Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

After scrubbing his body hastily, after dinner, Shuqin put a quilt on the trolley and told him to spend the night in the wheat field.Tomorrow, the new wheat will be spread out to dry in the sun, so there is no need to bring the wheat home at night. In order to prevent people with dirty hands and feet from pouring the grain away, each household has to guard its own wheat pile. The threshing machine roared in the corner of the wheat mill, the voices were noisy, and the dust was flying.For the farmers who have already threshed their wheat and those who have not yet had their turn to thresh tonight, there is an owner sleeping on a small cart in front of the wheat pile or piles of wheat accumulation.In order to prevent the infiltration of night dew, someone used the right to prop up two pages of reed mats and cover them on the small cart.The roar of the threshing machine did not affect the soothing and sound snoring of the peasants sleeping on the carts, they were too tired!

Zhao Peng spread dry wheat straw on the trolley, then spread a quilt, and lay down.As soon as he lay down, he found that the body of the stroller was too short, and there was nowhere to rest his legs.He got up again, and put a long-handled bamboo broom across the shaft, so that his legs could rest on it, which was very comfortable. It has been so many years since I slept in the open air in the countryside, how many sweet memories of childhood and youth have been evoked!When he was a child, every summer harvest, he would drag a piece of broken mat and sleep with his friends on the wheat field, somersaulting in the wheat straw nest, upside down in the grain pile, playing until late at night, and his friends huddled together Sleep in a nest.In this harvest season, the adults showed a particularly tolerant mind, allowing the children to play around.

Now, Zhao Peng went to sleep with his back to the scorching rural land and the high starry sky.He has participated in many professional conferences, stayed in luxurious hotels, and slept on a bed that cost more than 30 yuan a night. It is a kind of elastic soft bed, so it is naturally very comfortable.Sleeping on the stroller at this time also felt quite comfortable.It seems that the human body is not fixed, it all depends on when and where, and what is the possibility. There was a sound of brushing around him, he turned his head and saw Shuqin standing in front of the wheat pile, holding the grains of wheat with her hand, and hurriedly asked: "Oh! Don't you see what time it is, and you are still not asleep!"

Shuqin sat down on the wheat pile, brushed her hair, and said softly: "I can't sleep, I want to see the wheat!" "Wheat is left here, so you can't run away! With me guarding you, no one can drink it away!" Zhao Peng said, "Aren't you worried?" "I can't help it, Zhao Peng!" Shuqin said emotionally, "When did we have so much wheat!" yes!In the best years in the past, the per capita summer grain never exceeded 200 catties, and in nine out of ten years, it was around 100 catties, and Xiaohechuan Road is known as the land of pots!When the pile of wheat grains in front of me just flowed out of the thresher, several old farmers had estimated that it was no less than two thousand catties.This is the ration for Shuqin and her two children, even if they do not eat a grain of miscellaneous grains throughout the year.I can't finish eating even if I let go of my belly!He sat up, bent his legs, and was also very happy in his heart. He said with a smile: "Yes! Suddenly, the beggar woman has a urn of white noodles, and can't sleep at night! After a while, he jumped off the kang and opened the urn cover to have a look. Back to... you!"

Shuqin listened silently, neither annoyed nor smiling, as if she was thinking about something, she turned her head and said, "Zhao Peng, shall we really leave after the summer harvest?" "I told you earlier! You..." Zhao Peng said. "What about our land?" she asked. "I told you earlier, leave it to the team! What are you doing..." Zhao Peng had already realized that Shuqin hesitated. "Is it okay if I don't pay?" Shuqin asked, "I don't want to go to the city anymore." "What's the matter?" Zhao Peng didn't expect that something happened to Shuqin.

"There's something good about farming." Shuqin said, "Actually, it's more busy when harvesting wheat, and weeding and fertilizing at ordinary times. I can do it all by myself. You work in the city and let the baby go to school with you. You don’t need to trouble yourself to eat on the stove. I’ll plant the land at home and provide food for your fathers, which is good.” Zhao Peng looked at Shuqin, she was not just casual gossip, but a plan after careful consideration.Seeing the rich fruits of her hard work, she fell in love with this hot land, but this disrupted his plan again, so she said firmly: "No. The land must be handed over to the team. We already have a country. The supply of food, you don't go to the city, I am a thick man, how can I take care of the baby?"

"If we can harvest for three years in a row, we will be able to save surplus food, and we won't be afraid of 'three years of difficulties' anymore!" Shuqin said, probably recalling the past when she had undertaken the difficulties of the country and returned to her hometown from the secondary technical school without hesitation, " I'm so hungry..." Zhao Peng smoked a cigarette and looked at Shuqin. She was supposed to be a graduate of a technical school, but now she should be a good technician in a certain factory.Now, however, she could not do without the country land, where the bountiful harvest strongly attracted her.

Wang Xiuzhen walked over, sat down on the wheat pile, and said with a smile: "You two are so intimate, are you still whispering?" "Hey! You ghost, you scared me!" Shuqin said, "Why haven't you slept yet?" "The kids didn't eat any hot food all day, they just ate dry buns. I made some hot food for the kids before they settled down to sleep. I came to watch over Maizi." Wang Xiuzhen spoke quickly and patted Shuqin's back, " Sister-in-law! To be honest, we never dreamed that there would be so much wheat a few years ago!" Shuqin glanced at Zhao Peng, said nothing, and nodded to Xiuzhen.

"Do you remember?" Wang Xiuzhen asked, "In the twelfth lunar month of that year, thanks to you lending me fifty yuan, the shopkeeper went to buy food with Brother Peng..." Then he asked Zhao Peng, "You also remember ?” Zhao Peng nodded, that was something he couldn't forget.In the twelfth lunar month, almost everyone ran out of food. Fortunately, Zhao Peng had a salary and could go to the wealthy families on the north bank of the Weihe River to buy food. Xiuzhen's family was even more miserable. They had neither food nor money to buy.Xiuzhen borrowed fifty yuan from Shuqin, and Zhao Peng went to Weibei with her man Cangwa.At that time, grain was regarded as a kind of material and was not allowed to circulate.Zhao Peng was not familiar with geography and market conditions, led by Cangwa, bought 150 catties of corn in a strange village, hid in the field until dark, was captured by the militia when he crossed the Weihe Bridge, and all the grain was confiscated .

Zhao Peng repeatedly said good things, but it was useless. Poor Cangwa, a five-foot-tall boy, burst into tears, knelt down to the militiamen guarding the bridge, and said that he borrowed the money to buy grain... Zhao Peng's mind Here, the pitiful face of my brother of the same generation was permanently burned. "When will we enter the city?" Xiuzhen asked. "I thought...the wheat harvest was over." Shuqin said. "What if I miss you? Good sister-in-law!" Xiuzhen put her arms around Shuqin's shoulders, "I still owe you the fifty dollars!" "I've already said it, so don't mention it again!" Shuqin said a little angrily, "It's okay for someone to collect my food! Your Brother Peng and I have already told you, why are you talking again? "

"I have to pay it back. I have a conscience!" Xiuzhen said proudly, "He has worked as a contract worker in the factory for half a year this year and has earned some money. He is thinking of building a house next spring and then paying it back to you. Anyway, I Knowing that you are looser than me... I still have to pay." "Don't mention this matter again!" Zhao Peng said, a little impatiently, "I feel uncomfortable when I mention this matter. Do you know? We paid a lot of money to buy food, and we were so scared that we hid here and there, just like thieves !" "Go to sleep! It will probably be dawn soon." Shuqin said. Wang Xiuzhen stood up and walked towards her own wheat pile. Zhao Peng looked at his watch. It was four o'clock. The summer night in the north is very short. It usually lights up at half past four. Why are you still sleeping now? He stood on the field from the trolley, rolled up the quilt, and raised his head Now, the sky above the peaks of the Dongshan Mountains has already revealed a ray of white-like bright color. The first sharp and loud cry of a robin resounded over the village, followed by a group of companions singing loudly one after another... …