Rebirth of Siheyuan: Starting from escaping famine in 42

More than a month has passed in a flash, and it is the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month. There are only two days left until New Year's Eve.

Early in the morning, Li Qingfeng and Wu Lirong got up early, ate something, changed into some worn clothes, and started cleaning the house.

Wu Lirong covered the quilts and bedding on the kang with dirty sheets so that Li Qingfeng could clean the roof.

Li Qingfeng was sweeping the cobwebs on the beams and walls with a broom.

The two of them worked together to clean quickly. After more than two hours, they finished cleaning the house inside and out. Only the clothes and bed sheets and quilt covers were left to be washed.

After resting for a while, Wu Lirong asked, "Brother Qingfeng, when are we going to buy New Year's goods?"

Li Qingfeng was smoking a cigarette. When he heard Li Rong's question, he replied directly: "I asked others to save the meat and vegetables for the New Year for me. I will go and get them in a while. When I come back, I will just buy some peanuts, melon seeds and candy."

When Wu Lirong heard that Brother Qingfeng had made all the arrangements, she nodded without saying anything else. She got up and went to the kitchen to bring the boiled water to the yard, poured it into a large basin, added some cold water, and began to wash clothes and bed sheets.

Li Qingfeng stood up and wanted to help, but Wu Lirong stopped him and told him to go get the New Year's goods and help her when he came back.

Li Qingfeng pulled the cart out of the house and first went to the grocery store to buy ten pounds of peanuts and melon seeds, two pounds of milk candy, and then went to the snack shop to buy two pounds of various preserved fruits and six packs of snacks. He kept two packs to eat at home and gave the remaining two packs to his master. He took the other two packs with him when he followed Lirong back to her mother on the second day of the Chinese New Year.

After buying things, Li Qingfeng pulled the cart and wandered around the street. When the time was almost up, he came to the old place, which was still the dead end. He pulled the cart in, turned around, stuck his head out, looked left and right, but saw no one.

He took out a large piece of pork belly, a piece of pork ribs, two chickens, two geese, a large elbow, a leg of lamb and ten pounds of mutton, as well as a complete set of lamb offal, all of which were cleaned from the space.

He took five pounds of tomatoes and cucumbers, ten pounds of potatoes, and twenty pounds of cabbage, as well as some dried black fungus and mushrooms. He put them all on the cart, covered it with a straw mat, and pulled the cart home.

Wu Lirong was hanging the clothes to dry when she heard some noise at the gate. She looked out and saw that it was Brother Qingfeng coming back with New Year's goods. She hurried forward to help push the cart.

Arriving at the kitchen door, Li Qingfeng parked the cart, lifted the straw mat on the cart, revealing a pile of food on the cart.

Wu Lirong's eyes lit up when she saw the cart of food. She thought that her family would have enough meat to eat these days. But she thought that buying these ingredients would cost a lot of money, so she complained, "Brother Qingfeng, why did you buy so many things? How much will it cost?"

Li Qingfeng lit a cigarette and said with a smile: "It didn't cost much. The lowest price that person gave me was much cheaper than usual."

He took a puff of cigarette and continued, "It's only two days until New Year's Eve. Let's eat something good. Besides, we don't eat this every day."

Wu Lirong asked again: "Why did you buy two chickens and two geese?"

Li Qingfeng threw away the cigarette butt in his hand and replied, "On New Year's Eve, we'll eat one of each. You can take the rest back to your parents' home on New Year's Day. It will look good, right?"

After Wu Lirong heard what Brother Qingfeng said, she was immediately moved. She smiled happily at him and said, "Brother Qingfeng, you are so good to me."

Li Qingfeng rubbed Li Rong's little head twice and said softly, "Silly girl, if I don't treat you well, who should I treat well? You still want me to treat others well?"

Wu Lirong heard this and knew that he was teasing me, so she gritted her teeth and said to Brother Qingfeng fiercely: "How dare you! Brother Qingfeng, if you are nice to others, I will...I will bite you."

As she spoke, she opened her little mouth, revealing two small fangs, and bit him, but the bite had no killing power at all and she looked quite cute.

Li Qingfeng nodded and said with a smile: "I know, I know, Lirong, don't worry, I will treat you well for the rest of my life."

Then he lifted up a basket of food with both hands and said to her, "Okay, Lirong, put the peanuts, melon seeds, snacks, and candies in the cabinet in the main room first."

"I got it." Wu Lirong replied softly with a blushing face. She held peanuts and melon seeds in one hand and snacks and candy in the other, and happily went into the main room to put her things down.

Wu Lirong put her things away, came to the cart and looked inside.

When Li Qingfeng saw Li Rong like this, he asked, "Li Rong, what are you looking for?"

Wu Lirong reached out to pick up the food on the cart and said casually, "Brother Qingfeng, why didn't you buy couplets and stickers?"

Hearing this, Li Qingfeng patted his forehead lightly and found an excuse to say, "I just wanted to get the ingredients home as soon as possible, so I forgot about it. I'll go buy them after lunch."

"Okay! I'll go with you this afternoon to see if there's anything else you want to buy." Wu Lirong went into the kitchen, washed her hands, and prepared to make lunch.

Li Qingfeng curled his lips when he heard this. How much did she not trust him? She followed him and nodded in response: "Yeah!"

During lunch, Wu Lirong asked Li Qingfeng, "Brother Qingfeng, are we going to have the New Year's Eve dinner at Master's?"

Li Qingfeng was eating and replied without raising his head: "Yes! What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just asking." Wu Lirong continued, "I don't know how Qingshan is doing. Can he endure the hardships of being a soldier?"

"Qingshan is smart. Besides, he will be fine with our father looking after him." Li Qingfeng looked up and said to her, "Okay, Lirong, stop worrying about it. Come on and eat. After dinner, we still have to go out and buy couplets and stickers."

Wu Lirong nodded and said, "Yes!"

 …

"Dad, I'm getting tired of just practicing holding a gun. When will I be able to shoot?"

In the threshing ground of a small village in Henan, Li Qingshan, wearing a gray military uniform and practicing raising a gun with both hands, said to Li Chengman beside him.

"Snapped!"

Li Chengman stretched out his hand and slapped Li Qingfeng on the back of his head, saying unhappily, "Little bastard, what do you know?"

"Practicing holding the gun like this will help you shoot accurately in the future, you know!"

"Besides, your father also practiced holding the gun this way, and walked over slowly."

"You haven't even learned to walk yet, and you're already thinking about running. You still want to shoot a gun, practice holding the gun first!"

The teammates who were practicing gun-raising with Li Qingshan were also watching the fun from the sidelines, and they would wink at Li Qingshan from time to time.

Li Qingshan was very annoyed when he saw his father talking endlessly and a group of people laughing at him. He could not argue with his father or quarrel with his teammates, so he could only vent his frustration by practicing raising his gun.

It is said that when Li Qingshan followed Li Chengman to leave Sijiu City, it took him more than half a month's long journey before he followed his father back to the army.

No one knew what his father Li Chengman had said to his superiors, but he became a soldier under his father, who thought of ways to train him every day, making him miserable all the time. He missed his carefree days in the old city.