Nine is the extreme number, rural people are accustomed to divide every nine days after the winter solstice into nine, a total of nine nine eighty-one days, also known as "counting nine cold days". It is summarized by rural people according to the long-term climate change from winter to spring, and there is a saying that "1929 does not shoot, 3949 walks on the ice, 5969 looks at the willows along the river, 79 rivers open, 89 swallows come, 99 returns to 19 ploughing cattle everywhere." "This is the crystallization of the wisdom of the working people of our country.

The second day of the last nine days was the sting, the weather began to warm up, and the people in the village began to prepare for sowing, of course, the little Qianjing family was no exception. Located in Xishan Province, the land is relatively fertile, but due to the limitation of climatic conditions, the crops here are generally ripe once a year, planted in spring, ploughed in summer, harvested in autumn and stored in winter, and the four seasons cycle repeatedly. There are many crops that can be planted in the village, such as wheat, wheat, flax, yam, radish and beans, and some people will also grow some millet, soybeans, peas, soybeans, etc., which can fully meet the daily needs of the people in the village.

Father and grandfather are going to turn over the land that has been moistened by snow for a winter, loosen the soil for sowing, mother and grandmother carry out the grain seeds left after the harvest last autumn to dry, and then select the seeds suitable for planting, this is to pick out the moldy and bad ones and throw them away, leave the intact seeds and then mix with diamine, mix well and then sow seeds, Xiao Qianjing is also on the side to help pick out some good yams and cut them into small pieces and put them in woven bags.

Because my father and a few people in the village who also want to go out to work make an appointment to leave after sowing, but his family has dozens of acres of land, so these two months will be very busy, and Xiao Qianjing is also very sensible to help around. After a month and a half, they finally planted all the crops. Xiao Qianjing's father and mother also began to pack their luggage and prepare to enter the city, he was quite reluctant to pull the corner of his mother's clothes, "Mother, when will you come back?" "My father and mother want to go to the city to work and earn a lot of money, and after earning the money, I can buy new clothes and delicious food for my baby, and when my mother stays in the city for a while, I will come to pick up the baby and go to live with my mother in the city, right?" The mother squatted down and reluctantly hugged Xiao Qianjing tightly in her arms.

"Medium, that mother, you and your father must come back to pick me up, and my grandmother and I are waiting for you at home." Xiao Qianjing struggled for a long time between her parents and the delicious new clothes before she spoke.

"Okay, the baby must listen to grandma at home, don't be naughty, remember to help grandma work and be literate, okay?"

"Medium." "Let's go, it's not too early" His father carried the luggage on his back and carried a large bag in his hand. "The baby should listen to the words of grandparents at home, remember to be literate well, dad will come back when the autumn harvest comes back and sees that you are not well-read, be careful that dad beats you!"

Xiao Qianjing and his grandmother sent their parents all the way to the entrance of the village, the old village chief and several people from the same village were already waiting there, the old village chief wanted to send them to the town, and only in the town did the town have a car to the city, and the father put the luggage in the car one by one.

"Dad, mother, you pay more attention to your body, some work can be done, we can't do it, we won't do it, I will come back during the autumn harvest." Then he squatted down and took Xiao Qianjing's hand and said, "The baby has to listen to the words of grandparents, don't play all day long." Mother was reluctant to squat down and hug Xiao Qianjing.

"Alright, let's go, be careful if you can't catch the car in a moment," his grandfather urged softly. "They all went out of the same village, and they didn't know each other well!"

"Yes, Da Mingzi, my baby is still young and needs to help my aunt see it!"

Seeing that it was not early, the old village chief came over and said, "Okay, if you don't leave, you won't be able to catch up with the car, and it's not that you won't come back!" While starting the tractor. Xiao Qianjing and her grandparents watched the tractor carry their parents farther and farther, and when the tractor completely disappeared from sight, they turned around and followed their grandmother home. Because of the departure of his parents, Xiao Qianjing always felt that the house was empty, listless in doing anything, there were fewer parents at home, and there was a lot less laughter, but children are children, and they forgot about the unpleasantness in two days, and they couldn't play with the children in the village all day long.

With the crops planted, the village school also opened, because the original collapsed school house needs a period of repair, so the village chief let them move to a cave next door to the village brigade to live temporarily, the cave is not big, sitting more than 20 children are even more crowded, three or four children are crowded on a table, not noisy, just sit there quietly listen to the teacher's lecture. When the weather is good, the teacher will also move the class under the big tree at the door, which is a very tall banyan tree, I heard the village chief say that this tree was there when he was a child, the breeze came slowly, and the sound of the children reading accompanied by the rustling of leaves echoed in the sky above the village.

Childhood life is always carefree, free, after school Xiao Qianjing is always with a group of children in the field of joy, climb high and low, go to the river to touch fish and shrimp, go to the tree to dig bird eggs is more commonplace, every time he and his friends are having fun, unconsciously it is time to eat, grandma always shouts his name around to call him home for dinner. Sometimes I will be hungry for the delicious food sold in the commissary, but they are suffering from no money to buy, a group of half-sized children will go to other people's houses to dig out people's eggs to change, although it is just a few pieces of sugar or a few ice packs, but a group of children are eating with relish, as if eating the most delicious thing in the world, the snacks at that time were not as diverse as now, but we firmly believe that the best things at that time, because they are rare, so cherish!

With the advent of midsummer, grandparents are busy hoeing the ground and don't have much time to take care of him, so he will follow his grandparents during the holidays, holding a small hoe to learn the way they hoe, hoeing the ground in front of him little by little, and he can hoe it for a long time.

The cattle in the village are all herded together, a family wheel for a day, grandparents are busy hoeing the ground and can't take care of it, Xiao Qianjing volunteered to help his grandfather to herd cattle, and so the village people have driven their own cattle out, Xiao Qianjing took his own big yellow dog and a small whip to drive the cattle to the east of the meadow, along the way if the cow is disobedient and dares to leave the team, rhubarb will run over and bark, the cow will obediently return to the team, and when it reaches the grass beach in the east, he will let the cattle stop, The cows would graze there leisurely, flicking their tails from time to time to chase away the annoying flies. Xiao Qianjing also lay leisurely on the back of his big black cow, looking up at the sky, blue and blue, the breeze blows, and several clouds of different shapes float in the sky, some like their own rhubarb, some more like fairies, very beautiful!

Because of working in the fields all summer, Mei Qianjing's food has also increased significantly, and he has gained a lot of weight in the past summer, but his body is also much stronger, and his skin has also been tanned a lot, if his parents see it now, they will probably be surprised.

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and a year passed in a blink of an eye, this year Xiao Qianjing was almost ten years old, and he was tall, tall and strong, with a simple smile on his face. Now they are sitting in the clean classroom listening to the teacher's lecture, they moved from the cave to the new school last fall, originally said that the roof of the old school will be repaired, but the village chief heard that after the whole village convened a meeting, the village chief persuaded the village name all this for the dolls, we don't care about a little bitter, but can no longer suffer the dolls, only after reading and reading the babies will not farm for a lifetime, what if the house collapses again? What should I do if I smash the babies? The villagers also understood this truth, after all, their own dolls also went to school in it, so the whole village raised funds to build three brick houses, large classrooms, and bright glass, all of which the children did not expect before.

I once read a news story about a reporter who saw a child herding sheep in a remote mountain village. So he went over and asked, "Son, why don't you go to school?" "I'm going to herd sheep" "Then why are you herding sheep?" "Then why do you want to gather wool?" "Sell for money" "What do you want to do after selling for money?" "Marry a daughter-in-law" "What about a daughter-in-law?" "Giving birth to a baby" "Then what do you want the doll to grow up for?" "Herding sheep" has become an endless cycle. Therefore, knowledge changes destiny, education changes the country, no matter how hard it is, it cannot be bitter for children, and no matter how poor it is, it cannot be poor in education.

After school that evening in the evening, Xiao Qianjing was ready to go home to help her grandmother work as usual, and as soon as she entered the hall, she saw her father sitting on the kang. "Dad, why are you back?" He shouted happily.

"The doll has grown taller again, black and fat" "Hehe..." Xiao Qianjing touched her hair with a smirk.

"Dad came back this time to take you into the city, and I asked you about going to school, and your mother was going to come back, but I didn't let her come back, anyway, we met in a few days." His father patted him on the head.

"Dad, are you going to take me to the city? What's the city like? Is there a big town? Is the school the same as ours? When he heard that he was going to take him into the city, he first asked a lot of questions excitedly, and then he felt very sad at the thought of leaving his grandparents! His father also came back at the time of the harvest last autumn, but he was fascinated by the delicious food that his father brought back and ate it. And his father came back in a hurry for a few days, and immediately returned to the city after the autumn harvest.

"It's big, there are a lot of buildings, a lot of cars, much bigger than our town."

"Wow! Bigger than the town, that's so big! Dad, what is a car? What is a building? Is the car the same as the village chief's grandfather's tractor? Xiao Qianjing asked in surprise, these were all things he had never seen and never heard anyone say.

"It's about building one house on top of another, layer upon layer, well! Anyway, Dad will take you there in two days, so you won't be able to see you. ”

"Won't the house collapse?" Xiao Qianjing said in surprise.

"Haha... No, no, come, see what Daddy bought for you, apples, do you want to eat them? His father turned and took out a red apple from the bag next to him.

"Wow! Apple! I want to eat. He took the apple handed by his father and couldn't wait to take a bite without washing it, the crunchy, sweet juice flowed into his mouth so delicious, he suddenly seemed to think of something, turned around and ran out with the apple.

"Jingjing, where are you going?" "I'll give the second girl something to eat, she hasn't eaten an apple yet." Xiao Qianjing ran to the street and saw the second girl playing with other girls, so she shouted, "Erya, Erya, apple, apple", ran to Erya, held the apple and said, "Give you a bite, it's sweet." "The second girl is the second daughter of his uncle's family, so she is called the second girl, she is very cute, with big eyes, different from the rough yellow skin of the children in the village, the second girl's skin is white and tender, just like the white tofu milled at home, combed with two cute braids, and she is also a little beauty in the village.

The second girl saw the apple in front of her and opened her mouth and took a small bite, "Eat more, I still have it!" So the second girl bit it big, and her eyes narrowed into a crescent moon with a smile. Two of you, you eat one bite and I will eat it in a while, the child next to him swallowed his saliva greedily, he ate the last bite, and threw the kernel to the ground, but he didn't expect that a black and thin little hand suddenly stretched out next to him to pick up the kernel and send it to his mouth.

"Ergouzi, that can't be eaten." Xiao Qianjing saw that it was the second dog and hurriedly said. But the second dog hugged his head in fright, squatted down, not only did not listen to his persuasion, but also stuffed all the kernels into his mouth and swallowed it desperately, as if he was afraid of being robbed.

"Ergouzi, why don't you eat it, you can't eat it, it's bitter." Xiao Qianjing looked at the black and thin child in front of him, who was the same age as him but much thinner than him, like a six or seven-year-old child, and felt uncomfortable somehow. "Ergouzi, I'll go back and get you apples, my father bought me a lot, you wait for me!" So saying, he turned around and ran home, and when he got home, he took an apple from the bag and handed it to his grandmother.

"Grandma, grandma cut the apple for me, I want to give the second dog some to eat, and the second dog will eat all the kernels I threw away." Mei Qianjing blinked at her grandmother with big eyes and said.

"Okay, grandma will cut it for you, don't drop it," he ran out again with the apple cut into several petals. When his father heard it again, he asked, "Mother, which baby are these two dogs?" ”

"Hey, it's the grandson of your uncle in the back street, his father was killed in a fight with someone at night last winter, and when he found it, he froze, and his mother finally threw down the dog and ran away, what a poor baby!" Xiao Qianjing ran back and gave each of the sliced apples a petal, and the children slowly licked the juice on the apples little by little, and they were reluctant to eat them all at once.

The next day, his father led him to the school, and when he saw Principal Li, he told him that he wanted to take Xiao Qianjing to study in the city, and the principal was very excited to touch Xiao Qianjing's head, "Okay, it's good to go to the city, and you must be literate when you go to the new school!" Xiao Qianjing hurriedly nodded in agreement. After coming out of school, they went straight home, and they were leaving tomorrow, and there was still a lot of stuff to be packed.

There was nothing to say all night, and Xiao Qianjing woke up excitedly before dawn and couldn't sleep, always imagining what the city was like, what the school was like, and he was going to the city, and he was very excited. Grandma got up and was ready to make them breakfast. Grandpa silently went down to the ground to help them sort out the things they wanted to take, and the small space seemed to be filled with a heavy atmosphere. After breakfast, the grandparents sent them to the entrance of the village again, "Grandparents, I can't bear you, I won't leave!" Xiao Qianjing hugged her grandmother, her eyes were filled with tears.

"What nonsense are you talking about, grandma can't bear the doll, you must listen to your father and mother when you get to the city, don't run around, be careful to let the bad guys be arrested in the city." Grandma also wiped her tears.

"Grandma, I'll come back to see you on vacation." "Okay, grandma is waiting for you." "Daddy, mother, and we are leaving, you go back quickly, it's cold in the morning." The father put his things in the car and said to the second elder.

"Okay, let's go, uncle, I'll have to trouble you again." "Nothing," said the old village chief. Waiting for Xiao Qianjing to climb into the car, the old village chief started the tractor. The tractor left this with Chikaei on board

He has lived in a small village for more than ten years, and he can still vaguely see the second elder standing at the entrance of the village looking out when he walks far away.

When I went to the town, I said goodbye to the old village chief, got on the bus to the county seat, and then went to the county bus station and then changed to the bus to the city. The bumpy car carried the hope and longing of Xiao Qianjing and slowly drove to Anxi City, a few hundred miles away.