The north wind was howling, and the snow was falling one after another, smashing down on the clothes, giving people a sense of oppression that was close to death.

"Squeak squeak......"

Two bloated figures, one large and one small, struggled forward in the snow.

The big one is a man in the prime of life, wearing a felt hat, a gray cotton jacket, and thick wool boots, and every time he steps on it, it is a deep hole.

He was followed by a half-grown girl. It is also a thick cotton jacket, but the color is much brighter, and it is a lotus root pink base embroidered with flowing clouds and flowers. The girl was no more than eight or nine years old, and her small face was mostly covered by a big felt hat.

From time to time, the felt hat would straddle diagonally to disrupt her vision, preventing her from accurately stepping into the deep pit left by the man. So, if she was not careful, she would fall into the snow one by one, and then get up again with difficulty, and walk forward silently.

On such a cold day, few people travel. Coupled with the heavy snow on the road, it is impossible to hire a horse-drawn carriage.

However, Ke Xiang still decided to get things done today.

"Daddy!"

Suddenly, the girl in the back made a faint sound, calling the man who was deep in thought and walked straight forward.

Ke Xiang was stunned for a moment, turned his head to look, and found that the girl had fallen into the snow again, so he took three steps and two steps back, picked up the girl, and patted the snow slag on her body, "But are you tired of walking?"

The girl hung her head and did not speak.

Ke Xiang finished filming the snow slag on the girl's body, and didn't know what to say for a while, so he paused before saying:

"Qin'er, dad will take you and go. You hold on a little longer, and it'll be there soon. ”

With that, he stretched out his arms to pick up his daughter.

However, Qin'er took a step back and dodged Ke Xiang's arm.

"Dad, don't you send me to the He family, okay?"

Qin'er's voice was small, almost scattered in the vast snow with the cold wind. However, Ke Xiang still heard it clearly.

But what if you hear it?

He couldn't say yes.

Qin'er is only eight years old, she lost her mother early, and now, she wants to separate her father and daughter again, thinking of this, Ke Xiang's psychology is not comfortable.

's own flesh and blood, but as long as there is a way, who is willing to brave such a heavy snow and send her to someone else's house as a child daughter-in-law?

Although Ke Xiang is a man, he also knows that the life of the child daughter-in-law in her mother-in-law's house is very difficult. If you want status or not, if you want dignity or dignity, if your husband is an unsuccessful person, you don't even have the qualifications to propose and leave.

To put it mildly, a child daughter-in-law is similar to a slave who has sold a death deed, and life and death are not up to the mother's family.

If Amo was still around, he would definitely cry and shout to dispel this thought.

However, the situation at home has long been different.

Originally, he worked as a clerk in the town's blacksmith shop, and he was diligent, and his monthly money was barely enough to support the life of the whole family.

However, half a year ago, the owner of the blacksmith shop died of illness, and his nephew took over the shop and fired him.

Without a fixed income, he can only find odd jobs everywhere, where are there those who build walls and tiles, run errands, move goods and deliver goods, in short, he is so busy all day long that his feet do not touch the ground, but his income has shrunk greatly.

"Qin'er, your mother has a body now, her temper is not very good, I have to go outside to work again, and I don't feel at ease if you stay at home alone.

Instead of being angry with your mother, it's better to go for a good future.

I ......"

"However, I don't want to be a daughter-in-law for a fool!" Qin'er was very aggrieved, the He family was indeed a big family, and she gave her father a lot of white silver.

However, although she is young, she also knows that she is a girl, and she will marry and have children when she grows up.

In any case, even if you marry an ugly widower in the future, it is better than being married to a fool!

"I don't want to be a daughter-in-law for a fool!" Qin'er has been walking with Ke Xiang for most of the day, and now she is tired and cold, and she has been abused by her stepmother for many years, so she becomes more and more aggrieved at this time, and she can't wait to play tricks and stop Ke Xiang from selling herself.

Ke Xiang is also as big as an ox.

Before leaving, he had already agreed with Qin'er, and he didn't want the kid to suddenly make trouble again.

"Qin'er, haven't you had enough of your stepmother's anger? Tomorrow I'm going to go on my way to work far away. How can I rest assured that I will stay at home?"

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but think of his knotted wife, Amo.

He and Amo are pro-plum sweethearts, and their relationship is naturally good. It's a pity that after Ah Mo gave birth to Qin'er, his body never got better, and it took three years before he finally died, separated from their father and daughter forever.

Originally, he didn't want to marry another wife, for fear that Qin'er would be wronged.

However, the father and mother who were still alive at the time did not agree, so they insisted on using the excuse of continuing the incense to give Zhang Luo, the widow Yuan from the next village, into the house.

Now that his father and mother have died, Yuan has become more and more abusive to him and Qin'er because he has given birth to a son and lost the opportunity to work in the town's blacksmith shop.

Qin'er is still young and ignorant, but he understands it as a big man.

If Qin'er is allowed to stay at home until he is in time, with Yuan's virtues, maybe the second half of Qin'er will be ruined.

There was no job to find in the town, and Ke Xiang, under the introduction of his fellow villagers, prepared to follow the caravan out of the fortress.

If it goes well, you can go once a year, for half a year, and you can earn almost two years of expenses.

This undoubtedly had a huge attraction to Ke Xiang, and the only thing that made him uneasy was Qin'er.

He didn't dare to imagine that even if he was at home, the Yuan family could blatantly bully Qin'er, if he left for half a year, then what kind of miserable situation would he see when he came back!

Maybe it's because God has mercy on Qin'er, finally, a month ago, the county seat He's family took a fancy to Qin'er and wanted to take her over as a child daughter-in-law.

Ke Xiang had a premonition at that time that perhaps, Qin'er's opportunity to change her fate had come.

The He family is one of the richest businessmen in the entire county, doing jade mining business, and Master He died six years ago, leaving behind a wife, two aunts, and a son.

The son has a good life, and he was born with a rich life without worrying about food and clothing.

I heard that the appearance is also thoughtful.

It stands to reason that the housewife of the He family should not find a child daughter-in-law for her six-year-old son, the family has a big business, which girl is not willing to marry?

But in fact, the daughters of ordinary people really dare not marry!

Why?

Because the young master who was born with a golden spoon in his mouth is a fool!

Ke Xiang understands Qin'er's unwillingness, no matter how bad it is, even if she marries an old and disabled widower in the future, it is better than a fool.

However, Ke Xiang thought about it for a long time and felt that in life, love and love are not the only things that people can count on.

Just like Qin'er, it's not that he praises, that appearance is really good-looking, inheriting his profound and stylish outline, but also having the softness of Amo's graceful beauty, the eyebrows and eyes have not yet opened, but they can already foresee how moving they will be in the future.

However, it is not necessarily a blessing for a child from a poor family to be so good-looking!

Therefore, He Xiang was ruthless and insisted on sending his daughter into the He family's compound before he left.

If the husband and wife are unhappy, they are unfortunate, as long as she can live without worrying about food and clothing, he can be regarded as worthy of his wife who died early.

Besides, in life, where can everything be as expected?

"Qin'er, Dad is for your good. You don't know now, but when you get older, you'll understand your father's hard work. ”

After speaking, he no longer paid attention to Qin'er's crying, stretched out his long arm to pick up his daughter, turned around, and resolutely walked towards the mansion of the He family in the county seat.

"Dad, I hate you to death!" Qin'er knew that she couldn't change Ke Xiang's decision, so she could only cry helplessly.

She hadn't been hugged by her father for a long time, and now she was hugged by He Xiang's strong arms on her chest, and she couldn't help but recall the scene when she was a child before.

At that time, my mother was still there, and my father was also in pain, although her memory was a little blurry, but she just felt that her former self must be much happier and luckier than now.

And all the good endings are because my mother passed away prematurely.

Qin'er suddenly resented her mother, why? Why did she leave so early?

Ke Xiang's embrace was still warm, and Qin'er vaguely remembered that her father had hugged her like this.

However, now is different from the past, but her heart will no longer feel warm because of her father's embrace.

It's noon in a blink of an eye.

Ke Xiang finally walked to the county seat with Qin'er. At this time, the wind and snow stopped, and the number of pedestrians on the road began to increase.

Occasionally, one or two restaurants open their doors and open for business.

Ke Xiang and Qin'er went out early in the morning, and they were also hungry at the moment.

However, they don't have the capital to go to the restaurant to eat.

Ke Xiang followed the memories of running errands in the county seat in the past, and found a tea shop located by the city wall, which was specially designed to serve the peddlers and pawns.

The tea shop is very simple, with two rows of cabins, one large and one small, the larger one is the lobby for entertaining customers, and the smaller one is the back kitchen.

The two rooms are next to each other, but they are not connected. The shopkeeper is not only the boss, but also the shopkeeper.

When Ke Xiang and Yaoguang walked into the lobby, the shopkeeper, an expressionless man in his forties, came over to greet them.

"Eat or drink?"

"Eat. “

As if there was a tacit understanding, Ke Xiang's facial expression also became numb.

In the lobby, which is not too spacious, there are a few men drinking and eating tea.

This tea shop didn't burn charcoal for the guests, so Ke Xiang just took off Qin'er's felt hat and found a four-seater seat to sit down, and then asked for three flatbreads and two bowls of bone broth.

The shopkeeper stretched out his hand, took the copper plate handed over by Ke Xiang and counted it carefully, then took off the rag on his shoulder, wiped the table indiscriminately, and turned to leave.

"Hey...... I don't know when this snow is going to fall!"

Hearing the stranger chatting, Yaoguang couldn't help but stretch out his hand and rub it, then sighed and stroked his frozen ears.

"What, you're going out?"

The chatter of the men at the next table came again.

"I'm going to go to the Witch Temple and ask for some medicine. ”

"What's wrong?"

"What about my father, the old problem of asthma has been committed again, and it won't work at all without the medicine of the witch temple!"

"Oh, so heavy snow, you have to go up the mountain too?"

"Yes, just drink two bowls of spirits here and hit the road, or you'll have to freeze to death. ”

"Then you have to be careful, the snow covers the mountain, although the Witch Temple sent people to clear the snow barrier, but the road is not easy to walk!"

"I can't help it, I can't watch my dad suffer alive. ”

Oh, yes, oh, by the way, have you heard, it seems that a few days ago, someone saw the god send the adults to take the children up the mountain. ”

"Oh, really, who's that?"

"How do I know?"

"It can't be born with a woman outside, right?"

"Who knows, even if it were, the Divine Envoy wouldn't admit it. ”

"Hey, it has nothing to do with us anyway, as long as the witch god blesses my father's illness to get better soon, it's fine!"

"Uh-huh, that's it. ”

Soon, the shopkeeper brought the food plate over, and Qin'er looked at the steaming broth and couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

"Dad, I can't finish a single loaf of bread.

"It's okay, I can't finish eating, don't I still have a father?"

Ke Xiang helped Qin'er tear the flatbread in half, handed her a small handful, and put the rest on his plate.

In fact, the amount of food for an eight-year-old girl is not as small as she seems.

However, after being oppressed and abused by her stepmother for a long time, she is used to compressing her food to the point where it does not pose a threat to anyone.

Ke Xiang is very careful about Qin'er's future plans, but he is careless in these details of life no different from other men.

Therefore, after he finished solving all the two and a half flatbreads, he saw Qin'er looking at him innocently, and felt that his daughter was simply too cute.

"Qin'er, we're going to go to He's house later, and Dad has said everything he should say, don't make any more trouble when you get there, okay?"

In order to make his daughter happy, Ke Xiang specially called the shopkeeper to come over, and spent five copper plates to buy a piece of maltose for his daughter.

"Come on, I haven't eaten sugar for a long time, you eat quickly, when you're done, we'll leave." ”

Qin'er took the small saucer, saw the milky white sugar cube on it, and felt that Ke Xiang was the last gift for her for no reason, and couldn't help it, and the tears couldn't stop falling.

"Dad, will you come to see Qin'er in the future?"

Ke Xiang wanted to comfort him, he blinked his sour eyes, stretched out his hand and touched the corner of Qin'er's eye, "Silly boy, Dad just went out to work, and he will be back in half a year at the latest."

Well, however, you will be a member of the He family in the future, and my father just wants to come to see you, but he can only watch from afar. ”

Hearing this, Qin'er was obviously even more sad, and the tears that had broken the embankment fell silently, almost soaking all the maltose in the small saucer.

Ke Xiang was sad for a while, and he couldn't continue.

However, seeing his daughter like this, he couldn't help it.

"Qin'er, don't worry, Dad will find a way to meet you. Don't cry, your eyes won't look good if you cry and swell, and if you let Mrs. He see it later, you will be unhappy, thinking that we are not happy. ”

"Well, Qin'er knows. ”

Qin'er raised her hand, wiped her face on her arm, then took out the small handkerchief in her clothes and wrapped the wet maltose in it.

"Dad, let's go. ”

"Hey!" Ke Xiang responded, settled the account with the shopkeeper, and led Qin'er towards the He family's mansion in the north lane of the county seat.