all the way

On the first Saturday after the winter vacation, Liu Xia accidentally picked up a rusty broken iron pot and a half-basket of rusty nails while picking up writing paper. Together with his New Year's money, he finally saved enough money, not only for the cat He bought another pack of milk powder, and he also bought the fat baby baby bottle that he had wanted for a long time.

A clean and transparent glass feeding bottle, with a pink fat baby sitting on it, the fat baby is holding a feeding bottle in both hands, drinking with her face up.

Liu Xia's original intention of saving money was to buy the fat doll feeding bottle for the cat first, but one day when he went to the third grandpa's house to milk the milk, he heard from Jin Zhi that the ewe's milk was getting less and less, Grandpa used to drink one bowl each morning and evening, but now he drinks half a bowl of milk every morning.

Liu Xia counted the time, and the lactation period of the ewes was about to pass, so he immediately decided not to buy a feeding bottle, the most important thing is to let the cat eat enough to gain weight, drinking milk with a feeding bottle or an enamel bowl It went into the cat's stomach, besides, the cat also used a feeding bottle, although it was an old feeding bottle used by Uncle Liu Wei's son, and there was no fat doll on it, but it was still useful, so he earned enough money The first time I bought a bag of milk powder for the cat was more than two yuan, the most expensive kind in the supply and marketing cooperative.

It was the first time for the cat to use a beautiful new bottle. Liu Xia was a little excited. He held the cat in his arms, put the bottle in the cat's arms, and used two fingers to lift the cat's little hand from the long He took it out from the jacket sleeve, trying to make the cat hug and drink by himself like the fat baby on the bottle, but failed several times, the cat’s small arms couldn’t reach the bottle at all, Liu Xia was in a hurry: “Mom, Sister-in-law, why is this different from what they painted and printed?"

He Xiumei laughed: "That's right, look at the baby on the bottle, it's sitting, turning over, sitting, and crawling, you know, a child can only sit at six months, and the cat is less than one year old now." Bai Tian, ​​how could he hold such a big feeding bottle by himself!"

Liu Rui was a little greedy looking at the new baby bottle, got off his mother's bald body, stumbled to Liu Xia, pointed to the baby bottle in the cat's arms: "I want it, I want it, I want it."

Liu Xia nodded: "Okay, let your mother hold the cat to nurse, and the cat's bottle will be given to you."

Liu Rui was more than one year old, and it was the time when she was fighting for her bosom. When she heard Liu Xia's words, she immediately turned back and threw herself into his mother's arms. She lifted her clothes, held her nipples, and turned her head to look at the cat proudly.

Liu Xia felt a little regretful, but his mood was still high. Now he was able to skillfully bottle-feed the cat. He naturally let the cat lie in the crook of his left arm with his head raised, and then gently placed the pacifier on the cat's mouth. After rubbing it twice, the cat quickly took the pacifier and sucked it hard.

The bottle of milk was quickly finished. Liu Xia asked the cat to lie on his shoulder, patted his back lightly, and burped him, otherwise the milk he just drank would come out easily, and the cat would burp comfortably. He burped two little milk and fell asleep after a while.

Liu Ling cleaned the baby bottles according to Liu Xia's request, and put the precious ones in a bowl, leaning against the innermost part of the bowl's hole.

Before five o'clock on Monday morning, Liu Xia sat on the bed and rubbed his eyes to watch his mother put on the little cotton trousers and padded jacket for the sleeping cat with his eyes closed, and put on the prettiest one with a white polyester lace around its neck. Put the flower pockets in the basket, and there are diapers and small cotton pads prepared last night.

Today is the [-]th day of the cat, the local custom is to take a picture of the child on the [-]th day, this child almost exclusively refers to the boy, and the very poor family can also refer to the first boy, There will be no such treatment in the future.

However, no more than ten children in Liujialing enjoyed this kind of treatment, and Liu Changqing's family accounted for five.

Liu Xia has been thinking about this day every day since the Chinese New Year, and told his parents several times that he must take a picture of the cat for a hundred days, and he will definitely pay back the money he spent in the future when he earns money.

There are two beddings on the shelf car, and Sun Chang'e is sitting on the car with her sleeping cat in her arms. Several children run along both sides of the car, helping to push the car when going uphill, and taking turns riding in the car when going downhill. Xia and Liu Ling sat the most. Except for going uphill, Liu Xia almost always sat in the car, huddled in bed with his mother and Maoer. Liu Ling was thin and had been injured a few years ago. Asked him to push the cart, Liu Hai didn't sit in the cart, and helped Liu Changqing drive all the way.

After the car passed Shangyaopo, the road was not so difficult. Liu Xia began to sing "Return from Target Shooting", and his brothers followed him, shouting at the top of their voices: "The sunset is red and Xiafei is flying on the west mountain, the soldiers shoot targets and return to the camp, The wind shows the red flag, and the happy singing is flying all over the sky... One, two, three, four...

The cat walked out of Liujialing for the first time amidst the singing of the uncles all the way, and came to the outside world.

The original decision was that Liu Changqing and his wife took the cat to take pictures, and the children went to school normally. When they arrived at Commune Street, Liu Xia insisted on going to see the pictures. Liu Changqing thought about it and asked Liu Ling to ask Liu Xia for leave. Yu's classroom was closer to Liu Xia's, but Liu Changqing didn't dare to let Liu Yu go to invite him. That kid was poor at study, and he had a grade. The teacher didn't believe what he said.

Wangning Commune is just a street paved with asphalt, and it is full of potholes that are crushed by carts pulling coal. The bustling place is about 100 meters away. Even though it was such a shabby place, Chang'e Sun was a little at a loss when she came in.

A girl lay lazily on the dark counter, watching them come in without even looking up: "Take a picture?"

Liu Changqing said, "Yes."

The girl took a ballpoint pen by hand, and the ticket book was under his arm: "How many inches? How many sheets to wash?"

Liu Changqing said: "I want to take one hundred days of photos for my baby, one bigger one, three, no, five smaller ones."

The girl wrote the ticket in a lying posture, glanced at Chang'e Sun and said, "You go in first, and see how they pose, don't delay things, and don't tell your child to pee on my little car, pee on it." You have to pay."

Sun Chang'e nodded again and again: "I know, I know, I have a diaper and a mat, and I won't pee on your things."

Liu Xia followed Sun Chang'e inside, but the girl wanted to stop him, but she hesitated for a while and gave up, muttering, "Forget it, the children in the mountains have never been photographed before, let's take a look at Rare."

There was a couple playing with a fat child, Liu Xia looked at the fat child with envy, his face was three times bigger than a cat's face, like a fat baby on a feeding bottle.

The fat kid is skinny, and he doesn't cry no matter how he handles it, but he just can't sit up straight and looks a little drowsy. The person who took the photo was a skinny middle-aged man who is a little bit bald and somewhat impatient: "Hurry up!" , can't you see there are people waiting behind?"

The man stood up behind the car and said to the woman: "It's not good, our Bao'er is just bald, it doesn't look good in the photo, and the chick can't show it."

The woman walked over: "Look at your beauty, I'll come."

In the end, the woman's beauty was not that high, and after several minutes of tossing, the good-tempered fat child couldn't help but burst into tears.

The master who took the picture lost his temper: "Well, let's take a photo with the baby in your arms. It will be a family portrait. After you go out later, you can add another ten cents to make it bigger."

The woman was a bit reluctant, but the man said, "Let's just leave it at that. You see, Bao'er is not happy anymore, and my heart hurts."

The fat boy covered his mouth very cooperatively and began to cry, the woman immediately compromised: "Bao'er, don't cry, mom hugs, eats Mimi, don't ask me Baoer to sit by myself, mom and dad hug."

The couple sat side by side on two chairs with backrests. The man looked at the woman flatteringly, hugged the fat boy on his lap, faced forward, and pulled the fat boy's crotch pants to the sides: "Master, can you give me a baby?" Take a good look at my little chicken!"

The master promised: "Don't worry, you can even count the folds on the top."

The master only teased, "Look here, boy", and the fat boy grinned with drooling.

The couple finally went out with the fat child in their arms. Liu Changqing looked at Chang'e Sun and said, "I think our cat can't sit still. Why don't you hold the cat and take a picture? Don't bother the child in such a cold day." gone."

The photographer also said: "The baby is so thin, I'm afraid I can't ride in the car."

Liu Changqing nodded to the master: "In that case, just hold the photo!"

Liu Xia was not happy, and waited to turn his eyes to the photographer and said: "My cat is skinny, but my boy is strong."

"Yaoer!" Sun Chang'e scolded softly.

That master just noticed Liu Xia, turned his head and asked Liu Changqing: "Is this your child?"

Liu Changqing said: "The child has no rules, don't be offended."

The master waved his hand: "What a strange boy, I recognize him. He comes to my door every day during lunch to pick up writing paper. Years ago, Lao Guo from the police station came to take pictures. When he went out, the money was lost. The boy just saw it and picked it up." Get up and chase him up and give it to him, more than a dozen yuan, this kid is promising."

Sun Chang'e said, "Isn't that right? It's someone else's money."

The master smiled and nodded: "After listening to my sister-in-law, I know why this child is so sensible."

Liu Changqing smiled: "It's very skinny, it can kill anger at home."

The master smiled and walked to the edge of the red background cloth, pulled it apart a little, and came over with two wide red cloth strips: "The woman just now gave birth to four daughters, and this gave birth to a baby. You didn't see it. It’s almost time to go to heaven, and I started yelling at him as soon as I came in. I don’t want to talk to her; Tie it to the back of the car, or tie it into two bows in front, it looks good and can straighten the child."

The two big red bows in front of the cat sit in the baby carriage but keep covering its mouth, and may cry at any time.

The master patted the cat several times, and got out from under the black cloth covering his head: "Okay, come out to make sure it looks good." He watched Liu Xia take the cat out, reached out to stroke the cat's head, and said to Liu Changqing: "That What, let's take a group photo of you guys, no money, I got a camera myself, I want to learn how to print it myself, baby, I'll send it to the county town to make it for you, and the photo I took was tried by myself, so I don't need your money .”

Liu Xia looked at Liu Changqing eagerly: "Tell me to take a picture with the cat in my arms. Uncle just held my hand. If it's alright, we'll take it. No, my uncle doesn't want money anyway." Liu Xia never wanted to take pictures. It's a luxury that I never thought of, and I can actually take pictures with a cat in my arms, so I must not let it go.

The master didn't wait for Liu Changqing to speak, and immediately pulled up a chair: "Come on, oh, my kid is really good at talking, so just call this uncle, I want to take some good photos for my eldest nephew."

Liu Xia imitated the way the man hugged the fat boy just now, and put the cat face forward on his lap, and also pulled the cat's cotton trousers to expose the chick.

The master opened all the curtains, went to a bag in the corner and carefully changed the camera in his hand, and stared at the two people in the camera for a long time: "The color of the baby's cover pocket is old and light, and the photo effect is not good. No, let's put a big flower on the red cloth on his chest, which will look good against the boy's face, and the tiger-head hat should be gone, or it will look a bit old-fashioned."

Sun Chang'e did not hesitate to follow the master's instructions. The big red flowers on the cat's chest lined up to the chin. The cat's short lanugo hair lay yellow and yellow on its head. The familiar Liu Xia hugged him, and he didn't feel wronged anymore, and his eyes were wide open.

After the photo was taken, Liu Changqing asked Liu Xia to wait at the entrance of the state-run hotel. Liu Xia just didn’t want to go to school, so he stood on one leg and put the other leg on the handlebar in front of the shelf car, leveling the shelf car. Chang'e sat up and hugged the cat. It was still cold, and the cat was so small that she couldn't help freezing.

After waiting for almost half an hour, Liu Changqing came out, took out two things wrapped in butter paper, and handed them to his wife and son respectively: "Eat while it's hot."

There are two hot biscuit clips, hot biscuits, with marinated red meat sandwiched inside, with a strong aroma, Liu Xia looked at Liu Changqing not taking the biscuit clips: "Uncle, I got up early and had dinner."

"I know," Liu Changqing supported the shelf car: "you also go to eat in bed, I just dragged you to the gate of the school, I happened to come to the commune for a meeting today, it didn't start until 09:30, I heard it would be very important , if it is late, I will take care of the lunch at noon, and you will ask Liu Yu to wait for me at the school gate."

There will be a lot this year. The brigade secretary and the production team leader come to the commune for a meeting. Usually at noon, they will give out two biscuit clips. Liu Changqing almost never eats it. Every time, he asks people to call out the children who are going to school at the school gate and give them Eat, if you come to the meeting on Sunday, you will take the biscuits home and let the children share the food. From Liu Kui to Liu Xia, this has always been the case.

Sun Chang'e looked at it again and again: "Changqing, I had dinner in the morning and then took the tram all the way. My heart is still blocked. You can eat."

Liu Changqing pulled the car and said without turning his head: "I have been sending out this in meetings all the time. I have eaten it for a long time and I don't want to eat it. You can eat it quickly. The meat will not taste good when it is cold. The people in the cafeteria said that they only sell it in the morning." Shaobing doesn’t sell meat, and the leftover meat from yesterday was cold, so I specially found a chef I know to reheat it.”

Liu Xia wanted to hold back, but the saliva swirled in his mouth disobediently, and he took a big bite: "Uncle, it's delicious, but we won't buy it in the future, it's too expensive." He can't earn money picking up calligraphy and paper for a week.

Sun Chang'e pretended to look at the cat in the quilt, lowered her head and wiped her eyes with the corner of the quilt, and then started eating.

At noon that day, Liu Yu really took back two biscuit folders. Liu Xia said that he had eaten it in the morning and refused to eat it, so he shared it with Liu Ling and Liu Hai.

But Ling Liu picked out the larger pieces of meat and stuffed them into Liu Xia's mouth.

That day, Liu Changqing’s meeting was held until the children got off school in the afternoon, and they pulled the shelf car alone like in the morning, a few people took the shelf car, and a few people followed, singing songs all the way home, Liu Changqing stopped at Guanjiayao, let Liu Yu Pull the cart, there is only one mountain left, and nothing will happen.

Liu Changqing was going to hold a meeting attended by all the branch members of the brigade, production captains, and militia captains. He estimated that this meeting might last all night.

It took a month to get back the cat’s hundred-day photo, and the effect shocked the whole family. Liu Xia proudly stood on the kang in the main room, showing everyone the photos one by one. After I came out, I was determined not to let Liu Ling and the others see it, just for this moment.

Although Maoer's alone Baitian photo is aggrieved, it looks a little fatter than the real one, soft and cute; the most shocking effect is the group photo of Liu Xia and Maoer and the group photo of four people, The extremely beautiful color photos are not the ones where the face is painted red and the clothes are painted green or yellow, but the colors are as real and harmonious as the real clothes. The picture of Liu Xia holding the cat Zhang, Mao'er's little face is pink and cute, and the little penis underneath is lying obediently. Of course, I didn't see the creases that the photographer said.

The atmosphere at home is very different recently. In fact, the atmosphere of every household in the Liujialing Brigade and even the entire Wangning Commune is different.

Liu Changqing has a lot of meetings recently. After the commune opened, the brigade opened, and then the production team continued to open. Last Sunday, he went to Rongze County to hold a meeting. Liu Xia didn't understand the other news he brought back that day, because he only heard Said that the cow of the "third team" (Zhangjiabao) gave birth to a calf, so he took the bottle for injection that Liu Kui had found for him from the Wangning Health Center and ran out.

The ewes in the Third Grandpa’s family have no milk at all after the new year, and the milk powder is too expensive. The cat can only drink two bottles of milk powder a day, and the rest is rice oil. Now the cat can eat some buns. People say that it is better to eat eggs , but the eggs in their family have to be saved and sold to pay off the bills. The cat eats two eggs a week, which is already very extravagant. , Liu Rui would cry when she was in a hurry, lying on the ground and rolling, Sun Chang'e would share a part of the steamed eggs with Liu Rui and the others every time, that was her own grandson, no matter how much she loved the cat, she couldn't bear to see it. He looked like those two young children.

Liu Xia always thinks of that fat kid in the photo studio. Compared with him, the cat is like the difference between a little chicken and a big white goose.

He had to fatten up the cat quickly.

Wangning Commune as a whole belongs to the mountainous area, especially in the south. There is not an acre of irrigated land. They all learn the style of Dazhai and try their best to open up terraced fields, but the mountains here are different from Dazhai. They are all loess, and the mountains in the south of Wangning have all kinds of mountains, stone mountains, and earth mountains. They are all small pieces, and the largest whole piece of land can hardly exceed five acres. Mechanization, the majestic combine harvester in the picture, is just an unrealistic dream in this place.

Therefore, every production team here has a breeding room to raise cattle and donkeys. These are very important productive forces, and it is also the only place where people here can justifiably raise them without being labeled as some kind of crushing political hat. The food animals could also be improved.

Before Liu Xia went to school, he often followed Liu Changqing to the brigade headquarters for meetings. It should be said that before there were no cats, Liu Xia and the others were very familiar with all the nearby villages.

The brigade headquarters of the Liujialing Brigade is in Zhangjiabao. The current name is the third production team of the Liujialing Brigade. The breeder is Zhang Liuchen, who is over 60 years old. Can't let this old Huang go, the one tied alone, will it be crowded?"

Liu Xia simply said: "Yes."

But when he got to the cows, Liu Xia felt that he was not very good at it: the goats of Lao Huang and the third grandpa's family were too big, and their milk was also very different.

Liu Xia had already confidently said that he would do it just now, but now he was too embarrassed to say no. He bit the bullet and leaned closer to Lao Huang, who had been grazing all the time and suddenly let out a loud "哶" , and kicked Liu Xia's hind legs, Liu Xia flashed so fast that he almost dropped the bottle on the ground and broke it.

Seeing this, Uncle Zhang hurried over: "If a beast has a baby, it will protect its calf just like a human being. The old hen will peck people when they are hatching their babies. Although the cow has a good temper, it is the same for the calf that has just given birth. Come, follow me , slowly stroking his fur, hey, yes, that's it."

Liu Xia squeezed a bottle full, and put the cork in with great effort.

Zhang Liuchen said: "Is one bottle enough? If it's not enough, I'll bring another bottle over tomorrow, squeeze half a bottle more, and I'll feed Lao Huang some grass and it will come out."

Liu Xia nodded fiercely: "Not enough, my cat eats a lot, but it's still thin."

From this day on, Liu Xia carried two bottles in his school bag every day, and separated from Guanjiayao, Liu Ling, and Liu Yu after school in the afternoon. He and Liu Hai turned to Zhangjiabao to milk the milk before returning. Ling and the others are junior high school students, especially Liu Ling, who is in the graduating class and has a lot of homework, so they have to go back early to write. On Saturday afternoon, they almost always come here with Liu Xia.

The cat now drinks one and a half catties of milk every day, sometimes even two catties, plus milk powder, the cat hardly drinks rice oil now, and occasionally, it is because the cat is anxious when watching others eat, everyone To tease him, gradually, Mao'er's little face became a little fatter, softer, and had a nice double chin.