As for the clothes they wore, before the Cultural Revolution ended, there were only blue, white, gray and green. Then there were reds and pinks, and then all kinds of stripes and patterns. When Li Li was a child, because she was the youngest child in the family, she could only pick up clothes from Li Hong and Li Na. When the clothes came to Li Li, they were basically in good condition and old. But the family's financial conditions are limited, what can she say? That was fine, she simply didn't choose anything. But adolescent girls, even if they don't care about their appearance, will still be embarrassed sometimes. Once, Li Li represented the school in a mathematics competition. She really didn't have any good pants to wear, so she wore a pair of pants with a big patch on her butt. That big patch was actually as big as the entire butt. Li Li now and again wonders how big the hole was at that time. You have to use such a big patch. She was afraid that someone would look at her butt along the way and wanted to crawl into the cracks of the ground. Fortunately, her results in the competition were pretty good. But that patch was seared into her memory. Become a lingering gray mark. Even after she became an adult, someone gave her so many high-end clothes and still could not wipe away the mark.
Because there is no point in choosing. Even as an adult, she didn't particularly care about her clothes when the weather was good or bad.
The villagers' means of transportation were bullock carts and horse-drawn carriages. The cart owner at that time was really good. Li Li had never met her grandfather. It was said that her grandfather was very good at driving carts and was nicknamed "Big Whip Li". Li Li's father was a soldier in his early years and had a bad temper. Li Li and Li Hong once rode in his father's ox cart and asked him to carry them like a chicken. In Li Li's young mind, the ox-cart was a very high-end means of transportation, and it would be very pleasant for children to take a ride in the ox-cart. She never had enough rides in the car, and even later, when she became the deputy county magistrate and had a special car and a full-time driver, she didn't have enough rides in the car either.
When Li Li was in elementary school, some people bought bicycles, and then motorcycles. Later, when Li Li became an adult, many families bought vans and cars. Times are changing, but people's happiness is getting less and less.
Now the original loess road has been paved with asphalt. Only the yellow cypress trees that had been standing for decades at the entrance of the village were cut down. Only the bare, squat tree stumps were left, helplessly watching the prosperous changes. There are always cadres organizing people to plant trees on both sides of this path in spring, but I don't know why they always fail. Plant it again after a while. It is said that only in this way can political achievements be achieved and income can be generated. There will be a rebate. Everything changes very quickly in China. Only with rapid change can there be economic development and the flow of money. And when money flows, there will be money to be made.
Rural girls, young wives, and old ladies are not only smart but also skillful. They will knit the most beautiful sweaters with their own hands. As for the raw materials, sometimes they are taken from old sweaters. As for where the old sweaters come from, some of them are bought by myself, and some of them are not given to me by relatives in the city. Just take out the thread from an old sweater and add some "natural" wool. This "natural" wool is the sheep of the production team. When there was no guaranteed household income, women secretly rolled wool and knitted sweaters for themselves. Later, the sheep were distributed to each household, and people's living standards improved, and they no longer had to pull wool.
Li Li's mother is famous for her skillful hands. The cotton coats, cotton trousers, cotton gloves, and cotton hats Li Li wore since she was a child were all made by her mother. As for the raw materials for making these things, they were either given by others or picked up from the river. When economic conditions are limited, hygiene and unhygienic conditions cannot be considered at all. Fortunately, Li Li didn't feel like she had any disease. Anyway, she was still young at that time and didn't know what bacteria, fungi and viruses were.
Li Lim's mother can not only make cotton clothes and trousers, but also knit sweaters, woolen trousers, and woolen hats. She can also tie brushes with the roots of the lotus flowers on the roadside, use sorghum poles to thread curtains, and tie brushes with the tassels of beaten sorghum. Brush for pot. This woman also adds shoe soles to make shoes that are praised by her neighbors. These shoes are much better than the straw sandals woven from the urala grass in the mountains, which cut the heels and back of the ankles, causing pain and even bleeding.
She not only made it for herself, her husband and three daughters, but also for her neighbors, sisters from her mother's family, and her uncle's sisters. Every winter during the slack season, Li Li's mother was the busiest, cooking for this family and that family. Of course, sometimes, other women wouldn't get the space, so Li Li's mother would give her guidance. Of course, people are confused, and Li Li's mother's efforts will be rewarded in some way: a piece of floral cloth, a thread, or an old dress. Li Li's mother feels like she has found a treasure. In her hands, these things will become winter artifacts for her children. In Li Li's eyes, her mother is really capable and never tired.
Women in mountain villages do not have skin care products or cosmetics. The most luxurious one is the Great Friendship Cream. This is the thing about women that remains deepest in Li Li's memory. Some women use charcoal sticks to draw their eyebrows. Although it is not as good as an eyebrow pencil, it is still very beautiful. Soap and washing powder for washing clothes were not available when Li Li was young. It uses pig pancreas, which is the pancreas saved by pig slaughterers. It is said that it can wash clothes clean, but Li Li has not tried it, so the effect is not very good. Slowly appeared the soap dish for washing clothes. Li Li's father always scolds Li Li's mother for not being able to live well and using soap as fast as she eats.
Women have a few days every month. In Li Li's eyes, her mother used a menstrual belt made of cloth at first. She always felt that it was definitely unhygienic to reuse it. By the time she had a few days, her family could already use toilet paper. Although the color is darker, it is still much better than strips of cloth.
A mobile communications tower appeared behind the mountain. These changes have never made Li Li proud. On the contrary, this is the place that Li Li has been tired of since she was a child, the place that she has always wanted to escape from but has never been able to escape. This was also the place that she always wanted to forget but still haunted her.
Maybe her birth was an accident, an absolute accident. Whether it was a mistake or not, she dared not say. Before she was born, Li Li already had two sisters, Li Hong and Li Na. At that time, the village brigade had already started family planning. So when Li Li's mother was pregnant with Li Li, she discussed with his father, Lao Li, whether Li Li should be "scratched". The so-called "scratching" refers to artificial abortion. The doctor uses a long-handled spoon to take the unborn fetus directly out of the uterus. This is completely normal in China. A large country with a population of 1.3 billion has always regarded a large population as a burden. Family planning that can reduce the population has always been a good national policy. A woman's miscarriage is very harmful to her body and vitality. As the old saying goes, it is better to have ten big confinements than one small confinement. No men in rural areas are willing to wear condoms, so for family planning purposes, women are directly sterilized. In this way, you can get it done once and for all. You don't have to waste money to buy condoms, and you don't have to promote contraception. The Party's governing style has always been short-term, fast, and one-size-fits-all. Anyway, if you make a mistake, you won't pay for it yourself. If you make a mistake, correct it. If you make a mistake again, then correct it again.