After the rain, the sky was as clear as new, and there was a cloud of green smoke from the chimneys of the brickyards, and a few light clouds scattered scattered.

The dark gray cement wall of the brick factory is full of cracks, but the rows of large characters painted with white plaster can be seen very clearly.

"Emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts......"

"Science and technology are the primary productive forces ......"

"Let some people get rich first......"

Liang Xin stood at the entrance of the cave, and the light and shadow of the sun in the sky pierced her eyes and ears. Even if your eyes are squinted, you can see your environment clearly.

She doesn't remember what was built in the old brick factory in her memory, but she remembers that it was demolished when she was 95......

The slogan of reform and opening up, when I was a child, as long as there was a wall in the village and town, it was everywhere......

and his thin and dark self, only about twelve or thirteen years old......

Liang Xin suppressed the drowsiness in her mind, took a sharp breath, closed her eyes, and squatted on the ground - wasn't she already dead?

Liang Xin lived to be 50 years old in his previous life, and the end point was the new century 2016. It was a mediocre life, and the greatest thing she did was to drop out of school after graduating from primary school, listening to her mother's words, and making money while moving bricks and pulling carts in the brick factory, with a salary of ten or twenty yuan a month, while helping the family do farm work, and supporting two older brothers and a younger sister to go to school.

Liang Xinyou remembered that she lived the rest of her life without possession, and her good brothers and sisters who should have repaid her became two people who couldn't say a word to her. No one remembers her wasted youth in a small brick workshop, and no one remembers that she was one of the best grades in primary school, and she loved to read books after dropping out of school.

In the eyes of her brothers and sisters, she has become a standard rural peasant woman, who does not know a few big characters, has a short family, has rough skin and thick meat, and in addition to working, she is eating a cucumber and making fun of herself.

When she died, none of them came to see her for the last time. Liang Xin understood that they were busy and had no time. In that fast-growing society, everyone is busy.

Liang Xin didn't complain about anyone, but she regretted it......

Liang Xin lifted his face from between his arms, his head was no longer dizzy, and his eyes were no longer squinting. In the cave, a worker who had been resting for a long time came out and shouted: "Work ...... work."

Liang Xin stretched out his hand to support the reddened ground under his feet and stood up. She patted the dust off her body and tugged at the corners of her old coat. The gown was still her sister-in-law's old clothes, with a few patches.

She wiped the fine sweat oozing from her forehead, and did not follow others to move bricks and pull the cart, but ran out of the brick factory with her legs, and there was no one to fly.

Because of the hot weather, the workers all wore wet towels on their shoulders. One of the men wiped his dark face, looked at the direction where Liang Xin had disappeared and said, "What's wrong with the girl of the Liang family?"

The woman next to her said, "I'm afraid I'm tired and anxious, so I'll go home." It's hard for us to do it, she's so small, it's not easy. Looking at the way she was at the entrance of the cave just now, it seemed like she couldn't stand up and was about to faint. ”

"You said that her mother is too, she doesn't come out hard, and her heart is hard enough to let such a young girl come out."

"Who let her father go, it's also this child's life."

"Isn't there two brothers above, so it's her turn to support this family?"

"Son and daughter, can it be the same?"

……

Liang Xin ran all the way home, and when he got home, he was covered in sweat, and beads of sweat fell intermittently. The front and back of the old cloth gown were wet, and they were all wet, clinging to her flat body, which was almost undeveloped.

When I got home, it was really the dilapidated yard in my memory. Pushing open the creaking old panel door and entering the house, she sorted out the items in her memory and found the calendar.

The calendar is pressed on thin paper, each one is a day, and one is torn up one after a day, and the number of the number is printed very large, red and bright. The number of the lunar month, the day of the week, and the ecliptic are all small character supplements, and the font size is also different because of the different categories of information, and the blank space is also densely packed with fancy patterns.

Liang Xin took the calendar that had been torn up about half of it in his hand and looked a little stunned - September 12, 1980.

In the summer of 1980, she had just graduated from elementary school. At the request of her mother Xu Qinglian, she dropped out of school to work at home. At this time, it was not long after the start of the new semester, her eldest brother Liang Ming was in the first year of high school, her second brother Liang Jun was in the third year of junior high school, and her younger sister Liang Yue was in the third grade of primary school.

"Why are you back?"

Liang Xin was stunned by the voice behind him, and hurriedly put down the calendar and turned around.

At this time, Xu Qinglian was still young, her hair was not white, and her face frowned a lot. She hooked the cloth shoes on the ground and put them on, and looked at Liang Xin: "What about you!" ”

"Oh......" Liang Xin came back to his senses, stumbled for a while before he found his senses, and said, "Mom, I want to continue studying." ”

Xu Qinglian had just rested for a while, and she was full of energy, but she didn't have the heart to compete with her daughter, and said, "What nonsense are you talking about?" Hurry up and get to work, and if you're tired, follow me to weed. ”

At this time, Beiren Village had already implemented the package production to households, and the rural productive forces had been liberated to a great extent, and the peasants had more freedom to control the land, but in fact, there were still no other fancy ways to live, and most of them still threw themselves on a few acres of land at home, or went to the brick factory to earn some hard-earned money, which could not be compared with those who had urban hukou and could enter enterprises and institutions.

Liang Xin stood still, but still tried: "Mom, I'm serious, I've thought about it for a long time......" I thought about it for most of my life.

Xu Qinglian didn't look at her, and interrupted her: "Don't be ignorant, hurry up and get to work." The family is like this, how can there be money for you to study. Didn't we say okay, you come down and help me, and together we will support this family. Besides, it's useless for girls to study, sooner or later they will get married, a waste of money. ”

"What about me making my own money for myself? No need for money at home. Liang Xin still didn't give up.

Xu Qinglian finally looked at her, furrowed her brows and roared angrily: "Why are you so ignorant?!" I raised you so big, you don't have any heart at all! Your dad is gone, if you don't help me, who will? Don't you let your eldest brother and second brother stop working down? You have no conscience! You call this selfishness! ”

Liang Xin met Xu Qinglian's gaze like this - in her previous life, she ruined her life because she did not have such a quality as "selfishness".

She no longer made Xu Qinglian angry, turned her head and went out of the house, and then out of the yard. Walk slowly along the way, think about things slowly, and return to the brick factory.

When I arrived at the brick factory, I still worked with everyone, and three or four bricks were stacked and moved around. She could move five pieces at most, but that would be too difficult, so she moved them all in four pieces. If you're really tired, just lose one.

Now the junior high school miscellaneous fees are 12 yuan a semester, and she can earn so much money by moving bricks for a month, and the accommodation and food expenses have to be calculated separately.

Tired of moving bricks, sitting aside to rest, Liang Xin put his hand into his gown pocket and groped. When I touched it, I puffed up, and I stretched out my head into my pocket and saw that it was a kumquat, a little bigger. She quietly put the kumquat back, groped for it again, and this time she looked back and saw that it was a green apple.

Liang Xin's heart was pounding, and naturally he didn't dare to take out the green apple, and it was gone.

In her previous life, she moved bricks to do farm work, and she has been supporting Liang Ming and Liang Jun after graduating from university. After the two graduated, she saved some money and started a business selling fruits and vegetables.

Liang Xin was late in business in his previous life, it was in the late eighties and early nineties, and he couldn't make a fortune for a long time, but it was easier than moving bricks.

If the time had been earlier, the people who went to the towns and villages to do business would still earn a lot more than others, and they might have earned more than the townspeople in enterprises and institutions. Such people are called "self-employed" in the city and "10,000 yuan households" in the countryside. At that time, whether it was "self-employed" or "10,000 yuan household", it was a undignified title. Later, when the economy developed, such a small business would not work.

Liang Xin stretched her hand out of her pocket, she didn't know what the function of this magic fruit and vegetable was, but she felt it was a good thing from the bottom of her heart. As long as she is not discovered, she can always earn enough money for her own studies by sneaking around. She didn't want to make any money through guò, she just wanted to finish her studies. Those who know the development and changes of the world in the future naturally know that this is not a long-term solution, at most it is just a means to maintain life.

After resting, Liang Xin went to move bricks again, and he had to settle today's salary and take it away. In just two or three months, her face and arms were so black that she couldn't look at them. Originally, although she was thin, she was born beautiful, her eyes were big and bright, and her skin was white, and she couldn't see that she was a beautiful little girl at this time, and her black face was set with a pair of big eyes full of longing.

In the evening, after the salary, Liang Xin went home. On the path into the house, I happened to meet my sister Liang Yue who was out of school, so I walked together. On the way, Liang Yue asked what he had read in school today and how much he had learned. Liang Yue took out the book from the gray cloth schoolbag on his body and flipped it over to Liang Xin to read: "I learned this lesson today, the teacher asked us to recite the third to fifth paragraphs, and we will check it tomorrow." ”

"Do you know how to memorize?" Liang Xin asked.

Liang Yue closed the book and held it in his hand: "Not yet, I will carry it when I finish eating and enjoy the cold." ”

Liang Xin put his hand on her shoulder and stroked it - the girls born in the village are all pitiful.

If she hadn't insisted on it in her previous life, Liang Yue would have died after graduating from primary school.

The two talked and laughed when they got home, and Xu Qinglian also came back from the field, cooked dinner - radish gnocchi soup, and pasted cornmeal potstickers.

When Liang Xin got home, he took out the money from his pocket and sent it to Xu Qinglian, but what he said was: "Mom, I have already resigned from today's salary, and I won't do it tomorrow." ”

Xu Qinglian glared when she heard this: "Liang Xin, what do you mean?" ”

Liang Xin stuffed the money into her pocket, sat down at the table, and didn't explain: "Let's eat." ”

Xu Qinglian suddenly bent down and put away the bowl in front of her and poured it into the pot: "Don't eat it if you don't make it clear today!" ”