The 1970s: Military Family Beauty

"The money for the trip is enough for two months' worth of food! This family is full of people who don't work and just eat. They should all starve!" Hu Xiuqing was furious and slammed the table and cursed: "I'm busy all day long, working in the wind and rain, and I can't even have a good meal myself. Now I have to earn money to support you freeloaders."

In the past, whenever Hu Xiuqing got angry and scolded people for being freeloaders, saying things like leaving the faucet open was a waste of water, leaving the lights on was a waste of electricity, and eating three steamed buns for a meal was a waste of food, the sisters Jiang Furong and Jiang Zhaohui would immediately become silent, put down the food and drinks in their hands, walk away if they could, and hide where Hu Xiuqing couldn't see them.

This time, Jiang Furong didn't hide or walk away. She calmly picked up the letter on the table and read it through. She pointed to a line of words and showed it to Hu Xiuqing: "Grandma and Aunt brought a lot of things, three sacks."

I'm carrying so many things out, three sacks, who else can I bring them to? Who is eating for free?

Hu Xiuqing paused, still nagging, "Who cares about that little bit of food? I've been eating it since I was a child, and I've had enough of it."

Jiang Furong took the trouble to expose her thoughts and turned to her brother: "Qingqing, grandma and auntie have brought you some delicious food again."

Shift the focus and see what happens.

Jiang Guoqing was usually favored, but he was also afraid of his mother's ferocious look when she got angry. He had been sitting there for a long time, just waiting for his mother to calm down and comfort him. When he heard his eldest sister say that there was more delicious food, he immediately got into his mother's arms and acted coquettishly: "Mom, when will grandma come? I want to eat the fried soybeans that grandma makes."

Hu Xiuqing pinched her son's cheek, feeling very disappointed: "You grew up eating rice, and now you only want to eat those stinky things. All right, take a shower and go to bed."

After saying that, she took Jiang Guoqing back to her room and turned off the lights without caring that Jiang Furong was still standing in the living room.

Jiang Furong shook her head speechlessly, turned on the kitchen light, checked the doors and windows in front and back of the house, then turned off the lights and returned to the room.

Jiang Zhaohui, who had already slipped back into her room, saw her sister come in and hurried over to whisper, "Sister, when will grandma and aunt arrive?"

Jiang Furong recalled the contents of the letter: "It said the train ticket was for the 26th, which is today. If the train is not delayed, they will arrive in the provincial capital the day after tomorrow morning. Then they can take a bus to the county town by themselves, and I will pick them up at the county bus station."

"Sister, I want to go with you to pick up grandma, too."

"Don't you go to school?"

"Then I'll take half a day off. The teacher won't care anyway."

"I don't know if the train will be on time! If it's late, I'll have to wait for a whole day in vain."

Jiang Furong got a headache when she thought about this.

The letter was too simple. It only said that I would take the train on the 26th and arrive in the provincial capital on the morning of the 28th. It didn't mention the train number or the time I would arrive in the morning.

In addition, grandma and her friends had to buy bus tickets from the provincial capital to the county town after getting off the train. Two women, dragging three sacks and luggage, even if they could find the long-distance bus station, they might not be able to buy tickets for the same day.

Then if she goes to the county town to pick someone up, won’t she just have to wait?

Jiang Zhaohui said sullenly, "That's right. The last time Grandpa came, the train was delayed for two days, and it took Mom and Dad three days to pick him up at the bus station."

Jiang Furong had no memory of this at all and was extremely surprised when she heard it: "So long?"

Jiang Zhaohui was also surprised: "Have you forgotten? Grandpa didn't buy a bus ticket, and he slept on the roadside at night. He was cold, and he started coughing as soon as he arrived. Our father even sent him to the hospital. You brought him meals every day, and you forgot?"

"I forgot!" Jiang Furong admitted frankly: "After this fever, I can't remember a lot of things."

Jiang Zhaohui was a little scared and asked nervously: "Ah? Will you get meningitis?"

Jiang Furong smiled and tapped her sister's head lightly in the dark: "Just because you have meningitis, you dare to hit you, right?"

"Ouch!" Jiang Zhaohui cried softly, begging for mercy in a tearful voice: "Sister, don't scare me!"

Jiang Furong patted her sister's hand: "Okay, I was just teasing you. If I turned stupid, why would Dad let me go pick up Grandma?"

There is a mother who is unreasonable and always expresses bad emotions. The children in the family have become frightened birds and can't even make jokes.

When Jiang Chaohui fell asleep, Jiang Furong got up from the bed, walked to the window, and in the dim light coming through the window, she thought about how to spend the one-yuan bill in her hand.

Before this, she was only used to looking at the amount of money on the report. She would not think it was too much if there were ten digits before the decimal point. With a wave of her pen on the document, hundreds of millions of funds came in and out, and she never had any uneasiness or hesitation.

And now, she has to break up this huge sum of money into pieces to make a living!

Notebooks and pencils only cost one or two cents each, so her work supplies can be kept within ten cents.

The remaining ninety cents must be kept and can only be used to buy round-trip tickets from the county town to the compound.

You have to find out all the details yourself, such as how far it is from home to the county bus station, how long it takes, how much the ticket costs, and when the bus is available.

Anyway, she would not ask Hu Xiuqing.

Next, I have to clean up the small dark room.

The roof of the small dark room was leaking, and no matter what was put in, a thick layer of dust would fall on it the next day. The sound insulation was also poor, and if someone spoke or coughed in the room, people outside could hear it clearly without having to stick to the wall.

The most urgent matter at the moment is that there are not enough beds - he and his sister are squeezed into a 1.5-meter bed, and the single bed in the small dark room is made from an old door panel and is only more than 70 centimeters wide.

There's just not enough room for four people no matter how hard we squeeze.

Given the family’s financial situation, it was impossible to buy a bed, and it was also impossible to let grandma and aunt live in a guesthouse.

Do it yourself?

Dad is not at home, where can I find materials and tools?

Oh my God, at this critical moment when there are so many big and small things to do at home, my dad actually has to go out on a mission.

Jiang Furong encountered a problem and suddenly thought of the pile of broken tables and chairs in the corner of the chief's courtyard.

…………

The next morning, Jiang Furong took two vitamin tablets half an hour after the meal according to the instructions, and went to the supply and marketing cooperative to find Zhang Hai with a huge sum of one yuan in her pocket.

This was the only person she could think of who could help her.

Zhang Haiyan really enjoyed chatting. "Oh, you're early! We haven't opened yet, so we don't have enough change to give you. If you don't have anything to do, sit down and talk for a while. I heard they said you traded sweet potatoes with your fellow villagers yesterday. Why didn't you come to see me? What do you need so many sweet potatoes for? They make you bloated."

Jiang Furong smiled and said, "There's not enough food at home. My grandma and the others are coming over in a couple of days, so I have to come and exchange it."

Zhang Haiyan didn't believe it: "Your father gets 40 kilograms of grain a month, your mother gets 23 kilograms, you and your sister get 15 kilograms each, and your brother gets 10 kilograms. Isn't that enough food? We only have 60 kilograms of grain at home and we can't finish it all, and my mother can still save 20 kilograms of food coupons."

Jiang Furong was speechless, while Hu Xiuqing was still complaining that his family was so poor that they could barely survive.

Where has the northwest wind gone?