The Little Widower (farming)

10

Li Xin is a good-looking guy. His limbs are slender and well-proportioned. He is a little taller than Chen Qing. Because he comes from a fairly good family background, his whole person is glowing with confidence, which Chen Qing will never have in his life. something.

Li Xin is still unmarried, either because he has not married yet, or because his conditions in Luohe Village are so good. There are too many matchmakers coming to his door, but Li Xin's father doesn't even like him, so he simply lets his wife take Li Xin with him. They went to stay at the father-in-law's house for a while, and they also wanted to see if they could find a marriage partner there, so they stayed there for so long.

Li Xin wiped the water off her face: "But I really don't want to get married. It would be great if I could be like you." Chen Qing said quickly: "Stop talking nonsense, how can I be okay like this?" Li Xin

said

Xin also realized that what he said was not right, so he changed the subject: "I heard about that man, whose house was built next to yours. Have you seen him?"

Chen Qing threw his clothes into the water: "Have you seen him?" , He is a good man."

Li Xin looked at Chen Qing and squeezed him aside: "Chen Qing, something is wrong with you."

Chen Qing raised his head suddenly, then lowered his head guiltily: "What are you talking about? Hurry up and wash your hands. Clothes."

Li Xin thought he knew Chen Qing very well. He never commented on anyone in the village, for fear that he would be found out about others behind his back. Why did he blurt out that he was a good person when he mentioned that neighbor today?

Knowing that Chen Qing's temper was like a gourd with its mouth cut off, there was definitely no way he could ask anything about it, so he just started washing his clothes.

Chen Qing didn't have many clothes, so after washing them, he helped Li Xin wash them. He and his mother had been away for so long, and the sheets and bedding had to be taken apart and washed, which was a lot of work.

"If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have had to take a shower today." Li Xin and Chen Qing each twisted the sheets and squeezed out all the remaining water.

After finally washing his clothes, Li Xin was not in a hurry to go back. He took off his shoes, sat by the river, and soaked his feet in the water. For a moment, the coolness hit his head. He pulled Chen Qing and sat down beside him: "You don't want to take a dip?"

Chen Qing shook his head: "I just happened to be afraid to go into the water. I don't want to take medicine anymore." The main reason is that medicine is expensive.

Li Xin stopped trying to persuade him, and he sighed: "Why do people get married when they grow up?"

Chen Qing subconsciously wanted to think that getting married was not just to have someone to rely on, but when he thought about his own marriage, it seemed unconvincing.

Li Xin knew that Chen Qing didn't talk much. When they used to play together, he talked a lot. Chen Qing just listened quietly. Chen Qing only asked him once about Meng Tao, but Li Xin and Meng Tao were not familiar with each other. He wasn't a playmate either, so he couldn't help Chen Qing.

He only had a very weak impression of Meng Tao, that is, Meng Tao was very strong and a bit dark, but he couldn't remember anything else.

After Chen Qing heard about it, he wasn't too disappointed and never asked again.

After soaking in the water for a while, Chen Qing planned to go home and hang his clothes to dry early while the sun was shining.

Li Xin was putting on shoes on one side, and Chen Qing put away the clothes they had washed. However, they didn't expect that before they left, someone else came from the other side of Luohe.

The men in the village don't know how to wash their own clothes. Either their wives and husbands will wash them, or their sisters will wash them. Li Xin is not used to it. His mother is not in good health, so it is Li Xin's job to wash clothes. But he has six The 20-year-old brother, under Li Xin's stick education since childhood, has learned to wash his own clothes.

Seeing Zhou Yuan at this moment, Li Xin poked Chen Qing with her elbow: "Is this man still washing his own clothes?"

Chen Qing looked back at Li Xin: "He is alone, what else can he do if he doesn't wash his own clothes?" ?"

Li Xin felt more and more that something was wrong with Chen Qing, but he didn't say anything. He just said to Chen Qing, "I'll go dig some dirt by the river later."

The two of them separated on a fork in the road, and Chen Qing walked briskly. After a while, when he returned home, Aunt Sun and he pulled the rope to dry the clothes.

Chen Qing said: "Li Xin is back."

"I say, people are much happier after washing their clothes." Aunt Sun asked him to rest while she hung up the clothes to dry.

"Li Xin said that he would go digging and soaking in the ground by the river later." Chen Qing took a sip of water.

"Let's go." Aunt Sun finished drying her clothes, "If you don't eat well, I really like wild fruits."

Chen Qing smiled: "It's delicious."

After a simple lunch, Chen Qing sat at home and waited for Li Xin to come. He, Aunt Sun felt a little funny when she saw him sitting obediently at the door of the main room, looking towards the door from time to time, and just like a child, waiting for his friends to come and play with him.

"If you find more, can you send some to the next door?"

Chen Qing was stunned: "Huh?"

"Although we don't have money for the wild fruits they sent last time, we still have to return the favor, right?"

Chen Qing ordered. Nodding, a blush crept up to the tip of his ears: "Okay, I understand."

"If you don't want to go, just bring it back and I'll send it off."

"Okay."

After a while, Li Xin arrived at their door and said hello to Aunt Sun. After that, he took Chen Qing to the river.

He kept talking along the way: "I saw that house, a blue brick house, not bad."

Chen Qing said oh.

Li Xin added: "I took a look at him from a distance at noon. He looked too strong. I heard from the villagers that he had killed people."

Chen Qing felt that it was inappropriate to say this behind other people's backs, so he stopped. Pulling Li Xin's hand: "Stop talking."

"Oh, it's just the two of us." Li Xin stuck out his tongue, and seeing Chen Qing's serious look, he said, "Okay, I won't talk anymore."

They When we came to the river, most of the Dipaoer seedlings were growing on the ridges of the fields near the water. It was almost out of season, and the leaves were no longer green, and some of them had withered and turned yellow under the scorching sun.

Chen Qing and Li Xin lay down on the ridge of the field, groping inch by inch, and finally found the first one. They all say that everything is difficult at the beginning. After finding the first one, the rest appeared in a group, and they almost walked around the river. After going around, they found a basket. Of course, the two of them ate while searching.

Dipao'er is only the size of a finger and has a soft texture, but there are some tiny seeds in the fruit, which enriches the taste. It is sour and sweet. Chen Qing likes it very much. There is no such fruit in his hometown.

"You picked up so many?" They walked to a big tree and prepared to rest for a while. At this time, there was sweat on their foreheads. Chen Qing wiped it with his sleeves.

In the distance is the shallowest part of Luohe River. In summer, there are always some children in the village who are greedy for cold weather. They take off their buttocks and run into the water. In previous years, children drowned in Luohe Village, so Li Xin quickly shouted After a few calls, the children were sent home.

Chen Qing grabbed a handful of Dipao'er and gave it to Li Xin: "Eat some."

Li Xin took it and fed it into his mouth regardless of whether it was dirty or not: "What will happen to these little bastards if they really drown?"

Speaking of children, Li Xin frowned again: "It's so annoying, my dad went to find the flower matchmaker today!"

Chen Qing choked while eating: "Did Aunt Hua come to propose a marriage?"

"How could it be? The flower matchmaker came to our door! Doesn't it look like our family is in a hurry? My father said that he just wanted to ask her to find out." There was no shyness or joy on Li Xin's face. He just said, "I've been in a hurry these past few months. I'm not in the village, can you tell me?"

"Ah? What should I say?" Chen Qing's heart was clogged, as if it was stuffed with a ball of cotton.

"I don't like that type." Li Xin said, "Tall and strong, like a hill, and he has killed people."

Li Xin really doesn't like this kind of man. He prefers a weaker and slender man because he My father is a blacksmith, and he works shirtless all day long. He has seen too much, and he still feels that slender men are more attractive to him.

Chen Qing pouted: "But he doesn't kill innocent people indiscriminately. On the battlefield, either he kills people or others kill him."

"That's right, but I just don't like this type of person. ." Li Xin scratched his head.

"You can talk to your uncle carefully." Chen Qing said, "I believe they will discuss it with you." He knew that Li Xin's father was very kind to him and would not force him to do things he didn't like.

"My father treats him as a favorite." Li Xin sighed, "My father said that many families want to marry their daughters and brothers to him. I don't want to join in the fun at all."

Chen Qing didn't care about this . No matter how he expressed his opinion, he could only listen to Li Xin complain.

They didn't walk back until the sun was setting. Chen Qing gave half of the dibao'er in his basket to Li Xin. Li Xin also had a younger brother at home, and he was greedy.

Li Xin was not polite to him, took some and left, and asked him to go shopping in the town tomorrow.

Back home, Aunt Sun was preparing to cook dinner when she saw Chen Qing bringing back the ground soaking bags: "How many?"

"It feels like no one picked them this year." Chen Qing washed all the ground soaking bags in the basket with water. I selected all the small ones, the ones that were not red and withered, and grabbed a handful of the good ones and gave them to Aunt Sun, and then handed the basket to Aunt Sun.

Aunt Sun knew what he meant. After she finished eating, she held up the basket and said, "Look at the fire in the pot."

Chen Qing nodded and watched Aunt Sun leave eagerly. He didn't turn to the scene until no one could be seen anymore. In the kitchen, I took Aunt Sun's hand and started cooking.

After receiving the basket of wild fruits, Zhou Yuan stared at the bamboo basket for a long time, and then tasted one. It was sour and sweet, similar to the fruit he brought back from the mountains last time.

In the past, his family was poor. There were no rich mountains and rivers like Luohe Village. His grandmother was so poor that she could only take him to dig grass roots in the endless wasteland to satisfy his hunger.

He knew that the imperial court was recruiting soldiers. In order to earn a few taels of silver from the recruitment and to have a bite to eat, he resolutely went there. Later, he was able to send some money home to his grandmother.

It's just that his grandmother failed to wait until he came home. When he returned, his grandmother had turned into a handful of loess. Only then did he realize that the money and letters he had sent back had been taken away by his uncle's family, who had long since severed ties with their family. Grandma never received a penny until she died. You can tell how hard she suffered during her lifetime. Even the solitary grave was dug hastily.

Without his grandmother, that place was no longer his home. Remembering that his grandmother had said before her death that she wanted to live in a place with mountains and water, he came to Luohe Village with a handful of loess in front of his grandmother's grave and her grandmother's tablet.

Zhou Yuan retracted his thoughts and looked at the red and festive little fruits. He thought that Chen Qing could go into the water and look for wild fruits outside in such a hot day all afternoon, so his health should be better.

Zhou Yuan put the fruit away and prepared to make something to eat. He had no cooking skills. In the previous period, he ate with Aunt Sun and his family. Now he was alone and cooked everything in a pot, as long as you can feel full.

He cut up a pumpkin and threw it into the pot. There was a sound outside the door. When Zhou Yuan walked out, he saw Aunt Hua, whom he had driven before, standing in front of his house happily, dressed in red.

Zhou Yuan had already anticipated her purpose and didn't want to open the door, but people were already in front of the house, so he could only welcome them in.

Zhou Yuan twitched his lips and pretended to be dumbfounded: "Auntie, what's the matter with you coming here now?"