Unexpectedly, the idea of returning home was approved by his adoptive father. Yang Zegui said: "Go back and take a look, it will take five or six years, the grass on the grave of your own old man should also be pulled, after the New Year, Shufen will go with you and give your father a grave." Only Shufenniang is a little worried, after all, the child is not her own, and she was already sensible when she came, what if she doesn't come back this time?

Fu Shun was bent on going home, but the cripple did a big thing in the winter - he built a thatched house - and he could no longer let his more and more mature brother and sister live in the same house.

The competent eldest son-in-law took Shufang "back to the door" a few days after getting married. Shufang said to Guoqiang that the family doesn't even have a decent house now, the three old houses were built by his father when he split the family, and the low and dilapidated tiled houses don't even have decent windows and door frames. Except for the gate, the other doors were made of bamboo by the lame; The kitchen is a thatched house, and every time Yang Si's sister-in-law lights a fire, she is worried that the firewood will not ignite this dilapidated house. But what about it? It's good for a family without labor to make ends meet, not to mention that they have emptied everything for Shufang's marriage! Guoqiang, who had just started a family, was a good son-in-law, and he decided to work hard to repair the house for his father-in-law.

Shufen was still bored after the eldest sister's marriage, and it had been more than half a year, from building roads to autumn harvests, and then preparing a dowry for the eldest sister, this thirteen or fourteen-year-old woman had already shown the wisdom of an adult. But Shufen's happiest thing is to tutor her sister over and over again, teach Fushun to read and write, and insist on writing a diary every day. In her diary, there is her father's wisdom, her mother's diligence, the joy of her sisters, the anguish of this brother of the opposite sex, and more, her dreams for the future.

Shufen wrote in her diary on this day:

January 1, 1982, New Year's Day, Friday, Weather: Sunny. Today is my 200th day away from school, and I'm glad my dad allowed me to buy my own diary. My sister has been married for two months, she is living happily as we wished, and my brother-in-law is very responsible, and he has decided to come tomorrow to help my family repair a house. In fact, Dad's mood is complicated, this year's food is handed over after the grain is handed over, there is not much left, we are very grateful to the brother-in-law's family for the food sent on the day of the eldest sister's wedding, at least not so that we will continue to starve; and the whole pig, which had been smoked into bacon; But since the house is to be repaired, these grains and bacon must be used to greet the craftsmen. The Spring Festival is just a few days away, and I hope to have my own space for my sister and me after the Spring Festival. Brother Fushun used the leftover wood to make a desk for me, and although it was a little shabby, I also liked it very much; He can finally go home once, maybe I won't understand my father's world, but Brother Fushun's heart to go home has never wavered, how I hope he can reunite with his family, and at the same time continue to call us like relatives. Mr. Tian is still the same, he still greeted me cordially when I was in the market yesterday, I want to say, I have a good life, I have studied all the courses in the first semester of the second grade by myself, but I looked at him and his girlfriend who also wore glasses to go shopping for groceries, my heart was a little sour, I didn't say anything.

Fu Shun also had an indescribable sourness in his heart, Father Yang not only agreed to let him go back to his hometown, but also built a house for him. Father Yang said that the thatched house is only temporary, and after a while, the conditions are a little better, and then a bricklayer will be invited to burn a kiln tile and renovate the whole house. He suddenly didn't want to go back, because Shufen also taught him to know more words like his second uncle, and Shufen told him that there was a homework called geometry, and the clever Fushun took the geometry textbook, and was fascinated by the lines and figures in it, and fiddled with the wooden ruler given to him by Carpenter Liu every day.

There is only one "craftsman" in Shufen's diary, and that is their eldest brother-in-law, Guoqiang. The hard-working Guoqiang had already settled down the housework at home, and went to Yangjiawan with Shufang, carrying the tools used to open stones, as well as borrowed earth-mixing boards and hammers for ramming earth walls. Compared with other craftsmen, this eldest son-in-law is obviously much easier to greet, he always beats stones behind the house alone, rams the original self-reserved land and then makes the foundation of the house, and installs the trench stones, except when two people have to contribute, he will call Fushun to help, and the rest of the time the family is busy with their own affairs - they are busy planting wheat!

Mr. and Mrs. Yang are more and more fond of this adopted son, although they rarely speak, they are definitely good at work. In addition to the field that Shufang withdrew from after getting married, Yang Zegui's family also had nearly ten acres of land. Fushun led the old ox to plow all the dry land at home, when his father was making a nest, Shufen and her mother planted, and Fushun picked up a lot of manure to fertilize. Shufang didn't treat herself as an outsider, she took over all the work of feeding pigs and cows at home, and was also responsible for cooking and delivering food. In the evening, Guoqiang and his family went home from Dishui Rock with torches, and rushed over early in the morning.

On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the wheat in the field was already sprouting, and some rice leaves had grown on the grain stumps in the wells and paddies, and the stone bridge did not seem to be cold this year. Yang Laosi's family did not have larger trees, so they replaced them with old bamboo beams and purlins, and Fushun said that as long as the structure is reasonable, the house will not collapse. Guoqiang was suspicious, and together with Fushun, he erected the big blue bamboo of the bowl out of a herringbone, and then sealed it with new straw. For the first time, Guoqiang went down to the foundation and built the earthen wall alone, obviously satisfied with his masterpiece, and he looked at Shufang and giggled. Everyone helped move Fushun's wooden bed to the new house, and Fushun smiled after a long absence.

This day is the day of welcoming the king of the stove, and the two Guoqiang have to go home to Zhang Luo for the New Year. Yang Shuzi tied a handful of bamboo branches and leaves on the long bamboo pole, called Fushun, swept the dust and cobwebs in every room, and then came to the kitchen in front of the god of the stove, and offered sacrifices - a large piece of bacon, burned the paper money, the god of the stove was picked up, and then until the fifteenth day of the first month, the god of the stove lived at home, enjoying the "harvest" given by God this year, and continued to bless the safety of the house. And the fourth sister-in-law Yang was begging the god of the stove to bless her stove house not to catch fire.

The next day is busy for the people of Shiqiao, and they have to prepare for the Spring Festival. Who's small stone mill will turn up, and after grinding tofu, grind konjac; Who's steamer has to be burned, and the glutinous rice has to be steamed after steaming; Who's stone nest and glutinous mallet must be brushed clean, and they must use special tools to make sweet glutinous cakes; The fat pigs in the family have to kill the pigs in these days, and then smoke the bacon - this matter has nothing to do with the Shufen family, of course, because there are only a few piglets left in the pigsty.

The virtuous mother Yang had already soaked soybeans and bred a pot of soybean sprouts. Shufen removed the dry firewood on the stone mill, and together with Shufei, cleaned the stone mill that was only used once a year. Fushun also likes this small stone mill, it doesn't know how many years it has been, and it has stayed quietly in the corner of the eaves since it arrived at Yang's house. The round stone mill has three layers: the upper layer is a Q-shaped grinding disc with a wooden square and a large grinding hole with a small bowl mouth that can be uncovered; The middle layer is fixed, the middle is a round bearing, and the upper grinding disc can rotate around the bearing; The radius of the lower layer is larger than that of the upper two layers, and the edge encloses the stone mill to form a circular sink and outlet. In addition to this, there is a T-shaped piece of wood with a diameter of 10 centimeters and a length of about two meters, one end of which is dropped from the roof beam using a rope, and the other end has an iron tooth that fastens to the small hole in the Q-shaped tail of the grinding disc.

Fu Shun held the T-shaped beam, he was amazed at his "growth", he couldn't reach it last year! Shufen held the brush handle, and Shufenniang carried a bucket of soybeans and a spoon, and kept sending beans into the grinding hole. Fu Shun stiffly controlled the horizontal wood one after the other, and Yang Zegui specially brought a high bench and sat next to him to direct Fu Shun to exert force evenly. The snow-white soybean milk flowed from the bottom of the grinding disc to the sink along with the okara, and then from the sink to the bucket under the stone mill, dripping little by little, and as more and more beans were grinded, the soybean milk that flowed out became a line.

In a short time, a large bucket of beans was ground into soy milk. Xiao Shufei had already boiled a large pot of hot water in the stove house. The skillful Shufenniang found a large bunker that she used every year - in fact, it was something similar to gauze, wrapped the soy milk and the bean dregs together, put them in a large wooden bucket filled with hot water, and stirred vigorously with a clean stick until all the soy milk in the bean dregs was leached out. Shufen Niang arranged for Shufei to start a fire again, poured the soy milk into the cauldron and continued to stir, and then put in some brine, the soy milk slowly turned into tofu brain, Fushun and Shufen looked at the straight eyes, the mother gave each of the three children a bowl, and then wrapped it with a handkerchief, clamped it up with a few wooden boards, put it into the newly built thatched house, and pressed it tightly with a few clean stones.

Konjac is the common name of konjac, which is not only rich in nutritional value, but also tastes great when stir-fried with sour radish after being processed into konjac tofu. Processing konjac tofu is much simpler, cut into pieces of konjac into the grinding hole, the family continues to grind, the pushed konjac juice on the freshly burned straw ash repeatedly watered, leached out the alkali konjac water and then steamed in the pot, soon come out piece by piece konjac tofu.

In the next few days, Shufenniang and her three daughters made glutinous rice into glutinous rice and mash, and baked tofu into dried tofu; Fushun followed the lame father to chop wood and clean the front and back of the house; The Fushun brothers and sisters also followed their mother to Shiqiao Township once, rushed to the closing field of the Year of the Pig, bought some New Year's goods, and made a new set of clothes.

With the arrival of Chinese New Year's Eve, a cannon battle, the people of Shiqiao have said goodbye to the Year of the Monkey and ushered in the Year of the Dog!