Nightmare loess

Chapter 10 Dinner

Tenth holiday dinner

In the evening, in response to Shuqing's notice, everyone arrived in the kitchen.

This is the most delicious dinner since I jumped in line: freshly steamed white noodle buns and fresh haggis soup.The steamed buns are bright white, soft and soft, and the haggis is fresh, refreshing and fragrant.Everyone was full of praise for eating.

Jian Guangxin said that it was much more delicious than the meal that was tied with him yesterday, it was really a waste, and he regretted it.

Seeing that everyone was almost finished eating, Liu Shuqing said: "I would like to thank everyone for their help with this delicious meal. First of all, I would like to thank Zhao Xiyun and Tao Ling for grinding the noodles." Everyone applauded.

"Thank you again Liang Dashan for bringing the water into the water, and Sun Jianguang for washing out the water." There was another burst of applause.

"Thanks again to Yang Tao for steaming the buns and making such delicious haggis soup." The applause was even more enthusiastic.

Tao Ling said: "Try it, everyone. There are two kinds of steamed buns. Can you tell the difference?"

"One kind of sweetness", "more crispy", "different when chewed", "finer", "more fragrant"...

Knowing that it is washed wheat, I marvel at the exquisiteness of the suffering people's food.

When Tao Ling spoke, Liang Zi recalled the scene when she met them in Shouyanggou holding dishes for washing, so he should make another credit: "Lingzi and Xiaoyun also helped everyone wash a lot of clothes!" Not only applause, but also a roar of thanks.The whole collective kitchen was very happy, and everyone felt the warmth of the collective from the bottom of their hearts.

Fat Tao said: "The food improvement today has another meaning: whether it is a farewell or a farewell party, I hope everyone will take care of it."

Everyone was a little confused, Shuqing said, "Fat Tao means that he will go to the field tomorrow. It was agreed when we started the stove. In the first round, Fat Tao cooked for everyone for more than a month. You have worked hard. All of us Thank him." Another round of applause. "

Only then did Jianguang know why Pang Tao became more regretful when he asked about the sheep going into the water.

After quieting down, Liu Shuqing went on to say: "I'm calling everyone here tonight. One is to have a dinner, and the other is to talk about a few things about the stove. The first thing is that from now on, we will take turns to cook in the collective stove. No matter who it is, each person will have a week. .” Shuqing said.

"This is also what was agreed at the beginning, and no one is allowed to renege on the debt." Tao Ling said.

"Can we have two people?" Jin Douzi whispered.He doesn't know how to cook and wants to learn how to cook with someone.

"It's only counted as helping, and it's only a labor share." Shuqing said.

"Isn't these things already agreed, don't be wordy, let's talk about how to schedule shifts." Xing Fei said anxiously.

"Tao Ling in the second round, me in the third round, Zhao Xiyun in the fourth round..." Shuqing read one by one, basically a man and a woman took turns cooking.After reading, add another sentence: "When female students cook, male students should help carry water."

Both Tao Ling and Xiaoyun said: "No need. Everyone is tired after going to the ground."

Liang Zi said, "Forget it, I'll take Tao Ling's water. I need to use more water to wash my face, feet, body, and socks..." While talking, he started laughing, and Tao Ling threw a firewood The stick hit Liang Zi.

"Do you have any opinions? If there is indeed something, you can discuss and change it. But you must tell me in advance."

Seeing that everyone was silent, he said again: "Second thing, I will tell you about the food bill."

"Don't worry about it, there's nothing to say about the bad debt with little salt and no vinegar, go to bed early if you have nothing to do, and you have to go to work again tomorrow." Xing Fei shouted.

"Brothers are still clear about accounts, but everyone's food accounts still have to be counted." Jianguang said.

"You write the accounts you have settled on paper, and you can stick it on the kitchen door tomorrow." Yuan Bing said.

Everyone applauded at the same time, the things in the collective stove are seen in the eyes and eaten in the mouth, so there is nothing to check, that is, Shuqing and Jianguang are serious.

"The third thing is that there is not much carbon on the stove, and I will go to Feng Fuchuan to carry carbon in two days."

Carrying carbon is a hard job, not only requires suffering, but also has the strength to handle it.

"Let's go." The boys, apart from Pangtao cooking, Jindouzi and Liangzi had never carried charcoal, he raised his hands.Xing Fei pouted.

Boys who have carried carbon know that Liangzi and Jindou can't do the job of carrying carbon.A village (a long bag woven with wool) weighs more than [-] catties of carbon, and it is impossible to pinch it to the donkey's back without a handful of strength.Falling down halfway, unable to pinch it, in the wilderness, donkeys run away and throw carbon, and no one cares about crying to death.Especially on the way back from Duligou to Guzimao, the donkeys are heavily laden, the slopes are steep and the road is narrow, and the road is full of fear and thrills.In the past, Wu Changgui would take a few strong educated youths and a dozen donkeys there.Exhausted and shocked.If you go once, you don't want to go a second time.

Everyone in the village chops firewood for cooking.Generally, the firewood cut for a year during the slack season in winter is piled on the side of the alkali outside the kiln.If you enter the village and see the neat and dense dry firewood piled up next to someone's alkali, it means that the family is living well, and the owner is a hardworking person who knows how to live.In their first year as an educated youth, how could they have time to chop firewood; besides, their eyes were full of dryness, and they couldn't find where to chop firewood.There is a big stove in the collective stove, how can the firewood catch up with more than a dozen people to cook, you can only buy coal to burn.It's strange that there are dozens of ditches in Xichuan, but there is no coal mine. You have to go over the mountain to Tanyaogou in Dongchuan to buy coal.

"It's better to go to a few more people, and everyone will help each other to reduce the pain." The girls also know the hard work, Xiaoyun and Tao Ling suggested with distress.

"That's right, let's go to a few more boys, so that we can take care of them along the way and save ourselves from boredom," Jianguang said.

Shuqing was in a bit of a dilemma, it was the busy farming season, and the team had already been embarrassed for a while by asking for leave. Would the team be willing to go out with a bunch of strong guys?

"You go and talk to Lao Hu, if you can't do it, then beg Lao Jia, and I will talk to Lao Shen too." Jianguang said.

"Okay." Shuqing agreed, this was his job.

"The fourth thing, everyone has to take turns cleaning up the private land."

The old man Li Desheng didn't know how to grow vegetables either, and the vegetable garden was barren within half a year, and most of the suffering people in the ditch didn't know how to grow seasonal vegetables.The team gave the educated youth two plots of private plots, one in the front ditch. Although the plots were not small, they were gently sloping and far apart, so they couldn't grow vegetables without water.I planted corn interplanted with beans.In fact, the yield of corn on that sloping field is not high, so it can be used as a climbing frame for beans.The suffering people in northern Shaanxi grow beans to eat as food, and pick them only when they are ripe.The educated youths, on the other hand, are fresh vegetables, picking them as they grow, so they can harvest several crops throughout the summer.

According to the private plot of [-] people, the front ditch is not enough. There is a sunken valley on the east side of the cliff next to the headquarters of the brigade, and the team allocated this sunken valley to the educated youth as a vegetable field.From the beginning, the old kitchen was installed in the team headquarters, making it more convenient to grow vegetables.Shuqing put in a lot of work on this land, leading people to scatter some tomatoes, eggplants, and baby spinach seeds brought from the capital.This depression used to be the pigsty of the brigade (it was just when the commune was established, all private livestock were raised by the public, and a pigsty was opened next to the brigade headquarters, which was later deserted.), fertile, soft and sunny, very suitable for growing vegetables .In the first half of the year, the rain was good, and there were only a dozen tomatoes in a row, full of red fruits, and they were picked every day.After all, the depression is so small that the flats are less than Zhang Xu, and the a la carte is not enough for fifteen young people to eat. The people in the capital have delicious food, unlike the suffering people who can live with salt, water and bitter vegetables every day.I ran out of vegetables a few days ago, so I had to rush to the market along the river bay to buy vegetables.Pull a cart of vegetables and put them in a cool kiln, and you can eat them for ten and a half months.At that time, the food was really not expensive, only a few yuan for a cart.It is time-consuming.

In order to eat vegetables, Shuqing was impatient. On the one hand, he rushed to the city to buy vegetables, and on the other hand, he fumbled to expand the vegetable field.On both sides of the depression where the vegetable field is located, there is a flat slope extending along the cliff on both sides, less than two feet wide, covered with wormwood and spikes.Shuqing wanted to dig out these two wastelands.I thought to myself that this good wasteland can grow a la carte more or less.One person might not be able to do it all in one day, so he discussed it with Sun Jianguang. Jianguang is also a person who lives, and he thought it was a good idea.Facing the back ditch in the depression, I heard Guansheng's mother calling at him on the opposite side of the base, "Qingwazi, open up wasteland!" Shuqing responded.After a while, Liu Shusheng's mother-in-law also ran out and called him: "It's Jianguang, why are you digging soil on the back of the Russian kiln..." In the evening, Lao Jia, Lao Hu, and Shusheng all came to him, and said in one sentence: "What are you doing?" Can you open up wasteland at will?" The land is only two fingers wide, and the village cadres came together to criticize it.The two of them felt that the situation was serious—no one was allowed to open up wasteland, not even a foot, an inch, or a centimeter, unless it was the land stipulated by the team.When this Yangwa was given to them, it was designated as the pigsty land below, and a little more development would cause a sensation in the world—there are many people in the village who want to open up wasteland. If the educated youths all take the lead in opening up wasteland, the consequences will be disastrous.Later, when I learned that Old Jia was imprisoned for land reclamation, I realized that it was a matter of life and death.At that time, I just came to Lengmiaogou and didn't know much about it. Only then did I realize that opening up wasteland is a big deal.Shuqing repents, Jianguang remembers it, and promises not to do it again.

Therefore, Shuqing wants everyone to worry about growing vegetables, plant the two plots of land in the front ditch and the back valley, and let everyone eat fresh vegetables.Everyone chattered, "It's the same as cooking, you arrange it.", "I'll ask the family to send some rapeseed.", "Harvest the front ditch corn and plant some Chinese cabbage, Bian radish.", "Hou ditch Plant some fine vegetables in that depression, onion, garlic...", "Chinese cabbage, radish...", "rape and spinach come quickly"...

"What else?" someone asked.

"You only know how to buy pigs, but don't know how to repair pens. The villagers have opinions." Jianguang said.Shuqing bought a pig Kelian for the stove, a foreign breed, and left it loose, usually wandering around somewhere, when Fat Tao yelled, "Ouch—" he ran back to eat the slop.Who knows, this little foreign pig is naughty and wild, and Gui Zhiniang complained a few times: Either she overturned someone's pig pot or dog bowl, or she harmed the vegetable field planted by the old man Desheng before Gouqian, or she went to the opposite slope to eat someone Radishes and sweet potatoes from the plot.

Shuqing originally thought that in this ravine, where can a pig be thrown, and it would save food and trouble by leaving it in the wild.As soon as Jianguang thought it was a problem, he asked, "Where is Xiu?"

"Make an empty kiln and close it up," Xiucai said.

"Don't, don't, don't! It stinks, I dare you you don't live in Xinyao." Fat Tao said.

"Let's fix it next to the toilet." Liang Zi said.

"To fix it, it's over there in your men's room," Wen Li said.

"I want to repair the pigsty, and I also need to repair the toilet. The sorghum stalks are rotten, and there are big leaks. Those boys are making monsters." Yanzi said another half of Shaanxi dialect.

Most households in northern Shaanxi do not build latrines separately, but build them together with pig and sheep pens.Those who don’t have a toilet will finish their work in Geluoli near the alkali bank, behind the stalks, and next to the firewood pile, and then take a shovel to shovel the dung back to their own dung pile.This is very inconvenient for educated youth, especially girls.Therefore, after the kitchen was moved to the new kiln, the first thing to do was to build a toilet.At that time, it was Shuqing and Geng Si who dug.Two small cave dwellings were dug side by side on the east side of Xinyaojian, each one more than one meter high and deep, and a rectangular pit was dug on the ground as a squat pit.The excavated soil was used to build half a wall between the two holes, and some corn stalks were planted outside as a shelter. Boys don’t care, this is very convenient for girls, otherwise there is really no good place to hide in this ravine Ugly, not to mention that young girls have many things to do.Therefore, educated youth girls are particularly concerned about their toilets.

"There are enough things for boys, let's do it ourselves." Slowly and softly, a voice came from behind.

"Xinhua, why are you here?" Yuan Bing stood up and said to the back.

"Xinhua, what are you doing out here if you're not lying at home!" Wen Li and Xiaoyun sat down close to Xinhua.

"Xinhua, are you feeling better?"

"Xinhua, what's up?"

"Xin Hua, have you finished your rice wine? Can I get you another?"

"Xinhua, don't worry, we'll get you the saplings again..."

Greetings came from all corners.

"I'm fine, fine, just a little dizzy." In the past two days, Xinhua's emotions have been turbulent. Hearing everyone's greetings, his heart trembled again.But she didn't want to infect everyone with her morbidity, so she stood up and said with a smile holding back her tears.

Jianguang heard that everyone is so concerned about Xinhua's condition, thinking that the condition is getting worse?Ask Xing Fei.Yuan Bing said at the side: "It's all because of your roar!"

Jianguang wanted to get angry, but it was boring to think about it. Xinhua was indeed sick, and he shouted loudly at the time, which was too much for his classmates. Xinhua didn't care and took the initiative to retreat.

Xinhua said: "It's not Jianguang's fault, it's my impatience. I can't do this in the future."

"Destroying young crops can be considered a crime, so there's nothing wrong with it," Jin Douzi said.

"A cadre in the commune, what's the big deal to scare him." Yuan Bing said.

"He destroyed my saplings, and you beat his body, what's the difference." Xinhua said.

"The difference is huge!" Yuan Bing stood up and said loudly.The two stared, and suddenly froze there.There was a sudden silence on the side of the alkali.

Shuqing didn't know what happened during the day, and he didn't want to make the group feel unhappy, so he immediately said: "I went to a place today, it was beautiful, the peaches and apricots were enough to eat, sweet and big." To smooth things over .

"Really? In Ada?" Swallow asked.

"Guotaogou." Shuqing said.

"Oh, it's too far away." There was a sigh.

"Let's go to the top of Naopan Mountain. It's beautiful, it's very close, and that big willow tree is very impressive." Geng Si leisurely described the scenery of Naopan Mountain and the big willow tree.Some students also told everyone about the legend of the big willow tree that they had heard. Wen Li said: When Hu Zongnan came, he cut off the branches of the big willow tree and gave them to the officials to make sliding poles. Wen Li heard the old man Desheng say that his arm was broken; Yuan Bing said: The big willow tree was used as a stretcher for the Eighth Route Army, and it carried countless wounded people across the Yellow River without breaking it. That was what Yuan Bing heard from Guangsheng Po Shuqing said: "The big willow tree is the symbol tree of our village. From the commune back to Lengmiaogou, I don't need to take the ditch road. The old man Demao showed me a shortcut. It’s not too far away. I walked by it once, and when I left the commune, I went up the mountain from Junsheng’s team, Chenjiamao. You can see our big willow tree from a distance of dozens of miles. There is nothing more conspicuous than it. You don’t need to find the way. Just walk along the ridge towards the big willow tree, and you will reach the Houmao of Hetuanyu. When you get off Hetuanyu, you will be at the mouth of Bizigou. some.

"Naopan Mountain is not as beautiful as the top of Dongshan Mountain." Xing Fei heard everyone praise Naopan Mountain, recalled the experience of the three of them yesterday, and proudly described the beautiful scenery of Dongshan Peak, which aroused everyone's longing and longing.Everyone did not expect that there are so many beautiful scenery in Lengmiaogou.Wen Li felt a little regretful, and blamed herself for not going to Dongshan with her that day. She was in a hurry to go swimming. She was a temperamental person. When she got excited, she read a sentence: "There are so many beautiful mountains and rivers, which attract countless heroes. Someday we will go together Dongshan, if you don't go to Dongshan, you are not a hero!" Everyone booed and applauded.Xiaoyun said softly: "That's the dragon vein, the land of water!" Wen Li heard, pulled Xiaoyun and said, "What's going on, tell me quickly." A place for sightseeing." Xiaoyun silenced.

Although Sun Jianguang also went to a strange place, that is, a bare earth cave with nothing to show off, on the one hand, Jianguang did not have that kind of joy, and on the other hand, Yuan Bing complained just now.So disgruntled, I can't hear it.

Douzi didn't want to talk about that cave, where hidden pain in his heart, the nostalgia for home and mother, and the secret between him and Lao Jia.Just saying that there are a lot of pigeons in the grate ditch, Fat Tao said, didn't you say you want to catch some pigeons for everyone to try?Douzi wouldn't lie, so he whispered that the pigeon was too cute and he didn't want to kill it.Xing Fei blurted out, Dou Zi has always been resolute in fighting, how could he coexist peacefully with the pigeon this time.All of a sudden, he made Douzi blush, and in the midst of embarrassment, Liang Zi said:

"What is peaceful coexistence with pigeons? I am still peacefully coexisting with old wolf!"

Liangzi was a little unconvinced when he heard people say that this place and that place are beautiful. He wanted to make a blockbuster about his experience and attract everyone's attention, so he said, "I ran into a lame she-wolf when I was stopping sheep in Guziwa."

"Did the female wolf bite you or eat the sheep?!" Wen Li teased, and some people also laughed.

"The female wolf neither bit me nor ate the sheep. She had eyes with me!" Liang Zi said.

"Really?" Yanzi asked again in the northern Shaanxi dialect.

"Old Wolf lay on his stomach and looked at me eye to eye for more than ten minutes." Liang Zi said.

"Very affectionate?" Xiucai asked with humorous small eyes behind her glasses.

"I'm afraid the she-wolf is in love with you!" Wen Li said with a laugh.There was another burst of laughter.

"Didn't you hear from the villagers about the she-wolf?!" Tao Ling was a little anxious, and said to Liang Zi, "Why are you making fun of Liang Zi?" Everyone stopped laughing.It turned out that it was a beautiful fairy tale that everyone knew.Today, Liang Zi told everyone the true story again. Some people still doubted it was unbelievable.

"I saw the two cubs of the female wolf today. It was fun. If I knew it had eyes with you, I would wait for it to come back." Shuqing said to Liangzi.

"Can wolves and humans coexist? Isn't that peaceful evolution?" Jin Douzi was a little confused.

"It's not that wolves don't want to live together, they want to survive. It depends on how people treat it." Xinhua's words were still weak, but still shocked many people.

"Yes, wolves know the carrying capacity of the land, but what about people?" Xiucai came over and sat down against Liangzi and said, "Just kidding you, I believe your story." So he talked about visiting temples, reading monuments, The students knew that Lengmiaogou had such a profound history by looking at the memorial tablets, and they all said: "Xiucai carefully investigates, maybe there are more stories, write it down.".The scholar was encouraged and talked happily.

When Xiucai talked about the foreign population in the inscription.It leads Tao Ling and Xiaoyun to tell about how they met Baocai's daughter-in-law crying bitterly during the day.Tao Ling and Xiaoyun went to Shouyanggou to wash clothes, and met a cute little daughter-in-law crying and wiping her back with her baby in her arms.It turned out that he escaped from the famine above, and in order to settle down, he brought his old parents to marry Baocai, gave birth to a baby before he was an adult, and was beaten all day long.It aroused everyone's sympathy for the young daughter-in-law, and the girls all scolded Baocai for not being a thing.It even aroused the scholar's discussion on this topic:

"Alas, this is a tragedy of population expansion. The population that the Yellow Land can carry is limited. The ancestors of Lengmiaogou knew this and set the rules. But they did not respect the ancient teachings. They expanded the population generation by generation, resettled Foreign surnames, our group of students are here again. No matter how much land in Lengmiaogou, it can’t bear it.”

Geng Si immediately blocked his mouth: "Xiucai, talk too much, why do you complain about the educated youth going to the countryside, what's the 'land bearing', where to follow."

"That is, what is the relationship between educated youth going to the countryside and land bearing!" Jin Douzi said.

"Xiucai made sense." Xinhua was also touched by everyone's comments. She couldn't go to work due to illness, and she was always thinking about some problems: "The land is limited, so extensive planting and low harvest, can Lengmiaogou, including our educated youth, survive?" ?”

"Then what should we do?" Several people asked at the same time.

"Learn from Dazhai." Yuan Bing said.

"When will Lengmiaogou catch up with Dazhai!" Xing Fei said.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, nodding their heads, some dazed, some curling their lips, some indifferent, some yawning...

No conclusion, hurry to sleep.

Strangely, this night after the holiday, maybe it was a rest, instead of a sleepover, these young people began to dream.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, on the high slope of the loess, the big willow tree appeared in Geng Si's dream standing tall and straight.

A group of pigeons under the blue sky are always flying over the head of the beans.

The she-wolf led her cubs into the side of the sleeping Liangzi.

The sound of ding-dong spring water always accompanies Xiaoyun's dreams.

In the trenches of Dongshan Ridge, a soldier was shooting with a machine gun, and Yuan soldiers shouted passionately.

Huge red apples hang all over the branches and hang down to the ground. In Xinhua Dream, tears are blooming against the apples.

In the midst of the cliffs, on a bench in a small pavilion, a scholar holds a book and leans against a pillar, leisurely and contentedly.

…………