The Little Widower (farming)

18

Chen Qing immersed himself in work: "What can Uncle Li say?"

"What can my father say?" Li Xin pouted, "He said that his family was poor back then and he sent his father to forge. If he didn't give enough money, his grandmother would return to her parents' home. He even said no, but his grandmother's cousin happened to come home at this time. Hearing about this, she took off a bracelet and gave it to her. Then my father went to learn blacksmithing. Later, my father learned how to blacksmith. Remember I wanted to repay this cousin according to my grandmother's last wish, but I don't know where my cousin's family has moved, so the matter has been dropped. Now that he is here, my father has to remember this kindness. "

Chen Qing nodded: "After all, his grandmother was kind to Uncle Li."

"It's not a problem to provide for a scholar, but I just feel like how did he get to this position as a grown man." Li Xin said, "It's better than I'm still two years older, can't I support myself?"

"Maybe there is something hidden?" Chen Qing said.

"I don't know, oh no, I don't care." Li Xin took a sip of the water that Aunt Sun had cooled, "He doesn't live in our house anyway."

Blacksmith Li is naturally not forging iron at his own home. If he were, the ding would be clanging. The sound will definitely make the neighbors dissatisfied, so he has a separate shop. He goes to blacksmith during the day and closes it at night.

There is an unmarried brother at home, so naturally we can't keep him at home and put him in the shop. It's good to be able to help him look around the shop at night.

So Qi Shuning lived in the blacksmith shop. During the day, when Blacksmith Li was forging iron, he went out to study. At night, when Blacksmith Li came home, he stayed in the shop, and everything was peaceful for a while.

As for the food, Tiejiang Li brought it there early in the morning.

Li Xin looked at Chen Qing's already red fingers and looked around the whole yard. There were still many, many corns: "How long will it take to peel this?"

"This year's harvest is good, less than half more than in previous years. Try to get more corn in the future. " Peel the ones that need to be paid before tax collection, and then peel the rest slowly. Anyway, it will be fine in winter. "

Their current process of peeling corn is that Aunt Sun first uses scissors to make a stripe of corn, and then they follow it smoothly. It saves a lot of effort to peel it along the marked line, but after all, there are only two people, and it still takes a lot of effort to finish it.

Not to mention the yard in Zhou Yuan's house.

"Okay." Li Xin continued peeling, but he couldn't sit still and stood up after a while. "I'm going to do some activities."

Chen Qing nodded, knowing that his mind was not on working for his family, and Chen Qing also He didn't stop him. Ever since he untied himself, he didn't seem to have such a sour feeling anymore. After all, the corn on the ground was his future.

"Is Li Xin out?" Aunt Sun came in and was very pleased to see Li Xin go to the next door. "I saw it not long ago, and it's time to have a happy event."

Chen Qing nodded.

Aunt Sun sat next to him and peeled corn with him: "This year's harvest is more than last year. I thought, after paying the tax, I can sell the rest."

Chen Qing raised his head, a little puzzled.

Aunt Sun said: "I want to save more money, and after this year's filial piety period, I still want to find a marriage for you."

Chen Qing was so frightened that the corn in his hand fell into the basket, and he quickly shook his head: " " Mom, no, I don't want to get married. I will stay with you."

"What are you talking about? You are still so young and want to spend your whole life with an old bitter melon?" Aunt Sun laughed at him, "We will have more dowry then." After all, I don't think I care about you bringing him over. "

Chen Qing still shook his head: "I don't want to get married, I will take care of you at home."

From the moment Aunt Sun bought him home, he said. I decided to honor her for the rest of my life.

"There is no conflict between marrying and being filial to me. Do you think you won't come back to see me once you get married?"

"No, I won't marry!"

Aunt Sun knows Chen Qing's character. She thinks more and speaks less, and she is so delicate. You have to break down a sentence and think about it word by word: "From the moment you walked in, I treated you as my own child, not to mention that now that Taozi is gone, the two of us depend on each other for life. As mothers, , I also hope you can find someone you can rely on."

"Mom, we have been here for the past five years, so I don't need to get married.

" Aunt Sun stopped trying to persuade him and concentrated on her work.

On the other side, Li Xin wandered over to Zhou Yuan. He didn't go in, but just knocked on the door.

Zhou Yuan came out and saw Li Xin: "What's the matter?"

"Can you make tools?" Li Xin got straight to the point.

"What tool?" Zhou Yuan asked.

"It's just easier to peel the corn kernels." Li Xin pouted, "I see that Chen Qing's hands are red. If he really wants to finish peeling the corn kernels with his hands, his hands will have to lose a layer of skin."

Zhou Yuan squatted He came down, picked up a piece of corn from the ground, and looked at it carefully. Many things flashed through his mind, so he simply sat on the ground, holding the corn in his hand, and thought slowly.

Li Xin just helped to carry the message, and after finishing speaking, he returned to Chen Qing's house, sat down and continued to help him shell corn.

Chen Qing looked at his sunburned face and asked him to drink some water.

Li Xin said: "After paying the tax and peeling the corn, let's go up the mountain? We can pick up mushrooms after the rain."

"Okay." Chen Qing promised him that in previous years, he would start after harvesting the corn. Planting wheat for the second season gives them two days of free time. They go to the mountains every year to find wild mushrooms, eat them fresh and then dry them in the sun, and store them until the dull winter. A little different flavor.

Li Xin clearly remembers the location of every mushroom on the mountain. Every year he takes Chen Qing there, and the two of them share the location in half.

Chen Qing has been shelling corn at home these days. At night, Aunt Sun brought an oil lamp over and said, "It's time to rest."

Chen Qing nodded: "Right away."

Seeing that he had no intention of going to sleep, Aunt Sun She sat down next to him and took his hand. The pulps of several fingers were already red. She got up and found some medicinal oil from the room. She took Chen Qing's hand and rubbed it for him.

"Sorry for your pain." Aunt Sun sniffed, "If I hadn't bought you back..."

"If you hadn't bought me back, Ren Yazi would have sent me to a brothel." Ren Yazi He is not a good person. People who have been unable to sell for several years will naturally send them to those places. Especially Chen Qing. His appearance is not what ordinary people like, but if he is sent to a place like that, he will naturally have a hobby. of.

"Mom, I'm really fine now." Chen Qing glanced at his hand, "If Mom feels sorry for me, I want to eat a sugar-watered egg tomorrow."

Aunt Sun touched his hair: "Okay, I just took the medicine "Let's rest first, don't rush at this time."

Chen Qing seems to have changed a bit these days, becoming more cheerful, as if some shackles have been removed.

"Okay, I'll wash up."

Because he was so tired these past few days, Chen Qing almost fell asleep on the bed and had no dreams all night.

The next day he was awakened by the sound of voices outside the door. He was still a little confused when he got up in the morning. After getting dressed and walking to the yard, he saw Zhou Yuan standing at the door. Aunt Sun took a rub from his hand. Clothes board.

Chen Qing yawned, walked to the door, called mother in a soft voice, and looked at the washboard in her hand. It seemed that it was not the one at his house: "What is this?"

The washboard in their house only has two protrusions, but the one in Aunt Sun's hand has protrusions from top to bottom. It seems like you can't use so much for washing clothes, right?

Zhou Yuan stared at the strand of hair that stood up because of his poor sleeping posture, then picked up a corn from the ground and showed it to him. When the originally round corn passed the protruding part of the wooden board, it swayed slightly. As soon as he exerted force, the corn kernels came off under the friction: "It should be much faster than peeling it with your hands."

Chen Qing's eyes widened. He had never thought that a washboard could be used to peel it. Where's the corn?

Zhou Yuan picked up a basket with corn in it with one hand, tilted the washboard, and then sat down. After doing so, the corn kernels fell into the basket like rain: "Do this, it will be quick."

Chen Qing squatted Beside him, Chen Qing, who was watching him shell corn and came out right after getting up, did not comb his hair. At this moment, a gust of mountain wind blew, and Chen Qing's slightly long hair swayed on Zhou Yuan's wrist, making people's hearts tremble every time. trembling.

Zhou Yuan lowered his eyes to see.

The ends of his hair were a little dry and had split ends. Zhou Yuan thought of the horse owned by the general in the barracks. Because of proper care, the horse's mane was smooth and smooth, which was much better than Chen Qing's hair. .

He looked sideways at Chen Qing and saw that Chen Qing was eager to try.

Zhou Yuan stood up and asked him to try.

Chen Qing's strength was smaller than Zhou Yuan's, but he could easily grind the corn until only the cobs remained. Chen Qing exclaimed: "This is so easy to use. Why didn't we know about it before?"

They also thought. There is a way, but it is limited to rubbing corn cobs with corn cobs. It can be a little faster, but Chen Qing's hands are small, so it is of no big use. With this washboard, he is confident that he can finish the corn soon. .

Seeing that Chen Qing was about to start working without combing his hair, Aunt Sun quickly brought out a bowl of eggs in sugar water from the kitchen: "Eat before working. I didn't act coquettishly and say I wanted to eat yesterday.

" Shirdi walked away from the basket and took the bowl from Aunt Sun's hand. There was a poached egg in it. The sugar used was brown sugar that he bought a long time ago. It was a little dark in color but had a strong fragrance.

Chen Qing took a sip of the sweet soup and felt a warm current sliding down his body, making him feel much more comfortable.

Zhou Yuan greeted them and said he was going home. Chen Qing looked up from the bowl and found a circle of black and blue under his eyes.

"Didn't you sleep last night?" Chen Qing asked.

Zhou Yuan was a little surprised when he heard Chen Qing asking him, because Chen Qing had never talked to him without talking, but today he took the initiative to ask about his situation.

When something goes wrong, there must be a monster.

Zhou Yuan turned around to look at him and saw him holding a bowl of sugar-watered eggs. His eyes were clear and clean, which was different from the way he looked at him before.

Zhou Yuan put his hands behind his back before answering him: "I stayed up late last night to do this."

After Li Xin left yesterday, he had been studying what kind of tool to make, but he had never farmed before. It doesn't even produce corn, so I have no clue for a while.

Until he saw the washboard that Aunt Sun brought to him a few days ago and saw the lines on it, he immediately became interested.

It wasn't a very complicated job, but it took a lot of time. By the time he finished it, it was already getting cold. Without thinking much, he arrived in front of Chen Qing's house.

"Ah?" Chen Qing exclaimed, "Then go home and rest quickly, Li Xin won't be here today."

Zhou Yuan frowned, what does it have to do with Li Xin?

Chen Qing is very different today, and this difference makes Zhou Yuan feel a little uneasy.

I don't know why he changed, but some things should be put on the agenda earlier.