"Mom, when am I going to school?" Hong Yan asked, pulling the bellows.

The oil lamp in the kitchen was dim, Li Yun stood by the stove and stared at the pot, as if she didn't hear her son's question: "What did you say?" Go to school, what to go to? ”

"Go to school, Hong Xiaofang asked me why I didn't go to school today?"

"Oh, you said that the preschool is open, it is open in the silkworm room, this is the first time it has been opened, and it was only opened last month. Don't you remember? Li Yun suddenly thought of something terrible, and hurriedly touched his son's head: "The head is not injured, is it?" Got water in your brain that day? ”

Hong Yan has a black line, and his mother will also use "brain water" to scold people?

"Not really, I don't think I remember going to school!"

"Hah, don't get anything! More than 20 days, you have been there for a few days. Then you caught a cold and didn't go, and your classmates called you 'truant dog', and you cried and stopped going! Do you want to go again? ”

Truant dogs? Skinny children who have just recovered from a small illness walk on the ridges of rice fields, eagerly looking forward to going to school early to learn with their friends. However, the shouts of more than a dozen children on the side of the silkworm house on the side of the dam made him panic, cry and go home, never going to preschool again.

It is said that Hong Yan's fragile mind should hate going to school after this blow, but it backfired, and later he became the first official college student after the liberation of the village.

"It doesn't matter if you don't go to this preschool. You and Dad are busy, so I'd better take care of my younger siblings at home first! "Hong Xiaofang is not from a professional class, and it is temporary, what can be taught and learned in the preschool.

"1,2,3......" Xiaoshaba heard the sound of the uncle and the second son counting. It was a great achievement to be able to count to 100 before the official start of school. However, after the uncle counted to 50, there was always a problem at the turning point. The second son counted to twenty and quit. Xiao San and Xiao Ya were more excited to play in the afternoon, and fell asleep on the way back with their backs.

At night, Hong Yan entered the fairy garden and found that some of the seeds sown in the morning had germinated, much faster than the outside world. After calming down, just like last night, I meditated and practiced Xuanyuan health tips.

There were more onlookers, and the parents and aunts, sisters-in-law, grandmothers and even uncles were also lifted up. The uncle rubbed his eyes and sat on the threshold with an unhappy expression, and then saw Hong Yan before he came to his senses and became excited. Strangely enough, no one asked him where he had learned it, and those who should have gone to work in the morning went out.

After punching, Hong Yan began to clean up and make breakfast. Last night, he carried his little sister home and showed his strength to his mother. His mother was relieved to leave the cooking to him. Dog days, cooking is really not a good job. Breakfast is porridge, with a few grains of rice, plus green beans or waxy corn kernels.

The remaining fish in the tank, after being washed by disembowelment, was boiled into a white soup on a slow fire, and he gave each of his two younger brothers and younger sister a bowl of soup to cool. Then start boiling the porridge in a large pot and scoop it into the pot behind the stove. Pig food is cooked in the cauldron, and the tail fire of the stove enters the flue through the Ding pot. After the fire was extinguished, Hong Yan picked out the thorns of the largest fish in the small basin, and divided the meat into three small bowls. By this time, it was almost 8 o'clock. Wake up the three children, dress, go to the toilet, wash their faces, and drink fish soup.

"Drink well, brother, I still want it!" The second son and the third son opened their mouths to ask for it. My sister is a girl in the end, and her appetite is naturally smaller, so she didn't ask for it again. Hong Yan coaxed and said that there was not much soup left for his parents to eat, and there were too many fish spines, so he finally promised to burn the yellow eel at noon and didn't ask for it again. Of course, when the parents came back, they didn't eat it at home, they brought it over and shared it with their grandparents. According to them: "What can you count if you eat with your mouth and eat with more chopsticks and less chopsticks." "Usually, when they go to work, don't the children have to be taken care of by the ancestors, aunts, and sisters-in-law?

Hong Jianguo and Li Yun and his wife were very happy when they ate the food made by their son. sighed that when his son grew up, he could share his family's worries and save many things. "The poor man's child is in charge of the house early", but it is a bitter son.

In fact, Hong Yan asked to be at home, and he also had plans to avoid going to preschool, and at the same time, he could take care of his younger brothers and sisters at home, and he could also take care of the fairy garden in time. When you get up early, the earliest sprouted greens and rape have already grown two cotyledons. That's the equivalent of four days in the outside world.

Doing games, telling stories, and soon it was noon. Hong Yan sharpened his knife, found a discarded thin wooden board more than two feet long, and nailed a long nail. This is to kill the yellow eel. Take it out and put it in a basin, it's slippery and hard to catch. Killing yellow eels is more bloody and cruel. After breaking the child to the ancestor, he first grabbed the largest yellow eel, threw it on the ground and knocked it out with a wooden stick, pinched his head and stomach with his left hand and stuck his head in a nail, and the knife slashed his stomach to easily clean out the internal organs. It is said that the blood of the eel is yang, and it has a miraculous effect when eaten by men. The wild yellow eel in the natural environment weighed seven or eight taels, but the blood did not come out, which he felt a pity. After getting started, it's fast, kill the six eels, add salt, remove the stained liquid, clean them, and cut them into small pieces.

The eel blood, internal organs, and head are poured into the bucket. A few loaches are too few to get, so just chop them and feed them to the pigs.

At least two catties of eel, cut into small pieces looks a lot, and after adding seasoning and braising it, the fragrance is overflowing. From the beginning of the pot, Sanxiao circled around the pot table, anxiously waiting to eat. The ancestor patiently coaxed, and sent them out from time to time to find this and get that.

"Yellow eels can still be eaten like this, and they have lived for decades!" Old Ancestor sighed.

It's not that they didn't think of it, it's that the conditions don't allow it. For example, it is necessary to use oil, watercress and various seasonings to remove the fishiness and so on. They also have a lot of preconceived notions, and eating yellow eels has to be divided into seasons.

"Zuzu, yellow eel is a good thing, with high nutritional value and good medicinal effect, it can replenish blood, qi, anti-inflammatory, disinfectant, and remove rheumatism. Zuzu, you can eat more later, it will be good for your body. "Hong Yan picks some ancestors who can understand and speak, like DHA and lecithin, it's better not to talk about them.

"Okay, good, grandson, my ancestor has lived a lot of age, it's true that you have to grow your body and eat more." Old Ancestor bowed his back and said slowly. With a cheerful smile, kind and calm.

Hong Yan was very moved in his heart. Lao Zu is an old man who spans two centuries, and it can be said that he has devoted all his efforts to the survival and life of this family. He took out a small bowl separately and picked out a large piece for the ancestor to taste. The meat of the eel is tender and crispy. The toothless ancestor pursed his lips, separated the flesh and bones, and said after spitting out the fish bones: "It's really delicious, there is no fishy smell!" The meat is also rotten. Then he looked at the stunned and anxious Sanxiao and said, "Don't be busy, cool first, Zuzu can't finish eating." ”

In fact, according to local customs, new food is often sacrificed to the ancestors of heaven and earth, and if the elders are there, they should be invited to taste it first. Therefore, the ancestor did not refuse the kindness of his great-grandson. The other eel segments are divided into two parts, and there are fewer for the grandfather's family. Alas, after all, it is still divided. There is no doubt that at the lunchtime, braised eel became the focus. The second uncle said: "Take advantage of the time to catch more, and ask the eldest nephew to help burn it!" ”

There are joys and worries. Li Yun opened the oil tank and looked at it: "Can you still eat it until the end of the year?" "My son cooks well, and comes back from work to eat ready-made. However, the throwing was too harsh. It's one thing to eat, but what about what to wear? It's easy to talk about in summer, but what about winter? The two little pigs that hope to be slaughtered at the end of the year will not see the long meat just by eating, and they are veritable screw pigs. The two hens hugged the nest again, and the salt money was not settled. A few days ago, the eggs that his mother gave Hong Yan to replenish his body were not willing to boil. Do you want to sell what you have to eat? The more you think about it, the farther you go, and stop it.

Li Yun was full of sorrow. Hong Yan didn't know. From worrying about food and clothing to the era of poverty and whiteness, he has saved enough and is working hard to improve the family's situation. It's just that the effect is not obvious.

After lunch, Hong Yan noticed the things that his father had changed in the basket. Not only wheat, but also a stack of books. Naturally, these books are torn apart, and two or three pages are covered with batter. He flipped through it a little carelessly, and the newer ones were the primary and junior high school textbooks he had used in recent years, as well as the two novels "Red Rock" and "How Steel is Made". "Red Rock"? It is said that it is the basis of his name! Then I flipped through those elementary school textbooks very casually, revisiting the familiar texts, and a smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of my mouth.

"Hong Yan, what are you turning over? This is something that can't be taken in the production team! Hong Jianguo watched his son flip through the book, and took it for granted that he was going to take the book and fold the paper ingots.

"It's not a treasure, what's the use of asking for it! However, these two books can be kept at home first. Hong Yan pointed to two novels and said to his father.

"Who will see it in the house? I don't have time! Hey, what are these two books? Hong Jianguo suddenly woke up and was going to test his son.

Hong Yan pursed his lips and opened his mouth to come: "Isn't it how red rock and steel are made?" I already knew. ”

"Then you read this." Hong Jianguo flipped out a copy casually, opened it and turned another page and said.

"It's cooler in the fall. Yellow leaves fall from the trees. A flock of geese flew south, one moment lined up in a single word, and the other in a row. Yes! Autumn is coming. Hong Yan didn't even say "uh-huh", and read it fluently. In my heart, I thought about the "S" for a while, and a "B" for a while.

Hong Jianguo didn't believe it, and turned out another book: "This ...... That's it, you read it! ”

"Five heroes of Langya Mountain? It's a long text. Hong Yanxin said, the words are dense, and there are a few rare phonetics. Looking at the cover, the ninth volume of the language, no wonder. Raising his eyes and scanning his father, he noticed that he was smiling slyly. "In the autumn of 1941, the Japanese invaders concentrated their forces and attacked the Langya Mountains in our Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area...... The five strong men condescended and continued to shoot at the enemy......"

"Stop!" Hong Jianguo finally issued a termination order. Hong Yan breathed a long sigh of relief, reading was very simple, and he didn't know what his father should ask next, so he had to keep silent.

"When did you meet?"

"I learned from my uncle at my grandmother's house, and I followed him when he endorsed it, and then I took out all his books and read them, and I knew the number. When I came back, my aunt and sister-in-law read and listened to me. Hong Yan said nonsense. You can't say that you are born again!

My uncle was in the second year of junior high school in September, because the eldest child had this honor, and even the youngest aunt never went to school in the end. It is said that his grandfather was a "showman" during the Republic of China, who knew that the highest education in his son's generation was junior high school? My aunt graduated from elementary school, and my sister-in-law just finished elementary school, so it was no surprise that she stopped in elementary school. It is already a special importance that mountain villages can allow children to finish elementary school. Many more children may not be in school.

Hong Jianguo finally touched his son's big head and walked away with a hundred catties of "light and fluttering" burden.