Gu Sanniang left Niutoutun with a few taels of silver and her daughter Xiao Yezi, before leaving, her mother-in-law and the two concubines seemed to be guarding against thieves, and they didn't even let her take away a straw at home, and when they walked to the head of the village, Aunt Shan next door chased her, she saw that Gu Sanniang was beaten and didn't look good at all, she couldn't help wiping a handful of tears, and muttered in her mouth: "Sanniang, you are stupid, even if you go to the house, you guard a few acres of land, so you don't have to worry about hunger, now where can you go with Xiao Yezi?" ”

Before Gu Sanniang got out of the tunzi, her mother-in-law and concubine spread rumors everywhere, saying that Gu Sanniang killed her own man, and abandoned her family and business to raise a man with money, only Aunt Shan didn't believe them, she and Zhang Yinsuo have been neighbors for many years, Gu Sanniang is decent, and the most humble, that family is just changing the way to take people's property.

Gu Sanniang looked at Aunt Shan, in the past she was working outside, and her daughter Xiao Yezi was thanks to Aunt Shan to help take care of her, so the relationship between the two families was very close, she said: "Auntie, you know, when I was in charge of the house before, they wanted to kill us, and now that the family is gone, they still don't swallow me alive?" Rather than this, I might as well take the little leaves and live a clean life outside. ”

Aunt Shan listened to Gu Sanniang's words, her heart suddenly became sour, she took her hand and said, "You are a strong character,

How easy is it for a widow to live outside with her children, and in this tun, the big guy can at least have a care. ”

Gu Sanniang smiled bitterly, with what Lao Lizheng did today, who else would she dare to expect to take care of?

"Auntie, I have already made up my mind to leave, even if one day I really become a beggar woman, and I will never go back to this Niutoutun again."

Aunt Shan saw that she had made up her mind, although she was pitiful of their orphans and widows who had no support, but she could only wipe her tears and send her out of the tunzi, sending her one trip after another, Gu Sanniang persuaded Aunt Shan, she said: "Auntie, go to your house, build a pergola for thousands of miles, there is no banquet that will not be dispersed." ”

Aunt Shan took out a small burden from the basket and said, "Auntie has nothing to send, you can take these with you on the road to eat." ”

Gu Sanniang opened it and saw five or six multigrain steamed buns in it, and she said to Aunt Shan: "Auntie, thank you, I will accept these steamed buns." ”

"I don't know if we can see each other in the future, you have to take care of yourself outside, if you really can't get by, just come back, go and talk to Lizheng, there is always a place for you to stay in Niutoutun." Aunt Shan instructed her.

Gu Sanniang shook her head and didn't speak, it was not early, she said to Aunt Shan: "Auntie, I'm going, you have to take care of yourself." ”

Aunt Shan had tears in her eyes, still standing in place watching Gu Sanniang and their mother and daughter, Gu Sanniang waved at Aunt Shan, then took her daughter's hand and left without looking back.

After walking a few miles out of Tunzi, it was already the end of the day, Gu Sanniang's daughter Xiao Yezi looked at her with blank eyes and asked, "Mother, where are we going?" ”

She is six or seven years old this year, before her mother worked outside, there were only her and her father at home on weekdays, their family planted a few acres of land, and raised pigs and chickens and ducks, in the tunzi is considered a medium family, who knows that the day her father left, not waiting for her mother to come back from the county, the uncle and the third uncle came to the house to grab things, she couldn't do anything but cry, and today she saw her mother being bullied by her grandfather's side, she really hated their family.

Gu Sanniang stopped, she took out a steamed bun from her baggage, broke it in half, handed half to Xiao Yezi, and said, "Fill your stomach first." ”

After a day of trouble, the mother and daughter were both water and rice without touching their teeth, Xiao Yezi reached out and took it, she took a small bite, and said to Gu Sanniang: "Mother, you can eat too." ”

Gu Sanniang couldn't eat it, she stuffed the other half of the steamed bun back into the baggage, then looked at the mountain in the distance, from that direction, and then walked for a long time, it was her mother's Xiaogang Village, a few years ago, she married from Xiaogang Village to Niutoutun, and never returned to her parents' home.

Speaking of the people of her mother's family, Gu Sanniang is also full of bitterness, their Gu family is not a land-sitting household in Xiaogang Village, her father was an apprentice in a winery in the county when he was young, her mother is a down-and-out daughter, although the couple said that they lived poorly, the relationship was harmonious, who knew that one day her mother went out to buy vegetables, was seen by a rich family in the county, the rich family coveted her mother's appearance, several times to intimidate her father, her father was scared, and soon dragged the family to move to Xiaogang Village.

After settling in Xiaogang Village, her father somehow became suspicious, and her mother was not allowed to go out, and the family relied on her father to rent land to live, and within a few years, the family added three daughters one after another, just because no son was born, Gu Sanniang's father's face became darker and darker day by day, and she also took the money more and more seriously, and finally when Gu Sanniang was twelve years old, her mother was sick with tuberculosis and left.

When her mother died, the Gu family did not have a son to fall the tile and hold the spirit, the people in the village made fun of her father behind her back, Gu Sanniang and her father took back a woman less than half a year after her mother's death, at that time only the eldest sister in the family got married, and the stepmother entered the door and asked her father to marry her and the second sister, Gu Sanniang only remembered that she was playing pigweed outside that year, and the basket was not full, so she heard that her second sister was taken away, and when she rushed home, her second sister was gone, and Gu Sanniang still doesn't know where her second sister was sold.

After another two years, the stepmother added a son, Gu Sanniang and his father seemed to have straightened his waist, the family was so poor that he borrowed money to set up a banquet, and later had to repay other people's money, her father half-sold and half-married and let her go out, when she got married, Gu Sanniang had nothing to marry except for a set of needles and chisels left by her mother.

Now, Gu Sanniang was forced away by her mother-in-law's family, her mother's family can't go back, or she will be disliked when she goes back, but fortunately, her mother passed on her needlework skills that day, or Sanniang can really only take her daughter to beg for the day.

"Mother, don't cry." Xiao Yezi choked and said.

Gu Sanniang was woken up, she touched her face, only to realize that she was crying again unconsciously, the girl saw her crying, and also cried together, Gu Sanniang wiped away her tears, she said to Xiao Yezi: "Don't cry, tears are the most worthless thing, you just cry blindly, and no one will pity you, as long as you are good at your hands and feet, you will not starve to death anywhere." ”

She said this to Xiao Yezi, and also to herself, Xiao Yezi listened to her words, she wiped her tears, and asked again: "Mother, it's getting dark, where do we live?" ”

Gu Sanniang said: "Let's go to the town first." ”

The mother and daughter held hands, and rushed to the town with one foot deep and one foot shallow, when they arrived in the town, it was already dark, and there was only one street in the whole town, not even an inn, this is the little leaf that has grown so big, the first time to return to the town, there is no one on the street at this time, Xiao Yezi pulled Gu Sanniang tightly, for fear that he would accidentally get lost.

After arriving in the town, Gu Sanniang patted open the wooden door of a tavern, and after a while, the wooden door was opened, and it was a couple who opened the door, and Gu Sanniang paid more than a dozen big money to spend the night in the firewood room of the tavern.

This night, Gu Sanniang woke up from sleep, she was kicked out of the family as soon as she died, and she was extremely sad, not to mention that she was beaten by the Wang family during the day, and in the second half of the night, Gu Sanniang was a little burned.

Before dawn the next day, Gu Sanniang was woken up by her daughter Xiao Yezi, Xiao Yezi touched her hot body, and said worriedly: "Mother, are you sick?" ”

Gu Sanniang glanced at the crack in the door, it was still dark outside, she took a breath and said, "It's okay, when the door of the Huizi store opens, we will be on our way." ”

After a while, Gu Sanniang heard the sound of the shop washing, she said hello to the shopkeeper, and went out of the tavern with Xiao Yezi.

From the town to the county, it takes a day to walk, in the past, Gu Sanniang would spend money to take an ox cart, but now Gu Sanniang is reluctant to give up these dozen dollars, she knows the road, so she took her daughter, walked all the way, and finally arrived in the county before dark.

Along the way, Gu Sanniang dragged her sick body, and Xiao Yezi also walked such a long way for the first time, and neither mother nor daughter refused to cry out bitterly. The county is much more lively than Gu Sanniang's hometown, and the accent of their speech is very different, Xiao Yezi dragged the corner of Gu Sanniang's clothes, looked around curiously, and forgot the previous tiredness.

Gu Sanniang has been an embroiderer in the embroidery village in the county for several years, she is familiar with an alley, there is a big banyan tree planted at the mouth of the alley, and the two wooden doors that have fallen off the paint are half-hidden.

"Oh, Sanniang, why were you beaten like this?" The little woman was taken aback, and before Gu Sanniang could reply, she turned her head and shouted into the house, "Mother, Sanniang is back." ”

After a while, a short and fat middle-aged woman came out, and when she saw Gu Sanniang's face bruised, she patted her thigh and said, "My mother, who beat you?" ”

Gu Sanniang's nose was slightly sour, she held back her tears, and said to Xiao Yezi: "Yezi, call people quickly." ”

This is the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the mother-in-law's husband's surname is Qin, the youth is lost, the big guy according to her husband's surname, directly call her Aunt Qin, Aunt Qin has an only son Qin Lin, and now in the yamen as a catcher, this daughter-in-law's name is Zhu Xiaoyue, her mother's house is in the town next door to Gu Sanniang, when they were working in the embroidery village that day, several of their sisters rented Qin Auntie's house, and later Qin Lin took a fancy to Zhu Xiaoyue, Qin Auntie went to Zhu's house to ask for relatives, the two have been married for two or three years, after their son was born last year, Zhu Xiaoyue quit her job and concentrated on taking care of the family.

Xiao Yezi obediently called out, Aunt Qin saw the appearance of their mother and daughter, she had already guessed seven or eight points in her heart, and she said to her daughter-in-law: "Xiaoyue, you go to the stove to see what else to eat." ”

Zhu Xiaoyue agreed, turned around and went to the kitchen.

Aunt Qin sighed secretly, she took Gu Sanniang's hand and said, "Don't say anything, take the child to eat first." ”

Gu Sanniang nodded with tears in her eyes, she was about to follow Aunt Qin into the house, there was a dull sound at the door, she looked up, and saw a wheelbarrow parked at the door, the car was full of books, and a man with a long figure and a long cloth shirt stood at the door.

The sky was faint, the man's facial features were a little blurred, Gu Sanniang only saw that the robe on his body was a little old, and some places were still patched, and a three or four-year-old brother followed him, tilting his head to look into the house.