On the last day of October (30th) of the twentieth year of Dading, the chengding of the village will go to serve in forced labor one day later.

The night before, Liangzi's daughter-in-law slept very peacefully, and Situ Yan took the pulse twice, and it was already certain that if there were no other accidents, the child would be saved. When the rooster crowed all over the place, the sky was still dark, Situ Yan squinted for a while, and then heard the footsteps of "crunch, crunch", from far to near, she slept vigilantly, and knew that someone was coming after listening to the sound.

When she moved, she heard the sound of the door opening, and a woman walked in, first stood by the door and shook her body, and then turned into the inner room, Situ Yan noticed that the person who came was Liangzi Niang, looking at the snow in her hair, and then remembered what the "crunch" sound was.

"Auntie, it's early, it's snowing outside?"

"It's not like it's smoking, it's snowing, but it's bitter, and I don't know what the place of service is like? Five girls, how is my daughter-in-law's body, can my grandson keep it? ”

"Auntie, don't worry, the child is fine, but the sister-in-law is too weak, so she has to eat some good food and raise her." Situ Yan knows that Liangzi's family is not easy, although Liangziniang values her son more, she does not treat this daughter-in-law badly, Liangzi's daughter-in-law thinks that her life in her mother's family before marriage is not good, this is hungry for many years, and it is not a day or two to be able to raise it.

"It's okay, it's okay." Liangziniang's voice was a little loud, and Liangzi woke up after hearing the sound.

"Mother, why are you here?"

"You slept deeply, and you didn't look at your daughter-in-law, so that the five girls were tired?" Although it was a reprimand, it was clear that Liang Ziniang had no intention of reproaching, and was more reluctant to stay up late with Situ Yan.

"Brother Liangzi, you can remember the method of boiling the medicine, if there is nothing wrong, I will go back. It's best not to go to the ground for these three days, let alone work, just lie on the kang and raise it, after these three days, you can go to the ground to do activities, and you have to wait for the first three months before you can do some work, but you can't be tired. You've written it all down. Situ Yan said this in front of Liangzi Niang, just to remind her that if she wants to keep her eldest grandson, she must treat her daughter-in-law well.

Liangzi insisted on sending Situ Yan back, but in the end, Situ Yan refused on the grounds that her daughter-in-law couldn't leave her.

Situ Yan took another pulse before leaving, and left only after making sure it was okay, and as soon as she got out of the house, she saw the heavy snow, and the snowflakes in clusters danced lightly in the air with the wind. She hadn't seen such a scene for a long time, as if she had returned to her hometown in the Northeast. Looking at the house in the distance, it seems that grandma is sitting in the stove waiting for her to come home for dinner, and her eyes are wet without feeling it.

Rubbing his eyes, he walked out of the courtyard of Liangzi's house, walked a few steps, stood by an old locust tree hanging from a tree, looked at the village flooded by snow, stretched out his hands, closed his eyes, breathed quietly, and felt the snowy village, less of the aroma of the earth, and more of a cool comfort.

At this time, only she Situ Yan has this mood, seeing the smoke rising from some people's homes from a distance, I wonder if the fire in this stove can warm the cold hearts of the villagers in winter and wash away their sorrows?

I felt a little chill on my body, so I shook the snow off my head and walked home. The sky was a little cloudy, but the snow reflected the earth very brightly, but the wind was a little stronger, and the people who blew couldn't open their eyes. Poked her hands, covered her ears and walked two steps tightly, she had just stood for a long time, she had a cold, and she had to drink some ginger water when she got home, she hated to be sick in her past and present lives.

When I arrived at the gate of my yard, I just wanted to knock on the door, but the courtyard door opened from the inside, and Da Lang leaned out just to come out.

"Big brother, are you going out?"

"Little Wu, you're back. Hurry up and go into the house. Li Dalang took Situ Yan's hand and walked into the hall, and it was cold. The little sister is frozen, and she is busy asking Erlang to boil ginger water, Situ Yan hasn't slept all night, and she is really tired at this time, someone will help her do it, and she will be more relaxed.

"I saw that the sky was bright, and I didn't see you come back, I was a little worried, and I was about to go to Liangzi's house to have a look." Li Dalang only remembered his little sister's words at this time.

"I'm fine, and Liangzi's sister-in-law is fine, it's all right. I didn't go to the kang first, and my body was covered with snow. Let's take a look at the fourth brother first. As soon as Situ Yan entered the door, she even shook and patted, but there was still a lot of snow on her body, and her clothes were a little wet.

"Xiaosi is fine, I slept well at night, and when I woke up in the morning, I said that I was not dizzy, and I was shouting to go to the yard to box, so I was forced to stay on the bed, and I was sulking at this time." Li Dalang said as he entered the west room with Situ Yan.

I didn't see Saburo, thinking that it might be in the clean room. Seeing Situ Yan coming in, Shiro sat up suddenly, "Little Five, are you back?" Tired or not? ”

"Fourth brother, your head is still injured, so you move lightly. I'm not tired. Situ Yan put the pillow behind him, pulled the quilt up again, and then sat on the edge of the kang and began to check Shiro's pulse.

"The pulse is peaceful, the fourth brother's injury didn't hurt his brain, it was just a flesh injury, and he would be fine after a few days of rest, but the fourth brother couldn't go to the courtyard to fight boxing these days, so he could only stay in the house obediently, and he could study with his brothers at night."

Situ Yan's words were better than the holy decree, Shiro nodded obediently, so angry that Da Lang raised his hand and wanted to knock him on the head, but looking at the white cloth wrapped in wounds, the hand that hit half stopped again.

"If you don't listen to what the eldest brother says, you will nod your head like pounding garlic when the younger sister says." The three of them laughed and scolded for a while, and then saw Erlang walking in with ginger soup.

"Little Wu, drink it while it's hot." took the stoneware bowl handed over by Erlang, and slowly drank a bowl of ginger soup, and then felt that his body was warm.

Saburo also came back from outside, and there was no snow on his body, so he didn't go far.

"Xiao Wu, it's snowing heavily today, I can't go into the mountains, we can do everything at home, you haven't slept all night, go and rest?" As soon as San Lang entered the house, he first saw the tiredness on his little sister's face, her eyes were bloodshot, and she was very distressed.

"I'm fine, I'll go to bed after breakfast, my brothers don't have to do anything else today, just weave all the ura grass in the firewood room into mats, the more the better." By the way, eldest brother, Uncle Niu is afraid that he will also serve this time, so what should he do about going into the mountains to hunt? ”

"It's nothing, if Uncle Niu can't go, Uncle Mura will take us into the mountain, but this time it's only two days at most, after all, Uncle Mura is indispensable for big and small things in the village."

"Is this the case in previous years?"

"It's not all, when the fourth grandfather was in good shape in the past, he took it with him." Da Lang looked at Situ Yan's confused face and knew that she was stunned by these generations in the village, and hurriedly explained to her, "The fourth grandfather is the dog and his father, ranking fourth according to generation, and his son is called Li Si, so we all call him the fourth grandfather." ”

"Oh!" This damn ancient, how good a name it is, what a four, five, six, seven people call people headaches.

"The fourth grandfather's body has become worse and worse in the past few years, and he can't even get off the kang this year."

"How old is the fourth grandfather?"

"I remember that it seems to be more than sixty years, and I can't remember the specifics, in the past, the fourth grandfather's family did a birthday, and the grandfather only went with fortune, and we couldn't go, so I can't remember clearly."

"Then the fourth grandfather doesn't have to serve, but in addition to the fourth uncle, he also has brothers."

"Yes, the fourth uncle still has two younger brothers, but the eldest brother went to the border a few years ago and never came back, and they all said that he died outside, but the fourth grandfather didn't believe it, as long as he didn't see the body, he didn't believe that the second son was gone. The youngest son is in his twenties, and he only became a parent at the beginning of this year, and he has no children yet. The only people who can work in the family are the dog and the fourth aunt. That little daughter-in-law is lazy to eat, I don't like it. Compared with Da Lang, Erlang and Gouzi get along better, and they know more about his family's affairs, so they rushed to tell Situ Yan about it.

"Okay, I know what to expect. I'm going to make breakfast, and my brothers are going to box. Don't forget to drink a bowl of ginger water before you go. ”

"Little Wu, I'll cook the meal, you go and rest!" Da Lang was afraid that his little sister would be tired, so he didn't let her go.

"Let's come, the food cooked by the eldest brother doesn't even like to eat the second brother." Situ Yan quipped, didn't stay in the west room any longer, and got up directly and went to the stove room.

"It's all you stinky boys, who let Xiao Wu give you what you are used to on weekdays, and your mouth is all drunk, but now Xiao Wu will be tired." Da Lang blamed his younger brothers, but it sounded more like laughing and scolding.

"That's no way, what Xiao Wu makes is fragrant, and what Big Brother makes is the same as milk, which is very unpalatable."

"Then why did you eat before and even licked the bottom of the bowl."

"I used to be hungry and hungry enough to have no taste in my mouth, but now I can eat enough every day, and it's very fragrant." Erlang was also a little embarrassed, and he didn't know why, until he ate the food cooked by his little sister, he couldn't swallow what his eldest brother cooked.

The family had breakfast together, Situ Yan went back to the east room to rest first, she still had a lot of things to do in the afternoon, if she didn't rest well at this time, I was afraid that things would not be able to get out.

I slept very soundly this night, and I saw my grandmother in a dream, my grandmother looked at her with a smile and didn't speak, when she woke up, Situ Yan felt that the corners of her eyes were still wet, and she knew that she was still worried about her grandmother, so she could only smile bitterly, and secretly made a wish to the roof, hoping that her grandmother would be healthy.

After lying on the bed again, he got up, and when he got out of the east room, he saw his brothers sitting on the floor of the hall weaving straw mats, even Shiro got up, and his hands were not idle when he sat on the kang, this person was fine, and he was defenseless when he moved, Situ Yan didn't say anything, he went to the clean room to wash up, looked at the sky, it was noon, and he was busy preparing lunch.

After lunch, I took my brothers to the west room to rest. For the sake of Shiro, several people didn't rest well last night, and they worked all morning. A few people went to rest very obediently.

Situ Yan entered the stove and started to make pills, some of the pills made this time were to be used by several families with good connections in the village, and some of them were kept for Da Lang to prepare when he went into the mountains to hunt, so when he did it, he was divided into four types: consolidating the foundation and cultivating the yuan, relieving the surface and removing heat, stopping bleeding from trauma, abdominal pain and diarrhea, and using the medicinal materials in her hand also used seventy-seven eighty-eight. I was busy until almost night.

After the eldest couple woke up, they all went to the stove room to see, and saw that the little sister was very busy, and they didn't know the herbs to help, so they all went back to the hall to continue weaving straw mats.

When Situ Yan came out of the stove room, she found that the snow was much lighter, and it stopped almost at night. Tomorrow Dalang should go into the mountains to hunt, she has a lot of things to prepare, but I'm afraid that I won't have to sleep tonight.

In the advanced room, four straw mats were sewn together in pairs, and then processed according to the style of modern sleeping bags, and paper was found, and three pills were wrapped in four pills. The four pieces of paper containing medicine were written on nourishment, heat, blood, and diarrhea. Only those who eat in this way will not eat badly.

While it was still dark, he first sent the sleeping bag and pills made of straw mats to Ryoko's house, and then checked Ryoko's daughter-in-law to make sure that it was okay, and then turned home to continue busy.

Dinner was simple, the leftovers of noon were heated, and after eating, the kang table was moved to the ground, and then the remaining straw mat sleeping bags were made on the kang. Situ Yan was busy until the end of the day. Let Da Lang and Erlang take their things and go to Uncle Niu's house together.