Reborn in 1966

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Sewing a Quilt

Er Ya took a cookie from the cookie box and said while eating, "You guys don't know unless you have a father like mine. It's not that I, as his daughter, dislike him, but he's really outrageous. Aren't men supposed to be responsible for the family and support the household? But he's the opposite. When he wants to go out to visit friends, he can disappear for two or three days. My sister has no choice but to find a family for him to marry into as soon as possible. If we really run out of food, we can bring some grain home to tide us over."

Meng Ruolan said, "Alright, stop overthinking it. I don't think it's that easy to find a man to marry into your family, is it?"

Er Ya said, "So I think I'll start looking around now. I don't believe I can't find someone who's willing to spend their life with me if I look around for a few years."

Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan exchanged bewildered glances. This girl was only fifteen years old, and she was already looking for a husband? No, not a husband, but a man for herself.

Er Ya said, "You two will come with me to Grandma Hua's house later. Grandma Hua will definitely be able to find me a man who suits my taste."

Pei Yin looked at Er Ya with even more fervor, eager to see what kind of man Er Ya would find.

Meng Ruolan said, "Isn't this a bit inappropriate? How can the three of us young girls go to Grandma Hua like this? Why don't we go to Aunt Shengquan's house first and ask her to help us think about it?"

Shen Jinhua said, "Yes, yes, talk to my mother first. Besides, this is a major life event for you. You've been talking about it for so long, do your mother and father even know?"

Er Ya said, "I haven't told them yet. What good would it do if I did?" There was an undeniable sense of loneliness in her words. Indeed, everyone in the village who was about her age was being pampered by their parents. Only she and her sister had to figure out how to settle their own marriages.

Just then, a commotion came from outside. Shen Jinhua went to the door to listen and said, "It's the educated youth over there. They got their grain rations today. Looks like we'll have to cook something nice for dinner tonight."

Er Ya said, "I think those educated youth are different from the people in our village."

Shen Jinhua said, "What's the difference? I think they're not even as good as the people in our village."

Er Ya said, "They may not be as good at working as the villagers, but they seem different. Is it because they've been to school?"

Meng Ruolan said, "I think so. A person with knowledge and learning naturally exudes elegance. There is a difference between those who have read books and those who haven't."

Shen Jinhua said, "You should read more books with us. There's no harm in reading more books."

Er Ya sighed and said, "I want to go to school too, but look at our family. If I go to school, my mother will be exhausted by herself. Right now, we just need to make sure we have enough to eat."

Meng Ruolan said, "Let us teach you. You should read more books, and you'll look even better than them."

Er Ya said, "Okay, then I'll take you two as my teachers. But it's a promise, I don't have any tuition fees to pay you."

Shen Jinhua said, "I won't charge you tuition. I'll even throw in some sweets and snacks. Are you satisfied?"

Er Ya took a bite of the cookie in her hand and said, "Satisfied, very satisfied."

Zhou Qian knocked on the door and came in. Seeing the four people in the room, she said to Meng Ruolan somewhat shyly, "Meng Ruolan, I would like to borrow your needle and thread."

Meng Ruolan said, "Okay, I'll get it for you. What do you need it for sewing?"

Zhou Qian said, "The male educated youth sent over two quilts, which we took apart, washed, and quickly made before the weather got too cold."

Meng Ruolan handed her sewing kit to Zhou Qian and said, "Here you go. The white cotton thread inside is for sewing quilts. You can use that. If you need any help, just come to me."

After thanking her, Zhou Qian took her sewing kit and went out the door.

Er Ya asked, "Do they know how to sew?"

Meng Ruolan said, "Who knows, Er Ya? Do you know how to sew a quilt?"

Er Ya said, "Of course I can. My grandma taught me this when I was little. She said that needlework is the most basic thing a girl should know. Before getting married, she has to take apart, wash, sew and mend for her family. After getting married, she has to take apart, wash, sew and mend for the whole family. If she can't do it, she can't rely on anyone."

Just then, Qi Xiangnan knocked on the door and came in, saying to the three girls inside, "I'm so sorry, but none of us know how to sew quilts. Could you please teach us?"

The three of them looked at each other, and Meng Ruolan said, "Okay, we didn't do very well either, so please don't laugh at us."

The three of them led Pei Yin to the female educated youth's dormitory. When they arrived, they found a cotton quilt on a bed with the quilt already laid out, but that was all.

Qi Xiangnan said embarrassedly, "None of us have ever done this before. We originally thought we could just sew the cup back together as it was, but after trying for a long time, it just wouldn't work."

Er Ya looked at the four female educated youths in the room, all of whom were looking down and somewhat embarrassed. Some of them had never even cooked a meal, let alone something as difficult as sewing a quilt.

Before Meng Ruolan came to Shenjia Village, she didn't know how to do this. Later, she and her grandfather had to take apart and wash their bedding, so she asked Aunt Shengquan to teach her how to do these things. After more than a year, she has become very good at it. Not to mention sewing quilts, she even made the cloth shoes that her grandfather wore. The soles of the shoes were better than many girls of the same age in the village. When her grandfather wore the shoes made by his granddaughter, he felt happy, but more sad. His granddaughter's hands used to be used to play the piano, but now she was forced by life to use an awl to sew.

Er Ya was a woman of few words but very efficient. She glanced at the things on the bed, reached out and grabbed them, checked the width of the bed, first laid out the quilt lining, then spread the cotton batting on top, and finally folded the quilt cover over the cotton batting. She folded the extra edge of the quilt lining back onto the quilt cover, folding all four corners neatly. Her movements were quick and efficient.

Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan helped out. Once they finished, the three of them each had a needle and thread. They first sealed the quilt around the edge, then folded it up and ran the needle through it several times, making sure the stitches were the same size. In no time, a quilt was finished.

Er Ya folded the quilt she had made and put it on the bed. The other educated youths standing to the side felt a little embarrassed. They were all about the same age, and these three girls looked even younger than themselves. They were working so efficiently. Looking at themselves, they said they wanted to settle down in the countryside, but they couldn't even take care of their own lives. How could they settle down?

Li Lei hugged the blanket from the bed to his chest and said to the three girls, "Thank you."

Meng Ruolan and Shen Jinhua were fine, but Er Ya blushed a little, waved her hand, and said, "It's nothing, it's just sewing a quilt, it's not troublesome."

Meng Ruolan looked at the cotton sheets and blankets on the other bed and asked, "Are these all there?"

Qi Xiangnan said embarrassedly, "Yes, we didn't expect sewing quilts to be so troublesome."

Meng Ruolan said, "It's okay, the three of us can do it quickly, we'll finish it soon."

So the three of them quickly made the quilt, while Pei Yin, who had come with them, sat on a bed next to them, swinging her legs and watching the expressions on the faces of the people in the room, guessing what they were thinking, and she was quite amused by it.

After spending half the afternoon helping the educated youth sew their quilts, the three of them wanted to treat them to a meal to express their gratitude. However, they declined repeatedly. Everyone knew their own situation; the educated youth didn't have much food either, especially Meng Ruolan. She lived so close to them and had heard them say before the food distribution that they didn't have much food left, and even if they did, it wouldn't be enough to eat. They were thinking of going to work in the fields with the villagers during the off-season to save some food. She felt quite lucky; if she hadn't come here, she probably would have ended up like them, going to some rural area. Thinking about how she had traveled over a thousand miles alone to get here, Meng Ruolan felt a pang of sadness.

After harvesting the crops in the fields, the jujubes planted by the team on the ridge also ripened. So, the people who had been resting at home for a few days after receiving their share of grain went up the ridge to pick jujubes with smiles on their faces.

There is a ridge to the south of Shenjia Village. Originally, some leaders in the county wanted Shenjia Village to build terraced fields on the ridge. However, due to the villagers' obstruction, it was not completed. The village elders said, "Don't look at this ridge. If terraced fields were built on it, wouldn't all the soil on the mountain be washed down after a heavy rain?"

So Secretary Tian led the villagers to buy fruit tree saplings and planted a large area of ​​fruit trees on the ridge, including apples and dates. After a few years, these fruit trees began to bear fruit.

Several young men carried bamboo poles, ready to knock down dates later, while the village women carried baskets and hampers, ready to pick dates.

Pei-yin tugged at her grandmother's clothes and followed her up the ridge. This was Pei-yin's first time coming to such a far place. She followed her grandmother, whose feet were bound, slowly walking along the way, looking at the scenery around her.

By the end of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the crops in the fields had been harvested, and the fields were no longer lush with the greenery of summer, but bare. Apart from fruit trees, no crops were planted on the ridge, so there were many weeds, some of which had already withered and turned yellow, giving the landscape a desolate feel.

Grandma walked with Grandma from Shengquan's family. Both of them had bound feet and weren't in a hurry, so they strolled along, carrying baskets and talking as they went.

Besides a relatively hidden path leading to the village on the other side of the ridge, there are also some small trails worn by villagers when they go up the mountain to take care of the fruit trees. So you have to watch your step as you walk. Sometimes, if your shoes have thin soles, you will get pricked by burrs or cockleburs. It hurts quite a bit when you get pricked like that.

There are still many jujube trees on the ridge, but they have been visited by the village children many times. There are many bushes on the ridge, and the children like to come here to collect firewood. When it gets colder, these bushes will dry up, and even more people will come here to collect firewood. Fortunately, the ridge is large and the bushes are dense, so they have not been cut down by the villagers.