Before the rice harvest, at the end of July, the sisters collected the lotus canopy in the three-acre lotus pond, dried it, and knocked out all the lotus seeds in the lotus pod on a straw mat. Then leave a small portion for yourself to eat, as well as give away. Most of them were sold on the Yangzhuang market, and this alone got more than seven taels of silver. This made the sisters look forward to the next lotus root.

After the rice is harvested, winter wheat is planted, and every year. It's just that now the paddy fields of Ran'er and Qinglian have changed from two acres to five acres.

Worried that the water would be too cold when digging lotus roots, the sisters began to dig lotus roots one after another after planting wheat. The lotus pond is five feet deep, but the stream is much smaller at the end of autumn, and when digging the lotus pond, there is a special channel for releasing water. Ran'er and Qinglian first put most of the water in the lotus pond, and after only two feet of water remained, they could no longer release it. This does not prevent the sisters from digging lotus roots. Standing in the thigh-high water, he bends down and digs up the lotus roots one by one from the mud at the bottom of the pool, washes them in the water, and stacks them in the pavilion. Every two days of accumulation, to two hundred and fifty or sixty catties, Ran'er and Qinglian asked Li Shun to transport it to Yangzhuang in an ox cart to sell.

The price of lotus root is not high, only five cents a catty, but the yield of lotus root is high. Three acres of ponds, Ran Er and Qinglian dug for a total of 12 days, sold a total of 3,000 catties of lotus roots, and got 15 taels of silver. It does not include leaving for his own food, as well as giving Grandpa Li's family four thirty catties each, the village chief's family fifty catties, and Li Langzhong's family fifty catties.

Counting the seven taels of silver from the lotus seeds, the lotus pond earned a total of more than twenty-two taels of silver for the Ran'er sisters. The advantage of planting lotus root is that in addition to planting in the first year, it is not allowed to plant again in the future, and when digging the lotus root, pay attention to leaving a part of the seed, and the pond will be regrown in spring.

After tasting the sweetness, the two sisters discussed for a long time and decided to raise more fish in the pond, so that they would have another income.

After deciding, Ran Er and Qinglian took out five taels of silver to buy 2,000 carp and silver carp fry each, and stocked them in the pond together. I went to Yangzhuang to buy some small fish and shrimp, dried them, pressed them into powder on a stone table, mixed them with wheat bran, and prepared to feed them with small fish fry that are rarely eaten in winter.

At the beginning of the month, the pigs in the pigsty were also slaughtered, and in addition to the money for catching piglets, there were more than two taels left. Finally, the sisters' silver money accumulated to a small twenty taels. After deducting the ten taels of silver left by the mother, there are less than ten taels. My heart suddenly became steady.

The two sisters each made a new dress and had a happy New Year.

In addition to transporting fertilizer from the pigsty to the field, the sisters also fed the fish fry in the pond. Most of the time, I read and write in the house and became a female celebrity. Ran'er's embroidery is already quite decent, and the embroidered handkerchief can be sold for 20 yuan per piece when it is taken to the grocery store in Yangzhuang. It's just that Qinglian can't do it in this regard, although Ran'er teaches patiently, Qinglian also works hard to learn, and the embroidery just doesn't look good. Later, he simply stopped embroidering. According to Qinglian's words, it is:

"Don't be a female celebrity, do more other things, make money, and spend money to buy it."

Since writing couplets for the four of Li Jiaye last year, every year they have developed a habit of writing early and sending them to Ran'er and Qinglian.

In February, the sisters began to be busy pickling sour bamboo shoots again. 然儿建yì道:

"Lian'er, we can't dig up all the bamboo shoots this year, leave Yicheng, let the bamboo forest expand a little more, slowly get rich, and then buy more vacant land around."

"Also, it's better to buy more chickens this year and raise them in the bamboo forest."

"That's a good idea."

This year, the sisters only pickled 100 jars of sour bamboo shoots and sold them for five taels of silver. But he bought fifty chicks and twenty ducks. Ran'er and Qinglian plan to put the chicks and ducklings in the fence yard first, feed them for a month, and then release them into the bamboo forest and pond respectively when they are stronger.

On the 14th day of March, since the 16th day of the first lunar month of last year, when I drank the wedding wine, I had seen a spring water riding a horse into the small courtyard of the fence. As soon as they met, Ran'er felt that Chunshui's face was not good, depressed, and seemed to have something on her mind. In the process of the next conversation between the three of them, they found that Chunshui would always stare at Ran'er in a daze. It seems that he has something to say, but he never speaks.

"Brother Chunshui, I haven't seen you for more than a year, have you been working hard?"

"I've been doing my homework in my studies, and I'm preparing for the big competition in two years."

"What is Dabi?"

"It's Brother Chunshui who wants to participate in the Spring Festival in two years, if it's high school, it's Master Jinshi."

Ran Er explained to Qinglian for Chunshui.

"Brother Chunshui, is there something wrong with coming here this time?"

Ran Er saw that Chunshui looked like she wanted to speak and stopped, so she couldn't help but ask

"It's nothing, it's just that I haven't seen Ran'er and Qinglian for a long time, come and have a look."

Seeing that Chunshui didn't want to say, Ran Er didn't ask again. After talking again, Chunshui stood up and wanted to leave, Ran'er and Qinglian also stood up, and when they came to the courtyard, Chunshui stood there and hesitated for a while, and finally spoke:

"Sister Ran'er, Sister Qinglian, if you have time at twenty-five, go to Yangzhuang to drink my brother's happy bar."

"What's the joy of the big brother?"

Ran Er guessed what it was, and was slightly disappointed, but it was fine in a blink of an eye. smiled and said to the spring water who was looking at him:

"Is Brother Chunshui getting married?"

"The family suddenly booked the daughter of the Wang family on the shore of Xiling Lake, and I went to school on the tenth day of the first month, and I didn't ask for my opinion in advance, and I only sent a letter four days ago, asking me to come back immediately to complete the marriage."

"The eldest brother is going to marry the bride, what a festive thing, how can you see the reluctance of the eldest brother?"

"Yes, Ran'er is here to congratulate Brother Chunshui on his great joy."

Qinglian heard that Chunshui was going to get married, and she was always afraid that Chunshui's family would come to propose to her sister, so she was swept away and suddenly became happy. Ran'er and Chunshui only thought that Qinglian was happy for Chunshui, and no one could guess Qinglian's true thoughts.

Xu is Chunshui also knew that since the matter had been decided by his parents, he was powerless to change it, and seeing that Ran'er and Qinglian were happy to him, he could only show a smile and said:

"Then Tian'er and Qinglian should go as much as possible."

As he spoke, he took out an invitation card from his arms, handed it to Ran'er, turned around and came to the far gate, stepped on the horse, and walked slowly along the path to Xia Village.

Seeing Chunshui riding a horse and turning around the foot of the mountain, she couldn't see it, so she turned around and found that Qinglian was staring at herself, thinking that Qinglian was looking at the invitation card in her hand, so she handed it to her and said:

"Lian'er hasn't seen an invitation yet?"

Ran Er saw that Qinglian took the invitation and just held it in her hand, and didn't look at it, she still looked at herself with a smile, couldn't help touching her face, and asked:

"What is Lian'er looking at? Sister has flowers on her face? ”

"Sister heard that Brother Chunshui is going to get married, are you disappointed?"

"How could my sister be disappointed? It's too late to be happy for Brother Chunshui. ”

Qinglian looked at Ran'er's eyes carefully, and found that what Ran'er said was indeed true, and her heart was even happier.

"Sister, it's time to cook. At noon today, Lian'er cooked for her sister, and her sister was not allowed to interfere. ”

Although Ran'er was a little puzzled about Qinglian's appearance, she didn't dig deeper, since Qinglian wanted to cook, then she would do it. Ran Er returned to the house, sat on the kang, picked up an unfinished handkerchief, bowed her head and embroidered seriously. It's just that for no reason, I suddenly remembered that when Chunshui was sitting in the room, he looked at his eyes. As soon as Ran Er was distracted, the embroidery needle in his hand pierced his left index finger, and he couldn't help but let out an "oops".

Qinglian was busy cooking outside, when she heard Ran'er's "oops", she hurriedly came to the inner room, and saw that Ran'er was putting her left index finger in her mouth and sucking, so she asked:

"My sister has been embroidering for several years, but she has never pricked her fingers, what happened today?"

"Let's cook, how many of the embroiderers haven't been pierced? It's also worth all the fuss about Lian'er? ”

"No, is there something on my sister's mind?"

"What can my sister do in her heart?"

"Are you really okay?"

"Don't go cook yet, my sister is hungry."

Ran'er's face sank deliberately and urged.

Qinglian was smiling, thinking in her heart that as long as her sister was not flustered because her eldest brother was about to get married.

What teenager is not good at spring? Ran'er is now fourteen or fifteen years old, and it is the time for the girl's family to find her mother-in-law's family. For Chunshui, who has been taking care of himself, it is impossible to say that there is no emotion, no trace of heartbeat. For a long time, I was just worried about the age gap between the two and the gap in identity, plus Ran'er was still young, so I didn't take it seriously. However, today I suddenly heard that Chunshui was about to get married, and Ran Er was still in a trance. It's like losing something beloved, but I can't tell if it's because Chunshui is going to get married.

Seeing that Qinglian turned around and went to cook, she sat on the kang alone, forgetting the embroidery work in her hands. Looking at the window blankly, because through the window paper, I couldn't see the scene outside, in fact, I just saw it, and Ran'er's mind was not on it at this time.

When they got up on the morning of March 25, Ran'er and Qinglian saw that the sky was a little gloomy, and after breakfast, they read the book as usual, worried that it would rain, so they didn't want to go to Yangzhuang early, otherwise they would be crowded in the house and uncomfortable. By the middle of the day, the sky was still overcast, and it did not fall. The two sisters felt that the time was almost up, so they each carried an oil-paper umbrella and closed the door of the house and the courtyard door. Laughing all the way to Yangzhuang. According to the time, when I arrived in Yangzhuang, it should be the beginning of noon, and I couldn't delay watching the bride pass through the door.

I don't want to just arrive in Yangzhuang, and the sky is dripping. The two sisters walked to the account room, and asked Mr. to keep the account of the congratulatory gifts, the handkerchiefs embroidered by Ran'er on both sides, and two taels of silver, and did not go to the house, but stood at the door with an umbrella, waiting to see the bride.