Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

After Huixin and his wife had lunch, they left and returned to town. Before leaving, Mrs. Chen, Mrs. Xue and Mrs. Zhu all brought something to Huixin, but Huixin refused to take it, and in the end it was Xue who forced it into the car. Seeing her daughter and son-in-law leaving, Mrs. Chen couldn't help crying again. Xue's sisters-in-law quickly persuaded her, and it was better.

On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Zhiming left with his wife and daughter. Mrs. Chen inevitably brought them a lot of the meat and vegetables left at home. Zhu didn't refuse and took them all. They had been away from home for more than ten days and had nothing when they returned home. Most of the businesses in the county were not open yet. They took some food back and at least they didn't have to worry about it tonight.

Once everyone has been sent away, the house will be much cleaner. During the first month, people were not allowed to use needlework, so Jingya had no chance to do this or that. She followed Jinghan and went to the neighbor's house to play all day long. Of course, the one who went the most was the Lin family.

The eldest son of the Lin family is Lin Zixuan. He is also with Wenhan and the others all day long these days. The school has not opened yet, so they can only read at home or go out to play for a while. Jinghan and Jingya went to find Yumei, plus Xiaoxiu from the nearby Liu family and Xiaojuan from the Zhao family. A few girls spend time together, playing Galaha or flipping ropes every day. After a long time, they get tired of it.

The first month of the year was originally a time for visiting relatives and friends, but Mrs. Xue never mentioned taking them to her grandma's house. Jinghan was a little strange. After taking a moment, she asked Ms. Xue, "Mom, why don't you take us back to grandma's house?"

Mrs. Xue glanced at Jinghan, "Why did you think of asking this today?"

"Yumei said that her mother will take them back to her grandma's house these days, so we don't have to go and play with her these days. Mom, when we have time, we can also go to grandma's house." Jinghan leaned against her mother's side. , said.

Mrs. Xue sighed and said, "Jinghan, we have nowhere to go back."

"What? Mom, I don't understand." Jinghan was stunned, what do you mean?

"My mother died early, and my father, your grandfather, married another man and brought two children with him. They treated me badly and asked me to do all the work in the house. People say that if there is a stepmother, there will be a stepmother. Stepfather, that's absolutely true. My father didn't care about me and drank and gambled all day long. Then my stepmother wanted to sell me, so I ran out in the middle of the night and met your father. He saved me. I, I will marry him. So I don’t have a natal family, and you can’t go back to your grandma’s family.” Mrs. Xue couldn’t help but shed tears.

Jinghan never thought that she would ask such a thing just by asking casually. He quickly hugged his mother and said, "Mom, don't cry. It's all Jinghan's fault. Jinghan shouldn't ask Mom. Mom, you still have us. Mom, don't cry."

I have always felt that my mother and grandma are very nice people, and they treat each other well, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law get along with each other just like mother and daughter. Unexpectedly, both of them turned out to be miserable people. It turns out that this world is not as beautiful as I saw it. Maybe my home is special here.

Ms. Xue cried for a while and then stopped. She hugged Jinghan and spoke slowly. "Jinghan, you have a lively temperament, just like a boy. Your grandma and I don't care about you too much. We just feel that when we were at home, we all suffered a lot. Now the children can do whatever they want. No matter what, just follow your temper. And if a girl is more aggressive, you won't suffer in the future. You can do whatever you want, but you have to learn a little bit. It's not easy for a woman in this life. Serving your parents-in-law, in the middle is your husband, and there are children below. It is said that marrying a wife, eating and dressing. Isn’t it just for having a hot meal and wearing new clothes? We can’t go out like men. To make money, you have to support your family, right?" Mrs. Xue persuaded her daughter little by little. She knew that her daughter had a restless temper. But now Jinghan is nine years old. When she was nine years old, she knew how to do everything. Jingya has a gentle and gentle temperament, and she doesn't need to worry about Xue. On the contrary, this little daughter is almost like a wild boy every day. So today I just took this opportunity to have a good talk with my daughter.

After listening to her mother's words, Jinghan knew that her mother was also worried about her, "Mom, don't worry, my daughter understands what my mother meant. In the future, when she is not busy, her daughter will learn needlework and cooking with her mother and her sister. She will definitely not call her mother. It's just embarrassing." When she first came here, she also wanted to be quiet and pretend. But later I learned about the original owner's temperament, and she was not a person who could live in idleness to begin with, so her true colors were revealed within a few days. Now that his mother said this, he really should change his attitude, otherwise, his reputation as a tomboy would be really solid.

Mr. Xue laughed after hearing Jinghan's words. "You, when you are not busy, I haven't seen you not busy any day? Well, that's what mother said. After all, you are still young, so you are not in a hurry. In a few years, you will gradually grow up and you will be able to It's safe. Take your time. Mom doesn't insist on anything, as long as my daughter can be healthy." Mrs. Xue hugged Jinghan, and the mother and daughter were chattering.

Jingya was just in her grandma's house, talking to her grandma. When she returned to her house, she saw her mother and little sister hugging each other. She couldn't help but wonder, "Mom, Jinghan, what are you two doing?" What? Mom, have you cried?" Jingya saw that Xue's eyes were a little red and said, "Jinghan, what did you do to mess with my mother?"

Ms. Xue smiled, "No, Jinghan didn't offend me. I was just sad for a moment, so I shed two tears, and you saw it again. Come, come and chat with me for a while, we girls are very busy right now. "We don't even have time to talk together." Xue said, pulling Jingya and asking her to come to the kang.

Mother and daughter were sitting on the kang, chatting with each other. "Jingya, you are eleven this year. In a few years, it will be time for your family to marry you. In the past two years, you and your mother should learn more about the work at home and outside the house. Your needlework is pretty good, but you can't do it like this. I’m just a little bit behind on food, I need to learn more in the future.”

Jingya nodded, "Mom, I know." Her mother said this for her own good. How could Jingya not understand.

"You two sisters have completely different temperaments, and I don't know how they grew up. I only have you two daughters, so naturally I want you to have a good life. We, the villagers, don't want you to marry either. If you go to a wealthy family, you will have more troubles. Let's find a small family and live happily together as a family." Ms. Xue expressed her hopes for her daughters' marriage. . "Mom doesn't ask you to know many things. A pair of scissors on the kang and a shovel on the pot table, as long as you can hold them. The rest, I don't care what you do with me."

Jinghan and Jingya both leaned on their mother's side. Jingya whispered, "Mom, we will study hard and won't let mom down." Jinghan nodded on the other side.

"Okay, you two sisters are here, it's time to cook. You've been tired these days, so I'm going to cook." Ms. Xue looked outside and saw that it was getting late, so she hurried out to light the fire. When it came to cooking, the two sisters Jinghan hurried to the fields to help.

Time flies by, and the weather outside is getting warmer and warmer. In the blink of an eye, more than half of February has passed. On this day, Zhixin was chopping firewood at home when a man came in from outside. Zhixin took a look and saw that he was the village chief. "Uncle Zhou, why are you free today? Come on, sit in the room."

Zhixin led the village chief into the house, and the old man happened to be at home today. The village chief sat down and talked to Zhixin and his son. "Zhixin, I came here today to tell you that these days, the men in our village have to go up the mountain from house to house to watch our ginseng." Village Chief Zhou said.

"Brother Zhou, what's going on? Isn't there someone watching the ginseng? Why do we still use villagers to take shifts?" Mr. Xu was a little puzzled.

"Oh, brother, it's just a coincidence. The old Liu Tou we saw died on the mountain during the Chinese New Year this year. No one went to the mountain during the Chinese New Year. When someone goes, this The old guy was dead a long time ago, and his ears and nose were bitten off by rats. We don't want to take care of his funeral, but we can't leave the mountain unattended, right? Spring is about to begin. , From now on, I am afraid that someone will come in and harm Bangchui." Village Chief Zhou sighed, no one expected that this old guy would die like this.

"What do you mean by that? How could such a thing happen? Old Liu Tou is the same. He drinks all day long, and he might drink to death." The old man also sighed, "Okay, then let's take turns. Who said that this old Liutou suddenly disappeared? He also had a lot of money this year, but it was a pity that he drank. "

"Okay, let's do it this way. There's really no other way. Let's wait for a while and see if we can find someone. Most people don't want to do ginseng work at all. Although they can make some money a year, who can Are you willing to squat on the mountain all year round?" Village Chief Zhou shook his head, got up and walked out.

Zhixin hurried out to see him off. "Uncle, walk slowly. Once you have lined up the people, tell me that this is a major event in our village and no one can push it away."

The village chief waved his hand and left without saying anything else.

In the evening, the old man told Zhixin about the village chief's arrival, and then Zhixin said that he had to chop more firewood at home in the past few days to save him from going up the mountain, and the old man had to chop firewood at home.

When Jinghan heard that the ginseng watcher was dead, she asked, "Dad, how much money can we earn in a year as a ginseng watcher?"

Zhixin thought for a while, "Well, it seems that a stick costs five cents per year. There are about a hundred households in our village, and if each household is calculated as sixty feet in three years, it will be six thousand or so. That's it. After calculation, it’s about thirty taels of silver. What’s wrong, Jinghan, what do you want to say?”