Framed at the beginning: Female educated youth forced to marry disabled military officer

"Hey, aunt, do you still have some rice at home?"

Meng Xiaoman nodded.

The thin man was overjoyed, "Can you sell me some more? There is also flour, if you have any, I want it." This flour is also white and fine, and it looks like rare fine flour at first glance. The price offered by this old lady was not expensive. He would buy it, sell it in the county town, and then turn around and make a fortune.

Meng Xiaoman then nodded.

"Forty kilograms of rice and noodles each." Meng Xiaoman pressed his throat and said in a rough voice, "Forty minutes later, in the grove to the east, we will pay with one hand and deliver the goods with the other."

Eighty pounds is the maximum weight that Meng Xiaoman can carry. Too much weight can easily arouse suspicion. Asking to meet in forty minutes is to prevent the thin man from having extra time to think of ways or find someone to trick her.

"Okay, you wait." The thin man calculated the time it would take to go home to get the money and come back again. If he ran faster, it should be enough.

Rice and noodles cost 250 cents per catty, but cotton costs one yuan per catty. Four catties of rice and noodles can be exchanged for one catty of cotton. Meng Xiaoman's remaining nineteen kilograms of rice noodles were only replaced by five kilograms of cotton in the thin man's hands.

Strictly speaking, it was less than five kilograms, but the thin man thought that Meng Xiaoman was an old lady from a rich family and wanted to build a good relationship, so he gave her five full kilograms.

They agreed to exchange the remaining five kilograms for rice and noodles, and then they separated.

Meng Xiaoman walked around for a while and figured out that the time was almost up. He came to the small woods to the east in advance. Seeing no one around, he weighed 40 kilograms of rice and 40 kilograms of noodles each and put them in the basket on his back.

The thin man hurriedly hurried and finally arrived at the agreed place forty minutes later. Meng Xiaoman was already waiting for him there leisurely. He wiped the sweat from his head and started trading.

Five kilograms of cotton, 20 kilograms of rice flour, and the remaining 60 kilograms, 251 kilograms, a total of fifteen yuan.

The two of them determined the quantity and money, paid with one hand, and delivered the goods with the other.

After Meng Xiaoman got the money, he put the cotton in his backpack and left.

The thin man looked at her stooped but nimble steps and sighed in his heart: She is indeed an old lady from a wealthy family who can afford rice and noodles. She is in good physical condition. Look, her legs and feet are so nimble that even a young man like him can be ashamed of herself. .

I came here carrying eighty kilograms of stuff on my front feet, and when I went back on my back feet, my legs and feet didn't even tremble.

Look at myself again. My legs are shaking like limp noodles. It’s really embarrassing.

He made up his mind that he had to train hard. He was a grown man, not even as good as an old lady. It hurt his self-esteem too much.

Meng Xiaoman carried her things and walked to the carport in the town to catch the mule cart back to the village. Unknown to her, the blow she had dealt to the thin man at this moment made him decide to improve his physical strength and let him escape in the future.

When Xiao Xiangdong returned home carrying iron pots, cotton and other things, he was washing clothes. The well had been drilled. Now he no longer has to go to the village well to fetch water or wash it in the creek.

Except for the small clothes, which Meng Xiaoman washes himself every morning, Xiao Xiangdong washes the other clothes.

"Back." Xiao Xiangdong heard the sound of the door opening, saw Meng Xiaoman, raised his head and said.

"Well, the letter has been sent..." Meng Xiaoman said as he walked, but when he saw the white floral dress in his hand, he suddenly became mute, and then his face swelled with heat.

Isn't this your own underwear? Why are you here?

Then she realized that because of the accident in the morning, her head was a little dizzy, and she actually forgot to take out the small coat that was put together with the coat.

At this moment, a thought flashed through Meng Xiaoman's mind: Should I take the clothes away now to embarrass myself, or should I pretend not to see the embarrassment.

Meng Xiaoman suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and Xiao Xiangdong looked over with questioning eyes, "What's wrong?".

In an instant, Meng Xiaoman made a choice with action, "No, it's nothing. I suddenly remembered that I forgot to buy something.".

After saying that, he looked away and walked straight to the main room.

"Are you in a hurry? If you are in a hurry, this afternoon..."

"Don't be in a hurry, just buy it next time."

Meng Xiaoman waved her hands and strode into the house.

Seeing her anxious look, Xiao Xiangdong smiled silently and continued to wash clothes. When he lowered his head, he saw that he was holding a thin piece of fabric. When he saw what it was, his face turned red all of a sudden, his hands loosened, and the cloth fell into the basin. The splash of water hit his face, and the cold water droplets brought him back to his senses.

There was obviously no one around, but as if he was afraid of being seen, he hurriedly stuffed the rag cloth into the clothes in the basin, picked up a piece of clothing in the basin and washed it.

After washing it for a while, I suddenly realized that the clothes had been rubbed just now.

After putting down the clothes, after thinking about it, he picked out the floral cloth stuffed into the basin, used a separate basin, scooped out clean water, and started washing it carefully.

Meng Xiaoman heard the sound of clothes being dried outside and came out of the house after knowing that all the clothes were washed.

His eyes unconsciously glanced at the clothesline, and at a glance he saw the particularly eye-catching floral cloth among the black and gray clothes, and his eyelids twitched involuntarily.

At noon, Xiao Xiangdong cooked while Meng Xiaoman went to the back mountain to collect firewood.

In addition to collecting firewood, Meng Xiaoman will also dig up edible wild vegetables such as shepherd's purse and wild onions.

She kept enough for the day and planted the rest in the space for later consumption.

After dinner, Meng Xiaoman did not go to work, but went into the mountains with Xiao Xiangdong.

The farm work in the fields is finished, and starting tomorrow, we will start the most difficult and painful work in winter - digging ditches and canals. The trench digging place was far from home, and he had to bring his own food at noon. After returning from work, he would definitely not have the time or energy to go up the mountain, so Meng Xiaoman simply took an extra half day off to go to the mountain to lay more traps.

In order to lay more tricks and traps, Meng Xiaoman and Xiao Xiangdong acted separately.

Xiao Xiangdong had trouble with his legs and feet, so Meng Xiaoman didn't let him go far and went to a farther place by himself.

The seven or eight small traps set last time caught two hares. Meng Xiaoman took out the prey, tied it up, put it in the backpack, and started to set a new trap.

After setting up the trap, Meng Xiaoman also sprinkled some rice grains into it. The crops in the space are good things. Animals have a keen sense of smell, which should be very attractive to them.

When he went back, Xiao Xiangdong was picking something, an oval-shaped, orange-yellow, wild fruit covered with thorns.

"What is this?" Meng Xiaoman had seen many of them on the mountain, but she didn't recognize them, so she didn't pick them.

"Sugar pear, also called golden cherry. After it's ripe, you can scrape off the thorns on it and you can eat it. It's quite sweet. Do you want to try it?"

Xiao Xiangdong picked a plump one, and regardless of the thorns on it, he used his thumbs to break open the fruit and handed it to Meng Xiaoman.

Meng Xiaoman took it doubtfully, "Can it really be eaten?"

Xiao Xiangdong nodded, "Be careful with the stab."

Meng Xiaoman opened her mouth slightly and took a bite. Although there was very little edible pulp and there were seeds inside, it was indeed quite sweet.

"Yeah, it's quite sweet."

"This can be used to make sugar or make wine." Xiao Xiangdong said, "But it's too late now. It's best to pick it in October. It's a little dry now, but it can be used as medicinal materials."

"That's really a good thing." Meng Xiaoman sighed.

"Actually, there are quite a lot of good things in the mountains, but they are all wasted because they cannot be used." Xiao Xiangdong said a little disappointed.

Firstly, the villagers are uneducated and do not know the usefulness of these things. Secondly, even if they get the things, they have nowhere to sell them. If they sell them secretly, they may be labeled as speculators.

"It will be fine in the future." Meng Xiaoman comforted, saying that when this special period passes, great changes will occur in the countryside.

Xiao Xiangdong glanced at the rolling mountains and nodded. He also believed that the country would not always be like this.