Doomsday foresight

In a good mood, the way home seems to be short. Humming a song and driving back to the village, I saw Dabao making a snowman at the gate of the yard from a long distance on the road. A man in his forties next to him said something to him. Sneaky, as if looking at something, aiming straight into the yard.

"Yo, Jinyang Jinxi is back." Hearing the movement, the man turned his head and saw two people driving over, his face was a little unnatural, but he recovered quickly.

Jin Xi saw it clearly this time, "You are the third uncle, right?"

"Oh, I still remember the third uncle. I remember the last time I saw you, brother Jinyang was married. It's been a few years." The man smiled and narrowed his eyes.

"When did the third uncle come, why are you standing outside?" Jin Yang had already unloaded the car and parked it beside the gate.

"It's been a while, and your aunt is here too. They cook in the house, and I come out to get some air. It's not like watching Dabao build a snowman. It's very interesting."

"Well, third uncle will watch me feed the donkey first." Jinxi led the donkey closer to the donkey shed.

"I'll help you." The third uncle said that he wanted to help Jinxi lead the donkey, but Jinxi's donkey recognized him, barked, and raised its hoof. The third uncle backed away a little embarrassed, "This donkey has a bad temper. .Jinxi, your donkey is really strong, alas, it is almost as high as the horse. It eats a lot in a day. Now there are no animals for sale in the market. I can’t afford to kill and eat meat. Last month I Go to a shop in the county to sell your donkey meat, guess how much it is?"

"How much?" Jin Xi asked casually.

"Twenty catties of rice for one catty of donkey meat." The third uncle said with envious eyes, staring at the Jinxi family's two donkeys.It's like looking at piles of rice.

"So much?" Jin Xi was also taken aback, "Rice is not cheap now, how can it be exchanged for this price? And I heard that the county is in chaos, why would anyone dare to exchange meat and grain for things?"

"Of course it can be exchanged. There is an exchange market in the county. There are police guards there, and no one dares to make trouble. We have been here to fight locusts. There are not many families who raise large animals at home. I don't know what happened to these animals. , Even the chickens raised at home eat too much. Three or four chickens can eat as much as one person can eat in a day. Who would dare to raise them? Meat. Although he bought it expensive, someone bought it in the end." The third uncle said and looked at the chickens in the yard of Jinxi's house, thinking about how much food their family could save, and how much food these chickens could bring back .

Jinxi drove the donkey into the shed, thinking about what Uncle San said, it seemed that the chickens at home could not be let out.It's so eye-catching.And the work of pulling people should stop, I always feel that there will be chaos on their side.

I added food to the donkey, and because my third uncle was here, Jinxi fed it with chopped straw. Last month, my family went to the oil mill to press oil. Several families in the village united to reopen it. It was completely hand-pressed. , give them some oil according to the amount of oil extracted, or directly use cornmeal, rice and other grains to pay for it. Now there are a lot of beans in the family, and people from ten miles and eight villages also come here, and the business is pretty good.

The bean cakes left over from the oil extraction in their family were brought back, and they were usually extra meals for the donkeys.Today, outsiders can not be so 'luxury'.

Because of the insect plague this year, the income of each household is low. Some people sold their grain the year before last, or when the price was good after the year. Now they are living a tight life. Fortunately, relatives in the countryside are leaving more. Nearly, with a little help, they can live on, except for those with poor character, even if they usually have a bad relationship, they can still reach out to help at this time.Of course, those who see their relatives go hungry are not without exception.At this time, people are not out of desperation, and they will not be so desperate in doing things.

Jinxi's village is doing well. During these days, many relatives came to the door. He watched as many of them left with something behind their backs.There is also a daughter and son-in-law who live at home.

There are a lot of people, and there are many quarrels in the village these days. They are all trivial matters.

The population of Jinxi's family is small, grandma doesn't have any relatives, and grandpa's close relatives are all in the village, so the family really doesn't come to visit. This third uncle is the third uncle of Yingzi's sister-in-law. I heard that he does some small business in the county. I didn't move around much before, so I don't know how I got here today.

Although Jinxi, the guest who came to the door, looked at the third uncle with some thoughts, he didn't express it. After all, they were relatives of the second uncle's relatives, and it was up to the second uncle and the others to decide.

"Where's my grandpa and my second uncle?" Jin Xi went into the house and searched around but couldn't find it.

"They went to Dongshan to collect firewood. It was getting colder and colder, so they went because they didn't have enough firewood." Grandma said.

"Oh, didn't you say that brother Jinyang and I will go when the car stops tomorrow. Did you say when you'll be back?" Jinxi handed over the food she exchanged today to her grandma.

"I told you to pick them up at the foot of the mountain at four o'clock." Grandma clapped her hands, "Check what time it is."

Jin Xi saw that it was three o'clock, "Come on, brother Jin Yang and I will go now. Dabao, you too, put on your down jacket and come with me." Seeing Dabao enter the house, Jinxi thought about asking Dabao to help watch car.After talking, he went to Westinghouse and took out the down jacket he bought for Dabao.

"No, it's hot." Dabao shook his head and pouted.

"No, Dongshan is the outlet." Jinxi said and put on Dabao.

"Don't wear warm clothes." Dabao hid back.

"If he doesn't want to wear it, don't wear it. He has a cotton jacket on his body. Your second uncle has a black woolen jacket. Put it on the outside to keep out the wind. The big treasure is cold, so it's not like you." The second aunt came out of the kitchen with a basin When he came out, he saw Jinxi keep putting clothes on Dabao, and he laughed. This child feels that others are afraid of the cold. In fact, everyone on their side wears down jackets. They all wear cotton jackets and trousers for the winter. up.

Jinxi thinks about it too, just now Dabao was wearing a padded jacket and making a snowman at the door, he didn't seem to feel the cold.Put the down jacket back, and took the second uncle's nylon coat.

Dabao twisted awkwardly, feeling that the clothes were stiff.Jin Xi also put on a scarf and hat for him, and when he came out, Brother Jin Yang had already put the car on.

The three of them walked halfway in the car, Jinxi suddenly remembered, "What did Uncle Dabao tell you just now?"

Dabao shouted Tang, and kept pulling the scarf around his neck, "He asked how much food our family had, whether we ate meat or not." He pulled the scarf again, "Strangle the neck."

"Take it well, pour the wind into it." Jin Xi put down the whip, turned around to help him loosen it, "Then why did you tell him?"

"I said I don't know. I haven't eaten meat for a long time. I've been eating corn pancakes. It's too unpalatable." Dabao rolled his eyes and smiled wickedly.

Jin Xi laughed, "It's unpalatable, I didn't eat less that time."

"Hey, grandma's cooking is good, sweet." Dabao's saliva is about to flow out. Their tortillas have added sugar, and one side is a bit burnt when baked. It is crunchy and soft on the other side. Soft.The noodles are made by our own family for several times, and the thin ones are especially delicious. Sometimes white noodles are added to make pies.So don't look at the taste of whole grains is not bad at all.

"Dabao, if someone asks you that again in the future, just say so." Jin Yang drove the car, turned around and said, "Your sister-in-law and third uncle's family are not very good, and they are not in the right mind. If you want to ask you anything, don't say anything." Jin Yang Yang said with an expression of displeasure on his face, "When their family was in the county town, my father-in-law was often squeezed out. My brother-in-law couldn't even eat warm food when he went to the county town. Now he comes here, who knows what to do."

"Well, Dabao is quite considerate today." Jinxi patted Dabao's head in praise, pressed his hat hard, and made Dabao shrink his neck.He thought that Dabao seemed to be smarter during this period of time.This is not taught by others.Now is the time to be careful.At first, I was worried that Dabao would be cheated and say something, so most of the time the family members did things behind Dabao's back. Who would have thought that he would be more careful now.

At the foot of Dongshan, let Dabao wait from below. Jinxi and Jinyang go up the mountain. Dongshan is not too high. There are two mountain ridges when you turn over, and then you go to the other side. There are also fields and villages. Half of Dongshan is rocks. Not long, the other half are all pine and spruce trees, which were cut down a lot in the early years. Later, the higher-ups issued a document to plant trees. Every year on Arbor Day, the surrounding elementary schools came to plant trees. Jinxi remembered that he had planted trees before, but he didn’t know what it was That one has become a forest after all these years.

He reckoned that Grandpa and the others would not go inside, nor would they go to the cemetery, so the place they could go was much smaller, and they were all there when they looked for it.

"Why did you come back so early? Is the car coming?" When Grandpa saw Jinxi, he was tying the rope with the second uncle.

"Here we come, Dabao is watching. It's all right." Jinxi Jinyang stepped forward to help.

"That's fine, send it back first, it's a bit too much."

Jinxi saw that they were all pine branches cut from trees, and some were picked up from the ground. The big logs below were all dead trees with roots.If there is snow on the mountain, just drag it directly.Several people pulled a large bundle down the mountain.

Seeing it from a distance, Dabao laughed and ran up, kicking the snow while running, very energetic.

Several people put those branches on the donkey cart, "Sir, don't go up there, one trip is enough."

The old man took a few breaths, took the cigarette pouch from his waist, "you go." He didn't insist, after all, he was an old man, and he didn't notice it when he was on the mountain, and it would be difficult to climb up after he came down.

Jinxi and the others went there again, but they couldn't fit in the car, so the two of them dragged it back in the end.

The firewood was stacked under the north wall, enough to burn for three or four months, and the oil in the pine branches was forbidden to burn.The cellar dug by their family outside the yard is still surrounded by corn cobs. That family has not been moved and is kept for emergencies.Mr. Ye walked one step at a time and looked at three steps. He asked Jinxi about the scene in his dream in detail, and prepared step by step.Taking advantage of the current situation is good, it is a little bit to be prepared.

This point is incomparable to Jinxi.

In the evening, Yingzi's third uncle and third aunt were sent back by Jinyang in a car. Fortunately, they only went back to Yingzi's sister-in-law's natal home. If they went to the county, they would have to come back in the middle of the night.

Listening to the third uncle and third aunt's oblique words during the meal, Jinxi finally understood that they had borrowed food, but Jinxi felt that it was true that the third uncle had borrowed food, and it was also true that he came to see their family's situation.Moreover, when the third uncle and aunt came to borrow food, Yingzi's sister-in-law and Jinyang were a little embarrassed, especially Yingzi's sister-in-law, she didn't believe that her family didn't lend them food. Wouldn't it be a slap in the face of her mother's family to come to borrow food now?So go back and ask what's going on.

It turned out that her three uncles and three aunts were in the hardware business in the county. When the disaster came, they couldn’t survive the food shortage. The heating system in the county was broken. There is no heating, and the bungalows in the county are lucky that every family has a kang, so it doesn’t matter. Those who live in the buildings can’t do it. Trouble, not to mention the lack of heating, going up and down the stairs without electricity is a problem.

Not only that, because the locust plague is expensive and the money is not easy to spend.Whoever was hoarding food at home in the city would buy as much as he could eat, and his uncle and aunt ran out of food, so they ran back to the village to live with Yingzi's grandparents.Yingzi's father has four brothers, and the family of the third uncle and three aunts is from the county. They usually look down on the brothers. Now, although everyone gives them some food and a little money for the sake of family affection, the brothers and daughters-in-law are not less run on. Man, I returned the anger I received back then.The sister-in-law who lived with Yingzi's grandma was not happy either, and found them a house in the village within half a month and let the family go out and live alone.

"Actually, I asked my mother. My uncle and uncle and our family have given a lot of food, enough for them to eat until next year. No matter what, they are relatives, and my grandma is here. But the third aunt And my sister-in-law returned some food to her natal family and took part of it. The third uncle and the others didn’t know how to be frugal, so they exchanged corn noodles for white rice noodles. That’s why it’s like this. It’s not like our family grows corn and soybeans. Our village has a few acres of paddy fields, and this year's disaster, several families didn't buy rice. You can eat as much as you can, and who cares about coarse grains and fine grains."

The old lady sighed after hearing this, "Actually, the family conditions have improved over the years, and they no longer eat coarse grains. Every household sells the corn except for feeding the livestock, and then buys rice and white noodles. When we were young, we were not so picky. What to grow and what to eat. Last time I saw a few bags of corn being exchanged for rice in the front yard.”

"Hehe, the corn cakes made with milk are delicious. I ate a mouthful of the corn cakes made by my mother last night, and my throat was blown." Seeing that her grandma was in a bad mood, Yingzi quickly smiled and said, "I have been eating since I was a child. I haven't eaten it a few times. In previous years, the corn was sold except for cooking and cooking. I really didn't know that corn flour pancakes were so delicious."

"It's because the noodles are not finely ground. Just grind it a few more times." Grandma passed on her experience.

"I said, my mother thinks it's troublesome. My third uncle saw that he was about to run out of food, so he went to each relative's house with my third aunt, crying for poverty. I really don't know what they were thinking. They gave out their own food, and then turned to us when it was over. Yes. My mother said that several families have told them that she didn’t want to give it to them at first, but they are relying on it, and they are all relatives, so I’m embarrassed. It’s just that it’s so big, what if it’s still like this next year.” Yingzi said. frowned.

"If you want me to say that your third uncle is smart, you probably have food in the dark." Jin Yang looked down on her third uncle even more.

"Who knows, but they are so organized. You can see that no one will borrow food from their family in the future. Grandpa, grandma and dad will come to our house to borrow food after they say it. We won't borrow it from him." Yingzi felt a pang in his heart. fire.

"You still have to rely on yourself." Mr. Ye sat on the kang with his eyes closed and muttered.