Full of food and color

Chapter 1
The sun was scorching hot in the sky, and Runsheng carried his own basket to dig some wild vegetables in the north of the village. Last year, he sowed wheat seeds, but unexpectedly, there was a severe drought, and there was not a single snowfall in the winter. I tried my best to irrigate the wheat field, but the harvest in May was still less than [-]% of the previous year.

The grain harvest is poor, and the spring rain that should have fallen after the beginning of spring is also delayed. Now it is a long and hot June day, which makes it even more difficult for the Runsheng family who are not well-off.

The village was originally surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it was covered with various plants in four seasons, and wild vegetables were everywhere. However, in drought years, the small river dried up, and the villagers had to walk two miles to fetch water. Well water for wells to draw water.

Runsheng rolled up his sleeves and wiped the sweat with the back of his hand. The basket was empty, only seven or eight leaves were scattered here and there. There is not enough food for the day, the family has a large population, and there is basically no surplus food. In a drought year, if the harvest is poor, they have to eat together. The whole family has more than ten mouths, and they drink gruel all day long. I can't even eat when I'm full.

And on the small hillside on the north slope, wild vegetables have been dug up long ago, the loess under the feet is cracked everywhere, and the gap is as wide as a finger. Runsheng looked around unwillingly, as if he saw not far away The dry riverside was a little green, Runsheng's eyes lit up, he swallowed, he raised his spirits and trotted towards the riverside.

Runsheng was still disappointed, it was just a small piece of thorn grass, remembering that the pigs at home had not been fed for two days, and remembering that his mother was going to give birth in a few days, Runsheng pursed his lips, his small face was full of tears. I went home with a worried look on my face.

As soon as he entered the village, Aunt Hu saw him from a distance, waving her hands and calling loudly, "Runsheng, hurry up! Hurry up!" Runsheng was stunned, and Aunt Hu urged, "Go back soon, your mother is about to give birth! "

Runsheng ran home, and when he came to the door of the room, he heard a baby crying accompanied by faint voices.

As soon as he entered the room, his mother, Wang Xiuxia, was holding a doll in her hands. Wang Xiuxia's face was a grayish-yellow color that had been malnourished for a long time. At this time, there was a hint of joy on her tired face. He reached out and touched the head of the little person in his mother's arms. The baby in his arms was very quiet and did not cry.

"Mother, is my sister not feeling well? I heard my sister crying just now, why is she silent now?"

"As soon as you came in, you went straight to your mother. Look who is in my aunt's arms?" The little aunt Chen Cuifen teased, "Runsheng, this is your eldest sister. Your mother's arms are your little sister." younger sister."

Runsheng turned around and saw that his aunt Chen Cuifen was also wrapping something in a small mattress. He leaned over to take a look, and sure enough, he saw a milk doll with its eyes closed, writhing restlessly in its sleep.

"Mom, you gave birth to two younger sisters!" There was a hint of surprise in Runsheng's voice. He also had an older brother, Run Ze. Now that he had two younger sisters, he was overjoyed.

While breastfeeding the child, Wang Xiuxia looked out of the window, "Don't be so happy, how can you support yourself after giving birth to two?" She sighed, "It seems to be windy these days, the weather is gloomy, you Is it time for dad to come?"

"Mother, aunt, I'll go to the village to see my father!" Runsheng walked out of the room full of joy, thinking, this will be great, and he has two younger sisters at once.

Only Wang Xiuxia and sister-in-law Chen Cuifen were left in the room. Looking at the baby in her arms, Wang Xiuxia frowned, "Why doesn't this child know how to cry? Could it be a mute?"

Chen Cuifen was also a little nervous, it was the first time she saw a baby who was born without crying, but she couldn't say it on the surface, so she just comforted, "Sister-in-law, don't think too much, the baby has just been born, these two are weak in constitution, some It's perfectly normal to be depressed, just wait a little while to see if she cries or not."

Today, my father and grandparents went to the house of the third grandpa in Xinghua Village. Xinghua Village is not far away. It takes an hour to go back and forth. A black cloud covered it, and Runsheng was amazed. The weather gradually warmed up over the years, and every day was sunny, and there was no rain. At this time, the sky was cloudy, which seemed to be a sign of rain. In a hurry, he walked a few steps outside the village. Just after turning the corner, he saw a bullock cart approaching from a distance. Runsheng saw that the person sitting in front was his father, so he trotted a few steps and jumped into the cart. Grandfather Chen Erniu and grandmother Chen Liushi were also in the car, and Runsheng couldn't wait to tell about his mother's delivery.

The calculation was about ten days earlier than the originally calculated date. Chen Tiegui was thinking about Wang Xiuxia's mother and daughter, so he swung the hemp rope and beat the old cow a few times, speeding up the driving.

Seeing this, Chen Liushi felt sorry for Lao Niu, so she smacked her lips and sighed, "Now that I have two more mouths, how will I live in the second half of the year?"

"Mom!" Chen Tiegui said, "Look, when the autumn seeds are sown later, Tieshan and I will go to the town to do odd jobs, and we can earn some money in the next year."

Mrs. Chen Liu snorted through her nose, "The wheat has been sown, and the cornfields at home will be harvested in a while, and it will be October after busy work. How much money can I make in two months? East of the village The boy from the Li family went to work in the town for a year last year, and he only made three rounds of money."

Chen Tiegui fell silent, and Chen Liushi was rambling on again, confinement would cost a lot of money, butcher a few chickens, buy some black fish stew, and while talking, he remembered that he had just gone to Runsheng's third grandpa's house Borrowing money, Chen Xu's mean face, coupled with the fact that there are more people in the family, the second child is eighteen this year, and he hasn't even said a kiss yet, so he feels even more irritable, yelling that he can't live on.

Chen Erniu glared at his wife abruptly, "Okay, don't say a few words, no matter how poor the family is, our daughter-in-law's confinement money can't be saved!"

As soon as Chen Ran opened his eyes, he was stunned by the scene in front of him: the adobe house, the dilapidated tables and chairs, the adobe kang, and two girls sitting on the top of the kang. The one who looked smaller was holding a baby in her arms, and crying could be heard from time to time.

After the initial shock, Chen Ran's attention was suddenly attracted by the two women in the room. Both of them were dressed as ancient peasant women. Although she had never seen the ancients before, she also believed them a little. She didn't trust anyone. She would make such a big joke with herself, what's more, Chen Ran also found out that she had become a baby with small hands and feet. She was shocked and afraid in her heart, and dared not speak out.

Later, a six or seven-year-old boy came in from the outside. She listened to the conversation of several people calmly, and realized that she was in an ordinary farmer's house, not a den of thieves and bandits. She felt a little more at ease, the little boy After the baby left, Chen Ran learned from the intermittent conversation between the two women that this family was probably a poor farmer, otherwise, the two of them would not have worried about having an extra child.

After all, the newborn's body was weak. After eating enough milk, Chen Ran felt a little tired, so he fell asleep in a daze.

Wang Xiuxia and her sister-in-law Chen Cuifen talked for a while, coaxing the two children to sleep, and then leaned on the bed to rest. She had something on her mind and couldn't sleep well, so she leaned on the bed and squinted her eyes, thinking So, when the eldest son Runze and the youngest son Runsheng were born, the family was not rich, but they were not short of food and food. Now it is a famine year, and there are two more mouths in the family. After a while, the mother-in-law will give her a good face when she comes back. see?For a moment, she remembered that she had been married to the Chen family for ten years and had lived a miserable life. She sighed in her heart and made up her mind that if her mother-in-law would give her a bad look, she would take the child back to her mother's house. Not to ignore the two children.

Just as she was thinking about it, she suddenly heard a crackling sound outside, Wang turned her head and looked out the window, and saw the bean-sized raindrops falling down in the sky, the courtyard was flickering, and the air in the house was stuffy. After a while, the crackling outside became louder, accompanied by bursts of muffled thunder, Wang suddenly sat up, and as soon as he lifted the mattress, Runsheng rushed in from the outside, covering his head.

"Mother, lie down and don't move, I'm coming!" Runsheng closed the window, and Wang heard the sound of her father-in-law driving the cow outside, her father-in-law Chen Erniu and Chen Tiegui were talking happily, and she heard her mother-in-law shouting loudly for God See you.

There was no sign of this rain. The originally sweltering weather suddenly became much cooler. The animals in the house also exploded. The rooster was also clucking with joy.

Chen Cuifen was making egg custard for her sister-in-law, but when she heard it was raining, she stopped her work and placed all the empty buckets and pans that could be used at home in the yard, and called Runsheng for help. People took all the pots and bowls in the stove to store rainwater.

The joyful appearance of the family made Chen Liushi temporarily forget the predicament at hand. He took egg custard from the kitchen and entered Wang's house. Seeing that Wang was also awake, he took the child from Wang's hand while coaxing and muttering: "There was a drought last winter. This year can't be a drought year. It's a coincidence that when you give birth today, you catch up with God and open your eyes!"

Mrs. Chen Liu stretched out a finger to tease the child in her arms, smiling like a flower on her face, "It's also a happy event when it rains. Speaking of which, our old Chen family has double happiness today." His tone changed, "Mother Originally, I asked Tiegui to go to Li's butcher's shop to cut a piece of meat for you to make up for, but after a while, the food at home is almost gone, and it costs hundreds of dollars to buy a stone in the county, and the corn is harvested in autumn We can make do with it until next spring."

When Mrs. Wang heard what Mrs. Chen and Liu said, she felt a little unhappy in her heart. She managed to hold back the anger in her heart, and said in a cool voice, "It's not bad."

Chen Liu heard the sarcasm in Wang's words, and put away the smile on her face, thinking: "Who's family is not in trouble now, how can you have money to feed you? I haven't complained that there are two more people in the family. Open your mouth, and show me how you look." Putting her granddaughter on the kang, she went out without looking back.

(End of this chapter)