The Little Widower (farming)

12

Since Li Xin came back, Chen Qing has spent more time out. Either they went up to the mountains to pick wild fruits together, or they went down to the river to catch fish. Together with Li Xin, they could see some youthfulness in Chen Qing. Angry, he is twenty-one years old this year. He looks young, but he looks old-fashioned all day long, which makes it difficult for people to tell his true age.

"We agreed, we'll go to town early tomorrow morning, and we'll be busy with farming in two days." Li Xin and Chen Qing separated at the intersection and told him to get up early tomorrow.

Chen Qing never refused him, and when he went home, he told Aunt Sun that he was going to town tomorrow.

"Well, it's just right. I also said that I would buy some things for the sacrifice tomorrow. If you go with Li Xin, you can buy them all."

It will be July and a half in two days.

Aunt Sun took out the money from the house: "Here, money to buy things."

Chen Qing confiscated it. He still had money on him, which was the money he got from selling the handkerchief last time. He had been in the village the whole time and had never gone out, so there was nothing wrong with him. He had no chance to spend money, so he kept all the money he spent on embroidering handkerchiefs.

"You keep the money for embroidering the handkerchief yourself, and all the household expenses come from me." Aunt Sun ignored his refusal and gave him her purse.

After thinking for a while, he said: "Now the family doesn't have much money. Taozi spent eight taels of his ten-tael pension on his funeral. The family still had three taels of silver savings before, and one tael was given to Zhou Yuan for cooking. The total remuneration is now only six taels."

Chen Qing felt bitter after hearing this. Other families in the village may have other income, such as young adults going out to find odd jobs during their spare time.

As for their family, they can only rely on a few pieces of land at home and God. Fortunately, the weather has been good these years and they can barely make ends meet.

But will it be like this in the future?

It costs five cents to embroider a handkerchief, and he can embroider four of them a month. For twenty cents, he can buy ten meat buns.

"What are you thinking about?" Aunt Sun looked at Chen Qing and patted his shoulder with a smile.

Chen Qing shook his head: "It's okay, Mom, I really still have money."

He had saved a little private money in the past five years, and Aunt Sun also knew about it, but she never interfered, and occasionally gave Chen Qing some pocket money. Qing now has almost one tael of silver in savings.

"You kid, when I gave you the money, you spent it on your own. You always saved it for something." Aunt Sun disagreed a little, "Be obedient, keep your own money for yourself."

Chen Qing said after a while. : "Mom, I spent his pension on the funeral for Meng Tao. This time in July and a half, I also want to do something for him..."

Aunt Sun was stunned, her eyes a little red: "Okay, just Use your money."

As they were talking, there was a knock on the door. Through the fence, Chen Qing saw Zhou Yuan, holding a rabbit in his hand.

Zhou Yuan is learning to hunt these days. At first he always comes back empty-handed. Occasionally he picks some wild fruits and some mushrooms, but Aunt Sun has seen that the mushrooms he picked up are poisonous and cannot be eaten.

Slowly, he was able to catch a pheasant and some hares from the mountains.

It's just that he doesn't know how to cook, and the prey he brought back was too little to take to the town to exchange for money, so he could only bring the prey he brought back to their house and let them help cook it.

After helping, Zhou Yuan would let them keep a portion, but she refused to take them all home and eat them herself. Aunt Sun had no choice but to bite the bullet and keep them.

So later, when Chen Qing and Li Xin went to catch fish in the river, they would also give Zhou Yuan a portion of the cooked fish soup.

Over time, the relationship between the two families has improved a lot. At least now Chen Qing will no longer be speechless when he sees Zhou Yuan.

"Oh, what a fat rabbit." Aunt Sun looked at the gray rabbit, "Is it okay to go up the mountain to harvest today?"

Zhou Yuan nodded. He himself had also figured out some of the essence and fun of hunting, and he always went to the mountain these days.

"The harvest in the past two days is not bad." Zhou Yuan raised the rabbit in front of Aunt Sun, "There are three pheasants and two hares."

Aunt Sun clasped her hands together: "These are enough to sell in the town."

Zhou Yuan nodded: "I plan to go to town tomorrow to see what price I can get for it." He handed the rabbit to Aunt Sun, "This one has an injured leg, so it may not be sold for the price. How about cooking it and eating it?"

Chen Qing curled his lips and thought He was too greedy, but he didn't dare to say it.

It was Aunt Sun who said, "I see that you don't do business often. A rabbit with an injured foot can be used as a head, so people will think of you well. Be obedient and take it back."

Chen Qing nodded at the side.

Zhou Yuan no longer insisted: "Okay, I'll take it back."

Aunt Sun stopped Zhou Yuan: "Are you going to the town tomorrow? A Qing and his friends are going to the town tomorrow too, why don't you Take them for a ride?"

Zhou Yuan nodded: "Of course."

Chen Qing originally wanted to say no, but Zhou Yuan walked very quickly and he didn't say his words of rejection yet.

Aunt Sun laughed at him: "In the past, you always wanted to avoid suspicion and refused to get closer to Zhou Yuan. Tomorrow Li Xin will be together, so you don't have to worry about others gossiping. Also, I have heard about it. Li Xin's father If you want to marry Li Xin to Zhou Yuan, you can help them get married."

"Ah?" Chen Qing was stunned and at a loss.

"Ah what? Li Xin has reached the marriageable age. If he marries Zhou Yuan, he will be our neighbor. Shouldn't you be more happy?" Aunt Sun thought that Chen Qing was still in the situation, "Listen to me "Don't you think they match well?"

Chen Qing nodded dumbly: "Yeah, I understand."

Early the next morning, Chen Qing got up and Aunt Sun steamed the leftovers for him. He took two of the steamed buns and planned to share them with Li Xin later.

Li Xin's house was closer to the main road to the town, so Chen Qing carried a backpack on his back, said hello to Aunt Sun, and headed to the entrance of the village.

When passing Zhou Yuan's house, he found that Zhou Yuan was already tying up his car. Chen Qing was prepared that Zhou Yuan would not see him. He even wanted to climb down the field and walk into the field so that Zhou Yuan would not see him.

But before he could jump off the field, Zhou Yuan stopped him: "Coming? Wait a moment."

Chen Qing withdrew his tentative foot and stopped at the door of his house: "Oh."

Before long, Zhou Yuan came After harnessing the ox cart, he walked to Chen Qing and said, "Let's go."

"Oh." Chen Qing followed him.

Zhou Yuan looked back at him and said, "Sit up."

Chen Qing then climbed onto the cart, holding two cornrows in his hands. Zhou Yuan glanced at the things in his hands: "For me?"

He said seriously I couldn't help but say that this was prepared by my mother for me and my little friends, and it was not for you, so I gave him one of the steamed buns with a grimace.

Zhou Yuan took it and finished it in two bites. Chen Qing moved his eyes and looked at the sky, which already had a ray of white.

Li Xin had been waiting at the entrance of the village for a long time. When he saw the ox cart coming, he was stunned for a moment. Then, needless to say, he climbed into the ox cart. After he sat down, he said: "I thought I was going to walk today. It's really hard to sit in a cart." Okay."

Chen Qing admires his easy-going character. If he were himself, he would think about many things.

Li Xin pulled Chen Qing's hand and saw the remaining corn bun, and took it from his hand: "Aunt asked you to bring it to me, right? I like the corn bun made by my aunt the best, especially the fresh corn bun. Made of corn."

This steamed bun was made by Aunt Sun last night. She went to see the corn harvest and brought back two corns. She crushed the fresh corn and steamed it with the mixed noodles at home. The steamed bun had the aroma of corn and was very delicious. tasty.

Chen Qing looked at him eating deliciously and sighed, hoping that his stomach wouldn't growl for a while.

With the ox cart, although the speed to the town is not much faster, the advantage is that it will not be so tiring. The road was a bit boring, so Li Xin started chatting with Zhou Yuan.

"You're not from our city, are you?" Li Xin asked.

"My ancestral home is Yizhou."

Chen Qing pricked up his ears to listen. Yizhou seemed not far from his hometown. No wonder Zhou Yuan's accent seemed familiar to him.

"Then why did you come to us?"

"There is no one at home, and I want to change my life." Zhou Yuan seemed to be particularly patient, and he answered all the questions Li Xin asked.

"Ah? They're all gone?" Li Xin was surprised. Seeing that Zhou Yuan was not too old, how could his parents be gone?

"Yes. My grandmother was still alive before I went to the barracks. When I returned home, she was no longer here. My grandmother's biggest wish during her lifetime was to live in a place with mountains and water. Luohe Village is very good."

Chen Qing said silently Listening to this, I felt even more envious of Li Xin. He could chat so well with someone he met for the first time, unlike himself, who couldn't speak at all.

Listening to the way they chatted so enthusiastically, the topics they talked about seemed to be topics that the newlyweds only talked about when they got to know each other. My mother was worried too much and didn't need him to adjust it at all.

He had no choice but to lean on Li Xin and pretend to be asleep.

Seeing Chen Qing closing his eyes, Zhou Yuan stopped talking. When Li Xin asked him a question, he just said a few perfunctory hums, and his attitude changed as quickly as God's change of attitude.

Li Xin glanced at Chen Qing on his shoulder, and then at Zhou Yuan who was driving the car, and knew that what he thought was wrong between the two of them was not that he was overthinking it.

Chen Qing didn't know when he fell asleep. When he woke up, they had already arrived in the town. Li Xin rubbed his shoulders and looked at the pheasants and rabbits that Zhou Yuan put on the back of the cart.

"Are you going to sell it now? Do you know where to sell it?" Li Xin asked.

Zhou Yuan shook his head: "It's just in the market."

"The market is full of low prices, let me take you somewhere." Li Xin saw the clues between him and Chen Qing, and wanted to do her best Help him, after all, Chen Qing is his good friend.

Chen Qing cleared his throat and whispered, "Then I'll go buy my things first, and we'll meet up later."

He remembered his mother's words and wanted to create opportunities for them.

After speaking, he didn't wait for their answer and ran away as if he was being chased by someone.

"A Qing. Hey..." Seeing that he couldn't call Chen Qing back, Li Xin had no choice but to give up, "I'll take you to sell game."

He raised his head and saw Zhou Yuan still staring at Chen Qing's back: "Don't stare Come on! Hurry up and make money, how can you marry a husband if you don't make money!"