"Grass your mother's eight calves!" Li Rongxi had tears in his eyes, covered the bridge of his nose and jumped to his feet and scolded, it was so painful that he felt that the entire bridge of his nose was mashed.

"Dare to grab Lao Tzu's things, see Lao Tzu peel your skin!"

"Hehe, Brother Xizi, you can keep your eyes open. Zhang Xiaopaw stood ten steps away, ostentatiously shaking the paper lot in his hand at Li Rongxi, and then stuffed the paper lot into his mouth amid Li Rongxi's angry scolding, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing

"Little bastard!" Li Rongxi looked at Zhang Xiaopaw's smug appearance, only to feel that the seven orifices were smoking, and the whole person was about to catch fire, and scolded angrily: "Your mother's head was kicked by a donkey, and you don't meet the conditions for entering the mountain. ”

"Hehe, the village chief's grandfather has already agreed for me to enter the mountain. So, it's not in vain to rob it. Zhang Xiaopaw squeezed proudly at Li Rongxi.

Li Rongxi eagerly turned his head to look at the old village chief.

The old village chief coughed dryly, didn't make eye contact with him at all, and shouted at the crowd: "If you catch the quota, go to Uncle Liu to register for it, and then go home and prepare well, and set off early tomorrow morning." ”

Li Rongxi was angry, rolled up his sleeves and shouted: "Don't stop Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu is going to pick up Zhang Xiaopai's skin!"

"Yes, yes, rip off his skin!"

"Fight, fight, whoever wins will go into the mountain!"

"Get out of the way, get out of the way!"

Li Rongxi thought too much, not only did no one pull him, but a group of old men didn't think it was a big deal to see the excitement, and shouted for him to have a fight with Zhang Xiaopaw, and the venue was let out.

Li Rongxi was not intimidated, he rushed at Zhang Xiaopaw, grabbed Zhang Xiaopaw's collar and threw him to a big horse, so painful that Zhang Xiaopaw jumped to his feet and scolded, and fought back.

The two scuffled together, you punched me, I punched, I kicked you, the fight was so lively, and the onlookers kept clapping and applauding.

In the end, the winner was divided in Zhang Xiaopaw's begging for mercy, but Zhang Xiaopaw was killed in the quota that could enter the mountain, Li Rongxi was helpless, and kicked Zhang Xiaopaw's ass a few times, and then angrily pulled his mother-in-law home.

On the way home, Li Rongxi's mother-in-law looked at the dust on his body, as well as the miserable appearance of his blue nose and swollen face, and was very distressed in her heart, and couldn't help complaining: "Xiaopu, this child, I don't know how serious it is, I see that I beat you, and I won't be able to see anyone when it's swollen." ”

"Hmph, he's no better. Li Rongxi said stupidly, glanced at his mother-in-law, saw that her face was dark, and she seemed to have a lot of grudge against Zhang Xiaopaw, and sighed and said: "Do you know why Xiaopaw robbed me and fought with me unreasonably?"

The mother-in-law shook her head.

"It's not because our baby is sick, he knows that I will worry about the baby after entering the mountain, but if I make it clear in front of the big guy, I will not agree to give him the quota for the sake of face, so he came up with a way that not only does not sweep my face, but also makes me have to give up the quota in and out of the mountain. Look at the shriveled calf when he begged for mercy, he was obviously pretending. If you roll up your sleeves and do it really well, I won't be able to beat him up together. ”

"Really, fake, is he so good at fighting?" the mother-in-law didn't believe it, you must know that the man in her family is three years older than Zhang Xiaopu, who has just come of age today.

"Hehe, this stinky boy is naturally powerful, and he can throw the grinding disc more than two feet with one stroke, and he can endure it greatly. If it weren't for that, how could the old village chief agree to him entering the mountain. Not much to say, let's accept this love and slowly return it in the future. ”

"Hmm" The mother-in-law nodded vigorously and said, "Don't you still have half a pot of wine, I'll find a way to fry a dish in the evening, and you can go and have a drink with the pawn brothers." Today is his coming-of-age ceremony, and he should drink to celebrate. ”

The people of Liujia Village are like this, if you treat me well, I will treat you better. Everyone gets together and digs out each other's hearts, and life is naturally harmonious and beautiful.

When the drought is in place, every household has little food in stock, and in order to save only one meal a day or even two days, they are tightening their belts to live, hoping to survive. But today is different, and at noon, the stoves of each house are lit. White smoke rose from the chimney, and the smell of rice wafted through the air. Tomorrow the men will go into the mountains to hunt, and they will prepare enough dry food for them. Those who did not meet the conditions and failed to draw a quota to enter the mountain, needless to say, took out all the best in the family.

Zhang's home is in the westernmost part of the village, with three mud-walled thatched-roof houses built for him by his uncles and uncles in the village.

In the yard, Zhang Xiaopaw took out the only half bag of wheat left at home, prepared to grind it into flour to make cakes, and took it to eat on the road.

He planted the wheat himself, and the land on which he planted the wheat was a wasteland which he had cultivated. He is alone, nothing else, but he has an inexhaustible strength, and it is not a matter of clearing the wasteland and plowing the land. It's a pity that the drought caused the land to be planted, otherwise he would have planned to open up another three acres of wasteland in one go this year.

Zhang Xiaopai poured the wheat into a wooden basin and poured water to soak it. With this little bit of wheat, I did not dare to peel and grind it into white flour, but I had to grind the wheat husk into it together. Although the cake made in this way tastes bad and pulls the throat, it is full and hungry.

The wheat needed to be soaked for a while, so Zhang Xiaopaw dragged a wooden stool and sat aside, looking at the tiny bubbles that kept rising in the wooden basin, and he was a little stunned.

Today's coming-of-age ceremony was not lively and grand, but it went well. From today onwards, he is a pawn, oh no, it should be that from today onwards, he will be a real man, an adult. What's even happier is that the village chief's grandfather and the village elders allowed him to take root in Liujia Village. In this way, he will no longer be rootless duckweed, and he can marry and have children in a justifiable, open-minded, and clear-conscience manner. Thinking of marrying a wife and having children, Zhang Xiaopaw couldn't help but blush slightly, and the face of a girl appeared in his mind.

The girl's name is Liu Que'er, she is from this village and lives in the east of the village. The girl's life was hard, and her father, Liu Dayou, died of illness four years ago, leaving her, her mother and a younger brother. The mothers depend on each other, and life is tight. Zhang Xiaopaw went to help with the work when he was free, which was very pleasing to the mother of the bird.

Que'er Niang is an open mother-in-law, she has long said in front of the whole village, and when Que'er is an adult, she will be allowed to be Zhang Xiaopaw's mother-in-law, if anyone dares to fight Zhang Xiaopaw's idea, don't blame her, a widow, for blocking the door and cursing. The people in the village pity their mothers, and they also think that this family business is really good, Zhang Xiaopu is a hard-working and capable person, if he marries a bird, Zhang Xiaopaw's enthusiasm is enough to support these two families. So they all smiled and let the finch mother stabilize her heart, no one grabbed her son-in-law with her, and they were all waiting to drink the wedding wine. And Zhang Xiaopaw and Que'er get along day and night, and they have long had feelings for each other, but they haven't pierced the window paper.

Although there is a birthmark the size of a thumbnail on the left side of her face, which ruins her appearance, Zhang Xiaopaw doesn't care at all, what he likes is that Que'er is kind and capable.

Before today, Zhang Xiaopaw had always been weak-hearted, feeling that he was not worthy of Que'er, because he was a rootless person and couldn't give Que'er a stable home. But today, his heart is sick, as if he has spit out a long-pent-up sullen breath, and he feels more comfortable than ever.

Next year, the finch will be an adult, and she will be able to get married. I don't know if there are any wild boys in the village who have the idea of beating birds, no, I have to find time to warn them one by one.

Thinking that maybe a rival in love was secretly coveting the finch and might snatch his prospective daughter-in-law away at any time, Zhang Xiaopaw couldn't help but get nervous, clenched his fists, and prepared to warn the unmarried boys in the whole village one by one.

Zhang Xiaoshu thought about it for a while, and he didn't come back to his senses until mid-afternoon. The wheat has been soaked, fished out and put into a prepared bucket, and ground before the stone mill begins. The gray batter with the white pulp spits out of the grinding mouth and falls into the bucket under the grinding mouth.

Zhang Xiaoshu has a lot of strength and works neatly, and it takes two quarters of an hour to grind it out. was about to bring the ground batter to the kitchen to make pancakes, the courtyard door was pushed open, Zhang Xiaopaw hurriedly put down the work in his hand and greeted him, and said with a smile: "Auntie, Que'er, you came just right, I just grinded the batter and prepared to make cakes, and I was about to go over and call you to come over to help." What about Xiaoci, why didn't you come together?"

Xiaoci is the younger brother of Qi'er, twelve years old this year, and he is a half-grown child.

"I'll take care of the cooking, and you go and do the rest. Clothing, insect repellent medicine, hunting tools, etc., there are many dangers in the deep mountains and old forests, and these preparations must not be sloppy. Sparrow, you go and help the pawn clean up. ”

Que Niang is just in her early thirties, but after the death of the man in the family, the burden is all on her, and the double pressure of spirit and life makes her much older than women of the same age. Fortunately, in the past two or three years, Zhang Xiaopaw has helped her a lot, which has greatly reduced the burden on her shoulders.

Qi'er seemed to be a little restrained today, and had been hiding behind her mother shyly, and when she heard her mother ask her to help Zhang Xiaopaw pack her things, she walked to the front in response.

Zhang Xiaopaw looked at the finch and was a little stunned for a while.

In the past, the finches were all patched gray cloth clothes and trousers, with two ponytails hanging on their shoulders, but now the finches are different, their hair is coiled up, tied with a hosta, the saffron placket on the body, the saffron trousers, the hard-soled shoes with the red cloth upper, and the face is slightly powdered. It was as if this budding flower bone bloomed overnight, beautiful and dazzling.

Que'er's mother was stunned when she saw Zhang Xiao'er looking at her daughter, she snorted and laughed, stretched out her hand and pushed Que'er, urging: "What are you still doing in a daze, hurry up and help your brother clean up." ”

"Hey," the finch hurriedly agreed.

"Pawn, you go over together, what do you need to bring, just let the finch clean it up for you. ”

"Oh. Good. Zhang Xiaopaw's cheeks were red, knowing that he was out of shape, his eyes dodged and he didn't dare to look at the finch mother, and hurriedly followed the finch and ran away.

The finch mother happily entered the kitchen and got busy working alone.

Liu Que'er and Zhang Xiaopaw entered the house one after the other, Liu Que'er had already let go, no longer restrained and twisted, turned around and asked Zhang Xiaopaw: "Brother Xiaopaw, what do you need to prepare, just say, I'll help you clean it up." ”

Zhang Xiaopaw scratched the back of his head and said, "I've already packed up all my things." Finches, you- you look so good today. ”

"Y-really?" the finch suddenly flushed up on her cheeks, hooked her head, pinched the corners of her clothes with both hands, and her palms were sweaty.

"It's good, it's good. Zhang nodded vigorously.

"That-that-that-" The finch opened her mouth, thinking about her mother's advice before she came, but she couldn't say it when the words came to her mouth, and she was really ashamed. The red glow on the face is getting more and more abundant, like a big red peony in full bloom.

"What's that?" Zhang Xiaopaw was so confused by the finch that he couldn't help but ask.

Que'er gritted her silver teeth, closed her eyes, and said with a generous posture of going to death, "Is it okay to marry you as a mother-in-law?"