Chapter 408 Shaliangba Brigade

Lou Xiao'e's face darkened, and her tone was firm and unquestionable: "Xu Damao, listen to me, don't play any tricks on me. Is it because I just gave birth to a child and I'm not feeling well that you've relapsed into your old ways and your old illness has relapsed?"

Xu Damao looked innocent and quickly defended himself, "No, absolutely not! You can't slander me like this!"

Lou Xiao'e curled her lips and retorted in dissatisfaction: "You said I slandered you? Why did that little slut Qin Jingru always come to our house and visit you so frequently recently? How do you explain this?"

Xu Damao said helplessly: "What's the big deal? There is nothing wrong between us. She is my subordinate. It is normal for a subordinate to report work to the leader. What else can I do?"

Lou Xiao'e spoke in a firm tone and did not give in: "Xu Damao, listen to me carefully, stay away from her, otherwise I will take your son away from you and make you regret it!" Her voice was trembling a little, but it also revealed an unquestionable determination.

Xu Damao's face suddenly changed when he heard this, and his heart tightened. Although he had a cold temperament, his love for his biological son was sincere.

He quickly responded, "Okay, okay, I promise you that I will never do anything to hurt you and your child. Now you should be relieved!" There was a hint of helplessness and compromise in his tone, but it also revealed his cherishment and protection of his family.

"Hmph!" Lou Xiao'e snorted, her eyes revealing her deep suspicion of Xu Damao. Her man's past misdeeds were like a brand that made it difficult for her to let go.

However, since she became pregnant, Xu Damao seemed to have restrained himself a lot, and his behavior had become more sincere and calm.

But this change did not completely erase the vigilance in her heart. After all, it is difficult to change one's nature.

"Then, should I chase her away now?" Xu Damao said tentatively.

Lou Xiao'e glanced at him with disdain. "Why do you have to pretend? They've already come to our door. If we force them to leave, what will the neighbors say about us? Do you really want me to be labeled as jealous and have people point fingers at me behind my back, saying that I can't tolerate others?"

Hearing this, Xu Damao's face was bitter and he asked helplessly: "Then what should I do?"

Lou Xiao'e frowned, with a hint of disdain in her tone: "Go and invite her in. I want to see what she is up to."

When Xu Damao heard this, he seemed to be relieved and quickly responded, "Okay!" Then he ran briskly to open the door for Qin Jingru, secretly guessing what was about to happen.

Outside the house, Qin Jingru stamped her feet anxiously and blew air on her red, frozen hands from time to time. It was obvious that she had been waiting for a long time.

The night was dark and the wind was biting. She had to move her body frequently to try to dispel the biting cold. This winter night seemed particularly long and difficult for her.

With a slight "creak", the wooden door of Xu Damao's house slowly opened, revealing a gap. Qin Jingru's eyes lit up instantly, and a gentle arc appeared at the corner of her mouth. She walked forward quickly, and her voice was crisp and pleasant: "Brother Damao, you finally came out. I have been waiting for you for a long time."

When Xu Damao caught a glimpse of Qin Jingru's expectant eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little proud, but then he thought of the "tiger mom" at home, and the pride receded like the tide, leaving only an imperceptible bitter smile.

He responded in a cold manner and nodded: "Well, Qin Jingru, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Qin Jingru lowered her head, touched her braids, and said in a coy voice: "Brother Damao, can't I come to see you if I have nothing to do?"

Xu Damao was so thirsty after watching this that if it wasn't for the wrong occasion, his true nature would have been exposed.

Lou Xiao'e was inside the house, and with a hint of joking in her tone, she shouted loudly, "Da Mao, please invite them in! What are you two whispering about standing at the door? It's so cold outside."

Xu Damao's heart tightened when he heard this. He quickly cast a suggestive look at Qin Jingru beside him and responded politely, "Yes, yes, Qin Jingru, come in and talk slowly. It's windy outside."

Qin Jingru curled her lips slightly and muttered to herself: "Huh, what a coward, why is he so nervous..." But she did not show any expression on her face and obediently stepped over the threshold.

When the two of them entered Xu Damao's home one after the other, Qin Jingru's face immediately blossomed with a bright smile. She greeted them briskly, "Hey, sister-in-law, you two look like you just had dinner not long ago, right? I'm so sorry to disturb your sweet dreams so late at night."

Lou Xiao'e didn't even bother to lift her eyelids when she heard that. Her tone was a bit lazy and direct: "Well, I was just getting ready for bed. But why are you here in the dead of night instead of staying at home to rest?"

"I..." Qin Jingru looked at Lou Xiao'e's attitude, a hint of barely perceptible anger flashed across her eyes, and she thought to herself: "Humph, you stinky bastard, why are you so proud? If it weren't for Xu Damao, you would be nothing..."

However, Qin Jingru has been working for a long time and has been trained in the workplace. She is no longer the country girl who knew nothing.

"Sister-in-law, I came to see Brother Damao so late because I had no choice but to trouble you two."

Lou Xiao'e's indifference towards Qin Jingru remained unchanged. She stroked his fingertips lightly, with a hint of disdain on her lips: "Humph, calling him Brother Da Mao all the time is really affectionate. Don't forget, you are just a simple superior and subordinate. In formal occasions, you should call him Deputy Director Xu."

"Am I right, Xu Damao?"

Xu Damao looked embarrassed, but he could only reluctantly agree: "Yes, yes, you are right..."

Qin Jingru's face darkened instantly when she heard this. She glanced at Xu Damao with resentment at first, and then, as if she had suddenly realized something, she whispered softly, "Sister-in-law, you are right. I overstepped my bounds. I must be careful in the future and correct it in time."

Lou Xiao'e scolded Qin Jingru for a while, but she stopped when she saw that things were going well. She put on a warm smile and said softly, "Well, that's right. If you have anything to say, just tell me. If it's too late, the child might wake up and make a fuss."

Qin Jingru nodded quickly in agreement: "Okay, sister-in-law, Director Xu Xu. It's like this, isn't Banggeng going to respond to the call to go to the countryside..."

So, she told Xu Damao and his wife everything about Banggeng's decision to change his mind and go to the countryside.

Xu Damao and Lou Xiao'e looked at each other in astonishment. How could such a bizarre thing happen? Xu Damao frowned, and asked with a bit of displeasure in his tone: "Qin Jingru, what do your family think? How can you easily regret such a big thing?"

He paused, his eyes sharp, and continued: "Don't think about me. It's useless to look for me. Go back and tell Aunt Jia and Banggeng that it's better to behave themselves and don't try to cause any trouble. Otherwise..." At this point, he deliberately left the audience in suspense, his eyes revealed an unquestionable determination that made people shudder.

Qin Jingru looked bitter. "Director Xu, I don't agree with it either. But Aunt Jia is so unreasonable. Plus, Banggeng, that little bastard, is throwing a tantrum in front of me... I have no choice but to do it. Banggeng is my sister's lifeblood. If anything happens to him, how can I explain to my sister in the future..."

Xu Damao frowned when he heard this. He was living a stable life now and did not want to have anything to do with a family like the Jia family.

As for Banggeng's situation, he didn't care at all. What's more, this kid had bad behavior to begin with. Last Spring Festival, he had the audacity to steal the peanuts prepared by his family for the New Year. He still remembered this account and had never asked him to settle the score!
If it was Jia Zhang who came to ask for help, Xu Damao would definitely be dismissive of their family's trivial matters and directly refuse to let them in.

However, this time it was Qin Jingru who came forward to ask for it personally, so Xu Damao's attitude was very different and it was difficult for him to refuse directly. Qin Jingru was outstanding in appearance, even surpassing the young Qin Huairu, and her beauty was irresistible.

Xu Damao had long coveted Qin Jingru, but due to Lou Xiaoe's close surveillance, he dared not act rashly.

Just imagine, if Lou Xiao'e had not been watching closely, with Xu Damao's current status and means, he might have already taken Qin Jingru into his arms and had an affair with her.

"Hiss! This is not an easy matter to handle! Qin Jingru, how about this, you go back and wait for the news, let me think about it carefully and see if I can come up with a solution that will satisfy both parties."

When Qin Jingru heard this, she knew that Xu Damao did not refuse on the spot, which she thought was a rare situation.

She thought to herself that at least she had tried her best to seek help for Banggeng. Even if she failed in the end and Banggeng still could not escape the fate of going to the countryside, the Jia family could not blame her any more.

Thinking of this, Qin Jingru felt a little relieved. After all, she had done her best and left it to fate. In this complicated world, all she could do was to try her best to seek a glimmer of hope for the people around her. As for the outcome, she could only let it go.

"Okay, Director Xu, thank you for your help. Regardless of whether this succeeds or not, I, Qin Jingru, will thank you!"

Lou Xiao'e said quickly: "No need, just don't bother us anymore!"

Xu Damao glanced at Lou Xiao'e and said, "Yes, Qin Jingru, we are from the same hospital and colleagues, so don't say anything polite like thank you or not."

After the couple saw Qin Jingru off, they quickly closed the door and the room fell into silence as they prepared to go to bed.

"Xu Damao, wouldn't it have been easier if you had just rejected her directly? Why did you agree to it and get involved in such troublesome matters? Aren't you afraid that in the end you will be implicated and get into unnecessary trouble?" There was some confusion and worry in Lou Xiao'e's words, and her tone revealed her doubts about Xu Damao's decision.

"Xiao'e, don't worry. I'm not trying to be a big shot. If it really doesn't work, send Banggeng to Liujiazhuang..." "Go to Liujiazhuang?" Lou Xiao'e was confused. Can going to the current Liujiazhuang be called going to the countryside?

…………

This day, the weather was very good.

Even when the wind started to blow, the sky of the capital was filled with the sounds of pigeons and whistles.

In the past two years, people from Beijing have been leaving or going to the countryside, showing an indescribable sense of emptiness and depression. At this time, pigeons are often the objects of people's admiration or contemplation.

In the morning and at dusk, pigeons fly in the rosy glow, on the roof ridges, with their bodies tilted, sensitive to light, changing suddenly, and re-sensitive to light, especially with whistles hanging, flying far and near, high and low, back and forth, giving people a feeling that nothing has changed.

Of course, being in a trance is one thing and being a pigeon breeder is another. In fact, among the whistle and the sunset glow, there is competition among the pigeon breeders.

One of the most important competitions is who can recruit other people's pigeons into their own flock.

For example, pigeons sometimes fly in groups of three or five over the courtyards near Nanluoguxiang. If these courtyards also raise pigeons, you can release pigeons to see if you can attract the flying pigeons to come down immediately.

There are no pigeons raised in the courtyard at No. 95, but there are a few children who have an unrealistic dream: they want to use chickens to attract pigeons down.

Therefore, Lou Xiao'e raised a few chickens when she had nothing to do, and one of the little roosters was particularly beautiful.

The beautiful little chicken, which seemed much dumber than a pigeon, was secretly put to use by the children led by Banggeng.

The whistle was getting closer and closer, and Bang Geng grabbed the beautiful little chicken tightly and threw it into the sky in a flash.

Sometimes the little chicken fluttered to the roof, and sometimes it came down directly. Although the children felt sorry for the little chicken, they also really hoped that it would attract one or two pigeons. But how could this be possible?
After being lost several times in a row, this little rooster, which was originally full of energy, became a little listless.

After hearing the noise in the house, Lou Xiao'e cried out inwardly that something was wrong. She quickly put down her sleeping son and went out to check.

Sure enough, the little rooster in the chicken coop disappeared again. She knew it must have been done by Banggeng, because the little bastard had done the same thing many times before.

"Bang!" Lou Xiao'e's angry shout was like thunder that cut through the air, instantly causing the children playing around to scatter in all directions.

Banggeng, who was nearly sixteen years old, was already a tall and straight teenager. However, the moment he caught sight of Lou Xiao'e, he was like a frightened rabbit. He dropped the chicken in his hand and ran away, leaving a trail of panicked footprints.

Lou Xiao'e looked at the receding figure, her heart burning with anger that seemed to be able to set the entire courtyard on fire.

As night fell, Xu Damao stepped into the house and was greeted by Lou Xiao'e's angry question: "Xu Damao, are you still thinking about helping that Bang Geng? He is nothing but an ungrateful and ungrateful wolf! I'm telling you, he can't expect our family to help him. It's best to send him away. I don't want to see him anymore and I don't want to be bullied by him for a moment!" After that, she turned around, and her back revealed unquestionable determination.

Xu Damao was furious. He was narrow-minded to begin with, and this time he held a grudge against Bang Geng even more, completely regarding him as a thorn in his side.

…………

Banggeng thought he could escape, but in the end he received the final notice to go to the countryside.

The other educated young people were all in high spirits and positive mood, but Banggeng had a gloomy expression as if his father had died. So they got on the green train heading west together.

In early April of 1969, the sixteen-year-old Banggeng and five educated youth from Beijing came to the Shaliangba Brigade in Sbei.

The six of them were all junior high school graduates from the class of 1968. The youngest, Banggeng, was sixteen years old and the oldest was seventeen.

Among these six educated youth from Beijing, only Liu Yulan and Feng Zhaodi were girls, and the other four were boys.

Shaliangba Brigade is a relatively poor place in northern Shaanxi, where there are undulating mountains, crisscrossing gullies, and a typical loess plateau.

It was a windy day, with yellow dust all over the sky. I couldn't open my eyes and I dared not breathe. At that time, there was a popular saying there: Shaliangba, a loess slope, no grass grows on the slope, and there are many lice in the kiln. You have to cross three beams to fetch water, and you have never seen white flour buns all year round...

At that time, there were only more than 50 households in Shaliangba Brigade, with a total of more than 200 people forming a production team. The brigade secretary, Sun Yuliang, also served as the production team leader. The accountant of the production team was Liu Mingli, and the custodian was Sun Jianming. These three people were members of the leadership team of Shaliangba Brigade.

The six educated youth from Beijing were picked up from the commune by Party Secretary Sun and Accountant Wang, who drove two donkey carts for a round trip of thirty miles.

Because they had received prior notice from the commune, the living quarters for the educated youth had already been arranged. The four male educated youth lived in the earthen kiln on the left side of the brigade headquarters, and the two female educated youth lived in the unoccupied kiln on the right side of the brigade headquarters. The six educated youth from Beijing were considered a collective household and ate from the same pot.

Because the educated youth from Beijing did not know how to cook, the team temporarily arranged a member to teach them how to cook.

They arrived at Shaliangba Brigade full of confidence and passion, but when they saw the desolation and isolation there, Banggeng and his friends all cried.

No one expected that twenty years after the founding of the new capital of Xia, Sbei, an old revolutionary base, would be in this state.

Fortunately, the villagers of Shaliangba Brigade were very enthusiastic, especially Secretary Sun, who ran around and worried a lot and suffered a lot in order to arrange the lives of the educated youth.

The first dinner after arriving at Shaliangba Brigade was eaten in the cave dwelling of the male educated youth. The cooks were Secretary Sun’s wife and the eldest daughter of Secretary Sun, Sun Lingling.

Dinner was simple, a bowl of sauerkraut stewed with vermicelli, half a bowl of shredded pickled vegetables, a bowl of vegetable soup per person, and the staple food was steamed buns made of corn flour and a small amount of black bean flour.

Because the educated youth would have to wait a few days to collect their treasury grain supply from the commune grain station, Party Secretary Sun first asked the custodian to weigh out 15 kilograms of corn and 3 kilograms of black beans from the team's inventory and grind them into flour the day before.

The sauerkraut and pickles that the educated youth ate, as well as the little black bean oil, were all brought from his home by Secretary Sun.

On the first night, the educated youth hardly slept a wink. Although they were tired from the journey, they lay in the dark earthen kiln and could not fall asleep. The loss and desolation in their hearts are really hard to express in words.

It is still cold in northern Shaanxi in April. The sun at noon is bright and warm. If you stand in the sun for a while, you will feel sweaty.

In the morning and evening, it was still cool. Spring ploughing and preparation for farming had just begun, and farm work was not too busy. The educated youth followed the members to the mountains every day to dig the land, repair the land, loosen the soil and retain moisture for the few acres of winter wheat, and do some odd jobs within their ability.

Every morning, there was another arduous task, which was to fetch water from Guojiagou, three miles away.

From April to June every year, the wells in the ditch of Shaliangba Brigade will dry up and the water stored in the water cellars will be basically used up.

If there are two heavy snowfalls in winter, the members will fill the water cellar with the accumulated snow and they won’t have to fetch water for at least a month and a half.

There were two light snowfalls in the winter of 1968, and there was a water shortage in the spring of 1969.

To carry a load of water, one has to cross three mountain ridges and walk six miles round trip. Not only are there ups and downs, but the road is also rugged and bumpy, making it very difficult to walk on.

It took a local strong laborer one hour to carry one trip of water, while it took the educated youth one and a half hours to carry one trip of water.

One day, Banggeng and another educated youth took a pair of buckets to fetch water from Guojiagou. On the way back, they really took a break after walking a few steps. They didn't know how many times they took a break along the way.

When they arrived at the village entrance carrying two half buckets of water each, Bang Geng's legs went weak and he stumbled and fell, spilling all the water in the two buckets onto the ground.

Banggeng quickly got up and started crying while looking at the two empty buckets.

(End of this chapter)