Chapter 2 Chapter two

The old man Xing worked as a long-term worker for more than ten years before liberation, but he has never been able to marry a woman.After liberation, he was allocated several acres of river beach land.He was only in his twenties that year, and with his hard work and skills in agricultural production, the few acres of river beach unexpectedly grew abundant crops.At that time, he was really full of confidence in the future, and life was indeed getting better every year.When he was forty years old, someone told him a woman.Of course, no good girl is willing to date a 40-year-old man.His woman was always ill, and died after living with him for eight months.In these eight months, even buying a home and taking care of the doctor, he has spent all his savings for several years.However, this year was a year of cooperation, and the real experience made him realize that working alone could not prevent natural disasters and man-made disasters, so he invested several acres of river beach, a donkey and himself into the cooperative.In one or two years, his life really improved, and his hope re-emerged in a strong group.However, when he was planning to marry another woman, a "Great Leap Forward" came.He himself was incorporated into the steelmaking army and dragged into the mountains to "smelt steel".The widow he was going to marry didn't wait for his obligation, and found another one.

In the future, although due to the implementation of cooperation and division of labor in production labor, due to the large amount of labor invested in the land, and the introduction of chemical fertilizers and simple agricultural machinery, the output of the land has increased compared with the past, but the delivery of public grain and sales The amount of surplus grain, grain contributed by sales, and grain reserved for war always exceeded the increased portion.For a few years, the confiscation tasks assigned by the top could only be completed by starving the peasants.In this way, old man Xing had no choice but to beat his bachelor.

However, the world will change, and life is full of twists and turns. This simple philosophy is also reflected in this country old man. In 1972, the neighboring province was hit by a drought, and in the spring of the following year, groups of victims flocked to the Pingchuan area.Some of them are in groups of three or four, some bring their families with children, and some beg alone.Each of them carried a dirty cloth bag, and they were going to beg for some dry food to bring to relatives who stayed in their hometown.There are locust-like victims in restaurants, streets, and waiting rooms of train stations in cities.After the urban militias had driven them out, they went deep into the backcountry.

One day at noon, old man Xing was preparing to cook when he suddenly heard a woman with a foreign accent shouting outside the door: "Master, please give me some!" Open it, and saw a disheveled woman in her thirties standing outside.He let her in, told her to sit on the kang, and was busy making meals for the two of them.After a while, the beggar woman saw that the old man was clumsy when cooking, so she whispered: "Master, if you don't mind, I will cook this meal." Old man Xing happily agreed, and filled a pot of cigarettes by himself. Sitting on the Kang with hunched waist.The woman started cooking after washing her hands, her movements were quick and clean.The same noodles, the same seasoning, but old man Xing felt that this was the most delicious meal he had eaten in more than fifty years.Both of them ate two full bowls of noodle soup, and old man Xing still didn't think it was enough. Seeing that the beggar woman seemed to be short of some, he asked to make more.

While cooking the second meal, old man Wei from the east of the village opened the door and came in. "Hey! I said, why don't you go with the plow? You've been a visitor for a long time." "Where..." Old man Xing blushed for some reason, and said dully, "Beggars, make something to eat, and leave after eating..." Old man Wei is the third uncle of the production team leader's family, and also the team leader of the poor association. "Oh--I'm sorry, the woman came out to beg for food." He squatted on the threshold and took out a cigarette. "I always say that after the restoration, we will suffer twice and suffer twice. I see, now that it has been restored, our peasants are suffering twice and suffering twice. It is northern Shaanxi. Are you here? Who else is at home?"

"Yes. There are two children at home, father-in-law and mother-in-law." The woman replied shyly with her head down. "Don't be ashamed, it's not your fault. In the 18th year of the Republic of China, I also had to eat, and my wife also had to eat. I suffered from a famine last year. What will my family do?" "Our commune gives half a catty of food per person a day, and I will save them food when I come out." The water in the pot boiled, and the woman hurriedly poured the noodles into the pot.Old man Wei saw that the noodles she cut were thin and long, just like the machine-pressed noodles in the city.

"Tsk, tsk! What a pot!" Old man Wei had an idea, and said heartily, "I see, it's going to be rough and rainy, and it's a crime to beg for food. It's not like in the past when every household ordered food like this. Here it is! Besides, you have to search here and there, why don’t you just stay here and cook for old man Xing and do something. Old man Xing will make you suffer, he is an honest man, I know.” With her face turned away, the woman stirred the pot with chopsticks and did not answer.Old man Wei turned to old man Xing and said: "Go and put on the plow first, Tiangui is looking for you, those young men can't get close to the green mule, put on the plow and then come to eat." Tiangui is his captain's family nephew.

Old man Xing put his pipe on his waist and went to the stables.After smoking two bags of cigarettes, old man Wei also arrived at the stables, patted old man Xing on the shoulder with a happy smile and said, "Damn it, your ancestors have to thank me! They are willing to stay and live with you. Now she I haven't said death yet, you treat people well in the future, and if you give birth to a man and a half woman, her heart will be pierced. Do you have money? If you don't have money, send a note, and I will tell Tiangui, first on the team Borrow some, and give someone a piece of clothing."

Old man Xing grinned, all the wrinkles on his face gathered together.When work was over at night, as soon as he walked in, the woman quietly brought him a bowl of hot noodles in "oil soup and spicy water".She herself sat on the adobe under the kang and ate.She freshened up and could no longer be seen as a beggar.After dinner, old man Xing wanted to say something with his cigarette pot in his mouth, while the woman was washing the pot and bowl, he realized that the whole pot and chopping board had become shiny, and the oil bottle and salt jar were neatly placed. "Where's Old Man Xing? Congratulations!" At this moment, the big captain Wei bowed his head and pushed the door open. He rolled his eyes in the room, and suppressed a smile and said, "Yes! This is how a couple lives, what a cricket You have to match! Here, here is ten yuan, tomorrow the team will give you a day off, and take your woman to the supply and marketing cooperative to see what to buy."

Old man Xing hurriedly got off the kang, packed a pot of cigarettes and handed it to the captain, saying, "Sit down, sit down!" Captain Wei didn't sit down, took out his own cigarette, and gave old Xing one back. He smiled and said to the woman, "He came from northern Shaanxi? I ​​know that the place is suffering. There are people from your village in the village around us. They also escaped from the famine, and now they have married with the people in the village. Why? ? Do you grow crops at home? Can you spin a sieve or not?" The spinning sieve is considered a technical job, and it can only be done by a dexterous woman.

"Yes," the woman replied softly. "That's good. You will work the day after tomorrow. Our team is currently selecting seeds, and there are not many who can spin the sieve. You can work as much as others do. We don't bully foreigners in this place; besides, old man Xing is a good person. He has contributed a lot to the team over the years. You can live with him with peace of mind! Work hard! Thin and thick can't short your food." Unexpectedly, the old man Xing continued within half a day. This is not a myth of "heaven and fairy match", indeed, as Captain Wei said, there are several such marriages in the village near them.In the countryside, during the years of the Cultural Revolution, the concept of the legal system was extremely weak.A woman without a man and a man without a woman, as long as they are willing to live together, people will recognize them as a "family". It seems that there is no need for legal approval, not to mention that the person presiding over this marriage is the production team leader And the leader of the poverty association.