porridge for two

The dining table at Uncle Gao’s house was very rich, with a plate of fried fern cakes, a bowl of millet dregs (three beeps), a plate of fried chicken with carrots, and a large bowl of cooked noodles.There is a brazier under the high wooden table, and the steel carbon of the brazier is burning red and red.

There was white rice in the box, but the two children only added half a bowl of rice, and they ate noodles as a meal.

Xie Xiuping knew that millet and wheat were in high mountains, and compared to rice, the output of these two items was much higher, so there were millet dregs and noodles.As for fern cakes, they used to say that they only eat fern cakes when they don’t have enough food. It is one of their staple foods and one of their specialties.

As for why the two children eat so many noodles, it may not be because they like noodles.There is a saying in my hometown that they don’t like to eat noodles when they do manual work. They would rather scoop half a bowl of rice and mix it with chili water.They think that noodles are good for clearing the intestines, and those with consumptive intestines and small stomachs will not be able to satisfy their hunger, and they will not be able to work for a long time, and their stomachs will growl.

Now Xie Xiuping thinks, maybe it’s not that the noodles are not enough to satisfy the hunger, maybe it’s because the noodles are a little easier to digest than rice, but the main reason is that the clear soup lacks water. If you like spicy food, put some chili powder or bad chili.This non-meaty way of eating makes you feel full and feel like you haven’t eaten anything.

After dinner, the two children went to watch TV. Uncle Gao moved the high table away, and only Xie Xiuping and Uncle Gao and his wife chatted around the brazier.

While roasting the brazier, Xie Xiuping couldn't help thinking that when he was a child, when he was baking the brazier at home, he always liked to throw some glutinous corn into the brazier, shaving the grain flowers, and the corn was heated and exploded, either ashes or sparks flew. The old mother who was warming up by the fire always said that he was stupid, how could he make such a big fuss even planing a corn flower.

Xie Xiuping and the others sat and listened to what Uncle Gao had to say.

"Our place is much higher than Qingnan County, and the weather here is very cold. The soil is sandy, and there are not many fields. Wheat, millet, yams, sweet potatoes, etc. are still growing well. If you want to eat rice, you can't eat it." eat."

"Our side has a lot of mountains and slopes. Some people with siblings or with little land will raise some sheep and go to the village to sell them for food. Those with few hands don't dare to raise them, but those who raise chickens, ducks and geese. During the Chinese New Year holidays, people have to kill and eat."

"We have a lot of thatched houses here. No matter how good the conditions are, except for the main house, which is covered with tiles, the other wing rooms, chicken pens and pig pens, and thatched houses are all built with thatch. Our thatched house is long. It’s very good, every year it grows even better! That’s why we are called Qingmao Village.”

"The charcoal fire we roasted was invited by several families to dig a kiln by themselves, go to their own mountains to chop some green wood firewood, and burn them together. Everyone took turns to guard them. After leaving the kiln, everyone had to light the fire."

"Some people's houses are so old that they can't burn steel charcoal, and they can't afford steel charcoal. That's why they have unburned charcoal fires when cooking, so they use an earthen jar to turn off the fire (four beeps, meaning extinguishing) ), you have to bake it when it’s cold. The charcoal needs good firewood, and the bigger the firewood, you have to eat it; those fluffy firewood, put it in the stove hole, will burn out if it’s not good, so there’s still charcoal. "

"So some people go to the edge of their fields to dig soil, chop some fluff and thorns, burn a pile, spray some water, and burn some fire to make a fire for the winter!"

……

Several people heard Uncle Gao talk a lot about food, housing, and warming fire. Except for Xie Xiuping, the two people in Pingtang were close to each other and understood better. They still don't understand the language of the ethnic minorities, but they still don't understand it!what fire?What carbon?

Several people looked at Xie Xiuping with curious eyes, Xie Xiuping could only say that he would see it when he had the chance.

Early the next morning, a few people walked around the village after washing up.In winter, the sky dawns late, and the fog dissipates slowly on high terrain. It is already past nine o'clock, and the winter sun has not completely penetrated the mountain fog.

The wolf tooth roots on the road are covered with a layer of hoarfrost, walking on them, there is a "cracking" sound, and some yellow thatch beside the road, in the vegetable garden, on the wheat and rapeseed in the crop field, are covered with a thin layer of frost , The sunlight that penetrates the frost shines on the frost, refracting a dazzling light.

Sure enough, there are many thatched cottages in Maocao Village. Eight out of ten main houses are built with thatched grass. The green thatched grass is neatly hooped with bamboo strips or rattan and stacked on the eaves.

Qingmao Village is the same as Bamang Village, all of which are poles with tree trunks. According to Uncle Gao, the current side of Gaoshan Township is all telephone poles with tree trunks.

The village is surrounded by steep mountains and steep slopes, but the land where the village is located is relatively flat.

Xie Xiuping and others visited several households in serious condition.

The family is a three-generation family of three, the old lady, the daughter-in-law and the grandson. It is said that the son died of illness two years ago.

When I went there, the old lady was lying on a simple wooden bed by the fire. In the brazier, black things of different lengths the size of chalkheads were burning. Xie Xiuping joked that they were called fires.

The daughter-in-law was busy working in the kitchen, and a little boy less than two years old was sitting in front of the stove, looking old and gnawing on something.

"Sister, are you cooking to feed the pigs?" Xie Xiuping went in to say hello.

"Hey, you're here! Why don't you sit at Ke's house!" The woman came over, she was only in her twenties, and the skirt around her body was still stained with chaff and water.

"Hey, good! Let's leave as soon as we see it, and go to Gaopo as soon as we see it!"

"Gaopo is near, it takes more than an hour to get there!"

"That's right, but we still want to go back to Qinggang Village today, my home is Ah Dian!"

"Oh! Then you can look around! You are busy!" The woman said and was busy with the work in hand, the two pigs in the pen were coaxing the board, they must be hungry.

"Little friend, what are you eating?" Xie Xiuping saw the little boy eating something like a rice crust, so he squatted down to tease him.

"Papa! Mom! Papa! Brother! Papa!" When the child was still unable to turn the corner, he spoke word by word, his eyes on the rice crust in his hand, and Xie Xiuping and his mother circled.

"He wants to treat you to rice crust! Haha! The little guy is quite generous when he sees someone he likes. Usually, who wants to share his stuff, it's very deductible!" The woman said while stirring the contents of the slop bucket. Xie Xiuping said with a smile.

The woman came over with the bucket, wiped the scum from the corners of the child's mouth with a clean handkerchief, and said to the child kindly: "You kindly asked my brother to eat cakes, but my brother won't eat yours. You are bran rice cakes." , Brother doesn’t want you! You have candies in your pocket, you can share one with Brother.”

After mother's reminder, the child seemed to have thought of something, put the crispy rice in the mother's hand, stood up and rummaged in his pocket for a long time, found two fruit candies, took one and stretched it out in front of Xie Xiuping, soft and sticky The waxy voice said: "Brother! Tangtang!"

"Thank you, Xiaobao, my brother doesn't eat Tangtang! My brother's teeth are full of worms, so I can't eat Tangtang!" Xie Xiuping held the child's outstretched hand, put it back, and said softly.

Several people saw clearly what was going on in the kitchen from outside, and each had their own tastes in their hearts.

"Sister, take the 300 yuan, you can buy a new set of clothes for Xiaobao to celebrate the new year, and buy some delicious food for yourselves to celebrate the new year!" Xie Xiuping stood up and took out 300 yuan from his pocket and put it in In the woman's hand, she turned around and said to the child: "Let mother buy you candy! But you can't eat too much candy, or you will be like your brother, with worms in your teeth, okay!"

"Okay!" The child looked at Xie Xiuping in a childish voice and said, not understanding.

"How embarrassing!" The woman looked at the money in her hand, a little embarrassed, with tears in her eyes.

No matter how strong you are, you are only a body of flesh and blood, and no matter how strong you are, you are only a little woman.A woman has a bedridden mother and a toddler, and she is just the same age, who can tell what is in her heart.

"Sister, don't think too much! Take it. The days will always get better and better! Let's go first!"

Xie Xiuping was originally a sentimental person, his eyes were a little red.The vajra heart has to be practiced again, he said to himself in his heart.

He didn't want to stay in this atmosphere any longer, so he left the kitchen and hurriedly left the woman's house calling for a few people.

When leaving, Xie Xiuping always felt that there were burning eyes staring at them and the group from behind, but he didn't look back.

If what they send to the countryside is hope, then let the seeds of hope germinate and grow in their hearts, and let them work hard for their beautiful hope. Give them a push when they fall behind, give them hope, and keep them from falling behind.

After leaving the woman's house for some distance, the few of them chatted about what happened just now!

"Xiaobao really eats rice bran?" Ai Nan felt inconceivable, how could a mother give that kind of food to a child, even a puppy would not necessarily eat it.

"Then what's the matter, I didn't eat it when I was young, you are a person who has never suffered, so don't make such a fuss!" Xie Xiuping glared at him.

"Your Xiuping, today's eyes can kill!" Ai Nan walked to Su Zeyu and whispered.

"It's over! You didn't ask for it!" Su Zeyu didn't give him a good face either!

"This baby just hasn't experienced hardship, why is he so unpopular!" Annan walked up to Pan Wenbin aggrieved, and Pan Wenbin patted his head comfortingly.

"President, your tone of voice to Xiao Bao is so gentle!" Xiao Yu said, looking at Xie Xiuping with admiration.

Although the two girls had red eyes, their speaking styles were very different, and they were almost a few channels behind.

"That's right! That's right! Those words are so sweet! Brother's teeth are full of worms, you can't eat sweets! Haha!" Xiaoyou imitated Xie Xiuping's tone and made himself laugh.

"Hey, that's right, you are an expert at adjusting the atmosphere! Be happy! Be happy! We still have to go to Uncle Gao's house for breakfast."

Seeing that the atmosphere was broken, Su Zeyu patted Xie Xiuping on the shoulder and said something to make everyone forget the sadness just now.I don't know how many different versions of the story will be experienced in the future, they all need to grow up.

As he was walking, Xie Xiuping, who was walking in front, almost ran into a person who was carrying a bundle of firewood on his shoulder. Xie Xiuping staggered and almost fell down.Seen from the back, the man was not tall, and his body looked very thin. Under his feet, he was wearing a pair of straw sandals woven with plastic pockets.This person seemed to be in an emergency at home, and he was carrying something on a rampage. The road behind him was wide, so he let him pass. When he reached Xie Xiuping's place, the road narrowed, and he almost ran into him.

"Are you okay?"

"fine!"

Su Zeyu stepped forward to hold Xie Xiuping's shoulders, seeing that man was carrying something and dressed like that again, Su Zeyu couldn't say anything, let's see Xie Xiuping's situation first.

The man obviously realized that he had bumped into someone, looked back to see that he was fine, and continued to walk forward in a hurry.

With Su Zeyu's help, Xie Xiuping stood still, watched the person walking down the fork, and hurriedly called a few people: "Follow, the last family is to go to her house! She should be that child."

Several people had learned some information from Uncle Gao before visiting, so they naturally knew the general situation of this house.

When Xie Xiuping and others entered the courtyard of this family, they saw clearly the person just now from the open kitchen. It was a girl in her teens.

She was coaxing a two-year-old boy sitting on a low stool.It looked like the fire in the stove had just started, but the flames hadn't ignited yet, and the white smoke rising from the stove floated to the thatched roof, passed through several egg-sized roof holes and thin thatch, and gradually dissipated.The firewood she had just brought back was scattered beside the stove.

Looking at the hole that passed through, the thin white smoke on the roof, and the morning light shining down from there, pouring down on the muddy floor of the kitchen, Xie Xiuping felt indescribable.This should be due to the lack of management in the past few years, the sun and rain, the wind and the rain, and it is what it is today. If it rains, it will leak.

The door by the fire was open, and a middle-aged woman poked her head out, and said hello to Xie Xiuping and the others: "You are the volunteers that Brother Gao said, come in and sit, don't look at the sun outside, we are on a high ground , windy, very cold."

"Okay! Eldest sister, I'm sorry to bother you!" Xie Xiuping and the others responded, preparing to enter the house.

Only when the girl heard the conversation did she realize that they were the ones she just missed, and the tall brother was the one she almost ran into.

"Brother, I'm sorry! I was in a hurry to come back and bumped into you!" The girl came out holding the little boy and apologized.

"It's okay! Don't worry! It's just that you have to pay more attention in the future, lest you hurt yourself!"

Seeing this situation, Xie Xiuping was not angry at all, but more sympathetic and pitiful.

"Aren't you cold like this?"

"It's always been like this!"

The little girl wore a pair of slightly larger straw sandals, a pair of thin trousers, and two carefully mended patches on the knees. On top was a T-shirt and a patched coat.Apparently mom can't walk, but she's fine with her needlework.

Her father said that he went out to work, but he didn't send any money home.All children in rural areas were born at home, and it happened that my younger brother was born with dystocia, so I dared not accept him in the township hospital, and managed to save his life when he was transferred to the county hospital.Her father is not at home and doesn't care about things, her mother is inconvenient to move, and her younger brother is young, so the burden of a family falls on her shoulders.

The few people didn't stay long, chatted for a while, left some money and left.There are too many touching stories, and there are too many people who need to be helped, and they come one by one.