The moon is cold and frozen, and there is a goose feather snow on the twenty-sixth year of the year, and the catkins-like snowflakes are sprinkled for a day and a night, and the sky and the earth are completely colored, and they are covered in silver.

Qin Ji Shop closed as early as the beginning of the lunar month, and the Yaojia Restaurant also closed on the 20th of the lunar month.

The originally lively town became much quieter in this white snowy day, as if all the noisy strife was cut off by this thick snow and became spotless.

The occasional sound of firecrackers seems to remind people that the festival is coming, and it is a good year.

Qin Si'an was wearing a thick light blue embroidered jacket leaning against the window, holding the hand stove that her mother bought for her, listening to the crackling sound in the brazier from time to time in the room, quietly in a daze, she occasionally turned her head to look at Qin Siping in the bookcase, he has been sitting like this these days reading books.

"Hah-"

"It's tired and cold to sit, get up and pacing?" Qin Si'an looked at Qin Siping, who was yawning and stretching his waist, "Do you want a hand stove?"

"Well, that's fine. Qin Siping stretched his frozen and somewhat stiff body, stood up, took the hand stove, and paced back and forth in the room.

"Anyway, if you're idle, I'll tell you a joke?" Qin Si'an looked at his lazy brother and smiled.

"Well, that's a good feeling, let's have one. Qin Siping's eyes lit up, and he suddenly came to his senses, since he was a child, he likes to listen to stories or jokes told by his sister, which are interesting and tight, and he never gets tired of listening to them.

"Anyway, one day, a master wanted to test the progress of the students, so he took out the exam papers and distributed them to the three students under his door.

Qin Si paused for a moment, didn't wait for Qin Siping to answer, and continued, "It turns out that among the three people, one person copied the question and only wrote the word 'go'; the other person was even lazier and only copied the test question and wrote nothing else; the last person didn't even copy the exam question at all. “

"Oh?" Qin Siping listened, "Then shouldn't this master be angry?"

"Not really. Qin Si'an agreed, and then changed the topic, "But this exam matter, this rich and noble family who invited the master can save it, if they know that it is like this, tsk, it is small to lose face and lose their jobs, wouldn't this result show their incompetence? “

Qin Si'an made all kinds of sorrows.

"Then what happened?" Qin Siping hurriedly urged.

"The master thought about it and had no choice but to wave his pen and take the student who copied the title and wrote the word 'and go' as the first, and criticized, 'But if you look at the word and go, you must be full of economy.'" Then he took the one who copied the title as the second, and commented, "The transcription is error-free, which shows that it can be made." In the end, the one who handed in the blank scroll was taken as the third, and he criticized, "It is not easy to write, which shows that he is cautious." The matter was finally settled, and the Master never mentioned the word examination again. Qin Si'an finished the paragraph in one breath, and his expression was as steady as Mount Tai.

"Haha-" Qin Siping laughed breathlessly, tears welled up in his eyes, no, he couldn't hold back, he was ridiculous, haha.......

Seeing Qin Siping smiling back and forth, Qin Si'an let go of his tense nerves and laughed, no way, you have to pay attention to this when you tell jokes, there was laughter in the audience, and there was a silent pomp and circumstance on the stage.

"Look at the two of you," Meng Niang entered the room with a smile, put the plate in her hand on the table, and beckoned the two of them to come over to eat. The plate was filled with peanuts, melon seeds, candy and preserves.

No matter how little food and clothing are spent on weekdays, everyone will add some new things during the New Year, such as new clothes, new shoes, new bedding, etc., and then buy a few catties of candy peanuts and other snacks, with poultry that have been raised for a year before being slaughtered near the end of the year, so as to symbolize a good harvest year and celebrate the abundance of the coming year.

Of course, the rich and noble will be more prepared.

Throughout the winter, Meng Niang was not idle, either fried dumplings and hemp leaves, fried vegetable balls, or dried vegetables and pickles, salted fish and meat, the family has become richer in the past two years, and naturally this year's goods are more complete.

Qin Si'an and his brother sat at the small table in front of the window, chatting while knocking melon seeds.

"Time flies so fast, it's the New Year again. Qin Siping sighed, he was twelve years old. said that it is not big, it is not small, Simeng, who is slightly older than him, is only fourteen years old, and now he is married.

"Time passes, time flies, and it can't be stopped. Qin Si'an also sighed a little.

"An An, have you thought about the future?" Qin Siping looked out the window, his gaze was far away, he had been reading books for a long time recently.

"Hmm. Qin Si'an nodded, every step she took now was getting closer to the future she wanted. From the helplessness when she first came here, to the peace of mind later, every step she took was within her plan.

"What kind of future does my brother want?" she looked at Qin Siping, who was a little distracted, since she met Wang Mingyu half a year ago, his brother had become different, and he would always be quietly distracted when he was silent.

"What do you think my life will be? I will read sage books all my life, take the Xiucai exam, take the Jinshi exam, become an official, marry a woman with a comparable door, and then keep trying to climb up?" Qin Siping frowned slightly, and the faint loneliness between his eyebrows stinged Qin Si'an's eyes.

She suddenly remembered the conversation with Cheng Chi in Yao's restaurant that day.

Cheng Chi, who has gone through the vicissitudes of life, seems to have been reborn, without the previous bleak and bleak, and without the sadness of discouragement.

Qin Si'an looked at him sitting quietly at the table, and he couldn't recognize him for a while.

The thin figure stood straight, and he said, Thank you Qin Si'an.

Can you tell me why. He asked casually, with an intoxicating smile on the corner of his mouth.

She remembers that at that time, she sat at the table casually, poured herself a cup of tea, and drank comfortably, "I once had a friend who had a big business, and his life was stylish, tasteful, well, and very unique, many people did things for her, and she was idle and moldy." The most important thing is that she nagged in my ear when she had nothing to do, saying that she was bored to death and didn't know what to do. In addition to wanting to beat her every day, I unexpectedly also wanted to live this life. “

Qin Si'an was inexplicably melancholy.

In this way, heh-the young man's thin lips lifted lightly, and in an instant he swept away the turbulent undercurrent in his eyes, and his eyes became calm and clear, if this is your request, I will grant it.

Human nature is only revealed in times of stress and conflict.

At that moment, he said he had it.

didn't say yes, didn't say yes, but said yes, as if the two words fluttering, with a lifetime of promise, have weight.

Now that I think about it, is his near future also determined by himself so lightly and casually?

"Brother, I'm sorry. If it weren't for the fact that she had planned to train him on this path since he was a child, maybe he wouldn't be as confused as he is now.

"Silly girl, it has nothing to do with you, what kind of apologies do you say. When Qin Siping heard this, he couldn't help but touch Qin Si'an's head with amusement, he was not as tall as his sister before, but now he is a head taller than her.

"Studying and entering the career is the right way, your brother and I are like a mirror in my heart. He squinted, his eyes had long since lost the previous loneliness, "I just read the grass in my heart, I want to complain, your brother and I want to rely on the glory brought by reading in the future, to act as a big-tailed wolf!"

"Ah Wu, I don't seem to have seen that kid since the first day of junior high school, where did I go?" Qin Siping studied today, the door did not go out, the second door did not enter, and the meals were all in the room, and today I remembered that there were few people in the family.

"I don't know," Qin Si'an pursed his lips, "I haven't been able to see him recently." “

"It's strange, isn't he like a child husband on weekdays, does he always follow you, why don't you know?" Qin Siping pondered.

"Do you think your brother-in-law wants to go crazy?" Qin Si'an glanced at him, "What, I'm afraid I won't be able to get married?"

"It's not like I'm afraid you'll hang yourself on a tree with a crooked neck, so I'd like to find you a few more. Qin Siping quipped, "Hey, don't say it, this kid is quite good-looking, don't look taciturn, he is quite reliable in doing things, and everything he has done for me is very satisfying, except for the unknown origin...... Well, maybe it's just an unlucky child whose parents are dead, you see, I thought, it's not bad to recruit him as a door-to-door son-in-law. “

"Qin Siping......." Qin Si'an was furious, "Uncle Chen, who sells bean brain flowers next door, his eldest daughter Douhua has been thinking about you for a long time, and I will invite her to sit tomorrow." “

"Don't ——— I'm wrong, look at my mouth, look for a fight. Qin Siping pretended to slap himself in the mouth, "Hehe, I'll read a book, read a book, read a book........."

Qin Si'an pouted, turned his face away, and ignored him no longer.

Ah Wu, the boy she bought back unintentionally, remembers that she asked the little guy in Zhuyulou where he came from, and the other party said that he just picked it up by chance, because he was covered in injuries at the time, so the boss had a chance to catch it, and he was afraid that he would escape, so Fang discounted one of his legs and tied it with a chain.

"Maybe I'm leaving. Qin Si'an sighed, he was going to leave after all.

On the evening of the twenty-ninth day of the year, Ah Wu came back, except for Meng Niang who asked where he went, no one else asked. He has become a little taller, perhaps because of his martial arts training, and he is much taller than his peers.

A large pot of meat dumplings came out of the oven, around the square table, each person served a bowl, everyone ate the dumplings hot, and the room was steaming.

During this period, Qin Siping and Ah Wu both ate the dates wrapped in dumpling skins, and Meng Niang happily took out the red envelopes prepared before and gave them one each.

After eating, Qin Si'an's father and mother went to visit the neighborhood, leaving the three of them bored, sitting on the steps of the corridor and chatting, occasionally there would be threes and threes, children with lanterns came to say goodbye, and Qin Si'an would give them some candy and peanuts.

Ah Wu looked at Qin Si'an next to her, the occasional fireworks set off her fair face flickering, under the long and slightly curly eyelashes, a pair of eyes as clear as morning dew, with a little smile.

She chatted with Qin Siping from time to time, but her eyes never left the sky, and every time the fireworks dispersed, she would happily beckon them to take a look.

At that moment, Ah Wuhao wanted to buy a lot of fireworks and show her, how much he wanted to keep her eyes full of stars, how much he wanted to keep looking at her like this.

"I ........" Ah Wu seems to have thousands of words, but he doesn't know how to say it.

"You're leaving. "It's not a doubt, it's a certainty. Qin Si'an looked at the sky and did not turn his head.

”........ Be. Ah Wu nodded, silent.