After suffering from hunger, so much food fell from the sky, the Li family seemed to have forgotten their exhaustion from top to bottom, and they were full of energy. Several children tossed into the middle of the night, not going to bed until the food they brought back was ready.

Thinking that the three old people in the family will go out tomorrow to pour food, before the day of Osmanthus, got up and posted a pot of pancakes, steamed a pot of potatoes, touched two eggs and fried a bowl of fragrant egg sauce.

Mrs. Li smelled the aroma and went to the kitchen to look at it, and there was a distressed look on her face: "The raw sauce is no longer good, why do you still use eggs to fry the sauce, what do we eat during the day when we eat eggs?"

Osmanthus hurriedly said with a smile: "Yesterday, three hens laid eggs, and I found five eggs in total. I can't miss my sister. I think that my parents and milk are very tired when they go out to work, so I eat some egg sauce to make up for it. body."

When Mrs. Li heard this, she couldn't help but put a smile on her face: "We are all too old, we can't eat anything, you should eat something good." After smoking a cigarette, Mrs. Li told Osmanthus again: "Take off the rice skin today and let the four of them do it. You can keep an eye on Zhen Zhen in the house, but don't let her bump into each other."

Thinking of the half basket of wild fruits that she brought back yesterday, Mrs. Li took a pot and put it back, scooped half a pot of water from the water tank and rinsed it again. When Osmanthus got up, she saw the fresh fruit inside, and was very pleasantly surprised: " Where did you get it? When I went to pick wild vegetables yesterday, I saw that it was half-baked?"

Mrs. Li said without changing her face: "The driver of the truck brought it from Liao Province. It is warmer than ours, and the fruit ripens earlier." This wild fruit is from a mountain and also ripened earlier. It's late, even if I go to the mountain now, I can occasionally pick a few fruits that are starting to sweeten, so Osmanthus doesn't care. Mrs. Li put the washed fruit in a small basin and instructed Osmanthus: "Zhen Zhen has long teeth, use this fruit to grind her teeth and make her mouth smell. It's not much in total, don't worry. I asked Mingnan and Mingbei to see it, these two boys are so greedy."

Osmanthus smiled and said, "I put some corn in the stove and baked it for them. They like to eat that."

Mrs. Li nodded: "Tell them to eat this time, and the rest has to be ground rice noodles, so it can't be so wasteful. By the way, the driver also brought a few big pine cones, I'll see It’s bigger than the pine cone on our mountain, in the morning, you went out and packed some sand and came back to fry the pine nuts, peeled the kernels out and crushed them, and put them on top of the steamed chicken cake for Zhen Zhen.”

Osmanthus responded, and quickly took down the pasted cakes one by one and put them in the basket. The two grandfathers and grandchildren were talking, and Li Muwu came back from the outside and brought back a small half-pot of loach with sauce.

"Where did it come from?" Mrs. Li couldn't help but ask when she smelled the fragrance.

"Mu Sen took it. His family photon went back to touch a pot in the second half of yesterday. This is reserved for our family." Li Muwu put down the pot and drank half a bowl of water: "In the morning, I sent food to Mu Sen. Go, he didn't want it originally, I said that my mother had saved a lot before, and there was enough food at home, so he didn't let it out."

Mrs. Li nodded: "I will send some food to them after a while, and now I am busy going up the mountain and have no time to visit." After that, Mrs. Li instructed Osmanthus: "When you are at home during the day, Lock the door as well, if anyone comes to visit, they will not be at home, and don't let others see the food that our house is drying." Osmanthus agreed, and put the glutinous rice paste in a large pot.

Seeing that the meal was ready, Mrs. Li took the fly slinger and knocked all the big and small in the house. Wang Sufen had already cleaned up and fed Zhen Zhen back with milk.

Today, the whole family has to work hard, so the breakfast is very sincere. In addition, after seeing the food in the yard, have a good heart, and everyone eats well. When they were full, Li Muwu drove the car and dragged Mrs. Li and Wang Sufen to continue to collect food in the mountains.

This red pine mountain is not a good place for growing crops, despite the towering trees, mushrooms, and wild vegetables. However, Beicha is a forest area, and the surrounding area is just mountains except for mountains. There are many seasonal crops on the east and west sides of the courtyard. If you grow food, there is not such a big place.

The mountains are shaded by trees and shaded, cold and damp. In previous years, the harvest was only flat, but this year, seven or eight stalks of sorghum can grow on one stalk, all of which are huge and full; The cabbage in it is a place where there is almost no foot next to each other.

With so many crops, Li Muwu was the only one who transported them down the mountain. The three of them worked together for seven or eight days to collect the things in the field. The cellar was full of cabbage and potatoes, and the rest were placed in the empty rooms in the back. After the peeling and rice were put on the flat ground in the backyard, they filled the entire small yard one by one.

The carriage that had been used for so many days should also be sent back. Mrs. Li opened the box and took out a pile of gross receipts, counted out the agreed rent, and packed three catties of sweet potato noodles for Li Muwu to send.

At this time, money is not the main thing, and food is the rarest. The daughter-in-law of the family who borrowed the carriage saw that the sweet potato noodles were happy and didn't even count the money: "What, Brother Muwu, next time I will use the carriage to return it from my house. Borrow it!"

Li Mu Wuhan smiled and nodded. He put down his things and didn't talk much, thinking that there are still two days of vacation and he should take a good rest.

After so many days of work in a row, the whole family didn’t feel tired until they lay on the kang and slept late. Mrs. Li was digging wild vegetables and mushrooms at the foot of the mountain. Loosen my feet, my feet are a little swollen. Li Muwu's usual job in the grain store is to carry sacks, except for some sore legs. The most tiring person was Wang Sufen. She was digging potatoes, harvesting soybeans, and pulling cabbage. She bent and worked so hard from morning to night. When Wang Sufen lay on the kang, she suddenly felt that this waist was not hers. She ate breakfast and lay on the kang and fell asleep.

Zhen Zhen knew that Wang Sufen was tired these days, so she sat quietly on the kang to eat, the sour and sweet grapes made her narrow her eyes. Wang Sufen slept for a while, turned over and saw that her daughter was still eating, she couldn't help sitting up and rubbing her belly: "You can't eat too much, your stomach will hurt."

Zhen Zhen smiled and picked up a blueberry and held it to Wang Sufen's mouth: "Mom eat it!"

Wang Sufen was so excited that she hurriedly put Zhen Zhen in her arms and kissed it a few times, the smile on her face blossomed: "I don't want to eat it, I will keep it for you."

Zhen Zhen stubbornly put it in Wang Sufen's mouth: "Eat!"

Wang Sufen looked at Zhen Zhen's serious face, and then ate the blueberries, and touched the soft black hair on Zhen Zhen's head with satisfaction: "Our family Zhen Zhen is smart, and she has only learned to speak in a few days."

Zhen Zhen naturally knew how to talk early, but the family members were busy looking for food on the mountain before, and the family members had to clean up the house while taking care of the children, and no one had time to teach her how to speak. That is, when Osmanthus took Zhen Zhen in the past two days, she taught her to speak casually, Zhen Zhen pretended to have a big tongue, and after a few days of learning, she jumped out word by word.

Wang Sufen didn't know these twists and turns, but thought her daughter was extra smart. She took advantage of these two days to rest, and half leaned on the folded quilt, coaxing her to learn to speak.

The mother and daughter taught the other to learn with a big tongue, and from time to time bursts of laughter. Mrs. Li was lying in the next room and was feeling bored.

As soon as the door opened, Zhen Zhen raised her head and saw the person who came in, her big eyes immediately turned into a crooked moon: "Milk!"

"Oh, what a treasure!" Mrs. Li walked over to sit on the kang and sat cross-legged beside Zhen Zhen, looking at the remaining fruit, she couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you eat too much?"

Wang Sufen said indifferently: "She can eat a fruit for a long time, and with such a small stomach, she can't eat much." Zhen Zhen touched her nose with a guilty conscience, swept her eyes to the ground, and could vaguely see a few small grains Green seedlings.

Now in the Beicha area, every house is made of wood and covered with thick mud, and the ground inside the house is no different from the yard outside. Usually, just sprinkle some water on the ground to suppress the ash. Grass sprouts and things like that are common.

After teasing her granddaughter for a while, Mrs. Li started chatting with Wang Sufen again: "This year, our family harvested the grain ahead of schedule, and the harvest was pretty good. After drying the corn and grinding it out, we can almost survive the winter."

Wang Sufen felt a little sad when she thought of the snow-covered mountains in winter: "How can summer be better now, even if there is no food at home, I can live by relying on the mushrooms and wild vegetables picked in the mountains, although I can't eat enough, I can't starve to death. , When the weather becomes cold in two months, and the vegetables and mushrooms on the mountain are gone, how can those who have no food survive?"

Mrs. Li couldn't help but sigh: "Didn't they all have some mushrooms in the sun? Besides, there are some crops in the ground. Although the drought is not prosperous, it can also handle a winter, maybe wait for next year. That's good. I heard Dongzi say that in the past two years of severe drought in Hei Province, we have cultivated less land in the mountains, don't you think that those places that rely on farming for a living are almost dead."

Wang Sufen quickly put on her shoes and went out: "I have to instruct Osmanthus, now I don't have to work and make less dry food. I don't think I can count on this year's food supply."

Zhen Zhen has been here for the past seven months, and she has probably figured out the age. In 1961, even though she didn't understand and heard the history of the old man at home, Zhen Zhen put down the fruit in her hand, climbed onto the window sill, stuck her head out and looked out the window.

The open space between the front and the back room is densely packed with corn, and sweet potato seedlings can be seen on both sides of the house. This is the favorite crop of Beicha people. Although it is not delicious, it is very anti-hunger. , Every household has planted a lot in the front and back of the house.

"Something should be done, although it can't be as appalling as on the mountain, it should be fine to do some small actions in private, but I don't know how many crops within my own range can be controlled" Zhen Zhen's small face showed a contemplation that did not match her age , Zhen Zhen pondered for a while, then climbed down from the windowsill, lay down on her little mattress and closed her eyes.

"Is it going to be sleepy?" Mrs. Li was very happy, she picked up the sheet next to her and put it on Zhen Zhen: "Good treasure, go to sleep." Zhen Zhen closed her eyes, but her consciousness stretched out along the ground, the more go further...