Siheyuan: I Raised Ten Thousand Wild Boars

The farm is beautiful in winter. The sun shines through the clouds and falls on the earth. Poplar trees are covered with light frost and lean against the wall. Cabbages dressed in light white stand in the fields like guards.

"Cluck, cluck!"

"Gah, gah, gah!"

"Woof woof! Woof woof!"

An old hen was foraging for food in the field with her chicks, a group of ducks jumped over the farm gate and into the river, two dogs were playing in the open space, and a new day began as hardworking people were working.

Last night, in order to avoid having to call for help to open the door in the middle of the night, Li Guohua simply came to the farm and spent the night there. Although he had never lived here, the dormitory, bed sheets, quilt covers, and toiletries were all fully prepared.

"Brother Guohua, Uncle Yuan said that the cabbages in the field over there can be cut. Do you want to transport more to the factory today?" Zhou Dahu's face turned red from the cold, and he trotted over to ask.

"No need for that. Just do as usual. Cut down all the ripe fruits and store them directly in the warehouse. We'll deal with it later!"

The warehouse has been preliminarily repaired. Although it cannot be used to store grain yet, it can be used to store cabbage without any problems.

"it is good!"

Zhou Dahu agreed and turned around to go back and tell Yuan Fu.

"By the way, Da Hu, what has Xiao Hu been doing recently?"

Since coming to the farm, Zhou Dahu's performance has been really amazing. He does things when there is work to do and finds things to do when there is nothing to do. He is not afraid of hard work or fatigue, and he never bullies others just because they are close to him.

When Li Guohua saw him so cold, he thought of his brother. He hoped he wouldn't still be rummaging through the garbage in such a cold winter.

"Shh...Xiaohu didn't do anything. He went out for a walk during the day and stayed at home with grandma at night." Zhou Dahu sniffed his nose and said with a smile.

Since he came to work on the farm, the family has finally settled down and no longer has to worry about making a living. He eats and lives on the farm, and has basically no expenses every month, and all the money is given to Grandma Zhou.

"It's winter now, tell Xiaohu not to wander around. Go back at night and bring him to the farm tomorrow. He will help Jiang Dongmei as a helper, and the farm will provide him with food and drink!"

It was impossible to give him a salary, after all, he was too young to do anything. But his family was in such financial difficulty, and as a family member of an employee, it was not a problem for him to stay on the farm and eat.

"Hey, okay, Brother Guohua!" Zhou Dahu said excitedly.

I saw him turn around and run quickly, with a gust of wind all over his body, he was so happy.

As usual, after delivering food to the canteen today, Li Guohua drove the security department's small jeep to the gate of the textile factory and found Zhao Yunxia who had been waiting for a long time.

Zhao Yunxia's outfit was a bit stunning, with two small braids hanging behind her ears, an orchid-printed top and blue trousers. She looked so fresh and refined that anyone who saw her would be confused.

Today is the day they are going to register their marriage. The leaders at the factory have approved it, and they are going to go to the street office to register first, and then take photos.

"Oh, my silly wife, what kind of weather is it now? Won't you catch a cold if you dress like this?" Li Guohua took off his military coat and put it on her with a distressed look.

Although the sun is shining brightly during the day, the temperature is only around 10 degrees Celsius. If a breeze blows in the car, what if I catch a cold?

Why are women in every era the same, all so beautiful and stunning?

"Hmph, I'm not your wife yet. Besides, as a revolutionary soldier, why should I be afraid of the cold?" Zhao Yunxia pursed her lips and said unconvinced.

Even though she said nice things, she had no intention of taking off her military coat.

The two happily drove their small jeep, first went to the street to distribute wedding candies, received marriage certificates, and then came to the vicinity of Beihai Park.

Yes, I didn't go to a photo studio, but to a park. At this time, people take photos under the city gate tower, in the square, and in parks.

They are not self-employed individuals, but photographers sent by state-owned photo studios to the streets and some of the more prosperous areas.

Some of these photographers had cameras hanging around their necks, while others used those old-fashioned bulky cameras on tripods, with some photo frames placed next to them to show people their superb photography skills.

As a person of later generations, I naturally don’t want to leave behind some dull photos. It is better to add some scenery to make it more commemorative.

"Comrade, are you guys taking pictures?"

While the two were still looking at the photos on the side, a young man came up to them enthusiastically.

There is no way. There are too few people taking photos now, so it is useless and it is extremely expensive.

A one-inch black-and-white photo costs twenty or three cents, and a larger color photo costs one or two dollars. Wouldn't it be delicious to use this money to buy meat?

In order to complete the task of the photo studio, the young man tried his best and introduced it to the two people enthusiastically.

"Guohua, how about we shoot here?"

Zhao Yunxia was infected by the other party's enthusiasm and felt embarrassed to refuse.

"Okay, let's shoot here!" Li Guohua nodded.

There is no beauty filter in this era, so things are what they are, unless the photographer is an inexperienced photographer and takes a crooked picture of the person, which would not look good.

"Hey, okay, look at me here, don't blink!"

"Comrade, don't be so stiff, be more natural!"

"Oh, yes, good!"

Under the young man's direction, the two first took a group photo, then took a group photo standing by the lake, and finally took a photo separately.

Li Guohua also wanted to take some landscape photos, but Zhao Yunxia refused with a distressed look on his face. This had already cost him five or six yuan, which was almost half a month's salary gone.

At this time, everyone was busy with construction and living together as a group, so there were not so many requirements for getting married.

Generally, when a man goes to a woman's house, he just brings some meat, sugar, wine and dates. A man with better conditions will make some clothes for the woman.

There weren't so many other requirements, and things like taking photos were even rarer.

In the city, you need to go to the street office to register, but in the countryside, you just add your name to the production team and set up a few tables in the brigade, and that's considered a marriage. There's no marriage certificate or no marriage certificate, you just live together.

I made an appointment with the young people, and went to their photo studio to pick up the photos. The two of us strolled sweetly in the park together.

"Guohua, you can't be extravagant in your life from now on!"

"Ok!"

"Your monthly salary is 52 yuan (farm director + cadre allowance) plus my 5 yuan, which means it's more than 18 yuan a month. But my parents are old, and if they have a headache or a fever, we need to save some money just in case."

"When we have children in the future, they will need to study, and they need pens and notebooks, which ones don't cost money? Oh, and they are particularly wasteful of clothes. I have two younger brothers, and no matter how much clothes I have, they will never be able to wear them."

"When the children grow up, they will also need money to get married, buy furniture, and give gifts. Ah! I don't know how much it will cost. We'd better save a little more!"

Zhao Yunxia kept muttering to herself all the way, fully demonstrating the sense of responsibility of a housewife.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll listen to my wife!"

Li Guohua smiled but said nothing.