60s Splendid Life

It was already bright outside, and most people in the village had already gotten up to work.

There are hundreds of households in Lujia Village, most of the people in the village are surnamed Lu, only a few people with mixed surnames, all of them moved to Lujia Village later.

The rural areas in the 60s were generally poor and backward. Most people in the village lived in thatched rammed-earth houses, and there were only a few brick houses. Several brothers and sisters live in one room.

There is a family surnamed Lu in the east of the village. Their house is a courtyard composed of three brick houses and four rammed earth houses. There is also a small room for firewood and sundries, and a small kitchen. Surrounded by a small courtyard, this is where a dozen or so members of the Lu family live.

Early in the morning in the old house of the Lu family, the voice of the old lady Lu swearing came out, "A group of lazy people who eat and cook, sleep until the sun is high and don't know how to get up, all of them are still waiting for me to serve you? ... Miss me When I was a daughter-in-law, I got up before dawn to carry water and cook and finish the work of the whole family. How can you be so good at it now, you can’t even cook a meal, and everything is procrastinated Yes, I don’t want to do some work one by one, and I don’t even think about where the food in this family comes from? If you don’t work, can you eat?…”

The people in the family seemed to be very used to the old lady getting up early in the morning to scold others, and the men turned a deaf ear to it.

The children were a little afraid of their grandma, and they would not go to their grandma's for nothing, and played with themselves outside, and the older girls were already able to help with the housework.

Farmers have a lot of work in the morning, especially for families with so many people. They have to cook breakfast for the whole family, carry several large tanks of water, feed chickens and pigs, clean the yard, wash clothes, etc. Wait, all you see is work.

And besides working in the fields, the men in the village generally don't do any work at home.Only a few men feel sorry for the hard work of their wives at home. When they come back, they will help with some heavy work at home, such as carrying water for the family. After all, women are not stronger than men. It is not easy for men to carry water, let alone The woman went.However, there are still many women in the village who carry buckets to fetch water early in the morning.

If it weren't for the busy farming season, Lu Jianguo and his two sons would go to help carry a few loads of water for the family when they got up early in the morning. full.

However, Lu Jianqun, the second son of the Lu family, didn't do these kinds of work at home, so he just sat at the door with his legs crossed and waited for his meal.

Mr. Lu was sitting on a small stool by the door, smoking a hookah. He had a face that had been tanned for many years, with large bags under his eyes, a hunchback, and gray hair. He was in his sixties, but he looked like he was seven or eighty years old. of.

The two daughter-in-laws who were cooking in the kitchen knew that the mother-in-law was speaking to them when they heard the scolding voices coming from outside. They are all outsiders, and only their son and grandson are their family members.It's just that they don't dare to talk back to their mother-in-law, otherwise they will suffer.

Hearing the old lady's cursing words from the big house, Chen Aihong, the second daughter-in-law who was helping to make breakfast in the kitchen, curled her lips, couldn't help but rolled her eyes, and muttered to the sister-in-law who was cooking together: "I don't even look at anyone in this family. He was the last one to get up, and he scolded us every day, and he was so biased that there was no room for him!" At this time, everyone in the village woke up, and their uncles and sisters-in-law were still sleeping in bed, so why did they get up? Didn't the old lady say a word about her children?

These daughters-in-laws of them get up to work before dawn, and are scolded by the old lady every day. I dare say that their married daughter-in-laws are not human, right? ?

In addition, the family built three new brick and tile houses a few years ago. The old lady and the old man lived in one room, and the remaining two rooms were supposed to be shared by each of them. I gave it to my beloved uncle and sister-in-law.They have no objections to my uncle, but why should my sister-in-law live in a new house by herself?Chen Aihong has a lot of opinions on this.

But Chen Aihong also knew that if the sister-in-law gave up the room at this time, it would most likely be cheaper for the eldest son. After all, the eldest grandson of the eldest son has reached the age of marriage, and her son will take many years to get married.So now, no one can take advantage of this, and Chen Aihong's heart is a little more balanced.

"Don't talk nonsense, be careful that Mom will hear you soon." The simple woman next to her is Wang Meili, the eldest daughter-in-law. She also knows that the old lady's scolding words are about them, and she listens to them with her left ear. The right ear comes out, which is rarely taken to heart.

Wang Meili knows all about the family affairs, but as a daughter-in-law, she can't control her uncles and sisters-in-law, let alone her mother-in-law. She just does her own thing well, so as not to save the old lady Always dissatisfied with them.

"..." Chen Aihong also knew her sister-in-law's temperament, she just didn't dare to cause trouble and was afraid of the old lady.Listening to the old lady's voice in the room over there, she is not afraid that the old lady will come over and hear her talking about her behind her back, and she also knows that this sister-in-law will not tell the old lady what she complained about, so she dares to It's just an old lady whispering to this sister-in-law.

There are also two little girls in the kitchen who are helping to cook the fire. They are the 14-year-old third daughter Lu Xiaomei and the 11-year-old Lu Xiaohui of Dafang. The two girls have a personality similar to their mother, and they have been honest since childhood. , Not cheating and being lazy, the two girls in the second room are older than the two sisters, but they push all the work to the sisters.

Of course, Chen Aihong would only talk about her own girl when she went back to the house and closed the door, and would not be willing to teach her own girl in front of outsiders.

The uncle and sister-in-law did not get up from bed to have breakfast until their breakfast was ready.

"I sleep so late every day, and I don't know how to get up early to help your mother do some work." Seeing the two children who woke up so late, Mrs. Lu didn't have a good face, but she didn't say anything.

"Auntie, you have two powerful generals, sister-in-law and sister-in-law, so you don't need our help. The sister-in-law and the second sister-in-law are so hardworking, won't we steal the work of the sister-in-law and the second sister-in-law?" Lu Kangkang smiled Speaking to please his mother, the old lady patted him twice, but she was not willing to use force.

Lu Jianhong's face drooped, and she was unhappy that she was still sleeping in bed every morning when she heard her mother's voice, waking her up.Her appearance is very similar to her own mother's, with a high forehead, triangular eyes, the corners of the eyes are a little drooping, and the mouth is a little pointed, which is not a very good-looking appearance.The difference is that her appearance looks younger, not as harsh as the old lady's face, but she keeps her mouth shut and doesn't speak, which still makes the little girls in the family stay away from this little aunt, and no one dares to approach her .

The children in this family have also learned the ability to read people's faces long ago, and know which people in this family are the most difficult to mess with.

***

There are many people in their family, so the food is naturally not very good. In the morning, they ate sweet potato porridge, coarse grain steamed buns, and two bowls of pickles.There are not a few grains of rice in the sweet potato porridge, and there are not a few sweet potatoes in a large pot of water. The coarse-grain steamed buns are steamed buns made from cornmeal and wild vegetables, and the color is a bit dark.

After the daily breakfast at home is ready, Mrs. Lu personally distributes it to everyone. The first bowl is from their father, followed by sons and grandchildren, and the last pot of water is left for the two daughters-in-law and granddaughter. They shared, and her own bowl of porridge only had two pieces of sweet potatoes and water.

Wang Meili, the daughter-in-law of the big house, took the spoon and was responsible for scooping porridge for the girls. Each of them got a bowl of water, but fortunately, each of them had a steamed bun.

However, there are a lot of steamed buns at home. When the farming is busy, the adult men in the family get three steamed buns. There is not much work in the field at the moment, and they don’t have to go to the fields all day. Everyone saves some food, eats less, and saves one steamed bun. , that is, a man can have two steamed buns.The women, girls, and younger boys in the family can only get one steamed bun at any time. Even the old lady eats the same as them. The only exception is sister-in-law Lu Jianhong. With two steamed buns, if the family has meat, they can still eat meat like the men in the family.

But Lu Jianhong still dislikes this, because the family eats these things all day long, and has never seen any meat on the dinner table after the Chinese New Year.

"You caught so many!"

"I also want!"

"..."

The only thing that is not divided in the family is two bowls of pickles, one bowl for men, and one bowl for women and children, so children often have conflicts because you have a little more and I have a little less.

You can't even eat a meal in peace!Lu Jianhong looked at these noisy nephews and nieces, her face darkened even more, and she was very unhappy.But even if she disliked the bad things at home, she didn't eat less at every meal, and she ate as much as she wanted, and she wouldn't give up any of it to these young nephews and nieces.

After breakfast, the family went to work separately. The two daughters-in-law of the Lu family took a few older girls to the river to wash clothes, and the younger girls went out with their baskets to find wild vegetables and pick firewood.

The men went down to the fields with hoes to weed and work, preparing for the upcoming spring plowing.

A few younger boys in the family ran wildly outside with the boys in the village, and only the boys would not be scolded by the old lady when they went out to play. , You must not be beaten to death when you come back.

When they returned home after washing their clothes by the river, it happened that Chen Aihong's third aunt and third uncle came from her natal home.

"Oh, third aunt and third uncle, you are here so early."

"Isn't it because I think about it in my heart, I can't wait."

"I'll take you to say hello to A Niang before going over there."

Chen Aihong led two relatives to her mother-in-law's room to say hello, and when she came out, all three of them had smiles on their faces, and she took the two relatives out.On the way to the yard, I saw her sister-in-law, and said hello to her sister-in-law, and introduced two relatives from her natal family to her sister-in-law.

Wang Meili just nodded to the two relatives who came, and watched Chen Aihong take them out, wondering why the little aunt looked so happy, but she didn't care, and went back to her room .

After leaving the gate of their courtyard, Chen Aihong led the two relatives to the end of the village, and said as she walked, "They don't live at home now, they live outside, we will be there in a few steps."

"Aihong, if this happens, the third aunt will definitely benefit from you." The old woman who was called the third aunt glanced at no one around, and secretly stuffed a ball into Chen Aihong's hand. Paper notes.

Chen Aihong took a quick glance and put it into her arms, almost patted her chest and said: "Third aunt, don't worry, this matter will definitely be done."