Baojian

Chapter 1 Brother and Sister
"Brother, I found a five-jin food stamp!"

With a cry of surprise, a thin figure appeared next to a mountain of rubbish. A little girl who was only five or six years old was holding a food stamp in her hand. smile.

In this era when the planned economy food stamps have not yet withdrawn from people's lives, a five-jin food stamp can be exchanged for two hot sesame seed cakes, which is enough for two children to have a full meal.

"Jiajia, I will send you to school when I save enough money. Lao Wang's son said that as long as he can pay the tuition fees, it will be fine!" At a place seven or eight meters away from the little girl, a boy's big head was lifted from the garbage dump. popped out.

Although the boy had a big head and a small body, with a disheveled face and a malnourished look, his eyes were very bright, and he looked only eleven or twelve years old.

"Brother, I don't want to go to school. They told us to pick up the trash, so I don't want to play with them."

The little girl curled her lips, pulled her feet out of the trash, came to the boy with one foot deep and one shallow, and put the food stamp into the army green satchel that the big boy was carrying on his back as if asking for credit. I patted it with my little hands, and then said: "What's so good about going to school, I want to be with my brother, brother, don't you go to school too?"

"My brother wants to go to school!"

Although the boy was not very old, he doted on his younger sister very much. He reached out and stroked the little girl's head, and said, "Silly girl, what can I do if I don't go to school? Can I still pick up rags for the rest of my life?"

"Isn't it good to pick up rags for a lifetime?"

The little girl's eyes were puzzled. In her heart, as long as she could be with her brother, that would be the happiest thing. The hardships of life and the white eyes she suffered in daily life could not erase the child's innocence.

"Okay, let's be a rag king from now on."

Seeing that his sister's eyes were foggy, the boy quickly stopped the topic. He couldn't talk to his sister about the reason for getting ahead in college. Woolen cloth.

Although he stopped talking about going to school, the boy still thought in his heart that as long as he had another 18 yuan, he could send his sister to school.

The boy found out last year that since they do not have local hukou, if they want to go to the railway primary school one kilometer away from their residence, the cost will be much higher than that of the locals. The annual tuition fee adds up to 76 yuan. He has already saved 58 yuan, and he is only 18 yuan away from paying the tuition fee for his younger sister to enroll.

As for the book fee of 30 yuan, it can be saved.

These days, many families have several children. The textbooks used by the eldest can be used by the second with a new book cover. Therefore, ordinary schools do not require the purchase of books.

And the boy had already collected all the textbooks from the first to sixth grades from the waste collection station, and wrapped the book covers with calendar paper, which looked similar to new ones.

"Jiajia, let's go, I'm going to exchange some biscuits for you!"

The sky gradually darkened, the boy looked at the harvest in front of him, and shook his head helplessly.

Today in the early 90s, extravagance and waste have nothing to do with people's lives, and every household is reluctant to throw away even the used toothpaste skins.

Therefore, the business of picking up junk has created countless multi-millionaires, and it is undoubtedly still a sunrise industry. Most of the employees are still in a state of food and clothing. It is conceivable that the brothers and sisters have gained a lot.

Picking up the small bundle of rusty iron wires that can be sold for some money, the boy took his sister's hand and walked out of the garbage dump.

The garbage dump is next to a railway. The afterglow of the setting sun reflected on the two brothers and sisters, drawing out two figures, one long and one short. Although they looked so thin, they gave people a very warm feeling.

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"Uncle Hu, this is a five-jin food stamp, give me two biscuits!"

More than half an hour later, the boy who had already disposed of the wire to the waste collection station, and his sister appeared in front of a sesame seed stall more than 100 meters away from the railway primary school.

Although there are rumors that food stamps will be invalidated, grain stores are still using them, but because of this rumor, the value of food stamps has shrunk greatly, and five catties can only be exchanged for two sesame cakes at best.

The dirty little hands of the two children had already been washed clean. Although the clothes on their bodies were worn out and shabby, after washing their hands and faces, they looked completely different from the way they picked up rags before.

Especially the little girl, her disheveled little face is very delicate, it can be vaguely seen that she must be a beauty embryo when she grows up, but the future big beauty, at the moment, is all focused on the delicious pancakes.

"Xiaofeng, Uncle Hu can still afford a few sesame seed cakes, you can keep the food stamps for yourself!"

The baker was a middle-aged man in his 30s. When he saw the brothers and sisters in front of him, he quickly took two hot cakes sprinkled with sesame and salt from the wall of the stove, blew them with his hands, and put them on the table. in front of.

"Brother?" The girl glanced at her brother. Having grown up with the boy, she knew that without his brother's permission, she was not allowed to take other people's things.

"Be careful, don't burn it!"

The boy patted his sister's head, looked at the baker, and said, "Uncle Hu, I don't buy rice noodles. If you don't need this food stamp, you can accept it. I picked it up!"

Although the aroma of sesame seeds came from the end of the nose, and the boy's Adam's apple was rolling up and down, he still stubbornly put the food stamps in his hand on the chopping board, as if he would not accept the biscuits if he didn't accept them.

"You child, what's wrong with Uncle Hu giving you two biscuits?"

Old Hu smiled wryly, but he had known the boy for four or five years, and he knew that if he didn't accept food stamps, the boy would really take his sister away.

And he also believes that the boy must have picked up the food stamp, because in the past five years, he has never seen the little boy reach out for anything from someone else.

Shaking his head, Lao Hu took out a piece of oil paper, took a sesame seed cake from the furnace wall, put it together with the two, handed it to the boy, and said, "Qin Feng, Uncle Hu can't take advantage of you, five catties Food stamps and three biscuits, you take them..."

"Thank you Uncle Hu!"

The boy named Qin Feng did not refuse this time, but took the oil paper, tore off half of the biscuit and handed it to his younger sister. Seeing how his younger sister was devouring it, a smile appeared on his tense little face.

"It's really hard for this child!"

After the Qin Feng brothers and sisters left, Lao Hu sighed. If he hadn't had three children in his family and his family background was also very ordinary, he might have taken this sensible pair of brothers and sisters to his home long ago.

The brothers and sisters Qin Feng came to this suburban area of ​​Cangzhou five years ago. At that time, Qin Feng was only seven years old, and his sister was only three years old.

The brother and sister seem to have gotten off a train passing by here, but no one knows where they came from?

Although Qin Feng is very young, his self-esteem is very strong. By picking up rubbish and tatters, he actually brought up his three-year-old sister by himself, and he did not steal or rob. The adults living around here, I always have an inexplicable affection for this mature child.

Of course, the Qin Feng brothers and sisters, who are often regarded as a model by adults to educate their children, are not very popular among the children in this area. When they send waste products to the waste collection station, they are always followed by a group of people who call them garbage. King's child.

"Rhubarb, your dinner is here."

After walking for more than 20 minutes, Qin Feng took his younger sister back to their "home" where they lived, and a big yellow dog with a bald tail came up to them silently, rubbing their big heads against the brothers and sisters' bodies, looking extremely happy.

Qin Feng poured a bag of pig offal into the basin outside the door, and then opened the door and entered the house with his sister.

This is a house next to the train track, and there is only one room. Due to the diversion of the train, there is only one train passing by this track every day, so it was excluded from the key maintenance section.

As a result, even the house where the maintenance workers rested has become dilapidated and dilapidated. Fortunately, it is a brick and tile structure, so there will be no air leakage on the four walls, otherwise the two children would really not be able to survive the northern winter.

And fortunately, in the early 90s, Cangzhou, a city with relatively low population flow, did not have a large army of vagrants in the future, otherwise the Qin Feng brothers and sisters might not be able to live in this cheap house.

"Jiajia, don't drink unboiled water, it will cause diarrhea, brother will pour boiled water for you."

After returning to his "home", Qin Feng saw that his younger sister was about to go to the water pipe that filled the train to drink water, so he quickly stopped her, picked up a tin thermos from the foot of the room, and poured it on Qin Jia who was already screaming for thirst. Filled the tank with water.

"Brother, the biscuits are delicious!"

The little girl licked her lips, and licked a sesame seed left on it into her mouth, staring at her brother's green cloth satchel, she knew there was a sesame seed in it.

"You do your homework well. Brother will come back to check tonight. If everything is correct, I will reward you with a sesame seed cake."

Qin Feng took the enamel jar from his sister, gulped down the remaining water in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and took it from the desk drawer that was missing a leg and was padded with bricks. Two textbooks and a stack of letter paper with writing on one side were produced and placed on the table.

Although he has to pick up rubbish and rubbish every day, Qin Feng has taught his sister to read and write since she was five years old. Qin Jia, who is now eight years old, is almost at the level of the third or fourth grade of elementary school.

As for Qin Feng himself, he was able to read a lot of words taught by his father before the family suffered any accidents. In addition, he is talented and intelligent. He has already studied all the junior high school courses through self-study these years. Get in touch with more people of the same age, there is absolutely no need for Qin Feng to let her go to school.

"I see, brother, come back sooner!" Qin Jia coquettishly shook her brother's arm, and obediently sat down in front of the desk that was missing a leg.

"Don't run around, just go to bed when you're sleepy."

Qin Feng smiled, turned around and left the house. At this time, the sky outside had already completely darkened, and the grassy wasteland around the house was filled with the chirping of various insects.

(End of this chapter)