Affection for Sidaogou during the Famine

"Yes, whoever finds it owns it! If we find it, it will rot if we don't take it home, so pick it up first!"

The two girls worked without even raising their heads, clearing the walnuts inch by inch, picking out the freshest walnuts that were heavier on the upper layer.

Two sacks were laid under the tree, and when walnuts were picked up, they were thrown into the sacks. After picking up walnuts from a tree, a large pile of walnuts was gathered.

One of the girls held the bag while the other filled it. By the time they finished picking up trash from one tree, half of the sack was filled.

"If we had come half a month earlier, there wouldn't be so many walnuts rotten. What a pity!"

The two girls didn't bring lunch, so they cracked walnuts to eat when they were hungry. Niu Xiaoyun cracked open a black walnut, and the walnut kernel inside had begun to turn black and rot.

"Why think so much? These are all unexpected gains, and you want to take them all home without leaving any?

We are small guys, each of us can only carry 30 kilograms at most."

"I can carry 50 kilograms!" Niu Xiaoyun was very dissatisfied with being looked down upon.

"How many steps can you take with 50 kilograms on your back? Don't forget, this place is more than ten miles away from home. You'll be exhausted even if you can carry 30 kilograms back home!"

Niu Xiaoyun is too greedy, she must be punished!

Niu Xiaoyun thought about the long journey here that almost broke her leg, and she shut her mouth and stopped talking!

After eating and replenishing his energy, Han Zhaozhao looked up at the sky and said, "It's gloomy, I'm afraid it's going to rain!"

Niu Xiaoyun was happily picking walnuts. Without even looking up, she said, "It hasn't rained for more than ten days. It's time for the weather to change! Let's have a heavy rain so my dad and the others can have a rest.

The uncles in our alley are so tired that they are thin. If they don’t stop working and take a break, I’m afraid a lot of them will collapse from exhaustion.”

Han Zhaozhao: You're overthinking, little girl. The steel furnace will never shut down unless it rains heavily!

In the afternoon, the two of them discussed and decided to pick all the good quality walnuts under the two walnut trees, put them in sacks, and pour them into the small stone house.

Small stone house in the mountains

The two girls were overjoyed to find that there was a small stone house in the valley.

In the past, people were very hardworking. Occasionally, small stone houses could be seen in the wilderness. These were built by them to shelter from the rain while working in the wild.

There is no mud involved, it is all simply built with stone slabs, only one or two meters high. The big one can accommodate five or six people, and the small one can only accommodate two or three people.

There are large gaps between the stones, which can block rain but not wind. If they were covered with cement, they would definitely be as strong as a bunker.

At about four o'clock, the two girls each carried about thirty kilograms of walnuts and went down the mountain early to go home.

It is easy to go up the mountain but difficult to go down because it is sparsely populated and the paths that were walked on in previous years are overgrown with bushes and weeds.

The two men carried sacks and stumbled out, and were occasionally scratched by the tall jujube trees.

Niu Xiaoyun picked up a red sour date and put it into her mouth. She spat out the core and said, "Oh, it's so sour!"

Walking around the jujube trees, the two men picked jujubes around them as they walked. If they found sweet or half-sour and half-sweet ones, they would put down the sacks and pick a handful and put them into their trouser pockets.

I picked sour dates and rested at the same time, walking and stopping from time to time, and it took me more than half the time to reach the foot of the mountain.

"Zhao Zhao, Xiao Yun, leave it to us!" The surprise came suddenly. They didn't expect Niu Xiaomin and Xiao Sanzi to greet them at the foot of the mountain.

The two men didn't know which route they took to enter the mountain, so they didn't dare to go into the mountain to meet them, and could only wait at the foot of the mountain.

The two boys had been there for quite a while and had nothing to do, so they picked up two bundles of firewood at the foot of the mountain.

Tied up with a rope, like the backpack of a peddler in the old society, with a sack of walnuts on the chest and a bundle of firewood on the back, the four children hurried to the city in the twilight.

"Second brother, open your mouth and try this sour date. It's sweet and delicious!" Niu Xiaoyun followed Niu Xiaomin empty-handed, took out a sour date and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Mm, it's really sweet! You can keep it for yourself and share some with your sister when you get home."

"Zhao Zhao, didn't you pick any? I want to eat some sour jujubes too! Slurp!" When the third child heard that the Niu brothers and sisters were eating sour jujubes, he drooled with greed and made a rude request to Han Zhaozhao.

"I picked them. How could I not? The sour dates I picked are tastier than the ones Xiaoyun picked, and they are bigger too! Try them."

Han Zhaozhao took two quick steps, caught up to Xiao Sanzi's right side, took out a big sour date and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Mm, it's delicious, half sour and half sweet, it tastes just right for me, I love it the most.

How much did you pick? If I had known earlier, I would have gone up the mountain with you two today. There are the most delicious foods in the mountains in autumn!"

The four children ate and chatted as they walked, their little mouths clicking like mice. When they got home, there were two kilograms of sour jujubes in their four trouser pockets, but only a small handful was left after they had eaten them.

Looking at the children playing hopscotch in the alley, no one dared to say a word and quietly lowered their heads and slipped home.

"Sister Xiaoyun, Sister Zhaozhao, did you bring back any delicious food from the mountain today?"

Niu Xiaoyun mumbled, "No, there are too many people going up the mountain now, there is nothing nearby..." Before she finished her sentence, she rushed into the courtyard.

She only had about twenty sour dates left, but you couldn't blame her for being stingy, because she left them for her sister to eat.

There were only a dozen sour dates left in Han Zhaozhao's trouser pocket. She had originally wanted to leave them for the old lady. To be honest, she wanted to forget about these children.

"Come on, line up and share the sour dates!" Han Zhaozhao solemnly called the children to line up. Keeping order should be learned from a young age!

Five or six children dropped the games they were playing and lined up quickly and obediently.

From childhood to adulthood, they lined up very consciously. Han Zhaozhao nodded with satisfaction, and quietly smuggled out a handful of sour dates from the space, distributing six to each person.

"Don't complain that it's too little. If you think it's too little, I won't bring you any next time. There's really nothing delicious nearby. Sister Xiaoyun and I ran a long way to pick these sour dates.

Also, you can only play hopscotch after eating the sour jujubes, otherwise it will be dangerous if you get stuck. If you don’t listen, I won’t take you with me if anything good happens in the future.”

"understood!"

"Sister Zhao Zhao, we will be obedient!"

"Every time you nag like an old lady, we already remembered it!"

"You eat my food and you still complain about my nagging? You have no conscience. I am just worried that you will get into danger! Don't be ignorant of what is good for you. Don't treat bean buns as dry food!

Okay, you guys eat! I'm going home first, see you in the cafeteria later."

Xiao Sanzi was waiting for her to open the door at the Han family's gate, so Han Zhaozhao hurried home.

Xiao Sanzi didn't carry the firewood home, but left it to the Han family. Han Zhaozhao ignored him and found a basket to pour out five or six pounds of walnuts from the sack, asking him to take it home and share.

"If you can't finish it, put it in the sun. Don't let the walnuts get spoiled if they are not dry!"

"And it's spoiled? Believe it or not, I can't eat many of them. My mother will send them to my sister-in-law when she comes back. The delicious ones are for my little nephew to supplement his nutrition."

Xiao Sanzi picked up the basket and prepared to go home, walking in a square step and waving his hand in a chic manner.

"Okay, I'm going home first. See you in the cafeteria later!" The funny little Sanzi was covered in dust and his hair was stained with white gray, like it was highlighted. It was very funny and made Han Zhaozhao laugh.

"Why are you pretending to be a nobleman? Don't you look down at your current image? You are no better than a beggar!"