The house that Mr. Zhou lives in is not small. After all, it contains the whole village's farm tools and other sundries. It is too small to fit inside. However, in the past, tools and miscellaneous items were piled up randomly. A little organization can free up a lot of space.
In addition to various farm tools, the most abundant thing in the house were books, which occupied almost one-third of the entire farm house. In front of the stack of books was a small bed with a quilt that seemed a bit thin, and further forward were various sundries.
Since the production team no longer eats in large pots, a simple kitchen has been built with wood and thatch at the entrance of the farmhouse. A pot with a cracked edge is placed on a few pieces of adobe. This is where Mr. Zhou usually eats.
"Brother, let's go." A childish voice sounded from the large but crowded farm tool room.
Mr. Zhou, who was looking down at the book carefully with the thick bricks, raised his head and looked around, and two children came into his eyes.
As soon as he entered here, Yang Dongxu was shocked by the pairs of books, especially those thread-bound books that looked a little older at first glance. He instantly thought of antiques and almost drooled.
The extreme silence made Dandan, who was only three years old, obviously a little scared, so after standing for a while and finding that his brother was not moving, he couldn't help but pull him to break the silence.
"Go out and play. There is nothing fun here. If you cause trouble here, be careful your uncle will spank you." Zhou Yiren looked up at Yang Dongxu and waved his hands to let the two children leave.
Zhou Renyi is very tall, over 1.8 meters tall. He is obviously tall now. Several years of hard life, especially mental pressure, have made his hair gray and his waist a bit stooped at just under fifty years old.
"Can I read those books?" Yang Dongxu obviously would not leave because of Zhou Yiren's words. Instead, he pointed at the pile of books behind Zhou Yiren and said.
"Brother, let's go." Before Zhou Yiren could say anything, the little Budian beside him pulled Yang Dongxu again, and tears had begun to roll in her eyes.
Obviously, Dandan, who was only three years old, had never seen Zhou Yiren before. She was strong enough not to be scared to tears when such a big man looked at her. But no matter how strong I am, I don’t want to stay in this place.
"Do you want to read?" Zhou Yiren glanced at Yang Dongxu, then took off the reading glasses that were missing a temple on the bridge of his nose, used a rope as a temple to put it on his ears, and wiped it with his clothes.
"That... let's talk about it next time." Yang Dongxu smiled apologetically, turned around and took Dandan's little hand. He couldn't hold it, so he could only half-hold it. As he walked, he coaxed: "No Cry, don’t cry, brother will find you some candy later.”
Although the relationship with Zhou Yiren is very important, my sister is more important. In his previous life, Yang Dongxu owed him a lot to his younger sister, who later worked part-time and met her brother-in-law who was far away in SC and married him out of town.
As a bachelor in his forties, he rarely goes home. Even for the Spring Festival, he only goes back once every few years. His parents were almost all taken care of by his younger sister. Now Yang Dongxu felt less guilty about his parents than he did about the younger sister in front of him. Seeing my sister cry is naturally a big deal. Trying to build relationships and get help is all on the sidelines.
Watching Yang Dongxu coaxing Dandan to leave, Zhou Yiren couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Although his eyesight was a little difficult after taking off his glasses, Yang Dongxu was not far away and his expression could still be seen clearly.
So Yang Dongxu's forced smile just now, helpless, but unable to conceal his doting expression, was noticed by Zhou Yiren. These expressions, which obviously should not appear on the face of the child who is less than six years old, were vividly displayed in an instant.
It was like an adult doting on his daughter, which made Zhou Yiren feel dazzled for a moment. Yang Dongxu hurriedly put on his glasses, and all he left behind was his back and the words he often used to comfort children in rural areas.
Shaking his head to clear his dazed brain, Zhou Yiren continued to read with his head down, but Yang Dongxu's appearance left an impression in his mind.
Tang Yang Dongxu obviously didn't have it at home. In this era of planned economy, all kinds of materials were in short supply. Except for the fact that my grandfather occasionally had a few pieces of rock candy in his pocket because he received better wages as a cadre, I couldn't find a few pieces of candy in every house in the village.
After coming out of the farm tool house, follow Daliang and those little kids, running from the east to the west of the threshing floor, from the north to the south, chasing each other and you don't know what they are playing, but they are very happy anyway.
Yang Dongxu, who was holding his sister Dandan, was also grinning, but he was obviously not as happy as the little kids around him. He just ran along because he didn't want to relive his childhood. It's just that his small body is a bit weak, so he just needs to exercise.
When the older children who went to school at noon came back, the threshing floor became more lively. One of them bumped into another, and the other beat him to tears. But before the tears dried, they started to go crazy together again.
Afraid that his sister would be made to cry because of her small size, Yang Dongxu took her home after the older children got involved.
When I got home, Yang Dongxu's sister was cooking a pot. There wasn't much homework in elementary school these days, because there were only two books on Chinese and mathematics. As for English, ideological and moral issues, etc., those are textbooks that are only available in junior high schools. Nowadays, primary schools are not so particular about them.
I don’t even know much English. How do you say that sentence: I am Chinese, I don’t learn foreign languages, I don’t know ABC, so I am still my successor...
Therefore, the older girls in the family basically help with housework or take care of their younger siblings when they come home. For the older girls, it is normal for them to work in the fields. The meal was only half done when Yang Dongxu's father returned home from the meeting.
"What did you say?" Yang's mother asked hurriedly.
"Tell me to wait and see what happens over there. I don't know that the bastard island brought the matter of the fish sharing to the brigade (several natural village superiors). Last night, he was called to the brigade by that brigade captain. I just came back this morning.”
"Dad, are you okay?" Yang's mother's expression changed.
"It's okay. How can something happen? The hundreds of families in our Yangjia Village are not easy to mess with. If they dared to lock up the eldest father, the third uncle and the others would have called people to break up the brigade, saying that they were staying at the brigade leader's house. I don’t know what we talked about all night long.” Father Yang waved his hand.
Nowadays, the power of families in rural areas is much stronger than that of people from the same village with the same surname. Basically, if something happens to a villager, a group of villagers will rush over. Little kids who go to school know how to call the seniors in the same village for help when they get into a fight at school, not to mention that the uncle is the village chief.
Imprisoning the grandpa would be like a slap in the face of Yangjiacun. In this era when face is more important than anything else, the demolition brigade places people in jail very lightly. If not, the captain of the brigade will be beaten.
"Mom, I want to go to grandpa's house?" Yang Dongxu shouted while eating.
"Where are you going? Just stay at home." Yang's mother tapped her son on the head with her chopsticks.
Visiting relatives at this time can be said to be a burden, but the distance is not too far. But the relatives’ houses don’t have much to eat. If you go to their houses, you must entertain them just to save face. Wouldn’t this cause trouble to the relatives?
After the beating, Yang Ma put down her chopsticks and said, "How about you go to my father's place tomorrow and ask?"
Yang Dongxu's grandfather lived in Ranyoufang, seven or eight miles away. Although Yang Dongxu didn't know where the oil factory was since he was a child, the village was called that.
Compared with Yangjiacun, Ranyoufang is smaller, with only about fifty households. However, there is a primary school in the village, and it is very close to Ranmiao, where the township government and government are located. Yang Dongxu's grandfather is the village chief, and his family is in It is famous all over the country.
When his mother married his father, it was considered a lower marriage. Yang Dongxu's father is a high-ranking man, and occasionally the couple quarrels. Yang Dongxu's mother always likes to use this matter to pressure his father.
"Okay, I'll ask tomorrow." Father Yang nodded.
Compared to Grandpa Yang Dongxu who could only talk to the team leader, Yang Dongxu's grandfather was someone who could talk to the village cadres. The villagers are obviously more advanced than the brigade, so they are naturally better informed.
Two cabbage and one carp, don’t think it’s too little. It’s already a big gift. During the Chinese New Year, the gifts are only two packets of fruit (not fruits, sealed packets of Dajing fruit and other gifts) and two packets of sugar. A wealthy person can bring four bags of fruit and four bags of sugar, and a richer person can already be considered a respectable person by bringing thin noodles with him.
As for the big fish, no matter how wealthy people are, they won’t give it away because there are no fish at home. The fish is almost sperm in the water, but you just can’t eat it.
Looking at the carp, Yang Dongxu felt that yesterday's chopsticks were in vain. Because the carp was now jumping alive, it was obviously not just caught from the trench of the house, but the big carp given to their family. Yang Dongxu's father did not kill and clean it at all, but put it in the water tank to raise.
Why keep it? Naturally, my mother had already planned to give it to my grandpa's house. Even if Yang Dongxu didn't talk to him during dinner yesterday, he would still go to his grandpa's house in the next two days.
These days, you can only walk to see relatives. Although there are bullock carts in the village, they are collective property and cannot be taken advantage of by private individuals.
Yang Dongxu's mother was holding her sister Dandan, and her father was carrying a basket of cabbage and carp covered with a piece of cloth. Although such a gift bucket is more suitable to be carried on a pole to show off.
But Yang Dongxu's father obviously didn't want to cause trouble for the uncle. After all, others knew and it was wrong for you to show off.
I went to the back house and said hello to my uncle, asking my sister Hongying to come back at noon to have lunch at their house before going to school. Yang Dongxu had no one to hold him and could only run behind him.
Yang Dongxu, who was out of breath after walking for a while, got what he wanted and sat on his father's neck. But before he could hold the basket in one hand and hold his father's neck for comfort for a while, the little girl in his mother's arms started to cry.
Yang Dongxu had no choice but to get down and let his mother carry him on his back. His younger sister Dandan was doing it very happily on her father's neck. Her little hands grasped her father's ears tightly, and with her mother's encouragement, her father grinned.
The distance of seven or eight miles is not very far even on foot, and at this time there are many diagonal paths in the fields to save distance. Looking at the sun, we set off around ten o'clock, and we arrived at my grandpa's house around eleven o'clock.
As soon as he arrived at his grandpa's house, Yang Dongxu cheered and ran to the west of the village, where was the young master's residence. This was the purpose of Yang Dongxu's coming to his grandpa's house.
