Chunshui's original letter had said that he would personally come to the door to report the good news to Ran'er and Qinglian. The spring water is the twenty-third year of the lunar month on the morning of returning to Yangzhuang, and the next day came to Ran'er's courtyard. The two sisters received him together, during which Ran'er only occasionally asked a few words about what Chunshui had seen and heard in the county school, as well as the scene in Qiuqiu, most of the time Qinglian was talking, and Ran'er just sat and listened quietly. Although the gaze of Chunshui from time to time made Ran'er feel a little flustered, her face did not show it at all.

Chunshui sat straight until it was almost lunch, and then said goodbye and left. Ran'er and Qinglian only stayed slightly, the two of them are getting older and older, and it is not suitable for the family to stay alone to eat at home.

Spring water has never come here empty-handed, and this time is no exception. There are still some pen, ink, paper, inkstones, etc., as well as many books. Qinglian roughly flipped through it, and saw that there was a book "Qi Min Yaoshu", and I had already heard Ran'er say that this was a book dedicated to farming and poultry breeding. I can't help but praise the spring water:

"Brother Chunshui did the best this time, and I know that what we lack the most is such a book. When I went to drink the wedding wine another day, I had to eat more to show my gratitude. ”

Listening to Qinglian's crooked reasoning, Ran Er snorted and laughed.

"I haven't heard that Xie people want to eat more wine and food, where did Xiao Lian'er get such a crooked reason?"

"Sister doesn't know, right? When it comes to festive events, someone has to be there to cheer you on, right? Since you want to support the party, it doesn't just have to be done as long as people arrive. Sister think about it, people put so many delicious foods, if the guests don't appreciate their faces and eat more, wouldn't it be shameless for the host to have too much left? ”

After Qinglian finished speaking, she laughed too, and the two sisters laughed in the room for a while.

Since moving into the new three blue brick houses, nominally the two sisters have one room, Ran'er lives in the east room, and Qinglian lives in the west room, and the covers in both places are very complete. It's just that Qinglian has never gone to sleep in her western room, and has always relied on Ran'er's kang. After all, the sisters are still young, and although they are fourteen years old after the New Year, they are actually less than thirteen years old. Qinglian is only more than eight years old, less than nine years old.

Still follow the method of the mother's time, two stoves are set up in the outside, and the flue is connected to the kang hole in the middle. In winter, as long as you boil water on the stove outside to cook, at night, the kang will be hot and you can sleep comfortably.

During this year's Spring Festival, Ran'er's small yard was particularly lively, some came to see the pond dug by the sisters, and some came to play with the sisters. More are matchmakers from ten miles and eight towns. Of course, the two sisters started a new house, bought paddy fields, bought bamboo forests, dug lotus ponds and other things, after the spread of ten miles and eight towns, Ran'er and Qinglian's knowledge and sensibility, literacy and hyphenation, handsome appearance and other advantages, also spread farther and farther. Especially when everyone knew that the eldest sister was only thirteen or fourteen, and the younger was only ** years old, and they were a pair of orphans who depended on each other, some large families also began to invite matchmakers to come to the door to propose marriage.

Every night, Qinglian would talk about the number of matchmakers who came that day.

"Sister, there are only two of them today."

"Hehe, is Lian'er too little? Why did the four of them come that day, it should be enough, why didn't you see Lian'er happy? ”

"Who is too little? I wish that no one would come, so that I would be pure. This year has been stirred up by them, and it has not been good. ”

"Well, they say theirs, let's live our lives. The day after tomorrow is sixteen, it's time to drink Brother Chunshui's wedding wine. Tomorrow on the fifteenth, we will find out the lanterns left by my mother and hang them up, and we will also be festive and festive. ”

After breakfast the next day, the two sisters read a book, and then turned out the lanterns left by their mother, a total of five. Two are hung at the door of the new house, two are hung at the door of the grass house, and one is hung under the eaves of the small grass pavilion in the rain pavilion. When it got dark, five red lanterns were lit, and the fenced courtyard suddenly became bright. Rhubarb and Little Black also seemed to be excited, constantly chasing Sa Huan in the yard.

Ran Er looked at the thatch on the grass pavilion and the old house, or the grass that was changed in the summer when her mother died, after six or seven years of rain and sun, it has already rotted a little, and it is time to replace the thatch this summer. I felt a little sad in my heart, seeing Qinglian's happy face, I didn't want Qinglian to be sad, so I didn't tell Qinglian.

The banquet of the Zhou family was very lively, not only all the friends of the Zhou family came, but also many squires from ten miles and eight towns came to congratulate. Ran'er and Qinglian were women's seats, but when they first arrived, they met with Chunshui and his son in a hurry. Before the banquet was all over, the sisters went home after eating. Knowing that Chunshui and his son must be very busy today, he didn't say hello to them again.

In February, it is the busy season of Ran'er and Qinglian, digging bamboo shoots and pickling bamboo shoots. I was busy until mid-March, and I didn't get it right. At this time, the lotus root in the pond has grown green leaves, which are spread on the water, and can be clearly seen from the mother's grave.

"My sister said, will my mother be happy when she looks at the lotus leaves in the pond?"

"Of course I will be happy. I don't know how to praise Qinglian. ”

Qinglian waited for Ran'er to praise herself, and said proudly:

"When the lotus flowers bloom in April, my mother will be happier."

After a while, Qinglian suddenly said:

"My sister said that my mother likes to listen to the rain in the small building of the rain pavilion, and we will also set up a pavilion by the lotus pond, right?"

"Lian'er has the best idea, and she will start selling the sour bamboo shoots in a few days."

The small pavilion is not a big deal, this time Ran'er did not use thatch, but chose small glazed tiles. Although it is a little more expensive, the pavilion is small and does not cost much. After the pavilion was built, according to Qinglian's meaning, the grass pavilion in the yard, the mother's handwritten "Yuxie Xiaozhu" was moved. Ran Er didn't want to touch the pavilion built by her mother, so she said to Qinglian:

"Let's write it ourselves, my sister writes the word 'Yuxie', and Lian'er writes the word 'Xiaozhu', how about it? Let my mother look at our words, but there is progress. ”

According to what Ran'er said, the sisters made a wooden plaque, wrote it, found someone to carve it, painted it golden yellow, and hung it under the eaves of the new pavilion by the pond. This time, instead of hanging the plaque inside, like my mother, I hung it under the outer eaves of the pavilion, facing my mother's grave.

At the beginning of April, there are already lotus flowers high above the water, and the pink buds are swaying in the wind, although they have not yet opened, you can already smell the faint fragrance of lotus. Xinyuxie Xiaozhu has become a place for Ran'er and Qinglian to take refuge in the summer, here you can not only see the bamboo forest across the river in the north, as well as the lotus pond in front of you, especially close to the mother's grave, whenever you have something in your heart, you will go to the mother's grave to nag the clothes and hare all kinds of barges and pastures⊥ but suffocate 8 鐾fan 19

Sitting in the pavilion, the breeze is coming, not only the coolness of the stream, but also the fragrance of lotus. When they rested, the sisters read and wrote here, or became female celebrities, and their lives were very comfortable.

The neighbors who came to work here in the village, when they were tired, also liked to sit in the pavilion, and in the casual conversation with the sisters, they all revealed their appreciation and sighs for the ability and etiquette of the young ladies.

Since the pavilion was built, the sisters went to the grave of their mother, and they no longer went to the grave of their mother, but directly placed sacrifices, incense burners, etc. on the stone table in the pavilion. Because the pavilion was only fifty steps away from Niang's grave, Ran'er and Qinglian didn't think that Niang would be unhappy about it. When burning paper money, it comes to the outside of the pavilion, on the edge of the lotus pond. The paper ashes that are still flying and hovering will always make the sisters happy for a long time.

"Sister, whenever I read and write in the pavilion, I always feel that my mother is sitting next to me and watching."

"My sister feels the same way, and my mother has always been by our side."

At the beginning of May, before the wheat harvest, most of the lotus flowers in the lotus pond are blooming, red, pink, and Tingting among the green lotus leaves, which is particularly beautiful. Ran Er couldn't help but think of Yang Wanli's poem:

After all, West Lake in June,

The scenery is not the same as the four seasons.

Lotus leaves are infinitely green,

The lotus flowers are different red.

I couldn't help but chant softly. Qinglian also read this poem, and when she heard Ran'er's chanting, her voice was crisp and pleasant, and the scenes blended, and she couldn't help but applaud:

"The poem is good, my sister recites it better, and it fits the scene in front of her, which is really wonderful."

"Hehe, Lian'er is also bookish when she talks now."

"Is there one? I don't think so. ”

Qinglian stuck out her tongue and made a naughty appearance.

"Sister, it's just that our lotus pond is a little smaller, if only it was four or five acres bigger."

"What are you going to do with that big?"

"You can row in there." Picking lotus in the south of the pond autumn, the lotus flower over the head'. How wonderful.

Also, 'Jiangnan can pick lotus, lotus leaves He Tiantian.' Fish play among lotus leaves. Fish play lotus leaf east, fish play lotus leaf west, fish play lotus leaf south, fish play lotus leaf north'. ”

"Don't think about it so much, when we live a good life and have money, it's not that we can't dig the lotus pond bigger."

"Sister means agreed?"

"yes."

"Sister, how about you say that we also raise fish fry in the lotus pond?"

"There are a lot of ideas for Lian'er ghosts, and the idea is good, but none of us have ever raised fish, and we don't know what to feed and how to raise them?"

"Another day, why don't we go to Xiling Lake to see if there are any books about fish farming in the bookstore, if so, buy them back and learn them, won't we?"

After harvesting the wheat and planting rice, the sisters really went to the bookstore on the shore of Xiling Lake and bought several books on farming. Especially when Qinglian saw that the introduction to fish farming said that chicken manure and duck manure can be used to feed the fish, she was very happy.

"I was thinking about raising a few ducks the other day, but it's great that I can raise them with fish."

In addition, according to the book, fish are omnivores, eating not only young grass, but also insects. Wheat bran can also be mixed with fish bone meal to make feed for fish farming.

Ran Er and Qinglian carefully read the books they bought, and felt that it was almost over, so they decided to come down, and when they dug up the lotus root after autumn, they would release the fish fry. At the beginning of spring, a flock of ducks is raised.