Reborn in 1966

Chapter Nineteen Preparation

The birds chirping in the trees outside were delicate and melodious. Pei Yin stretched while lying down, then rolled over and sat up.

Wearing a fine cotton onesie with an open crotch, I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. The sun was already high in the sky, probably past nine o'clock.

Last night, Pei-yin listened to a lot of her parents' private conversations. She didn't know when she fell asleep, so she woke up late this morning.

When Grandma entered the room, she saw a chubby baby sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), rubbing his sleepy eyes with his two chubby little hands, looking adorable and endearing.

Grandma picked up Peiyin, kissed her, and said with a smile, "Oh my, little sleepyhead, you're awake! Look, the sun's already shining on your bottom."

Pei Yin hugged her grandmother's neck with a smile and kissed her on the cheek. The two of them played around with kisses and laughter.

The sound of Uncle Shen calling "Mother" rang out in the courtyard. Grandma put a little jacket on Peiyin and went out to ask, "Why are you home at this hour? Isn't the Workers' Propaganda Team supposed to rehearse today?"

Uncle Shen said, "I had something to take care of, so I came back first."

Grandma put Peiyin in the wicker basket under the sycamore tree, then went into the kitchen to get Peiyin a steamed egg with a drop of bright red sesame oil on it. When she brought it to her mouth, a fragrant aroma wafted up, and Peiyin's salivary glands immediately became active.

Grandma took a porcelain spoon and scooped a spoonful of water into Pei Yin's mouth. Pei Yin smiled and gave Grandma a smile. Grandma wiped Pei Yin's mouth with a small handkerchief and asked her youngest son, "Is something the matter?"

Uncle Shen lowered his head and said, "Mother, let's prepare for my wedding with Tian Lingling."

Grandma stopped abruptly, asking incredulously, "Whose marriage are you with?"

Uncle Shen said, "Tian Lingling."

Pei Yin looked at her grandmother's somewhat bewildered face, wondering why Secretary Tian, ​​who had initially strongly opposed the matter, had suddenly agreed to it.

Grandma asked, "Who acted as your matchmaker?"

My second uncle said, "Secretary Tian just talked to me about this. I thought about it and felt that Lingling was pretty good, so I agreed." He sounded as if he had just bought a big cabbage on the street.

Grandma slapped Uncle Shen on the back, her lips trembling, and said, "You brat, don't you know what our family's situation is like now? Your mother is urging you to find a wife and get married because you're already so old, and if you delay any longer, it will be harder to find someone later. But you can't go for someone like Tian Lingling. Not to mention that her father is the village secretary, our village is so big, with four production teams and over two thousand people. Tian Lingling is also outstanding in appearance, and she's currently a worker in a machinery factory. She gets a government-subsidized job. How can someone like you, who toils in the fields, possibly be worthy of her?"

Uncle remained silent, while Grandma's eyes reddened with anger. Seeing Uncle's silence, tears welled up in her eyes.

Grandma choked up and said, "My child, I know you're suffering. People are born to suffer. Why don't you go and talk to Secretary Tian again and ask him to call off this marriage?"

The second uncle looked up at his mother, whose eyes were filled with tears, and said painfully, "Mother, after all these years I've come to terms with it. Our family's circumstances are what they are. If they want to marry their daughter off to us, then so be it. I don't care anymore."

When Grandma heard what Uncle Shen said, her expression became even more pained. She sat on the stool, holding Peiyin in one arm and covering her mouth with the other, and began to sob. Peiyin couldn't bear to see her grandmother so sad at her age, so she reached out her little hand to wipe away the tears on her grandmother's face.

At lunchtime, the atmosphere at home was very somber. Hearing that his second uncle was going to marry the daughter of the Party Secretary Tian, ​​the family lacked the joy of a wedding celebration. Shen's father looked at his younger brother, who was squatting under the sycamore tree in the yard with his head down, sighed, walked over, squatted down, and asked, "Have you thought it through?"

Uncle Shen said, "What else can we do but get married? Tian Lingling has used so many schemes and tricks to marry me. This time, it's probably Tian's third grandfather who stepped in. Humph, otherwise, would Secretary Tian have agreed so easily?"

Mr. Shen said, "Since things have come to this, you should live a good life with her. It's a blessing to have a wife who cares about you like this."

Uncle Shen sighed and said, "Brother, I know you feel guilty about not joining the army back then, but it's nothing. I've thought about it, and as long as our family is together, nothing is a big deal. I also know that you suffered a lot of grievances from Secretary Tian when I got married. After I get married, I will live a good life with Lingling and you."

Pei Yin, sitting in a wicker basket under the tree, was very surprised to hear her seemingly unreliable second uncle say such things. The growth of a person is truly an incredible thing. A small opportunity can make someone who has not grown up for many years suddenly grow up.

After dinner, Grandpa Tian entered the Shen family's gate.

The two families' elders talked about something inside the house, and a few days later, everyone in the village was talking about the marriage between Shen Shengqin and Tian Lingling.

Tian Lingling is not only good-looking and tall with a cheerful personality, but the key issue is that she is not only the wife of a cadre, but also a worker who receives a government-subsidized food ration. Everyone thought that Tian Lingling would find a husband in the city after working at the county machinery factory, but who knew that she would end up marrying Shen Shengqin from the Shen family. Shen Shengqin is fine, but the eldest son of the Shen family, Shen Shengsi, is still a rightist who is leading his whole family in labor reform in the village.

The two families silently prepared for the wedding of Shen Shengqin and Tian Lingling, with a hint of worry on Shen's father's face.

That night, after the children had fallen asleep, Shen's mother asked Shen's father, "Tian Lingling seems like a good daughter to me, so why don't you and your father seem very happy?"

Mr. Shen sighed and said, "I don't know when Brother Shengxiu's affair will be exposed, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to handle then."

Shen's mother said, "Back then, when Brother Shengxiu parted ways with us in the capital, we didn't know where he went. And then there were so many years of war and chaos. Sigh, back then, Brother Shengxiu was a very popular figure in our school."

Father Shen said, "From now on, let's not mention Brother Shengxiu in front of others anymore. Third Grandfather told our father that Brother Shengxiu took a boat from the city to Taiwan."

Mrs. Shen asked in surprise, "Really? I see. Okay, I won't mention it."

Father Shen sighed and said, "The Tian family's idea is to prepare for the wedding during the National Day holiday. You help Mother prepare bedding for Shengqin. Father has calculated all the money in the house and taken it all out. Shengqin's wedding can't be taken lightly. Our family hasn't had any happy events for many years. Third Grandfather and Father both want to make Shengqin's wedding a grand affair. With Secretary Tian's marriage to us, some things won't be easy to come to our door. Third Grandfather Tian is a man of great wisdom."

Shen's mother said, "I understand."

The Shen and Tian families officially finalized the marriage, and the Shen family would become in-laws with the Tian family from now on.

Whenever she had free time, Aunt Shengquan would come to the house to help Grandma with needlework. She even embroidered a pair of pillows as a wedding gift for Uncle Shen. Grandpa gave Uncle Shen some money and told him to go to the county supply and marketing cooperative with Tian Lingling to buy things whenever he had time.

A few days later, the summer harvest began.

In the northern plains, the summer harvest is a very important event. Before the Cultural Revolution, a ceremony to worship the heavens was even held before the wheat harvest. After the destruction of the Four Olds, such ceremonies were no longer held, but it was still quite a sight to see the whole village, young and old, participating together.

Grandma and the others were assigned to sort the wheat straw. After the wheat was cut down, it was bundled and brought back. First, the wheat ears were cut off, and the long wheat straw was sorted and bundled up. After a while, it could be woven into wheat felt, which could be used to cover things or build houses.

Mr. and Mrs. Shen, as strong laborers, were assigned to harvest wheat. The two older brothers bundled the wheat, while Peitian and Peizhi carried small wicker baskets to pick up the wheat ears. Everyone in Shenjia Village, young and old, had their own work to do. There were also a few elderly people who specially cooked mung bean soup and brought some food and drink to the fields. Their livelihood depended on the weather. As soon as the wheat ripened, it had to be harvested and brought back quickly, because if there was a rain, the whole year's harvest would be ruined.

Peiyin was put into a wicker basket by her grandmother and taken to the threshing ground.

The threshing ground was compacted a few days ago. Water was splashed on the ground while compacting, and then a layer of wheat chaff was sprinkled on top. The stone roller was pulled around the threshing ground to compact it, and water was splashed on and wheat chaff was sprinkled on top while compacting. After several rounds, the threshing ground became smooth and free of sand.

The threshing floor was threshed by a group of young men and a bunch of children, including Peihua and Peijun. No matter how old the children were, they all earned work points for their work. Peitian and Peizhi also helped spread the wheat chaff. When they came back, the two of them were very happy to show off to their grandparents that they had earned work points.

In a large threshing ground, several elderly women, about the same age as Grandma, each had a large stack of neatly cut and bundled wheat ears in front of them. Each of them sat on a futon woven from corn husks, with the handle of a sickle pressed under the futon. Holding the wheat ears in one hand and the bottom of the wheat stalks in the other, they gently cut the wheat ears with the sharp sickle head. The wheat ears were placed in a large wicker basket. The yellow leaves of the wheat stalks after cutting the wheat ears were combed off with an iron comb, then neatly bundled together.

The old ladies were accompanied by their young grandchildren, so these five- or six-year-old children became good errand runners. When the wheat stalks were gone, they would go and fetch a few more. When the wheat ears were full of wicker baskets, the children would carry them to the place in the middle of the threshing ground to prepare for pressing the wheat. By the end of the day, the old ladies had combed a lot of wheat straw.

Pei Yin was infected by the lively atmosphere in the threshing ground and wished she could run in and help with the work. So the people in the team saw that in a far corner, several old ladies were working hard. Not far from one of the old ladies, a chubby little girl was clinging to the edge of a wicker basket that was used to hold children, making "oh oh oh" noises and trying to get out.

The village's production teams were divided according to where people lived. These old ladies lived quite close together and knew each other's situations, so they would chat about their own or other families' gossip while working.

Pei-Yin said she loves listening to gossip the most.