This is the first time Zhou Xiaoquan has been so close to death.

There was also hunger in the city, and he had heard rumors of people starving to death somewhere, but he had never seen one.

The vast majority of the people they live in are coal mine workers, and the miners work hard, but they can earn a lot, and the food index is the highest. Although they are not enough to eat, there are still no cases of people dying of starvation.

He was woken up early this morning by someone who came to call his second uncle, saying that an old man in the team was starving to death. Then the sound of a gong sounded in the street.

He had already heard two such gongs in one morning.

And today is Chinese New Year's Eve, and it should be the day to wear new clothes and eat dumplings......

Such a huge contrast made this little boy who had never seen life and death rise a strong fear from the bottom of his heart, and the sister and brother already had a sense of dependence on each other these days, and he subconsciously grabbed his sister's hand.

Zhou Xiaoan was also scared, but she was an older sister, so she had to hold on, "Then don't go out to fetch firewood, what about the New Year today, wait until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year." These days, you are teaching your sister to read and write. ”

Zhou Xiaoquan thought about it and shook his head, "No, I'm not afraid." "I'm afraid I can't say it, and I have to stand it up, or what else will he say to protect my sister?

Zhou Xiaoan knew at a glance that he couldn't stop him, and he didn't force it, let him find the nephew of the lobby brother's family to go with him, wear thick and bring biscuits, and come back after a while, don't be greedy, just cut a little enough to burn.

Zhou Xiaoquan left, and the tweeter started broadcasting at noon again, and kept playing an article on a loop about the revolutionary Spring Festival and working hard to engage in production.

"Hard work, hard work and hard work, day and night continuous work", "one day is equal to twenty years", "let the mountains bow their heads, let the rivers make way", "the members of the commune roar, the earth will tremble"......

I don't know if it's a psychological reason, Zhou Xiaoan felt that the female announcer's aggressive tone was weird and cold, which made her very uncomfortable to hear, and then thought of the people who starved to death, and felt panicked......

There was no one at home, so Zhou Xiaoan shrunk into the quilt and covered himself tightly......

It's too cold, so it's a little warmer...... Zhou Xiaoan buried his head in the quilt, and he would not admit that he was trembling with fright when he was killed......

Zhou Xiaoquan came back in the afternoon, Zhou Xiaoan tried to stabilize his mind, and asked him to bring back some frozen meals, braised pork, rice and white noodles, and a few steamed buns, and wait for the second uncle and them to come back from work and the family have a good reunion dinner.

Today is Chinese New Year's Eve, and I have to let my brother who came out with him have a good New Year.

The food was brought back, but there was no hot pot at home, and almost all the iron tools were taken away during the great steelmaking.

The sister and brother thought about it for a long time, but they could only use a large clay pot to cook porridge to heat it through water, and it was heated several times before it was heated.

The second uncle and mother-in-law came back first, and Zhou Xiaoquan said hello to them and ran out, holding the white-flour steamed buns for the lobby brother and the second cousin's family.

They all ate in the big canteen, and tonight the two cousins and the second uncle fought at the farm site at night, and the sisters-in-law didn't bring the children over, and the family even saved this reunion dinner.

The second uncle came back, looked at the table of food and sighed, "The second uncle knows the intentions of the two of you, but ......"

Zhou Xiaoan put a steamed bun in the second uncle's bowl and interrupted him, "Second uncle, just this time, today's New Year, if you recognize the two of us, eat this meal......"

The second uncle and the second uncle finally couldn't resist the two children, so they sat down to eat. But they were reluctant to eat it open, the second uncle broke off half of a steamed bun and put it on the plate, and broke half of it to the second uncle, and the two of them only ate a small piece and refused to eat it again.

Zhou Xiaoan divided the braised pork, divided each of them into three large pieces, and saw that the second uncle and the second uncle were not willing to eat a mouthful, nor did they say anything, and bowed their heads to eat.

Only the wife was very happy, smiling and eating her soft noodles, "An An, the wife enjoys your blessings!" "The wife has lost several front teeth, and her speech is still slow, but there is a kind of stable kindness.

Zhou Xiaoan secretly put the fat in his bowl into the wife's bowl, "Wife, I'll bring you delicious food in the future!" "The wife has bad teeth, fat meat is easy to eat, everyone is short of oil and water in the stomach, and fat meat is recognized as good meat.

The mother-in-law's ears were not good, and she only repeated what she wanted to say, "The grandmother has enjoyed your blessings!" ”

After eating, the second uncle had to go to the farmland site to supervise the work, Zhou Xiaoquan also went to see the excitement, the second uncle went to his son's house to see, and only the grandmother and Zhou Xiao'an who had been smiling were left in the house.

The wife sat on the hot kang and pressed Zhou Xiaoan to her lap and lay down, "The wife will touch you with lice!" ”

My wife's eyes have long been bad, and if the children in the family have lice on their heads, she will stick her fingers in her hair and touch them little by little, and sometimes she can really touch them.

Lying on the hot kang head like this, someone massages the scalp, the children like it very much, and let the wife touch it if there are lice.

The mother-in-law's finger joints are thick and prominent, and she can't straighten them anymore, but she has done farm work all her life, and her hands are very strong, and Zhou Xiao'an slowly relaxes when she presses it all at once.

"Grandma, I miss my parents, as well as grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, cousins, sisters, and cousins, ......." Zhou Xiaoan said softly, knowing that his wife couldn't hear it, but he was actually talking to himself.

The woman's fingers groped slowly between her hair, and a kind smile remained on her face.

"Mother, I will be twenty years old tomorrow......" Zhou Xiaoan was even more aggrieved.

It has been less than ten days since she wore it, and it has been less than a month since her seventeenth birthday before she wore it, and Zhou Xiaoan will be twenty years old at once......

She was seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and gone......

Zhou Xiaoan cried, "I'm three years old...... The prettiest three years, no ......"

The wife still smiled, "Old, everyone has to be old, don't be afraid!" ”

Zhou Xiaoan flattened his mouth and whispered aggrieved, "It's about to become a second marriage, and I haven't even talked about ...... love"

Woman: "Yes, you have to get married, you have to have a companion!" ”

Zhou Xiaoan: "It's still so ugly......"

Wife: "An An is beautiful!" ”

Zhou Xiaoan burst into tears and laughed, "Well, I will definitely look good in the future!" ”

……

In the evening of the next day, the second uncle brought back a mother and daughter to stay at home, to do the funeral for the old Liu Tou, who starved to death yesterday.

Her mother's name is Liu Xiaoman, who is the niece of Lao Liu Tou, who married in Xinluan County, more than 100 miles away from Liushugou, in her early years, and lived a good life. There is only one relative left in his hometown now, Lao Liu, who has basically not come back for so many years.

The daughter's name is Zhao Fang, wearing a new corcasse cotton jacket, following behind her mother without saying a word, looking not restrained, but unhappy.

The mother and daughter came to spend the night, bought a coffin today, asked the people in the team to help bury Lao Liu's head, and left early tomorrow morning.

The second uncle and mother-in-law obtained the consent of the sisters and brothers, and arranged the mother and daughter to the West House where Zhou Xiao'an and the others lived, and asked Zhou Xiaoquan to come over and stay on the grandmother's kang for one night.

The mother and daughter had eaten in the big cafeteria, and when they entered the house, Zhao Fang was still complaining, "...... After so many years of not moving, you still have to come! Gangzi was not happy when I left, and I didn't know what to do when I went back......"

When he entered the house and saw the sister and brother sitting on the kang, Zhao Fang shut up.

Zhou Xiaoquan hurriedly laid out the quilt for his sister and went to the east house with his quilt.

The second uncle's house did not have an extra quilt for the mother and daughter to cover, so they forcibly squeezed out a mattress and let them cover it for one night.

Zhao Fang looked at Zhou Xiao'an's new army quilt with two eyes, "Girl, your family is a military family, right?" ”

Zhou Xiaoan nodded, and did not mean to talk to her deeply.

Zhao Fang said a lot, "Your military family is good!" Any military supplies can be wiped out! My wife just wanted a military coat, and I couldn't get it after looking for two winters! I heard that there are sales in Shanghai, but you have to ask for cloth tickets and cotton tickets, but we can't buy tickets even if we have all the tickets, people want local tickets in Shanghai! ”

The mother and daughter sighed and lay down, but Zhou Xiaoan's eyes rolled, "Sister Zhao Fang, I have a military coat, do you want it?" ”