On November 27, the twentieth year of Dading, on the tenth day after the winter solstice, as soon as the sky dawned, anxious villagers rushed to Situ Yan's house.

Li Dalang is leading his younger brothers to fight in the yard, yesterday he took his younger brothers to the backyard of the land are fertilized, the cotton jacket is a little dirty, several people overnight washed out the cotton jacket cover, this morning when I got up, I found that there was still some dampness, with the fire to roast it, this is only half an hour late, so I saw someone knocking on the door at this time, and some are not used to it.

Situ Yan welcomed the people into the hall and asked Li Dalang to take Erlang and them to the stove room for dinner first. Only then did he politely greet the visitor, "Aunt Quan, don't be polite to me, just call me Xiaowu." This is your daughter, right? ”

"Yes, it's called Yadan, and I'm eight years old this year." Li's family was one of the people who helped Situ Yan speak, so she recognized it.

"Sister Yadan, come and sit on the kang, it's like being at home here, don't be polite." Situ Yan let people sit on the side of the kang, and then heard the courtyard door ring again, and went to open the door to greet people after saying hello, this time there were more people coming, there were four families.

Liangzi and his mother's three aunts, Li Gen's daughter-in-law and daughter Hong'er, Li Shan's daughter-in-law, Li's fifth daughter-in-law and daughter Cuiya, the women and children in this room, Li Dalang was inconvenient to help welcome guests, so he took his younger brothers to avoid reading and writing in the west.

Situ Yan looked at these people and knew that Mura Zheng had a number in her heart, these were the few families she sent straw mats to when she was in the service, so it was good, at least these people were not annoying, as for whether it was worth paying or not, it depended on how they got along.

The aunts who came to try the work got the letter of the village yesterday, and some didn't believe it, how could there be such a good thing, you can make money without going out in this winter, and then the village is explaining that this is the letter, and I didn't sleep all night, and I pulled the girl at home at dawn and came over with scissors.

Situ Yan and the others sat down, and then told the big guy what he meant, and the person who tried the job took the scissors and lowered his head to do the work seriously, for fear that a person would accidentally cut the pattern and lose the work.

Several aunts are skillful, and even a few sisters cut them well, Situ Yan looked at it and thought it was okay, so she sent 40 patterns to each family, and sent people out of the house before remembering to tell the aunts to send the cut window flowers before the fourth day of the lunar month. got the job, several families were happy to laugh all the way, and when they walked away, Situ Yan could still hear their voices.

The peasants of ancient times were pitiful, and the peasant women were even more pitiful, who had no skills but could not make money.

After sending the aunts away, Situ Yan went to see the mule, this mule is completely good, she can eat and sleep in the past few days, although there is no meat on her body, but her spirit is much better, but it can't be used to carry things and pull feet at the moment.

The livestock is more humane, and when she saw Situ Yan coming in, she flashed her big eyes and lowered her head and gently pushed it over. Situ Yan touched her head with her hand, added some fine ingredients made of wheat bran and bran to it, and told her to eat more like coaxing a child, so she washed her hands and went into the stove room to have some breakfast.

After entering the wax moon, Situ Yan wrote the Spring Festival couplets and was completely idle, except for cooking some food to teach her brother to read, there was no work to do at home. There is an old saying in the Northeast, if you don't shoot in 1929, you will walk on the ice in 3949, although it has never snowed after 29, but the north wind is blowing in a cold and dry day, it is like a knife, and Situ Yan can only snuggle up to the hot kang head in the winter of the cat at home.

When he was idle, he found a lot of cotton cloth and cotton from the ring, and made cotton clothes for Li Dalang and his brother Wu Jindu. The family has money, and the days are not so tight, although the cover does not need to be made, but the clothes on the body are still made one more set, and there is a replacement. It was busy until the fourth day of the lunar month.

The one who got the job came over early in the morning with his things, Situ Yan saw that there was no problem one by one, and settled the salary on the spot, and several people pushed it a few times embarrassedly before accepting it. Holding his chest, he rushed home with a new trick. This unexpected 80 yuan made the family happy, and this work can be done twice again, a few people returned home and praised Situ Yan and Li Dalang to the sky, so far Situ Yan can be regarded as a firm foothold in Lijia Village.

On the morning of the fifth day of the lunar month, Situ Yan carried a basket to decorate the Spring Festival couplets of window flowers, Da Lang and Erlang carried snacks, and San Lang and Shilang carried Aunt Fu and their finished Fu wa. Several aunts knew that these could be used to exchange money, and they were even more diligent, and they rushed out fifty of them in ten days. How can this basket fit, as a last resort, even Shiro has a basket on his back, but fortunately, this thing is large but not sinking.

It was almost early at the beginning of the year when I arrived at the entrance of the village. Looking at the carload of people straightening their hair, they never expected that so many people would enter the city, and it was easy to squeeze into the car with their four brothers. As soon as I inquired, I learned that there was no letter from the village service at this time, and some families were in a hurry, so they wanted to go to the county town to inquire about the day of the market.

Situ Yan was a little embarrassed, fortunately she didn't bring firewood this time, otherwise the car would really not be able to fit it. Entered the city first found a market that sells embroidery and embroidery, chose a clean place, paved the Spring Festival couplets window flowers and Fuwa, told Erlang and San Lang, a pair of Spring Festival couplets, with two window flowers, sell 20 Wen, Fuwa a pair of 100 Wen, and yesterday taught the two to shout again, then with Lang, Shiro went to the dim sum market.

By the time Situ Yan entered the bookstore, he had already copied the book. At the beginning of the afternoon, I came out of the bookstore, went to the embroidery shop as usual, and went to the cloth village to buy Wu Jin the brocade to be used for making spring and summer shirts, which she did not have in her ring, and she also thought of making clothes these days. After all, Wu Jin and Li Dalang are from different backgrounds.

I hid the things I bought in the ring, bought red paper, and then rushed to the embroidery market.

"Little Five!" San Lang's eyes were sharp, and he saw Xiaomei coming over from a distance and hurriedly beckoned to her.

Situ Yan smiled and quickened her pace, "Third brother, how is the business going today?" ”

"Okay, Fuwa has already been sold out, and there are only these Spring Festival couplets left, and they will definitely be sold after a while." San Lang's face was excited, and Erlang was also talking on the side, watching them happy, Situ Yan was also happy in his heart.

On a whim, he also helped shout, "Uncles and aunts, take a look at the Spring Festival couplets of 'Li Fuji', buy Spring Festival couplets and send blessing words, to ensure that you will be blessed and blessed next year." Let's take a look! Situ Yan's voice was clear, and this voice really attracted many people. At noon, this last bit of Spring Festival couplets was also sold out. A few people happily closed the stall and went to find Li Dalang.

Li Dalang is also closing the stall here, "Big brother, is your business good today?" ”

"Good. Snacks are all sold. I'll get you the money bag. A few people talked and laughed out of the county.

waited until more than a quarter of an hour had passed, only to see the villagers walking back, looking at one by one with their heads down, looking listless, Situ Yan hurriedly signaled Li Dalang to laugh, afraid that he was serving or not having a letter, people were worried, if he laughed too happily, in the eyes of outsiders, it would be a blockage.

Whispered and inquired with Xiaoyang'er, only did he find out that the people who served not only did not believe it, but even heard that some people died in the service this year, but they didn't know which village they died. The villagers were worried that they were not in a good mood either. Situ Yan didn't want to touch people's heads, so she pulled her brothers to find a side and squeezed to sit.

I rushed on the road for more than two hours, the road was slippery and difficult to walk in this winter, and when I got home, a few people simply ate a bite, and a few people went into the west room to read and write, and Situ Yan hid in the east room to keep accounts.

Today, I made a total of 5 taels and 700 yuan, in addition to the cost, I can net less than 3 taels, plus the previous 2 taels, this day is finally better. Putting the silver coins into the ring, he shook his head as he looked at the copper coins full of baskets in the ring, and it seemed that he really wanted to find a day to exchange all the copper coins for silver, which would take up too much space.

Calculated Aunt Fu'er's wages and wrapped them, and sent them over before dark. I also followed Uncle Muramasa and asked about the service.

"The stakes of this year's cold, I heard that there have been two heavy snowfalls in the ditch digging place, and the ground is frozen and hard, even good people are tired." The village is embarrassed, but he can't help it, the government is arranged like this, some villages are richer, and they are all back in mid-November, their village is poor, and a few people who can't afford to pay filial piety are all ranked last, and the people who have entered Layue have not come back.

"Don't worry, uncle, as long as everyone can come back safely. Next year, our village will be able to live a good life, and then we will pay more endowments and no longer have to suffer from this. Situ Yan knew that she was comforting, even if her life was good, she would just stutter a lot, and few people would take silver for nothing.

But the village was happy to hear this, and the atmosphere was still a little gloomy, but it was also a lot better, Situ Yan talked to Aunt Fu for a while, and helped pick out some cloth, and then got up and went home.

At dinner in the evening, he said about today's account, "Sell something again, it's enough to pay the eldest brother 'more', no one in our family will do that work in the future, I heard that there are still dead people this year, and I don't know which village it is, I panic when I think about it." ”

"What, it's dead!" Li Erlang was also scared when he heard it. Saburo and Shiro shook their heads as well.

Li Dalang was also worried about this in his heart, he was not afraid of being tired, he was afraid that he would leave, there would not even be an adult at home, and he was afraid that his younger brothers and sisters would be bullied. Thinking that Xiaomei is still as good to him as before, and can pay him all the money he earns, this day is back to the time when he and Xiaomei first met, and his eyes were red with emotion.

"Big brother, what's wrong with you? This dead man is not necessarily from our village, don't be sad. Shiro looked at Da Lang's eyes and thought that Da Lang was worried about the villagers.

"I don't." Li Dalang wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, and he didn't speak clearly, but Situ Yan understood that he was not worried about the people in the village, but mostly thought of himself. smiled and patted Li Dalang's arm and gave him a reassuring look.

"These days, my brothers' "Hundred Family Names" have been memorized very well, from today we will learn the "Three Character Classic", which talks about geography, astronomy, and morality, which can teach people to be sensible and reasonable, and to debate things, brothers must study hard."

"Okay, I can also learn the "Three Character Classic". San Lang happily jumped up with chopsticks, hugged his little sister and shook with laughter.

"Third brother, don't shake it, if you shake it again, you'll shake me away." Situ Yan knew that her brothers were happy, and she laughed for a while.

When there is hope in life, people are more diligent in doing things.