Xia Xi came out of the room, and it was already evening.
Yu Qiu and Yao Zhi were both busy in the kitchen.
Yu Qiu had cleaned the termite mushrooms she brought back and stir-fried them with some tender green peppers and cured pork belly.
A fragrance filled the courtyard.
It was all the taste of memory.
Eldest Sister-in-law had good cooking skills, a good temper, and was virtuous and generous.
Second Sister-in-law was naive and sweet, strong, simple-minded, and easily satisfied.
Her two sisters-in-law were both excellent and treated her like a younger sister.
Their sister-in-law relationship was also very good.
In the entire Tianxing Brigade, you couldn't find such a good sister-in-law relationship.
Before long, the two twin eldest nephews who had been playing outside also returned. The younger nicknames of the two nephews were Da Nuo and Xiao Yan.
She was the one who gave them these names. She was a rare high school student in the surrounding villages, so the naming naturally fell to her.
The nephews' official names were Xia Yinuo and Xia Yiyan.
In an era where patriotism, construction, and progress were everywhere, these two names were very cultured.
Eldest Brother was happy for several days.
The eldest nephew was seven years old this year and was in his wild phase.
He ran back sweating profusely on a hot summer day and, seeing his little aunt under the eaves, shouted loudly, "Little Aunt!"
Xia Xi took out the wild sweet potatoes she had saved for them. "Quick, wash your hands and eat the wild sweet potatoes."
Da Nuo's eyes sparkled. After washing his hands, he rushed over to grab the wild sweet potato.
Xiao Yan looked at his brother eagerly and chased after him, "Brother, save one for me. Little Aunt got them for both of us."
Da Nuo had always been sturdier and slightly taller than Xiao Yan. He was wilder, while Xiao Yan was less boisterous. He held the wild sweet potato high to tease his brother, "Come and get it! If Xiao Yan gets it, it's yours."
Xiao Yan looked at Da Nuo indignantly, crossed his arms, and snorted, "Little Aunt, you and Da Nuo are ganging up to bully me!
Little Aunt is biased! You're giving Da Nuo wild sweet potatoes but not me. I won't stand for it! I'm going to tell Grandma, and I'm going to report it to the commune, and even to Beijing City."
Xia Xi couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, Da Nuo, stop teasing Xiao Yan. Give it to him quickly."
Da Nuo scoffed, "Xiao Yan, you're all talk. The commune leaders won't care about your two wild sweet potatoes."
Xiao Yan got the wild sweet potato and said with a bright smile, "Whether the leaders care or not isn't important. What's important is that Little Aunt cares about me."
Da Nuo didn't quite understand, and Xia Xi smiled.
This little cub was truly clever.
Before long, everyone who had gone to work returned.
The dishes were gradually placed on the table.
In the Xia family, there was no saying that women didn't sit at the main table; the whole family sat together.
The Xia family currently only had two children from the eldest brother's family. The second brother got married last year and wasn't pregnant yet. The third brother was arranging a meeting.
A family of six, plus two sisters-in-law and two nephews, ten people sat around the large table.
As the dishes were served, Xiang Cuihua began to distribute the food.
Xiang Cuihua managed the grain storehouse and was also in charge of distributing the food.
The staple food was sweet potato porridge, with a few grains of rice, a large bowl of rice water, and half sweet potato.
The side dishes were a plate of pickles, stir-fried termite mushrooms with tender green peppers and cured meat. This was already a substantial dish on the table. There were plenty of termite mushrooms, stir-fried with green peppers into a plate, and a bowl of soup with two eggs in it, golden yellow and very appetizing.
Da Nuo and Xiao Yan stared intently at the eggs in the soup, swallowing their saliva.
Yu Qiu covered the two boys' eyes. "Don't act like you've never eaten before."
Da Nuo and Xiao Yan looked wronged. They hadn't eaten it before, and they were indeed fascinated.
Xiang Cuihua skillfully ladled the porridge into everyone's bowls.
The first was Old Father Xia, with sweet potato taking up more than half, and the rest was rice water, because Father was the main labor force in the family.
Next were Eldest Brother, Second Brother, and Third Brother.
They always gave priority to the strong laborers in the family. After they were served, it was Xiang Cuihua's turn, Xia Xi, and the two sisters-in-law.
Xia Xi had graduated from high school and taught at the village primary school. She not only received work points each month but also an allowance of eight yuan. She contributed a lot to the family, so her food was only slightly less than that of the strong laborers.
Xiang Cuihua managed the food and had always been fair and just, distributing according to labor.
She didn't mistreat her two daughters-in-law either; she gave them what they needed and how much they needed.
After the food was distributed, everyone ate in silence.
After Xia Xi followed Lu Jing to accompany the troops, she never suffered hardship again.
Although Lu Jing died later in life, he left her a small house in Beijing City and a small shop. She collected rent, and her life was considered well-off.
How long had it been since she had eaten this sweet potato porridge and dry pickles?
It was all the taste of home.
Xia Xi ate with tears welling up in her eyes.
She tried her best to hold back her tears, but Xiang Cuihua still noticed something was amiss and muttered, "What kind of trouble are you stirring up now? I think you've had too good a life and want to make trouble. If you want to, go to your maternal grandmother's house and experience hardship."
Xiang Cuihua had married out from the mountains.
She had been married for so many years without returning.
It wasn't that she didn't want to go back, but that she couldn't.
Her maternal grandmother's home was deep in the mountains. To get there, one had to climb two mountains and then use a zipline.
After getting married, Xiang Cuihua no longer had the courage to use the zipline.
Xia Xi knew about the zipline. It was a slanted steel cable, and people used a belt or a rattan ring to hang on it and slide from a high place to a low place.
It was very dangerous and terrifying.
Her mother had only used it once in her life, and after that, she never used it again, and she could never go back.
After the meal.
Father Xia called Xia Xi into the room to sit down.
Xia Xi spoke first, "Dad, I was momentarily foolish to make such an unreasonable request. You don't need to take it seriously. Pretend I never said it."
Father Xia looked at Xia Xi with surprise. "You've thought it through?"
Xia Xi nodded. "I've thought it through."
Father Xia grunted. "It's good that you've thought it through. The Worker-Peasant-Soldier University quota belongs to the whole brigade. In this brigade, besides the educated youth, you and a few other young men have a chance. Have you considered it?"
Xia Xi shook her head without hesitation. "I'm not considering it."
In a few more years, the college entrance examination would be resumed, and Worker-Peasant-Soldier University students would be very awkward.
If she wanted to go, she would go to university based on her own abilities.
Seeing her like this, Father Xia looked worried. "Alright, you can go out now."
Xia Xi got up. "Dad, I was foolish before and made you worry constantly. I won't do that anymore."
After speaking, she went out.
Father Xia was completely bewildered.
Xiang Cuihua, who had just returned from bringing in the clothes from outside, happened to overhear this. She suddenly remembered what her neighbor sister-in-law had said to her earlier.
Sister-in-law Lu had said, "Cuihua, your Xia Xi must be nineteen this year. A girl gets older, and keeping her at home will only turn her into an enemy."
At this time, Xia Xi's liking for Lin Xiangdong had not yet become public knowledge.
It only became widely known when Lin Xiangdong got the Worker-Peasant-Soldier University quota and Xu Shanshan reported Father Xia.
People outside didn't know Xia Xi's feelings.
But Xiang Cuihua knew.
At that time, she had smiled and not answered Sister-in-law Lu.
But Sister-in-law Lu's words had stirred up a thousand waves in her heart.
Jing Wa is good!
Jing Wa is promising. He's a soldier in Beijing City, at the deputy battalion level, and can bring his family to join the army.
She watched that cub, Jing Wa, grow up. He was handsome, tall, and steady.
The Lu family only had this one child, and the two elders of the Lu family were kind people.
Marrying into the neighboring family would be better than marrying elsewhere.
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