therefore, of course, he is also willing to have one more place in the Liu team. The best way to ensure that this place comes in is to keep your mouth shut. If you don't mention it, you still have opinions, and you can accumulate them, and wait for the future to become a foregone conclusion, and then slowly leak them out. Therefore, when Xiao Lu came to the brigade to make trouble, people already had prejudices against Liu Haiming, and he became an insidious person.

After Liu Haiming left, his two huts belonged to the brigade, and the self-reserved land belonged to the production team. The household goods, pots and bowls in the house are still Xiao Lu's, and they are temporarily stored in the residence of two female intellectual youths, which can be regarded as lending them for use. Xiao Lu has not shown up. At the end of the year, it was her brother-in-law, Liu Haiming's younger brother, who took her share of the rations with money, and also took away some of her things. Someone went into the county to buy resale grain, met Xiao Lu, and said that she still lived in the old woman's house, near the county grain station. The people I met came back and said that Xiao Lu had lost some weight, but he was white, and the child was also older, so he still held Xiao Lu in his hands. Xiao Lu held the child in one hand and carried a large basket in the other, which was full of clothes, and he was going to wash clothes under the flood gate. The man said, look at the people on the street, how many clothes! People thought that life would go on like this, but unexpectedly, Xiao Lu came back to Da Liu Zhuang again.

When Xiao Lu returned to Da Liuzhuang, his description changed greatly. She was, as the people who met her said, thin and white. But her natural oily black skin, once it turns white, it is not a good thing. Her face was as if she had white scars, one deep and one light, and her skin was very dry. The two big eyes seemed bigger, and the tips of the eyes hung down, and they were full of grievances and resentment, looking at people in distraction. That mouth was originally slightly wider, and it was good to laugh, but at this time, it couldn't laugh, and it looked extraordinarily bitter and thin. Indeed, the boy had grown half a head taller, and his eyes were like his mother's big eyes, and now they were like his mother's, and the tips of their eyes were hanging down. The mouth is the same, and it looks like you want to cry and hold back. And when people saw him, they remembered his father again. His thin face also gave birth to his father's withdrawn and watching expression. Their mother and son came to Daliuzhuang empty-handed, wearing the original clothes and washing them even older. When I walked to the house of the secretary of the brigade, I asked him for someone and Liu Haiming.

A person like Xiao Lu, who is gentle by nature, is just crying sadly when he quarrels. Hold the child in your arms, hang your head, and cover your face with your hair. The hair is still oily, and it hasn't been scorched yet, but the other flower clips have been replaced with iron, and they are less handsome. The secretary of the brigade accompanied her to tears and saved for dinner, and then the secretary of the brigade took her to the residence of the two young women who kept her things. A cool bed was installed at the other end of the house, and the mother and son were settled.

Although Xiao Lu is also a young man who cuts the queue, because he has a family, he lives a serious life, and Liu Haiming is in charge, so he worries about everything. So, she's actually a little delicate. She can't live a "mixed" life like an intellectual youth. That night, I slept in the room where the intellectual youth put the bed and burned the pot, guarding the pile of things that were moved out of her and Liu Haiming's original home, the lamp was an inkwell, lit with a core, buckled on the wall, and black shadows all over the ground. She hugged the child and cried all night. I didn't boil the pot when I got up early, because there was no food, and the food had been taken away by her brother-in-law. The two female students also didn't boil the pot, washed their faces with cold water, and then took a bite of a cold bun, and then went to the ground. Xiao Lu wanted to boil some hot water to wash her face and wash her hands with her children, but she didn't dare to touch other people's burning grass, and her grass was also taken away by her brother-in-law. She sat on the edge of the bed for a while, and then took the child to the secretary of the brigade again.

In this way, after eating at the team secretary's house for two days, the secretary's family asked Xiao Lu to take her into the city and get things at Liu Haiming's house. Xiao Lu couldn't live or die, crying sadly, angry and afraid. There was no way, so the secretary's family went by himself. changed into clean clothes, asked the captain of Xiao Lu's production team to follow, and pulled a flat car to put things. When I arrived at her old woman's house, I realized how difficult things were. Xiao Lu can't live here, in the final analysis, it's just about burning grass for food. Liu Haiming has many brothers and sisters, in addition to Liu Haiming, there is also a devolved, an unemployed, and a few who go to school, all of whom are eating. During his apprenticeship, Liu Haiming had about 30 yuan a month plus a subsidy for going to the mines, which sounds like a lot, but the people who went to the mines would eat it, and the leftovers were only a few yuan. With these few yuan, the old woman calculated to buy grain and coal, and Xiao Lu calculated to add clothes to the children and buy snacks, wasn't it the money earned by her man? Didn't her grain and grass already bring her brother-in-law? The contradiction arose like this. The old woman first had something to say, and then the brother-in-law and sister-in-law squeezed together. The night before Xiao Lu's mother and son came to Daliuzhuang in a panic, it was a thunderstorm, and the mother and son slept on an iron frame bed. Riding the lightning, I saw a wire connected to the bed frame, and the bare wire with rubber peeled. Xiao Lu was so frightened that he picked up the child and rolled to the foot of the wall and squatted all night. When the rain stopped at dawn, I ran to Daliuzhuang. The team secretary's family originally thought that Xiao Lu was confused by the old woman, so they regarded the inadvertent thing as a deliberate harm to her, but when they arrived at Liu Haiming's house and saw her mother-in-law, she had to think the same as Xiao Lu.

The secretary's family never thought that people on the street would be so splashy. It's not like the villagers, who will only splash blindly, she will splash, and she will be reasonable. One, two, three, I can't answer a single sentence of the secretary's family. She didn't expect that the homes of the people on the street were so poor, there was a mat in the yard, and the sauce beans and radish strips were dried on the mat, and there was a pot of noodles in the yellow basin, which was also mixed noodles. The chickens and pigs seemed to be more bitterly cold, with nowhere to find food, and the ground was full of gravel and rubble, and the place was cramped. In the end, she only got some clothes for Xiao Lu's mother and son. took it back, and after Xiao Lu checked it, he said that it was all old and poor, new and good, and all of them were detained. It seems that the last hope for the old woman has been extinguished, Xiao Lu stopped crying, she said very stiffly, she wanted to go to Huaibei to find Liu Haiming, or come back, or divorce. So, she left Daliuzhuang again.

At this time, people didn't have time to think about the cause and effect of the matter, but they just took pity on Xiao Lu and hated Liu Haiming. Liu Haiming, this unkind and unrighteous person, left his wife and son for his own future. Sometimes, the sisters in the village would go to the house of the two young women to play and look at the empty bed that Xiao Lu had only slept on for three nights, as well as the pile of household belongings that Xiao Lu had lived, and they felt that Xiao Lu would not be able to come back. Even if she comes back, how will she live this life? They will scold Liu Haiming together and break up a good home, what is there that can't go on with this life? Is it better to break up their wives like this? The two intellectual youths will be scolded even further, and they will condemn them from the roots, saying: What kind of marriage will the intellectual youth marry? Once married, it will be over. In short, whether it is an intellectual youth or a sister, they all think that Xiao Lu and Liu Haiming's life is hopeless.

After a while, when the straw was harvested, Xiao Lu came back. This time, the child was holding his hand and walking back. The other carried a travel bag and filled it. Both adults and children are fat and ruddy, and Xiao Lu's face also has a smile. She pressed her handprint on the overdraft account, and got dozens of catties of straw, and then calculated it at the end of the year. Then, I borrowed a dustpan to rub the corn kernels. The child was playing on the side, and she shouted from time to time, and the child responded. When she pushed the noodles, she put on a flower handkerchief to drive the little donkey, the child was playing outside the mill, and in the huo of the grinding plate and the hooves of the donkey, she shouted, and the child responded. She went to Huaibei, as if she had got some idea, and came back to her strength. She calmed down and decided to start living again. She took the belongings piled up in the corner of the house and brought them to the sun in front of the door, brushed and washed them with alkaline water, and then placed them in half of her house one by one. As for the stove, it was shared with the two female students. The two intellectual youths, one from Shanghai, named Xiao Wang, and the other from the street, named Xiao Nie. Xiao Wang is a sloppy person, he doesn't care too much about everything, and Xiao Nie's temperament is a bit like Xiao Lu, and he is also gentle and kind. Therefore, although the three of them eat in three pots, they can still get along. Those two can't take care of themselves anymore, but they don't drag them down, and sometimes they can help this one. It's just that both Xiao Wang and Xiao Nie, strangely enough, don't like that kid very much. The child's eyes seemed to be full of sorrow, a little scary, not at all as innocent and carefree as other children. So they avoided him a little consciously or unconsciously, and when they saw him squatting there, they didn't caress him, but pretended not to see him and went around. Life goes on like this, it's okay, but it's not a family life, it's temporary, transitional in nature, and I don't know where I want to go.

In the evening, the three of them chatted, mostly denouncing Liu Haiming. Xiao Nie was okay, but Xiao Wang was too radical, and with a decisive idea, Xiao Lu smiled, with a soft smile on his face. If you have experience, you can see that Xiao Lu and Liu Haiming are still a loving husband and wife, and they plan to get by. But Xiao Nie and Xiao Wang are daughters who have not left the cabinet, and they are students, the truth is the truth in the book, they don't understand the subtlety of human feelings, they just get angry for Xiao Lu, and feel that Xiao Lu is too honest and doesn't hurry up to take revenge on Liu Haiming. Xiao Lu explained to them that she had gone to Huaibei to find Liu Haiming and made Liu Haiming cry.

That day, she came to the Huaibei mine by car and boat, and asked around about Liu Haiming's dormitory, and a worker took her to find it. When he arrived at the bottom of the dormitory, the worker shouted Liu Haiming's name, Liu Haiming stuck his head out of the window, and when he saw that it was her, his face turned white all of a sudden. He took her into the dormitory, and then went to the cafeteria to cook, rice, steamed buns, fish, meat, and vegetables, and set a table for her to eat. She didn't eat, Liu Haiming buried her head and cried, crying for a meal, she couldn't say anything. Then, Liu Haiming settled their mother and son, and in fact, the workers could guess their relationship, but no one said anything, so what was the point of doing bad things to him? At night, they all went out, and those who worked the day shift or the night shift also found another place to sleep and gave them empty nests. After living for half a month, the leaders also knew that Liu Haiming had a wife and children, and that he did not meet the recruitment regulations, but since he had already come, what should he do? Will he go back? The work in the well is a hundred times more difficult than that in the field, that is, there is one more commercial grain, and it is really difficult for the young people. So, I stayed for another half a month, adding up to a month, and then came back. When Xiao Lu spoke, the expression on his face gradually became intoxicated, and Xiao Wang and Xiao Nie were also infected, so they quieted down.

However, life is still bleak. The child has always been pampered, and he was frightened, and he couldn't leave Xiao Lu for a moment. But Xiao Lu has to work to earn work, or take something in exchange for rations. Do you expect Liu Haiming's salary to be fully spent? Liu Haiming's salary cannot be fully spent, and if he has to save it, the days ahead will be long! Xiao Lu is gratifying to calm down now and start planning for the days ahead. She is an honest person, she will not be lazy and slippery, but she is too soft by nature, she is not spicy in anything, and she does not earn much work. She gritted her teeth, spread her hands, left the child on the farm, played with the children in the village, and got out of the field to work. The child was a little lonely, unsociable, and he was the only one left to play with. and always held in his mother's arms, once he got off the ground, he was very angry with the surrounding environment. Once, I fell into a dung pit and lost my roof. Fortunately, someone passed by and saw a pair of small hands moving in the dung pit, and hurriedly lifted it up, and the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes were full of paste. That night, the child had a high fever and had several convulsions. Fortunately, the brigade has a medical team, and it is better after injections. Xiao Lu hugged the child and cried mournfully. Crying and crying, the child wrenched out of her arms and squeaked. Everyone who saw that scene felt sad.

After the New Year, the brigade bought a dough extruder, and the machine room was set up in the house where they lived, and Xiao Wang and Xiao Nie moved away to find another place to live, but Xiao Lu stayed, watched the dough extruder, kept accounts, and collected money. A road wall was built in the middle of the two rooms, and the machine was placed inside, and Xiao Lu lived outside. In this way, she can earn her share of work while watching the children without going to the ground. When Xiao Wang and Xiao Nie left, they were a little unhappy with Xiao Lu, and they were cold, thinking that they were occupied by her. The sisters persuaded them, saying, "Xiao Lu is dragging a child, and you will eventually leave." Xiao Wang said very fiercely: Go, where are you going! They don't avoid Xiao Lu when they speak, Xiao Lu is nothing to listen to, she is now a person who has suffered a lot of people's pity, and she can't have any temper.

Xiao Nie and Xiao Wang are used to living such a life, at this time one of them lives in a villager's house, and the other lives in a decentralized resident's house. The devolved resident built these two small houses and left, nowhere else to make a living. The inner room was locked, and the outer room was used by the team to keep work, hold meetings, and put things, and the intellectual youth lived here. Sometimes, they would go to the brigade's computer room to squeeze noodles. The computer room was white, almost invisible, Xiao Lu was moving in the white, and his head and body were covered with powder. The beds and household items in the outhouses were also covered with a layer of flour. In the roar of the machine, she still called the child's name one by one, and the child responded with a voice. Because the sound of the machine covered her ears, both mother and son had to raise their voices very high, as if to emphasize her call, Xiao Lu called the child's name by name. This big name is very **, called Liu Zhihe. The child seemed to be dyed with powder, and his eyelashes and eyebrows were lightened. Their mother and son live in noodles.

Shanghai, March 26, 1999