Chapter 4 hard times

The increasingly difficult life made the old lady's eyes shift from the waist of the woman in Bangzijing Village to the bowl held in someone else's hand. It is not clear when this habit was formed. The farmers in Bangzijing Village eat in the streets all year round.In winter, squatting in front of the sunny wall; in summer, sitting under the thick shade of trees, eating and chatting, comfortable and leisurely. , still unchanged.Each person had a bowl of loose-packed glutinous rice grits mixed with sauerkraut made from radish leaves, Artemisia annua or sweet potato leaves. "Ha! Damn feet! The more you drink the grits, the bigger your belly will be..."

"If you eat fat meat for a month, you will be guaranteed to eat less and less!" "Meat? Haha... I heard that it was all given to Heidou Xiaodou (Khrushchev)..." "Well... where do they grow beans..." These farmers, who are burdened with the heavy pressure of the country, have disheveled faces, and some are swollen due to lack of nutrition, but they are still joking. The old lady Bangzi brought a bowl of grits and stood aside, drinking it with gusto, as if she was listening to gossip, and when she rolled her eyes, she looked all over the big or small bowls in the hands of the men and women present. The thickness of the inside is clear at a glance.

"Almost, same thinness." She said in her heart, it can be seen that the sun and the moon are as difficult as the sun and the moon. Originally, the same standard rations were distributed from the same scale. Occasionally, someone would bring a bowl of noodles, and she could not restrain her envy. The tongue in his mouth sounded like a clapper: "Tsk tsk tsk! You still have white noodles at home? I haven't touched my coat and stick in three months..." Granny Bangzi’s life seems to be more difficult. The family of four all eat a lot, and the two children are at the age of eating and growing. The tighter the food shortage, the faster the children’s appetite seems to increase.Although she has a thin waist, she has a big appetite.When a meal is cooked, always feed the two children first.Only Jingrong Laowu seemed to be very flexible. Seeing that there was too much in the pot, he filled another half bowl; seeing that there was not much left in the pot, he lit the smoke pot. He was the first in a family of four. swollen up.Seeing the man's yellow and swollen face, the old lady Bangzi felt uncomfortable, and couldn't find anything to make up for him.She was relieved when she heard that edema is generally not fatal, because less than half of the men and women in Bangzijing Village have this strange disease, and if there are more, it is not surprising!

At noon that day, Mrs. Bangzi appeared in time at the "Old Bowl Club" outside her street gate. Adults and children from the neighbors gathered here to eat under the shade of a row of tall plane trees outside the gate.It's a hot day, but it's still full of grain and grits, and no new rice patterns have been found.The old lady Bangzi was very calm at first, but she found that there were no members of Hu Sanheng's family in the dining hall, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The most reliable member, who must come almost every day, is also a popular character who can talk and talk.What's going on?What did the Sanheng family do?Mrs. Bangzi became curious, probably because she was afraid that people would find out about some good food, so she hid in the house and dared not go out, right?She served the meal, swaying and swaying, and had already walked into the yard of Sanheng's house to visit.

The courtyard was silent, and the old lady Bangzi felt more and more mysterious. She walked up to the inner room and looked into the small stove next to her.She was so surprised that she didn't see Sanheng's wife holding her grandson in her arms until she stepped into the threshold of the back room. The old man Sanheng was squatting on a low stool in the corner smoking a stuffy cigarette. The door was opposite to his daughter-in-law's house. A suppressed sobbing sound could be heard faintly. Is there a fight between the young and the old in this family?Mrs. Bangzi thought, after the parents-in-law and daughter-in-law have a fight in the countryside, it is usually this kind of awkward situation.

"What's the matter?" the clapper old lady asked suspiciously. "Hi! Mingwa went to buy food the day before yesterday, so she should have come back yesterday." Sanheng's wife said, "I haven't come back yet..." The old lady Bangzi understood as soon as she heard it. Mingwa, who bought the grain, hadn't returned yet, and Sanheng's family was waiting for the rice to be cooked, and now there was a break. "How can it be done?" The old lady Bangzi said dissatisfied, "It's okay for adults to resist eating one or two meals! The baby can't do it... You should borrow it first, eat this meal, and buy it tomorrow." It’s okay to pay back the food!”

"It's hard now!" Sanheng's wife said, "It's hard to tell others..." The old man Sanheng is a stubborn man, and his wife is also a very strong person, so she doesn't want to bow her head to ask others for excuses?Mrs. Bangzi listened to Mingwa's daughter-in-law sighing in the hut, and looked at the crying grandson in Sanheng's wife's arms. Her nose was sore, and she couldn't bear to ask any more questions. went out. The old man Sanheng hadn't finished his pot of dry tobacco when the old lady Bangzi came over the threshold of the inner room again, holding a large bowl of rice dumplings in her hand.She had an air of righteousness on her face, and she said generously: "Go and boil it first, and the family will have a drink, and it will be easy for Mingwa to come back. How can a person not eat!"

"Oh! Fifth old lady..." Sanheng's wife put down her grandson, hurriedly caught the big thick porcelain bowl full of corn grits, and said emotionally, "You are really kind..." "Let's be close to the neighbors, whoever doesn't need a little..." "Ming Wa bought Baogu and returned it right away..." "What do you do if you say such a thing?" Not half a month later, it was lunch time again, and men and women gathered under the plane tree for dinner again.The old lady Bangzi suddenly discovered that none of the carpenter Wang Shi's family attended the old bowl meeting.Because the electricity was connected to Xiaohechuan Road, the mechanical bullets replaced the manual ones. The jujube bow handed down by Jing Rong’s fifth ancestor was worn purple and smooth by the hands of his grandfather and father, and it was hung on the south wall of the wooden building forever. On, can not be born.However, Master Wang, a carpenter, is very prosperous. The government promulgated the "Sixty Rules". The club dummies are much better off.No one in their family is swollen, and their faces are rosy, so how can they be intermittent?

She always walked lightly and quickly, and when she stepped into the clean yard of Carpenter Wang's house, a strange fragrance filled the air and penetrated into her nostrils.This kind of fragrance is irresistible to the stomach that has been filled with melons and vegetables all year round.Mrs. Bangzi thought of the incomparable taste of pork, and hadn't touched it for about two years. The old lady Bangzi stepped into the back room, and she was stunned for a while.Carpenter Wang's family, old and young, gathered around the square wooden table, with Bai Shengsheng's wheat flour dumplings on their chopsticks.Grandpa God!Others can't even eat thin grits, but Master Wang, the carpenter, actually eats big meat dumplings...

The carpenter's family was also a little surprised, and turned their heads together.A forced smile flashed in the eyes of the carpenter's wife, and she politely said, "Fifth old lady, have a bowl of rice—" "No! I'll borrow it..." Mrs. Bangzi had already sensed the disgusting eyes of the whole family, and she casually made up a story about what furniture she wanted to borrow, pretending to disturb their dinner inadvertently, while stepping back, "Forget it! No more borrowing..." "Ah! Mommy Gouwa, Carpenter Wang is eating big meat dumplings this noon..." The old lady Bangzi was half surprised, half jealous, telling everyone she met.In severe famine years and months of famine, a meal of big meat dumplings shocked not only the old lady Bangzi, but also all the farmers who were in a state of famine.But it was dark, and everyone in the small Bangzijing Village knew that the carpenter Wang Shijia had eaten a mouth-watering dumpling.

One month later, on the eve of the summer harvest, at the most difficult time for the farmers, the people's government approved a small amount of relief food for Bangzijing Village, and the commune members had been waiting for it for a long time. Party secretary Hu Changhai and team leader Hu Zhenwu came back from a meeting in the commune and convened a member meeting to explain that the higher-ups' method of distributing these grains was to focus on solving the needy households and not to distribute them evenly, because the number was indeed too small.When the country was in severe economic difficulties, the cadres showed high integrity by strictly abiding by the party discipline and the state law, and resisted the difficulties for the country. They democratically handed over the figures of this batch of grain to the members for democratic review, so that the grain could be distributed to urgently needed relief. family.Hu Changhai and Hu Zhenwu declared that they didn't want a catty, and many people were moved. Even so, the results of the review still cannot avoid the bias of peppering noodles. There is no way, there are too many households in need of relief.Many people wiped their snot and tears in front of everyone when they complained about difficulties, and the old lady Bangzi was also rated as a relief household.She also cried very sadly, with snot and tears, and asked everyone to look at the swollen face of Jing Rong's fifth child, to prove that she was not hairy and pretending to be bald. Because the cadres and party members showed a high profile, the food distribution work, which was prone to disputes, went smoothly, and the case was finalized in one meeting.People who have some opinions, because of the selfless actions of the cadres, can't say it out, so they just follow the crowd. The wife of Master Wang, a carpenter, also filed an application, but it was not approved by everyone, and the relief household was no longer listed.One of the most important reasons is that in such a severe famine year, it is too wasteful to dare to eat dumplings!The carpenter's mother-in-law repeatedly explained that her natal brother came from Gansu and hadn't seen each other for at least ten years, so she wasted food for an important relative. She also explained that the dumplings were filled with radish leaves... ...to no avail, it's always dumplings! Open warehouses overnight to distribute food.Granny Bangzi came out of the warehouse with a small half bag of wheat on her back, feeling extremely at ease.With this half bag, you can make do with the new wheat. You should improve the food for Jingrong Lao Wu so that he can recover his strength. Summer harvest is heavy work! Walking through the intersection in the middle of the street, and then walking to the door of the carpenter Wang Shi’s house, under the bright moonlight, the carpenter’s wife stood up from the latrine outside the door, with her hands tied in belt belts, jumped out of the latrine, turned her face and opened her mouth to curse, as if she had been waiting for a long time. Looking at her: "You dog day is giving food now! You have caused my family..." When the old lady Bangzi heard it, she knew she was scolding herself, but she was frightened in her heart. The carpenter's wife didn't get the relief food, and it was not without reason that she hated herself... She lowered her head, quickened her pace, and passed after a while. "You dog day is a spy! You spy on the neighbors..." The carpenter woman had already tied her belt, and scolded the old clapper's back, "You dog day hopes that people will be poor and people will die..." The old lady Bangzi couldn't avoid it, so she put down the wheat bag, turned around and stopped, and cursed back: "You are a bitch! You didn't get the relief food, are you in a hurry?" "I don't even want it!" The carpenter's wife said proudly, "My house eats meat every day, and your dog spy came to inquire..." "You can't get the relief food, it's decided by the club members." The old lady Bangzi didn't show any weakness, and took two steps, "You scold me all the time, you're blind..." Hu Changhai heard the scolding, rushed over, asked the reason, criticized the carpenter's wife, and pushed the clapper old lady away. Although Mrs. Bangzi didn't lose the truth, it didn't increase her prestige.The carpenter Wang Shijia lost the chance to get relief food because he ate a meal of dumplings, which made all the housewives in Bangzijing Village more vigilant: beware of the old lady Bangzi coming to visit!The strict insiders began to restrict men and children from eating in the streets and alleys, and always eat in their own houses. The old lady Bangzi will not come to check three meals a day, right?In this way, the customs of Bangzijing Village began to change, and the lively old bowl meeting under the plane tree gradually became deserted and lonely. "Fifth old lady, look, the corn grits I drink are thin enough!" The old man Hu Er stretched out the bowl in front of her, and smiled jokingly, "We are not afraid of anyone looking at what is in our bowl! " "Report to the fifth old lady—" Gouwa also extended the bowl over, "I also drink grits, and the raw material is corn, please check—" The old lady Bangzi blushed suddenly, unable to speak, what kind of person has she become, the carpenter Master Wang is not divided into relief food, it is democratically reviewed at the member meeting, and the cadres decide on the case, why do everyone treat her like this?Mrs. Bangzi was full of grievances. Seeing others disrespecting her mother-in-law like this, Jing Rong's fifth son felt as if he had been hit by the sole of a shoe. He was so angry that he picked up the bowl and went back to the house. He would not eat under the shade of the plane tree again. It is not allowed to go to the Lao Wanhui, let alone drop in when people are eating. Mrs. Bangzi ate alone in the house, and she got used to it after three or five days.Hearing the bell, she picked up a hoe or shovel and went to work, and she had to earn work points.Walking to the entrance of the village, I met Lianhua, and she asked casually according to the etiquette when villagers meet: "Have you eaten yet?" "I ate it. I ate big meat and white rice." Lianhua said in a high-pitched and loud voice, "The meat, vegetables and rice that I ate yesterday, the rice and meat and vegetables that I ate today, will still be tomorrow..." "Lianhua, what's your name?" The old bangzi couldn't stand the ridicule, her face turned pale, "Just say hello to you!" "I know you like to inquire, so I will report to you automatically." Lianhua laughed, not paying attention to the old lady who was two generations older than her, and sarcastically said, "It makes you jealous and makes your mouth water. , let you hope that people are poor..." The clapper old lady really wanted to yell, but Lianhua was laughing and laughing, and she was not easy to turn her face. Thinking about making a fuss, others knew that Lianhua was unreasonable, but they would not sympathize with her, so they endured the humiliation... Alas!