Nothing like this has happened since I saw a few dark shadows outside the fence gate that night. I heard from the people in the village that the county sent a lot of officials, who persuaded and drove most of the people who came to drive away the famine. Ran'er and Qinglian's hearts that they carried every night were put down.

The spring in the south of the Yangtze River came early, just entered the middle of February, and it was already a warm breeze, the willows were green, and the grass was budding. Due to a heavy snowfall in the first month, the drought of last year has been eliminated, and the bamboo forest behind the house has begun to sprout bamboo shoots. Let Ran'er and Qinglian be overjoyed, and go over every day to see the growth of fresh bamboo shoots.

I wanted to wait for a few days in joy, and on February 20, Ran Er and Qinglian began to dig bamboo shoots. The shopkeeper of Zhou Ji Wine Store has already sent someone to send the empty porcelain jar over. also specially instructed Ran'er to pickle sour bamboo shoots as much as possible, and there are no more in the wine shop. He also said that this year, they will be given a price increase of 10 wen per altar and 50 wen per altar.

Ran'er and Qinglian are more motivated. Now Qinglian will be five years old in more than three months, and her body has grown a lot, and she can already carry a basket of fresh bamboo shoots. So, Ran'er was busy digging bamboo shoots and peeling the skins, and Qinglian was responsible for transporting them to the stream, so that after lunch, the bamboo shoots could be cleaned by the stream. Every day, the sisters dig bamboo shoots in the morning and start pickling them after lunch. Ten jars of sour bamboo shoots can be pickled almost every two days.

Half a month later, sixty jars of sour bamboo shoots were pickled, and the first batch of ten jars was just ready to eat. Ran Er and Qinglian carried a jar of pickled sour bamboo shoots in a bamboo basket and sent them to the Zhouji Wine Shop in Yangzhuang. Shopkeeper Zhou happily handed over the five hundred yuan of the ten altars to Ran'er at one time.

"Ran'er said last year that she wanted to buy chicks, and there should be some to sell in the next few days. How many do you want? ”

"Let's have ten first, and the more food you eat, the more you can eat."

"Okay, when I come across it, I'll buy it for Ran'er."

On the same day, the shopkeeper Zhou pulled away the pickled other nine jars of sour bamboo shoots. Ran Er told the shopkeeper of Zhou, and the second batch was pulled three days later. On the third day, when the ox cart that pulled the sour bamboo shoots came, it really brought ten young chicks with tender yellow fluff to Ran'er. The two sisters are very cherished, especially Qinglian, who carefully caresses the soft fluff on the chick's body from time to time. Ran Er cut some thin bamboo branches, made a crooked square frame, and raised ten chickens in it. Tell Qinglian to remember to feed the chicks regularly every day.

Perhaps because of the heavy snowfall, this year's fresh bamboo shoots came out earlier than last year, and there were more than last year. Originally, when Ran'er started pickling sour bamboo shoots last year, it was already late, and many of the bamboo shoots that came out first were already old and could no longer be eaten. This year, more than ten days earlier than last year, the sisters almost never missed a bamboo shoot, and they actually pickled one hundred and thirty-six jars. He gave two altars to Grandpa Li's house, left four altars for himself, and sold one hundred and thirty jars of sour bamboo shoots to Zhou's shopkeeper, earning 6,500 copper coins, or six taels and five dollars of silver.

The joy in Ran'er and Qinglian's hearts is self-evident. Not only did each of them make a new set of clothes, bought a few catties of pork to treat themselves, and bought four stones of rice back. Ran Er has never forgotten what Jì Niang said, disasters will occur in a row of droughts and floods. Last year was a drought, and this year there is no guarantee that there will be no flooding. Ten stones of rice is enough for the two sisters to eat for about 20 months. This year's rice is much more expensive than last year's, because of a heavy snowfall, although it has dropped from 200 yuan per stone at the end of the year to 700 yuan per stone, it still costs more than 200 yuan per stone compared to last year.

After deducting the money from the sale of sour bamboo shoots, including the money for rice, new clothes, pork, lard, etc., there is less than 3,200 yuan left. Ran Er said to Qinglian:

"After autumn, the chicks will be able to lay eggs, subsidized for use, and the bamboo shoots should be enough to spend next year."

Ran'er and Qinglian pickled bamboo shoots did not delay the transplanting and topdressing of two acres of paddy fields. Just like last year, it was Grandpa Li who helped plough the fields and buy fertilizer. Li Shun helped transport the fertilizer to the field. Ten days after planting the seedlings, it began to rain on March 28, like the heavy snow in the Chinese New Year's Eve, which lingered for half a month. It didn't stop until April 13. Seedlings are to be dried seedlings, only after the seedlings can grow the root system, not only can absorb more nutrients, but also to the heading, wind resistance, will not fall in the ground. This year, God did not give the farmer a chance to dry the seedlings. I haven't seen the sun for more than half a month, and the leaves of the seedlings in the field have turned yellow. The plants are slender, like those of a long-term sick patient.

Ran'er and Qinglian swept the tomb of their mother, and they also braved the rain to pay tribute. Because I can't burn paper money, I don't see the paper ashes flying like in the past. Qinglian and Ran'er couldn't help but feel sad in their hearts, and they were very disappointed. The mother is already the spiritual sustenance in the hearts of the sisters, and they are used to watching the paper ashes fly in the air after the paper money is burned. Suddenly, I can't see the flying paper ashes, just like I can't feel the mother's storage.

With such a mood, the two of them couldn't help but pay attention to the raindrops in the air from time to time, expecting to stop a little so that they could burn paper money for their mother. On the evening of the tenth day of the first month of April, when the rain had been falling for half an hour, the sisters ignored the mud on the road, trotted to their mother's grave, and quickly lit the paper money. After burning, I saw the paper money flying on my head for a while, and then gradually fell in all directions. Seeing that the long-awaited scene appeared again, Ran'er and Qinglian looked at each other and smiled, and then they bounced all the way back.

The rain that stopped on April 13 did not stop for a few days, but only five days later, and began to rain again. It's been another ten days, and every countryman's face is full of gloom. Even if it doesn't rain anymore, about 50% of the rice harvest will be underharvested. Last year, it only received three or four percent, and the sum of the two years is not as high as the income of the previous year. While people were still worried about this year's rice shortage, it began to rain again at the beginning of May. It's summer, and the rain isn't as heavy as it was in spring, with heavy rain and then intermittent moderate to heavy rain. By May 18, the sky was clear.

It's just that the hearts of the farmers have not seen the sunshine, and this year's rice is afraid that even 20% of the rice will not be harvested. Even if the winter wheat can be harvested, this year's famine will not be avoided. The village leaders reported the local disaster situation to the county, hoping that the county could provide relief in a timely manner, so that the people who had no food would leave their hometowns and drag their children and daughters to the famine.

Ran Er and Qinglian are quite down-to-earth because of the ten-stone rice they bought twice. One day, the two of them were sheltering from the rain and chatting in the small building of the rain pavilion, and Ran'er looked at the empty swallow's nest in the grass pavilion, and said to Qinglian sadly:

"My mother once said that swallows also recognize others. When the mother is not sick, the swallows will come here to nest and breed every spring, and since the aggravation of the mother's illness in the previous year, there have been no swallows for three years. ”

"Does it mean that swallows only find those who are thriving to build their nests?"

"It should be."

"Sister, don't worry, Lian'er thinks that there will definitely be swallows coming next year."

In the afternoon, Ran'er saw that the rain had stopped, so she said to Qinglian:

"Lian'er, let's go to the shop in the village, there is not much salt at home, and we have to buy some needlework, and when the weather is clear, my sister will learn to make clothes. This year, both of us have to change our cotton clothes again, and they are too small. ”

Ran Er and Qinglian came to the shop and saw that it was full of people. After buying good things, I heard people talk about where there was a big flood, and many people drowned, and the autumn grain was already harvested. On the way back, Ran'er said:

"My mother said that drought is followed by waterlogging, and waterlogging is easy to kill people, and many animals will die. If the decomposing corpse is not properly disposed of, the plague will occur. Plagues are worse than droughts and floods. ”

"Sister, let's not go out in the future, right?"

After Qinglian heard this, she said with some fear.

"Wait for the next Yangzhuang market, let's buy more daily necessities, such as oil and salt, and then try to go out as little as possible. It's best to bring another puppy. Rhubarb is also in his teens, about the same age as Ran'er. I'm going to be old in a few years. ”

The next day, Ran Er and Qinglian were reading and practicing calligraphy in the grass pavilion, and when they saw Uncle Li Wu passing by the stream in front of the door, they called Li Wu to sit at home. Li Wu came to the grass pavilion and said to Ran'er:

"Ran'er sisters still know how to read?"

"I'm idle, I know a few words, and I don't know anything. Uncle Wu, do you know who has a puppy in the village? ”

"Ran'er wants a puppy?"

"yes, I want to bring another one back and give rhubarb as a companion."

"Your Uncle Li Cheng's dog should be about to go, wait for me to tell him, leave one for Ran'er."

"Okay, when the time comes, Uncle Wu will say goodbye, and then go and hug it."

Li Wu sat for a while and told the two of them about the scene outside, which was roughly the same as what Ran Er had heard in the shop. In the end, he told the sisters not to go out, so he said goodbye and left.

Of the ten chicks brought in the spring, one died, and the remaining nine now weigh two and a half pounds, and they should be able to lay eggs in less than two months. Every time I look at the nine and a half big chickens, I am amazed by the shopkeeper Zhou, and the remaining nine chickens are actually eight hens and one rooster. I don't know if it's a coincidence, or if it was chosen by Shopkeeper Zhou.

Nine chickens, Ran'er has been free-range, allowing them to forage freely around the courtyard. Although it was rainy, there was no shortage of young grass and small insects, and the nine chickens were growing very well.

When the time came to the end of July, it was the harvest season, but there was not the slightest joy on the faces of the people of Xia Village. Ran Er and Qinglian came to the ground, and they also smiled bitterly. The two acres of paddy fields that can beat ten stones of rice can't even beat a stone this year, and they are all rice grains. The slender plants have long been blown to the ground by the wind. Ran Er and Qinglian carried a basket every day, looking for an ear of ears, and in less than three days, they pinched off the ears of two acres of paddy fields, took them to the small yard to dry, and then put them separately, and fed them to the chickens in winter.

Despite the lack of harvest, there was no plague. With the arrival of autumn, the temperature gradually decreases, which is also not conducive to the spread of the plague. Ran Er and Qinglian are no longer confined to the small courtyard, and occasionally go to Yangzhuang to catch the market. Once I came to the Zhou Ji Wine Shop, Ran Er and Qinglian chatted with the idle Zhou shopkeeper for a while.