Affection for Sidaogou during the Famine

"Aunt Han, after all, your family used to have two soldiers earning allowances, so you must have some savings, right? Just hold on for a few more days and wait for the pension to come in.

I have three children. They need to go to school, wear clothes, and eat. They also need to give money to their grandparents. The little pension we have received has been spent long ago, and our family is really struggling to make ends meet.

"I can't wait any longer. If I wait any longer, my family will starve to death. My child is an orphan of a martyr. If someone dies, you will feel bad!"

What a big accusation! Han Zhao was really angry. She was not the government. What did it have to do with her whether someone died in her family?

This is like picking on the weak. If you have strength, why don't you use it on the neighborhood committee? Instead, you come after an old lady?

"Bah! Not to mention that no one in your family can die, even if everyone dies, it has nothing to do with my family!

You are bullying me because my family is old and young and there is no one to support them!

Get out! Get out! Let's go to a place where we can reason!" The old lady had already sensed that this woman was evil-minded and deliberately came to her house to cause trouble, so she dragged Widow Wang out the door.

While pulling, he shouted: "What savings do we have? My son and his wife even sent the military uniforms issued by the army to the families of their fallen comrades, not to mention the allowances.

Didn't you open your eyes and see? If my family had savings, would the grandparents and grandchildren be so hungry?

Your family has been selling hats for generations, right? Why do you like to put all kinds of hats on other people's heads? I'm telling you, you can't blame me for this.

Our family is so poor that we can’t even afford to feed ourselves with a vegetable leaf, so we can’t afford to pity you.

The neighborhood committee is in charge of the work, and my family is also waiting to hear the arrangements! You should go quickly and go to the neighborhood committee. I promise not to argue with your family, and I will do whatever they arrange for me to do.

I have no objection if they don't arrange for us to join. We can just wait for the next batch. It's not like the organization is ignoring us.

You pick and choose, but I don't! We are almost starving, and you still let me be picky? That's like hugging a donkey and kissing it, don't you know what smells good or bad?"

The old lady was tall and had worked for a long time, so she had a lot of strength. She dragged Widow Wang to the neighborhood committee like she was carrying a chicken.

Widow Wang: "Hey, Aunt Han, please don't push me! Where are you pushing me? Slow down, my shoes fell off..."

Han Zhaoshi: "I'll take you to find someone with a big head who can take the blame you put on me.

You can shut up!

If the quarrel gets out and people know about it, no one will benefit. Don't regret it then!"

When she reached the gate, she turned around and called Han Zhaozhao: "Zhaozhao, grandma is going to be out for a while and will be back soon. Please close the gate and don't let any random people in."

"Oh! Got it!"

Han Zhaozhao ran out with wet hands to close the door, and stretched her head to look outside. Her grandmother had already left the alley with Widow Wang. She finally understood that her grandmother was not on the same level as Widow Wang, and her grandmother would definitely not suffer any loss.

The little girl from the Wang family was wearing a pair of tattered cloth shoes that didn't fit her feet well and made a clacking sound. She stumbled as she ran along with the two adults.

The child didn't cry or shout, but ran after her. For every 100 steps, she got 99 soles of her shoes. She smiled, closed the door, and went back to the east room to move her clothes to the west room.

When I spread the clothes on the kang mat, I realized that she hadn't cleaned the closet yet.

Although it wasn't too dirty, no one had cleaned it for several days, and Han Zhaozhao always felt that it was not clean enough.

Han Zhaozhao wiped the wardrobe and kang cabinet carefully inside and out twice, and waited until the moisture was dry before putting all the clothes into the wardrobe.

After spreading the kang mat and moving my bedding, I looked up and found a spider web in the corner. I found a pole, tied a broom to it, and carefully cleaned the spider web in the corner.

Han Zhaozhao put away the tools, brushed off the dust on her body, and walked around the room with her hands behind her back. There were not many furnitures in the room, but she was very satisfied. "Well, it's clean now! I can finally have my own room from now on!"

Grandma came back soon. The old lady cut the Gordian knot and got the certificate, letter of introduction and job recruitment form issued by the neighborhood committee.

"Zhao Zhao, everything is done. Grandma has to go to work tomorrow to complete the employment procedures. While you are at home today, hurry up and finish the housework. It's a pity that you can't go out to chop wood tomorrow. Go to the next alley later and tell Aunt Zhong and Aunt Dacheng not to wait for me tomorrow.

But it doesn't matter, I'll ask around when I get a job, I'll find out that I have some time off every month. I'll save up the heavy work at home and do it when I'm off.

When you are free, go pick up more coal cores with Xiao Sanzi and the others. If we don't go to chop wood and find a way to pick up coal cores, I'm afraid that the coal supply we rely on in winter will not be enough..."

The grandparents and grandchildren stood at each end, stretching the quilt cover vigorously while discussing the future life arrangements at home.

The clothes and quilt covers on the clothesline had already dried. The old lady took Han Zhaozhao to stretch out the bedding fabrics, folded them neatly, and brought them into the house to put them under the quilt pile. They just had to wait for the cotton to be fluffed out so they could start making them again.

The sun was not very bright at this time, so the grandparents and grandchildren put all the cotton into the west room and stacked it in the kang cabinet.

The old lady went to the backyard wall and dug a pit one meter square and more than one meter deep.

Han Zhaozhao was small and weak, so he couldn't help with digging the holes and was assigned to pull out radishes.

It might be a problem of variety. In Han Zhaozhao's opinion, the radishes in their family were not very big. They were incomparable to the big white radishes that were one or two meters tall and weighed fifty or sixty kilograms that she planted in her previous life.

But the taste is still good. The old varieties that have not been improved are all self-retained vegetable seeds. They are juicy, not spicy at all, and a little crispy and sweet, with a definite radish aroma.

There were two beds of these green-headed radishes. Han Zhaozhao counted them silently as he pulled them out. There were more than 230 of them in total. Each one was about 20 centimeters on average, and most of them weighed one or two kilograms.

"This year's radishes are all very evenly grown and about the same size. They're enough for our family to eat for a year."

Han Zhao sat on a bench, holding a kitchen knife, chopping radish leaves and sorting them.

Put the larger and smooth ones in a pile and bury them in a pit to keep them fresh so that you can eat them later.

The smaller and uglier ones are put together. These will be used to pickle pickles and dry radishes.

Radish tops should not be wasted. Wash them, blanch them in boiling water, and then dry them. They can be eaten for a year without deteriorating. In the spring when there is a shortage of food, soak them in hot water and use them as fillings, steamed dishes, or stews.

The grandfather and grandson worked until dark to collect all the radishes. There were more than a hundred radishes buried in the pit, weighing about 200 kilograms.

More than 100 kilograms of fish were washed and pickled half of them. The smallest one, which filled half of a ceramic jar that was one meter high and eighty centimeters in diameter, was pickled.

Of the remaining fifty pounds of radishes, a dozen were kept for immediate consumption, and the rest were cut into finger-thick strips and dried in the sun. These are pickled spiced radishes.

"Your parents love to eat dried radishes pickled in milk, but they won't be able to enjoy it this year!"

The old lady muttered to herself as she quickly cut the radish strips.

"Grandma, what are we cooking for dinner?" Han Zhaozhao quickly changed the subject. It was getting dark and it was time to cook.

Han Zhaoshi didn't even raise her head, "Wait for grandma to finish cutting these radishes, and then I'll go cook.

Let's have radish noodle dumpling soup tonight! There's still some lard left in the milk, and there are a few pieces of grease left in the oil can. Put some in and let's have some meat.

Grandma will go back to work tomorrow, so let’s celebrate and have white noodles tonight.”

It’s good to eat white flour! Although the flour supplied by the grain station is a bit coarse and a bit yellow in color, it is also the best fine grain now.

PS: I generate electricity with love and water it with my heart! Ask for book reviews and urge for more bookshelves. When I am bored, I have the company of my friends!