In late December 1962, the day of the Winter Solstice Festival was exactly nine, and the weather was unusually cold. Zhao Simao came to Zhou's house again on the morning of that day.

The adults all went to work, and the old lady Zhou took Zhou Xia's children and two sick people who couldn't see anyone.

As soon as Zhao Simao entered the house, Zhou Hongying hid in the quilt and refused to come out. During this time, she and Zhou Juan drank a lot of bitter medicine soup, but their faces did not improve at all. Zhou Juan hid in the back room silently and didn't come out to meet people, Zhou Hongying didn't hide in front of the Zhou family, and her temper was extremely short-tempered, if it weren't for the fact that she couldn't speak, she couldn't eat too much and didn't have the strength, the Zhou family could simply make her turn the sky upside down.

"This kid!" Mrs. Zhou hurriedly explained to Zhao Sima, "Old sister, don't be surprised, this child is not working hard these days, and he is playing with a child's temper!" ”

"Big sister, look at what you say! Can I still pick a child's rationale? Zhao Simao sat on the kang, put her hand on the brazier and roasted it twice, and said a few polite words to Mrs. Zhou before talking about today's business.

It turned out that it was Zhou Juan's in-laws who asked her to discuss the marriage, "If you agree, let's hurry up and set a date for the second stubble ceremony, and the marriage of the two children will be done before the year." ”

Zhou Juan has been engaged for three years, if it weren't for Mrs. Zhou's desire to keep her at home to help the family, she would have gotten married last year. This year's life is better, the Zhou family has already discussed, and the Xu family came to discuss marriage again, so they relented and agreed.

But Zhou Juan's face can't be seen now! If the Xu family knows about this, they will not be allowed to withdraw from the marriage!

Mrs. Zhou regretted it very much for a while, she should have sent Zhou Juan out of the door last year, but now it is like this, if she is divorced by the Xu family, her face will be ruined, and she will not be left at home in the future! This is really smashing hands, the Zhou family can't raise a money-losing goods for nothing, and eat for nothing!

"Old sister, it's really time to do the two children's affairs. When Erya's father and mother came back, I discussed it with them, and I told you if I had a quasi-letter. "No matter what she thinks in her heart, Mrs. Zhou can only appease Zhao Simao and the Xu family first, and take one step at a time.

After Zhao Simao left, the sound of smashing rice bowls and Zhou Juan's whining cry came from Dongli.

"You still have a face! I'm telling you, if you don't get married, don't expect me to give you a back gift! If you don't do any work every day, you still take care of you? Hurry up and work for me tomorrow! The Zhou family doesn't feed for nothing! "Mrs. Zhou has been angry these days, and she was cleaned up by Shen Guodong, Zhou Hongying's illness and Zhou Hongxiang's lack of food broke her heart again, and now because of Zhou Juan's face, she saw that the second stubble of her hand was about to run, and she was even more irritable.

Sanjiatun is engaged here, and the bride price is divided into the first stubble ceremony and the second stubble ceremony. Generally, the man and woman negotiate the amount of the bride price when they are engaged, and the bride price is too much after the engagement. The deposit and things given by the first stubble gift are just a formality, and the amount is very small. When both men and women discuss getting married, they will have a second stubble ceremony, and the second stubble ceremony is the highlight of the bride price, and ninety percent of the general bride price is given to the woman at this time.

So when Mrs. Zhou found out that she was about to lose a lot of money because of Zhou Juan's illness, she immediately couldn't sit still. After thinking about it, there was no choice but to go to the warehouse to ask Huang Daxian and the ancestors for blessing.

When Zhou Chunfa and his wife knew that the Xu family had come to discuss the marriage date, they couldn't sit still. But Zhou Juan's face is not good, the doctors they should have seen have also seen it, and the medicine has not been broken, so there is nothing to do now.

Zhou Chunfa smoked with a stuffy head, and Wang Fengying was inspired by Mrs. Zhou, and took Zhou Juan to the warehouse to ask Huang Daxian'er.

Zhou Wanwan thought about it for a while and felt that it was better for Zhou Juan to marry off. Without her behind her ideas, although the rest of the Zhou family is still vicious and selfish, the methods are simple and rude, and it is easier to deal with. Although Zhou Wanwan is not afraid of her, it is also very uncomfortable to have such a poisonous snake-like person by her side. So, let her marry out and harm others!

Therefore, when the Zhou family was helpless because of Zhou Juan's face, Zhou Juan and Zhou Hongying's faces miraculously improved. Of course, this good is only temporary. Zhou Wanwan touched her chin and considered, let Zhou Juan marry first, as for marrying into the Xu family and relapsing the old disease, it is none of the Zhou family's business, let her toss with the Xu family.

Since Zhou Wanwan has let Zhou Juan get better, of course Zhou Hongying, an accomplice, doesn't have to serve her sentence anymore, so let her go this time to see the after-effects. Of course, in order to live a quiet life, Zhou Hongying's voice still can't let her speak for the time being, Zhou Wanwan really thinks that a Zhou Hongying who can eat and scold people is really uncute.

Mrs. Zhou and Wang Fengying patted their thighs and sighed, this is really Huang Daxian's manifestation and the blessing of the ancestors! For a while, the two of them burned incense and paper in the Zhou family's warehouse, which made the warehouse smoky, and the eyes hurt when they went in, and Zhou Wanwan was even worried that they should not set the house on fire, and then they would affect their brothers and sisters.

Zhou Juan's face is better, and the wedding date is set immediately, on the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month this year. I got married before the year, and it was better to marry a daughter-in-law for the New Year. The day of the second stubble ceremony was also set, on the sixth day of the lunar month.

Zhou Hongying's illness was cured and she was finally able to eat at the table. Mrs. Zhou felt sorry for the old girl who had suffered these days, and made a small stove for her alone every meal.

The rest of the Zhou family is accustomed to it, and a few younger children don't dare to ask for it even if they are greedy, but the ignorant Zhou Lan can't help it.

At the dinner table one day, Zhou Lan said that she would not eat the sorghum noodles and vegetables fed by Li Guizhi, and stretched out her little hand to rush the noodles in Zhou Hongying's bowl.

Li Guizhi was so frightened that she hurriedly stuffed a salted boiled potato into Zhou Lan's hand that was given to their mother and daughter, wanting to divert her attention. But Zhou Lan didn't listen to anything, she just wanted the noodles in Zhou Hongying's bowl, and Li Guizhi coaxed her, and she cried. As soon as she cried, Li Guizhi, who was heartbroken, couldn't help crying.

Since Zhou Lan was cured by Zhou Wanwan last time, her body is much better than before, and she can eat food, and now she can not only climb, but also occasionally pop up a word or two, and she will even call her mother and sister two days ago.

But she is still thin and still can't eat, especially in the past few days, looking at the delicious food in Zhou Hongying's bowl, she has always wanted it, and she refuses to eat it well.

As soon as Zhou Lan cried, Zhou Ling, who had been so hungry by Zhou Hongying's small stove that she couldn't sit still, and cried too, "I want to eat noodles too!" Mother! I'm going to eat noodles too! ”

"Howl! If you don't eat, get out of here! A good home has made you cry out! Mrs. Zhou is very good at pinching her daughter-in-law, picking at the other party's sore spots, "My good son, just make you, a mourning star, a desperate family!" You still have the face to cry! Get out of here with those two little mourners of yours! ”

Li Guizhi was so frightened that she covered Zhou Lan's mouth and ran away, she didn't even dare to stay in the east house, and the mother and daughter fled to the outhouse. Zhou Ping stood up silently, folded his mother and sister's mush and half of his own bowl into one bowl, picked up their two potatoes, and went to the outhouse pot to eat.

Zhou Ling stopped crying under Zhou Juan's signal, and drank her paste aggrievedly with tears and snot.

Mrs. Zhou won another big victory, drank the paste so much that she snorted, and touched Zhou Hongying's back to coax her, "Eat more, my old daughter has suffered a big crime!" Seeing that he was hungry, his bones were sticking out. ”

The family listened to Mrs. Zhou's words, but no one spoke. Wang Fengying's mouth was hidden behind the bowl, pouting, Shen Yufen was still expressionless as usual, carefully eating her share of food, Zhou Juan's eyes flashed, and she didn't say anything. Only Zhou Ling reacted the most, tears crackled and fell into the bowl, and in the end she couldn't help it, threw the bowl away, ran to the back room and cried loudly.

On the fourth day of the lunar month, the production team finally had a holiday. Zhou Chen was so happy that he was jumping up and down when he walked, and he planned with Zhou Wanwan what they were all playing.

"Sew a sandbag, let's have three sandbags!"

"Second brother teaches you to play chess!"

"I'll have time to brush your pigtails this morning! Let's comb something different every day! ”

"You can also jump the grid with stones, waiting for the second brother to teach you!"

"Make a skating car and go skating in Peking University......"

This is not good, Zhou Chen was just halfway through speaking, but he was interrupted by Zhou Yang's eyes. These days, their brothers try to lock up Zhou Wanwan in the house as much as possible, for fear that she will get frostbite if she goes out. Zhou Chen talked about the rise today, and forgot about this stubble.

"Hmm...... In fact, the ice skating car is not fun, the second brother teaches you to jump the rubber band! It's fun! Zhou Chen hurriedly remedied.

"The eldest brother will support you with a rubber band, and when the time comes, you will compete with your second brother, and we will beat him, okay?" Zhou Yang hugged Zhou Wanwan and coaxed her, for fear that she would be interested in going out to play.

Zhou Wanwan didn't particularly want to go out to play, and since her brothers were worried, she didn't mention it.

"Go with the bunny!" Since the beginning of winter, Zhou Wanwan has never left the gate of Zhou's house, and Zhou Yang and the others have never hunted prey when they go to the woods in the west.

"It's winter, the rabbits are afraid of the cold, so they don't come out, let's go again when it's warm." Zhou Yang is afraid that his sister will freeze on the one hand, and on the other hand, he is also afraid that he will not be able to disappoint her.

"I'll go! I'm a mascot! "Zhou Wanwan is very persistent.

Zhou Yang thought that his sister was hungry for meat, "Tomorrow our family will kill pigs, and then we will eat pork, and we won't eat rabbit meat in winter." ”

Zhou Wanwan still shook her head. The little pig of the Zhou family barely has one hundred and twenty catties, just enough to pay the standard of the task pig, the two pigs have never eaten a mouthful of food, they are so thin that they have bones, and they have to marry Zhou Juan if they are killed, and they have to send half of them to Zhou Hongxiang, and it is their turn to eat a few bites at most, and they can't count on it at all, so they have to be self-reliant if they want to eat meat.

Zhou Yang couldn't resist his sister, so he could only promise her, "We'll go in two days." ”

"Go today!" Zhou Wanwan insisted, it was better to go early to give the brothers a tooth sacrifice early.

"Take her today, our family is a little stubborn girl!" Zhou Chen helped his sister intercede and couldn't help pinching her little nose.

Zhou Yang looked at the sky, it was not yet noon, and it didn't take long to tie a few rabbit sets, so he went out at noon, and came back when he got the set, he shouldn't be able to freeze his sister, so he didn't object, and he was very active in preparation.

At noon, Zhou Yang found his old black cotton jacket again, held Zhou Wanwan in his arms, Zhou Chen took a sweater to wrap Zhou Wanwan's head tightly, and the three brothers and sisters set off.

When they arrived in the woods to the west, Zhou Yang and Zhou Chen were busy putting down the rabbit set, and Zhou Wanwan strongly asked to take two steps off the ground, so Zhou Yang put her on a clean ground and let her play for a while.

The Zhou Yang brothers simply put down a few rabbit sets, and they didn't expect to be able to do anything, that is, to make their sister happy, and then the three of them were ready to go home.

Zhou Yang took Zhou Wanwan in his arms, Zhou Wanwan stretched out his little hand to pull Zhou Chen, Zhou Chen quickly lowered his body to cooperate with Zhou Wanwan, Zhou Wanwan took advantage of his unpreparedness, a small snowball was stuffed into his neck, and then took advantage of Zhou Chen's stunned kung fu to pounce into Zhou Yang's arms and shouted: "Big brother, run!" ”

Zhou Yang reacted quickly, and ran away, only then did Zhou Chen understand, "Little villain!" See how I clean you up! ”

"Big brother! The second brother wants to clean up the two of us! "Zhou Wanwan hurriedly pulled the alliance army for herself, relying on her alone, how could she be Zhou Chen's opponent.

"Don't be afraid! There's a big brother here! Zhou Yang had no suspicion at all, so he became his sister's shield.

Then Zhou Yang and Zhou Chen had a fierce snowball offensive and defensive battle in the snow, and Zhou Wanwan was fortunate to witness the whole process as a cheerleader......

The three brothers and sisters returned home and sneaked to the West House, they had several pieces of melted snow stains on their bodies, and they must have been scolded again when Mrs. Zhou saw them.

Zhou Xia was warming pig food in the outhouse, and when she saw them sneaking in, the three of them all had smiles on their faces, bright and naughty, like children who had succeeded in pranks. A flash of loss quickly flashed in Zhou Xia's eyes, and then a thick anger, but she didn't say anything, and quickly lowered her head and stirred the pig food in the pot one by one.

Zhou Yang's brothers and sisters were also stunned when they saw Zhou Xia, Zhou Chen and Zhou Wanwan reacted quickly, their eyes swept over Zhou Xia without stopping, but Zhou Yang hesitated and whispered to her: "I'll help you carry the pig food bucket out later." ”

The three brothers and sisters returned to the West House, first quickly took off Zhou Wanwan's cotton clothes, and then stuffed her into the quilt to warm up, and then the Zhou Yang brothers changed their clothes. In fact, they don't have to worry about it at all, they don't have to change their clothes, and the materials used to make cotton clothes every night are waterproof and have a constant temperature, not to mention melting some snow, even if they fall into the water, they won't be cold.

Zhou Yang arranged his younger brothers and sisters, explained a few words to Zhou Chen, and asked him to feed his sister some hot water for a while, and he drank some himself, so he hurriedly went to help Zhou Xia carry the pig food bucket.

In the winter, the Zhou family's pig food bucket is big and heavy, not to mention Zhou Xia, an eight-year-old girl, even adults have to be careful when carrying it, for fear of accidentally slipping. Therefore, as long as the Zhou Yang brothers are at home, no matter who feeds the pigs, they will help carry the bucket, especially Zhou Xia and Shen Yufen, without them talking, the brothers will take the initiative to help with the work.

Zhou Yang walked to the outhouse, Zhou Xia and the pig food bucket were gone, he chased out the door and saw Zhou Xia staggering towards the pigsty with half a bucket of pig food.

Zhou Yang hurriedly chased after her and wanted to take the bucket from her hand, "Didn't you ask you to wait for me to carry it, this old Shen, how can you move it, how can you fall." ”

"It's good for me to fall to death! Who cares about me! No one knows I'm dead! Zhou Xia threw the bucket to the ground and yelled at Zhou Yang.

"What nonsense! What a death and not death! Zhou Yang picked up the bucket and walked to the pigsty, and instructed Zhou Xia without looking back, "You go back, I will have a holiday in the future, call me when it is your turn to feed the pigs, I will bring it out for you, you don't go out of the house, and then freeze." ”

Zhou Xia stared at Zhou Yang's back, and the more she looked, the more aggrieved she became, "I don't need you to be diligent!" Who won't you help? Piggyback on my feet to help me, I still have to appreciate it? ”

Zhou Yang silently poured the pig food into the pig food trough, didn't answer Zhou Xia's words, just sighed when passing by her, "Hurry up and enter the house, come out and wrap a scarf in the future, isn't the scarf left by your mother for you?" Why don't you encircle? ”

Zhou Xia stalked her neck and didn't look at Zhou Yang, Zhou Yang took two steps and turned back, pulled Zhou Xia's neck and carried her into the house, Zhou Xia struggled twice and followed Zhou Yang into the house obediently. (To be continued.) )