Era: Retired from the army at the beginning and returned home - Chapter 7 Backbone

Peanuts are a non-staple food and are a rare commodity in the city. Nowadays, the land is mainly used for growing grain. There is not enough food to eat. How can we grow such a thing? In the past, when the harvest was good in some villages, everyone would get a piece of land to plant a little bit, and then after harvesting, each household would get a little bit.

Now that there is water shortage, food is given priority, and many other things are not grown.

Although Luo Cheng gave them something that was rare to eat during the New Year, they didn’t dare to eat it now that Luo Cheng was asleep. If you really eat it, your parents will be scolded to death if they find out.

“Sister, why don’t you give me one to eat? I’ve already opened this bag. I won’t eat more, just try one.”

“Okay, let’s just eat one each and wait until the shell is hidden so no one can see it.”

Luo Xiaoyu responded and said, after all, she is only fifteen years old. Although she is very sensible, she knows that everything she eats in these years is precious. But it’s normal to be greedy. If you say you only want one peanut, you’ll just eat one just to taste it.

Peanuts are very plump and can be sold in bags. Most of them are not small in size. Luo Xiaoyu carefully picked out two peanuts and gave one to Luo Shishi.

The two of them looked at the peanuts in their hands and were a little reluctant to eat them. In the end, Luo Shishi couldn’t help it and put it into her mouth first, and then her eyes brightened obviously.

Peanuts, usually in this era, are simply dry-fried in shells. When they are cooked, everyone feels very fragrant. The peanuts that Luo Cheng took out were spiced and slightly salty. Not to mention the peanuts were fragrant, there was a light layer of spices on the surface of the peanut shells.

Luo Shishi put the peanut into her mouth and tasted the fragrance before she bit it. His mouth secreted saliva involuntarily, sucking in the wonderful taste from the surface of the peanut shell.

Luo Xiaoyu thought it was because her sister was reluctant to eat it, so she still held a peanut like candy. But after putting his own peanuts in his mouth, he realized why his sister acted like that. The peanuts actually have a very fragrant smell on the surface, which seems to be completely different from the taste in memory.

It took a long time before the two of them were willing to take a bite. After biting it open, a stronger aroma burst out, and the two of them couldn’t believe that what they were eating was just a peanut.

When people are hungry, everything they eat tastes sweet. Even a white-flour steamed bun with no flavor may give the illusion of sweetness to people in this famine era. Spiced peanuts were considered a delicacy in later generations, let alone in this era when even eating a steamed bun would taste delicious.

The two sisters did not sit by Luo Cheng’s bed all the time. Instead, they went into the partitioned back room and chatted. The content of the chat was naturally related to Luo Cheng. His father, Luo Wen, was the backbone of the family, but although his father had a Chinese character in his name, he was actually uneducated and did not know a few Chinese characters. In rural areas, you can only dig food in the fields, but in the current drought years, farmers cannot grow more food no matter how capable they are.

The father is the backbone of the family, but the whole family follows the father and has no way to change the current situation. The eldest brother Luo Cheng has returned from the army. He is an educated man and has traveled far, which means he still has experience. In the Luo family, it can be said that as soon as Luo Cheng appeared, the backbone of the family shifted.

“Xiaoyu~~, Shishi, come out quickly, I’ve brought you something to eat.”

While Luo Xiaoyu and Luo Shishi were chatting, shouts came from outside the house. From the sound, they knew it was Luo Bing who was back. Luo Bing is the second eldest child in the family. He is 18 years old and has studied for three years, but he is not good at studying. I can write a little, and I also work in the fields with the brigade when the farming season is busy. But now it is autumn, and the fields are failing again.

In his free time, Luo Bing likes to run to the mountains. There is a hill not far from Longyang Town. Nowadays, many people wander around there without food, digging for grass roots, tree bark and the like. Anyway, as long as it can fit into the mouth, I will not let it go.

In the past, you could see rabbits and the like on the mountain, but now if you see a mouse, it’s a great source of meat. In these days, if there is rat meat to eat, no one will object to it.

Luo Xiaoyu and Shishi walked out of the room and saw a lot of things similar to grass roots in Luo Bing’s hands, but they were relatively thick. They have all eaten this thing, but they can’t name it. If it is boiled and eaten, they can chew it slowly and taste a starchy taste.

But the rhizome of this thing is a bit hard, similar to sugar cane, so you can only put it in your mouth and keep chewing it. Chew out the starch inside and eat it, and it also has a bitter taste. Although the bitterness is not strong, if you keep chewing it, your tongue will become bitter if you eat too much.

If a person is hungry, it doesn’t matter if his tongue feels a little bitter. This thing can really kill him.

If it were normal, Luo Xiaoyu and Shishi would definitely wash it immediately and then cook it to eat. But now the peanut flavor is still lingering in my mouth. Although I am very hungry, I am not willing to eat this bitter thing. At least I have to wait until the residual taste is gone before I eat this.

There were steamed buns in the eldest brother’s bag, but Luo Shishi was thinking about it. Even if she couldn’t get one, she could still taste some. The steamed buns belonged to her eldest brother, and he was the eldest brother. There was no way she wouldn’t let her taste his stuff.

“Bingzi, big brother is back.”

“Big brother is back? What big brother?”

“Who else can we have besides an eldest brother? My eldest brother has returned from the army and is sleeping in the room now. Don’t disturb me.”

Of course Luo Bing knew that his eldest brother Luo Cheng, whom he hadn’t seen for several years, suddenly came back and he didn’t recover for a moment.

“Brother is back. Really? Then brother has eaten. There is not much food at home.”

Luo Bing is also like a young man from the countryside. He is relatively simple. When he heard that his eldest brother came back, the first thing that came to his mind was food. The main reason is that these days, everyone puts food first, and Luo Bing can’t give such a thing to his elder brother with the grassroots in his hands.

“My eldest brother is a man of culture and a soldier. Do you think he is the same as us? If the others don’t have food, my eldest brother will definitely be able to get it, so don’t worry about it. Shishi, go to the room and get one.” Give peanuts to the soldier so that he can taste the peanuts that can only be eaten in the army.”

Luo Xiaoyu said arrogantly that although Luo Bing was his second brother, it was wrong to question his eldest brother. And another point is that among the brothers and sisters, they rarely call each other brother, sister, sister, etc. They usually only say who is my brother, who is my sister, and who is my sister and so-and-so outside. At home, they basically call each other “little”. name.

However, Luo Cheng is the eldest, and the most promising, so he is respected in the family, so everyone else in the family calls him brother or eldest brother. But I dare not call Luo Chengzi like my parents.

Luo Xiaoyu and Shishi agreed to give Luo Bing peanuts, so that they could be regarded as equals between brothers and sisters. And although Luo Bing usually likes to mess around, he really misses the two of them when there are good things.

Then~~ Luo Bing was shocked by a peanut. There were such delicious peanuts. After eating peanuts, look at the grass roots in your hands that taste bitter. No matter how hungry you are, you will not eat such grass roots today. Don’t ruin the fragrance in your mouth.

Luo Cheng was resting, and no one dared to disturb him. Even when his father Luo Wen came back from the brigade later and learned that his eldest son was back, a rare smile appeared on his face. The past two years had been really difficult for him. He was worried to death about a bite of food every day, and he didn’t even smile much. Pass.

And I heard that Luo Cheng had food stamps and retirement pay from retired troops, so he could buy dozens of kilograms of food. Her face was filled with joy from the inside out, and half of her inner burdens were lifted at once just because her eldest son was back.

Tomorrow I will go to the grain station to buy grain. People in towns generally go to the grain station to buy grain. There are also supply and marketing cooperatives, but people in villages and towns prefer to buy at the grain station. Farmers, who have to deal with grain stations every year, are more familiar with it.

The Luo Cheng family here is obviously happy because of his arrival. On the other hand, just because of the half piece of instant noodles and seasoning packets sent by Luo Cheng, Qin Lan’s family was also worried.

There is such a thing as grassroots, but I can’t remember what it is called. Let’s make up our own minds. If you ask, just assume it is.