The child is more than three years old, but it looks like a year old, except for a big head, the body is shriveled, the thin belly shows the obvious protrusion of the ribs on both sides of the abdomen, and the short calves look like they are not tall. Long Dan's mother was weaned early because of malnutrition, and she was usually short of food, so she didn't dare to eat enough, so she barely supported her to do some housework.

Life is tighter, and the dealer will not die of hunger if he changes some harvest. People say that the house leak coincides with even the rain, in this year, an unprecedented catastrophe came into being, fighting with the sky, fighting with the earth, fighting with people, fighting with the masses, fighting cadres, subordinates are superiors, even husband and wife must pay attention to three points when talking, people are fighting, the land is barren, and the days of the original poverty are even worse. Seeing that the autumn harvest has passed, there is not much food, and it is a problem for a family of six to survive until the end of the year. Long Xin couldn't think of a way to think about it, so he discussed it with the child and his mother, but he never had an idea, so he had to take the dry tobacco leaves and smoke them pot by pot, and he was depressed every day.

On this day, Long Xin was bored and came to the village sales point, the owner of the shop is an old nephew of the family called Long Fang, Long Fang because he knows a few words, after the liberation, he has been doing the goods of the county supply and marketing cooperatives, making some difference, and there is a shortage of things in that era, who doesn't buy something? Therefore, Long Fang is a powerful person in the village, quite respected, although the small life is not very good, but the family does not have to worry about the problem of eating.

"Old nephew, do you have it? If you have something, give me a pound," Long Xin walked into the small room of the consignment point and shouted directly. "It's Uncle Long Xin, Lao Baigan is here, do you always want to take two bites? Then I'll weigh you a pound" Long Fang's age is actually older than Long Xin, but because of his seniority, Long Fang's mouth is a little sweeter. While talking, he weighed a pound of wine and poured it into a wine bottle, and quietly gave two more taels, also known as half a pound of peanuts and half a pound of salty dried tofu, and said, "Uncle, let's have some snacks with you?" I guess you will definitely go to Uncle Xu Fu. Lao Baigan is one catty, six cents and five cents, peanuts and rice are half a catty and three cents, and dried tofu is half a catty and three cents, a total of two cents and five cents, I owe it first, I will write it down for you? "Okay, that's it, in a few days, I'll sell the ginger and I'll pay you back," Long Xin said hesitantly. Don't worry, uncle, you don't have credit, spend it first, I'll ask you when I use it", Long Fang said with a smile. Long Xin took the wine and food and went straight to the secretary Xu Fu's house.

Walking into Xu Fu's door, Long Xin asked loudly, "Is the secretary brother at home?" I saw Xu Fu come out, saw Long Xin holding wine and food, and asked: "Selling ginger, how can you have the money to be willing to drink?" "No, I'm in a panic, come to my brother for a few sips," Long Xin said with some annoyance. Come into the house, drink a little, I will have to eat if you come later," Xu Fu complained.

"Child, damn it, quickly cut the piece of tofu that Xu Geng brought and stew it in half, I will have a few sips with Brother Long Xin" Xu Fu shouted: "Xu Geng's kid will come to something, make a bag of tofu, send his wife to bring me a big piece, brother, you have a good mouth, come, let's drink." Two people, you come and go, push the cup and change the lamp, and before the stewed tofu is served, more than a pound of old white dry will be turned to the sky.

"Child, you, you, you go to the inner room and take out a bottle and a bottle of Lanling Erlu given to me by Secretary Han of the commune", Xu Fu, who was a little stammering, was also happy, and shouted at his wife to take out another bottle of wine, and the two started the topic.

"Second brother, you say, say, what are you doing today?" Xu Fu asked, Long Xin sighed, and said: "What else can I do, I just want to think of a way, get more food, and prepare for the New Year, I have four children", Xu Fu looked at Long Xin with drunken eyes and said: "Second brother, don't you yet, don't say it, I really have a way, I don't know if you dare to do it?" "Don't you dare? As long as it's not murder and arson, what's not to dare? I think that your second brother and I were also killed from the pile of dead people of the little Japanese devils, brother, let's talk about it! Long Xin said confidently.

Speaking of this, Xu Fu didn't stutter anymore, and said solemnly: "Go to Jiangnan!" Do you dare? "Down to Gangnam? What's going on? Long Xin asked. Xu Fu said: "I had a meeting from the county, and I heard that there is a lot of rain in the south, and ginger is not produced, and even if there is, it is not as good as our north, don't you know how to grow ginger?" This year's production is not small, right? If you ship it to the south and sell it, you can make a good profit, push 500 catties of ginger, and sell it for at least 180 yuan in two or three months, and you can have a good year. "Going to the South to sell ginger? Won't people say I'm a speculator? What should I do if I am detained? Long Xin asked worriedly. It doesn't matter, as long as you dare to go, I will go to the commune and open a letter of introduction to you, just say that you are self-produced and self-sold, and if you are more clever, it is estimated that it will be fine," Xu Fu said encouragingly. Long Xin was still worried and said: "Let me think about it, even if you go, you have to prepare, come, brother, let's continue to drink." The two finally drank the second bottle of wine, and Long Xin staggered back home, without talking to his wife, and fell asleep on the kang.

The next morning, Long Xin got up early in the morning and came to the wasteland reclaimed by Liushugou in the south of the village, looking at the ginger field that was about to be harvested, a green ginger leaf exuded a slightly spicy aroma, and his heart was happy. "I can't be sure, this year's ginger will be harvested more than 1,000 catties, it's true, this year's days don't have to worry," Long Xin muttered to himself.

The origin of this ginger field is also a piece of Longxin's hard work. Originally, Longjiawan is not planting ginger, it is the year before the big year before Longxin went to 100 miles away in Beishan Caojiazhuang helper, looking at the main family planting ginger, it was expected that this thing could be exchanged for money, helped more than two months of work, stunned is not a penny of wages, only asked for dozens of catties of ginger seeds, came back in the willow ditch wasteland where few people go to try to plant for a year, did not think, it turned out to be a good harvest, harvested more than 100 catties. Seeing hope, Long Xin didn't sell a single or two gingers in the second year, and all of them were planted in the reclaimed wasteland, and he harvested more than 300 catties. This year's days are a little tighter, Longxin sold a small part in the local market, changed the grain, and the remaining more than 200 catties of Longxin were all planted in the ground, because there is a very small spring in the willow ditch, not a big drought year, generally will not be cut off, and the feces and urine of the family are all used in the ginger field, and this year's harvest is naturally not generally good.

Ginger is a treasure, not only to dispel cold and dampness, but also to add the same amount of red dates to mash boiling water to nourish the skin, and it is also a good condiment for stir-frying. However, in that era of lack of clothing and food, people naturally do not use it for beauty or as a condiment, people are used to treat colds: a piece of ginger is chopped, added to three bowls of water, boiled into a bowl, drunk while hot, and the general small cold will be cured after sweating. Therefore, the people who buy ginger are in a radius of dozens of miles in Longjiawan, and few people come to buy ginger, and it is also a big problem to sell Longxin's ginger if it is really going to be harvested.

Longjiawan, according to the old man, built the village less than a thousand years, it seems to have migrated after the Song Dynasty, it is said that the ancients of the Longjia family were originally court officials, and later migrated here because of the avoidance of disaster. Longjiawan, as the name suggests, is a hilly area with nine bends and eighteen bends, except for the spring water of Liushugou all the year round, most of the crops still rely on the sky to eat, therefore, the daily labor value of Longjiawan is only eight cents, that is, a strong laborer is worth eight cents after a day of tiring work. The reason why Long Xin was able to go to Beishan to help a hundred miles away was because he had been a soldier and had seen the world, but because an old comrade-in-arms in Beishan helped to intercede, so he had a chance to help. The helper is to help make blanks, that is, to make adobe bricks, to build houses, Beishan's helper wages are much higher than Longjiawan, two cents a day, at that time, but a lot of income.

When I was a helper, I saw that the main family's income from planting ginger was not low, and they could build a half-brick house, so I knew that this thing might be my hope for the future. It was also Long Xin who knew more when he was a soldier when he moved to the north and south, and he didn't dare to plant it if he changed to others, because no one bought it if he planted it, and it was not allowed to sell it elsewhere. In those days, cash crops were not allowed to be planted privately, grain was to be used as the just, and selling cash crops was speculative and subject to detention.

In the past few days, Long Xin has been busy enough, commanding the whole family, spending several days of hard work, carefully harvesting the ginger, and putting the ginger in the well cellar. He also hired a carpenter to repair the wheelbarrow up and down, and prepared a broken quilt wrapped with ginger to prevent freezing; He carried dozens of catties of ginger to the house of the secretary Xu Fu, and took the letter of introduction from the commune with great gratitude, and only after packing up was he discussed with the female head of the family about going down to Jiangnan.

"Damn" Long Xin said to his woman: "This time I went to Jiangnan, I want the fourth child to go with me, how about it?" "The fourth is going with you? He's still so young? Long Danniang hurriedly said, "The eldest and the second and third are all going to school, and you are tired enough when I am not at home, and you can't take care of the fourth, besides, the fourth child follows me and me as a companion, and I am lonely, and let the fourth child go out to see the world" Long Xin said with certainty. Long Danniang turned her head and asked Long Dan: "Little Si, are you willing to follow your father to Jiangnan?" "I do," Long Dan said vigorously, pointing to his big head that was not commensurate with his body. Long Xin smiled and said: "Don't look at the fourth child's thin body, but he has a good temperament, I think he is stronger than his three elder brothers, and he has a future, so it's decided" Long Xin said to his son with a solemn face: "Son, tomorrow we will go down to Jiangnan together."