Seeing that the big bowl of water had bottomed out again, Ling'er picked up the kettle and stepped forward and said, "Grandma Fei, shall I pour you some more?" ”

Mrs. Fei hurriedly let the bowl out: "Okay, good, stupid girl!" She stretched out her dry claw to touch Ling'er's head, Ling'er avoided it sideways, and said while pouring water: "Grandma Fei, my name is Ling'er, not a stupid girl!" ”

The old lady paused, laughed dryly, and said, "Oh, yes, yes, Ling'er, hehe, I'm used to calling it before!" ”

Ling'er smiled: "Grandma Fei, it's so late, if you're not at home, what if your chickens are lost or something?" ”

"No, no, the little bolt is at home!"

The little bolt is Grandma Fei's grandson, about ten years old, and he is a little mute! In the past, when Ling'er was not enlightened, the people in the village often laughed, saying that Ling'er's family and Mrs. Fei's house were close, and the children and grandchildren of both sides were fools and mutes.

Mrs. Fei was very annoyed when she heard this rumor, and scolded the village for a few days, for no other reason, just because she felt that her grandson couldn't speak, everything else was top-notch, how could Ling'er, a stupid girl who only add chaos to dinner, be worthy of her precious grandson? may also be because of this, Mrs. Fei is quite dissatisfied with Ling'er's family, and often comes to find fault when she has nothing to do, and she scolds Huai at the door at every turn, so the two families have no contact!

Thinking of the ugly words of the old lady before, Ling'er suddenly had a thought of revenge in her heart: "Grandma Fei, the little bolt can't speak, even if a thief comes, he can't shout!" In case something is lost in your house. Our family is going to be at peace again! I think you'd better go back quickly, oh, it's hard to walk when it's dark, and we can't afford to pay if we fall, so why don't I get you a lantern? ”

After speaking ill of her grandson, she thought that the old lady would be furious, and then left angrily. But the old lady was still sitting. Helplessly pinching her sleeves full of patches, her old face flushed with embarrassment, and she stammered, "No... No, you don't..."

"Ling'er. Don't be rude! Sister Fei, Ling'er is not sensible, don't take it to heart! Ling'er, go to the kitchen and watch the fire! "The old lady came in from outside. While apologizing to the old lady, she instructed Ling'er, but Ling'er pouted and was reluctant to move.

The old lady frowned and glared at her. Ling'er called Ning Ba in the house and told him to go to the kitchen to watch the fire for a while, and the old lady wanted to talk about her again, so she hurriedly said, "Mother." Grandma Fei has something to do and is busy going back, why don't we send her off? ”

The old lady turned to Mrs. Fei: "Sister, don't worry, right?" Do you want to skip dinner before leaving? ”

The old lady laughed far-fetched. nodded and said, "Okay, then it's troublesome Sister Yang!" ”

"Huh. No hassle! No hassle! We have been neighbors for more than ten years, and we don't see each other when we look up and look down all day long, so we should have invited our eldest sister to dinner a long time ago! Oh yes, the little plug is at home, right? ”

Mrs. Fei said embarrassedly: "I'm ...... Leave him alone, I baked him a cake before I came out! ”

"How's that going to work? That kid is already timid, he must be afraid to leave him alone at home, anyway, there are not many steps, Ling'er, you get a torch and go and pick up the little bolt! ”

Ling'er pursed her lips, looking unhappy, and Mrs. Fei hurriedly excused herself: "No need, really no need!" ”

The old lady was very insistent, and she rushed Ling'er to pick up people, but the old lady wanted to stop but was pulled by the old lady and brought into the kitchen! Ling'er walked out of the courtyard with a torch on her unhappy face and went to Mrs. Fei's house.

Mrs. Fei's house is one or two hundred meters away from Ling'er's house, and it is connected to the rows of houses in the village, which is the real outer edge of Wangjia Village. Although the old lady's surname is Fei, she is the real Wang family, because her father-in-law's son and grandson are all surnamed Wang!

In fact, the old lady's ancestors and grandchildren are also strange and pitiful, in the early years, their family conditions were not bad, the old lady went to serve as a soldier, and became a petty official, and later died in battle; His only son went to serve in the army again, and later died, and his daughter-in-law ran away with the family's valuable things after being widowed for two years, leaving the elderly Mrs. Fei and her mute grandson to rely on each other.

Fortunately, the old lady's ancestors left more than ten acres of land, and the grandparents rented them to the villagers when they couldn't cultivate them, and collected some rent grain every year, which was barely enough for them to live! Therefore, relatively speaking, the conditions of Mrs. Fei's family are still better than those of Ling'er's family!

Ling'er took the torch to the old lady's house, and saw that the courtyard was dark, and the courtyard door was hidden. Little plug, come out! I'm here to pick you up for dinner! Small plugs! ”

Ling'er screamed for a while, but there was no movement in several rooms, Ling'er was strange, could it be that the little mute couldn't hear it? Or asleep? She was hesitating to go in and take a look at the room, when the courtyard door next to her opened, and a woman stretched out her head to take a look, and was stunned for a moment when she saw Ling'er, and then said with a smile on her face: "Oh, isn't this the stupid girl of the Yang family?" Didn't you move to town? How did you get back? ”

Ling'er nodded politely to the woman: "Hello aunt! I came to look for the little plug, but no one answered no matter how I called it! ”

"Little bolt? What are you looking for that little mute? Isn't Aunt Fei here? ”

Ling'er smiled and didn't answer, so as not to say too much gossip about these people, so she continued to shout while banging on the door, and the woman said, "Don't shout!" Aunt Fei is not there, and the little bolt is even more absent! ”

Ling'er was stunned, and always felt that there was something in this woman's words: "Auntie, do you know where the little bolt went?" ”

"Alas! Where else can you go, most of them are still in the county medical hall! ”

"Huh? County Hospital! ”

"Yes! Aunt Fei is really hard, and finally pulled the child up, half a month ago, the child suddenly had a high fever, how many doctors were invited and how many medicines were not cured, and there was no choice but to send it to the city! ”

"That's... Doesn't Grandma Fei have to go to the county seat to take care of it? What's wrong with her at home? ”

"Aunt Fei is at home?"

Ling'er paused and laughed dryly: "No, no, there is no one in the yard now, I heard Sister Yue'er say that I saw her in the village yesterday!" ”

"That's right! The little bolt now lives in the county hospital, and the medical expenses are a lot every day, and Aunt Fei has been borrowing money in the village for the past few days! What's the matter, silly girl, Aunt Fei went to your house to borrow money? ”

Ling'er was stunned for a moment, so it turned out that this was the case, so she said that the old lady had such a good temper today, no matter how she said it, she didn't react, it turned out that she had a request for us! Ling'er thought for a while and said, "Auntie, didn't Aunt Fei borrow money in the village?" ”

"She borrowed three or five taels, and she borrowed several times, who has so much money!"

"Huh? What kind of illness costs so much silver? ”

"Who knows! I heard that the doctor in the city said that the disease of the little plug is strange, but it may also be his blessing, as long as the little plug is cured, maybe the little plug will be able to speak after being cured! Hum! I don't believe it, how can there be such a good thing in the world? I've been dumb for more than ten years, but it's better to have a fever? It's probably because the doctor is bluffing people and trying to extort money! ”

Ling'er also felt strange, but since the matter was clear, there was no need to say more, and it should be clearer to go back and ask Mrs. Fei herself later, so she said goodbye to this aunt and ran back. When she returned to the courtyard, she saw that the kitchen light had been turned off, and the hall was bright.

"Mother, I'm back!" Ling'er shouted and walked into the hall, and saw that her father and mother and Mrs. Fei were still sitting at the tea table, Ning Ba, Shimei and Daqiang were sitting at the dinner table, but they hadn't moved their chopsticks yet, the room was quiet, and no one spoke!

Ling'er looked around, looked at the expressions of Mrs. Fei and her father, and after thinking about it for a while, she understood the reason, most of which was because Mrs. Fei mentioned borrowing money! Ling'er pretended not to know anything, and said loudly: "Mother, there seems to be no one at Grandma Fei's house, I shouted for a long time and no one answered, so I came back!" ”

The old lady nodded and said, "Got it, Ling'er, sit down!" ”

"Oh! Mother, why haven't you eaten yet, I'm hungry! ”

"Ling'er, wait a little longer, there's something we can discuss! Da Qiang, Ning Ba, and Ten Sisters, if you are hungry, eat first, ah! ”

The three of them shook their heads in unison, all waiting for everyone to eat together. The old lady thought for a while and said, "It's okay, Ling'er, that ...... The little plug is sick, and Sister Fei wants to borrow a hundred taels of silver from our family......"

Ling'er immediately frowned, "Mother, we have a total of that little silver, didn't you say that you want to keep it to buy the land?" ”

The old lady looked at her father hesitantly, and Mrs. Fei immediately said, "Brother Yang, brother and sister, I am about to sell the land, if you want it...... Here, I brought all the title deeds! ”

Mrs. Fei anxiously took out a cloth bag from her arms, shook her hands and opened it layer by layer, until finally revealed a few thick pieces of yellow paper, which was indeed the title deed! The old lady reluctantly rubbed the pieces of paper, and there seemed to be tears flashing in her eyes, and she couldn't bear to look at it!

The old lady said: "Sister Fei, don't sell your land, or how will you and the little bolt live in the future?" ”

Mrs. Fei touched the corners of her eyes, gritted her teeth, and handed over the title deed: "No! If you want to sell, you must sell it, otherwise there will be no money to treat the little plug, if the little plug is gone, I am a lonely old woman, what is the use of keeping this thing! Brother Yang, brother and sister, my family has a total of eight acres of land and five acres of land, you can see how much money you can give! ”

"This ......" the old lady hesitated and didn't know whether to take it, Ling'er stepped forward to take it, opened it and took a look, sure enough, as the old lady said, eight acres of land are by the river, and five acres of land are under her yard, the quality of this field is very good, as long as you don't meet profiteers, you should be able to sell it at a good price.

Ling'er handed the title deed to her father, and the old lady waved her hand and said, "I can't read, I can't read!" Ling'er, quickly return the title deed to Sister Fei, we can't ask for this land! ”

"Mother! Grandma Fei urgently needs silver to save the little bolt, if we don't buy it, other people's families will buy it, and we will pay a higher price! ”

"This ......" The old lady looked at the father hesitantly, the old man was noncommittal and took a sip of the cigarette pouch, the old lady sighed and said: "Okay, Sister Fei, do you sell all these fields or keep some of them?" What price do you want to sell? (To be continued)