The 18th day of May in the lunar calendar in 1988 is a rare good day, and the yellow calendar reads "everything is suitable".

Mumian City Mugang Hospital has been officially open for several days, and the Changshou Road community where Yu Mingyue's family sells vegetables leans against a wall on the side of the hospital, and it has also been opened and changed into a gate, and the popularity there is now very strong.

Now the brothers Kong Xingming and Kong Xingjiang have already put the vegetable stall on the stall set up at the entrance of the hospital a few days ago, and Yu Tianzhou has long wanted to move his vegetable stall over, but Yu Tianzhou is more particular than the Kong family, so after looking at the yellow calendar for most of the day, the day of the relocation of the vegetable stall was set on May 18.

Early in the morning, it was not yet half past eight, and after Yu Tianzhou and Yu Zhiqing, who were going to the city to sell vegetables, had dinner, Yu Zhiqing asked Yu Mingyue with a smile: "Xiaoyue, today is a big day to move a stall, and the hospital is very lively now, why don't you follow us to have a look?" ”

Yu Mingyue, who was asked, only hesitated for a moment, but still shook her head firmly: "No, my mother is going to take my two younger brothers now, I will help my grandmother work at home, and I will go back in a few days." ”

Building a shed on the wasteland outside the hospital can be said to have been facilitated by Yu Mingyue, and now it is time to accept the results, of course she is very excited and wants to take a look, but seeing that more than half of May may make Kong Mingying dangerous at any time, Yu Mingyue does not want to leave Kong Mingying half a step even if she dies.

Moreover, it is now the middle of May, and the early-season vegetables in the field have just been put off the market, and the new season vegetables have been planted, and there are a lot of things to do every day. And one of the two-point plots of land was planted on the sixth day of the first month of May, and the grape seedlings raised in the yard after the year were planted, and they also had to be watered and tended in time.

With the corn planted in the mountains, it has now grown to more than two feet high, and the weeds in the field have also grown one after another.

Now Kong Xiaoyu has to bring two little milk dolls less than two months old, without Kong Xiaoyu, an important helper, even if Kong Mingfu often brings his children to help now, but Kong Mingfu's family has a lot of land, and not they can come to help every day, so Kong Mingying's daily burden is indeed very heavy.

After sending away the people who went into the city to sell vegetables, Kong Mingying carried the basket on her back, told Kong Xiaoyu a few words of housework, and took Yu Mingyue to the mountains.

The mother-in-law and grandson walked on the road, Yu Mingyue saw that Kong Mingying had been busy with black and thin in recent days, and she was also very distressed, after thinking about it, Yu Mingyue walked a few steps quickly and grabbed Kong Mingying's hand with wrinkles on the back of her hand and calloused palms.

"Grandma."

"Huh?" Kong Mingying smiled and looked down at Yu Mingyue beside her, seeing Yu Mingyue with a flattering smile, obviously having something to say, Kong Mingying thought for a while, then grinned and asked, "Do you want to play with your sister Xiaoyan?" ”

To Kong Mingying's surprise, Yu Mingyue shook her head: "No, grandma, our family has had a lot of things in the fields recently, although my grandfather and my father can help at home for half a day after selling vegetables every day, but they are really hard, they and you are busy losing weight." ”

Kong Mingying was stunned, smiled helplessly, raised his hand and touched Yu Mingyue's head, and sighed softly: "Alas~ How can you not be tired of doing farm work, it is now the busy season of farming, and when it comes to August and September, after harvesting rice and grain in the field, I am not so tired." ”

Yu Mingyue was very dissatisfied with such a reply, but it was also expected by Yu Mingyue, Yu Mingyue didn't want to play any more dumb riddles, so she looked at Kong Mingying's expression directly and carefully, and said: "Grandma, our family is now making some money selling vegetables, and now there are too many things in the fields, can we spend some money and find some people in the village to help us work?" ”

"Hire people? How can this be" Kong Mingying instinctively shook his head, and his voice was also raised, but then he suddenly closed his mouth, and after thinking about it, he suppressed his voice and said: "You kid, who doesn't have endless work now, you see who in our village spends money to hire someone to help with it, and now your grandfather's family and your Tangye family will also come to help our family from time to time, and the work at home is also quite busy, you say that the matter of hired workers is absolutely not good." ”

Really? In fact, although Kong Mingying, who said this, still had some doubts in her heart, she was a little tempted.

Born in the 30s, as the eldest granddaughter of Kong Lao's landlord, Kong Mingying is no stranger to hiring all kinds of long-term workers, short-term workers or buyout contract workers, and she also clearly knows the sweetness of spending limited hired workers to do heavy farm work. But now, after Kong Mingying has personally experienced all kinds of policies and movements to overthrow and severely punish the capitalist class, when he hears the word "hired man", he instinctively fears.

But then, thinking that since the reform and opening up, she personally felt that the government's policies were getting better day by day, and since she had the radio, she often heard from the radio who took the lead in setting up factories and became rich, and who opened what company or something, Kong Mingying also felt that this time is different from the past, maybe hiring some people to help with farm work in the fields is not a big deal, and the government should no longer control it.

Yu Mingyue didn't know Kong Mingying's mind yet, but when she heard Kong Mingying refuse and mentioned Yu Zhigao, who made her hate, Yu Mingyue immediately exploded.

"I don't like that Yu Zhigao to come to our house, even my grandfather said that he was uneasy and kind." Since Yu Zhigao came to the door for the first time, he began to come to Yu Mingyue's house several times under the guise of coming to Yu Mingyue's house under the guise of being an au pair and helping, and hated Yu Mingyue so much.

What's even more annoying is that whether it is in the field or at the dinner table, Yu Zhigao has to cry poverty to Yu Tianzhou's family, and he wants Yu Tianzhou to agree to him to take a ride into the city to sell vegetables, which makes Yu Tianzhou also annoying.

Yu Mingyue's call, although Kong Mingying also felt the same way, but still taught: "Children, you can't be so rude, adults have their own worries, you are a junior, you can't say such a thing, and when you meet in the future, you can't call someone or call him by name, you have to call him Tangye, you can write it down for me, if you still talk nonsense like this next time, I won't beat you, and your grandfather will have to beat you too." ”

Although Yu Mingyue was not convinced, she also knew that Kong Mingying was for her good, and at this time she didn't want to be entangled in the enemy's affairs, after nodding and agreeing to Kong Mingying, she began to keep persuading beside her, talking about the benefits of hiring people to work.

"Grandma, think about it, today my grandfather and they moved the vegetable stall outside the hospital, and you have also heard that there are a lot of people in the hospital, and there are many people who see and visit the hospital from morning to night every day, and the stall business over there will definitely be very good. At that time, my grandfather said that they had to sell vegetables at the stall for a day every day.

Also, our family is over there, but we have built a large circle of stalls, and the sale of vegetables occupies up to two stalls, so the other stalls can't be empty, so we have to think about selling something else, a shop for food, or daily necessities or something, in short, we must be able to make a lot of money. By the way, grandma, do you remember, yesterday my uncle told my grandfather that now he is setting up a stall in front of the hospital to sell vegetables, not to mention that the vegetables are easy to sell, chickens and eggs are also easy to sell, and rabbits are also very good. According to my thoughts, our family will directly leave a shop over there in the future, and sell all kinds of poultry and eggs directly.

This has one more shop to see, and there is one more manpower, I see grandma, you go to see this shop is suitable, originally there is a lot of sheds, when the building of my grandfather also deliberately built a house at the west end, then our family can keep people to live over there for a long time, and then the family is not more"

"Alright, alright." Kong Mingying hurriedly interrupted Yu Mingyue's unfinished words, rubbed the top of Yu Mingyue's head with a smile, and scolded with a smile: "You kid, this truth is still endless, this matter of hiring people has to wait for your grandfather and them to come back, discuss with them and see their opinions, our mother-in-law and grandson can't settle down such a big matter with one or two sentences at this time." ”

If Kong Mingying was just a little moved before, now after being nagged by Yu Mingyue about the necessary reasons for so many employees, Kong Mingying is already completely moved, just thinking that when Yu Tianzhou's father and son come back in the afternoon, the family will discuss it carefully, even if Yu Tianzhou or Yu Zhiqing disagree, she will try to persuade them until they agree.

To be honest, since her family started to go into the city to sell vegetables, Kong Mingying has never been in the city once, for the prosperous scenes in the city that she heard from her family, Kong Mingying couldn't think of what it would look like many times, and she really wanted to go into the city to see it in person, but she couldn't get out of it.

Also, the three old sisters in the government compound had already asked her to go shopping in the city and the park together, but she still didn't come down because of the housework and farm work at home.

If she really hired someone to work, even if she didn't go to the shop outside the city hospital to guard what shop and sell poultry eggs, she could go into the city mayor and three old sisters to chat, go shopping and visit the park or something, she should be able to make the trip, after all, now her family has a car into the city every day, and it is convenient for her to follow the car into the city.

Kong Mingying's reply now reassures Yu Mingyue, after all, she has been with Kong Mingying for so many years, and Yu Mingyue can also see at this time that her grandmother agreed to her mention today, so her family's hiring people to work can be regarded as a sure implementation.

Yu Mingyue was very happy, and when she followed Kong Mingying to the cornfield, she felt much more energetic than usual when she pulled the weeds. Although the days were very hot and the days were very hot, the mother-in-law and grandson did not return home from work in the fields until after two o'clock in the afternoon.

When the mother-in-law and grandson returned home, Kong Xiaoyu had already cooked lunch, and women in the city would definitely be unable to do anything if they had two children, but it was different in the countryside, and some women carried their two- and three-month-old children to work in the fields.

After the two boys were born, Yu Zhiqing, who knew how to make carpenter's skills, hurried to make a crib in Yu Mingyue's mouth overnight, and now in the past few nights, he is making a baby stroller for twins that he heard from Yu Mingyue's mouth.

Now that the twins are less than two months old, they haven't erected their heads yet, so the stroller is naturally not needed, but the crib has made Kong Xiaoyu a lot easier. The small crib is also equipped with small wooden wheels, and when Kong Xiaoyu cooks in the stove or washes clothes in the yard, he will put the crib next to it, and then put a pair of little twins in the crib.

When the two little guys are still drowsy now, they will sleep soundly in the crib most of the time, and sometimes when they wake up, they will stare at their big black eyes, look around and play, and occasionally hum twice, as long as Kong Xiaoyu makes a sound or pats and coaxes, he will be obedient, as if he is sensible, very noisy.

Kong Xiaoyu, who was doing housework at home today, also brought the two little babies to the stove room to cook, so when Yu Mingyue and Kong Mingying came back, Kong Xiaoyu also cooked.

The meal is good, but the three of them didn't eat, Yu Tianzhou and his son went to the city to sell vegetables, and basically came back on time at about three o'clock, now under normal circumstances, they will wait for a certain number of people to arrive before they start eating, after eating, except for Kong Xiaoyu, everyone else will go to the field to do farm work together.

Before Yu Tianzhou's father and son came back, Kong Mingying ventilated Kong Xiaoyu about wanting to hire someone to work, although Kong Xiaoyu was born late and did not experience the scenery of her grandfather when he was a big landlord, but Kong Xiaoyu's brain is flexible, and after hearing it, he also completely agreed with the matter of hiring workers.

Kong Xiaoyu would agree, as early as Yu Mingyue expected, because before this, she had also vaguely mentioned this in front of Kong Xiaoyu, and now with the clear attitude of Kong Xiaoyu and Kong Mingying, Yu Mingyue's mood is even better.

Sure enough, when Yu Tianzhou and Yu Zhiqing returned home, when the family was sitting at the dinner table for lunch, Kong Mingying brought up the matter of hiring workers, and Kong Xiaoyu was also helping by the side, Yu Tianzhou and Yu Zhiqing, father and son, basically did not object, so they agreed.

To tell the truth, the two men go into the city every day to sell vegetables, and when they see the women in the family returning to the burden, they are also distressed, but they have never thought of a suitable countermeasure, and now when they hear that the two women in the family have thought of a way by themselves, how can they oppose it.

The people of the Kong family are basically actioners, and Kong Mingying is no exception. After the family agreed on a hired worker, she put down her job and went to the village to inquire.

In fact, although it is the busy farming season, it is not true that every family has endless work, after all, some people have a lot of labor, some people have no plan, they can't make any money from farming, lazy diseases, or various unavoidable reasons, anyway, such people, there are a lot of fields, but the majority of them are wasted.

Yu Mingyue followed Kong Mingying to the village for a while to inquire, and really let their mother-in-law and grandson find three suitable candidates.

One family, the same production team of Wang Changzheng's family, the Wang family of three generations of six, the older generation of the old two are in their sixties, the younger generation is Wang Changzheng and his wife, the husband and wife are less than forty, and there is a daughter in the second year of junior high school at home, and a son in the sixth grade of primary school. The Wang family has almost as much land as Yu Mingyue's family, but it is counted as four full-time laborers, and because they have to provide for two children to study, the Wang family's lack of money is well known.

Living in the same village for decades, Kong Mingying knew that Wang Changzheng and his father and mother were both diligent and honest people, and also knew that Wang Changzheng's family was short of money, so at the first stop, Kong Mingying took Yu Mingyue to Wang Changzheng's house.

Later, I heard Kong Mingying say that the daily salary was 6 yuan, but after not including meals, he was even more excited and promised that he would be on call, no matter what kind of work he did to carry dung, and he also promised to do a good job.

Subsequently, Kong Mingying took Yu Mingyue to Liu Xuegao's house in the second production team, although this Liu Xuegao's name sounds like a very smart and clever person, it is not.

Twenty-seven-year-old Liu Xuegao is a single-family member of the second production team of Caiyun Village, and he is also a well-known fool (stupid) in Caiyun Village. Since Liu Xuegao's only father died four years ago, no one has arranged for him to do any work in the field every day, and no one has figured out a set of actually very simple farming arrangements for him.

Although Liu Xuegao is so unbearable, Kong Mingying still values Liu Xuegao's strength. Kong Mingying knows very well that when Liu Xuegao's father was here four years ago, his family's fields were still planted well, Liu Xuegao's father was not in good health and couldn't do much farm work, but as long as he told Liu Xuegao what he should do every day, Liu Xuegao, who was more than 175 tall and young and strong, could do his job according to his father's requirements every time and did a good job.

found two households, at least two laborers, Kong Mingying felt that it was almost the same, but Yu Mingyue was next to her, looking for a third household, and this third household was mentioned by Yu Mingyue, that is, Pu Xiaoqiang's family in Caiyun Village.

It is an exaggeration to say that Pu Xiaoqiang is a laborer, because this Pu Xiaoqiang is only 13 years old now, and he is still a kid who doesn't like to talk and has some autistic tendencies. So when she first heard Yu Mingyue mention Pu Xiaoqiang of the Huiwan Society, Kong Mingying was a little surprised, but she didn't quite agree.

"That foolish boy with no father and no mother, he can't even support himself when he's hungry, what can he do when he is hired to come to our house?" The more Kong Mingying thought about it, the more dissatisfied she became, and her brows furrowed.

Yu Mingyue disagreed, and only said: "We hired two families just now, and the work in the fields is not close to manpower, grandma, you hire him to come to the house to help me pull rabbit grass, or cut pig vegetables or something, and let him help our family carry some firewood back to the mountains on weekdays." ”

Pu Xiaoqiang's life experience is also miserable, his father died at the age of five, and his half-crazy mother died when he was eight years old, and since then he has become a small lonely, because he has no relatives and friends who are too close, so in the early years, he grew up eating a meal from the east and eating a meal at the west family, and now although he looks at Han Han and doesn't like to talk, he will follow the old man who goes up the mountain to herd cattle, and goes to the mountain to cut the pine oil core used for the fire (after the pine tree dies, part of the pine oil in the heart and branches of the tree is full, which is used to light the fire), and sells it in the market for money to exchange for rice and grain home, But every day is full and hungry.

A while ago, when Yu Mingyue was picking wild vegetables on the mountain, she also met Pu Xiaoqiang who was cutting pine oil cores on the mountain twice, and then she remembered that in her previous life, there was indeed a person in Caiyun Village whose life experience was about to catch up with her. At that time, after Pu Xiaoqiang cut down the pine oil core, he didn't care about the large bracken forest growing at his feet, and he was about to leave.

Yu Mingyue had seen Pu Xiaoqiang sell pine oil cores in the market in his previous life, but that day he was curious about the fact that he only cut the heavy and only 5 cents a pound of pine oil cores to sell, but did not pick 1 jiao 5 pounds of bracken table to sell, seeing Pu Xiaoqiang's humble appearance, Yu Mingyue suddenly sympathized, and asked him: Why don't you pick bracken table to sell it, bracken table is sold for 1 corner 5.

Originally, Yu Mingyue thought that Pu Xiaoqiang didn't understand the market, so she reminded her eventfully, but she didn't think that Pu Xiaoqiang didn't answer her, and after glancing at her, she walked quickly with the basket on her back, but after walking four or five meters away, she slowly stopped and stood there, and didn't turn around after a while, so she heard him buzz and say, "I haven't sold it." With that, he walked away again.

The voice was so small that if it weren't for the tip of Yu Mingyue's ears, otherwise she might not be able to hear it.

After that day, Yu Mingyue also forgot about it, and went up the mountain several times later, and once met Pu Xiaoqiang, who saw that Pu Xiaoqiang was carrying a small half basket of pine oil cores and a plastic bag in his hand, and there was also a bag of miscellaneous wild vegetables.

When Yu Mingyue saw Pu Xiaoqiang, Pu Xiaoqiang also saw Yu Mingyue, originally Yu Mingyue thought that according to the rumors, Pu Xiaoqiang didn't like to deal with people's temperament, and he wouldn't talk to her this time.

Yu Mingyue is not a nosy person, so after seeing Pu Xiaoqiang, she didn't plan to go forward to greet the two of them as if they were familiar, but walked directly along the mountain road, but she didn't think about it, Yu Mingyue only walked a few steps, and heard a small voice behind her saying, "Thank you." ”

Yu Mingyue originally thought it was a mistake, but after walking a few more steps, when she heard a louder voice behind her saying "thank you", Yu Mingyue turned around and saw Pu Xiaoqiang, who was seven or eight meters away, looking at her with some uneasiness.

"No thanks, you can pick more wild vegetables to sell for a while, and after a while, there will be fewer wild vegetables on the mountain." After Yu Mingyue said these instinctively, she smiled at Pu Xiaoqiang, and when she saw Pu Xiaoqiang stunned, she showed an ugly smile at her with a nervous face.

Yu Mingyue guessed that the child might have a slight autism, so she didn't want to embarrass him to say anything, so she turned around and left, but after walking a few steps, she came behind her and said "thank you", this time Yu Mingyue didn't even look back, only waved her hand and said "You're welcome".

Since then, as Kong Xiaoyu gave birth to two children, Yu Mingyue has less time to go up the mountain, and she has never met Pu Xiaoqiang again, so she slowly forgot about this person, but when she hired a worker today, Yu Mingyue suddenly thought of the boy who might have mild autism.

Yu Mingyue said that she would hire someone to help her with housework, and Kong Mingying, who had always felt sorry for Yu Mingyue, only thought about it for a while, but she agreed. But in Kong Mingying's opinion, Yu Mingyue suddenly thought of hiring Pu Xiaoqiang, and she was afraid that it was not all to reduce the burden, but more because she was soft-hearted and sympathetic to the child.

Yu Mingyue has always considered herself not a soft-hearted person who is full of sympathy, but in Kong Mingying's eyes, although her granddaughter is so stingy with outsiders on weekdays, and she is cautious that she has been frugal since she was a child, she is the most hard-mouthed and soft-hearted. I won't talk about many examples, such as the wild vegetables that regularly take back Xiaohongmei in Bend Village every day, and the child who asked to hire Pu Xiaoqiang at this time and had no father or mother to eat, is the best living example.

After Kong Mingying agreed, she took Yu Mingyue to Pu Xiaoqiang's house, in fact, whether it was in the previous life or this life, Yu Mingyue didn't know where Pu Xiaoqiang's family lived. In her previous life, during this period, Yu Mingyue was still young and didn't like to go out to the village to wander around, but when Yu Mingyue grew up and could remember, Pu Xiaoqiang no longer lived in Caiyun Village.

Some people say that Pu Xiaoqiang, who grew up, went outside to beg for a living, and some people say that Pu Xiaoqiang was sold by traffickers when he was in the market because he was too simple; There is even a legend that Pu Xiaoqiang went to the black mine in order to make a living, but he encountered an accident and died

Anyway, there were many versions of the rumors for a while, but then Pu Xiaoqiang did not appear in Caiyun Village again, and after all kinds of rumors spread for a while, no one talked about them anymore, and everyone gradually forgot that he had no father and no mother, and relied on others to occasionally help and cut pine oil cores to sell money, and raised his own lonely child.

Along the small wooden bridge one foot wide, up to the top of the ditch, there is a flat and clean small earthen dam, directly north of the dam, is a thatched house with thatched roofs and large and small cracks in the adobe bricks, the house is a three-room layout, but the doors and windows of the three rooms are crooked, and it looks like it is about to fall. And around the house and the small earthen dam that counted as a yard, there is no wall, and it seems to be accessible in all directions, without any privacy at all, and it also looks very desolate.

When the mother-in-law and grandson walked to Pu Xiaoqiang's house, Pu Xiaoqiang was not at home. In fact, the dilapidated thatched house in front of her that was about to fall down was home, and Yu Mingyue felt a little unworthy of the name. R1152