The Pure Years (Novella) Zhang Baotong 2016.1.2

Yuxiu's parents want to invite Chen Jie to a meal. This is one www.biquge.info of the most common ways for rural people to thank others. That afternoon, Yuxiu took Chen Jie home.

Yuxiu's parents came out with their younger siblings to greet them. Mother He took Chen Jie's hand warmly and brought him into the hall all the time, shushing the cold and asking for warmth, talking long and short. Because Father He was not good at talking, he made tea for the guests and gave up their seats, and served washing water.

Chen Jie washed his face and hands, and then took out two packs of gold leaf cigarettes for Father He. Father He was like accepting a gift of valuables from someone else, and his mouth couldn't close with joy. Seeing Yuxiu's younger brother Feng Yanzi and little sister Yuxiang surrounding him, Chen Jie took out a set of "Lin Hai Xueyuan" villain book and a stationery box from his schoolbag and gave them to Feng Lingzi and Yuxiang. The two of them took their things and ran out of the hall with cheers, showing off to the other children.

At this time, Yuxiu washed herself and came out of her house. Chen Jie put a golden hairpin on her hand and said, "This is for you." ”

Yuxiu refused to ask for it, saying, "Give it to your sister." ”

Chen Jie said, "My sister is still a primary school student. ”

Yuxiu took the hairpin and looked at it, so she liked it and said, "Wearing it on your head, people think that there is a butterfly on your head." ”

Chen Jie smiled and said, "It means that even butterflies like you so much." ”

Because his father was right in front of him, Chen Jie said this, which made Yuxiu feel ashamed.

Mother He cooked the egg tea, brought it over, and asked Chen Jie to eat it. Egg tea, which is made with eggs and brown sugar, is the highest etiquette for local guests. Chen Jie found that he didn't bring a gift to He Mu, so he said, "He Ma, I'm sorry, I didn't have to prepare a gift for you." I'll catch it up next time. ”

He Mu immediately waved her hand and said, "You have helped my family so much, and you have spent so much money, so I can't thank you enough." ”

After a while, a girl who looked like Yuxiu came back from school. She entered the hall, glanced at Chen Jie, and then entered her own room. Yuxiang took out the stationery box in her hand and shook it in front of her eyes, and said, "Sister, look, I have a stationery box." It was given by Brother Xiao Chen. The girl picked up her sister's stationery box and looked at it, then went into her brother's room, picked up a villain book, and began to read it.

Chen Jie asked Yuxiu, "This is your sister?" ”

Yuxiu said, "It's my eldest sister, 14 years old this year, in the second year of junior high school in Honghua Middle School. ”

Chen Jie said, "You call her over." ”

Yuxiu shouted, "Yuying, come here." ”

The girl came over. Yuxiu said, "This is your little brother Chen." ”

The girl nodded. Chen Jie took out a fountain pen from his schoolbag and said, "This is a prize from the county for my brother to be a good worker." ”

Yuxiu immediately stopped and said, "No, give it to her, what do you use to write?" ”

But Yuying had already held the pen in her hand, and she was at a loss when she heard her sister say this. Chen Jie said, "When I get home, I'll get another one." ”

Hearing this, Yuying picked up the pen and walked away.

Father He said, "A few days ago, she was crying with me, saying that many of her classmates had fountain pens and asked me to buy her one, but I didn't have time to go to the commune supply and marketing cooperative. ”

Yuxiu couldn't bear it anymore, and said to her father, "Our family is only afraid that Chen Jie will be regarded as a rich man." ”

Chen Jie said, "Don't say that, the first time I came to your house, I can't be empty-handed. ”

I heard that the He family had guests, and the people who came to visit came one after another, and after a while, the big hall was full. Some people don't have a place to sit, so they simply sit on the threshold. Chen Jie happened to bring some cigarettes and candy, and when he saw a man, he opened a cigarette, and when he saw a woman and children, he sprinkled sugar.

Everyone saw that Chen Jie was polite and didn't have a frame, so they asked him casually. The eldest grandfather in the village asked Chen Jie, "What kind of work do your parents do?" ”

Chen Jie said, "My father was a railway worker who built railways in Yunnan, and my mother didn't have a job and did housework in the house. ”

Father Sun asked again, "Father makes a lot of money in a month?" ”

Chen Jie said, "It's about 70 yuan." ”

Someone said, "It's better to be a worker, I earn more money in a month than I do in a year." ”

Sister Xu, a neighbor's cousin, asked Chen Jie, "How many brothers and sisters do you have?" ”

Chen Jie said, "There is a brother, a sister, a brother and a sister, and I am ranked third. ”

Sister Xu asked again, "Are your brothers and sisters working?" ”

Chen Jie said, "Yes. ”

Sister Xu said, "Your family's conditions are quite good. ”

At this time, the captain Bing Dad came. Yuxiu hurriedly served tea, and Chen Jie handed over cigarettes. Daddy Bin looked at the cigarette and said, "This cigarette is so expensive." ”

Fan Dad next to him said, "That's it, I smoked this cigarette, and it costs more than two dimes a pack." ”

Bing's father said, "I saw that the commune cadres only smoked economic cigarettes for nine cents a pack. ”

Everyone drank tea, smoked cigarettes, and ate sugar, and began to say something that made people happy. It seems like a reward. The cousin of the Xie family said, "Chen Jie is handsome and gentle, and he will be recruited as a worker in the future, and the beautiful girl will follow to enjoy the blessings." ”

Yuxiu immediately corrected and said, "We're just friends, we don't have to talk about love." ”

Some people said, "Before we got married, we were friends, but when we got married, we were lovers." ”

Yuxiu said, "It's not the same when you're married or not married. ”

Everyone laughed and said, "Of course, when you get married, you get stuck together." When she said this, Yuxiu's face was feverish.

Captain Bin's father is the authority in the village, and naturally he has the most words and the heaviest weight. He said, "Xiu Meizi is beautiful and beautiful, and she is extremely smart, not to mention the Chaling Brigade, even the entire Honghua Commune is not comparable." However, I also saw Xiao Chen's son, he is handsome, quite tall, especially his eyes are so bright, and he looks like a showman at first glance. In the future, the two of them can be a couple, which is a talented woman, a talented woman, and a beautiful woman, and it is also a good story of our Chaling 13th team. ”

Everyone had a lively time, and they went home to cook and eat. When everyone left, Yuxiu began to sweep the floor. Chen Jie helped Yuxiu clean up. At this time, a woman in her fifties came into the house with a seven or eight-year-old girl and called out to her sister. Yuxiu immediately put down the broom in her hand, came over and took the woman's hand, and asked her to sit down. The woman said, "I went out in the afternoon, and I heard that you had brought Xiao Chen with me, so I came to have a look." ”

Chen Jie thought that this was some relative of the He family, but Yuxiu said to him, "This is Huang Gehui's mother." Chen Jie touched his schoolbag and wanted to get something for the guy, but the schoolbag was empty. So he took two pieces out of his pocket, and gave them to the woman, saying, "I didn't know that you had come and had nothing to prepare, so I bought something for you to eat." ”

The woman waved her hand and said, "Don't be too polite. But Chen Jie just stuffed the money into the woman's hand. As it was getting dark, the woman said a few words and took the child away.

At this time, the oil lamps are lit and the meals are served, with fragrant chicken, glutinous rice glutinous rice cakes, green vegetable vermicelli, green bamboo shoots and chili peppers, egg chili peppers and fried winter melon and roasted eggplant. Fill a small dining table. Even during the Chinese New Year, the family has never made so many good dishes. In order to let the guests eat well, the two adults and Yuxiu accompanied Chen Jie, and the three children were arranged to eat in the kitchen.

While sandwiching meat for Chen Jie, Mother He said apologetically, "If you don't get married in the New Year, no one will kill a pig, you can only kill a chicken." ”

Chen Jie said, "You are cooking dishes with a lot of thieves, but you are afraid that you are entertaining the central leaders?" ”

He Mu said, "You are the savior of our family. ”

Chen Jie said, "Don't say that, Yuxiu and I are very good friends. ”

At this time, Feng Yanzi came over with a bowl and said to his mother, "Mom, I want to eat meat." ”

His mother gave him a piece of meat and said, "Don't come again." ”

Yuxiang saw that her mother gave her younger brother meat, and she also came over to ask for meat. The mother glared at her and said, "I haven't seen any guests, so I don't know etiquette." Chen Jie hurriedly picked up a piece of meat and put it in Yuxiang's bowl.

He Mu said to Chen Jie, "You live alone in the team, no one cares and no one asks, so pitiful." ”

Chen Jie said, "It's not pitiful, it's much better than me in the commune tea house." We were in the commune tea farm, and we didn't have any vegetables to eat in winter and spring, and last year we had a bowl of sauce and salt water and a bowl of rice for three months in a row, and the rice was made of broken rice, and there was a lot of fine sand in it, and if we didn't eat well, it would make our teeth hurt so much. My brother said that the broken rice was used as feed for the pigs. ”

Mother He was surprised and said, "It's not as good as our pigs." ”

Father He also asked, "You've never eaten meat, have you?" ”

Chen Jie said, "I ate it once during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, but it was a female pork that died of illness, and there was only half a bowl per person. I got meat from the cafeteria, and before I could eat it, I smelled that the meat had spoiled and smelled so bad, so I gave the meat to someone else to eat. ”

Yuxiu said, "So it's better for you to go down to the team than to be in the tea field." ”

Chen Jie said, "That's natural, the team gave me three points of rice and oil, and also gave me three points of self-reserved land, I can't finish eating a lot of vegetables, many dishes are old, there is no way, just give Yun Dad's pig to eat." A few days ago, Secretary Huang of the tea field came to me and asked me to go back to the tea field. I said that I was doing well in the team and would not go back to the tea field. ”

Yuxiu said, "Yes, don't go back." In the team, in the tea field, they all earn work. ”

After eating and drinking tea, Mother He began to mention the matter of repaying the money. She put the money next to Chen Jie's table and said, "You have done us a great favor and spent a lot of money." I should have paid it off at once, but I only got the 200 yuan when I went all over the village. You take it first, and we will pay off the rest of the money at the end of the year. ”

But Chen Jie said, "What's the money?" If your family is in trouble, I should help. As he spoke, he put the money in He Mu's hand.

This surprised the He family, because no one could say that they didn't want this large sum of money. Mother He hurriedly said, "It's not easy for your father to earn money, and besides, the money belongs to your parents, so you can't help but pay it back." As he spoke, he put the money on the table again.

Chen Jie said, "I borrowed this money from my mother, and I told my mother that I would pay it back when I worked." As he spoke, he stuffed the money to He Mu again.

Yuxiu felt too reluctant to go, and said, "If that's the case, we owe you so much affection, I really don't know if we pay it back." If we don't pay back the money we borrowed from others, we won't be able to sleep well at night. ”

Chen Jie glanced at her and said, "Then I'll keep the money with you first, and then come and get it when I need it." ”

After eating, Yuxiu took Chen Jie to leave. Father and Mother He sent them to the path by the pond. At this time, Yuxiang suddenly ran over from the other side of the house and shouted to Chen Jie, "Brother Xiao Chen, come back next time." ”

Chen Jie deliberately teased her and said, "Why do you want me to come again?" ”

Yuxiang said, "If you come, we will have meat to eat." ”

Chen Jie smiled and said, "Aren't you afraid that I will eat your family poor if I come too much?" ”

Yuxiang didn't know how to answer, so she squeezed her eyes and ran away.

Walking on the road, Yuxiu said with deep feelings, "I didn't let you take care of my affairs, but it seems that I can't let you take care of it." ”

Chen Jie smiled and said, "God sent me to take care of your affairs, and you can't let me take care of it." ”

Yuxiu said, "Otherwise, others say that I am your sister-in-law, and I used to explain it to them, but now, I can't even explain it." ”

Chen Jie smiled and said, "Then you don't have to explain." ”

Yuxiu pretended to be serious and said, "Then I will really be your sister in the future, and I want to fall in love with you." ”

As soon as Chen Jie heard this, his face immediately changed, and he said, "No, once I recruit and leave, I will make you as pitiful as Sister Yan." ”

Yuxiu said, "Then you don't want to be a worker, go home with me and become a farmer." ”

Chen Jie said resolutely, "No, unless we are workers together." ”

Yuxiu sighed and said, "It seems that we can only be friends." ”

(Please pay attention to Zhang Baotong's signed work "Poetic Emotion" documentary, short prose, life essays and short stories, and is uploading life essay "The Secret of Longevity")