northernbook Chapter 135 Xu Shengnan
Chapter 135 Xu Shengnan
When they came out of Xingzigou Brigade, the brigade leader Xu Tiezhu gave her and her stepmother a letter of introduction. With the letter of introduction and the receiving unit, it was not difficult for them to settle down.
When filling in her name, Xiao Pei was amused by her name, "This isn't even a name, why don't you give yourself a new name?"
The money-loser said without hesitation: "I want to be called Xu Shengnan!"
Xiao Pei raised his eyebrows and gave her a thumbs up, "Nice name, ambitious!"
Xu Shengnan stared at the three words written by Xiao Pei and engraved them firmly in her mind. From now on, she was a person with a name, no longer a money-loser in the eyes of others, and she would have a bright future.
After filling in the information, Xu Shengnan came out with a household registration booklet in her hand. Although her name was the only one on the booklet, with it, she could receive public subsidies.
Hua Rendong took the household registration booklet, looked at the name on it and smiled, "This is our Shengnan's new name."
Xu Shengnan felt embarrassed by her smile, "Thank you, sister. I will work hard in the future and not let you down."
Hua Rendong smiled and touched her head. "I'll take you to report tomorrow. It's too late today. Come home with me."
Unexpectedly, Hua Rendong would take her home. Xu Shengnan, who originally thought she would have to spend another night freezing outside, was so surprised that she was incoherent, "This... this is not good, right? I... I'm dirty."
"It's okay. I have a bathtub at home. I'll give you a good scrub when we get home."
After saying that, he said hello to Sui Yong and walked out of the Municipal Bureau with Xu Shengnan.
Xia Yu took a nap in the dormitory of the Municipal Bureau. When he woke up, he felt refreshed. When he went out, he vaguely saw Hua Rendong walking out of the gate with someone.
Just as I was about to chase after him, someone stopped me and said a few words about work arrangements. When I looked up again, the person was gone.
Xia Yu thought it was getting late, and it would be the same if he went to look for Hua Yindong tomorrow, so he went to the cafeteria to eat.
On the way home, Hua Rendong took Xu Shengnan to the barber shop to get a haircut.
Not only was her hair as dry as grass difficult to manage, it was also covered with lice. If she didn't take care of it, she was afraid that it would stain the bedding in the house.
Hua Honeysuckle asked the barber to give Xu Shengnan a neat short haircut so that it would be easier to deal with lice and nits.
After the haircut, she saw the barber was about to apply lice medicine on Xu Shengnan's head, and she was so scared that she hurried to stop him.
What a joke! She knew that the so-called lice medicine at that time was actually the pesticide hexachlorobenzene. It could be applied to the scalp while the hair was wet and then wrapped in plastic cloth. It could kill lice, but if not handled properly, it could poison the person.
After paying the money, Hua Rendong took Xu Shengnan home, moved a stool for her to sit on in the yard, and placed a basin of water next to her.
There was still the comb that Liu Chang'e bought back then at home. She applied half a bottle of hair oil on Xu Shengnan's head and combed her hair carefully bit by bit with the comb.
At the beginning, when the comb was used, the white lice and black lice filled the gaps in the comb. Every time the lice stuck in the teeth of the comb with their butts still dangling were scraped into the basin, Honeysuckle grimaced and felt itchy all over.
It's really annoying!
Fortunately, Xu Shengnan's hair was cut short, so it was easy to take care of. By dark, she was so busy that she could hardly comb anything.
Honeysuckle said, "Comb your hair every day after washing it, and it won't take long to get it clean."
Xu Shengnan's face was as red as a boiled crab. No matter what Hua Rendong said, she just nodded.
After finishing her hair, Hua Rendong took out a box of Seagull Shampoo and washed her hair thoroughly, otherwise the oil on her head would not be washed away.
After combing her hair a few more times and seeing that nothing was combed out, Honeysuckle finally stopped feeling itchy.
Two pots of water were boiled in the outer room, and Hua Jindong went to the lower room to take out the bathtub that the family used before. The bathtub was made of iron hoops and had not been used for many years, so it was covered in dust inside and out.
I flushed it several times with tap water in the yard before bringing it to the outer room.
The Hua family used to take baths in the outer room. They would light two stoves and cover the room with thick curtains, so they would not feel cold even in the winter.
Xu Shengnan boiled the water herself, and after mixing it, Hua Rendong gave her a piece of soap and two loofahs. Bath towels had not been introduced in those days, and ordinary people used this for bathing.
After giving her everything, I told her to wash slowly and several times, and after she finished washing each time, I asked her to pour water.
Xu Shengnan had never taken a bath in her life. Girls couldn't go to the river to take a bath in the summer like boys. The chapped skin on her body must be very thick. A bar of soap might not be enough.
While Xu Shengnan was taking a shower, Hua Rendong used two fingers to pick up the clothes she had changed and burned them in the yard. Just a quick glance at the clothes revealed lice crawling everywhere, and the seams of the clothes were densely packed with white nits. They couldn't be washed out, and such torn clothes would never be worn again, so they had to be burned to be safe.
After changing four basins of water, Xu Shengnan finally washed herself clean. She used up most of the soap she had just opened, and she smelled delicious. When she changed her clothes and came out from behind the curtain, Hua Jindong couldn't recognize her.
This pretty and neat little girl, apart from being a little darker and having a rougher skin, looks nothing like the country girl she was before. It's true that clothes make the man.
But Hua Jindong felt that it was not safe for such a pretty girl to get up early every day to sweep the streets. But she could find another job for her, as she could not even read a few words, and it was not easy for others to do so.
Hua Rendong asked: "Shengnan, do you want to learn to read?"
After Xu Shengnan was surprised, she nodded her head as if it had a motor, "Yes, sister, I want to learn to read."
Hua Rendong smiled and said, "Okay, I'll ask around and see if I can find a teacher for you. You can go and study for a while after get off work."
Although there were no night schools like those in later generations at that time, they began to appear in the 1980s. She was able to lay a solid foundation in these years. By the time night schools were available, she still had the desire to study and would be ahead of many people of that era.
She was only seventeen years old, and would have been only twenty-three in 1980, so it was not too late to start learning.
Hua Rendong cleaned up the two rooms gradually over the past few days. At night, she let Xu Shengnan live in the room where Hua Xirong and Liu Chang'e used to live, and gave her a new quilt.
Xu Shengnan touched the soft quilt, tears falling down again, "Sister, I will definitely repay you in the future!"
Hua Rendong smiled, "Okay, then I'll wait for your repayment in the future. Now go to sleep first. I'll take you to report to the Environmental Sanitation Bureau tomorrow."
Xu Shengnan agreed obediently, thinking that she would be so excited that she couldn't sleep after changing to a comfortable environment. However, after being hungry and cold for several days, Xu Shengnan was already exhausted and fell asleep soon after lying down.