It was already late, and the Zhou family's dinner still hadn't arrived. But Mrs. Zhou went into the house to coax Zhou Hongying after boiling the noodle soup, and she didn't care if the people who worked came back to eat or not.

Mrs. Zhou has now handed over all the housework at home to her three daughters-in-law, and no matter how busy she is with farm work, she will not cook a meal.

Zhou Yang and Zhou Chen both took a leave of absence in the afternoon, and they had to go to the night battle to make up for their work later. Fortunately, they were all full, and Wang Fengying, Zhou Fu, Zhou Jun and Zhou Chunlai, who came back later, did not have such a good life.

Today, it was Shen Yufen's turn to cook, and her stomach could no longer bend down, so she could only support her back with one hand and slowly squat down to be able to stir the paste in the pot.

Zhou Chun couldn't stand it, so he was going to help her after holding the firewood.

"Fourth! You come in! "Old Mrs. Zhou seems to have clairvoyant eyes, and she can find time to call Zhou Chunlai, who wants to help Shen Yufen, away.

Zhou Chunlai looked at Shen Yufen in embarrassment, and left in the voice of Mrs. Zhou's higher than one call.

Shen Yufen's hand holding the spoon became tighter and tighter, but there was no expression on her face.

Early the next morning, Zhou Yang and Zhou Chen quarreled over who would sell pheasants. If you go to sell pheasants, you must take a morning off, and at this time, the old captain is not allowed to ask for leave. If you really need to take a few hours or half a day off for something urgent, you have to make up for it quickly. Therefore, people who go to the township today not only have to travel all the way, but also have to work an all-night holiday at night.

Zhou Chen couldn't resist Zhou Yang in the end, so he could only obediently go to work in the production team. Today is Wednesday, and Gao Jianjun can pass by Yangshugou Township at about ten o'clock, so it will be too late for Zhou Yang to go to the township at eight o'clock.

It is rare for Zhou Yang not to have to go to work early, and he can have time to accompany his sister to get up, dress her, and feed her (Zhou Wanwan has said many times that she can be self-reliant, but she was ignored by her two brothers), and she felt very happy for a while, and she packed up and wanted to take her out for a spin with great interest, "You ride on the neck of the eldest brother, and the eldest brother will be a big horse for you!" ”

Zhou Wanwan has always had a strong interest in going out with her two brothers, but not today. Zhou Yang had to run twenty miles to the township in the morning, and when he came back, he had to do an all-night job, how could Zhou Wanwan bear to let her eldest brother be so tired and take her out to play.

"Big brother sleeps with me, and the bed is warm." Zhou Wanwan wanted to coax Zhou Yang to sleep for a while.

"Okay, let's lie down in the quilt, the quilt is warm!" Zhou Yang has always been a twenty-four filial brother, and his sister said that he wanted to lie in the quilt, but he didn't care that he had just folded the quilt and stacked it, spread the mattress again, took out the quilt, and didn't cut corners at all to get a quilt for his sister.

The brother and sister were lying under the covers, and even though it was only the two of them in the Westinghouse, they still grinned and bit their ears. After talking for a while, Zhou Wanwan gradually became a little sleepy in the warm arms of her eldest brother, she yawned a little, telling herself that she couldn't sleep, her eldest brother hadn't slept yet, and she would use him as an alarm clock to wake him up later.

Zhou Yang didn't care what Zhou Wanwan thought, when he saw that his sister was sleepy, he began to come up with a full set of programs to coax her to sleep. First smooth her little curly hair very slowly and gently, then gently stroke her little ears to see her slowly close her eyes, and gently pat her back. After more than a dozen shots, Zhou Wanwan fell asleep......

When Zhou Wanwan woke up, Zhou Yang was already gone, and there was a cooked sweet potato next to the pillow, one of which was peeled by Zhou Yang, pinched into the shape of a rabbit, and carefully made eyes with two red beans.

Zhou Wanwan smirked at the stupid rabbit's head for a long time, and finally was reluctant to eat it, so she took it to the space and stored it.

That night, Zhou Yang excitedly took out a handful of coins and gave them to Zhou Wanwan, "I specially exchanged them with Gao Jianjun and counted them for fun." ”

Zhou Wanwan looked at the pile of coins in two copies, a black line in her head, and took money to play with children as toys, her eldest brother This is the routine of raising children in ancient times......

Fortunately, he is a little old, and he is still a little determined, if he is really a child, he must be spoiled by his two elder brothers......

This time the seven pheasants were sold for twenty-one and two cents, and their little coffers had two more big solidarities!

Zhou Chen didn't give in, took the initiative to put away the two banknotes, and hid them in his small vault where no one knew where.

Entering November, it is the beginning of winter in a few days, "the beginning of winter to make up for winter, to fill the mouth empty", since ancient times there is the custom of eating a good meal in the beginning of winter, most of the northern regions have to eat a dumpling on this day, but this year the vast majority of people in Sanjiatun can not afford to eat this dumpling. The production team's grain has not yet been distributed, so no one dares to eat a dry meal easily by relying on that bit of wheat. It's not the New Year, what dumplings do you eat?

According to the conditions of the Zhou family, they can actually afford to eat a meal of vegetarian dumplings, and this year the Zhou family has divided more than 500 catties of wheat. But after taking away the grain for Zhou Hongxiang twice, the Zhou family's wheat began to be stretched thin and did not dare to take it out easily. Therefore, before the production team did not distribute the new grain, the staple food of the Zhou family was still mushy, and occasionally putting a few pieces of sweet potatoes and potatoes in it was considered to improve the diet.

After a few heavy snowfalls, the earth became white, and all the grain was returned to the warehouse, and the grain could be distributed after the public grain was delivered.

The range of activities on Sunday evenings is also limited to the house, and only at noon when the sun is particularly good and there is no wind, will they be wrapped into small cotton balls and taken out to let the wind out.

Due to the limitations of the environment, their food sources are much less, and they can't eat vegetables and fruits, but under Zhou Chen's careful planning, eggs can still be guaranteed to give Zhou Wanwan one a day, and even one for each of the brothers every two days.

Zhou Chen calculated it by day, they now have more than 200 eggs, and there are less than 120 days before the time for the stinging hens to lay a large number of eggs in March next year, and these eggs are enough for the sister to eat one a day, and then occasionally give the brothers a tooth sacrifice.

The reason why Zhou Chen is so confident that he will be able to pick up eggs next spring is because in the autumn, they caught those pheasants, and they expected that these chickens would never come again, but when they went to that grass nest a few days later, there were still a bunch of eggs, and some time before the snow fell, they picked up several nests of eggs from that grass nest.

In everyone's ardent anticipation, the public grain was finally delivered, and the production team began to distribute the grain.

This year's grain distribution, Zhou Hongxiang did not come back. Her work of pulling bricks at the construction site is open all year round, and if she dares to delay for a day, she may be replaced by others, so she can only bring Xin'er back and ask the Zhou family to help her fight for food.

The seventh production team of the Erdaokan Brigade is a bumper harvest year this year, and if you pay enough to the country and keep enough for the collective, the remaining members of the team can also get a lot.

The old captain wore his old sheepskin padded jacket, stood in the large courtyard of the production team with a happy face, and announced with a wave of his big hand, "Title! Weigh the grain! ”

Sixty catties of sorghum per person, 100 catties of corn cobs per person, 50 catties of millet per person, 30 catties of rhubarb rice per person, and three catties of beans of various colors. Of course, sweet potatoes and potatoes can't be eaten as real food, but they are also things that can occupy the stomach, that is, less than 50 catties of corn kernels rubbed off by a hundred catties of corn cobs, but most people still eat them directly with the cobs.

After distributing the food, the whole team was overjoyed, and a few old people sighed with satisfaction, next spring and summer with some wild vegetables and garden vegetables, they won't be hungry for a year!

The team has less labor, the children earn more work, the people who do not earn enough to deduct the food payment and the frail, sick and incapable of working people have also received enough food, the old captain said, not enough to owe it first, the children will always grow up one day, and let them pay it back when the time comes.

Of course, the old captain is not so gentle to everyone. One landlord, two rich peasants, and one counter-revolutionary grain of the Seventh Production Brigade were all deducted by him, and the chairman of the Seventh Production Brigade all said, "We must not forget the class struggle." These people are all class enemies, and it would be good to give them food, and they still want to be full? How can there be enough to feed the enemy? Isn't that friend or foe?

* The chairman also said, "The class struggle must be talked about every year, every month, every day," and even more so on such a big matter as the distribution of grain.

Therefore, after the grain was distributed, a lively struggle meeting was held in the large courtyard of the production team, and the village landlords Liu Laofu, rich peasants Lin Dahe Lin Er, and counterrevolutionary Wu Baoxiang were driven to the front with big signs and high hats, and they were criticized and fought with their heads down.

First, the old captain shouted a slogan: "Don't forget the class suffering!" Remember the blood and tears! ”

"Down with the bully landlord!"

"Hit the counter-revolutionary bad elements!"

"Down with the landlord! Eradicate exploitation! ”

……

Then let the few people who were criticized explain their problems one by one.

The landlord Liu Laofu's family had ten acres of land before liberation, and it stands to reason that he should not be designated as a landlord, at most he is a rich peasant. However, there must be a landlord quota in the seventh team of more than 400 people in proportion to the population, so Liu Laofu, who has the most land in his family, was designated as a landlord.

Before liberation, he was thrifty and used to the extreme, and some people even said that his children were not allowed to wear pants before the age of five, just to save cloth.

asked Liu Laofu to explain the problem, he wouldn't say anything, just repeatedly chanted, "I'm guilty, I want to reform well." ”

The second jumper, Xu Erlaizi, jumped up with his feet, took off his pair of broken cotton shoes that had collapsed and exposed cotton, and slapped Liu Laofu's head twice with the soles of the shoes, "Let you exploit the poor middle peasants!" You landlord and old rich bully! ”

The two brothers, Lin Da and Lin Er, who were lined up behind Liu Laofu, were so frightened that their waists bent lower, and their heads almost touched their bent knees.

Lin Da and Lin Er were only in their twenties, and they were even younger when they were condemned as rich peasants. Their father, Lao Lin, had no land all his life, and he had pulled his feet for a lifetime, and all the money he saved was used to buy land for his son, so he wanted his two sons not to have to run outside in the cold and heat like him.

As soon as the land was bought, it was liberated, and then the old forest head was designated as a rich peasant, and six acres of land were confiscated. Lao Lin Tou left without coming up in one breath, leaving Lin Da and Lin Er to continue wearing his father's rich peasant hat.

As for the counter-revolutionary Wu Baoxiang, one of his sons was arrested by the Kuomintang army before liberation, and he has not been heard from since. Later, everyone was assigned a counter-revolutionary hat that no one wore it, and everyone remembered his son, "Lao Tzu reactionary bastard", then in turn, his son was a Kuomintang, and Lao Tzu must not be a good thing, so Wu Baoxiang's counter-revolutionary hat was put on.

After explaining the problem, several representatives of the poor and middle peasants came up again to explain the situation, and shouted a few more slogans with everyone, and a simple criticism meeting was over.

Mrs. Zhou did not show up to distribute the food today, and Zhou Hongying at home became more and more difficult to serve, she couldn't let go of her hands at all, so she could only repeatedly tell her sons that she must get food for Zhou Hongxiang. But in the whole process of distributing grain, no one in the Zhou family mentioned Zhou Hongxiang, and even Zhou Chunfa, who was pinned on by Mrs. Zhou's high hopes, didn't say a word for Zhou Hongxiang.

The Zhou family can see clearly that the old captain Han Lao's stubborn name is not called in vain, he made it very clear when he divided the wheat, if you don't work, there will be no food, and now the old captain will not agree to anything.

Everyone knows that Mrs. Zhou will make a fuss when she goes back, but this is better than losing face in the team. Especially Zhou Chunfa, who regarded the face of the brigade accountant as bigger than the sky, how could he hurt his face for such a fruitless thing.

Sure enough, when she returned to Zhou's house, Mrs. Zhou saw that there was no food from Zhou Hongxiang, so she made a fuss, and forced her sons to go to the team to ask for Zhou Hongxiang. But no matter how she tossed, everyone in the Zhou family was silent. Mrs. Zhou's troubles can only stop in the end, she still has a seriously ill old girl to take care of, and she really doesn't have so much energy.

Moreover, the most important thing is that Mrs. Zhou understands very clearly that this matter cannot be solved within the Zhou family, as soon as it is related to the outside world or people outside, Mrs. Zhou is afraid in her heart first, and she seems to be lacking in confidence, so she can only give up in the end.

Don't make a fuss, Mrs. Zhou immediately ordered a few sons in the family to hurry up and grind rice, grind the millet first, make some millet porridge for Zhou Hongying, and see if she can eat it.

Grind out the other grains again, and go to the county seat in the past two days, and the new grain will come down, so that Zhou Hongxiang and his family can also taste it.

Because of these grains to be sent to the county seat, the Zhou family is surging again. This year, if the Zhou family saves some food and adds some melons and vegetables, they can still ensure that they will not go hungry. But if Zhou Hongxiang is given again and again, even if Zhou's family eats half full every day, they can't guarantee that they will continue to eat.

In this era, eating is always the most concerned issue for people, and the food in their mouths has been snatched away again and again.

Originally, Wang Fengying had the most opinions, but now they have a request from Mrs. Zhou, and they can only hold back if they don't agree.

The first person who couldn't hold back was Zhou Chunlai.

When he saw that Mrs. Zhou was going to give Zhou Hongxiang a pocket full of millet, he reminded her in a low voice: "Mother, you have to leave some for Yufen to be confined, right?" People eat millet porridge during confinement. ”

"You conscience thing! Your daughter-in-law is left in your heart! There's no one else, right? Mrs. Zhou threw the scoop of food in her hand on Zhou Chunlai, "How much can she eat in confinement?" The whole family is going to stop living, they all have to hold on to her mouth, right? People didn't drink millet porridge during confinement, and they didn't see adults and children die in confinement! ”

"If the third sister-in-law hadn't lost her body in confinement, she wouldn't have been able to fall in the ditch and not be able to get up." Mrs. Zhou's sentence "Adults and children died in confinement" really cut Zhou Chunlai's heart, and Zhou Chunlai, who usually obeyed her, couldn't help but refute her.

"You're a thousand-cutter! What are you doing with a dead ghost! For the sake of your daughter-in-law, you are going to force your mother to death! ”

……

Mrs. Zhou cried all the time, and almost wanted to eat Zhou Chunlai, if she didn't treat Zhou Chunlai well today, then it would not be just Zhou Chun who would challenge her status in the Zhou family tomorrow.

Zhou Yang had the experience of the previous times, and when Mrs. Zhou started crying, he hugged his sister and pulled his younger brother out.

Now the three of them are not interested in the affairs of the Zhou family at all, they have created a clear barrier between the Zhou family and themselves, the three of them are a whole, and the relationship with the Zhou family is getting weaker and weaker.

Two days later, Zhou Chunxi and Zhou Chunliang went to the county seat with two bags of marijuana. In the sack were all kinds of new grains that had been milled, as well as potatoes, sweet potatoes and two old melons.

After Mrs. Zhou's trouble, the Zhou family was temporarily calm again. Zhou Wanwan watched coldly, feeling that this kind of calm might not be maintained as in his previous life until Old Man Zhou's death. (To be continued.) )