At the beginning of 1950, Uncle Qin, who was seriously ill, had already made a will and handed it over to the elders of Tangkou for safekeeping, and no one knew who he was going to pass on the position of Tangkou at the helm, but judging from Uncle Qin's behavior of gradually handing over everything in the gang to Qin Changcheng, a discerning person would guess that it would be inseparable.

At that time, Uncle Qin drank tea in the courtyard of the hall every day to recuperate, rarely went out, and even did not participate in the most important church meetings every month, and he handed over important business transactions to Qin Changcheng.

Qin Changde saw that the person who would succeed the boss of Tangkou in the future must be his eldest brother Qin Changcheng, so he found Qin Changqing more than once and complained in front of Qin Changqing about Qin Changcheng's courage and resourcelessness.

Qin Changde said: "Third brother, you have also seen that this hall has no status at all for our two brothers, the eldest brother is brave and unscrupulous, the most important thing is that he has always been at odds with us, he is generous to outsiders, in fact, he is the most angry among our three brothers, he is the old man's position, can we still live well?" ”

Qin Changqing said: "I don't have any holidays with my eldest brother and second brother, I don't want to participate in this dispute, if the second brother can't see it, go and tell my father, presumably he won't be too partial to the eldest brother and let us sleep on the streets." ”

"My father is terminally ill, and he is not allowed to enter his yard except for his eldest brother, and I don't eat once or twice behind closed doors." Qin Changde was a little discouraged. "I really don't understand, although our father was born recklessly, he also participated in the Communist Party of China, and he followed Mr. Sun to fight the world back then, he has always respected scholars and Mr. Zhang Shunyi, how can he pass on the position of the boss of the hall to Qin Changcheng, who doesn't know a few big words!"

"Second brother, you just don't say a few words, my father naturally has his reasons for doing this, be careful that the wall has ears, and it is not good to spread to the ears of the eldest brother." Qin Changqing reminded.

Qin Changde saw that Qin Changqing had been indifferent and said such things, he snorted and said: "Third brother, you are also twenty years old this year, my eldest brother and I have married wives and had children when we were as old as you, don't think that eldest brother doesn't know about the you are doing behind your back, as well as your little lover surnamed Jiang with clear eyebrows." ”

"Second brother, what nonsense are you talking about?" Qin Changqing frowned slightly, watching Qin Changde leave his house.

He had just heard Qin Changde's words, and he didn't know why his heart trembled, as if some kind of secret that had been hidden in his heart for a long time had been revealed.

In 1950, less than a year after the founding of the People's Republic of China, all aspects of the country still needed to be stabilized and built.

At that time, Beiping had changed its name to Beijing, which was the capital of the country, but I still habitually called it Beiping.

After the construction of the military region in Peiping is completed, there is an urgent need to expand the conscription, and men who have reached the age of 16 can be called into the army, and Jiang Sheng is 16 years old, so he can just sign up.

At that time, the school invited officers of the People's Liberation Army to give a speech at the school, talked about the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and talked about the spirit of the Long March.

Jiang Sheng filled out the enlistment form with us behind his back, and the teacher talked to Jiang Sheng a few times after learning about it, it was difficult to get into a university in those days, and they all signed up for a certain university before the college entrance examination, and when the score reached the admission line, it was admitted, and if it was not reached, it was a failure, and other universities could not be entered, so they could only retake the exam next year.

In 1950, we were only in our third year of junior high school, and judging from Jiang Sheng's current grades, he would certainly be admitted to Peking University or Tsinghua University in the future, and his future was limitless, so there was no need to choose to enlist in the army at this time.

The school is even more opposed to Jiang Sheng's enlistment, he entered Liyuan Middle School with the first place in the entire Beiping City, the school has always regarded him as a flaunt, whether it is the school's praise column or the teacher-student conference, Jiang Sheng will be taken as an example, if Jiang Sheng goes to the highest university with excellent grades in the future, the school will also follow the light, and use his results to advertise students.

Moreover, Jiang Sheng went to enlist in the army at this time, and he was indeed a talented man, and the school also talked to him, saying that after the founding of the country, there was a greater need for talents to develop the economy and science and technology, and no one knew what he thought in his heart.

But I know that since Jiang Sheng came to Peking for so many years, he has always been very aggrieved, he is forbearing, and he wants to leave Beiping.

I told my mother about Jiang Sheng's enlistment, and my mother was furious when she found out, and he warned Jiang Sheng that it was best to break this thought, otherwise he would be deprived of his son.

And in those days, Jiang Sheng was also dull and didn't speak all day, and his mind often remembered what Lao Jiang said when he was dying, Lao Jiang said that he went to visit Wu Qingyun, and Wu Qingyun said that one day in the future, our Jiang family would starve to death because of the famine.

Jiang Sheng saw his hard-working mother who got up early and worked greedily every day to make money, her hair was dry and slightly gray, and he felt pain in his heart, for fear that the person who would be starved to death in the prophecy would be his mother.

Since her mother did the work on the construction site, she rarely appeared in the sight of the villagers in Sanlitun, and occasionally she was unkempt.

I don't know when my mother likes to tie up her long hair and wrap it around her head, and every time we go home, we feel that my mother's head has grown a long part, and sometimes some bad smell comes out of her headscarf, so I ask my mother to wash her hair a little angrily.

In the past, her mother was the most beautiful woman in the village except for Liu Lanying, but now she has become so sloppy, like a bad mother-in-law, when her mother washes her hair, she will use hair dye bought from a barber shop on the street to dye her white hair black, dry it and wrap it again.

Maybe it was because she was afraid that the dust would get into her hair too dirty, or maybe it was to maintain her hair, but later I heard the old man in the tunzi say that a woman who has long hair for more than three years after her man's death represents loyalty, which is equivalent to setting up a torii.

Maybe it's to protect herself, maybe my mother has really changed, her temper has become irritable, she rarely communicates with us, and sometimes she scolds when she opens her mouth. When she was on the construction site, she fought with the men on the construction site more than once, and she also asked the contractor to reason why she did not work less than others, but received less wages.

On the day we came home from vacation, my mother had an early start from work, and she knew that we would be back in the afternoon, so she bought a piece of meat from town to take home.

When she left, she saw that there was no water in the water tank, and said: "Xiao Wu, there is no water in the water tank, you go and carry two buckets, Jiang Sheng washes the vegetables behind the door, cuts them and comes back to fry." ”

"Got it, mother." Xiao Wu answered, carrying a bucket out of them, at that time the well water at home was bitter, not as good as the water in the well at the back of the village.

Jiang Sheng took the celery behind the door to the vegetable bowl and washed it, and then cut it on the cutting board in the kitchen, I hesitated for a long time, walked behind Jiang Sheng and asked in a whisper, "Brother, why did you sign up?" ”

Jiang Sheng knew that I was talking about his signing up for the army, so he said: "I'll see that everyone else is going to sign up, and I want to sign up for fun, and now that the times are peaceful, I'm not going to war." ”

I know that Jiang Sheng must have suffered a lot of grievances because of this matter, he always does things he doesn't like, always restrained by others, I hugged Jiang Sheng's waist from behind, he is already a head taller than me, fourteen-year-old I am bold, remembering the scene when many girls confessed to him at school, and said: "Brother, I like you." ”

Jiang Sheng said: "Silly girl, I like you too, everyone in our family loves you." ”

"I mean, love." I put my face on Jiang Sheng's back and whispered. "Just like Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai."

Jiang Sheng's knife for cutting vegetables stopped, he gently broke my hand away, looked back at me and said, "Jiang Sheng, I am your own brother, don't say such things again in the future, I don't want to hear it." You're still young, but you just think I'm a little white and good at studying, and you won't like it when I grow a beard and become an uncle in the future. ”

Jiang Sheng saw that my eyes were red and tears were falling, he stretched out his hand to wipe my tears like he did when he was a child, I opened his hand and ran out aggrievedly.

At that time, Xiao Wu was coming in from outside with two buckets of water, and when he saw that my face was not good-looking, he asked Jiang Sheng: "Jiang Sheng, what's wrong with Jiang Rong, this dead girl?" ”

Jiang Sheng said: "It's okay, teach me a lesson, and it'll be fine in a while." ”

Xiao Wu said with a smile: "She can still teach you a lesson to cry, I don't believe it, Jiang Sheng, I told you something, I don't know if you have found out." ”

"What's the matter?" Jiang Sheng asked.

Xiao Wu said: "I always feel that Jiang Rong's eyes are wrong when she looks at you, she is very focused when she looks at you, more straightforward than those little girls who have a crush on you, you won't not find out, right?" ”

"What the are you talking about?" Jiang Sheng pinched Xiao Wu's slightly bulging chest as he spoke.

Xiao Wu clutched his chest and shouted: "Ouch, my name is Bystander Qing, but I can warn you, Jiang Rong will be mine in the future, I have no blood relationship with her, I don't see that Jiang Rong is getting more and more handsome now, how many boys want to have sex with her, and the fat water does not flow to outsiders." ”

Jiang Sheng hugged Xiao Wu and put him to the ground, and the two quickly got into a ball.