Hello 1983

   Chapter 90 The First Snow of 1983

   In the following days, Liu Qingshan can be described as "painful and happy".

  Going to practice martial arts on the mountain every morning, he was beaten up by his master. He also knows now that the master used this special method to temper his muscles and bones.

   During the day, I work in a greenhouse or a chicken farm or a pig farm;

  In the evening, study with Sifeng and Wufeng and review homework.

  The whole day is fully scheduled and absolutely fulfilling.

  Although the days are relatively difficult, Liu Qingshan feels that he is like the dormant vegetation on the mountain in winter, constantly accumulating strength in the severe cold of ice and snow, and waiting for the arrival of spring next year, it will bloom the most beautiful colors of life.

   Such days lasted until the beginning of November.

   This morning, Liu Qingshan got up early and went out, and found that the outside was a vast expanse of whiteness, with a thick layer of snow on the ground.

   This is the first snow of this year. It is estimated to be ten centimeters long, and it will hardly melt. This also announces the official arrival of icy and snowy winter.

  He still went up the mountain on foot, and now his steps were obviously lighter than before, and his body was much stronger. Even so, he even fell a few times.

  When he came back from practicing on the mountain, he saw his eldest brother-in-law carrying a wooden shovel to clear the snow from the plastic sheeting of the greenhouse.

  Gao Wenxue is good at playing with pens, but his work is much worse.

  He stood on the ground, cleaned up the lower edge first, and then wanted to climb up to the shed along the gable wall.

   As a result, my feet slipped and my whole body fell down. Fortunately, the snow on the ground was thick, so I got up quickly.

   "Brother-in-law, let me do it."

  Liu Qingshan stepped forward to take the wooden shovel, and then climbed up the gable wall, and after a few squawks, he climbed onto the thickest beam in the middle.

  From this beam to both sides, there are gentle slopes. Just use a wooden shovel to slide down gently, and a large strip of snow will fall to the ground with a splash.

  The temperature inside the greenhouse is high, and the plastic sheeting is smooth, so the bottom layer of snow is not strong.

  Walking back and forth on the crossbeam, the snow on both sides was cleared, and Gao Wenxue sighed: Why can't I do it?

   "Sanfenger, where is Qingxue!"

   Far away, the big head greeted from the side of the avenue.

  He was going from house to house, telling everyone to clear the snow off the shed quickly, otherwise, the sun wouldn’t get in and the temperature in the shed wouldn’t rise.

   "Big head, it's snowing a lot, what's the matter?"

  Liu Qingshan was also yelling, he knew that the big head must have walked around.

   "It's nothing serious, it's just the shed of the old uncle's house. The glued place was torn apart by the wind. I'm here to borrow Sister Jinfeng's electric iron."

  During the conversation, Datou went into the courtyard, and said to Liu Qingshan: "After the snow, the meadow is also frozen. We must hurry up to harvest the reeds and put up the grass curtains as soon as possible."

  Liu Qingshan nodded: "Then let's start tomorrow."

After Datou took the electric iron and left, he went to the garden of his grandfather's house and pushed away the snow. In addition, there were also the greenhouses of Shan Xing's house, the house of dumb grandfather's house, and the house of Zhang Ganzi's house. Take a look.

  Basically everything has been cleaned up. It was Zhang Shuzi and his brothers. The two of them were carrying a long and large pole with a wooden plank horizontally in front of it.

  Standing on the ground, send the wooden pole to the top of the greenhouse, and with a light pull, a large piece of snow will be brought down, which is safe and fast.

   "Second brother, it's better to use your stuff."

  Liu Qingshan said hello, the chicken coops had been finished, and he gave Zhang Shuzi another 200 yuan to buy wire and the like, and planned to stock up a batch.

  Zhang Jizi chuckled twice: "Qingshan, it's snowing, someday I'm free, let's go to Su Que together."

   Several people carried a super big rake together and walked around the village. The snow on the greenhouse was cleared, and by the way, they also notified the matter of cutting the reeds tomorrow.

  Sharpening a knife is not a mistake in chopping firewood, but it is necessary to tidy up the tools in advance.

  When Liu Qingshan came home, he found that the fourth and fifth children were making snowmen at the gate.

  The temperature of the first snow was not so low, so the snow was sticky. The two little girls pushed two big snowballs, one big and one small.

  Worried about not being able to move the big snowball, when he saw Liu Qingshan, he immediately ran over and grabbed one of his arms.

  Liu Qingshan smiled and helped them work: move the smaller snowball to the big snowball, the bottom one will be the body, and the top one will be the head.

  Then the two little girls began to decorate the snowman: they took red peppers for the nose, two black charcoals for the eyes, a broken bucket on the head, and two rows of buttons drawn on the body, as if wearing a woolen coat.

   "Haha, this snowman is my brother!"

  Shan Xing smiled so much that her eyes curled up.

  The fourth child also clapped his hands: "Then let's make two more little snowmen, one is me and the other is you."

  The two little ones were very motivated, and soon they produced two little ones. In order to distinguish them, scarves were drawn around their necks.

   "It's time to eat!"

  Lin Zhi's voice came out, and the fourth child ran to the east courtyard, calling his grandparents and Yang Hongying over for dinner.

  According to the usual practice, when the first snow falls, two meals will be officially started, and the school time will no longer be divided into morning and afternoon. School starts at 8:30 in the morning and ends at around 2 in the afternoon.

   "Teacher, does the snowman we made look good?"

  The fourth child pointed at the snowman and showed off.

  Yang Hongying boasted: "It's so beautiful, who are these snowmen?"

  The fourth child blinked and blinked his big eyes: "The small ones on both sides are me and Shan Xing, and the big one in the middle is Teacher Yang."

   Isn’t that what you said just now?

  Shan Xing moved her lips, but finally said nothing.

  Liu Qingshan couldn't help it, and burst out laughing: You little sycophant!

   After breakfast, together with my eldest brother-in-law, I also cleared the snow on the earthworm shed in the backyard, and also cleared the snow on the courtyard and the road. This is also an unwritten rule in the countryside.

  Whoever’s house is facing the avenue, if they don’t sweep the snow, they will be laughed at as a lazy family.

  With a heavy snowfall, the whole world turns into a piece of silvery white, as if it becomes much cleaner all of a sudden.

  But those birds and beasts are miserable, foraging has become a big trouble, and the whole winter is also the saddest season for them.

  The old house thieves are better, they have a thick skin, they gather in groups around the chicken trough and duck food bowl, picking up some leftovers.

   Those birds and beasts in the woods are really difficult. Even the squirrels are the most comfortable. They have food reserves, so they don't panic.

   It seems that it is better to live a little calculated.

  After clearing the snow, Liu Qingshan took advantage of the warm time at noon to make some sand and mud, and together with his grandfather and eldest brother-in-law, he built the stoves of the two families.

  Stoves are built with red bricks. As for iron stoves, they are still high-end products and are rarely seen in rural areas.

  Because the main purpose is to burn firewood, the stoves are set up relatively large, add some corn husks or wooden scorpions, and it will burn up, and the room will be hot soon.

   In addition, the heated kang can also dissipate heat, so the inside of the house is not cold at all.

   But the fire must not be turned off. At this time, the doors and windows are single-layered and not so tight, so after the fire is stopped, the temperature in the room will drop rapidly.

   When I woke up the next day, the water in the tea mug could freeze into lumps of ice.

   In the words of the old ladies: the room is freezing cold, even the urinal above the head is frozen to ice!

  Of course, it’s just winter, so it’s not that cold yet, but keeping warm and preventing the cold has to be put on the agenda.

  This year, besides the house, there is also the greenhouse. After another month, the stove will have to be fired at night, otherwise the temperature will be too low.

  In Liu Qingshan’s house, there are some bricks left because of the construction of the earthworm pond. In other houses, there is not even a spare brick.

  He consulted with the branch secretary and team leader, and decided to buy a batch of iron stoves and tin stove tubes, one for each family, and install them in the greenhouse. Anyway, this thing is purchased at one time and can be used for many years.

  Nearly 30 sets are needed in total, so I have to go to the commune blacksmith furnace to book. Captain Zhang personally went out, and drove the big carriage with the boss uncle to the commune.

   After dinner, Liu Qingshan saw the eldest sister take a dustpan of corn into the house, and sat on the kang to rub the corn.

  First use a corn skewer to shove the corn tassels down several times, usually every few rows.

  Then hold the tassels of corn with both hands, and twist them hard in opposite directions, and the corn grains scatter into the dustpan with a clatter.

  Yang Hongying looked at the novelty and wanted to help with the work. As a result, the corn skewer almost pierced her hand, and after twisting two ears of corn, her palm almost blistered again.

  This farm work is really not something you can do if you want to.

   "Sister, do you want to fry popcorn?"

  The little fourth brother's little brain reacted quickly, and he guessed the big sister's intentions all at once.

  Because after eating two meals, I was so hungry that I couldn't sleep at night, so I chewed some popcorn to mess with my belly.

  After seeing the eldest sister nodding, the fourth and fifth children jumped up happily and went outside to collect sand.

  Because when frying popcorn, in order to heat evenly, put a few handfuls of fine sand in the pot first.

   Of course, frying with salt is the best, but no one is willing to do this at this time.

  It’s too prodigal, even a big grain of salt costs 12 cents a catty.

   Before the fourth child and the others went out, Liu Qingshan had already collected half of the sand with an iron picket and entered the house, found a sieve, put it in the pot, and poured the sand into the sieve.

   With a bang, the fine sand leaked into the pot, and the remaining stones and the like in the sieve were thrown away.

  Lin Zhi sat in front of the stove to light the fire, and Liu Qingshan turned the sand in the pot with a shovel, and when the sand was hot, poured in the corn and continued to stir fry.

Snapped!

  Accompanied by a soft sound, some corn kernels were heated and exploded, and immediately a small hand reached into the pot to pick out the snow-white popcorn flowers.

   It’s the fourth and fifth children, you and me, take turns.

  The freshly exploded popcorn was still very hot, and the two little guys were tossing back and forth with their palms, and blowing air.

  When it is a little cold, put it in your mouth beautifully, accompanied by a strong corn fragrance, it is the delicacy in the eyes of children in this era.

  In their opinion, it is no worse than some buttered popcorn.

  Because the iron pot is not sealed, there are only a few popcorns, and most of them have only a small crack.

   This kind is called "dumb corn", probably because there are no popcorns.

   But it tastes crispy, chewing in the mouth, crunchy, and quite fragrant.

  It is easy to get thirsty after eating too much, and some children also carry two pockets of corn flower when they go to school, and chew two handfuls between classes.

  Liu Qingshan fried several pots in a row, and then he gave up, and collected a dustpan of firewood, trying to see if the newly built stove can burn well.

  Looking at the stove, the fourth child's eyes lit up again, and he and Shan Xing found a handful of vermicelli, cut the vermicelli into small pieces with scissors, and put them on the stove lid.

  After the vermicelli is heated, it will become thicker and thicker. After the surface is golden, it can be taken off and eaten.

   After a bite, it is very crispy and has a bit of burnt aroma.

  In addition to roasting vermicelli, you can also bake potato chips on the stove lid, and you can also cook potatoes in the hearth below. These are what children like to do most.

  No way, people at that time had no idea, especially children, running around, hungry...

  The next day, Liu Qingshan got up early as usual and went up the mountain. As soon as he stepped out of the gate, a black shadow bumped into him, pushing him into a squat.

  (end of this chapter)