The setting sun is like blood, and the sunset is like fire.
The dark and towering village was obscured by the curling smoke.
The wheat in the fields has been harvested, and the members of the commune are carrying the wheat sheaves toward the mill.
As the old saying goes, when the wheat is harvested, the child will not find its mother.
If the wheat sheaves cannot be stomped up in time, they will become wet with dew if they are left in the ground overnight.
When it comes time to grind the wheat again tomorrow, it will take a lot of effort.
Children and female comrades also hunched over to pick ears of wheat in the wheat field.
In this era, every grain of wheat is precious, and they have to hand the ears of wheat to the commune granary.
The first person to see Li Donglai was Xiao Shitou.
He was standing up and slacking off when his eyes were suddenly attracted by the bright car bell in the distance.
A bright smile suddenly appeared on his little face that was red from the sun. He pointed in the distance and shouted: "Uncle Donglai, it's Uncle Donglai who's back."
The other children also straightened up and followed his gaze.
The wheat ears in his hands fell to the ground, and he stepped on the wheat stubble and ran towards the roadside.
"Wow, Uncle Donglai is really back."
"Uncle Donglai will definitely bring us delicious food."
...
Before Li Donglai reached the edge of the village, he was surrounded by a group of children.
Seeing the hope in the children's eyes, he tied up his bicycle and took out a large handful of White Rabbit toffee from the package at the back.
The big white rabbit with smooth ears on the blue candy wrapper instantly caught the children's attention.
The nest was blown up.
Crowding forward in a hurry.
"Don't crowd, there is something for everyone." Li Donglai shouted loudly and handed out candies to the children.
Not far away, Qin Fen, who was carrying wheat bundles, came over and chased away the children: "Is it weird to surround other people with greedy cats one by one?"
The children were so greedy that they could not listen to him.
The naughty little Shitou opened his mouth with both hands, stretched his eyelids, stuck out his tongue and made a face at Qin Fen: "Dunghead, Dunghead, Third Aunt won't let you go to bed at night."
When the other children heard this, they also shouted: "Dunghead, Dunghead, Third Aunt won't let you go to bed at night."
"These little bastards are rebelling against heaven!"
Qin Fen was so angry that he picked up the trash on the ground and planned to throw it at the children.
The children rushed away with candy bars.
The crisp laughter filled the hot air.
"No, kid, you're just greedy." Li Donglai stopped Qin Fen.
While giving the candy to the children who had not yet received the candy, he smiled and said: "I remember when you were a child, you got a piece of candy and you were reluctant to eat it. Instead, you buried the candy in the ground."
"You tell me, this piece of candy will sprout and grow into a towering tree, which will produce many, many pieces of candy."
"The two of us watered it every day and waited for the sugar cubes to sprout. We waited for more than ten days and still didn't see any."
"After you dug it out, all the sugar inside melted, and you cried like a tear."
"My aunt lied to me..." Qin Fen scratched his head in embarrassment.
After some pleasantries, Qin Fen asked: "Brother Donglai, it's already dark, what are you doing back here? Is there something urgent?"
"There is something, but it's not an emergency, it's a good thing." Li Donglai looked around, but did not see Qin Sanmin, "Where is the village chief?"
"Uncle Sanmin is in the grinding yard." Qin Fen walked in front, chattering as he walked.
"Uncle Sanmin has been in poor health these past two days, so he asked the doctor from the next village to prescribe two sets of medicine, but it didn't work after taking it. I was still thinking of going up to the city to find you, so you came back."
Qin Sanmin has been the village chief in Qinjiagou for more than 20 years and has long become the backbone of Qinjiagou people.
"You are sick and you still have to go to the grinding yard?" Li Donglai pushed his bicycle.
"I also tried to persuade him, but you also know that this old man is very stubborn. He is afraid that young people like us don't know how to care about food, so he will stomp up the ears of wheat that have not been completely crushed down." Qin Fen explained.
Li Donglai nodded.
The Qinjiagou grinding yard uses stone grinding mills.
The power and weight of stone rollers cannot be compared with the tractors of later generations.
Wheat ears sometimes cannot be ground cleanly.
After crossing a stone bridge, the noisy sound of rolling stones gradually became clearer, and we arrived at the wheat mill.
The wheat mill was originally a piece of wasteland decades ago. After continuous rolling, the soil on the ground has become very solid.
To the east are a dozen wheat straw stacks.
The wheat straw stack is two stories high.
There are young commune members below using forks to pick up wheat straw and throwing it up, while the commune members above crush the wheat straw with their feet.
Wheat straw is the best firewood for cooking pots and should not be wasted.
In the middle of the wheat mill, wheat was spread out on the ground.
Qin Sanmin's son, Qin Dabao, led the old scalper and pulled two stone rollers back and forth in circles.
Behind him, there were two or three members wearing straw hats, holding forks to make a move.
When Li Donglai was in Qinjiagou, he often did a lot of troublesome work.
When turning over, pay attention to shaking it evenly and turning it thoroughly.
Shake all the seeds to the bottom, and then turn the bottom layer of wheat straw to the top.
After turning over the field, crush it again with the stone roller, and then turn over the field again.
It takes three or four rounds each time to finally make sure that all the wheat has been crushed, and then the wheat straw is inserted into the wheat straw pile.
There is a big locust tree to the west of the wheat mill.
The branches of the big locust tree are lush and the canopy is like a pavilion.
A gust of breeze blew, the leaves trembled, and the light spots on the ground were shattered.
Under the shade of the trees, there were gasoline barrels containing cold boiled water. The members who took turns to take a break drank the boiled water and talked nonsense.
Qin Sanmin was sitting on a stool, counting the number of crushes and reminding Qin Dabao from time to time.
"Dabao, why didn't you open your eyes? You didn't go to the left. Remember to move to the side for the next round."
Compared to his father, this kid is just a little bit worse.
The food in the farm is related to the quality of Qinjiagou's life in the coming year, so it cannot be careless.
Qin Sanmin stood up from time to time to give instructions, but did not notice until Qin Fen came over.
"Uncle Sanmin, Brother Donglai is back."
Hearing the sound, Qin Sanmin was stunned.
When his eyes fell on Li Donglai's face, a smile bloomed on his sun-dried face.
"Dong Lai is back, come on, sit down quickly."
Qin Sanmin asked Qin Fen to bring another bench, and then took an enamel bowl and poured a full bowl of cold water.
There is tea brewed in the cold water, and it has a light fragrance when you drink it.
Li Donglai rode for dozens of miles, but his mouth felt dry and his Adam's apple trembled, so he drank it all in one gulp.
"My son, don't you work hard in the city? What are you doing here?" Qin Sanmin looked surprised.
"Uncle Sanmin, I have something to discuss with you when I come back this time." Li Donglai stood up and poured another bowl of boiling water. For some reason, he always felt that the water from Qinjiagou was better to drink.
While drinking water, he explained the food station's intention to form a support group with Qinjiagou, and Gu Shen's intention to invite Uncle Qin to raise pigs.
"Of course, even though it is a target of assistance, the food station will not provide any substantial help. It can only provide a little convenience when our commune sells pigs."
Of course, they were all members of his own family, and Li Donglai did not hide the fact that the assistance was just a matter of concealment.
"As for Uncle Qin's salary, it is estimated to be the minimum standard at the food station, about 20 yuan per month, and there are no benefits."
"A great thing, this is a great thing!" Qin Sanmin didn't care at all. He stood up suddenly and said, "You have worked in our commune before and you know the situation in the commune."
"With these twenty yuan, I can pull out some pieces of cloth and make some good clothes for the children in our village."
Qin Fen next to him heard this and his eyes lit up. He bowed his body and asked, "Brother Donglai, is there any job suitable for me in the city? I don't want twenty yuan, I will be satisfied with fifteen yuan."
