The year has just passed. Today the wind is strong, and the snow on the trees is blowing and falling. There was gray ice on the ground. There were still dead bugs in the ice. There were no people in the fields, but listening to the sound of "bang, bang", it was like an armored samurai training.

In fact, it is just the sound of a hoop barrel.

Yi Li's father knocked for a while, put the finished bucket on the right, and counted it, five. Every four cents is expected to earn more than half of the money today. You can subsidize the expenses of the New Year.

Yi Li's mother washes clothes in the backyard. As usual, I took other people's clothes to wash. The good thing for them is that they have a deep well in the yard, and the water is always full. Winter is especially good. Well water is warm. Yi Li's mother doesn't have to go to the river to wash clothes like some women, her hands are frozen and cracked, and some men have to say: These women's hands are like duck paws, they are not afraid of the cold, let them go!

Whose hands are worthy of a duck, a chicken, a pig, or a dog? The king and grandson who fell in distress are not the same as eating in the gutter. Invite Yi Li's father and mother to the palace, for fear that they will not eat and drink spicy food.

After Lin Dai received Yi Li, the money he gave them was actually enough for them to be pampered. But they are poor to poor, and there is a benefit: when they get the money, they will not squander it immediately.

They had never had so much silver in their hands, and they were scared to death! It doesn't feel right to hide anywhere, and they want to dig a big hole a hundred feet deep and bury it, and put a nest of poisonous dragons on top to protect it - if they can get it.

Do you want them to spend this money? It's like cutting off their flesh. It hurts!

Anyway, they paid their debts, bought all the clothes their children needed, and there was rice in the urns, and there was oil in the oil bottles. Other than that, they won't spend it anymore! Unless it's to buy a field. The earth is something visible and tangible.

But soon. Lin Ruhai's industry is ruined, and he actually has a lot of debts, and Cui's housekeeper has run away again, and now there are a bunch of people blocking their doors all day long, which is said to be settled. was so scared that even Aunt Rongbo's grandmother ran away. Later, the pile of debt collectors left, and probably the accounts were still settled. But the gossip has not subsided. Yi Li's father and mother were afraid that the money they got in their hands would also be taken away by creditors to fill the vacancy in Lin Ruhai's shop. So they began to pretend to be poor, and declared to the public: they have never been rich!

They continue to do all kinds of long-term and short-term work. Even their children are doing it. They are bitter. If you don't accept the work delivered to the door, the salary will not be earned, as if your pocket is about to be empty. There is a natural panic. And their children don't work. Idle at home. They're afraid the kids are going to be bad!

Idleness is a sin for the poor. At its root, it's because there's no money to be made. Poverty leads to change, either starvation or recklessness, and the latter is often more likely. Therefore, among the poor, it is appropriate to equate idleness with sin. But for Yi Li's father and mother, who have already received such a large amount of money from Lin Dai, and have already left the poor class, the children are appropriately idle, which will not necessarily lead to crime. It is a pity that they have been impregnated with the thoughts of poverty for so long that they have forgotten how this moral concept was first born, and only remember the equal sign drawn in it. Therefore, they also do not allow the children to be idle.

Yi Li's sisters were doing needlework or busy in the kitchen, and the brothers carried a bundle of firewood, stacked it in the yard with the other firewood, and put the chicken coop together.

Then they saw a guest come to the door.

The guests rode on two small mule carts, one in front of the other and one behind, at an unhurried pace. The car is very plain. But in the countryside, it is already a luxury for mules not to work, but to pull people. You also need to have a car! Or two! This is definitely no ordinary pomp and circumstance.

Yi Li's mother, who was walking home with a basket of clothes, stopped. The wind ruffled her hair. She frantically put her hand behind her ear. The wind blew more hair up again. She held it down with her hand. But the basket was too heavy, and one arm was sore. She lowered her hand and regained her grip on the basket handle. The wind blew half of her hair over her face. She couldn't keep her head down to dodge as she usually did. The mule cart was approaching. She was so anxious that she cried.

The sound of "bang, bang" sounded from the courtyard again. Yi Li's mother finally had an idea, and hurriedly rushed back: "His father-!" She was worried that she was collecting debts, and she didn't collect debts at Lin Ruhai's ancestral house, so she finally ran here and asked them to sell the money to pay off the debts. They're being implicated! Do you want to hide in the cellar? Or are you running back to the cat in the woods?

The wind crackled the unclosed fence door. His father didn't come out, his brother came out first, and then his sister, hiding behind to look, with sharp eyes, saw it, and sued his father, and his father also confirmed: One of the mule carts was the Qiu family's little servant, Qiu Huitian.

Qiu Huitian was waiting for the young master to go north to join her grandfather Gao Menlintel, they remembered. Isn't that a creditor? Could it be that Lin Dai sent someone to send them New Year's goods?

"But the New Year's goods have already been delivered." Yi Li's father scratched his scalp and remembered.

It's all practical things, sausages, salted goose, wind chicken, whole raw pork with ribs, and steamed buns with various fillings. The women of his family haven't finished cleaning up until now! And cloth. The top cotton cloth is also plain, dyed, and printed. When the Yi Li sisters saw it, their eyes were so greedy that they were green. Yi Li's mother took it, and she was reluctant to do it all, so she cut out eighteen feet for the New Year, took the pork to exchange for some refurbished cotton, and made new clothes for the whole family.

And the dressmaker said, "Son, new cotton is warmer than turned cotton!" Do you still save a few dollars? ”

"Save! We don't have any money! Yi Li's mother hurriedly cried and was poor.

Sister Yi Li already knew that she was shy and hid out. His mother brought her back: "Look, such a big child, no money, not to mention the kind of snobbish people who want money!" Auntie, what kind of good people can live, tell us? ”

Sister Yi Li's face turned blood-red, and she couldn't wait to get into the cracks in the ground. The dressmaker shook his head and the scissors to make the clothes.

In short, Yi Li's father and mother felt that Lin Dai would not send them any more things. Not to mention two mule carts?

The mule cart finally stopped.

In the previous car, Mama Qiu and Shuangshuang got down, serving Yi Li. Yi Li was wearing a brand-new small leather robe and combing her bun. In his mother's eyes, he was so handsome and handsome that his mother didn't dare to admit it.

After the car, Yinggu got down, and there was a two-bearded woman with white skin, straight eyebrows, and a delicate figure. Yi Li's father didn't recognize it. This is Luo Yue. (To be continued......)