The area of the shop is not large, and a shopkeeper with long pigtails is holding the soup woman on the counter and smoking a pipe, while two young men are crammed with their sleeves crammed to avoid the cold.

Seeing a guest enter the house, the shopkeeper knocked on the counter with a cigarette gun, "What are you still doing in a daze, and you haven't come to say hello." ”

The young man hurried over, "Hehe, what does this little sister-in-law want?" ”

Ruan Huizhen lifted her bag, "Do you collect sweet potatoes here?" ”

As soon as they heard that they were here to sell something, the two of them suddenly lost their enthusiasm as before. One of the thin men said to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, come to sell grain." ”

When the shopkeeper heard this, he took the cigarette gun out of his mouth, "Yo, it's really strange that there are still people selling grain in this winter?" ”

It's no wonder that the big shopkeeper thinks it's strange, these days, the poor are busy putting food at home to keep them alive, and there is not enough to eat in the winter, who is willing to sell food. If you are wealthy, it is not uncommon for people to earn from selling grain. Especially since the little woman didn't have much food.

Ruan Huizhen said, "I don't want to sell grain either, but now there is only a little sweet potato at home, and my mother-in-law is old and wants to exchange some rice for her to eat." ”

Hearing Ruan Huizhen's explanation, the shopkeeper nodded knowingly, reached out to open his pocket, and saw that the sweet potato was quite fresh.

Ruan Huizhen saw that there was some confusion on his face, and hurriedly said, "It has been put in the cellar and covered with straw." ”

The shopkeeper snorted, I didn't want to harvest sweet potatoes yet, but it looks very fresh and the amount is not large, but I can take it home and let the family make some sweet potato cakes to eat. He waved his hand and asked people to take it.

The two young men hurriedly weighed, "Twenty-two pounds." ”

When the shopkeeper heard this, he crackled on the counter and made an abacus, "Now it's five copper plates a catty, twenty-two catties, which is one hundred and ten wen." As he spoke, he pulled out a pile of copper coins and a few copper dollars from the counter.

Ruan Huizhen calculated carefully, for the current conversion of various currencies, she was still a little foggy, and it took a while to calculate it clearly. After collecting the money, he didn't leave, and grabbed a handful of all kinds of grain with skin from the counter, ready to take it back to plant.

It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, but she now has good land, but she has poor seeds.

Seeing that Ruan Huizhen only took a little of each grain, the shopkeeper felt more and more strange, and Ruan Huizhen explained that it was for the old lady to try it. But I was fooled. He also asked the shopkeeper if he had any vegetable seeds for sale.

This time, Ruan Huizhen didn't dare to buy only a few grains at a time, and under normal circumstances, she bought some green vegetable seeds, and Ruan Huizhen hurriedly left the grain store.

When I left the grain store, I had 110 wen in my hand, but now I only have 20 wen. It's only two copper dollars when it is exchanged for copper dollars, and I can't even afford a pound of meat. Ruan Huizhen thought about the dripping braised pork and swallowed her saliva. I secretly said in my heart, if only my space could grow pork.

In order not to make the old lady suspicious, Ruan Huizhen deliberately delayed outside for a while before returning home. When she returned home, the old lady was already waiting in the hall, and when she saw Ruan Huizhen coming back, her old eyes suddenly brightened up.

In the past few years, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have relied on each other, and the relationship is very deep, and Mrs. Lu can no longer do without the company of her daughter-in-law. Ruan Huizhen has been away from home today, she feels very lonely, and she has been worried in her heart.

Seeing that Ruan Huizhen came back with something in her hand, Mrs. Lu was very happy, "Found a job?" ”

"I found it, the owner is not bad, and he is willing to boil hot water to wash my clothes. After making a few and earning a few bucks, I came back with some food. The proprietor said he would let me go for a few days. This is also for the sake of taking out food as a foreshadowing in the future.

Mrs. Lu sighed with emotion when she heard this. "I think at the beginning, our Lu family had a lot of old mothers who were just handymen, and we also let them boil hot water to wash clothes in winter. This will also let you, the daughter-in-law, go out and wash other people's clothes. ”

Speaking of the past, the old lady's eyes began to turn red again.

Ruan Huizhen heard Mrs. Lu say before that when she got married, the Lu family still had a bit of a family background, and at that time, Lu's father had not started to smoke a lot, and his life was not bad. But within a few years, he was damaged by those big smokers, and his family bottom was like flowing water. When Ruan Huizhen married a few years ago, there were two old servants in the family who did rough work, and later they also died of illness, leaving only the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Ruan Huizhen felt that the Lu family had successfully performed the joys and sorrows of a mansion. If this is to write a book about the Lu family from fortune to defeat, it is estimated that it will become the second Dream of Red Mansions.

It's a pity that she doesn't have much literary talent and can't write it, but it's a pity that she has such a good subject.

Mrs. Lu's depressed mood was soon attracted by the fragrance of rice porridge.

Although it is just a pot of porridge, for Mrs. Lu, who has eaten sweet potatoes for several days, this is simply bird's nest shark fin.

There was no food at home, so Ruan Huizhen put salt in it and cooked it together, and it tasted a little salty.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were sweating profusely, and they ate a pot of porridge cleanly. After eating, Mrs. Lu began to regret it again, and touched her mouth, "Hey, I forgot about it just now, I should have saved something to eat tomorrow." ”

"Mother, besides, I haven't finished cooking yet, it's enough tomorrow." It's already planted in the space, and you'll be able to eat fresh rice in two days, so it's enough.

"That's good." Mrs. Lu still regretted it a little, and her daughter-in-law finally got some food back, and she ate it all. looked at the somewhat gray sky outside, "I don't know when this snow will stop, the New Year will be in a few days, it would be nice if Canwen came back." ”

The huge Lu family now has only three people left. But over the years, there are actually only two people who celebrate the New Year together.

Ruan Huizhen felt that the original owner was pitiful, and at the same time sympathized with Mrs. Lu. When the old lady was young, she married Lu's father, who smoked a lot. Within two years, Lu's father's body collapsed, and the old lady was left with only one son, Lu Canwen. This son is not even around. If this is in the future, he can still go to court to sue Lu Canwen for this unfilial son. Maybe the police can help get the person back. But now I can only look at the snow and sigh.

After returning to the room, Mrs. Lu had an idea in her heart. If her son comes back this year, she must keep him by her side. At least let the daughter-in-law get pregnant and then leave. The Lu family is too thin now, and they must spread out.

Ruan Huizhen naturally didn't know Mrs. Lu's thoughts.

She was lying on the bed, entering the space to check the ground. After a lot of hard work, the planting has already been planted. Compared with crops such as rice and wheat, green vegetables grow significantly faster and have already sprouted. Ruan Huizhen felt that she would be able to eat it tomorrow.

It's a big winter, and greens are a precious thing. If you take it to the landlords' houses in exchange for money, it will be worth more than grain.

When cooking today, Ruan Huizhen found that food alone was not enough, and she had to have money in hand. Not to mention big fish and meat, the minimum firewood, rice, oil and salt at home are very lacking. The oil in the oil pot can only be seen in a thin layer of oil, but it can't be poured out. And with the money, she can buy more seeds. When the time comes, a few more fruit trees, two pigs at home, and you can eat pork another day.

She sucked in her saliva.

Ruan Huizhen didn't expect that one day she would be drooling from pork.

Early the next morning, Ruan Huizhen got up to check the growth of the vegetables.

The cucumbers and loofahs inside have already borne fruit, but they are not big enough. But the Chinese cabbage and the baby cabbage have grown very well, crispy and dripping, looking at it from a distance, like a piece of jade, as cute as a jade.

Ruan Huizhen hurriedly folded the vegetables, leaving only a small part to eat by herself, and the rest were tied into bundles with straw, neatly arranged in a neat pile.

When I came out of the space, it was already dawning outside. Ruan Huizhen wiped the sweat from her forehead and walked out of the room happily.