After her grandfather left, Ran'er and Qinglian helped Zhang Dazhu dig the lotus root in the pond every day, and they were very busy. Seeing that the mother's death day is coming, although neither of them said anything, but they have the same expectation in their hearts, that is, looking forward to the arrival of their mother's death day.

Since the last time her mother appeared, Ran'er and Qinglian have been looking forward to hearing her mother talking to her again.

This year's snow came earlier than usual, and it was only three days before the beginning of winter, when the sky was cloudy from the morning to the beginning of the evening. Although the snow is large, the ground temperature is high, and it melts after a short time when it falls to the ground. Ran Er came to the grass house where Zhang Dazhu's three people lived and said to them:

"Uncle and aunt, I don't know if the snow will fall at night. If it rains, you should pay attention to the snow on the roof. The heavy snow that year almost crushed the grass house. ”

"Don't worry, we'll take care of it."

With Zhang Dazhu's family here, there is no need for Ran'er and Qinglian to worry about it again. In the evening, the two of them burned the kang very warm as usual, climbed on the kang early, and gossiped while being a female celebrity. Since she came back from Linkang City, Qinglian has been working very hard to learn from Ran'er, and now she is doing it very decently. This year, the two sisters' cotton clothes were dismantled and washed by Ran'er and Qinglian with the help of Aunt Zhang.

When I woke up the next morning, a thin layer of snow had accumulated on the ground, just over the soles of my shoes. Although the sky was still drifting with snowflakes unhurriedly, the snow on the ground did not thicken. The sisters have maintained a habit for many years, and naturally they will not be interrupted by this shallow snow. Ran Er and Qinglian were jogging in front, Rhubarb and Xiao Hei followed by them, running to the front for a while, and falling behind for a while, constantly spreading joy.

Ran Er and Qinglian initially ran in the direction of Xia Village. Since I bought the bamboo forest, I have changed to jogging around the hill of the bamboo forest. When you go down in a circle, there are always four or five miles away. After returning home for breakfast, because of the season, I couldn't sit in the pavilion to read and practice calligraphy. Ran'er, Qinglian and Yu'er came to the east room of the tiled house and set up a small square table for eating, Ran'er sat on the kang or read a book, or became a female celebrity, while Qinglian and Yu'er sat at the small table to practice calligraphy. Yu'er is also a smart girl, although she usually doesn't talk much, but she is very inward-looking, she is very serious in reading and reading, and after more than half a year, she has already read almost three hundred thousand.

After lunch, Ran'er and Qinglian calculated that the day after tomorrow would be their mother's death day, and they were worried that it would snow tomorrow, so they wanted to prepare sacrifices for their mother in advance. There are ready-made fire paper, incense candles, candied fruits, lotus seeds at home, and then let Uncle Zhang help kill a chicken, catch a carp in the pond, and in addition, what you need to buy is some fruits. Originally, Ran'er and Qinglian planned to go to Yangzhuang or Xiling Lake, but Uncle Zhang saw that the weather was bad, so he took the initiative to say:

"It's still snowing, it's hard to walk on the road, it's already afternoon, winter days are short, and it will be dark in the blink of an eye. Let's go with me, you can think of what you want to buy, and tell me. ”

"Then it's troublesome uncle, just buy some oranges, apples, and if you can see other fruits, buy some too."

As he spoke, Ran'er handed Zhang Dazhu three taels of silver. Because the years in recent years have been very good, prices are very stable, and you can buy a lot of things for three taels of silver. The price of rice is now only about 400 wen a stone. If you buy rice for three taels of silver, you can buy seven and a half stones.

After Zhang Dazhu left, the Ran'er sisters and Yu'er chatted in the thatched hut. Until it got dark, Zhang Dazhu had not come back, and Yu'er said with some worry:

"Mother, it's dark, why hasn't my father come back yet?"

"I think something happened, and it's going to be fine."

The four of them waited for a while, and when they saw that it was getting late, Ran'er and Qinglian walked out of the hut and were about to go back to make dinner, when they happened to see Zhang Dazhu driving an ox cart slowly along the path by the stream.

"Sister Yu'er, uncle is back."

Qinglian shouted to the two ladies in the house.

The four of them came to the door of the fence courtyard together, and saw a person sitting on the ox cart, who was more than ten years older than Zhang Dazhu, almost fifty years old. Zhang Dazhu drove the ox cart to the door and stopped, jumped down from the cart, and said to the people in the cart:

"Brother Wang, come down, we're here."

"Dad, where did the ox cart come from?"

Ran Er vaguely guessed something in her heart, and didn't ask, just looked at Zhang Dazhu and waited for his explanation.

"Ran'er, it's just Brother Wang's ox cart, I went to Yangzhuang to buy fruit, and I just saw Brother Wang selling ox carts there, and it looks pretty good, so I rushed back to let you two take a look."

"Uncle, Lian'er and I are not good at cattle and carts, if Uncle thinks it is good and the price is right, buy it."

"Brother Wang, it's these two sisters who want to buy your ox cart. The price of fifteen taels of silver you said is a little more expensive, and if it drops again, I will buy it for the two sisters. ”

Zhang Dazhu heard Ran'er say this, and knew that Ran'er was telling the truth, so he didn't wait for Ran'er's instructions, and said directly to the old man who got up and down the ox cart.

"Big brother, you are also a farmer, and you don't understand the market. If it weren't for the family's urgent need for money, who would sell the cattle? Besides, the cow is not yet three years old, and it is time to work. ”

"Brother Wang, I can also understand what you said, or just fourteen taels of silver, a little more."

"Uncle Wang, just now you said that you were in a hurry to use the money, but what happened to the family?"

Ran Er interjected and asked.

"Alas, the child's mother has been sick since the autumn, and now she has spent all the family's money, not to mention, and the grain has almost been sold, but it is still not good. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sold cattle. ”

"Uncle, is fifteen taels of silver appropriate?"

"If you want to say that Brother Wang's cow and cart are worth the price."

"Then fifteen taels. Uncle Wang came to the house to rest and drink saliva, and I will get you money. ”

Ran'er can't listen to anyone who has something going on at home, especially a sick person. The taste of my mother when she was sick in bed made Ran'er deeply understand. So he didn't care about the price anymore and simply agreed.

The group came to the tiled house, Qinglian made tea for Zhang Dazhu and Uncle Wang, and Ran'er took fifteen taels of silver, handed it to Zhang Dazhu first, and Zhang Dazhu handed it to Uncle Wang. The silver is guarding Uncle Wang's life, so there is no need to worry about insufficient portions. The old man took it directly and put it in his arms, took a sip of the teacup, then stood up and said to the others:

"There are sick people at home, and it's not early, so I have to go back quickly."

At this time, it was already around midnight, and it was not early. They sent Uncle Wang to the gate together, told him to be careful on the road, and saw Uncle Wang go away, so he unloaded the cattle from the ox cart, and the fruits were all on the cart, and Yu'er carried them to the east room where Ran'er lived. With Zhang Dazhu here, the ox and the ox cart will naturally be taken care of, and naturally there is no need for Ran'er and Qinglian to worry about it.

Sure enough, the snow did not stop the next day, and it was even heavier than yesterday. It's just that the snow on the ground hasn't thickened much. Because I just bought a cow, I want to prepare forage for the cow. Although it was decided to buy cattle in the autumn and prepared some forage, it was not easy to take care of a large animal like a cow. It's a cowshed again, it's a cow trough again, and so on, and the five of them have been busy all day.