Stepmother Reborn: Dad, my mom hasn't hit me for three days

Picking peanuts is indeed a very light job. Zhang Xiuhua's waist and legs are no longer sore. Only her hands are a little sore. But there is nothing she can do. It's autumn harvest time, and every household is busy. No one is free.

But such a brisk day was too short. On the seventh day, the peanuts were gone.

The village began to organize people to break corn by hand, a job Zhang Xiuhua hated the most since she was a child. When breaking corn, the corn leaves scraped her face, which was painful. And the corn fluff fell on her neck, which was also very itchy.

So she decisively continued to earn her seven work points - hammering soybeans.

The dried soybean stalks should be beaten with a wooden stick to make all the beans explode.

This job is something you can be lazy about. When Zhang Xiuhua got tired of pounding the bamboo shoots, she would stand up and stomp them with her feet.

Of course, some people tried to use a roller, but it was too heavy and she didn’t have that much strength, so she gave up decisively.

After pounding the soybean stalks, the next step is to dry the soybeans. This job can only be done by elderly ladies.

Young daughters-in-law like Zhang Xiuhua will not get the chance.

Next came her most painful task, husking and peeling corn.

It was easier to peel the corn husks. The hardest part was to peel the corn kernels. You have to know that there were no machines at that time, so you had to peel them by hand.

She used scissors to cut two lines on the corn cob and then began to peel it. After only two days of peeling, a layer of skin was worn off her hands. It hurt a lot when she touched it lightly.

She couldn't stand it anymore, so she took out the five-finger gloves she had bought before. They were for winter and were a bit old.

But it was just such an ordinary pair of gloves that attracted many villagers to watch.

"Oh, these gloves are knitted by a machine, right? The stitches are so neat."

"It's such a waste to use such good wool to make gloves. You'd better buy a sweater with this money."

"Where did you buy these gloves? How much are they?"

Zhang Xiuhua could only smile and explain, "I bought it before. I spent one or two yuan on it, but I don't remember how much it cost."

She was afraid that if she said too much, the old lady would say she was a spendthrift, and if she said too little, these people would also want to buy it. She didn't know whether such gloves were sold in the 1970s.

The old lady sighed, "One ounce of wool for only one pair of gloves? What a loss."

"Every year, my family saves up wool, but we only save 1.8 jin (2.3 kg) of wool. If we save another 3 jin (1.2 kg) this year, we can knit a sweater for the child's father."

If you want a sweater these days, you have to save up your money. Every household lives frugally.

Zhang Xiuhua's mind moved. She thought that she could cash out the money in the space. She could use the money to buy a house later.

But she couldn't sell wool in the village. Firstly, she was afraid that someone would be jealous, and secondly, she was afraid that they would report her for reselling, which would cause trouble again.

She peeled corn for five days straight, and even with gloves on it was painful. On the sixth day, it rained.

The brigade cadres organized people to pile all the grain into the granary.

Today is a good day as it rained almost when the autumn harvest was about to end, so the crops were not wasted.

The brigade cadres began to calculate work points, and when the rain stopped, they distributed food to everyone.

There is no rush to shell all the corn. When the grain is distributed, every household gets corn, and you can take it home to shell it yourself, and you can also save the corn cobs for burning, killing two birds with one stone.

Even when it rained, Li Jianguo could not sit idle. He first went up the mountain to cut some wood, brought it to the carpenter's house, and asked him to help make a table. Then he went to the team to discuss buying food.

In the past, only the children in their family earned work points, and they were few, so they certainly could not get much grain. But he couldn't let his wife and children go hungry, so spending money to buy grain was the best way.

After discussion, the team agreed to allow him to buy food.

When Li Jianguo went out, Zhang Xiuhua stayed at home thinking about food.

She took out three apples and the children were all delighted.

Although apples are produced in Su Province, Baolin, Jidong and Jilin have rarely eaten them. Apples are fruits, and they are very expensive. They don't even have enough food, so how could they be willing to spend money on such a fruit that they can't eat or drink.

Zhang Xiuhua took it out and several children surrounded her.

"This apple is so red. It must be delicious." Youcai's eyes were fixed on the apple while he spoke, and his saliva was almost dripping.

The other children were the same. Zhuzhu was the most ignorant. She didn't know what it was, let alone that it tasted good.

Zhang Xiuhua cut the apple in half, making six pieces. Then she selected them according to their recent performance. "Youcai has earned the most work points by picking beans these days. He should be the first to be selected."

Youcai grinned, his eyes and eyebrows narrowed into a slit, and chose the largest half.

"The second one is Jidong."

Jidong looked at her, then at the apple, and finally chose the second smallest one.

Zhang Xiuhua was a little confused. Why did the child choose the younger one?

But she didn't say anything and continued to let others choose.

The other children all chose the biggest one.

Until the last one, Zhuzhu was too young, so she used a spoon to scrape some apple pulp and feed it to her. The child was young and had a small stomach, so she couldn't eat too much. She kept the rest of the apple for herself.

Seeing that she didn't want to eat, Jidong quickly cut his share in half and gave her half.

Zhang Xiuhua laughed, "No need. Auntie has another apple and wants to save it for Uncle and I to eat together. You can eat it yourself."

Jidong nodded, and then he started eating with big mouthfuls. He ate faster than Youcai. He almost wolfed it down, and it was all gone in the blink of an eye. He was afraid that someone would snatch it away.

Zhang Xiuhua guessed that he might have had his food taken away from him often in his adoptive parents' home, so he was afraid of having his food taken away. She didn't say anything, but just told him to eat slowly. "If you eat too fast, your stomach won't be able to handle it. You'll get sick in the future."

Jidong nodded like a little adult.

I don't know how long it took, but Li Jianguo finally came back. There was no umbrella at home at that time, so he put a urea bag on his forehead. The urea bag could be folded into a cloak style, which could block some rain when put on the head.

But if there is a strong wind, you will have to hold it down with your hands.

When he came in, he was soaking wet.

After returning to the house and changing clothes, Zhang Xiuhua took the apple, cut it in half, and handed it to him, "The children have already eaten it. You can eat it quickly."

Li Jianguo was a little uncomfortable after all. He looked outside. Zhang Xiuhua told him to stop looking. "Eat. Why are you eating in secret? You earned your own money. What's wrong with eating an apple?"

Li Jianguo had no choice but to take it. He took a bite and found it juicy, three parts sour and seven parts sweet. It also had a sugar core, which was really delicious.

"How is things going? Can we share the food?" Zhang Xiuhua asked while eating an apple.

"The team agreed. Calculate what food you want. Our team has corn, soybeans, millet, rice, sorghum, potatoes, peanuts, millet, and sweet potatoes."

Zhang Xiuhua took a piece of paper and wrote down the types he mentioned. "How many kilograms can I buy?"

Li Jianguo calculated, "It's OK as long as there's enough food. We have more rations here than you do. Women get 250 catties, and men get 280 catties. Zhuzhu gets 60 catties, Jilin gets 90 catties, Yaoyao gets 110 catties, Baolin gets 120 catties, Jidong gets 130 catties. Youcai gets 160 catties. But the food that our team can distribute is catties more for adults and catties more for children. It's cold here, and we need food to maintain our strength."

The population rations were the rations that everyone in the team could get without earning any work points. If you wanted more food, you had to exchange it for work points.

The food standard is based on wheat and rice. If it is replaced by corn, it will have to be doubled, and if it is replaced by sweet potatoes, it will have to be five times, and so on.

Zhang Xiuhua had noticed that since they came here, Jidong, Baolin and Jilin's appetites had increased a lot. Before, she thought that the children ate so much because they worked hard. But now it seems that the local climate and soil nurture the local people. They really need to eat more food to survive here.

"Then let's take all the full quota. The children are growing up. If they don't have enough to eat, they won't grow taller."

Li Jianguo readily agreed.

Zhang Xiuhua asked how much one work point cost?

"The brigade cadres are still calculating. We will make up the money when the time comes."

Zhang Xiuhua nodded.