Chapter 148

The leftovers are for Heizi. Dogs in the country are like this. The owner eats dry food, and the dog drinks water. When the owner eats water, the dog usually goes hungry. The country dogs are used to starvation, but Zhao'er usually pays little attention to sunspots, no matter good or bad, he always feeds him.

Occasionally there are additional meals, of course, these are invisible to the human face.

Anyway, Mrs. Zhao saw Zhao'er picking food out of her pig's mouth and feeding it to the dog!

When she stepped out of the main room and saw this scene, her old face immediately pulled down, and she didn't see her scolding Zhao'er, so she stood in front of the door and shouted at the direction of the kitchen: "Let you feed the pigs!" It’s good for you, feed the food into the dog’s mouth, such a big person is not worth the fart, and eating for nothing is not enough.”

This clearly refers to Sang scolding Huai.

Mrs. Zhou didn't speak in the kitchen. Tao'er, who was sweeping the yard, looked up at Grandma, endured it and continued to sweep the yard. Mrs. Zhao didn't mention her name, who knows who she was scolding, if she stepped forward to intervene, she would only change her target and be scolded bloody.

These are lessons learned.

As soon as Zhao'er walked to the gate of the courtyard, she heard such scolding. She didn't show any weakness, and turned her head to look at Zhao with a smile: "Grandma, are you scolding Third Aunt? If you scold Third Aunt, Third Aunt But it’s too unfair. If you want to scold you, you should scold me. I scooped up the leftovers and planned to eat them for Heizi. I was thinking that Heizi would not be easy, so I would bring a rabbit to the house every now and then. You said we You can’t do something that wants the cows to work without giving them grass, don’t you think?”

Mrs. Zhao glared at Zhao'er angrily. She knew that this girl was not a cheap girl, so she scolded Mrs. Zhou, but she found her by herself. Just as he was about to say something, some of the women who passed by the gate of the courtyard smiled and said, "I saw Lian Xing's family so energetic early in the morning."

Someone next to him interjected: "Don't talk about it, Ren Zhao'er is right. How can there be a cow that works without giving it grass?"

"That's right, Lian Xing's family, it's almost enough. Everyone in the village doesn't like your big black dog. At this time when there is a rabbit shortage in the wild, it can fetch rabbits. What a smart beast. Usually In summer and autumn, voles, wild rabbits, and pheasants were often picked up at home, and they would be brought back if they didn’t eat them. If you don’t like Heizi, give it to our family, and your Uncle Shouxin has already taken a fancy to Heizi.”

This is a Lianxing family, Mr. Xue and his aunt, known as Aunt Shouxin. Although he is ten years younger than Mrs. Zhao, but he is of a higher seniority.

There are more than 200 households in Yuqing Village, with Xue and Zheng as the main surnames, and there are more than a dozen other households with mixed surnames. Since they all have the same surname, it is inevitable that every family is related, and some relationships can be pulled out of Wufu. But relatives are relatives, and when one is younger than others, one has to respect one another, so when this aunt Shouxin spoke, she sounded like an elder giving advice to younger generations.

Mrs. Zhao was terribly blocked by these words, even though she was scolding, she was really reluctant to let her give Heizi to others. Just like what these people said, Heizi did bring some wild animals to his house at ordinary times, regardless of size, fat or thin, he always eats meat, and it is not easy for country people to eat meat.

She kept a straight face and said nothing, but the trick in front of the door was on point: "Grandma Seven, this is not acceptable, Heizi is my lifeblood, you have made my lifeblood run away, I can't live anymore."

She smiled as soon as she said it, and said witty words in her mouth, and immediately made Aunt Shouxin laugh, pointing at her bit by bit, and said to others: "Look at this naughty girl, but she is not at all. You're welcome. Please, please, Seventh Grandma doesn't want you dog, so she won't take away my son's life."

After talking and joking, Zhao'er sent the women away with a smile, and then turned around to feed Heizi.

Mrs. Zhao glared at her, turned around and was about to enter the room, but just as she lifted her foot, she heard someone calling her from behind.

"Mom, why are you standing here?"

But Xue Cuiping, the eldest daughter of the Zhao family, came back.

Xue Cuiping's appearance is 60% similar to Zhao's, but she has a pair of big almond eyes. She looked like she was in her twenties, and she was wearing a washed-out blue floral jacket with a pair of red-coloured wide-leg trousers underneath. She was holding a bamboo basket in her hand, which was covered with a layer of cloth, and she couldn't see what was in it, and she was looking at Mrs. Zhao suspiciously.

This really means that Cao Cao and Cao Cao will be here soon. The old man said before that the Zhao family is planning to get someone to report to Shangshui Village. This will save trouble.

The mother and daughter walked into the house while talking, and soon disappeared behind the curtain of the main room door.

Zhao'er squatted there watching Heizi eat, stroking its big head with her hand, but she was a little curious about how her aunt came back in time for the busy farming season.

*

"This can't be done, mother, you are letting someone poke my spine!" In the main room, Xue Cuiping stood up after listening to Mrs. Zhao's words.

Mrs. Zhao hurriedly reached out to pull her, and at the same time gestured for her to keep her voice down so that no one could hear her.

"Why not? You are Gouzi's aunt, and you beat the younger brother and the second child. If this family says who the child wants to listen to, they will probably listen to you."

Mrs. Zhao's words are true. Xue Cuiping has been friends with her second child, Xue Qingsong since she was a child, and she and Mrs. Qiu also got along well when she was not married. When Xue Gouzi was born, she often hugged him.

Xue Gouzi has been shy and introverted since he was a child, and since his second wife left, he has become more silent and gloomy. He often doesn't see him say a word for ten days and a half months, and the members of the Xue family are only close to aunt Xue Cuiping.

"But..." Xue Cuiping was full of embarrassment, and secretly said in her heart that she shouldn't be coming back this trip. She never thought that she hadn't finished her business before going back to her mother's house, but this kind of thing would happen.

"Don't forget, your family Xingzi came to our private school, and your elder brother didn't care about you. Now your elder brother needs your help, why don't you want to ignore it, you are good, your elder brother is fine, The big house is promising, can it still make you suffer?"

"Why don't you tell the dog yourself, mother!"

Mrs. Zhao has never been a patient person. She can speak so softly because Xue Cuiping is her daughter. Seeing her daughter pushing back and forth like this, and poking her heart with words, she immediately exploded: "If your mother can go and tell him, is it still necessary for you? Your mother can say this, can you say it? If you let outsiders You know, what has become of this?"

Xue Cuiping was already irritated by her in-laws' affairs, and when she saw her mother scolding herself, she immediately became annoyed: "Hey, the whole family will not go, and I am an outsider who asked me to be this villain? Even if an outsider finds out, it's okay It’s no use for me to be an aunt, and the second elder brother’s family and adults are all dead, so why not force a child?!”

Seeing her daughter's voice getting louder, Mrs. Zhao was afraid that people would hear her, so she gave her a firm hand and scolded: "You are afraid that people will not hear you, right?"

Naturally, Xue Cuiping didn't want to have a falling out with her mother, so she muttered reluctantly: "Let me say, it's not your mother's business to be in charge of this matter, let the elder brother or sister-in-law handle the affairs of the elder brother's house by himself. Let others do all the bad things." , their family is innocent, there is such a thing!"

"Why are you talking about your elder brother? Your elder brother is a scholar, he wants to face and respect. Besides, he is ashamed of his second son, and he can't do such a thing."

Xue Cuiping's lips parted, and she pressed down her full stomach.

If he really felt ashamed of his second brother, would he still make such a fuss? In fact, over the years, Xue Cuiping has also seen through the behavior of this elder brother. If the elder sister-in-law is a smiley face, the elder brother is not a good person. Bad things have been done by others. It is obvious that their family has benefited, but they still pretend to be innocent.

But so what if she knew, she was a married woman after all, she couldn't shake the deep-rooted respect her parents had for her elder brother. As long as this kind of value is not broken for a day, the big house will always be the first in the family. In particular, she also has her own selfishness and her own reasons, so even if she knows what happened at home in the past two years, she can only ignore it against her conscience.

She brushed back the hair that fell on her cheeks, and said: "Mother, let's not talk about it, I came back this trip to borrow some wheat seeds, you also know my mother-in-law's disease, because I was in a hurry to raise money last year The money for the medicine, and no seeds left..."

Before she finished speaking, she was interrupted by Mrs. Zhao.

Mrs. Zhao patted her hard twice: "Borrowing wheat seeds again, do you think your mother's family has gold and silver, don't you? With so many sons in the Liu family, let you, a daughter-in-law, come back to dig out her mother's family!?"

"mother……"

"Those head-cutting things in the Liu family, a house full of losers, a bunch of incompetent bastards, who can't even support their mothers..." Mrs. Zhao scolded, and seeing Xue Cuiping crying, she beat her again. She said twice: "Go and deal with Gouzi, and mother will give you wheat seeds."

"mother……"

"Go, don't ink."

*

When he heard that his aunt had returned, Xue Gouzi felt a sense of fate in his heart.

Afterwards, when Xue Cuiping opened the door curtain and walked in with a smile, he surprisingly didn't feel sad at all.

When Xue Cuiping was talking, Xue Gouzi was not actually listening, he was just thinking about all the strange things in and out of the dream.

Xue Tingxiang also experienced such a thing back then, since his parents passed away one after another, he felt resentful towards Xue's family in his heart. And these grievances accumulated little by little under Dafang's hypocrisy and the acquiescence of his family members. Until this time, he still had the last bit of hope in his heart, but when even his closest aunt was standing on the opposite side, he completely collapsed in despair. Instead of being silent earlier, he chose to explode.

In fact, what Dafang and even the Xue family were waiting for was his outburst. As long as he raises this matter himself, countless big hats will be put on his head. He had no ability to resist at all, and these people were all his elders, so his anger and unwillingness were all strangled to death in his infancy.

This time, what happened in the dream happened again, what should he do?

Xue Cuiping's mouth was still opening and closing, it could be seen that she was a little guilty in front of this pale and frail nephew. But these guilty consciences were hidden behind her constantly opening and closing mouth. Xue Gouzi's eyes were indifferent, but someone beside him couldn't help it.

Zhao'er's face was ugly, but he still forced a smile: "Auntie, you see that the dog has been sick for a few days, and he just got better. He is not in good spirits. If there is anything to say, let's talk about it later."

In fact, Zhao'er knew that this day would come sooner or later, otherwise she wouldn't be desperately trying to make money recently. But when the malice between relatives approached a little bit, and it was her little man who forced it, Zhao'er couldn't ignore it.

She knew that it was the relatives who hurt people the most, and she had suffered this kind of pain. When mother left, she promised her that she would take good care of the little man, she made an oath.

At this moment, Zhao'er's eyes were stern, which was a sign that the female beast was going crazy.

Xue Cuiping was frightened by what Zhaoer saw in her eyes, she shook her head subconsciously, and smiled uncomfortably, she couldn't believe that a girl's eyes could be so scary.

"Zhao'er, Auntie is here to enlighten the dog. Auntie is also doing it for the good of the dog, and for the good of the family..."

"Auntie." Suddenly, Xue Gouzi spoke.

Interrupting Xue Cuiping's words also interrupted Zhao'er's explosion at a critical point.

Xue Cuiping hurriedly turned her head to look at him: "Dog, Auntie told you..."

"Auntie, I didn't understand what you said for a long time. What should the meaning of the family come first? Why does Kong Rong give up pears? What does elder brother need from me? Auntie, you don't know that elder brother has everything, grandma Uncles and aunts love him too, and they bought good pens, inks, papers and inkstones. Every time he uses paper for calligraphy practice, I can only practice calligraphy with branches and write on the sand. The paper I occasionally use is the worst quality Zhaoer bought. The rice paper, the ink drops on it and it is printed.

"Brother has a lot of books, but I only have a copy of "Children Learning Qionglin", which I bought when my father worked as a carpenter for a few months. I know that my reading is not as good as that of my elder brother, and my handwriting is not as good as that of my elder brother. So I dare not ask to be like him. I don’t have anything, I really don’t know what I can give up to my elder brother.”

Xue Gouzi's eyes were bright and moist, with a kind of bewilderment and doubt that was ignorant of the world. The envy in his expression implied inferiority, and there was also some sadness in the inferiority complex.

In particular, he had just recovered from a serious illness, his face was pale, and he was so thin that only a bone remained. He said such words that really made the sad witnesses cry.

These words left Xue Cuiping speechless, feeling distressed and ashamed of herself, feeling that she would have no face to see her second brother and sister-in-law if she died. But the situation at home is imminent. There are no seeds during the spring plowing, and the wheat seedlings are not cultivated in time. If this season is missed, the whole family will suffer from famine this year.

She suddenly hardened her heart, licked her lips and said, "Auntie is talking about going to the school in the town. You see, your handsome elder brother is better at studying than you. He is at the critical moment. You should give up as a younger brother. Anyway, you are one year younger than him, so it won't be too late to go again next year."

Zhao'er turned around abruptly, and picked up the stick behind the door.

At this moment, Xue Gouzi said again: "Why did you let me go? Didn't I have to go? Uncle asked you to come? Did he forget what he promised my father before he died? It turns out that uncle said Treating me like my own son is all fake..."

Zhao'er didn't finish the rest of the sentence, Shen Ping also understood.

He laughed, but he appreciated Zhao'er's frankness of not wanting to take advantage of others: "These were sold to a clothing store or an embroidery workshop, and the price was the same. Regardless of the quantity, there are not many good ones that can be sold at a reasonable price." The ones have already been picked away."

Zhao'er thinks about it too, the eyes of the county people are naturally different from those of the country people, let alone this kind of big pawn shop, what is bad in their eyes is actually good for the country people to see.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "I want the bag of clothes from Shopkeeper Shen, and I'll give you the money right now."

"Are you rich now?"

Of course she is rich, Zhao'er now has more than two taels of silver in total, and just now Su Lan gave her another five taels, which is naturally enough.

At the same time, Shen Ping laughed a little, "Well, I forgot that you had visited her before, so I came here, and she won't take advantage of me." The voice was very small, almost like a murmur, and Zhao'er only cared about it. I had to look at the clothes, but I didn't hear clearly.

"I'll find a guy to call a car for you, and you, a little girl, can't transport these things."

"Thank you, Shopkeeper Shen."

After seeing Zhao'er off, Shen Ping turned around and went into the pawn shop.

Although he is called the third shopkeeper, he is not the third shopkeeper of this store, but the third shopkeeper of the entire 'Herongsheng', and he will only stay in Xia County permanently under his deliberate request.

Shen Ping is the son of the Shen family, his father is the chief manager of the Shen residence, and he has been a servant with the third young master Shen Fu since he was a child. It was not until he became an adult that he was released to become a shopkeeper.

"If she comes again next time, just do as I told you before."

"Yes, shopkeeper."

*

Just after noon, the clerk Ah Cai came to deliver meals to Xue Tingxiang.

Boss Chen said it was simple food, but in fact the food was not bad, with one meat and one vegetable, and one soup. Xue Tingxiang knew very well that Boss Chen was taking care of him deliberately. How could anyone hire someone to copy books, take care of tea and food, and the wages they paid were not low.

It was because he knew it in his heart that he didn't say no. In this case, the refusal retained his character, but it seemed too petty and hypocritical.

It can only be repaid in the future, Xue Tingxiang thought lightly in his heart.

After eating, when the man came to clean up the dishes, he said that he could rest for an hour. There is a chaise longue available in this room, and of course you can go to the front to read a book to pass the time.

In fact, the latter sentence is the key point, Xue Tingxiang was not pretentious, after cleaning his hands, he went forward.

This store may not seem big, but it has a lot of books of all kinds, ranging from rural tales to books about the imperial examination, and there are many books about the imperial examination.

Since the former dynasty, the imperial examination has used eight-legged essays as the standard style, with strict regulations, and even restrictions on the length of sentences, the number of words, the level of rhymes, and even the scope of questions.

Stereotype essays take questions from the Four Books and Five Classics. It consists of eight parts: breaking the title, inheriting the title, starting the lecture, starting, starting the essay, middle section, back section, and binding the section. It seems rigid and rigid, but in fact it is not easy to do a good stereotyped essay. If you really think that only reading the Four Books and Five Classics is enough, you are wrong. Not to mention astronomy and geography, at least you have to be involved in all aspects, so that you can write a good article full of flowers and content.