In the winter of 1999, Huibei City.

According to the weather forecast, a cold wave will come from Siberia, and the temperature will drop by five to ten degrees, reaching between minus thirty and forty degrees.

But what makes people even more colder is that this year's corn purchase price has dropped to 40 cents and 20 cents, which is 5 cents less than the 40 cents budgeted by people. It may sound very little, but for farmers who face the loess and backs, it means that after removing a series of expenses for seeds and fertilizers, it will be difficult to endure this year.

Today is heavy snow again, with a smell of snow falling from thousands of miles away.

Liu Feiyang sat on the threshold, holding a low-quality dry tobacco in his hand, looking at the heavy snow outside the door. On the left side of his perspective was a fence of corn, which must be about 10,000 kilograms. If it was placed in an ordinary year, he could say it would be a good harvest year.

The corn was covered with thick snow, as if a blanket was plunged on it.

He wrapped his cigarette hard and coughed twice when he was choked.

I thought to myself that tomorrow is New Year's Eve and there is only a few dollars in my pocket. In the past, corn had already been replaced with cash, but this year I was waiting for the price increase. It was dragged on but it did not rise but kept falling. Now there are no dealers who harvest corn. After the New Year, the snow melts, and the price will increase the moisture of the corn and the price will drop.

He wrapped his cigarette again, and there was a flame in front of the cigarette butts, and he spit out the smoke and blew it out.

He is only nineteen years old but is an old cigarette gun. From the day his 16-year-old parents were in a car accident, he learned to pick up cigarettes and let nicotine stimulate his lungs. This way he can be comfortable and refreshed.

The family has been farmers for generations and has no ancestral property. The only parents left behind are these two bungalows and six acres of land.

There are residents who have just returned from the market in front of the door, all carrying bags, which are essential supplies for the New Year. People's faces are filled with the joy of the New Year. Buying fish and meat is a reward for their hard work.

He threw away the cigarette butts in his hand, stood up, turned his head and shouted into the room.

"Second child, go, carry pliers up the mountain..."

"What are you doing?" Erka asked, lying on the kang, snotted.

The second child's real name is Zhao Zhigao, and he is the second child in the family. His parents and sister died in a car accident with Liu Feiyang's parents. Seeing that he was pitiful, he asked him to come and live together. For more than three years, the two depended on each other and lived a happy life, at least they could have enough food.

"Tomorrow's New Year, let's see some fish in the river and chasing pheasants in the mountains. We can't be light, just eat some meat!" Liu Feiyang came in, put on a military coat, and then put on a dog-skin hat, and his whole body was bloated.

"What are you doing during the New Year? I have money. I'll buy 200 yuan later!" The second child sat up from the kang, but didn't go down to the ground, and snotted again while talking.

"Do you know how to spend money in your pocket? Do you have money to support it when you don't have money? Money is in emergency. It's not as good as the starvation to death. Hurry up and get clothes. I'll get pliers to wait for you..." Liu Feiyang said, and then walked out again.

Although the two are only two years apart, they are not a little bit mature and have to support their family at a young age. Now they speak like a parent.

The second child's parents were originally factory workers, and the money in his pocket was collected by his colleagues who saw him pitifully. They had not moved over the years, and the house at home was also scrambled by his aunts and uncles, giving him a little symbolically.

The driver who caused the accident fled, and Liu Feiyang, whose parents were farmers, did not get any money, and could only work hard.

The second child followed Liu Feiyang's advice, put on his coat, and walked out with a dog-skin hat.

The two of them deliberately did not walk on the main road, and they were walking on the small roads at the edges and corners. They were not old and had a strong sense of self-esteem. They didn't want people to see themselves spending their home like this, and they had to go up the mountain for the New Year.

The northwest wind hits the face like a knife, blowing people's eyes can't be opened. Even if they urinate on the ground, they will instantly freeze into ice.

Liu Feiyang walked in front and the second child followed behind. Each of them was holding a pair of iron pliers made of large steel bars, which was more than twenty pounds.

The road was a little better at the beginning. The snow was only deep in the calves, and when it was close to the foot of the mountain, it was already over the knees. The two could only move forward with difficulty. The second child took a step and snot, without complaining, leaving a long string of footprints behind him.

After half an hour, I finally arrived above the river.

The river is not big, and it is only three or four meters wide in summer, and only about two meters in winter, and the depth is less than one meter.

The fish in the river are called "white fish bill" by the local people for five to six centimeters long, and it is very fragrant in fried food.

"Okay, just put the pliers here, I'll open them first, and you can get them up after you dig out the pit..." Liu Feiyang said, taking off his military coat and throwing it into the snow beside him at will.

It also takes effort to wear this impact.

"It's okay... Give me a cigarette to refresh myself." The second child sat down on the ground.

"What are the little brats smoking? Stay calm!"

Liu Feiyang cleared the snow on the river and cleared out a clearing of about two square meters. The river water was very light, and you could see water flowing under the ice. You could vaguely see the "white fish ticket" he said it would do it. He raised his iron pliers high and smashed it hard on the ice.

"Crack..." A crisp sound was made on the ice surface, and the knocked ice sputtered everywhere.

It has been frozen all winter here. Just taking out a piece of ice is no less hard than iron. He just knocked it down less than a centimeter.

The thickness of the ice here is at least fifty centimeters. If it is knocked to fish, it will be at least thirty centimeters square. This is a huge project that cannot be completed in two or three hours.

"Look at the mountain more often, don't pass by you anymore. You are so big that you can't see your eyes without eyeballs." He just slammed a few times, and his arms were already numb. This kind of pure head-on technique can be considered a physical work.

"I went to the west of the village yesterday and told people that when I can go to the construction site in the spring next year, I will take you to work. Let's start with moving bricks. When I'm idle, I will learn more from brickwork. I guess we will be apprentices in three months. By then, the salary will be half of the formal worker. I'll forget it. The money I earn in a year can be repaired for our parents."

After he finished speaking, he straightened his back and slowly eased it, raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. People often said that people living by the sea have a broad mind, but he thought he was nothing bad here. Looking around, the world was covered with white and boundless, and a sense of pride would arise.

This is a desire to conquer, you have to cross the snow field and see what is there on the other end.

Suddenly, a black shadow flashed in the afterglow.

"pheasant!"

"Swoosh..."

The second child just had fast legs. He jumped up instantly when he heard the words and rushed to chase after the pheasant.

Pheasant is similar to ostrich. They do not fly high or too far. If they are chased, they will fly to the point where they have no strength and then plunge into the snow without any aggressiveness. Just reach out and pick it up.

Liu Feiyang kept aiming there. He knew that no pheasant could escape from this "mad dog". He smiled with satisfaction.

He withdrew his gaze, took out an iron box from his pocket, which contained dry tobacco, and took out one and put it in his mouth.

"Zira..." Sketched the match and lit the cigarette.
Chapter completed!