Chapter 13 The Savior

Winter is approaching again, and there is no work in the fields, so An Zhixia sits on the bed, immersed in making her own cotton-padded clothes in the light coming from the window. After finishing it in one afternoon, she started cutting fabric to make pants and blouses for herself and her brother.

 Chen Si didn't know where he went. Qi Yunlan was sitting on the edge of the bed with a book, obviously in a daze. He didn't know what he was thinking. He smiled with his mouth curled up for a while, and shook his head and sighed in distress.

Fei Zheng came to the window with her sewing basket, smiled shyly at Zhi Xia, and shook the soles in her hand: "I usually have nothing to do, so I collected some soles and insoles and took them to the market to sell, although I couldn't sell them. It’s a lot, but it’s enough to replace the usual salt, matches, and kerosene.”

An Zhixia nodded and moved aside to make room for her.

“You’re really good at needlework, you’re fast and your stitches are dense,” Fei Zheng looked at her with envy. Without enough cloth and needlework, you can’t practice it.

“My mother is a female worker in a garment factory,” An Zhixia replied without raising her head. “She was originally planning to let me take over her job, so I usually use the sewing work at home to practice my skills.”

The two of them chatted about nothing but nothing, but did not delay the work at hand.

The clothes now have a single style, and it is difficult for her to make too many changes. Simply make each person a set of work clothes suitable for work, casual and hip-hop style, and a set of official attire with four pockets.

Having typed the drawing in her mind, she squinted her eyes and cut with the scissors without drawing lines with chalk, which made Fei Zheng tremble with fear. After cutting, she started sewing. It was not an ordinary flat stitch, but like a sewing machine's overlocking needle. She first picked the needle horizontally and then picked the needle back. During this period, she also used hidden needles and counter needles, with various techniques. .

Fei Zheng couldn't see clearly, and only dry words of praise remained.

In a day and a half, An Zhixia made the clothes and simply washed them with warm water. Thinking that the men would be back soon, she burned the kang, dried the clothes, ironed them with a ceramic pot filled with boiling water, and put them away.

The wind was blowing loudly outside, and An Zhixia couldn't sleep, so she strained her ears to listen to what was going on outside.

It was completely dark, and just when they thought everyone would have to go down the mountain tomorrow morning, the dogs in the village began to bark. One dog barked, and other dogs followed to join in the fun.

Everyone in the village couldn't help but open the door and look in the direction of the mountain. It was pitch black. What could be seen? Just when everyone was worried, there was a flashing beam of flashlight on the mountain. It was the signal for the hunting man to come down the mountain. Every household excitedly wrapped themselves in cotton-padded jackets and went up.

With a smile on her lips, An Zhixia put on her new cotton-padded jacket and was about to go out. Then she turned back, filled a pot of hot water, put in a large spoonful of brown sugar, and ran out.

The Educated Youth Center was relatively close to the back hill, so she kept her head down and trotted all the way, quickly leaving everyone behind her. Listening to the eager voices of the group not far away blending in with the night, she ran even faster.

The dirt road was uneven, and she struggled to run through the light of the flashlight, which was not very strong. She suddenly ran into a generous embrace with a faint smell of blood. The man's hot breath was above her head, and the powerful heartbeat was pounding in her ears. Voice.

 She was so frightened that she quickly took two steps back, looked up, and met a pair of eyes studded with vast stars. They were deep and distant, like the eternal night, making it impossible to focus on the person coming.

Footsteps came one after another. She came back to her senses, nodded to the man, and stood aside. She stood on tiptoes, trying to identify her brother among the dark shadows.

Someone was injured, probably not too seriously. Everyone was returning home with a bit of urgency, and their voices sounded worried but also filled with joy.

"Brother? An Zhiqiu!" An Zhixia shouted in a slightly high voice.

"Hey," An Zhiqiu responded loudly and trotted over from the crowd. When he saw the women in the village rushing over, he poked her smooth forehead: "You girl are so brave, aren't you afraid of falling into the ditch? After saying that, he smiled and introduced to the people around him: "This is the only girl in my family, An Zhixia."

“This is Fang Yuan, your brother’s savior…”

"Brother, where are you injured?" She pushed the kettle in her hand over. She didn't even have time to examine the big man's appearance. She dragged her brother around in a circle worriedly, sniffing constantly, and she was very anxious.

"I'm fine. I wear thick clothes in winter. I only have a little scratch on my hand, which is fine. We'll talk about it when we go back later," An Zhiqiu grabbed the person helplessly.

"Everyone, please stop being stuck here. The men have moved the prey to the warehouse, and then go back and wash up and rest. We will divide it carefully tomorrow morning," the village chief shouted loudly.

Knowing that they would be back today and tomorrow, the villagers had already invited doctors from the commune to wait in the village as usual. The injured person was also carried all the way to the village committee.

An Zhixia felt relieved and did not persist, so she returned to the yard first.

Qi Yunlan and Liu Yiyue did not go out, they were both busy in the kitchen. The two of them each occupied a stove to prepare and cook hot food for the man who returned home.

If they don't rush, the rice will be cooked quickly.

Liu Yiyue did not extinguish the fire in the stove or lift the lid of the pot, so he said to Qi Yunlan: "The weather is cold, and the rice will be cold when it comes out of the pot. Anyway, men can walk quickly and can be back in ten minutes."

Qi Yunlan hesitated for a moment, looked at An Zhixia who was busy getting ingredients next to her, gritted her teeth and nodded: "Sister Yiyue is right, they have worked hard in the mountains for several days, and they feel so aggrieved when they can't eat anything hot when they get home. Are you panicking?"

An Zhixia has already made the noodles. While the noodles are awake, she cuts the bacon into shreds, dices the pickled cucumbers and pickled radish, and prepares the green onions and **** slices. Seeing them guarding the pot and table without moving, they directly carried the things and went out.

Liu Yiyue and Qi Yunlan looked at each other and felt a little uneasy when they saw that she was not going to the male educated youth room to use the briquette stove.

“Xiaoan educated youth, where are you going?”

“Oh, I’m going to borrow the stove from my neighbor,” she said and opened the door and went out.

Liu Yiyue threw off his sleeves bitterly, trotted after him, and stopped him in front of the neighbor's door. "We have a stove in the yard. You went to the neighbor to borrow it. Do you want to ruin our reputation? We are all educated youths." , but you can’t be laughed at.”

“Do you also know that this is a joke?” An Zhixia stopped and looked with raised eyebrows, half-smiling.

The sound of a man's voice came from far outside, and Liu Yiyue quickly pulled her back, "My sister didn't think about it just now. Qi Zhiqing and I can just use the same stove to warm the food. Why are you really doing this?" Do you care? Let’s discuss everything in the future. We are all young people who left their hometowns to join the team. In the eyes of others, we are just a small group. "

(End of this chapter)