At that time,"soap" was considered a rare item to the people of Dafutun. People called "soap""soap" and soap "soap". For those who had relatives in the city who came to the countryside as guests, it was already a very decent gift to bring a piece of "soap" for the woman at home.
No one in the village could afford to use soap, so they washed their clothes with filtered water from the stove ashes. He put up the dustpan filled with stove ash, put a big basin under the dustpan, and dug a small depression on the top of the stove ash. A person stood beside him and kept adding water into the small depression. The water dripped through the stove ash into the basin below, and then the clothes were washed with the water. The water was the alkality of the stove ash water.
When she was young, she helped her mother guard the dustpan and add water. The water seeped down from the dustpan too slowly, so she used a fire stick to smash a few holes in the dustpan. The water would leak down with the stove ashes, and then she would receive a basin of muddy water. When her mother saw it, she was angry and amused. She could only make do with washing like this.
Because it was too troublesome to filter the ash water from the stove, the locals did not wash their cotton-padded jackets, cotton pants, and quilts almost all winter. The quilts had become black, and the front of the cotton-padded jacket was as dirty as razor cloth.
Most of the wells in the village were poisonous saline-alkalized wells, which could not be used for drinking. Only the water from the well in the north of the village could be eaten. This well was more than ten meters deep, and the villagers flocked to this well to draw water. Once more people came to fetch water, the well would soon dry up, and there were often groups of people waiting by the well to draw water.
Father had been away for many years, and mother's feet were half-crippled, so she did not dare to go to the well. When my brother and I were five or six years old, we went to the well to draw water. The well was deep, the rope was long, and the bucket was heavy. My brother and I pulled the bucket up from the well like a cow pulling a plow. The rope rubbed against the stones along the well and was easily worn off. Sometimes, the rope broke halfway, and the bucket filled with water fell down from the well, and the bottom of the bucket fell off.
In the cold winter, the well platform was covered with crystal clear ice, and the feet became slippery. My brother and I were terrified and moved carefully. If we didn't do it well, we might fall into the well (there was no high fence in the north of the well).
In the winter, the whole family would share a basin of water to wash their faces. The adults would wash their faces and the children would wash their faces. By the time they had all washed their faces, the water in the basin would have turned into black soup.
Not taking a bath for the entire winter was not only because of the lack of water, but also because it was too cold in winter. Taking a bath and catching a cold could bring danger to one's life.
When adults washed their faces, they would wipe the back of their ears and necks. Children did not have this self-awareness, so their necks and ears were covered with dirt. It was so dark that the original color of their skin could not be seen.
The children's little black and dirty hands were all chapped and cracked like chicken feet in the dry winter weather.
Many people had lice on their bodies. In spring, they often saw groups of three to five people leaning against the wall, sunbathing while pulling up their pants to catch lice. No one felt embarrassed.
Fortunately, under Mother's care, we brothers have never had lice.
The villagers didn't know how to brush their teeth, nor had they seen anyone brush their teeth. When my mother first arrived at Dafutun, she was seen brushing her teeth by the villagers. They asked me what my mother was doing. My mother told them that she was brushing her teeth.”
Actually, her mother couldn't buy toothpaste, so she just put some salt on the toothbrush to clean her mouth. Her mother begged her father to buy her a tube of toothpaste when he came back, but he never brought it back for her.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。