Aunt Shun's name is Zhao Xia, and she is seventeen years old this year, one year younger than Uncle Shun. The mother's family is not rich, Aunt Shun is the eldest daughter in the family, and there are two younger sisters and a younger brother. The younger brother is seven years old this year, and Aunt Shun often jokes with Ran'er and Qinglian.

"Which of you two sisters wants to be the brother-in-law of your sister-in-law?"

"I don't want to."

Qinglian's answer was the same, just these three words, when she said it, her expression was still very serious. Aunt Shun and Ran'er saw it in their eyes and often snickered. The more Qinglian said this, the more Aunt Shun wanted to tease her, and every time Qinglian glared at her with some anger, she smiled and changed the topic. As long as Aunt Shun doesn't mention this topic, Qinglian also likes to play with her. It is the child's nature for both of them to be Qinglian, and no one takes it seriously.

Today, Aunt Shun stayed until dusk before saying goodbye and leaving. When he walked to the door of the fence, he said to Ran'er:

"Look at my memory, when you come, Uncle Shun asked me to ask Ran'er, when the pigsty plans to get fat, and then I can come over to help."

"It's not bothering Uncle Shun to get fat, Lian'er and I are out a little bit a day, just take your time. We don't have much to do anyway. ”

The celebration banquet set up by the Zhou family for the spring water was arranged on the eighth day of the seventh month. once asked someone to send a letter to the Ran'er sisters and asked them to go to eat and drink. Ran'er and Qinglian didn't go, and when they delivered eggs later, Shopkeeper Zhou entertained the two sisters in the wine shop as Ran'er said before.

July 15 is the Yu Lan Festival, and when the sisters went to the grave of their mother, they recited the events that had happened in the past three months since Qingming as usual.

On the morning of the sixteenth, spring came. When he entered the door, he complained that the sisters didn't drink his wedding wine. Ran Er and Qinglian just smiled and said:

"What kind of mess are Ran'er and Lian'er going to make?"

Chunshui brought a lot of books to the sisters, as well as two sets of four treasures in the study. Ran'er was embarrassed to accept it, and after fighting for a long time, she saw that Chunshui was a little anxious, so she accepted it. Although Ran'er and Qinglian repeatedly asked Chunshui to have lunch before leaving, Chunshui still went back before lunch.

In early August, some of the earlier ripening paddy has already begun to be harvested. This year's paddy was a bumper harvest like the winter wheat in the spring. As usual, it was Grandpa Li and his grandfather who came to help Ran'er and the two sisters harvest. Because there is no need to pay taxes, two acres of paddy fields can harvest eleven stones of rice. Two seasons of food a year make the sisters no longer worry about not having enough to eat. Sour bamboo shoots in spring, grass mushrooms in Futian, ten eggs per month, these incomes are added up, if you don't count food, the sisters can also earn a little ten taels of silver a year. As long as nothing big happens, it is enough for the sisters to spend.

On August 15, Ran Er and Qinglian bought four moon cakes for the first time. First, I went to my mother's grave and took two mooncakes to pay tribute, so that my mother could taste them first. In the evening, when the moon rose, another two mooncakes were used and placed on the stone table of the grass pavilion to worship the moon, and finally one person ate it one by one. Keep the remaining two mooncakes and eat them when you are hungry.

Just when the rice harvest was finished and the winter wheat had not yet begun to be planted, a strange middle-aged man on a horse came to Xia Village. The appearance is very majestic, and the dress is very good, not like an ordinary countryman. When I entered the village, I inquired about a woman named "Ge Wei". The people of Xia Village heard that this Ge Wei should be in her thirties, beautiful and exquisite, literate and hyphenation, and has an accent in the Huguang area. Ten years ago, I was pregnant when I left home, and I don't know if I gave birth to a son or a daughter.

When the people of Xia Village heard such a description, they all remembered Ran'er's mother. It's just that he didn't tell the strange middle-aged man about his guesses. Knowing that Grandpa Li and Sister Ran'er were getting closer, he said to the visitor:

"You go to the Li family in the west of the village and ask, maybe their family knows."

Under the guidance of the villagers, the visitor found Grandpa Li's house and described Grandpa Li as before. Grandpa Li also guessed in his heart that the person he was looking for should be Ran Erniang. I couldn't help asking:

"What is the relationship between Ge Wei and you?"

"Ge Wei is the mother of the villain Ge Zhuang, my master has been looking for the mother for many years, and there has been no news so far, if the old man finds the whereabouts of the mother, the master of the house will be grateful."

"Since you are the mother of your family, why did you run away from home in the first place, let alone be pregnant?"

"Ge Zhuang didn't know the specific situation, and the owner didn't tell him."

Grandpa Li thought about it for a long time, and felt that it was not a long-term solution for Ran'er and her sisters to rely on each other, if it was really Ran'er's father who came to find it, the father and daughter would be able to recognize each other, and Ran'er's life would be relied on. Then he said to Ge Zhuang:

"Ten years ago, there was indeed a woman in our village who was pregnant with Liujia, which is similar to your description, but no one knows if it is Ge Wei or not. Now the woman has passed away four years ago, leaving only a little girl named Ran'er. ”

"Regardless of whether it is the villain's housewife and young lady, please guide the old man and let Ge Zhuang see it, can you? For this reason, the villain has been looking for four or five years, and I hope that the old man will be looking for Ge Zhuang, and please be considerate of the old man. ”

"Okay, but when it comes to ugly words, if you don't admit it, you are not allowed to entangle."

Although Grandpa Li hopes that Ran'er can find his father and have something to rely on, he is also worried about whether this matter will bring trouble to Ran'er. So talk to death in advance.

"Come with me."

Before going out, I specially called Li Shun, afraid that if something happened, I would take care of it.

The three of them came to Ran'er's fence courtyard, Ran'er and Qinglian were sitting in the grass pavilion, Qinglian was writing, and Ran'er was doing needlework. The two were interrupted by the barking of Rhubarb and Xiao Hei, and turned their heads to see that it was Grandpa Li and Uncle Shun, and a middle-aged man who didn't know each other, following behind the two of them, holding a tall horse in their hands.

"Grandpa and Uncle Shun are here, come in."

The two sisters hurried over, opened the fence door, and invited the three of them to sit down in the grass pavilion. Qinglian was busy pouring water, and Ran'er accompanied her in the grass pavilion. Grandpa Li introduced Ge Zhuang and his intention to Ran'er in a few words, and Ran'er frowned after hearing this, thought for a while, and said:

"Ran'er Niang is not called Ge Wei, the uncle has found the wrong person."

Ge Zhuang saw that Ran'er directly denied it, and he didn't give up. Listening to Grandpa Li's narration, Ran Erniang is clearly the main mother Ge Wei, and everything is consistent with the time when the main mother Ge Wei left, pregnancy, appearance and so on.

"Your name is Ran'er, right? Did your mother have any explanations before she died? ”

"I'm Ran'er, my mother was very sick before she died, and she didn't leave any words."

"You said your mother's name is not Ge Wei, what is that name?"

"The son doesn't say the father's name, and the daughter's family can't tell the name of the mother's relatives to outsiders, please forgive Uncle Ge."

Ran'er's words did not leak, so that Ge Zhuang couldn't find a topic for a while, and occasionally looked up and saw the words "Yuxie Xiaozhu", and couldn't help but chant it in his mouth a few times.

"Rain Pavilion Small Building, Rain Pavilion, Xie Yu."

"Miss, whether you admit it or not, you are the eldest lady, and it must be the master mother who has died."

"How can Uncle Ge recognize people so indiscriminately?"

"Do you know the name of my master, that is, Miss's father?"

"Ran'er doesn't know, although my mother didn't tell Sù Ran'er, she must not be your master, Uncle Ge really recognized the wrong person."

"The name of my master, thank you for the rain, now I see this grass pavilion called "Rain Pavilion Small Building", the word rain pavilion is reversed, isn't it the word thank you? What's more, Ge Zhuang has seen the handwriting of the master's mother, and these four characters are clearly from the hands of the mother. ”

"Uncle Ge, the Yuxie Xiaozhu was built by my mother back then, and the words were also written by my mother. My mother took this name, but because my mother likes rainy days, and likes to listen to the rain and watch the rain here on rainy days. In addition, there are many people in the world whose handwriting is similar, how can you identify it as a book written by your housewife based on four words? ”

Seeing that Ge Zhuang was still entangled, Ran Er was worried that he would lose too many words, so he glanced at Grandpa Li and said:

"Grandpa, what Uncle Ge said is really not Ran'er's mother, please ask Grandpa to send Uncle Ge away on behalf of Ran'er."

When Ran'er and Ge Zhuang were talking, Grandpa Li and Li Shun had been standing quietly on the side and listening, without interjecting a word. With Grandpa Li's experience in his sixties and nearly seventy years old, he can already see from Ran'er's eyes that the person Ge Zhuang said is Ran'er's mother. It's just that Grandpa Li didn't expect Ran'er to deny it so decisively, and he couldn't help but guess in his heart that there must be a reason for it. Hearing Ran'er say this, he knew that he didn't want to entangle with Ge Zhuang anymore, so he said to Ge Zhuang:

"Since Miss Ran'er said that Ran'er Niang is not your mother, Ge Zhuangshi should please go back and look for it elsewhere. The world is so big, even there are people who are very similar in appearance, not to mention experience and handwriting. ”

Although Ge Zhuang believed in his heart that Ran'er was the daughter of the main mother, seeing that the young lady refused to recognize him, he had to leave first and then think of another way. At this time, Qinglian happened to bring water over, and when she saw that Grandpa Li, Uncle Shun and the strangers were leaving, she put the boiling water on the stone table and asked:

"Sister, who is that uncle and what are you doing?"

Ran Er had an idea and said to Ge Zhuang:

"Uncle Ge, look, this is Lian'er's sister, Ran'er's own sister, now Uncle Ge should know that he is looking for the wrong person, right?"

How could Ran'er's little trick fool a sophisticated person like Ge Zhuang, when Ge Zhuang first came in, he found that there was a six or seven-year-old girl, looking at her eyebrows, eyes, demeanor, and accent, and she had already decided in her heart that this girl had nothing to do with Ran'er's background, she was not a maidservant, or a righteous sister. Hearing Ran'er use this as an excuse, she even decided in her heart that Ran'er was the daughter of the housemother and the eldest lady in the house.

Ge Zhuang's arrival caused monstrous waves in Ran'er's heart. My mother repeatedly told herself that she could not open the small vermilion wooden box before she was fifteen years old. The implication is that you are not allowed to recognize your relatives. He also told himself not to leave here until he became an adult. Although I have never told Ran'er about the past, and who my father is, why she ran away from home while pregnant with Ran'er, and so on, I can only let Ran'er secretly guess that there must be a mother's hardship, if it is not a last resort, how can a weak woman run away from home when she is pregnant with Liujia? Thinking about the words and deeds of my mother when she was alive, my mother must not have been born in an ordinary family. However, my mother ran away without any property, and vaguely remembered that my mother said that the money for buying two acres of paddy fields and building a small courtyard was exchanged for pawning jewelry. It shows that the mother's departure was either a hasty escape or was driven out.

Mother's name is indeed Ge Wei. As for Daddy's name, my mother never mentioned it. Today, I heard Ge Zhuang say that his father's name is Xie Yu, and Ran'er guessed that it should be ** not far from ten. I remember that my mother always likes to come to the grass pavilion in a daze, and even sometimes looks at the words "Yuxie Xiaozhu" for a long time. At that time, Ran Er was young, and he couldn't tell the expression on his mother's face, whether it was longing, resentment, concern, or something else.

Ran didn't tell Qinglian about this, for fear that Qinglian was too young, so she leaked her mouth for a while. Ran Er made up her mind that if Ge Zhuang came again, she would simply not let him enter the door. Now I won't say anything to recognize my father, according to my mother's instructions, wait until I am fifteen years old to open the vermilion wooden box and figure out the ins and outs of the matter, and then make plans. My mother never said that she would not let herself recognize her father, but she would only do it after she was fifteen years old.