Siheyuan: Five mouths waiting for food at the beginning

"Is what you said true?"

"Of course it's true. What good would it do us to lie to you?"

Banggeng's excitement after taking a train for the first time began to fade, and he began to worry about his survival. He was always the first to eat the good things at home. Although his family was poor, he would not starve. A few years ago, when he recognized Yi Zhonghai as his godfather, his godmother often cooked meat for him.

Banggeng regretted stealing Yi Zhonghai's money. If he hadn't stolen the money, Yi Zhonghai would not have cut off relations with him. Yi Zhonghai had promised him that he would let him take over the job. By then he would have a job, and maybe he would move into the deaf old lady's house instead of He Daqing now.

Banggeng sat in his seat and began to daydream. He regretted his decision and now he just hoped that his life was not as miserable as the other educated youth said. Northern Shaanxi was so big that he might not be assigned to the worst place. Banggeng still had hope.

After driving for two days and one night, Banggeng finally got off the bus. He passed by buses and ox carts, and the further he drove, the more depressed he felt. He was getting farther and farther away from the town, and the surrounding buildings were becoming more and more backward. Banggeng arrived at his destination, Majiagou Brigade, and he was assigned to the second production team, with five Beijing educated youths.

Team leader Ma Dong and the other members were waiting for them at the entrance of the village. When they saw them arriving, they greeted them enthusiastically. Bang Geng was disappointed when he saw his roommates' clothes. They were all patched up, and there was not a fat person among the members. They all looked pale and skinny. Many children also came to watch the fun. No matter boys or girls, whether three or eight years old, they were all naked.

Captain Ma spoke in northern Shaanxi dialect with his big yellow teeth showing. Banggeng didn't understand a word he said. Banggeng looked at his companions around him, all of whom had confused looks on their faces. Captain Ma said a few words and everyone around him applauded, probably to welcome them.

Soon they were taken to where they were staying. Banggeng looked at the two earthen kilns. Not only were they low and dark, but the roofs were supported by elm branches bent into a dome shape. Looking at the cracked roofs, he became worried, fearing that the roofs would suddenly collapse one day.

Captain Ma realized that no one could understand what he was saying, so he called an old educated youth who had come here before. This old educated youth had come here in the 6s and had asked to come here on his own initiative in order to change the backward situation in northern Shaanxi, but he did not expect that he was also powerless.

"Welcome to the Second Production Team of Majiagou. My name is Liu Shijie. I am also an educated youth. I have been here for eight years. I live in the cave house in front. You can come to me if you have any questions.

Let me briefly explain the situation. You can live in these two caves first. Captain Ma has already had people clean the caves. Since you just came down, the public society will subsidize you with food for a period of time. The food is not too much, so you should eat sparingly. The food on the kang is the subsidy for this period of time.

This year's drought has caused everyone to tighten their belts. I hope everyone can overcome the difficulties. It would be best if you follow the members to dig more wild vegetables around, dry them and store them. Everyone must pay attention to it, as it can save lives.

Also, I will come over tomorrow morning and take everyone to the water source to fetch water. Captain Ma has already fetched water today, so you should use it sparingly. I will come over tomorrow. Do you have any other questions?"

Bang Geng couldn't help asking, "Where is the nearest agency store? Where can we buy things? And I can't cook, how can we eat? And can we move to a better place to live? I'm afraid this cave will collapse and fall on us."

"People in the production team don't buy things very often. The sales agency is in the town, about 80 miles away from us. I'll talk to the team leader later to see how to arrange for you to go shopping. Those of you who can cook should do it first, and those who can't should try to learn how to cook.

Food is very precious. It is not worthwhile to hire someone to cook for you and you have to take care of the food. It is better to cook by yourself. If it is not possible, I will find someone for you. You can discuss it.

As for the cave dwellings, you can go to the team and look around. If you like the one, you can exchange it with that family. I believe many villagers will exchange with you. By the way, don’t touch the villagers’ things, especially food, or everyone will fight for it. "

"Who among you can cook?" Bang Geng asked

"I can light a fire, but I can't cook"

"No" x4

Nowadays, women are in charge of the household. If there are many children in the family, there are also sisters. Basically, few men will go into the kitchen, especially men in the old city who care about their face. Even the cooks are hired outside. No matter how bad the meals at home are, they are rarely cooked.

"Brother Liu, can you help us find a cook? We don't know how to cook. Just provide us with the food. It's better than eating raw food."

"Okay, I'll send someone over later, and you guys should pack up your things quickly." After saying that, the old educated youth left.

"Banggeng, what should we do?" Several people had already met each other on the road, and many people regarded Banggeng as their backbone.

"What else can we do? We just have to stay alive first. We are all unfamiliar with the place and have no letters of introduction. Where can we go? We'll think of a way after some time." In fact, Banggeng didn't want to stay there for a moment and wanted to return to Sijiu City as soon as possible.

After everyone had packed up, the old educated youth came with a woman named Cuihua, who was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. She was very thin, the kind that would fall down if the wind blew, and there was no flesh on her face.

Cuihua was very quick and started cooking quickly, while Banggeng and the others were still chatting outside. Suddenly, one of the educated youth asked, "Did you notice that the water in the bucket is yellow, and it looks unclean."

"Are you stupid? There's no running water here, it's all open-air, and there's yellow soil all around, how can it be clean?"

"Alas, when will this end? I don't even dare to think about the future."

"It's time to eat," Sister Cuihua shouted (you can translate it into Northern Shaanxi dialect by yourselves). Her accent was very heavy, but everyone knew that Sister Cuihua was calling them to eat.

Everyone looked at the watery porridge and didn't know how to eat it. There was not even a dish on it. They thought Sister Cuihua had given all the thick porridge to herself. But the soup in Cuihua's bowl couldn't even become a porridge, just a little better than water.

The educated youth suggested to Cuihua to put more noodles next time, and it would be better to make it dry, because no one could stand the young men eating like this.

"No, if you keep eating like this, you won't even make it to next month. Today's meal is already very good. I didn't even add tree bark. People in the village add tree bark and bran to their meals."

No wonder they felt something was strange when they came. Now they remembered that many of the trees had no bark and were bare.

Early the next morning, the old educated youth came, woke them up and took them to fetch water. He told them that there was a severe drought this year and the reservoir was not filled with water. They could only go to a tributary of the Yellow River one kilometer away, but that tributary was about to dry up, and they might have to go to an even farther place.