Zhen Zhen hadn't seen osmanthus for half a month. After eating, she waited for Wang Sufen to wash her hands and face and climbed to the side of osmanthus. She stood up with difficulty with her arms, and her two little hands tried to wrap her neck around her.

Osmanthus smiled and held Zhen Zhen back in her arms, kissed her chubby face twice: "Did you miss your sister-in-law?" Zhen Zhen smiled and stretched out her chubby hand, holding a yellow-orange-orange girl in it, Efforts to stuff the osmanthus into the mouth.

Osmanthus bowed her head and took a bite, picked up Zhen Zhen to look at the things she brought back, only to see that the kang in the north was full of bright red kettles, enamel washbasins, spittoons, sheets, quilts, pillow covers , and a plastic mirror with red peonies on the back. Zhen Zhen stared at the things on the kang in a stunned manner, she couldn't think of how many cloth bags Mingxi and Osmanthus were carrying before they brought them back.

Osmanthus opened an oiled paper bag and took out a few pieces of fabric inside. When Mrs. Li was full, she quickly washed her hands and came over to take a look. She carefully shook off the little flower cloth on top and measured it from left to right on Zhen Zhen's body, her eyes were seamed with a smile: "Look at this The flowers printed on the top are so vivid, it makes our Zhen Zhen's little face look so beautiful."

Zhen Zhen also looked down, the foundation was printed with small red, green and blue flowers. Although she looked rustic, it was already a very good style, not to mention in Beicha District, even in Yedong City. not.

Mrs. Li picked up the red lantern velvet cloth and compared it to Zhen Zhen, and began to ponder: "As I said before, the lantern velvet cloth is used as a cotton-padded jacket, and I still have your uncle in my box who sent it a few years ago. The red cotton cloth is very soft, so use that to lining Zhen Zhen." Then she picked up the pink floral cloth: "The lantern velvet is thick, just wear it directly, you don't need to use this good material as a smock, and when the spring is warm, take it with you. This piece of cloth is used as a jacket for Zhen Zhen, and it looks good when you go out and in."

Zhen Zhen nodded after hearing this, there was only one employee in the family, Li Muwu, the cloth and industrial tickets were paid along with the salary, and taking the lead in a year was only enough to make one dress, sometimes at most two pieces of cloth were bought for patching. The clothes that I was born and wore were all dismantled and refurbished from the old clothes my brother wore. Although they were clean and very soft, the color was either black or gray. Zhen Zhen felt that wearing them on her body really affected her weight. cute doll.

After the family finished eating one after another, Osmanthus hurriedly got off the kang to help clean up, Wang Sufen stopped her and pushed her aside: "Just come back and take a rest, and you will be in the house tomorrow to take you and Mingdong's family together. The new padded jacket is made, you don't have to worry about these things at home."

Zhen Zhen looked at the things in the yard and knew that there was a lot of work at home, she pulled up her hair and helped Wang Sufen pick up the table: "I've been sitting all the way back, and I'm not tired, so you can pack it at home. The crops are tired."

When Wang Sufen thought of the harvest in her own field, she couldn't help but smile: "If there is such a good harvest every year, I'm willing to be tired."

As soon as Zhen Zhen heard this, she proudly raised her little chest: If it wasn't for the fear that you were tired, it would be fine for you to take it back once a day.

When two people came back home, the speed of work was much faster. Li Muwu took his three sons to pick up food in the back yard all day long. The three took turns pushing the stone mill to thresh the food. By night, the clothes on his body were already gone. Water soaked in sweat.

Mrs. Li and Wang Sufen are picking up the vegetables they grow at home. The storage that should be stored, the pickling that should be preserved, and the drying that should be aired. In winter, they all count on these. After they were busy with these, the sauerkraut was also pickled. Wang Sufen drowned another tank of kohlrabi lumps. In winter, it can be eaten by shredding. When the spring is green and yellow, it is also a good dish to fry it with lard.

Osmanthus sits on the kang with her hands and feet neatly cut out like a picture, and fluffs cotton layer by layer. Zhen Zhen sits on the opposite kang, eating fruit obediently, and when she is full, she lies on the windowsill and looks at Li Muwu. Work with three brothers.

When the house was tidy up inside and out, and the weather gradually cooled down, Li Muwu took out the newspaper he had saved for a year, and pasted it outside the window layer by layer. The howling north wind and snowflakes are not afraid of blizzards. It's just that although the thickly-pasted newspaper blocks the wind, there is one thing that's particularly bad. The newspaper is too thick and can't let in light, and the room is instantly darkened. .

Just after November, Li Mingdong came back from Bingcheng. When Mrs. Li, who was sitting in the kitchen heard the door open, she looked up and saw her eldest grandson came back. , while hurriedly asking him: "Why did you come back so early? The school is on holiday?" Then he shouted: "Osmanthus, hurry up, Dongzi is back."

Osmanthus also heard the voice, put down the half-made shoes in her hand and greeted them. The two had just talked for half a month, and then they were separated for two months. Mingdong and Osmanthus had already thought about each other in their hearts. . Mingdong was talking to Mrs. Li, but his eyes kept glancing at Osmanthus. When Osmanthus came back from Bingcheng, Mrs. Li and Wang Sufen didn't let her do any work outside. Much cleaner. In addition, these days, hands have not done any other rough work except needlework. After scalding them with hot water at night, smeared a layer of Gala oil from Mingdong, and the slender fingers became more and more white and tender.

Ming Dong's eyes fell from Osmanthus' face and fell on her hair-lifting hand, which filled her heart that had been empty for two months. Osmanthus looked at Ming Dong staring at herself without blinking, her face was a little red, she pursed her lips, and her voice was like honey: "Brother Ming Dong, are you back?"

"Hey! Well, are you okay at home?" Mingdong asked stupidly.

"It's good." Osmanthus looked at Ming Dong with watery eyes, and she almost hooked Ming Dong's soul away.

Zhen Zhen was lying in Wang Sufen's arms, looking at the elder brother and Osmanthus, they looked at each other so affectionately, the one blushing and the other with bloodshot ears, but no one took a step forward, this can make Zhen Zhen anxious. If it's broken, will it fall in love? Can you hold a hand? At any rate, consider the feelings of the onlookers, okay?

It's a pity that not all the people in the old Li family are as meticulous as Zhen Zhen, just after the two of them said three words, Ming Nan and Ming Bei came in from outside, and the spectator Ming Dong rushed on him: "Brother, you Why did you come back so early? The second brother hasn't had a holiday yet."

Mingdong threw the two boys off, and then saw that Li Muwu and Wang Sufen had been standing behind him for an unknown time, so he quickly stood up and shouted, "Dad, Mom."

Wang Sufen grinned happily: "Don't block the door, go in and talk on the kang."

Mingnan and Mingbei scrambled to take Mingdong's luggage to the house, the whole family put their slippers on the kang, Zhen Zhen got down from Wang Sufen's arms, climbed to the middle of Wang Sufen and Mingdong and sat down.

Ming Dong glanced at Xiao Budian who was sitting next to him, smiled and patted her head: "It's only been a few months, Zhen Zhen has grown quite a bit."

Zhen Zhen cracked open her small mouth, revealing eight small teeth: "Brother!"

"It's so good!" Ming Dong dragged a schoolbag that was placed on the edge of the kang, and took a piece of candy from it and handed it to Zhen Zhen: "Hide it up, don't let your third and fourth brothers see it."

Zhen Zhen took the candy and put it in the small pocket of her clothes, and leaned back against Osmanthus Hua's arms, listening to the adults talking. Mrs. Li saw that the candy paper looked very delicate and didn't look like a cheap thing, and asked quickly, "Where did the candy come from?"

Ming Dong said, "For the candy tickets given by the fourth uncle, I bought ten pieces of toffee for Zhen Zhen to keep to eat, and I bought the rest of the ordinary fruit candy to entertain guests on the wedding day."

After hearing this, Mrs. Li nodded and said regretfully, "I forgot to tell your fourth uncle. If you have some good cakes, I will bring back a few pieces. I don't think Zhen Zhen likes to eat, so I like these delicate things."

Wang Sufen looked at the white and tender Zhen Zhen, couldn't help but smile and said, "It's her mother's habit, Dongzi and the others can eat enough when they are young, how can they dare to choose coarse grains and fine grains? They can't sleep if they make three pancakes."

Mrs. Li tutted: "The little girl has a thin voice, which is different."

Zhen Zhen touched the toffee in her pocket and listened cheerfully to the adults, just listening and listening, Zhen Zhen realized that her sitting position was getting smaller and smaller. Zhen Zhen raised her head and looked at Ming Dong, only to see that he moved and moved, the closer he moved, the closer he got to Osmanthus, Zhen Zhen was squeezed unbearably, and crawled into Mrs. Li's arms again, sure enough, just sitting firmly here, there Mingdong was already close to the osmanthus.

When Mrs. Li saw that her grandson was different from the awkward look in the past, she also felt that he was enlightened, and suddenly felt that it was not in vain to let Osmanthus go to Bingcheng, and both of them had to be happy to get married.

"Okay, Ming Dong is very tired when he just came back. Mother Dongzi, you are going to cook, and Mingnan and Mingbei will go to add firewood to your mother. Guihua and Dongzi go into the back room to discuss the marriage. I didn't take the time to take a photo in the street or something." Mrs. Li touched the cigarette bag and pot, but she saw her granddaughter put it down in her arms. She hugged Zhen Zhen and also got off the kang: "Let's go, I will take you to the East Room to eat pine nuts."

Mrs. Li left, and the others followed. Ming Dong stretched his neck and glanced at it, and seeing that the door was closed, he took the courage to hold Osmanthus' hand: "I wanted to write to you. I'm afraid that it will be disassembled by Mingbei and read."

Osmanthus' little hand didn't dare to move in Mingdong's hand, her eyes fell from the two clasped hands to Mingdong's face, showing a bright smile: "Then next time you will write Osmanthus collection. , a letter to me alone."

"Okay!" Ming Dong nodded earnestly, suddenly he remembered something, and quickly let go of Osmanthus' hand, pulled over the schoolbag and turned it over a few times, took out a small flower handkerchief from it and handed it to Osmanthus.

Osmanthus opened the handkerchief and saw a yellow round iron box inside. It looked very delicate. She glanced at Ming Dong in surprise: "Cream cream?"

"En!" Mingdong looked at Osmanthus, who couldn't put it down, and grinned happily: "I wanted to buy it for you last time, but I didn't have enough money. I saved another two months' allowance, and finally bought it for you before I went home. ."

Osmanthus was moved but also a little worried. She looked at Ming Dong's obviously haggard appearance, and boldly reached out and touched his face: "Have you lost a lot of weight? Did you not have enough food to buy this?"

"I'm full, really, we collected carrots on the farm a while ago, and after a while, we dragged one to the water and washed it before eating. We have to eat seven or eight carrots in a day. Do you think you can be hungry?" Ming Dongchao Osmanthus winked, Osmanthus grinned, just as he was about to take his hand off, Mingdong took advantage of the situation and grabbed it back into his palm.

Even though Osmanthus is a generous and refreshing girl, she is embarrassed to be held hands by the person she likes and looks at her like this. Her blushing reaches to the roots of her ears, and her appearance becomes more and more beautiful. Seeing her, Ming Dong felt itchy in his heart. He just wished he could get married sooner, so that he could kiss her in an upright manner.

In the east room, while Zhen Zhen was eating the pine nuts that Mrs. Li had peeled for herself, she regretted that she didn't see the scene where the eldest brother and Osmanthus were in love, just the little eyes of the two of them at the door and their faces were full of shyness. It must be fun to be alone.

When Mingdong returned home, getting ready for marriage became the top priority of the old Li family. When it was just cold, trucks with grain and non-staple food finally entered Beicha District. With food stamps and meat stamps, they ran into the street.

Old Li's family received two crops of grain in a row, both of which were bumper harvests. The family's grain reserves are enough to eat for one year next year. But there are not many people like Lao Li’s family. Although they have had a bumper harvest this year, they are all self-developed wasteland. The land is large and small, and some are lazy and only grow in the yard. Some families live together for three generations. , a dozen people still have seven or eight and a half children, and no matter how much grain they grow, it is not enough for this family to eat. Mrs. Li was thinking about not going to buy food this time. She only kept some food stamps to buy some biscuits and cakes for Zhen Zhen every month. can get some more stuff for the house.

In this day and age, basically every household is short of food stamps, and Mrs. Li only goes to the people she is usually close to, sits on the kang, and then turns to the topic after a while, and returns a bunch of them in a few days. Tickets, bought a bunch of things, and exchanged a few sunflowers grown at home.

Osmanthus tidyed up the new house neatly, put on the newly bought kang mat, re-flipped the old cotton mattress and put a layer of cotton on it, put on a new quilt and bed sheet, all neatly placed in the kang qin.

They were all packed up. Seeing that the wedding day was getting closer and closer, it was time to take wedding photos. Ming Dong and Osmanthus got up early in the morning to boil water and washed their heads. Osmanthus sat by the stove and roasted them for seven or eight minutes. Only then did the fingers dexterously braid the braids.

Beicha District has a large area, but a small population. There is only one prosperous street in the street. Grain stores, non-staple food stores, barber shops, cooperatives, and photo studios are all next to each other. Many people get married in winter, and the photo studio is lively for two days at this time of the year. When Ming Dong and Gui Hua arrived, there were three pairs of young people lining up in front of them.

There are very few opportunities for photos in this era. Now sitting on the stool is the first time to take pictures. The woman pursed her lips and stared at the boss, and the man rigidly followed the photographer's request, sitting neatly on the stool But when he made him laugh, his face was uglier than crying. The photographer taught me over and over again, and when finally put on face and took the picture, was tired of sweating.

After waiting for half an hour, it was finally Ming Dong and Osmanthus' turn. Ming Dong took a picture when he was in high school, and he also took a picture when he arrived in Harbin. When the Osmanthus family was in decline, it would always be photographed two or three times a year, and the two of them would sit shoulder to shoulder, showing the sweetest smile.

The photographer breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pressed the shutter when the two of them laughed the sweetest.

****

The days went by so fast, and as soon as saw it, it was the day of Laba, which happened to be Zhen Zhen's birthday. Zhen Zhen still clearly remembered the day she was born, when Mrs. Li said that she had a good birthday, she was born on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the time of the year when there was no shortage of grain and rice.

Zhen Zhen didn't have any worries about starvation, but she didn't expect that she had just turned one year old, and this ability was actually upgraded. Originally, Zhen Zhen could only see everything outside when her consciousness was out of the body, but today she just woke up and was startled by the scene in her mind.

I saw that the entire Beicha District appeared in her mind like a 3D model. She could clearly feel the existence of every mountain, every river, and even every tree and grass, hiding in a hole in the ground. The hare, the flying dragon on the branch, the still fish in the water, the blind bear in the deep mountains, the Siberian tiger, she can perceive it clearly.

She just wanted to see what the Siberian tiger looked like, and the location of the Siberian tiger was instantly drawn closer in her mind, Zhen Zhen looked at it as real as if she was standing beside it, only to see the Siberian tiger tightly Staring at a yellow sheep, he carefully arched his body and looked like he was about to prey.

Seeing the yellow sheep in front that didn't seem to know the danger, Zhen Zhen felt a little greedy. This time he was born into the Li family, and Li Muwu and his brothers also brought back wild things, but this yellow sheep has never been hit. She used to be so young that she couldn't eat meat, but now her teeth are growing fast, and a pair of small teeth appeared just after her birthday, so she had to eat meat to satisfy her cravings.

Zhen Zhen couldn't help but feel a little itchy, she looked at Huang Yang and wondered how she could get her home. As soon as had this thought, the yellow sheep seemed to be under control, and saw it running all the way down the mountain, very cleverly avoiding the place where people were walking. After going down the mountain, Huang Yang still kept running at a high speed, and didn't stop until he ran to the door of Lao Li's house. This means that the door of Lao Li's house is made of red pine wood. If it is replaced with a thinner board, it is designated to hit a big hole.

At this time, Mrs. Li discussed with Wang Sufen about Zhen Zhen's birthday in the kitchen. She celebrated her birthday for the elderly in Beicha when the years were good. Young people and children didn't pay attention to this. But Mrs. Li thought that Zhen Zhen is not only the treasure of the family, but also thanks to her, at the most difficult time of the year, the whole family was not hungry, otherwise, what would it be like to worry about the city? .

"You will roll out a bowl of noodles for Zhen Zhen in a while." Mrs. Li said while smoking a cigarette bag: "Make the noodles softer, and put a poached egg inside. There is an old saying that this child has to wrap his legs with noodles for his birthday. It’s not easy to die prematurely.”

The mother-in-law was willing to celebrate her child's birthday, and Wang Sufen agreed naturally. The two were talking when they suddenly heard a "bang" from the outside door. Somehow they were knocked open, and Mrs. Li stopped smoking her cigarette bag and took it down. When you knock, don't put it on your trousers belt, go to the door, grab the big padded jacket hanging on the door, put it on your body, and open the door.

Every morning Li Muwu went out to fetch water, the door was not locked when he opened it, he only took it with him when he went out. When Mrs. Li came out, she saw that the door of her house had been knocked open, and inside the door lay a yellow sheep with a bleeding head.

Mrs. Li is so happy now that she doesn't have to go hunting and the prey will be delivered to her door. Why is it such a good thing. She was squatting there and looking at it, when several neighbors heard the movement and came out to look, and saw the sheep lying in front of Lao Li's house, they were envious: "Aunt Li, who beat such a big fat sheep? Mu Wu went up the mountain again in the morning. ?"

"It's not uncommon for you to say this, this yellow sheep didn't know what to do. It ran down the mountain and hit my door and died." Mrs. Li proudly dragged the sheep up: "Oh, it's not too light. When you go back to Dongzi for a wedding, there is no shortage of meat, and when the time comes, you will come to drink the wedding wine."

"Oh, Aunt Li, your life is also very good. I don't think your family has been short of meat this year." A family standing next to him stared straight ahead: "Do you think your place is good? , or why would I run into your house?"

Mrs. Li was very happy: "Isn't my house near the avenue, if I go to your house, I have to turn a corner."

"That's not good." All of a sudden, everyone was laughing all around. Some of them were looking at the sky early, and they were going to go home and ask the old man to go up the mountain with a wild gun to see if he could meet someone like a silly roe deer. Silly goat. "

Mrs. Li took Huang Yang into the hospital, and shouted a statement: "Go and see if your father has brought water back, and let him kill the sheep quickly."

Mingbei put on a dog-skin hat, put on a big padded jacket, and jumped out. While running, he turned his head and asked, "Do you want to eat meat at noon?"

"Eat!" Mrs. Li grinned happily: "Today your sister's birthday, let's make mutton dumplings to eat."

Li Muwu had just walked halfway with a load of water, when he saw his younger son running out of breath and told him to go back and kill the sheep. Li Muwu immediately threw off his steps, and when he got home, he threw the bucket and ran towards the yellow sheep in the middle of the yard. went.

"This is a good thing." Li Muwu was delighted: "This yellow mutton is fragrant and tender, I will clean it up, and we can eat it at noon."

Zhen Zhen sat on the kang contentedly: How can not eat meat on birthday! Braised lamb must have a pot!