When the New Year's Eve was just destined to come, in early winter of the first year, the long-term workers of Bailu Village in Weibei and those working in neighboring villages returned to their houses one after another. Even the unkind owners
Paying them a whole year's salary in advance allows them to go home from work more than two months before the end of the year, which at least saves one person's food rations. Lu San saw these people returning from work early in the streets.
The brothers thought of themselves. After the wheat was judged not to sprout, and looking at the declining livestock market, Bai Jiaxuan decisively sold the green mules and oxen, leaving only a red horse. This was not a very smart move.
, anyone can figure out that the peas and bran that a cow or a mule eats for a year may be exchanged for five cows and five mules. In addition to the rising prices of grain, everything else
The prices of livestock, cotton, wood, cloth, groceries, and land are falling day by day, and the bride price of a woman’s betrothal has also dropped by more than half. When the terrible famine has just revealed its tyranny, all kinds of food are suddenly pushed to the supreme authority, and everything, including people, is
They themselves had to surrender and had to drop prices again and again. There were no wheat seedlings, so there was no need for manure in winter; cotton had died of drought, and cotton gins had no hope of attracting customers for cotton gins; livestock had been sold, and only one horse was left to float.
Living with one person dedicated to feeding; there will be no work all winter and spring. How can it be embarrassing to sit in other people's houses while eating? He is convinced that Bai Jiaxuan will never send him off work early like those long-term workers in the village.
He had to say goodbye by himself and could not just wait for the host to come and kick him out. After dinner, Lu San wiped his mouth, lit the pipe, and said cheerfully: "Jiaxuan, I'm going back in the dark today." Bai Jiaxuan said calmly.
He said: "If you have anything to do back in Kazakhstan, just do it. There is nothing urgent this winter." Lu Sanliu realized that he had misunderstood his original intention, so he made it clear: "I won't come back tomorrow." Bai Jiaxuan still said
He said calmly: "I just said you can leave tomorrow for three to five days." Lu San said more clearly: "From tomorrow on, if I don't come back, I will get off work." Bai Jiaxuan then stood up from the back of his chair.
He stood up and said, "What's the matter? You couldn't leave on the way. We're still far away from the New Year." Xiancao heard this and came to the table and asked: "Third brother, you have offended someone in our house, but you are
Why can't I leave?" Lu San quickly explained: "There is no work in the fields and there is no work in the house. I just sit around and eat for free and feel uncomfortable." Bai Jiaxuan said, "I feel comfortable now that you are gone, but you can't.
The discomfort was thrown to me." Lu San was stunned for a moment. Bai Jiaxuan then said: "I am driving you out to save a ration. What can people say to me? Can I still feel comfortable in my heart?" Lu San said hurriedly: "That's not what I said.
No work to do, no time to spare, this is something that everyone can see and won’t talk nonsense about. If the work starts in the drenched fields next spring, I will come without you calling me." Bai Jiaxuan said coldly:
"Third brother, listen, from now on, don't mention this again. Whatever I eat, you eat. I eat thick food and you eat thick food. I eat thin food and you eat thin food. What if one day?
We've been cut off and can't open the pot anymore. Let's go out to beg for food and find some companions." Lu San swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his thick throat joint slid violently twice, and he had no words to say. Bai Jiaxuan then said lightly.
: "When you have no work to do, you rest and fall asleep. After you have had enough rest and are tired of sleeping, you go shopping. Go to the market. When there is no market, go to a crowded place to play tricks, eat wolves and eat babies.
The daughter-in-law jumped into the well, played a lot, then rested and then went to sleep... Don't glare at me, brother. I'm not trying to make you cold-hearted, I'm just saying serious things: God has killed people, and you can't commit suicide. If you are young, your big intentions will be magnified. If you are old, your big intentions will be bigger.
It will be even worse when you are younger." Lu San felt that he could not hold back the tears in his eyes, so he turned around and walked out of the yard and entered the horse stable without saying anything. It was not until the day of the stove sacrifice before the New Year and the Spring Festival came that he made up his mind again, this time.
I won't come back next year after I finish my job. I really can't go into Bai's house to eat and sit around.
The night before Lu San left the Bai family, Xiaowen asked his father to borrow food, but Bai Jiaxuan refused. This incident further stimulated Lu San. After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Lu San did not come to work, and Bai Jiaxuan walked in
Lu San's low and messy two-room mansion said: "Follow me, third brother. Don't talk about me. Since you left during the New Year, the red horse has been barking day and night, asking you to feed it. It is not happy to eat when others add grass and ingredients."
Lu San's throat slides violently twice more and follows Bai Jiaxuan back to the horse's horn.
Xiaowen bravely walked into the landlord's house and told his grandma Bai Zhao that the grain his father gave him when the family was separated could last for the autumn harvest, but the autumn harvest was gone, and there was no hope for the next year's wheat. The whole winter
He drank rice glutinous rice and made do with it until the twelfth lunar month, but he really couldn't get through the new year... He begged his grandma to ask his father to borrow some food. Mrs. Bai Zhao wanted to take the opportunity to teach her grandson a lesson. Look what you have done. Bai Jiaxuan came from the opposite side.
Xiwu had already heard it and said loudly: "Don't open your mouth like this." Bai Xiaowen left grandma's room and returned to the front door without saying anything. Bai Zhao said to Xiwu: "Your heart is not made of flesh, but of moisture."
"Stones in the river" Bai Jiaxuan walked in: "Mom, you can lead those two little bastards to the back tomorrow."
After Xiaowen borrowed grain from his father and hurt his face, he sold two acres of land. When Bai Jiaxuan heard the news, he was so angry that he couldn't eat. He ordered Xiaowu to call Xiaowen to the main hall of the backyard. Xiaowu walked into the front door of the landlord's house.
He said, "Brother, our father will call you." Xiaowen lay on the kang and only turned his head: "I won't go." Xiaowu stood up straight and said, "You won't go even if my father calls you." Xiaowen said, "In the backyard
I won't go to the living room, and I won't go again." Xiaowu threatened: "Then let the old man beg you to come." Xiaowen suddenly stood up from the kang and jumped under the kang: "Don't try to show off to me. Who likes it?
I don't care, I didn't take anything from you, I didn't lend you anything, I didn't owe you anything." Xiaowu said calmly: "Brother, look at what you have become, do you still talk and behave like an elder brother?" Xiaowen was
He wanted to say something more spicy, to vent his anger for not using food, and to kill his younger brother. Unexpectedly, his father scolded him in the yard: "Xiaowen, come out." Xiaowen pulled up Mianwowo and walked to the yard, and saw the darkness.
Standing in the courtyard was his father's rickety figure. Bai Jiaxuan asked directly: "Did you sell the land?"
"sold."
“Who sold it to?”
"Whoever pays more will sell it."
"I heard that it was sold to Lu Zilin."
"Uncle Zilin has money and food. Others can't afford it."
"This land is in your father's hands, you can't sell it."
"Now this land is mine. If I want to survive, I have to exchange it for a handful of grain."
"How much did you sell these two acres of water land for?"
"As I'm talking, the price officer hasn't said that I'm going to throw him down yet."
"Don't say anything. If you sell this land to me, I will give you double price."
"That won't work. A man's words are hard to follow. No matter how much money you give me, you can't take back my words."
There was a whistle in the darkness, and Bai Xiaowen stumbled to the ground. The crutch in his father's hand hit him in the face, and then hit his thigh. Bai Xiaowen felt a sense of revenge, and from then on
He slowly got up from the ground and walked into the house, bolted the door with a bang, and left his father and Xiaowu out in the cold in the yard. Xiaowu supported and comforted his father and walked back to the living room in the backyard. Xiaowen continued to recover and lay on his back.
Sleeping on the kang, with one leg crossed over the other, he said to the woman: "Okay, okay, no one will care about me from now on."
This year's Spring Festival and New Year is the most bleak and boring New Year that Xiaowen can remember. In the large villages and small villages far and near in Bailuyuan, there is no gongs and drums, no noise, only a few sporadic cannons. The first month of the year
At noon on the first day of the new year, Xiaowen went to the steamed bun shop in Bailu Town and bought five cans of steamed buns. He squatted on the steps of the steamed bun shop and ate them. He asked the shopkeeper for a pot of hot tea and drank it.
After enjoying the New Year, Xiaowen picked five more and put them in his arms, and walked around the back alley of Bailu Village towards the east end of the village. In the village alleys, men and women dragged their children to the ancestral hall, which was not to be missed in the year of famine.
He lit a stick of incense and kowtowed three times to his ancestors. When Xiao Wen walked into Xiao'e's kiln door, he hissed and said: "Happy New Year, sister, I wish you a happy new year." Xiao'e was kneading dough on the chopping board and turned around and said:
"You are thinking about Japanese girls in your heart, but what kind of gift are you getting for New Year's greetings to girls?" "You are wronging my brother's kindness." Xiaowen took out cans of steamed buns with red flowers on them one after another from his arms, and placed them on the
The chopping board said, "When people go to the ancestral hall to pay homage to their ancestors, we are the only ones left in the village to care about our children. You worship me and I worship you to have a happy reunion." "So, brother, just sit on the fire kang and wait -
"Xiao'e smiled and said, "My sister will make some noodles for you and add some steamed buns on it." "The noodles are fragrant, please wait for a while." Xiaowen said, "I'm full. You should eat some steamed buns first to satisfy your hunger.
Do it first, I miss you so much." "No, no, I have noodles on my hands." Xiao'e shook her head. "I don't use my hands..." Xiaowen took Xiao'e away from the chopping board and walked towards the fire pit...
Xiaowen could not forget the first time he was able to handle Xiao'e so well. It was one and a half months after he was beaten with a thorn brush, at noon, when he walked out of the street for the first time and walked straight into Tian Xiao'e's cave dwelling.
Xiao'e was startled and stunned: "You come to my place in broad daylight and you are not afraid of people seeing you." Bai Xiaowen said, "I used to be afraid of people seeing me but now I am not afraid anymore. Anyone who wants to see can watch." Only then did Xiao'e come back to her senses and ask him.
To see if the injury was healed, she rolled up her sleeves and looked at his arms, unbuttoned her breasts, and looked at his chest. Xiaowen put his arms around her waist, lifted her up and put her on the kang, and started to unbutton her lapels: "Brother, I'm on the kang."
I lay there for a month and a half without thinking about anything. I was only thinking about you, a pair of white birds and pigeons." Xiao'e hugged Xiaowen tightly like a snake, and murmured with tears streaming down her face: "Good brother.
How badly are you injured...I can't see or ask...My sister feels so sorry for you that she's going crazy..." Xiao'e said, suddenly stood up, held Xiaowen's cheeks with both hands, and asked in surprise: "
"Brother, you're done today..." Xiaowen wiped the sweat from his neck proudly: "Now you won't laugh at me for being a spear made of wax." The two of them were inspired by this strange change to reach the peak of joy.
Ever since he broke into the brick kiln and was tied to the locust tree in the ancestral hall for public display, he has been unable to overcome the strange chronic illness of taking off his trousers and tightening his trousers. Today, he showed himself in front of Xiao'e for the first time.
Xiao'e still couldn't get rid of her curiosity: "Why did you look so weird in the past? Just look like this today." Xiaowen laughed and said: "In the past, I had that weird look when I wanted to be shameless, but now I'm shameless.
This is what he looks like, he is shameless and looks like a man." The sun moved from the ridge of the kiln to the treetops, until the kiln was completely dark, neither of them left the fire kang, walking toward happiness again and again.
The peak of the mountain fell from the peak to the comfortable valley again and again, and then it was brewing to reach the peak again... At that time, Bai Jiaxuan was leading the villagers who were fetching water into the valley to make a tragic march towards Longtan...
Xiao'e got down from the kang and tightened her cotton trousers, washed her hands in the earthen basin, looked back at Xiaowen who was lying on the hot kang and said: "Brother, today is the Chinese New Year. You haven't forgotten your sister, and I haven't forgotten you either. You gave it to my sister."
"Five cans of steamed buns, what do you think my sister has left for you?" Xiaowen said nonchalantly: "If you don't care about the meat buns, meatballs, and steamed noodles, I will care about your pair of white quails and pigeons." Xiao'e
He said: "I don't want you to be surprised. I won't give it to you normally. Today is the Chinese New Year to let you enjoy this blessing... Just wait, wait for me to roll out the noodles, and then I will give them to you after we eat the longevity noodles."
She jumped down from the kang and hugged Xiao'e naked, shivering with cold: "You've made me unable to lie down any longer. Take it out and show me what fun it is." Xiao'e had no choice but to climb onto the kang again.
He took out a pipe from the kiln and said, "Take a sip today, and I'm sure you'll have a good year." Xiaowen couldn't help but be startled when he saw the shiny pipe, and took the smooth purple-black pipe and held it on his fingertips.
Feeling cold, my mind suddenly recalled the face of my uncle, Mr. Zhu, who spoke impassionedly during the lecture. Mr. Zhu, who always maintained a calm and honest appearance, lost his normal attitude when he talked about the ban on smoking. Xiao'e lay half-reclining in front of him and tore open a piece of paper.
A layer of oily paper, pick up a piece of opium paste with a thin iron drill, rub it between three fingers, then press it on the hole of the pipe and say: "Wait a minute, I will light a lamp for you. I will serve you today, my sister, and have a good New Year."
"Let Xiaowen suck three bubbles in a row, Xiao'e patted Xiaowen's shoulder like coaxing a child: "Sleep well. I'll roll some dough for you, sister."
Xiaowen lay down, and gradually began to transform. His arms stretched out, his legs and feet became as light as a swallow. There seemed to be an endless soft wind blowing in and out of his heart. All the burdens of life were removed from his mind, and there seemed to be countless flowers, green leaves, and dewdrops rolling around.
The sound of the rolling pin on the chopping board was clear and rhythmic. Xiao'e stretched out her arms to push the rolling pin forward and then bent her arms to pull the rolling pin back to the table. It was like a dance. He sat up and put on his clothes with a slight movement.
, volunteered to sit on the firewood pile under the stove, turned on the bellows, and said cheerfully: "Sister, you roll out the dough and I'll cook the pot. Let's celebrate the New Year as husband and wife today." Xiao'e happily played with the rolling stick on the chopping board.
, the huge noodle leaves were rolled onto the rolling pin for a while, and then spread out from the rolling pin to the chopping board like waving a flag. Her waist in the apron did not look bloated even in cotton pants, and her plump breasts followed.
The movement of rolling out the dough trembled slightly, and the round buttocks also trembled slightly. Xiaowen couldn't help but said cheerfully: "Oh, sister, I'm thinking about it again..." Xiao'e said: "You are a melon boy, so you don't know anything about it."
I'm cutting noodles." He said, put the thin noodles into a wooden plate, put them on the pot stand, and when he saw that the pot was steaming, he pushed out the lid and threw the noodles into the boiling water with a splash.
Then she stretched out her arm to pull up the pot lid. At this moment, her graceful and capable movements made Xiaowen laugh uncontrollably. She held the bellows rod with one hand, and grabbed the trouser leg from the bottom with her left hand and stretched it down violently.
His pants slid down past his knees, and he stretched out his arms to hug her and push her down on the wheat straw under the stove. Xiao'e was anxious: "Oh, the noodles are so stuffy that it's mushy in the pot." Xiaowen said, "Let it go." Xiao'e said, "
Now you dare to spoil the food." Xiaowen said: "A bowl of noodles is nothing." Xiao'e had no intention of hurting Xiaowen's interest, lying on her back on the wheat straw in the kitchen, stroking Xiaowen's face with one hand, and holding the bellows rod with the other...