Chapter 57 The past that Zhang Ma doesn’t want to recall
"Master, I will send you here."
"Okay, slow down on the way back."
"Hey, I got it."
After sending Master Ma home, Zhang Yu got on his bicycle and rushed home.
When I got home, the whole sky was dark. Zhang Yu made a mistake this time and didn't bring a flashlight when he went out.
"Bang Bang Bang."
Zhang's mother in the house heard someone knocking on the door and knew that her son was back.
"Is Xiaoyu back?"
As he spoke, he opened the door.
Zhang Yu quickly pushed the bicycle into the west room of the courtyard and returned to the house.
Ah, it’s so warm. Riding a bicycle on this day is really freezing.
It's okay during the day, with the sun so it's not that cold, but it's unbearable at night. No matter how thick your clothes are, they'll be soaked through.
At this moment, Zhang Ma also closed the door and entered the house.
Helping Zhang Yu, he poured a cup of hot water. Zhang Yu held it in his hand and warmed his hands first.
"What the hell, why is it so cold at night? I'll freeze to death."
At this moment, Zhang Ma was sitting on a stool nearby, taking out the unfinished clothes from the dustpan.
"The weather in BJ is quite warm, but the colder it gets as you go north. In the past, people often froze to death in the Northeast."
Speaking of the Northeast, Zhang Yu thought of the invasion of Guandong that he had heard mentioned before.
"Mom, how much do you know about my grandfather's generation?"
Zhang's mother raised her head and glanced at Zhang Yu. We rubbed the needles on her scalp, lowered our heads and continued working, talking without stopping.
"Why, I want to hear the stories of that generation."
"I'm really curious. I heard there were thieves at that time, right?"
Zhang Ma shook her head after hearing this.
"I've heard about this too, but I don't know the details."
"Why are you suddenly so interested in your grandfather's generation?"
Zhang's mother only heard about these things because Zhang's mother is from Peiping, and Zhang's father or father-in-law mentioned these things when they chatted.
"I have always been interested. I think people of my grandfather's generation are all magical."
After hearing this, Zhang Ma smiled and shook her head.
"Haha, it's magical. When you don't have enough to eat, you will also be mysterious."
"The people who came to Guandong back then were from poor families. Only those who were hungry and had no food to eat would go to Guandong and try their best. Anyway, everyone on the left and right would die."
"At that time, we didn't have any land to farm. All the land in the village belonged to the landlords. We all rented land for farming. When there was a harvest, nine percent belonged to the landlords, and the remaining one percent was ours."<
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"If you want to get this point, it also depends on whether the grain harvest in the field is good or not. If you don't grow the amount you promised, you will just go hungry."
"In order not to go hungry, what should I do? Let the landlords borrow grains. There is no need to pay back the borrowed grains. The landlords will double the grains and add them to next year's harvest. If they cannot be paid back, a bad situation will arise.
cycle."
"However, if you don't plant, you will be hungry forever. Therefore, many people have no choice but to give it a try and start walking north, hoping to find a way out."
"At that time, many people walked there, and those with weak bodies were half dead."
When you mention these things, those dark memories will flood out. Only those who have experienced them can appreciate the goodness of the country.
"Okay, okay, don't say it, don't say it, it will only make you uncomfortable if you talk about these nonsense."
"Hurry up, drink the water, wash your face and feet, and go back to the house to sleep."
After Zhang Ma finished speaking, she returned to the house with the dustpan.
Although Zhang Yu was interested in what happened at that time, when he heard it, it was like hearing a story. He had no experience and could not empathize with it.
Zhang Yu went back to the house first and touched the kang. It felt quite warm. It turned out that it was Zhang's mother who helped burn it.
Zhang Yu stuffed a few pieces of wood into the kang hole again, closed the lid, went to the outhouse and brought a basin of water in. After washing, he took off his clothes and got into bed.
The next day, Zhang Yu got up early and helped the family, sweeping the floor and feeding the chickens.
After cleaning up, Zhang Yu started to chop the stuffing, knead the dough, and start making dumplings.
It just so happens that there is no shortage of meat at home, so I just wrap it up one by one into small meatballs.
What is made now is not necessarily eaten now. Of course, today is the Lunar New Year, so it is appropriate to eat dumplings. Let’s make more together and freeze them outside. If you want to eat them, bring them over. It is also convenient to cook them.
There are a total of nine people in Zhang Yu's family, seven adults, three boys and four girls. They are all manual workers and have a lot of appetite.
The third sister herself said that she would eat twenty. Zhang Yu guessed that it would not be enough, so how could she get twenty-five more?
Zhang's mother, sister-in-law, and second sister also use this amount. These four people will need more than one hundred.
Dad Zhang, eldest brother and Zhang Yu, these three men, thirty is not necessarily enough for each of them, plus two little guys, it will cost more than a hundred.
In total, there are nearly 300 dumplings. Just making dumplings is a time-consuming task.
The task given to Zhang’s father and elder brother is to coax the children and prevent them from being naughty.
The rest, under the leadership of Zhang Yu, started this huge project.
Zhang Yu did all the stuffing and dough mixing, because Zhang Yu was willing to put meat in, so Zhang's mother definitely couldn't be so bold and ordered some cabbage to be mixed in.
Zhang Yu also had this idea, wrap it first, and when the meat is almost used, add some cabbage to the stuffing, so that more can be wrapped.
A group of people were crowded in the kitchen. It was indeed crowded. Zhang Yu simply brought the stuffing and noodles into the room and wrapped them there so that everyone could spread them.
Zhang Yu and his third sister rolled out the dough, and Zhang Ma and his second sister and sister-in-law made dumplings.
Slowly, everything in the room that could be placed was filled with dumplings.
"Uncle, when will the dumplings be ready? We are hungry."
The two little guys pulled Zhang Yu's pants and yelled.
Hearing that the children were hungry, Zhang Yu looked at the alarm clock and saw that it was already twelve o'clock. No wonder the children shouted that they were hungry.
"Oops, I'm sorry, I forgot the time. I'll give it to you right now."
Zhang Yu quickly handed the rolling pin to the second sister and asked the second sister to roll it out first.
"Dad, you go to the kitchen, light the fire and pour water. I'll have to make dumplings soon."
After hearing this, Dad Zhang pointed at his elder brother and told him to go.
The eldest brother and his family looked at the old man aggrievedly, "Didn't I tell you to go? Why is it my turn again? You don't follow martial ethics."
The eldest brother entered the kitchen reluctantly, but he was really good at lighting a fire. He lit the fire in two or three times and added three ladles of water to the pot.
"Xiaoyu, the fire is lit for you. Come and take a look."
Zhang Yu listened to his elder brother calling him and came to the kitchen with two pots of dumplings.
"Brother, help me go to the cellar and bring up a piece of cabbage. I'll add it to the meat in a while. Let's eat cabbage and meat dumplings tonight."
As soon as the elder brother heard about the food, he immediately became energetic and hurried to the cellar. When he was full, he came in with a cabbage, helped Zhang Yu to pick it up and put it on the cutting board.
"Brother, go find something and set up a table in the courtyard. We can eat outside. The house is full and there is no room to eat."
Zhang Yu watched the water boil, put a lid on the pot, opened it evenly, closed the lid, glanced at the firewood, and stuffed a few pieces of wood inside.