Lin Ran, 16, was on the bus home.
In 2018, it was an hour's drive from Sanye Town to Qingshan Township. Now, in 2010, Lin Ran has just asked the driver about it, which takes three hours.
Looking at the rows of lush poplar trees outside the car window, Lin was a bit distracted. This year, 2010, is the beginning of April. He woke up in the morning yesterday, looking at the calendar hanging on the dormitory door, and was in a trance all day. He didn't accept the reality of rebirth until he got on the bus and went home.
Maybe it is because there are too many regrets in previous lives! He was vaguely excited at the moment.
In 2018, after his mother died of illness, his father was depressed, and his sister's child was deprived of custody, he once stood on the verge of despair.
On the Chinese Valentine's Day, after his current girlfriend announced that she had broken up with him, she ran away with a middle-aged man driving a luxury car. Late at night when he was drunk, he was hit by a truck carrying coal.
Now, it is reborn.
Three things lie ahead:
First, the mother who became seriously ill two years later would die because her family was poor.
Second, her always clever sister, who married Dong Jiang when she was unlucky, was bullied into the hospital by a family of thugs in 2010.
The third is the high school entrance exam, which is almost two months away.
In 2010, buses were still the main means of transportation in Sanye Town and Qingshan Township, and almost every bus was full of passengers. The smell of sultry sweat mixed with the smell of cigarettes permeated the whole carriage.
The inflation in 2010 was not serious, so students like him only charged 5 yuan by car.
After three hours of turbulence, Lin Ran handed the conductor the crumpled 5 yuan in his pocket, and got off the bus with several students from the neighboring village.
Lin Ran took a deep breath when she stepped on the slightly wet land.
Dad, Mom, Sister
In this life, I will try my best to protect you!
......
Lin Ran's family is located in Huanghe Village, Qingshan Township. There are more than 200 households in the village, most of whom are farmers. In 2010, there were countless such villages, which used earth roads and water from reservoirs to irrigate and drink.
He groped on the dirt road according to his memory.
In 2018, Huanghe Village built roads, and every family used smart phones. Several of them also installed wifi. Only then he and his father and sister moved away from this sad place.
"Erdan, come back!"
Wang Erxi's wife next door was drying beans on the ground. When she looked up, she saw Lin Ran.
Li Qiaozhen, who was feeding chickens in her yard, came out quickly, her face full of surprise.
"Erdan, you really have a good taste. Your sister is also at home. Go and help Mom catch a chicken and stew chicken soup at noon."
Lin Ran said hello to Wang Erxi's wife with a smile, and was pulled into his yard by his mother.
"Catch the chicken..."
Lin Ran smiled bitterly, but in her heart she felt warmer than ever.
With the previous life, I haven't seen my mother for three years.
Lin Ran took a big cock from the chicken pen and walked to the kitchen. In the countryside, almost every family has this kind of courtyard, which faces south from the north and is called the main house.
Lin Zhengyang, his father, poked his head out of the kitchen. Seeing the big cock in Lin Ran's hand, he was immediately happy: "You really know how to pick. You've chosen the biggest one in the chicken pen."
Sister Lin Yi pokes her head out and grimaces at her brother, revealing two tiger teeth.
Lin Ran's nose was sore, and tears almost poured out of his eyes. Fortunately, the kitchen was emitting steam, and the father and daughter did not notice this scene.
After his mother died of illness in the previous life, his father became white headed overnight. He suffered from depression in the next three years. He locked himself in the house all day. A man in his forties was only over 90 kg thin. Her sister Lin Yi dared not divorce with her children in her arms. She was bullied by the villain's husband Dong Jiang and his family for many years. Before she was 30 years old, she became a pool of depression.
Lin was sobbing and yelling at his father and daughter.
Lin Yi patted Lin Ran's head and said with a smile, "Why are you crying for the delicious stewed chicken?"
Lin Ran was amused by her sister, and the affectionate rhythm that had been planned was taken away.
Lin Zhengyang smiled while cutting vegetables and said, "Tie up the chicken and put it beside the stove. I'll kill it to stew chicken for you later."
Lin Ran shook the chicken in his hand and said with a smile, "Let me kill it."
"You've never killed a chicken, can you?"
Lin Zhengyang and his daughter looked at Lin Ran with disbelief on their faces.
"Take it easy to deal with a chicken."
Lin Ran walked into the kitchen with the chicken that was giggling and barking.
A woman's mind is always very delicate. Lin Yi feels that her younger brother is a little different from the past and mutters, "Dad, how can I feel that my younger brother's temperament has matured a lot?"
Lin Zhengyang gathered the vegetables together and sighed a little: "The middle school entrance exam is two months away, so the boy must be anxious. But his performance, alas."
Lin Yi also looks worried
At the age of 16, Lin Ran has always been the bottom of the class.
In the kitchen, Lin Ran pressed the big cock on the table and knocked the head of the cock with a kitchen knife and banger. Suddenly, the fluttering cock stopped moving. Then he scooped up a ladle of boiling water and slowly poured it on the chicken's neck.
He would not kill chickens.
Since the accident happened at home, while going to school, he will go to the restaurant in Sanye Town to work. A part-time cook like him can pay 500 yuan a month for food and housing. He has worked for more than a year, and has also practiced a good cooking skill.
The boiled water poured on the big cock's neck, and the big cock had a movement again. Lin Ran was not ambiguous. He quickly pulled out the hair around the chicken's neck. When he raised the knife, the chicken's head fell to the ground, and the chicken blood flowed into the basin like a sluice.
In the lunch room, the whole family sat at the table, looking at the rich lunch in front of them, and did not use chopsticks. Whenever a table is put up like this at home, it shows that Lin Zhengyang has something important to announce.
Lin Ran was still immersed in the joy of reuniting with his relatives, until Lin Zhengyang coughed, he woke up and quickly straightened up.
The Lin family has always had a strict family education, which has something to do with his father, Lin Zhengyang, who was a soldier when he was young.
"Today I want to say two things. Let me start with the first one."
Lin's father paused and said, "I'm going to contract three acres of dry land in the village to grow some corn. Sister Yi has been helping at home for some time. Er Dan, you will have the mid-term exam in two months. This time, I will pay you two months' living expenses and work hard at school."
Sister Lin Yi nodded her head cleverly.
In the eyes of all people, Lin Yi was the kind of obedient girl when she was young, but Huanghe Village was too poor to support people, otherwise she would not have dropped out of school early.
"Erdan, do you agree?"
Lin Zhengyang looks at his silent son.
Lin Ran was silent for a moment, and looked up and said, "Dad, I think it's better not to contract dry land. Although corn is a kind of crop that is suitable for growing in the soil of the Yellow River Village, three mu... it's really too little, and it's almost impossible to get a few dollars every year."
Lin Zhengyang sighed: "I also know that corn must be planted in a large area to earn money. It depends on the yield. But now we can only pay the contract fee for three mu of land."
Li Qiaozhen answered, "Erdan, Mom and your dad have calculated. Although three mu of dry land is really small, we can earn some money. It's always a money source."
Lin Ran looked at her parents' firm eyes and knew that she could not persuade them.
In a previous life, their family had a dispute with the village head of Huanghe Village because of the dry land. In the end, not only the land was not contracted, but also the rent of one year was not recovered. That year, my sister divorced me again. My mother's hair turned much white in just a few days, and she fell ill a year later.
But at this time, he can't tell his family that I was born again, and our contracting of this land will offend the village head. In that way, he will surely frighten his family and think that he has mental problems.
So he said with a wry smile, "Since you have all agreed, let's contract. Save money first, and then contract a few more acres in a year or two to expand slowly."
Lin Zhengyang and Li Qiaozhen looked at each other and smiled. Li Qiaozhen put two big chicken legs in the bowl for his daughter and son, and then put a chicken neck on his little nephew and little Yi, and then put two chicken wings on Lin Zhengyang.
"Eat quickly. After eating, you can coax the child to sleep. Erdan, you and your father should level the mound in front of the door. It's ugly!"
Lin Zhengyang took a chicken wing from the bowl and gave it to Li Qiaozhen. He muttered, "You mother-in-law, I have given you wings. You can eat your ass."
Li Qiaozhen gave her husband a white look, but she smiled and urged, "Eat quickly. The food will be cool later."
Lin Ran ate chicken leg with a big mouth, and the corners of his eyes were slightly moist.
It is the best thing for a family to live in harmony and happiness in the world, regardless of poverty or wealth.
......
Lin Ran stayed at home for more than a day.
When Li Qiaozhen was going back to school on Sunday afternoon, she packed a pot of pickles and some pancakes in his schoolbag. Lin Ran carefully padded the pancake with a book, and then zipped it up. Little Yiyi, a niece, held his leg and did not let go, calling out to her uncle. Lin Ran touched little Yi's brain and held her to her sister Linyi.
Lin Yi took out two red banknotes from her wallet and handed them to Lin Ran: "Take them, boys and girls of 16 years old, buy a better pair of sneakers."
Lin Ran hurriedly put the money back into her sister's hands, no matter how she gave it to her.
My sister Lin Yi works as a temporary worker in a vehicle management office in downtown Qingcheng. She doesn't earn much money every month. In addition, there was a ghost husband who asked her for money every month. Life was not good. How could he ask for money from his sister, who was only six years older than him.
Lin Zhengyang came out of the west room with a stack of red banknotes in his hand, which was still stained with some dust.
"Here's a thousand yuan for dinner, and two hundred yuan for your pocket money."
Lin's father handed Lin Ran 1200 yuan stained with sweat.
This is Lin Ran's living expenses for two months until after the high school entrance examination, of which 1000 yuan is the two months' meal expenses to be paid to the school.
Lin Ran took the money and gave it to his father
Li Qiaozhen gave her son another 200 yuan. "If you catch a cold and cough when you go out, you can't even buy medicine. Take it."
Lin Zhengyang patted Lin Ran on the shoulder and said, "Son, we don't need you to worry about our economy. You just have to study hard and get a good score in the high school entrance exam, and your parents and your sister will be proud."
Lin Ran's nose was sore, and the money in his hand was like a heavy load.
He knew that the more than 1000 yuan was the income of his parents who had been farming day and night facing the loess and facing the sky. In the high school entrance exam, he clearly remembered that the full score of the high school entrance exam that year was 640, and he only got 318 points, ranking the second from the bottom of the class. Even the admission line of the high school in the county was not reached. His parents cobbled together 5000 yuan, which made him go to No. 1 Middle School in the name of a student.
Qingshan Township is poor.
Huanghe Village is poorer.
In his previous life, he wandered in big cities, but was always looked down upon by others, perhaps because he had already melted into his own inferiority complex.
Some scholars once said that it is difficult for ordinary people to cross class and achieve life's counter attack. It is not only because of the gradual solidification of social strata, but also because of the environment in which they grew up and the world outlook imprinted in their minds.
In the eyes of the rich, he may invest 10000 yuan in a milk tea shop and lose only one month's living expenses.
The 10000 yuan in the eyes of the poor may be the annual rations of the whole family, or the annual income of parents. But most of the poor people, how can they have the courage to take all their belongings to risk.
