Chapter 268

Hearing this, Zhao'er immediately stopped in his tracks, and said with a smile, "Master, there's something we can't let us know. Since the dog is here, I'll stay and listen too."

Mr. Xue glanced at her, changed his usual disposition, and said in a bad tone: "What are you doing here, a woman? You have a role to listen to when a man talks?!"

Zhao'er was not annoyed, but said aggrievedly: "Then how can the eldest aunt stay, she is not a woman? Besides, the dog can't talk, I don't look at it, I'm afraid that what he said will offend you." Lord."

In fact, her subtext was just to say that she was afraid that others would bully Xue Tingxiang, and no one present could hear it.

Mr. Xue stared at her. Now he really doubts that all this was made by this girl. He knew that Gou'er was a bored gourd, why didn't he go to the grave early and complained that he would not go later, but he went at this time.

Thinking of all the disobedient things this girl did in the past, Mr. Xue felt disgusted in his heart. But he also knew that now was not the time to vent his anger, but to settle the matter.

"Since you want to listen, then listen." The tone was the same as before, but anyone could hear the dissatisfaction in his voice.

Zhao'er couldn't hear it, so he stood aside.

Seeing this, Mrs. Sun hurriedly dragged Xue Qinghuai to stay.

"Since Zhao'er has stayed, let's stay and listen too." She laughed along with her.

Mr. Xue was immediately furious: "Since you want to listen, stay and listen."

So everyone stayed, including the four-year-old Mao Dan, and even Mrs. Zhou, who was busy in the kitchen, stayed behind under the guise of cleaning the table.

In the huge main room, only an oil lamp was lit on the square table. The wick was jumping and shadowy, and everyone's eyes were on Mr. Xue. But he suddenly didn't know where to start. He looked around everyone's faces with heavy eyes, and finally fell on Xue Tingxiang's face.

"Actually, it's nothing. I just want to talk about what the boss said a while ago that he wants to send the child to the school in the town."

Zhao'er was inexplicably nervous, and couldn't help but glance at Xue Tingxiang, and then went to see Mr. Xue.

Dafang and his wife were overjoyed, they knew this would happen, and it was not in vain for them to swallow their anger for many days.

Xue Qingshan couldn't hide the joy on his face, he looked at Xue Tingxiang with pity and compassion, then looked at other people, and finally fell on Xue Tingxiang.

"Dog, don't be discouraged. You are still much worse than your talented brother. You will study with uncle for another two years, and then the family will send you to the town to study."

This kind of tone was too stinging at this time, Zhao'er had a sneer on the corner of his mouth, and wanted to say something, but was pulled by Xue Tingxiang.

Xue Qingshan took all of this into his eyes, and satirized in his heart, no matter how difficult this girl's film is, she can only embarrass others on these trivial things, and it still doesn't work when it comes to big things. He smiled, and said to Zhao'er: "Zhao'er, don't be angry, uncle knows that you are high-minded, but high-mindedness can't be eaten, don't you?"

No one in the room said anything.

At this moment, Mr. Xue suddenly said angrily: "Boss, what are you talking about!"

Xue Qingshan didn't take it seriously: "Father, I'm not trying to persuade the dog not to be discouraged..."

Old man Xue's beard was shaking with anger, and he pointed at him with a cigarette pot: "You need to persuade, the one who is going to study in the town is not a handsome man, but a dog!"

As soon as these words came out, one stone really stirred up a thousand waves.

The room was silent for a moment, and soon Zhao's slightly shrill voice broke the silence.

"Old man, what are you talking about? What do you mean a person who is going to study in the town is not a talented person?"

Xue Qingshan also said: "Father, did you say the wrong person in a muddle?"

"Your father is not ignorant, and he didn't say anything wrong. The one who goes to study in the town is a dog, not a talent!"

After saying this, Mr. Xue seemed to have lost all his energy, and stopped talking. The eyes of the whole room kept looking back and forth at Xue Tingxiang and Xue Juncai, full of surprise.

Xue Qingshan's smile cracked, and Yang's face was full of surprise.

Xue Juncai's handsome face flushed red, "Grandfather..."

Mr. Xue waved his hand wearily: "Okay, let's all go back to the house."

With everything said like this, everyone had no choice but to leave, but Dafang's family still stayed behind.

As soon as everyone walked out of the main room, they heard a commotion inside.

"Old man, please speak clearly, what do you mean it is a dog who is going to study in the town, not my handsome talent!"

It was Zhao's voice.

There is also Xue Qingshan, mixed with Yang's aggrieved and sharp cries, and Mr. Xue's exhausted explanation.

No secrets can be hidden under one roof, so everyone knows what's going on.

*

Early the next morning, everyone got up.

But the spirit is not very good, it can be seen that he didn't sleep much at night. Especially Yang's eyes were a little red and swollen, and she looked like she was crying.

Xue Qingshan's eyes were also full of bloodshot eyes, he looked at Zhao'er and Xue Tingxiang with sinister eyes from time to time, but for some reason he didn't say anything.

The atmosphere was very depressing, no one spoke, everyone was there and doing what they were doing in an orderly manner, but the yard was surprisingly quiet.

After breakfast, Mr. Xue took his hoe and planned to go to the field. Xue Qingbai and Xue Qinghuai didn't dare to delay, one went to lead the cow out, the other picked up the iron plow, and followed him out the door.

Xue Qingshan didn't stay at home anymore, and then went out, but he didn't know where he went.

Unlike the rest of the Xue family, Zhao'er was very happy.

Since she learned the ins and outs of the matter from Xue Tingxiang last night, she has fallen into uncontrollable excitement. Don't say that she gloats, in her heart she should be a little man, and she is worrying about having no money in her hands, this news is tantamount to great joy for her.

Knowing that the schoolchildren who go to the academy are very particular, she purposely found a piece of blue cloth that had been kept at the bottom of the box for a long time. This is Qiu's dowry back then, and Qiu gave Zhao'er to make clothes, but unfortunately she has been reluctant to part with it, and now it is just right to use it as a school bag for Xue Tingxiang.

After cutting the cloth, she began to sew with needles and threads, talking to Xue Tingxiang without saying a word. At this moment, the door curtain was suddenly lifted.

It was Xue Youcai, the second boy of Dafang.

Xue Youcai was only seven years old this year, but he was born fat and thick, and he was obviously spoiled. After he came in, he scolded Xue Tingxiang: "Just like you, you are still grabbing things from my elder brother, and you have the same name as a dog. You are no smarter than a dog."

This kid's tongue is really poisonous, and he is also used to by the elder couple, and he has always been a bully at home, making everyone angry. I saw signs of it a few years ago, but it's a pity that Mrs. Yang has been protecting him, saying that he is still young and ignorant, but he has grown up in the past two years, but it is a pity that he is still ignorant.

Zhao'er doesn't like him, if anyone in this family beat Xue Youcai, it must be her. Xue Youcai was afraid of her, yet hated her, she stood up abruptly, before she could speak, Xue Youcai suddenly threw a bag of things in his hand. It hit the head and face, and it hurt people, and there was a strange smell in it.

Zhao'er was hit twice, she subconsciously tried to hide, thinking of Xue Tingxiang on the kang, she turned her back to protect him. Xue Tingxiang was unprepared, she hugged her upright, obviously it was not appropriate, but he felt blushing and heart beating.

After finally waiting for this wave to pass, Zhao'er let go of his hand, Xue Youcai had already run away, and the thing he used to hit them turned out to be dried cow dung.

Zhao'er was so disgusted that she ran after her.

She stopped Xue Youcai at the gate of the courtyard, grabbed him by the collar without saying a word, picked up a branch from a nearby wall, and lashed at him.

"If I don't beat you for three days, you dare to go to the house to expose the tiles..."

Xue Youcai struggled to run away, but Zhao'er was so painful that he was whipped. Crying and shouting, he sat down on the ground and lay down on the ground.

This looks like the posture that young children are accustomed to playing tricks on.

There was such a big commotion outside that everyone in the room was startled out.

Seeing Xue Youcai being beaten by Zhao'er, Mrs. Zhao exploded: "Who told you to beat my grandson, stop!"

Zhao'er ignored her and scolded: "Do you still dare to do it in the future? Why don't you learn how to throw bullshit like others! The words are quite vicious. Who taught you to speak like this? If you don't speak clearly today, I will not only Hit you, I will take you to the river to wash your mouth later..."

Mrs. Yang also came out, and she screamed: "Wang Zhaoer, you are crazy, you dare to hit Juncai!"

"Auntie, why don't you see what he has done? You didn't learn well at a young age, like some women who uttered obscene language and threw cow dung on people. I'll tell you now, your second brother has a name , called Xue Tingxiang, if you dare to tell me whether you are a dog or not in the future, I will beat you every time I see you!"

Xue Youcai cried until tears and snot came out, but unfortunately no one came up to rescue him. Zhao was so angry that she jumped up and down, Yang wanted to stop Zhao'er, but was stopped by Heizi.

You usually see this sunspot with a slumped head and no energy at all. He stopped in front of people, growled a warning in his voice, and showed his sharp teeth. Yang didn't doubt that if she dared to go forward, she would The dog would pounce on her and give her a bite.

At this moment, a surprised voice suddenly sounded outside the courtyard: "What are you doing?"

It was Xue Qingshan who came back from the outside, not only patriarch Xue and Zheng Lizheng, but also five or six villagers over half a hundred years old.

Seeing the situation at home like this, Xue Qingshan was surprised at first, then smiled wryly, and said to the people beside him: "I won't mention what outsiders say is right and wrong, just say that they are mean dogs, but there is absolutely no one Dare to do this. This girl has always been a pungent person, making troubles at home every now and then, if someone was really mean, she would have already caused a lot of trouble."

What you said made people feel inexplicable, but Zhao'er is not the master who allows people to slander, so he immediately retorted: "Uncle, what you said is a bit slandering. I usually respect the elders at home. What nonsense is it? There is a reason for beating this kid today, and he actually scolded..."

Having said that, she was interrupted by Yang.

She came over anxiously and distressed, snatched Xue Youcai from Zhao'er's hand and cried, "How old is he, how old are you? He is just not sensible at this age, and you still care about him... "

Yang Shi was crying, with a look of grievance and helplessness, Xue Qingshan was also sighing beside him, Zhao'er didn't know what the two couples were playing, it was over.

Her little face was flushed with anxiety, and she was about to explain again, when Xue Tingxiang who came out of the room grabbed her.

He took two steps forward, stood in front of Zhao'er, and first respectfully called Patriarch Xue, Zheng Lizheng and the few villagers. They are all from the same village, and you can't see them when you look up. As a junior, these are his elders.

After the proper etiquette passed, he explained to Yang: "I hope that my aunt will not be angry. Zhao'er was also impulsive. She saw that the boy called me the same name as a dog, and threw a lot of cow dung on me. That's why I hit the boy in a fit of anger."

Xue Tingxiang's behavior first gave people a good impression. As a scholar, you should be gentle and polite. Next, I will take advantage of the gap of the apology and explain the ins and outs of the matter in two sentences.

Zhao'er was not stupid, her mistake was that she was eager to explain everything clearly, so she couldn't help but talk too much, but Xue Tingxiang only talked about the main points and didn't mention anything else.

And he speaks very well, it is normal for children to be naughty, but it is worth considering when they are naughty enough to insult people as dogs, not to mention throwing cow dung on Xue Tingxiang, his elder brother. At the same time, it also explained for Zhao'er why she beat the talented boy so impulsively.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Patriarch Xue and the others inevitably turned to his side when they saw the forbearing expression on Xue Tingxiang's thin face.

As for the headache, even the doctor couldn't tell what the cause was.

After sending the doctor away, grandmother Zhao slapped her face on the spot.

She looked like she was in her fifties, with her gray hair neatly pulled back behind her head. With a long face, the eyelids are a little sunken, and when the face is pulled, it becomes a triangular eye, which looks particularly unfriendly.

Without Mrs. Zhao's words, Mrs. Sun said: "Zhao'er, it's not the fourth aunt talking about you, you girl likes to make a fuss. Could it be that you deliberately torment us all, even if you don't like it..."

Before she finished speaking, she was pulled by the man Xue Qinghuai.

"Okay, let's say a few words less, Zhao'er is not ignorant, and besides, the dog is already sick, so it's better to find a doctor to take a look, so the family can rest assured."

"I said less and said less, and I didn't say anything..."

"You also said..."

The couple went out while chatting and tugging. The eldest aunt Yang smiled at Zhao'er, and then said to the mother-in-law: "Mother, let's go too, let the dog have a good rest."

Mrs. Zhao glanced at the dog on the kang, snorted coldly, turned her head and left. It can be seen from her posture that she is very angry.

In fact, it is true. The Xue family can't be called a rich family. It costs at least one or two hundred dollars to invite a doctor from the town. ! In particular, the doctor's pulse just now confirmed Zhao's guess that Xue Gouzi was deliberately pretending to be ill, and it was only strange that she was happy.

Let Mrs. Zhao see that the two little boys in the second room are deliberately torturing the family, but since the eldest daughter-in-law has come forward to persuade her, Mrs. Zhao will naturally not say more.

Generally speaking, among the three daughters-in-law of the Xue family, Yang is the one who wins Zhao's heart the most. The eldest has an unusual status, and Zhao is willing to show the eldest daughter-in-law some face.

After Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Yang left, only the third uncle Xue Qingbai and the third aunt Zhou were left in the house. The two were not used to talking much, and they didn't stay long, Zhao'er thought that the third uncle had worked hard just now, so he sent the two of them out with a smile.

When he turned his head and came back, he saw Xue Gouzi lying on the kang with his eyes open, his eyes staring blankly, as if he had lost his mind.

She didn't think much about it, she came to the side of the kang and patted his head: "Dog, don't think too much, they don't believe that you are sick and have a headache, sister believes you. Take care of your illness and don't think about it anymore. "

Xue Gouzi glanced at her, his mouth was dry and his throat was tight: "Zhaoer..."

"What's wrong? Is there something uncomfortable?"

Feeling these undelicate but very warm hands touching his head and face, Xue Gouzi had a sense of reality and gratitude that he had never had before.

She wasn't dead, and neither was he.

Although he didn't like some of her daily actions, and even hated her as his child bride-in-law, but he never thought of letting her die, so how could he be the one who killed his wife and son.

But Xue Gouzi was still very flustered, because that dream was too real. After going through that dream for more than seventy years, it seemed that he had also experienced that life. But after waking up from the dream, the vicissitudes of life have changed, and he dare not look back.

"Zhaoer..."

"Why!"

"Zhaoer..."

"Um."

"Zhaoer..."

A hot stream suddenly flowed out unconsciously from the dry eye sockets.

This scared Zhao'er quite a bit, and he didn't care to think that the little man would never call her that, let alone let himself get close to him. He hugged his head into his arms and asked him anxiously up.

Seeing that he didn't speak, but just buried himself in his arms and cried, Zhao'er couldn't help but wonder if those people made him think too much just now. According to Zhao'er, the little man has a lot of things on his mind, and he never speaks out, otherwise he wouldn't have this serious illness.

She patted him on the back, hugged him like she did when she was a child, and comforted him: "Don't be afraid, dog, even if they don't send you to study, sister will send you there, and sister will send you even if she sells everything." go."

*

After all, Xue Gouzi had just recovered from a serious illness, and after experiencing such an incident, he fell asleep after drinking some porridge for dinner.

Zhao'er covered him with a quilt before tidying up the basket she had just brought back.

The back basket is full of needlework and cloth, which are rags that Zhao'er bought in the embroidery workshop in the town. The reason why I started this business was because I used to recruit children to carry the finished purses for the women in the village to sell in the embroidery workshop.

There is no adult in the second room. Although the family is in charge of eating, after all, the pen, ink, paper and inkstone used by Xue Gouzi to study, as well as the clothes, bedding and some odds and ends of the two people on weekdays, etc., all need money.

Wanting to ask for money from Mrs. Zhao is more expensive than ascending to the sky, and although the uncle Xue Qingshan is determined to treat his nephew as if he were his own, but Zhao'er usually only sees the big family's child with greasy lips, and Xue Juncai never Lack of pens, ink, paper and inkstones. In contrast, the little man was as thin as a bamboo pole, and he picked up a bald pen that Xue Qingshan didn't use back then.

Zhao'er has always been a strong one, she couldn't bear to wrong the little man, so she could only find money everywhere by herself. There was no opportunity to make money in the countryside, so she went to the town to look around, as long as it was within her power and did not require capital, she would try to do it.

In the past few years, she has collected vegetables from the village and sold them in the town, picked up work from the embroidery workshop and assigned them to women with good craftsmanship in the village, and usually went to the mountains to find mountain products to sell.

And now this business has been done several times, Zhao'er has a sweet mouth and a thick face, the boss of the embroidery workshop can't hold her back, so he sells the unwanted rags to her in bags. She took it back, sorted and cut it, and then asked the women in the village to help make purses and other things, and she could earn a lot of money by reselling them in the embroidery workshop. It is much better than before just receiving the purses made by others, and earning a penny for a few purses.

If he hadn't made some money from doing this business, he didn't know when Xue Gouzi would recover from his serious illness. Mrs. Zhao would have given up the money to take the medicine a long time ago. I still have to hide it, for fear that other members of the Xue family will find out.

Thinking of this, the corners of Zhao'er's mouth tightened.

She has always been agile in her hands and feet, and seeing that she picked out some usable cloth heads, she stopped tossing about. I chose clean ones and spread them out on a square table, and cut these strangely shaped cloth heads into a uniform shape with scissors.

This is calculated by Zhao'er herself based on the amount of fabric needed to make a purse, no more and no less, she will not take out these rags for people to see.

It is not easy for country people to earn a penny. If someone finds out, the designated way to earn money will be robbed within a few days.

Zhao'er also wants to use this to make money for the little man to go to the town to study, so that she can only go to see Xue Jun, and her little man can also go. Zhao'er has always been prepared with both hands when doing things, and she knows in her heart that the big house will never let such a good thing happen to the little man.

It is better to ask for others than to ask for yourself, and it is better to rely on yourself than to rely on mountains and rivers.

Zhao'er has understood this truth since she was seven years old when she was going to be exchanged for money by her grandmother and father.

After Zhao'er finished what she was doing, seeing the little man was fast asleep, and seeing that it was already dark outside, she wrapped the cloth she had arranged in something, and hurried out with it.