Chapter 34

When the New Year was about to be celebrated in five or eight years, Qiusheng was almost beaten with Nanzhu branches.

That morning, Qiusheng went to the construction site to pick up more than ten loads of soil, and felt unbearable stomach pain, so he said to Xia Sheng: "Brother, I don't know if I broke something or something today, I will go back to the house to find some stomach pain medicine to see?"

Xia Sheng stopped, glanced at Qiusheng, glanced at Deputy Secretary Liu in the distance, and whispered: "Come back quickly, if you are in a hurry, people will go crazy."

Qiusheng returned home and went to the toilet, but there was no diarrhea, and his stomach still hurt faintly after pulling it. He tried to press his abdomen, turned over a few more pills that he had taken when he had a stomachache, sat for a while and felt better, and then planned to go back to the construction site to do something.

As soon as he walked halfway, he heard Xia Sheng quarreling with someone from a distance, and there were people next to him who were trying to persuade him to make peace.

Qiu Sheng hurriedly trotted over when he saw it, only to see several people dragging Xia Sheng and Hu Mansheng respectively. Hu Mansheng struggled to break free, rushed towards Xia Sheng and wanted to beat someone, and said nonsense: "Gui Xiasheng, you cunt cub, you used to be the president of the company, I was afraid of you, and now you are expelled from your work and expelled from the party, that is, a captain is the same as me, I can't kill you today!" You're fart, your brother is lazy, talk about you, and you're going against the sky! Let me tell you, you stole my second sister-in-law and risked settling accounts with you, and now the old accounts and new accounts will be paid together!! ”

Xia was so angry that his face was flushed, and he also struggled to rush towards him, and fought back: "Hu Mansheng, you are my cub, you snorted this morning, and your mouth was full of feces!" I'm sitting upright, you bite me!! ”

At this time, Deputy Secretary Liu hurried over when he heard the quarrel, and said loudly: "You are still the captain, are you like words?" Noisy! Stop for me, see which one of you dares to smack your hair?! ”

Xia Sheng and Hu Mansheng saw that Deputy Secretary Liu was angry, so they all stopped. At this time, Hu Mansheng complained to Deputy Secretary Liu, "Gui Xiasheng, as the captain, let Gui Qiusheng go back to the house and lie down and sleep, and let us big guys do ox-back plows!" I told him a sentence and he scolded me for shitting! ”

Xia Sheng was about to defend himself, but Qiusheng hurriedly stopped and said to Deputy Secretary Liu: "Secretary Liu, this Hu Mansheng is taking revenge for personal gain!" Just now I went back to the house with a stomachache and took a pill in the toilet, my brother doesn't know, what does it matter to him? When Xia Sheng saw Qiu Sheng say this, it was difficult to keep silent.

Deputy Secretary Liu glanced at Qiusheng and the others, frowned and said to Qiusheng: "Gui Qiusheng, this is your mistake!" Why don't you report to Captain Gui if you have a stomachache, it's really true, Captain Gui will still agree to report it! If you go back to the house without approval, it is an unorganized and undisciplined behavior, and today at noon we will have a meeting to review your thoughts! ”

At that time, Qiusheng didn't know that he had committed the madness of that door, so he rushed back: "Secretary Liu, people have three urgencies, and they have to review their stomachache and soaking feces and urine, what kind of discipline is this?!"

Before Deputy Secretary Liu could speak, Hu Mansheng next to him started a fire, "Secretary Liu, this brother of the Gui family doesn't take your secretary seriously, we can't talk about it, you can't talk about it, just go back to the house to smoke a cigarette and rest for a while!" ”

As soon as Qiusheng saw Hu Mansheng fanning the yin wind beside him, he roared at Hu Mansheng angrily: "You have a sharp brain, what do you want you to fart next to!"

At that moment, the two quarreled, and the people on and off the dam all hugged up, and Deputy Secretary Liu couldn't hold it on his face at this time, and he was annoyed! He yelled at Zhou Hanbing: "This Gui Qiusheng is too lawless, and he doesn't know the southeast and northwest if he doesn't hit the vest!" As soon as Hu Mansheng heard the excitement, he shouted: "Zhou Hanbing, hurry up and take Nan bamboo strips and punish his majesty!"

At this time, Yi Zhengzhu next to him saw that something was wrong, so he went to call Lilac and rushed over. When Lilac arrived, Qiusheng had been pressed to the ground by Hu Mansheng and a few of them, Zhou Hanbing went to get Nan Zhutiao, Xia Sheng stood aside and was in a hurry, but there was no way.

Ding Xiang and Yi Zhengzhu already knew what was going on all the way, so she stopped in front of Qiusheng and said to Deputy Secretary Liu: "Secretary, the man in my house has been on the construction site for a few months, is he the kind of person who cheats and cheats?" If your secretary insists on hitting a vest today, you can beat me! My man's family is sick and uncomfortable and doesn't need to be beaten, so as not to be scared to death if he doesn't die like Tang Youguang! ”

When Deputy Secretary Liu heard Tang Youguang's three words, he suddenly felt like he had been stung by a bee, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Sister-in-law, I didn't deliberately target him, he was too unorganized and undisciplined......

When Xia Sheng saw that Deputy Secretary Liu's tone was more relaxed, he hurriedly said: "Secretary Liu, it's Gui Qiusheng today, it's not right, tonight I will organize the whole team to criticize and educate him, write a profound review and hand it over to Secretary Liu to apologize personally!"

Qiusheng struggled for a while and wanted to explain a few words, but Lilac gave him a slap on the head, "You still don't thank Secretary Liu for knowing that you are wrong?!" ”

Qiusheng softened when he saw this situation, and said, "Secretary Liu, it's wrong that I don't make a report, it's just that I really have a stomachache today." In addition, Hu Mansheng talked nonsense on the side, and he was angry and talked nonsense, I will make a review for you when I go back! ”

Deputy Secretary Liu saw that Qiusheng was soft, and he had enough face, so he said to Hu Mansheng: "Let go, since he knows what is wrong and knows his thoughts, give him a chance!"

At this time, Hu Mansheng listened, and walked away like a deflated ball, and at this time, Zhou Hanbing had already thrown away the Nan bamboo strip in his hand.

Since then, Qiusheng has often suffered from stomach pain. In April and May of '59, I had a seizure every three or five days, and I saw a barefoot doctor in the countryside a few times, and the healing became more and more severe, and sometimes the pain was so painful that I couldn't even go to work.

In this way, the missed work is not counted, and the medical expenses are also shared, plus the five or eight years of eating and drinking, the team has not much food left. By the year 59, the limited supply of grain began, and the standard was four taels for adults and two taels for children, and it was still the old name of 16 taels and 1 catties. The adults were all cooing with hunger, and the half-grown children were growing and couldn't stand it. Lilac's three cubs and one daughter, as well as her mother-in-law, are old to support, and Qiusheng is sick and suffering, and life is becoming more and more difficult.

Since then, Qiusheng's temper has become more and more irritable, and the loving couple in the past 20 years have often quarreled over trivial matters. Lilac felt distressed and understood Qiusheng, and let him everywhere.

Lilac knew some medical science, so she used the herbal recipe she learned from her grandmother when she was at her mother's house to dig up some medicine to reduce liver fire, and after more than a month, it still didn't improve much.

In the seventh and a half months of the lunar calendar in the 59th year, Lilac sent Youfu to the street to buy some Chinese medicine for Qiusheng according to the prescription prescribed by the barefoot doctor, and came back to fry and drink.

Blessed went to the street to buy medicine and went home. Halfway back, a few drops of rain flew in the sky, and then I found that I forgot to wear the newly bought hat, so I hurriedly rushed back to the pharmacy to look for it. At this time, people came and went, and people had already gotten up and left, and Youfu returned home anxiously all the way.

Qiusheng was already in poor health, and he couldn't do anything for a month, and when he heard that Youfu had lost a new hat, he was in a worse mood at this time, so he yelled at Youfu: "The dead still guard the deputy coffin, you can't keep the hat on your head, you don't want to go to school in the Ming Dynasty, you can work for me!"

At that time, Youfu felt guilty and heartbroken, and the new hat shed tears, and at this time, the clove next to him dragged Youfu over, and Chong Qiusheng complained: "You have been drinking musket medicine in the past few months, and it is not enough to be angry with the courtiers, and you still use the cub girl to spread fire?!" Throw a rotten hat, are you going to make a big nameless fire?! ”

Qiusheng was angry, turned around and yelled at Lilac again, "You're all used to it, sooner or later you will starve to death and beg for food!" ”

Looking at the sick Qiusheng, Lilac had tears in her eyes and pulled Youfu away.

Qiusheng knew that he had lost his temper too much, and wanted to explain and ease up, but Lilac didn't talk to him for more than ten days. Xu Zong came to the house to invite Lilac to go out to play the brown rope, and Lilac went out without greeting.

Qiusheng also regretted it after vomiting with Lilac. Without Lilac at home, he was bored, and he felt that his time was short, so he wanted to do something and leave something for Lilac Niang.

After thinking about it and looking around, he finally hit the maple tree in his house that had grown for an unknown number of spring and autumn years. He thought that if he cut down this tree, at least he could have dozens of loads of firewood, and it would not be a problem for the lilac cubs to burn for a few months.

Just do it, and my body seems to be better in those days. He carried an axe, and ping-pong chopped up. The tree was also too big, with a crown like a cloud, and the trunk of the tree could not be hugged by the three of them.

Qiusheng was tired of cutting and resting, idle and cut again, a few days later, the tree has been cut down a child can drill into a child, only the middle of more than ten inches is still connected, cut down sawdust have two or three loads of fine firewood, but the tree is still majestic.

Autumn then cut down another day, and when it was almost dusk, the tree seemed to shake a little. When Qiusheng was busy inspecting, Chunsheng happened to pass by, and he said with some reproach: "Third brother, that tree can't be cut down, that tree is hundreds of years old, recruit you to provoke you......"

Before the words fell, the tree clicked, and it swept straight in the direction of Qiusheng. The tree also fell strangely, obviously the cut should have fallen in the opposite direction to Qiusheng, but it came at Qiusheng. He was caught off guard, jumped backwards, and lay down on the ground.

Fortunately, there was a candia notch, and the tree did not hit anyone, and the branches and leaves pressed the autumn sheng. Chunsheng was frightened, and hurriedly stepped forward to help, and it took a long time to get Qiusheng out.

Fortunately, the person didn't have a big itch, but he was tired and frightened, and Qiusheng couldn't get up.

That day, Lilac happened to return home, and after getting the news, she trotted over, and scolded angrily and distressedly: "You cut off your brain, ancient trees have aura, what are you doing with it......"

Although he was scolded by Lilac, Qiusheng's heart was warm, and the two got back together again.

The maple tree was later split into firewood, and after Qiusheng passed away, the blessed brothers made a knife and an axe for several months.

The tree was too deep for the blessed brothers to get it, so they gave it to Chunsheng to dig it up, and chopped it up with one or twenty loads of dry firewood.

Xia Sheng knew the predicament of Qiusheng's family, and said to Hu Gui'e one night: "Gui'e, Qiusheng is not in good health, three or four cub girls usually have to open their mouths every day, we only have two adults, usually the remaining two mouthfuls in the mouth give Zou Long a sip of cold fragrance, Zou Long has just been weaned!" Or if the mother's ration is only one-third of them in the autumn, do you think you want it? Alas, this day is just in time for the Kuomintang famine year! ”

When Hu Gui'e heard this, she complained with some displeasure: "On weekdays, your mother scolds me for running wild, and I won't give birth to a single wild egg!" My brother and sister-in-law can give birth, and now it's good to take a chance, your mother doesn't save much to give them?! ”

Xia Sheng was silent and silent, Hu Gui'e knew that he had hooked Xia Sheng's mind and said the wrong thing when he saw it, and hurriedly comforted: "Man's family, don't be angry, I also see that your mother is usually too partial, and the brothers still have to help each other!" I know that I have been here for more than a year and I have taken the risk of giving birth to a son and a half daughter, and you are panicking, or you should just bring Limei over to bring you. Anyway, Limei has lived here two or three times, and she gets along with you, you are better to her than Chen Yongnian's stupid wood, and Limei has called you stepfather. Maybe as soon as Limei comes, we will have our own cubs in the coming year like a hen holding a nest egg, do you want to have it? ”

Qiusheng listened silently, and after being silent for a while, he said: "If you want it, you can rest assured, and the house will be lively."

More than ten days later, Hu Gui'e's daughter Chen Lihua who was born in Chen Yongnian's family came, she was two years old, and Xia Sheng treated her as his own. Soon after, at the behest of Hu Gui'e, Lihua changed her name to Xia Sheng's father and called her Lilac Grandma.

But Granny Lilac didn't like this granddaughter who came suddenly, but because Xia Sheng and his wife were both in their forties, they had to accept her if they didn't know that it was a problem to be born, but she was still different from her own granddaughter Hanxiang.

Hu Gui'e saw her mother-in-law's thoughts, and privately taught Lihua to be careful in everything and not to make her grandmother angry.

Lihua has had a bad life since her father's divorce, her father was a little unsatisfactory and angry with her because of Hu Gui'e's affairs.

In Anhua in 59 years, there were frequent floods and flash floods in spring and summer, and then a major drought in June.

At that time, Xia Sheng and their captains were very busy, and first organized members to manually lift water to rescue the cracked rice fields. Later, the creek pits and ponds could no longer draw water, and the commune distributed diesel engines to support the various production teams in turn to pump water from the small river. Xia Sheng brought people to compete for the diesel engine, and Tang Yaozu of the ninth team almost started to fight. Later, it was Gui Shunjian who reported to Chen Xinyun, the secretary of the brigade, in time, so that he could stop the incident that almost led to a conflict.

When the seedlings bud in the season, the water in the small river has also bottomed out, revealing the stone slabs of the riverbed, and many wells that have never dried up for thousands of years are no longer watering, and people and animals have to go to the low-lying six or seven teams to carry water for drinking water, and the situation is deteriorating day by day. At that time, Chen Zhishu's eyes were red, his chapped lips were like cracked rice fields, and he ran up and down, asking the commune to support more diesel and diesel engines, and organizing a meeting of the captains of each team to coordinate how to draw water from the big river in the outer village.

After a day and a night of fierce quarrels and discussions, the teams finally reached a consensus, first using three high-power diesel engines supported by the commune to take over the pumping of water to the pond of the tenth team, and then the mobile diesel engines took turns to pump water to each production team by the hour according to the number of acres of land.

Chen Zhishu, who was tired for countless days and nights when the meeting ended, fell to the ground with a black head when he got up. At that time, the captains were so panicked that they fanned and pinched the people, and it took a while for Chen Zhishu to ease up.

After Chen Zhishu turned around, he opened his confused eyes, and when he saw the captains in a circle, he raised his hoarse voice and shouted: "Lao Tzu is still risking death, do I have a dashui if I keep it?!" Hurry up and find a deep pit in the big river, and then you will have to pump pebbles from the river! ”

The captains were relieved when they saw that Chen Zhishu was gone, so they split up to plan to implement the pumping matter. Lilac took the place of the sick Qiusheng to participate in the pumping work, and together with the men, she carried the diesel engine to pull the water pipe, and was so tired that she fell asleep as soon as she got into bed at night.

The sick Qiusheng was very distressed, looking at the lilac that had slept after a tiring day, he trembled and stroked her yellow hair, and wept.

A month later, the drought relief work was successfully completed. Because of Lilac's outstanding work, the secretary of the commune praised her, saying that in ancient times, Hua Mulan went on the expedition on behalf of her father, and she was the husband on the expedition, which is amazing! Later, when the award was awarded, the village awarded Lilac 38 Red Flag Bearer the honor of making extraordinary contributions to the collective.

After the reform and opening up, the channels that the lilac generation worked hard to build were abandoned, and the thatch was deep for many people.

Lilac was very distressed, and when she met people, she said, at that time, we wore the stars and the moon, stepped on the ice cellar in winter, tightened our belts with hungry stomachs, and worked tirelessly to cultivate. It's good for your generation, and if you say it's wasted, it's wasted, and it's evil!

Although they tried all possible means to keep more than sixty percent of the paddy fields that year, a large area of grass seedlings that had been budding or two or three ears were burned red, and later the teams cut those seedlings and stored them as fodder for cattle and sheep.

When the seedlings were harvested, the shriveled rice that had been pumped and filled with a little syrup was secretly put in their mouths and chewed before they were piled up into straw stacks. In the evening, adults and children secretly come to chew the straw to find the missing grains and chew them again. The ancestors of the Chunsheng family have brought a large group of blessed children to come many times.

Once, Han Xiang searched all the ears of straw and didn't find a single grain, and accidentally chewed the stem of the seedling that had just been harvested, and there was a hint of sweetness in the fragrance of the straw.

So she said to Youfu: "Big brother, this rod is sweet, as good as yellow silk grass roots!"

When the children heard this, they also tried to find the young seedlings and chewed them, and turned the stacks of straw into a mess.

Yi Zhengzhu, who was in the distance, saw that the haystack they had just piled up was scattered, so he roared: "You little guys are playing famously, and the straw makes you play sparsely, tell the captain to punish you for risking dinner!"

When the ancestors heard this, they scattered in a hurry. Hanxiang, who was still young, was so frightened that she cried while holding the chewed rice stalks.

When the adults who rushed over saw the chewed green rice seedlings that Han Xiang was holding tightly in his hands, everyone was silent.

Lilac heard Hanxiang's cry and thought it was a child fight, so she hurried over.

She just wanted to open her mouth to scold, but Gui Ding'e next to her hurriedly comforted: "Don't scold her, don't scare her!" Alas, this is the way of the world. ”

Lilac saw that she understood, and without squeaking, she picked up Hanxiang and lowered her head and went home. On the way back, tears burst out of her eyes uncontrollably and dripped on Hanxiang's shoulders.

Han Xiang saw Lilac crying, and whispered timidly: "Mom, I will never go to Brother Xianzu and them to turn over the straw, don't cry."

Lilac didn't respond, and tears poured down in the wind.

The famine that began in the second half of '59 began to spread throughout the country, and even the way out to beg for rice was completely blocked.

The cabbage roots in the soil, all kinds of wild vegetables have been cleaned by people over and over again, and the banana stamens and loquat skins have become belly wrappings. Someone ate Guanyin soil, that thing is delicate and durable, and a meal is enough for a day. It's just that if you eat too much, you can't pull out, and there is a person in the neighboring village who ate too much and had a swollen stomach like a drum, and then suffocated to death. People were covered with vegetables, many people were swollen, and there were rumors that people were dying of starvation elsewhere.

Akisheng's illness was sometimes good and bad, and her stomach was swollen like that of a woman who was five or six months pregnant. Lilac dug up a lot of herbs for him, and also went to the commune health center to see it, and the doctor said that Qiusheng was already cirrhosis of the liver, and his condition was not optimistic.

In that era when there was a lack of medical treatment and even food, the mortality rate of this disease was equivalent to that of today's terminal cancer. For the sake of autumn birth, Lilac secretly prayed to the hidden Guanyin Bodhisattva, and pious tea worship, although it was risky to engage in feudal superstition in that era.

Despite this, Qiusheng still took out some work to do some things despite his illness, but some people on the time-sharing team had opinions. said that Qiusheng did all women's work, and could only evaluate a seven-point division of labor - in that era, it happened from time to time that everyone fought for one or two jobs.

Xia Sheng was the captain of the team, but later saw that his younger brother's family couldn't hold on, so he gritted his teeth and opened his face to win a score for Qiu Sheng.

Because of this matter, accountant Yi Guiyun and his brother were still unconvinced, and they openly opposed it at the meeting, and talked about it in private. Fortunately, most people see that they are diligent and diligent on weekdays, and those who support sympathy account for the majority, and they barely passed the test after several discussions and meetings.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xu Zong rushed to find Lilac, saying that Wang Ziyang was a secretary in Yunfeng Commune, and a few days ago told him that the commune wanted a batch of brown ropes and invited him to go, and secretly said that the salary could be replaced by food stamps.

At that time, food stamps were a rarity, and only Ziyang's non-agricultural population could buy grain with food stamps. Lilac and her peasants rely on their work to eat, and the food stamps they earn, Xu Zong said that Ziyang can find a way to convert it into food and grain for them. If the cloves can go, yes

You can earn more, and the children will not go hungry.

At this time, Lilac was pregnant again, looked at the whole family, and said to Qiusheng: "Brother Qiu, I'll do it for two months, and you take care of the family." If you have a disease, you can do less, and if you have less work, you will not fight with them, and if you talk to your brother about seven points, you will have me! ”

Qiusheng looked ashamed and said to Xu Zong: "Big brother, my body is dragging down the cloves, I don't know if I can still eat next year?" It's just that the cloves will be bitter in the future, dragging a few cub girls, and there is one more in the belly! ”

Xu Zong looked at Qiusheng, who was so swollen that he couldn't bear it, and hurriedly comforted: "Qiusheng, take a risk, cloves go out to earn some sip and come back, and the nutrition will be fine!"

Early the next morning, Lilac went to Yunfeng Commune with Xuzong. Ziyang was very enthusiastic when he saw Lilac, and called Aunt Man like he did when he was a child-"Aunt Man, if you hadn't gone to Wulei Cave with your mother to send a message to my father and son, I would have risked my life now!" In the future, you will come to the commune often, as long as I can help, I will do my best, you will be like my own home here, just don't see outside! ”

Ziyang's daughter-in-law is a middle school teacher, she is white and clean, and she is also called by an aunt like Ziyang. On the same day, Ziyang Tangke also got a lot of steamed buns and fritters from the commune canteen and went home, and boiled a big pot of porridge with mung beans and red dates at home.

That night, the Xu Zong brothers and sisters had a full meal for the first time in half a year, but when they were sipping, they remembered the hungry Qiusheng at home and blessed a few of them.

End of the thirty-first round