Chapter 17 16 like a holiday

On this day, many families had their dinner early, and after eating, they strolled on the street when they had nothing to do.It seems to be a festival, with a fresh smell, and a little nervous, all with a smile on their faces, ready to "welcome the spring and welcome the blessings", people always say hello when they meet: "Have you eaten?" We're going to hold a farmers' meeting!" Everyone went to Xu Youwu's yard.The yard was empty, without a single cadre. A militiaman came to the door with an earthen gun hanging horizontally. The weather was very hot and he was also wrapped in a white cloth turban.He stood at the door swimming around, and someone asked him, "When will the meeting be held?" He said, "Who knows! Many people haven't eaten yet, and some are in the field." People backed out again, but nowhere to go.Some went to the orchard to pick gourd ice; some sat at the gate of the elementary school and ate half a watermelon, and the watermelon water flowed down the mouth to the chest; some were nibbling melon seeds and smoking.As soon as they saw a cadre passing by, they yelled loudly: "Uncle Zhao! The meeting is not yet in progress! Tell the red-nosed old Wu to ring the gong again and sing a verse." Call it grandpa.He seems to be very busy, always wearing an old white cloth coat, always smiling and agreeing: "Hey, wait a little longer, the meeting will be held as soon as it gets dark." Zhang Yumin also kept walking by here, always Someone saw him and asked him: "Third brother, will we have a part in the meeting tonight?" "The people who listened to him all laughed, and they couldn't figure out whether they were going to be there or not. They really fell into the muddy pot.

These children saw that there were many people here, so they also walked over, but they couldn't see anything, so they stared blankly for a while, thinking it was not fun, and then walked to the school gate after school.It was also very deserted inside, the two teachers had gone somewhere, and the rest of the cooks were washing dishes at the door of the side room. He was the red-nosed old Wu, and he was the one who played the gong in the village.The children went to the open field again, and I don't know who sang the song they just learned today. It was taught by the comrade surnamed Hu, and everyone sang along: "Unite! Hey! Peasant farmers... ..." After singing like this, several old men were sung, squatting under the locust tree, biting a pipe that was about a foot long, they didn't speak, they just looked around with their eyes.

The women also came out.Gu Changsheng's mother was sitting on a stone step. This was the street leading to South Street. She knew that there was going to be a meeting tonight, but no one had informed her, but she wanted to inquire. No matter what the meeting was, she wanted to hear it. listen.Ever since Gu Changsheng joined the army, the village cadres only gave her two buckets of grain. Everyone said she was a middle peasant; The food is only given to Erdou, what Zhang Yumin, Zhao Delu... This person only cares about their own group, leaving her old widow alone, she still resists.She sat on the stone slab, no one paid attention to her, she puffed out her mouth, as if she was angry with her silence.

At this time, another group of girls and young daughters-in-law walked by in front of her, chattering happily, and some of them dropped the leftover fruit cores.Gu Changsheng's mother suddenly spoke, and she stopped one of them: "Heini! Are you going to have a meeting tonight? We are anti-subordinates too. Can we come and listen?" "As long as it is a mass meeting, you can listen. Why can't you? Go ask the women's director." Hei Ni was wearing a suit of foreign cloth clothes with blue background and white flowers, and her short hair was fluffy and fastened with a clip. .

Gu Changsheng's mother was upset again, she spat at the footsteps wearing pink socks, and cursed in her heart: "See if you can, who hasn't been young, bah, it's so unbearable to be free!" Hei Ni and his group went to the west end to find Dong Guihua. The girls are all in the literacy class. They are young and like activities and meetings. Although their family economics are relatively good, or even good, they are willing to come and hear some new truths. They feel that the Communist Party’s These principles and methods are very good.Someone told them early this morning that there was going to be a women's meeting today, and they were very upset. The literacy class often attends meetings of the women's federation.But no one has notified them.During class, they all invited each other, and after dinner, they huddled together again, and it was almost dark, and no one knew about it, so they discussed it for a while, and decided to ask the woman director.They chatted and laughed all the way, and they walked to the door of Dong Guihua before they knew it, but no one wanted to go ahead, you pushed me, I pushed you, a group of people rushed into the yard, and everyone giggled again When he got up, it was still Hei Ni who called out:

"Sister-in-law Li!" Without waiting for Dong Guihua to agree, everyone pushed and shoved to the door.They saw that the house was already full, about seven or eight women, and four or five little dolls. They didn't know what they were talking about, and they seemed to be talking very vigorously, but because of them, they all stopped. Talking, looking at them with a straight face. "What's the matter?" Dong Guihua didn't let them in and sat down, but said indifferently. "Sister-in-law Li!" Hei Ni didn't have time to lose her happy mood, "Sister-in-law Li, let's ask you if we have a meeting tonight."

"What kind of meeting is there?" The shepherd's wife, Zhou Yueying, rolled her slender eyes, "Someone else is holding a farmers' meeting tonight! It's a poor peasants' meeting!" She said the word poor peasants very loudly, She also squinted her eyes and looked at them one by one. "We're not asking about the farmers' association." Hei Ni also felt a little uncomfortable, but she still smiled kindly and said, "We're asking about our women's association." "Our women's association?" A small woman sitting in the corner also sneered. "Hei Ni, let's go! We don't want to stay here and run into trouble!" said a girl who went with her.

At this time, Dong Guihua ran up to hold Hei Ni's hand. She remembered that Hei Ni was very enthusiastic and responsible in teaching in the literacy class. She never went to her. She often called her very affectionately. She was going to be sick. She came to see her, cooked rice soup for her, and gave her paint, flower thread, shoe upper cloth, and Li Chang often said hello to her, so she went over to comfort her and said, "Hei Ni, don't be unhappy, let's go today." If you don’t have a meeting at night, when will you have a meeting, when will we call you, it’s a good thing to like a meeting, how many people don’t want to come, we women just have too many brains!”

"Hmm..." Hei Ni looked like a defeated chicken, she turned her head sideways and walked out. "Why don't you sit down for a while, Hei Ni, I won't see you off!" Dong Guihua stood at the door, looking at the back of the group who went out and Hei Ni who didn't answer, she murmured in her heart: This girl is indeed Not bad, her uncle is not good, how can you blame her? But someone in the room said loudly: "These are all..., hum! Who doesn't know, and wants to find out again." Dong Guihua hurriedly said: "Let's go, let's go to the meeting. Go to the farmers' meeting tonight and listen to what's going on. We have to go. This time we are going to give the land to the poor. We women Also have a share, if the poor don’t go, if the poor themselves are not careful, things will be difficult to handle! Let’s go.”

"Let's go," the shepherd's wife stood up first, and she spread her long eyebrows and smiled again, "We don't want to see these vixens, who eat, don't do anything, and wander around all day long." This thin girl has always had a long face, slender eyebrows and narrow eyes, and sometimes she has a gentle smile, but sometimes she is very aggressive.Shepherds always come home every three or four days or five or six days, sometimes even ten days or half a month.She lives alone, too lonely, bitter, and unwilling, so she often treats him with sarcastic remarks, does not light the fire, does not wash the pot, and hides the little leftover grain, and the shepherd takes out two catties from the cloth bag soba noodles, or a liter of beans.The shepherd told her that an old sheep gave birth to lambs again, but he didn't tell her that two more sheep had been stolen by wolves. He only said that their dog was too old and they wanted to find another good dog.The shepherd also said that he didn't plan to watch the sheep any more in the coming year. It would be good to rent a few acres of land and plant some wheat.The shepherd is almost fifty years old, and he has no land, so he has no choice but to become a shepherd.He saw the young and slim wife complaining and getting angry, and went to light the fire by herself, but the wife still stood in the yard and scolded in a high-pitched voice: "It's just that we didn't cultivate well in our previous life. Marrying such an old man Poor ghost, you can’t see a shadow all year round, so some day will our days be over!” Cursing and cursing, the old sheep watcher became angry, and he would twist her like a sheep. Screwed into the house, he would give her a fist, and scolded while beating: "Damn, what a good thing you are, we have worked hard all our lives to accumulate twenty sheep, and bought them all for you, how dare you?" Think we are poor, think we are old! You slut, when we were not at home, did you know that you stole someone..." After being beaten, my wife cried sadly.How he had wronged her!But she gradually became quiet, she would obediently go to make buckwheat noodles, and she made flat food for him to eat.He sat in front of the kang fire and smoked a cigarette, stroking his goatee-like beard.She went to see him from time to time, and felt how pitiful he was: it was better in hot weather, but when it was cold, she still had to drive the sheep, braved the wind and rain, to find some grassy places in the valleys; Set up a tent on a flat place sheltered from the wind, put a little bit of wormwood on it, and cover it with a thin quilt, and only earn a little grain, or a few bolts of cloth, or a lamb or two throughout the year.Now that he is no longer young, he hopes to go back to the field and have a few acres of land to cultivate.But where did it come from?Every time she came back, she always made trouble with him; in the end, she gradually felt sorry for him, so she sent him tender eyes again.He also recovered, and after one night, they were like a newly married bride and groom, inseparable.She sent him to the outside of the village, sat on the intersection, and came back when she couldn't see him. How hard and lonely her life was!

This thin woman seemed to have nothing to fear and nothing to comfort but her husband's fist.Therefore, it often appears sharp and unbearable.She was a fearless woman in the village, and she had quarreled and fought.In the struggle against Chunshang last year, she was the most daring to speak up among the women.As soon as she gets angry, she doesn't care about anything. At this time, a group of people will often surround her.united under her fierceness. Everyone went down the kang, and the dolls started shouting, only one old woman said she dared not leave. Dong Guihua went to hold her and said, "Auntie! If you don't go to the meeting, you won't understand anything, and you won't be able to turn over!" "Oh," the old woman sighed, "we dare not go, don't you understand your uncle's stubbornness? He is going to a meeting tonight, and as soon as we go, he will see us. If he goes, nothing will happen." Don't say it, and don't say it when he comes back. He would rather go to the meeting, just because he is afraid that others will call us Qinghuai. He said, let him be the old man. If he sees us going, he will definitely give us He scolded me a lot. Alas! There is nothing we can do for him..." This old woman is Hou Zhongquan's woman.Hou Zhongquan was also a well-known figure in this village. He quietly returned the one and a half mu of land allocated to him by Chunshang to Hou Diankui.His son Qing Huai jumped angrily, scolding him for being stubborn, and he even chased and beat him with a broom.The peasant association found out and came out to interfere, but he refused to admit it and kept it a secret, so the peasant association had nothing to do. "Can't you scold him and tell him that the world has changed now? No one can be a slave like him, clinging to the poor and never letting go!" The shepherd's wife cried like a sparrow again. The old woman still insisted not to go, she went back alone.The group of women also left for the meeting place, Xu Youwu's yard. It was already dark at this time, and people who stood a little farther could not see who it was.There were militiamen patrolling the street from time to time. Outside the gate of Xu Youwu's courtyard, there were more than ten people and militiamen with guns standing. They would go over to have a look at whoever came.Gu Changsheng's mother was also standing outside the door. They wouldn't let her in, and advised her, "You old man, go back, it's getting dark." Another person said: "What do you want, go to the village cadre tomorrow, don't keep standing here But she muttered: "Do we like to stand, are we not even allowed to stand on the street? If we live forever at home, you, hey, uh, you still say preferential treatment, and no one is allowed to stand on the street. ..." Everyone had to say: "Okay, if you like to stand, let's stand." The yard was already crowded. It was said that it was a poor peasant association, but in fact, there were only one person in the family, and there were also many middle peasants.Groups of people sat on the surrounding steps, only to hear a buzzing sound.The stars in the sky are very bright, and there are still figures on the ridge of the roof, which are militiamen on sentry.Zhang Zhengguo himself came and went, checking this and that.The militiamen liked their captain very much, although he was not easy to be lazy.Li Chang didn't know what he was busy here, running out and in, calling this and that.Zhao Delu was still wearing the white blouse, lit a lamp, and placed it on the table on the upper step. When Dong Guihua and the others came in, Gu Changsheng's mother also came in.The women stood on a small corner. Dong Guihua saw that Comrade Yang was talking with several people, and a group of people surrounded him, and he heard laughter coming from there from time to time.Hu Ligong also appeared on the steps, and Li Chang said loudly, "Shall we learn a song?" Two or three young farmers agreed, and Hu Ligong sang: "Let's get together! Hey! Peasants who work the fields..." But many people were anxiously looking out the door, they were waiting for Zhang Yumin, the director of the farmers' association, they were all waiting for tonight's meeting with the most eager hearts.They have a lot to say, but now they don't know how to say it, and they don't know whether they dare to say it. They believe in the Communist Party, but they still know too little and have too many scruples.