After he figured out the crux of his struggle for half a year, Mingdong's mood instantly opened up. He jumped off the parallel bars excitedly, and pulled Mingxi to run around the playground twice, so as to stretch his heart.

Mingxi was dragged by Mingdong for two steps, then squatted on the ground and couldn't move: "I've been on the train for a few days, how can I be stupid with you, you have to run and run, go back to the dormitory to sleep, tomorrow We have to go to the fourth uncle's house."

Mingdong smirked twice: "Mingxi, do you think I'm stupid, in fact, I can fall in love with Osmanthus first and then get married, so it's not an arranged marriage. You said why I didn't figure it out, it's not here. Are you delaying things?"

Mingxi yawned and rubbed his eyes: "I didn't think you were stupid before, but now I find that you are not very clever sometimes, and you are the same as Mingbei when you are stupid. I said brother, if you have time, say goodbye. Don't read those messy books, or I'll go home and tell the milk."

"Why do you tell Nian everything?" Ming Dong glared at him: "You are so old, can you stop being so naive? Besides, don't let Nian worry about such trivial matters."

"It's ok if you don't tell the milk, hurry back to the dormitory and let me sleep, I'm sleepy." Mingxi yawned again, urging Mingdong to go back to the dormitory, soaked his feet in a basin of hot water, and fell on the bed fell asleep.

At this time, Ming Dong was not sleepy. When he thought of officially starting his relationship with Osmanthus, he always felt that he had to prepare well. He glanced at his face against the glass, and when he saw his hair was messed up by himself, he hurriedly went to wash his hair with water, and even shaved his beard for the first time, took out the white shirt from the box and sprinkled some on it. Water, smoothed out the folds, and hung it on the window to dry.

Zhang Hai, who slept on Li Mingdong's upper bunk, watched Mingdong toss around all night, and couldn't help teasing him: "I'm washing my hair and drying my shirts again, are you going on a blind date tomorrow?"

Before waiting for Mingdong to answer, Meng Weishan, who brought Mingdong's luggage back in the afternoon, interjected: "I don't think it's a blind date, but a date, right?" He winked at Mingdong: "The one who came with your brother. Who is the girl? I look at her and look at you in an unusual way?"

As the saying goes, the old master was killed with random fists, and Mingxi's simple, straightforward and rude advice made Mingdong enlightened. When he heard Meng Weishan say that Osmanthus looked at him differently, his heart pounded suddenly, with a hint of joy on his face, but he tried to pretend to be calm: "Oh, is it? What kind of eyes? I didn't notice it."

"You can just pretend." Meng Weishan rolled his eyes at him: "The girl who looks at you clearly likes you." Meng Weishan bumped Mingdong with his shoulder and asked gossip: "What does that girl have to do with you? Is that your daughter-in-law? Have you been through the door?"

Mingdong didn't hold back the joy for a while, and replied a little embarrassedly: "I haven't come yet, I'll go back and get married during the winter vacation."

Meng Weishan was delighted, and sat next to Ming Dong and put his arms around his shoulder: "You have such a good life, and the wife you married is so beautiful!"

Mingdong blushed instantly to the base of his neck, he kicked Meng Weishan aside with one foot, turned and sat in front of the table and grabbed a book, his face full of joy that could not be concealed.

Meng Weishan burst out laughing: "I'll just say it, you can't hide from my eyes, just a young man who is in love."

"Talking about love?" Ming Dong couldn't help asking Meng Weishan when he heard the word he was most concerned about recently: "How do you talk about this love?"

"If you ask me, you're asking the right person." Meng Weishan sat next to Mingdong and taught his experience very carefully: "When I was chasing my daughter-in-law..."

"Wait wait!" Zhang Hai jumped off the top bunk and looked at him in disbelief: "Even you are married?"

"How funny, why can't I get married? I married my daughter-in-law as soon as I graduated from high school." Meng Weishan shook his hair and made a dashing gesture: "Look at me, whether I have good knowledge, good character and good looks, the most important thing is It is to always be sincere to your daughter-in-law, so that you can marry a daughter-in-law."

Meng Weishan sat next to Ming Dong and introduced his experience: "Let me tell you, the most important thing in a relationship is two people. Don't take your brother with you when you go on a date or go shopping. It will affect the relationship between the two of you."

Ming Dong glanced at Ming Xi, who was sleeping soundly, and nodded seriously: "You're right, I'll throw him away when I see my fourth uncle."

Meng Weishan nodded and gave him a "teachable" look: "The second one, to create romance." Looking at Ming Dong and Zhang Hai's blank faces, Meng Weishan stood up and recited softly: "When the sun first rises, take her to the mountains to enjoy the sunrise and feel the morning light of hope together; when the sunset is most beautiful, take her to the riverside for a walk and bathe in the golden light; when the full moon rises, take her with her Go to the rooftop to recite poetry and watch the stars that fill the sky; at..."

"You can pull it down..." Zhang Hai couldn't help interrupting him: "This place is far from the mountains and not close to the river, why is it more tiring to talk about a love in your mouth than to catch a train? Besides, when the moon is particularly bright , there are no stars, I don't know the word moonlight and stars are rare!"

Mingdong did not agree with Zhang Hai's concept: "I think Weishan said it very well, the scene is really beautiful, as for the mountains and rivers, it doesn't matter, our hometown is just out of the door, this section I I'll make it up when I get home. Weishan, you continue to talk."

Zhang Hai interrupted Meng Weishan's few poems that he had managed to suffocate, and he immediately forgot the remaining lines, so he could only say lightly: "Then you take her shopping, go to a movie, etc., to promote feelings. ."

Mingdong nodded and closed the book in his hand: "Just do it!"

Early the next morning, when she heard the sound of the girls in the dormitory rustling in her clothes, Osmanthus Hua, who had already woken up and got dressed, hurriedly opened the door and went out to wash. When she came back from cleaning up, the girls in the dormitory cleaned up and walked out one by one with towels and washbasins. When there was no one in the room, she quickly took the rag and mop and cleaned up the inside of the dormitory.

When the female students came back, they were a little embarrassed when they saw that Osmanthus had tidy up the dormitory: "Osmanthus, you are a guest, why are you so embarrassed to ask you to help us clean up?"

"I don't have anything to do, and living here will cause trouble for you. You have to do something." Osmanthus smiled: "You guys are welcome."

"You're being too polite. In fact, you don't need to help us clean up the dormitory. Like our classmates, relatives often come to spend the night. This is a normal thing. You don't need to be embarrassed." A tall girl smiled and said, Picked a book from the table, ready to take it out.

Meng Shuran looked at Osmanthus and her classmates chatting and laughing freely, and involuntarily thought of Li Mingdong again, and always felt not so reconciled. She bit her lip and asked slightly hostilely, "Osmanthus, do you know the words?"

"I know!" Osmanthus replied calmly: "I also went to school for a few years. After I can't wait for school, Mingdong has taught me for a few years."

Meng Shuran was blocked for a while, and her face was a little ugly. She looked at Osmanthus, and she always felt that her thoughts were invisible in front of her. This feeling made her a little embarrassed and annoyed, and she burst out with anger in an instant: "Excuse me to be blunt. , If you don't go to school, I'm afraid you and Li Mingdong have nothing to talk about, right?"

Osmanthus looked at her in amazement, with a trace of puzzlement on her face: "Why do you always ask about the relationship between me and Brother Mingdong?" Osmanthus looked at Meng Shuran with a peaceful smile, waiting for the rest of the class. When his eyes fell, he said unhurriedly: "Let you worry about us, brother Ming Dong and I grew up together, and there are many topics we can communicate with. Usually when he comes home from vacation, we always have Endless words."

"Osmanthus, come down for dinner!" Li Mingdong's voice sounded just right from downstairs. Osmanthus walked quickly to the window, stuck her head out, and showed a bright smile: "Brother Mingdong, wait for me, I'll come down."

"Go downstairs slowly, don't worry." Mingdong waved his hand to Guihua, thinking that this was the first time she lived upstairs, and asked uneasy.

Meng Shuran's face changed from blue to red, from red to pale, Osmanthus turned around and nodded to her with a smile: "Brother Ming Dong asked me to go out for breakfast, after dinner we will go to his fourth uncle's house. , I'm going to buy some things for the wedding in the afternoon, and I have to trouble you to pick me up in the evening, and I may have to stay here for a few days."

Meng Shuran looked at Osmanthus and didn't know how to answer, but the girl who picked Osmanthus up yesterday smiled and said, "Don't worry, just wait until you come back in the evening and shout, I'll pick you up, by the way, do you remember my name? I My name is Li Xian."

"Then I'll trouble you, Sister Li Xian." Osmanthus smiled and thanked, and said goodbye to the girls in the dormitory one by one, and then hurried off.

Li Xian listened to Osmanthus' footsteps and walked away, and then gave Osmanthus a lukewarm look: "There are only eight girls in our class, so don't smear our faces with any shameful things."

Meng Shuran was annoyed and angry, and his eyes were red with anger: "What do you mean by that?"

"You know what it means." Li Xian sneered: "Li Mingdong has a fiancée, and he is about to get married, so don't bother us with anything useless."

"I don't know what you mean." Meng Shuran said angrily, "I'm not familiar with classmate Li Mingdong, but I was just curious to ask Osmanthus. Why are you so angry?"

"It's best if you don't know each other well, so you don't have to cause trouble." Li Xian left with her book in her arms. The rest of the girls were eager to go to the library to read, so they all left, leaving only Meng Shuran and her usual friends. Chen Ge, a better girl.

Chen Ge watched Meng Shuran sit there crying, and took a towel and handed it to her: "Li Xian's words are ugly, but the reason is that reason. Besides, you just went to college, so you don't have to rush to find someone."

Meng Shuran wiped her tears, but said nothing, Chen Ge poured her a jar of water, and comforted her by saying, "There are a lot of boys in our school, you can always find a good partner in the four and a half years you go to university, so don't worry too much. already."

Meng Shuran took a sip of water, got up and walked to the window, looking at the back of Li Mingdong who had just walked out not too far, only to see him and Osmanthus walking side by side.

"How did you sleep last night?" Ming Dong looked at Osmanthus and asked.

"Very good, your classmates are also very good, take special care of me." Osmanthus replied with a smile, with a little excitement in her tone: "This is the first time I live in such a high building, I am always excited. "

Listening to Osmanthus laughter from the bottom of his heart, Mingdong couldn't help laughing along: "I thought you would be afraid, when we first went to school, a girl who lived on the second floor was scared to cry, and finally the teacher No way, I can only transfer her to the first floor."

"Then she specified that it's not our girl from Beicha. It's just the tree that is dozens of meters on the Red Pine Mountain. The big girl and the young man will swish when they climb up. That one is much taller than this building." Osmanthus looked curiously as she walked. Looking at the scenery of the campus, looking at the students who come and go with their books in between, there is a hint of envy in his tone: "It's great to be able to go to university."

Mingdong glanced at Osmanthus, and remembered the scene when she insisted on giving up her junior high school after graduation from elementary school. At that time, she didn't think too much about it when she was young, but she just thought she didn't want to study. In fact, when I think about it now, the young Osmanthus was only worried that spending money on reading and eating for nothing every day would make my milk and mother unhappy, so I gave up reading.

With a sigh, Mingdong was a little annoyed. If he wanted to understand that he should persuade Osmanthus more, Nanny and Mom didn't care about it at all, but they didn't know about reading, so Osmanthus dropped out of school.

Looking at Ming Dong who was in a somewhat depressed mood, Osmanthus couldn't help but ask, "Brother Ming Dong, what's the matter with you?"

"It's okay!" Since the past cannot be changed, Mingdong doesn't think about it anymore. He looked at Osmanthus and smiled: "Actually, you can read without going to school. Do you recognize the words you were taught before?"

Osmanthus nodded: "I kept all the letters you sent home in the past, and I can read them down."

Mingdong glanced at her: "I'll find a few books for you when I look back. You can take a look at it when you're free at home. It's going to be school."

"Have you used an old book?" Osmanthus looked at Ming Dong expectantly.

Mingdong was a little embarrassed by her fiery eyes, and he laughed foolishly: "Well, it's a Chinese textbook used in junior high and high school."

Osmanthus nodded excitedly, her eyes bright as if there were stars hidden in it, Ming Dong couldn't take his eyes away after a glance, and when he was about to say something, an unpleasant voice interjected: " Brother, you don’t know how many years those books are, can you still find them? Why don’t you just let Sister Osmanthus use mine.”

Ming Dong glared at Ming Xi, and suddenly felt that Meng Weishan was right: you need two people to fall in love, and one more person is an eyesore!

After breakfast, Mingdong took Mingxi and Osmanthus to Li Mulin's house with bacon, hazel mushrooms and pine nuts picked from the mountains. Li Mulin is a line patrol worker and often shifts shifts, but Ming Dong has figured out his work schedule in the morning, and every time he comes, he can get stuck on his days off.

"Fourth Uncle, are you at home?" Ming Dong knocked on the door and shouted again.

"Come, come!" Li Mulin who was chopping firewood quickly put down his axe and walked away quickly: "Mingdong is here?"

As soon as the door opened, Mingxi and Osmanthus hurriedly called out, "Fourth Uncle."

Seeing Mingxi and Osmanthus, Li Mulin was suddenly surprised. He let people in and asked, "Why are you here? Is your milk well at home? How are the family members? The food supply is insufficient this year. ?"

"It's all good. Before I came, my mother asked me to send a message to the fourth uncle, saying that the fourth uncle should go back early this winter." Osmanthus put down the burden of the hazel mushroom in her hand.

"What's the matter? What's going on at home?" Li Mulin couldn't help but ask, Osmanthus looked at Mingdong and didn't know how to speak. After a night of trying to understand that marriage and love are not in conflict, Ming Dong said it in a down-to-earth manner: "I will have a wedding with Osmanthus in winter."

Osmanthus was overjoyed to hear this. She thought that she and Mingdong were still discussing their marriage, and she was thinking about how to talk to Mingdong. Unexpectedly, Mingdong admitted it in a blink of an eye.

"This is a big happy event. I was thinking that your grandmother should get you married." Li Mulin said cheerfully: "Hurry up and drink water for a while, and come all the way here."

Mingxi ran ahead with bacon and pine nuts: "Fourth uncle, my milk brought you pickled wild boar."

"That's great, we haven't bought meat for a while, who beat this wild boar?" Li Mulin took the things and walked in while asking.

Mingxi's legs trembled when he heard this question: "...I don't want to say it."

Ming Dong followed the back of Fourth Uncle and Ming Xi to take a few steps in, and suddenly realized that Osmanthus was not following. He looked back and saw Osmanthus standing there looking at him smirking, and he couldn't help laughing. Mingdong walked over and touched Osmanthus' head, feeling the warmth in his chest: "Come in, silly girl."

In autumn, every household in Beicha is busy, and there are countless things to do all day long to harvest crops and pick wild vegetables. The same is true of the old Li family, before the crops were ripened by Zhen Zhen and collected secretly, they never went to the fields to see them, until Zhen Zhen's third aunt Liu Xiulan came over and hurriedly asked: "Second sister-in-law, the crops you planted on the mountain Why don't you collect it, I just went to see that the crops are growing."

Wang Sufen jumped off the kang as soon as she heard it, and Mrs. Li glanced at her calmly, and said in a decent manner: "I don't know that Mingxi and Osmanthus are not at home, we are just busy with other work, and we haven't emptied out yet. to collect."

Liu Xiulan was anxious: "It's more urgent than harvesting crops. Every household is nervous this year. What if there is an immoral person who steals corn in the middle of the night?"

Mrs. Li tapped the edge of the kang with her cigarette bag, her face was calm: "It's hard to find it in the fast daytime at my house, and it's dark and blind in the mountains and forests. If anyone dares to touch it like that, I'll serve him."

Liu Xiulan sat on the kang and wiped the sweat from her forehead: "Yes, as soon as I saw that no one accepted it, I was stunned, and I forgot about it. But mother, don't accept it too late. What if it rains for a few days?"

"Well, I know." Mrs. Li nodded: "I'll ask Mingbei to find his father in a while, and I'll collect it in the afternoon."

"Okay, if you count, I won't stay here anymore. The land in my house is not finished yet." Liu Xiulan raised her legs and was about to leave. Wang Sufen hurriedly chased out: "It's almost noon, why don't you call Mu Sen and the children over for dinner?"

"No, I've already steamed the pancakes in the morning." Liu Xiulan waved her hands without looking back: "Hurry up and get busy, there's a lot of work."

After seeing Liu Xiulan away, Wang Sufen ran back in a few steps, and carefully closed the door: "Mother, didn't we collect all the crops, why did they grow again? Did they regenerate?"

Mrs. Li wasn't sure about this either: "Can't you? Didn't she take her up the mountain again? Besides, how could she know that it was ours after such a long distance?"

"But, apart from Zhen Zhen, there should be no one else who has this ability." Wang Sufen said quickly.

Mrs. Li turned her head to look at Zhen Zhen who was practicing walking with the kangqin, and waved to her: "Bao, come to Nian's place."

As soon as Zhen Zhen turned her head, she sat down on the kang with her legs soft, and Mrs. Li held her in her arms: "Bao, do you know what happened to the crops on our mountain?"

Zhen Zhen sat on Mrs. Li's lap and ate straight at her: "I'm full!"

"Oh, my good granddaughter, do you want to make grandma full?" When Mrs. Li saw Zhen Zhen's pretty little appearance, her heart was numb: "It's just like this, am I tired?"

Zhen Zhen looked at her short legs that couldn't stand up yet, remembered her age bitterly, and decided to talk less and pretend to be stupid. She happily climbed down from Mrs. Li's lap and continued to practice walking while holding the kangqin.

I didn't eat much of the crops harvested before, but this time can harvest another batch. Even three meals a day are enough for Lao Li's family to eat for one winter. When Mrs. Li thought about it, she felt full of energy, and wished to go to the mountain to harvest crops immediately.

Seeing Mrs. Li's fidgety look, Wang Sufen quickly persuaded her, "It's not too late. I'll steam some dry food first, so that Mu Wu and Ming Nan and Ming Bei will be full and ready to work."

"Evaporated cakes, whole rice noodles, no sweet potato noodles, and stewed bacon and cabbage for them to eat happily." The old lady Li thought of another crop of ripening crops, and she was generous.

Wang Sufen responded, found a piece of soy sauce and came out to make the dough, and made a piece of dough mixed with white flour for Zhen Zhen alone. When Mrs. Li came out, she saw that she had picked up two eggs from the basket and handed them over: "Put two eggs for Zhen Zhen. There are eggs in it, did you not drink the milk you brought back in the morning? Pour half a bottle into it. Our Zhen Zhen has a thin throat, and she can’t swallow anything that is too rough.”

When Mingnan and Mingbei dragged firewood from the mountain, they smelled the aroma of dry food from the cauldron, and immediately salivated: "Mom, what did you steam today? Why is it so fragrant?"

"Fa cake!" Wang Sufen replied without raising her head while cutting the bacon: "It's all rice noodles."

As far back as Mingbei can remember, his family hadn't eaten dry food with whole rice noodles. He drooled while squatting in front of the cauldron, and said cheerfully: "Mom, when will we be able to eat dry food with all-white noodles? Designated to be more fragrant than this hair cake."

"If you can eat enough, you won't be fooled. If you want to eat white noodles, it's really annoying." Wang Sufen rolled her eyes at him and kicked his ass with her toes: "Don't block here, go to the grain store and tell your father to come back. This grain store hasn't come to supply grain for a few months, and it doesn't pay wages, so what are you doing there?"

Mingbei looked at the cauldron reluctantly, and then ran out quickly. When the two men came back out of breath, lunch was already ready.

Zhen Zhen sat at the kang table, happily chewing the fragrant and soft rabbit-shaped hair cake with her four little teeth, Li Mingbei poked Zhen Zhen's forehead: "Silly girl, this is a fake rabbit, wait bro. Go up the mountain and feed you real rabbits."

Wang Sufen glanced at him: "Don't fix that useless thing, hurry up to eat and go up the mountain with your father to harvest the crops. You work hard, your grandmother said that she will eat dry food for you these few days, and put it in the vegetables. Meat."

"That's fine!" Li Mingbei picked up a piece of hair cake, put it in his mouth and took a big bite.

Turning potatoes, harvesting sweet potatoes, and breaking corn, the people of the Beicha generation were pleasantly surprised to find that, despite the lack of rain this year, the crops grew exceptionally vigorous.

"The harvest is good, does it mean that the year is getting better?"

"The designation is that these hard days are over."

"Our forest area can grow such good crops, and the surrounding area is definitely not bad. I see that there will be no shortage of food supplies to eat next year."