Chapter 37

Chapter 36

In the spring of '62, the Red Star Brigade began a small freedom, and all the bare hills that were originally cut down by steelmaking were given to individuals to open up wasteland for farming, and Chen Zhishu and their leaders said that the crops produced in the fields did not need to be handed over to the public and belonged to individuals, and the members of the club heard that everyone was happy and energetic, and they all looked forward to not starving again this year.

The Lilac family divided half of the wasteland of Shuijia Mountain according to the head, and the virtuous and noble brothers went to their own barren mountain the next day to light a fire, and suddenly the crackling flames flew into the air with green smoke, and the ashes of the thatch flew in the air like mosquitoes and flies foraging.

Under the scorching sun, Youfu, who was roasted with sweat and his face was narrow, said to Yougui: "Yougui, in the Ming Dynasty, a few of our sisters and my mother dug up this wasteland as soon as possible, and we didn't wait for my uncle and uncle to come to help, and I still had time to plant peanuts and soybeans!" The remaining big piece will be planted with corn and sweet potatoes in the future, and there will be a full meal in the second half of the year! ”

Yougui looked at the ashes that had turned into white ash and some hot air under his feet, and couldn't help but say with joy in his heart: "Brother, the old generation said that the field is very good for three years, and the soil is a treasure for three years!" Such a thick ash of fire ash even saves fertilizer, and the sweet potatoes planted in the ground when turning the soil must not be small! ”

"Well, that's what happened!" Blessed is the answer.

When the blessed brothers went home and talked to Lilac, Lilac thought for a while and replied: "It's okay, our mother cub will go and turn the ground tomorrow morning." Your uncles, uncles, uncles, and cousins also have a lot of land in their own homes, so it's good if they have that heart, so don't bother them! ”

Just do it, Lilac got up early in the morning, casually dealt with it, entrusted the Nianzu who had been running all over the ground to the blind mother-in-law, and led the blessed and noble Zou Long Hanxiang sisters to the barren mountain.

Lilac led the blessed and noble two men to dig up the ground with hoes, Han Xiang took a firewood knife to cut the thorns of the bundle of firewood, and took Zou Long to tie up the weedwood and trees that Lilac had just dug up. By noon, the cloves they had dug up a lot of land, and the cold fragrance Zou Long had also made firewood, ranging in size from four or five loads!

Lilac and the blessed brother Han Xiang carried a load of firewood back home, Zou Long was too young to afford it, so he insisted on letting Han Xiang get a bundle of small ones, tied a small bundle of firewood with a solid rattan, put the rattan on his shoulders and dragged it on the ground and pulled it home, raising a burst of dust along the road.

Looking at Zou Long, who was sweating profusely and blushing with a small face, Yi Zhengzhu, who was passing by, said to Ding Xiang with a smile: "Sister-in-law Lilac, your family is here, Zou Long has become a number!" There is a blessing to him! Lilac wiped the sweat on her face and replied, "Well, Hengfu doesn't dare to think about it, it's true to raise them with a mouth!"

After three days of hard work, only half of the land on the top of the hill was turned over. Smelling the fresh and muddy smell of the newly turned land under her feet, Lilac said to the blessed sisters earnestly: "You can't wear it poorly, you can't think about being lazy and slippery!" People, as long as they move, they will move for a day, the sky will not deceive the sincerity, as long as they are ruthless, they will not starve to death! ”

Near tea on the fourth day, the Lilac family was digging the remaining small piece of land in the mountains. At this time, Zou Long suddenly shouted: "Mom, look, there are a lot of guests in the house!" Lilac stopped with a hoe, and saw that it was Xu Zong's wife, Jinhua and his wife, and his mother's sister, and the three nephews who came to help.

When Lilac saw this, he hurriedly put down his hoe and went home to meet them, and met Xu Zong and them on the way. My sister's eldest son, Wang Zhiping, looked at the almost dug land, and said to Lilac: "Auntie, my mother is always worried about how much soil your family has to dig, so I asked our brother's own land to be stacked down first to give you a boost!" I don't want to cousin, they are more diligent than us, and the soil is almost dug up! ”

Lilac hurriedly replied: "I am very satisfied that all of you have this heart, and you really don't want to go because of the great hardship!"

Xiong Bosheng looked around and said, "Sister-in-law, look at what you said, the family was supposed to help each other!" Let's go, the big guy will dig the soil first, and if you have time to lay a good cellar and put the soil ash fertilizer, you will be able to plant sweet potatoes in the future, as long as you plant them, it will be much faster! A large group of us also have to do something worthy of today's lunch! ”

There are many people and great strength, and by noon the soil has been turned over, and the cellar has been laid for a small half before returning to the house to eat lunch. After the meal, Lilac thanked everyone again and said, "Today is a great luck!" You can go back as soon as possible and give your own house a meal! ”

Xu Zong's eyes swept around, and then said: "Come on, everyone can dig a cellar hole by one, it's better than your own digging faster, I originally planned that I and Zhiping and a few of them will go back tomorrow tonight, I don't want you to finish digging by yourself." Don't talk about it, continue in the afternoon, and it's still early to go home! ”

After speaking, he led everyone up the mountain, and in less than an hour, all the cellars in the entire soil were dug up, and the fertilizer of the sweet potato soil was also applied.

After returning to the house, everyone drank tea and said goodbye and went home. When I left, Lilac sent half a mile, and I thanked you all the way.

Since then, Lilac has always tirelessly told her children and grandchildren that they should remember the kindness of their relatives back then, and say what they said about dripping grace forever. It is also under the inspiration of this kind of family blood that the suffering widowed Lilac has more spiritual support in the years to come.

From turning the soil to planting the seeds, the blessed brothers finished their work, and as soon as they were free, they went to their own fields to serve the land they had high hopes for. By April, the lush crops were growing well, but there were few insect infestations, and the Lilac family was overjoyed. The sky paid off, and in June and July, there was a harvest in the field, first peanuts and corn, and then soybeans and sweet potatoes. Especially since September, the growing sweet potatoes have swelled the soil and cracked, and the Lilac family is very happy! When the tender corn was born, the cloves broke a basket of corn and went home.

Granny Lilac made tea blindly, and called the two or three tables of people in the surrounding neighborhoods to taste it.

Nianzu ran up and down with the tea filled with tender corn, accidentally knocked a small pebble and fell, and spilled the tea on the ground but still held it firmly in his hand.

Looking at the corn spilled on the ground, Nianzu lay on the ground, pinching them one by one with his hands and chewing them in his mouth.

Yougui was in a hurry, so angry that he stomped on Nianzu's foot, and said in his mouth: "In the future, you will have to pick up those few grains of corn in the mud!"

Nian Zu didn't cry because the second brother stomped on him, he seriously picked up a plump and tender corn seed sandwiched in the crack of the steps, tilted his head and shouted happily at Youfu's milky voice: "Big brother, there are still big grains here, almost let the little ants snatch them back into the house!"

Youfu was a little sad, pulled up Nianzu, poured all the tea that was drunk from his own bowl and only left peanuts and corn kernels into Nianzu's bowl, and coaxed Nianzu and said: "Don't pick up the corn on the ground, the corn on the ground sticks to a worm into your stomach, and the worm sends a nest of small insects to drill your stomach!" When you want to, you'll be pretending to be in your stomach! ”

Nianzu raised his little head and looked at his eldest brother gratefully. While chewing on the corn kernels and peanuts, he said: "You know, I swallowed the corn kernels just now, and there are insects that will bite me to death!"

When the adults in the room heard this, they immediately burst into laughter, and Gui Ding'e next to her laughed so much that the tea squirted out, and the cloves laughed, but a burst of sourness rose in their hearts.

When the sweet potatoes were dug up, Hu Gui'e gave birth to another one, a boy who was chubby for nothing.

The birth of the boy made Xia Sheng and his family very happy. Especially the blind mother-in-law was the most happy, touching and kneeling in the hall and kowtowing dozens of heads in the direction of the original ancestral tablet, and a string of turbid tears flowed from the sunken eye sockets, and a large piece of wet ground was wet on the ground, and then returned to the house with Xia Sheng's support.

After returning to the house and sitting down, the mother-in-law taught Xia Sheng with a straight face, and said: "You short-necked ghost with a skull, you only got a cub in your forties, it was blessed by the ancestors and Bodhisattvas, you have to know how to cherish it, you have to worry more about the big and small in the house!"

After finishing speaking, he paused, and his tone eased a lot, and he continued: "The Hu family's sister-in-law is in her forties, I don't know if there is milk underwater?!" You go get some milk boosters, only adults are good, and there is milk for a few people! ”

At this time, Hu Gui'e, who was eavesdropping with her ears in the next room, heard the name of the Hu family's sister-in-law in her mother-in-law's mouth for the first time, she stroked the sleeping baby boy's pink face, and tears of anger suddenly gushed out.

She knew in her heart that she was really accepted as a family by her mother-in-law at this moment, although she came a little late, her heart was still warm.

Xia Sheng asked Gui Shunjian to give the newborn boy a nice name called Xiongying. Since then, her mother-in-law has become more and more kind and concerned about Hu Gui'e.

The newborn Xiongying made her happy, and once she touched it and reached into Xiongying's crotch with her hand. When he touched Xiongying's little cock, Xia Sheng next to him couldn't help laughing and said, "Mom, are you afraid that we will coax you to be a woman, and you will not be relieved to inspect the goods?!"

The mother-in-law was not annoyed when she heard this, and said in a rare good mood: "Xia Sheng, you two are in your forties, don't you know if you will be born in the future?" Mother's menstrual affairs will come to you in your forties, and you husband and wife will do less in the future and be better with Da Xiongying, careless - Hu sister-in-law, your mother used to treat you badly, you don't care, your mother's blind people don't live for a few years, and you will bless your family after you die! ”

Hu Gui'e was very moved when she heard this, and replied with a little choked up: "Mother, your old man's life is a hundred years away, Xiongying will do our best to take care of it!"

Hu Gui'e, who calmed down, looked at Xiongying in her arms lovingly, and suddenly said to her mother-in-law with a smile: "Mother, don't say it, Xiongying is quite similar to Xia Sheng, with a short neck and a mold!"

When the mother-in-law heard this, she groped for a touch on Xiongying's neck again, and said a little proudly: "Well, it's like the mold when Xia Sheng was born, and this neck will have the same strength as Xia Sheng in the future!" The descendants of the Gui family are not like Xia Sheng, but also like dogs and cats? ”

When Hu Gui'e heard this, she couldn't help laughing, and said with a twist: "Your old man used to have a short necked ghost and a short necked ghost, and now Xiongying is also short-necked, why don't you call him a little short-necked ghost in the future?!"

The mother-in-law was not happy and said, "I won't be happy to mention the short-necked ghost in the future, whoever mentions me will tear someone's mouth!" I won't call Xia Sheng a short-necked ghost in the future! ”

Since then, my mother-in-law has never called Xia Sheng a short-necked ghost again. Hu Gui'e sometimes joked about this matter, Xia Sheng said, you are stained with the light of cubs!

Since the sweet potatoes came out, there is no shortage of them at home. Despite this, Lilac was still a little uneasy, and she led the blessed brothers to fill the potato cellar dug behind the house to the full. She has lived through the bitter months of the disaster year, and accumulating food to prevent hunger is a consciousness engraved in her bones!

Sweet potatoes, corn, soybeans, these grains are extremely nourishing, and the cloves are a room full of adults and children, and the faces of adults and children have swept away the yellow cabbage of the past few years, and after Nian Zu has eaten these things, his hands are so fat that he has piled up meat rings. Looking at the increasingly prosperous days, Lilac was happy with her brows, and she was secretly glad that she didn't give Zou Long away last year.

On a peaceful and peaceful day, an incident suddenly happened that made Lilac regret and blame herself for the rest of her life.

Nianzu did not starve to death in the era of lack of food and drink, but when he roasted sweet potatoes at the end of the sixty-second year when he was full of rice, he was scalded to death by the boiling water boiling in the kang.

It was a few days before the winter solstice, and Zou Long, who was already in the first grade of primary school, made a few sweet potatoes early in the morning before going to school, buried them in the hot ashes of the fire pit and simmered them.

After herding the cow, he picked up the sweet potatoes in the ashes and ate them, handed Nianzu who was squatting next to him a small sweet potato that had been roasted, and said, "Brother, my brother will go to study first, and you will eat a small one first." There is still a big cooked in the fire, don't do it yourself, be careful of burning your hands, and then ask grandma to dig it out for you after a while! After finishing speaking, he went to school with a yellow schoolbag while sipping sweet potatoes.

After Nianzu finished eating the little sweet potato, he sat on the small stool for a while, and then trotted to Xia Sheng's house, and shouted, "Grandma, can you help me go to the fire pit to get some sweet potatoes?"

The mother-in-law was blind, but her ears were smart, and she was busy telling Hu Gui'e, who was coaxing Xiongying, in the house, "Sister-in-law Hu, go to the sister-in-law's house to help Nianzu take the simmered sweet potatoes, take it out and tell him to come over the house, and his mother will explain it when she goes to work!" ”

When Hu Gui'e heard this, she hurriedly put down Xiongying and led Nianzu to the fire pit. She pulled out the sweet potato chop and pressed it, and said to Nianzu: "Nianzu, the sweet potato is still ripe." You go to see my brother with my aunt, I'll bury the sweet potatoes first and I'll get them for you later! ”

After speaking, he turned the sweet potato over and buried it again, and led Nianzu back to their house.

After teasing Xiongying in Hu Gui'e's house for a while, Nianzu sneaked out of the house.

The noise made when crossing the threshold was heard by the blind mother-in-law, and she hurriedly shouted: "Nian Zu, good cub, don't run around, there is no joke in the fire pit!" Nianzu paused for a moment and said to her mother-in-law, "Grandma, I'll just play outside the house, don't go to the fire pit!"

After saying that, he went out to the yard and played with stones and mud. The mother-in-law listened with pointed ears for a while before relieving her heart.

Nianzu, who had been playing alone in the courtyard for a while, felt a little bored, and finally couldn't hold back the child's heart, and secretly went back to his house alone.

He pulled out the sweet potato chop with iron tongs in both hands, and when he patted the hot simmering sweet potato with his hand, he scalded his hand violently.

It was at this moment of retraction that he accidentally knocked down the tea kettle that was boiling in the morning on the tripod next to him, and the hot tea that was still high at eighty or ninety degrees suddenly poured down Nian Zu's neck into his young body. In an instant, a fiery stinging pain penetrated Nian Zu's whole body, and he sat on the ground in pain, crying out heartbreakingly!

The mother-in-law in Hu Gui'e's house twitched when she heard this, and hurriedly called: "Sister-in-law Hu, hurry up and go to the sister-in-law's house to have a look!" Nian Zu, that guy is crying! ”

Hu Gui'e didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly ran into the fire pit house of the Lilac family, and when she saw Nianzu who was rolling on the ground in pain and steaming all over her body, she was so panicked that she picked up the wet filter Nianzu, and muttered in her mouth: "Nianzu don't cry, Uncle Niang will help you find your mother!"

When Lilac, who came back from hearing the news, saw Nianzu, she had been carefully stripped of her clothes by Hu Gui'e and her mother-in-law. A body of flesh and skin bloomed to reveal red flesh and blistered Nianzu, lying naked on his mother-in-law's bed.

Lilac suddenly saw a black look and almost fell to the ground, she tried to hold on to the door frame and settle down before running to the bed. At this time, Nian Zu, who saw his mother, howled even more fiercely, and cried loudly: "Mom! , Damn, it hurts! Mom, I hurt! ”

Lilac coaxed while inspecting Nianzu's injury, "Good cub, don't cry, mom is here, mom will take you to the doctor to see, and it won't hurt when you come back!" ”

Liu Ziwang, the barefoot doctor of the brigade invited by Hu Gui'e, looked at Nian Zu, who was so hot that his skin and flesh were blurred, and while briefly sipping some disinfectant potion, he said: "Sister-in-law, your child is not lightly scalded, I am brave enough to get the law, hurry up and send Meicheng for treatment!"

When Lilac heard this, she knew that it was a big deal, and hurriedly called the virtuous and noble brothers who rushed home to carry Nianzu to Meicheng with a sedan chair!

When he hugged the sedan chair bar and covered the quilt, he hurt Nianzu, and he howled like a pig.

Mother and son connected their hearts, Lilac's heart was so painful that her heart was pinched, tears dripped down on the sedan chair poles, blaming herself and coaxing Nianzu: "It's all my mother's bad, it's all my mother's good ancestor!" Cub, don't cry, the doctor won't hurt when you see it! ”

Nianzu, who was already a little feverish and confused on the way, remembered the sweet potatoes in the fire pit, and he muttered in his confused mouth: "Mom, I don't eat sweet potatoes, I want to eat white rice!"

Lilac, who was holding the parry next to her, had a sour nose when she heard it, and tears fell in the wind.

When he was carried into the Second People's Hospital, Nianzu was already hot and confused, and he no longer cried. As soon as the doctor saw that the injury was serious, he immediately organized people to push Nianzu into the operating room at the end of the long passage of the Second Hospital.

Lilac wanted to follow, but the doctor stopped her and said, "You still wait outside, you can't enter the operating room, and the infection will be even more troublesome!" After speaking, he closed the two heavy doors of the operating room.

Lilac had no choice, so she had to wait anxiously in the operating room with her virtuous and noble brothers. After pacing back and forth a few times, the three mothers and sons of Lilac Blessed and Precious simply sat on the ground, looking at the rotation of the round clock on the wall outside the operating room.

I don't know how long it was, but the door to the operating room finally opened. When the mother and son saw it, they hurriedly got up and surrounded them.

At this time, the female doctor wearing a mask pulled down the mask and said to Lilac: "The child's condition is not optimistic, fifty or sixty percent of the body is deeply burned, and the person has been treated and slept!" This is a critical illness notice, and your family members are literate to sign it. ”

When Lilac heard this, her heart clicked, and she was a little confused and nervous, she was just a feverish and confused Nianzu two hours ago, why was she critically ill?!

With the help of the doctor, Youfu signed Lilac's name in the place where he signed it. Although you are blessed to know that your brother is dangerous, you don't know what it means to sign this name.

From morning to night that day, Lilac's mother and son only had one meal in the hospital, and the other time the mother and son didn't go anywhere and stayed outside the door of the operating room.

When it was almost dark, the doctors pushed Nian Zu out, wrapped in white gauze all over his body, his eyes were closed, and his slightly chubby face was a little pale as if he was asleep.

Lilac and the others immediately gathered around and asked, "Doctor, which ward will my child sleep in today, and I will have to open an extra bed at that time, so I can greet him!" The child can't live without me at night! ”

At this time, the female doctor who asked Youfu to sign the critical illness notice slowly took Lilac's hand and said with pity: "Sister-in-law, the child is gone!" I know that you have been guarding for an afternoon, I also have children, I know the heart of being a mother, you take care of your own life. ”

Lilac was stunned when she heard this, and after a while, when she understood, she hugged Nianzu and cried like crazy, and the doctors persuaded her for a long time to no avail.

Later, Lilac, who was tired of crying, refused the doctor's suggestion to stay for one night and then go home, and returned to the Red Star Brigade with the blessed brothers overnight with Nianzu in his arms.

It was a sixteenth day, and under the bright moonlight, Lilac insisted on letting the blessed brother carry the empty sedan car, and she herself carried Nian Zu back to her home in her arms.

Under the gentle moonlight wilderness, Lilac's mother and son followed suit, and along the way, Lilac teased and called Nianzu countless times, but Nianzu lay quietly in Lilac's arms and never answered her. Lilac's tears dripped Nianzu's head and face, and Lilac wiped away the tears that fell on Nianzu's quiet face with her hands all the way, and the tears fell on Nianzu's face again and again.

When I got home, it was already midnight, and the startled Xia Sheng couple and the blind mother-in-law rushed over.

Everyone was very sad, and the blind mother-in-law beat her chest and cried: "It's all my fault, I'm sorry for you!" Who made me blind, a Sun Yan can't stand it! Ancestor Bodhisattva, why don't you take me and remember your ancestors......"

According to the old rules, when a child like this who didn't have a number died, he hastily went to the barren mountains to dig a pit and bury it.

Lilac was a little reluctant, and insisted on asking Xia Sheng to help dismantle the two floor slabs of the building and make a coffin. She carefully removed the gauze wrapped around Nianzu's body and changed into Nianzu's usual clothes. Xia Sheng took Youfu overnight and carried Nianzu to his own mountain, dug a pit and buried it.

The gauze cloves wrapped in Nianzu were reluctant to throw them away, so she washed the gauze stained with Nianzu's blood and made a pair of soles with it. The fabric was not enough, and she also dismantled a lot of rotten cloth and mixed it together to make it.

She never wore the shoes after they were made, and only when she remembered her ancestors would she take them out and take a look.

When Lilac was dying, she also told her blessed brother that she must remember to bury the shoes in her coffin.

After Nianzu's death, Lilac, who was usually in good health, fell ill and had a fever at home for several days.

She dreamed of Qiusheng in her dream, and she just wanted to rush over and tell Qiusheng about the difficulties of these years. But Qiusheng always smiled and walked away, and he couldn't catch up with him.

When I woke up, I was soaking wet.

Since then, Lilac has become more devout and devoted to Buddhism, whether it is a true martial arts immortal, or a broken temple in the barren mountains and land, she worships sincerely. Lilac has only studied for half a year, and she doesn't know much truth, but she recognizes that sincerity to the Buddha and kindness always make mistakes. In addition, another reason for believing in Buddhism is that she believes that the gods will always bless their family.

The early death of Qiusheng and Si'er has become an eternal pain in her heart. She believes that only by being more devout to the Bodhisattvas will the Bodhisattvas have mercy and protection for those who are suffering like her.

Thirty-eighth