Chapter 32

From this day on, Lu Che went to the provincial capital to pick up the goods every holiday, and only two or three trips a month, but the profit was considerable, earning about 20 yuan at a time, and 60 yuan a month.

In addition, he does not fall behind in other side jobs. Although these jobs are not done every day, under the high-intensity farm work every day, they still have to make time to complete these tasks. Jiang Yao really loves her model worker.

In the evening, after eating and taking a bath, the young couple sat on the bed, one knitting sweaters and the other reading the mechanical books given by Mr. Yue. Although they did not have the ultimate happiness, they were also very warm.

"I did a calculation. Your sideline business this month adds up to 100 yuan, which is equivalent to the wages of state-owned factory workers for several months. Otherwise, let's take a proper rest and stop doing so much work. It's like picking up firewood. It’s earlier than the chicken, and if you don’t earn much, you have to hand in half of it.” Jiang Yao suggested.

"No." Lu Che said without raising his head: "More and more factories are asking me to send tomatoes and cucumbers. I can't quit because of the lack of money, it's not righteous. Besides, I often give to the production team. Hand in the money to pick up firewood, so that it can hide people's eyes and ears, otherwise I will find a reason to go to the county town every three or five years."

"It seems to be the case." Jiang Yao said, "But I'm worried that you're working too hard. On the other hand, I'm a little embarrassed that I'm doing handicrafts at home except for going to the market to follow you."

"Fool, I didn't let you work when I married you." Lu Che raised his eyes from the book, reached out and touched Jiang Yao's head, and said, "It's also very hard for you to have a child, and you can live less. Do less work."

Jiang Yao listened and laughed "puchi".

Living in this era, the treatment of pregnant women must not be on a par with that of later generations, but to say that she is pregnant is hard, there is really no, at least not currently.

The daughter-in-law of someone else's family is still working in the fields until she is born. She stays at home all day, without the sun and rain. She can do as much manual work as she can, and no one ever asks her.

The first few days when she found out that she was pregnant, she woke up in the morning with nausea and vomiting, but now she is all better, eating well and sleeping well, plus she can often eat meat, and eggs don't fall for a day, she is worried Get fat yourself.

"What are you laughing at?" Lu Che asked.

Jiang Yao: "If it's hard work for me, how can you make a pregnant woman who does farm work eat sweet potatoes, rice and vegetables every day?"

Lu Che said of course: "others are others, we are us, you are my Lu Che's daughter-in-law, can others be the same as you?"

"Tsk tsk tsk... so quickly?" Jiang Yao leaned into his arms and said softly, "I'm not joking, I really don't want you to work so hard."

Lu Che hugged her and said, "As long as we see our little tin can being filled slowly, I don't feel hard. Besides, this hard work is not worth it compared to the hard work without extreme happiness. Just a mention."

"..." It's true that the three sentences are inseparable from "extreme happiness". Her stalk, I am afraid that he will be said to be old.

However, he is also quite pitiful. At a young age, he has to be vegetarian as soon as he eats meat. She rubbed in his arms and said, "If you can bear it again, after three months, you can have a proper married life."

"Well." Lu Che suddenly regained his energy, "I will endure it for another month before I leave the customs."

Seeing his look full of anticipation, Jiang Yao had to give him a "vaccine" in advance, "Don't be too happy, even if you can do it, you have to take it easy, it's impossible to toss with you like before, more often must be strictly controlled.”

After listening to it, Lu Che didn't stop, and said, "It's better than nothing." He was afraid that he would be suffocated every day.

Jiang Yao: "..."

The next day, Zhu Xia came to Lu's house to play with Jiang Yao after a few days off.

Since Jiang Yao married Lu Che and invited the three of them to a wedding party, they will no longer avoid the Lu family, especially Lu Che.

In addition, Jiang Yao is now the daughter-in-law of the Lu family, and the Lu family is her home. There is nothing wrong with these little sisters coming to her house to play.

Because Zhu Xia told Lu Che when she went to work yesterday that they would come to see her today, Jiang Yao went to prepare some food to entertain them when she woke up in the morning.

In fact, it is best to serve with fruit, but there is not much fruit in this season. Jiang Yao originally planned to make cold cucumber and cold tomatoes, but worried about exposing his "little treasury", he could only make cold seaweed in the end.

Looking at the green kelp, Lu Che said, "Daughter-in-law, cook a few eggs to entertain them."

"Eggs? Wouldn't it be too extravagant?" It wasn't that Jiang Yao was reluctant, but the current environment was such that few families would be so extravagant as to invite others to eat eggs.

"No, it's just three eggs. You can't lose face in front of your friends."

Since Big Brother Lu insisted on earning face for her, she was not polite and boiled four eggs, one for each person.

The old lady and Lu Qing were in the main room. Jiang Yao worried that they would be uncomfortable, so she took them directly to her previous room.

"Yaoyao, although you are two people now, will it be too much to eat four eggs at a time?" Zhu Xia asked with concern when she saw the eggs on the table.

While pouring tea for them, Jiang Yao said, "We have one for each, we won't be able to eat."

"One per person?" Zhou Qiong waved his hands again and again after reacting, "No, we came here today and wanted to chat with you. Having seaweed salad is already very good, how can I eat one of your eggs?"

"That's right, go back and let your Lu Che know, thinking that we are bandits, and won't let us come next time." Wen Qian joked.

"He asked me to cook these eggs for you." Jiang Yao said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, you can eat them. We have a lot of chickens. Lu Che can get 20 eggs for helping others repair a tractor once. There are only ten left."

When the words fell, Jiang Yao put an egg in each person's hand, and then picked up the last egg and knocked it on the table to peel it.

Zhu Xia glanced at each other and knocked the eggs politely.

"Yaoyao, why are your eggs so fragrant?" Zhu Xia gave her a thumbs up while eating.

"Come on you, free eggs are very fragrant." Wen Qian teased her.

"Yes, eggs that fall from the sky are especially delicious." Zhu Xia was not annoyed and continued to joke.

"Yaoyao, I really envy you now." Zhou Qiong said, "I was worried that you would have a bad life when you marry in the countryside, but now you already eat eggs casually, and I still worry about whether to buy eggs or not. Confused."

"Yes, it's a long way to go back to the city. Sometimes I think, I'll find someone from the countryside to marry." Wen Qian said a little dejectedly.

"The two of you are sober." Zhu Xia said, "It depends on who you marry, not where you marry. Yaoyao's good life is because she married Lu Che. Look at Du Yuejiao's marriage to the city, or to the Revolutionary Committee. Director, have you invited us to eat eggs? Sweet potatoes, rice and vegetables don't matter."

"Yes." Wen Qian held her chin in distress, "I've been in the countryside for three years, and I'll be twenty-one this year. If I keep going on, I'll become an old girl. When will I be able to return to the city?"

"I'm a year older than you!" Zhou Qiong said, "My parents wrote to me and told me that if they found someone suitable in the countryside, they would marry. After thinking about it for a few nights, I compromised with myself. If I can find a man like Lu Che who can make me eat meat often, I will marry him."

"Are you marrying a man or a pork right now?" Zhu Xia scolded with a smile.

Jiang Yao was joking with them at first, but when she heard it, she realized that something was wrong. How did they know that they often had meat to eat?

Every time Lu Che went to the county to buy meat, he would bring it back tightly wrapped, and logically no one would know. What went wrong?

With doubts in her heart, Jiang Yao began to bring the topic on purpose, and finally found the crux of the problem.

Although Lu's house is a high-walled compound, no matter how high the wall is, it can't contain the fragrance.

These days, it’s good to eat a meal of meat during the New Year’s Eve. People who eat sweet potatoes and vegetables every day are very sensitive to the aroma of meat, especially the meat cooked by Jiang Yao is particularly fragrant. reel.

This rumor spread widely, and soon the news of the Lu family eating meat every day spread in Qingyuan.

Jiang Yao secretly screamed badly, this is just the beginning, and in a few days, things will ferment, and it will easily be used by caring people to make articles, especially those who have never looked down on Lu Jiahao and Lu Chehao.

After sending Zhu Xia and the others away, Jiang Yao went back to the room and looked at the calendar, and found that today happened to be November 14th.

She found a pen and paper, wrote a letter to Jiang Zhen, and went out.

From the end of the village to the head of the village, she came to Aunt Zhang's house.

Aunt Zhang was a well-known soldier in Qingyuan Village. Her husband died on the battlefield and was a martyr. Even so, she sent her three sons into the army one after another, and now lives alone.

She is relatively taciturn. She doesn't gossip with the women in the village, but she is willing to help others. She makes three trips to the county town each month to send letters to her three sons. She is willing to ask her to bring something from the villagers. .

Probably the more military dependents are, the stricter they are, for fear of embarrassing her husband and son by accident. Every time she brought things back to the villagers, she took them directly to the fields, handed them over to the client in front of everyone, and asked the other party to count them on the spot, so as not to say there was a mistake later.

Jiang Yao knocked on the door for a long time, and finally waited for her to open the door.

When Aunt Zhang saw Jiang Yao, she was obviously taken aback, "Aren't you Lu Che's daughter-in-law, an educated youth from the provincial capital?"

"Yes, it's me." Jiang Yao handed the envelope with a smile, "Aunt Zhang, it's like this, I heard that you go to the county post office on the fifteenth of every month to send a letter to your son. I have a letter for your son. I wrote it to my brother, can I ask you to help me send it?"

Aunt Zhang looked at the address on the envelope and found that it was sent to the army. She happily took it and said, "No problem, I promise to send it to you."

"Then I'll trouble you, Aunt Zhang." Jiang Yao climbed up the pole and said, "The parcels and letters my brother sends me every month should also arrive. If they do, can you please bring them back for me?"

In order to avoid Aunt Zhang's rejection, she added, "It's inconvenient for me to go out while pregnant. Every time my family's Lu Che returns from picking up firewood, the post office hasn't opened yet. He's been very tired from work recently, and I don't want him to make a special trip. "

Aunt Zhang's man was more difficult to be in the army back then, she could understand Jiang Yao's feelings of distress for her man, and she agreed without saying a word, "No problem, I have to help a few other villagers with things, and bring them to the fields at that time. , I'll give your package and letter to Lu Che."

"Okay, thank you so much."

Jiang Yao thanked him again and again before turning around and returning to Lu's house.

When Lu Che came back at noon, Jiang Yao told him about it, and he asked a little puzzled: "If you were found to be eating meat, shouldn't you try to hide it? You ask Aunt Zhang to help you send letters and get packages. What means?"

"People's noses are sensitive, do you think you can hide it?" Jiang Yao said angrily: "I am pregnant now, if I keep vegetables and eggs, it will easily cause malnutrition, so the key now is to eat meat. rationalization."

"How... rationalized?" Lu Che asked.

"You'll find out tomorrow!" Jiang Yao said, "Just tell me, like this, Aunt Zhang will be in the field at half-time."

"About nine o'clock."

"That's fine, I'll wait for her in the field at 8:30 tomorrow."

Lu Che didn't know what medicine she was selling in the gourd, but he had already experienced the wisdom of his daughter-in-law, and he was very relieved of her.

The next day, Lu Che went out to work early.

There is still half a month left to harvest the rice in Weizao this year. The weather has been good in the past few months. The rice harvest in Weizao is expected to be better than that in Touzao. Recently, everyone has been working very hard, and many people are working.

At half past eight, Jiang Yao appeared on the edge of the rice field on time.

"Lu Che, did your wife bring you food?" Someone yelled at Lu Che when they saw Jiang Yao.

"It's only after eight o'clock, what's for breakfast? There must be something for Lu Che." Another person also shouted.

Lu Che raised his head when he heard the sound, and saw Jiang Yao standing in front of the steps beside the field, looking like he was about to come down, he immediately shouted loudly: "Daughter-in-law, stand still, don't come down, the ground is slippery. ."

Saying that, he hurried to the field.

Seeing his nervous appearance, the surrounding villagers couldn't help but say sourly, "Looking at him like that, I thought his daughter-in-law was carrying golden beans."

"Isn't it golden beans? Others' daughter-in-law eats meat every day when she is pregnant. Did your daughter-in-law eat meat when she was pregnant?"

"Heh... This meat is expensive and requires a ticket. I eat it every day. The money may have been dug out of the cellar of his old Lu family."

"Don't talk nonsense about this, Mr. Lu handed over all his property at that time."

"That said, how do you know if it is?"

"That's right, Jiang Yao doesn't have to work at home all day long. Lu Che eats for three people by himself, let alone meat. He doesn't even have enough food. I'm sure there's no ghost here."

"..."

These people raised their voices deliberately. Even if Lu Che ran farther and farther, it didn't prevent him from hearing their words clearly.

Jiang Yao's worry was indeed right, and his heart sank.

Soon, Lu Che walked up to Jiang Yao and said, "Don't come down, go to the shaded place and wait. Aunt Zhang should be back soon."

"Okay." Jiang Yao bent down, leaned close to Lu Che's ear, and said softly, "I heard what they said, but don't worry, I'll block them tightly later."

"Well." Lu Che hooked his lips, "I believe you can do it."

Jiang Yao sat under the shade of the tree and waited for half an hour. Aunt Zhang really came with a large bag and a small bag. She shouted to the field: "I brought something back, come up and claim it quickly."

Several women who entrusted Aunt Zhang to bring things washed their feet and went to the fields one after another, and some took the opportunity to sneak up to take a break.

Aunt Zhang was quite surprised when she saw Jiang Yao, "Why did you come here? Just let Lu Che take it back."

"It's okay, I want to go out for a walk, and my brother sends me delicious food every time. If I can cook, I will do it later, and it will be too late when Lu Che comes back from work." Jiang Yao said.

"That's it." Aunt Zhang said as she started to organize the things she brought back, "I'll dig out your things first, and I'll take them apart a little later."

Jiang Yao: "Okay, in fact, I trust Aunt Zhang very much, but I also know that this is the rule, so I will remove it later."

When the other women arrived at the field, Jiang Yao had already unpacked the package. In addition to the daily mountain goods, there was actually a small half of ham inside. She knows that ham is a specialty there, but now it is not easy to get such a small half.

What's more, for Jiang Yao, this ham was "someone handed a pillow when I fell asleep".

"Wow, Lu Che's daughter-in-law, who sent you this pork leg?" Everyone looked at this ham, drooling, and couldn't help asking.

Jiang Yao said with a smile: "My brother, he is a soldier at the border. This pork leg is called ham. It is a special product there. He often sends it to me."

In fact, this is the first time Jiang Zhen has sent it to her, but others don't know, she can make up whatever she likes.

"Your brother is too kind to you, isn't it a low level to send you ham often?" Someone started to gossip.

"It's alright." Jiang Yao pretended to be modest and said, "It's just a battalion commander, but he hasn't asked for a wife yet, and he usually gives me a lot of subsidies. In addition to these food, he also sends me 30 per month. block."

"Thirty dollars?"

This time, the women watching were so stared that their eyes were about to come out.

"Oh my God, thirty yuan, the monthly salary of a factory worker may not be that much. You don't need to work every month to have this amount of money. You are too happy."

"I think I'm very happy, too." Jiang Yao said, and deliberately caressed her belly, lowered her head and said to Xiao Lu, who was across the belly: "Baby, you will be filial to your uncle in the future, the meat you eat now It's all earned by your uncle's life for you."

Lu Che, who had just come up from the field, heard these words, and the stone hanging in his heart was completely put down.

In the eyes of others now, he is a useless man who relies on his eldest brother, but he is used to other people's unfriendly eyes, as long as he can make his daughter-in-law eat meat safely, he doesn't care.

After listening to it, Aunt Zhang immediately said to Jiang Yao, "Hurry up and open the letter, click on the money in it, don't look back and tell me if it's missing."

"Ok, no problem."

In front of everyone's eyes, Jiang Yao tore open the envelope and took out a letter, three Great Unity and some tickets from it.

She was still very slow when she counted, trying to make sure that everyone could see clearly that she still had a ticket for the 30 yuan.

"Aunt Zhang, everything is ready, thank you!"

After Jiang Yao's performance of this big dragon and phoenix, the related rumors caused by her eating meat have been dispelled.

After the crowd dispersed, Jiang Yao began to pack up and prepare to go home.

"I'll come." She was about to pick up the package, but was snatched by Lu Che, who had been the background board for a long time.

Jiang Yao: "No need, it's not heavy, I can carry it back by myself."

"The little half of the ham looks heavy. It's not far away anyway. I'll take it back for you first and then come back to work."

Lu Che insisted that Jiang Yao would just let him, not to mention that he had just finished a good play and needed to be praised by Big Brother Lu.

When they left the paddy field side by side, the women scattered in every corner began to speak again.

"Tsk tsk tsk... That's an exaggeration. That small half ham weighs only a few kilograms. As for the way, do you have to send it back?"

"That's right, others don't know, they think Jiang Yao is a porcelain doll."

"I don't know if she is a porcelain doll, but if I have such a daughter-in-law that I can eat meat with me every day, let alone help carry a package, I can hold me every day."

"Who said it wasn't! Lu Che's second-rate son has such a good life. With such a poor background, he was able to get a daughter-in-law like Jiang Yao."

"It's not that people are lucky, it's that they have a good body and a good face. If I had money, I would find such a man to serve me."

"..."

After this morning, Lu Che's image of eating soft rice has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Although it is a bit miserable, no one doubts why the Lu family can eat meat every day.

The weather is getting colder day by day, and Jiang Yao wakes up later than day. But this day, she got up early because she went to bed so early last night that when Lu Che got up early to deliver vegetables, she also woke up.

"You'll buy some meat later, I want to eat meat buns today." Jiang Yao said softly, lying on the bed.

Lu Che replied while putting on his clothes: "Okay, it's not yet dawn, you can sleep for a while."

Jiang Yao closed her eyes with an "um". She couldn't fall asleep at first, but when she woke up, it was completely bright outside.

At least eight o'clock now. The flour for making steamed buns needs time to ferment. If you want to eat it at noon, you must get up immediately.

She washed quickly and headed straight to the kitchen.

There are two pieces of meat hanging in the kitchen, one is pork belly and the other is lean meat. Don't ask, this extra lean meat was bought by Lu Che to make soup for her.

But she can't take care of the meat now, she has to knead the flour first.

Half a catty of pork belly, not many buns can be made, so Jiang Yao kneaded a catty of flour, and it was done in a while. When she covered the flour with a cloth, the door of the yard was knocked.

She went out and opened the door, only to see a man in a military uniform standing outside. Judging from the epaulettes on his shoulders, he was not low-level.

"Hello! Who are you looking for?" Jiang Yao asked.

The man's serious face eased slightly and said, "You are a younger brother and sister."

Siblings? Jiang Yao was stunned for a moment, but she finally came to her senses and said overjoyedly, "You are brother-in-law, right?"

As she spoke, she shouted to the main room: "Sister, brother-in-law is back. Yangyang, Xinxin, your father is back."

As soon as the words fell, one or two children rushed out of the main room.

Zhou Jin originally had the expression of a veteran cadre, but the moment he saw his daughter-in-law's child, his eyes softened immediately.

Yangyang and Xinxin hugged their father's thighs from left to right, Lu Qing stopped half a meter in front of Zhou Jin, "You...you are back!"

Although her voice was still soft, she couldn't hide her excitement, and her eyes were slightly hot.

Zhou Jin gave her a deep look and said, "I'm back."

Jiang Yao stood aside, unwilling to disturb the reunion of their family of four, and said, "I'll go find Lu Che in the field and come back."

When he went to the field, Lu Che heard that Zhou Jin was also very happy to be back, so he asked Lu Dazhou for a few hours' leave, and then went back with Jiang Yao.

"My brother-in-law has helped our family a lot in the past. My sister has been separated from her brother-in-law for many years for our family. Before they return to the army, we must let them eat well." Jiang Yao said.

"Okay." Lu Che replied with a smile: "This important task is left to you, just tell me what you need to buy."

"Am I still polite to you?" Jiang Yao said: "Sister said that my brother-in-law is more than ten years older than her, but I just saw it, I couldn't tell at all. My brother-in-law is handsome, and it is good for me to exercise all year round. He was believed by everyone at the age of thirty."

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt the scorching gaze cast from the side.

The author has something to say:

In the eyes of my daughter-in-law, the handsome can only be me, and the good figure can only be me. ——Lu Che, the first soft-boiled man in Qingyuan