The wind and snow are howling, and I finally arrived home.

Gu Tianya asked the girl Ayao to find a place to sit first, and then went to help the woman take out all the fish and shrimp in the cage, find a yellowed rattan basket, and put all the fish and shrimp in it.

Then he struggled to pick up the rattan basket and went out, and put a basket of fish and shrimp in the small courtyard in the snowy courtyard.

The woman looked a little puzzled, followed behind the probe to look at her brain, Gu Tianya glanced back at her, and explained in a low voice: "After the snow, the weather will be even colder, the big river will soon be frozen, and it will be difficult to catch fish in the future, so this basket of fish and shrimp must be stored, this is our next daily ration." ”

"Frozen fish?" The woman was thoughtful.

Gu Tianya shook his head and said in a low voice again: "It's not freezing fish, but freezing it like this first, and when the weather clears, my mother will wash and clean the fish and shrimp, and then dry it to make dried fish for storage." In this way, even if it lasts until the beginning of spring next year, the dried fish will not stink and rot. ”

"Why don't you pickle it?" The woman blinked and came up with an idea, "It's easier to store pickled." ”

Gu Tianya glanced at her again, and it took a long time before he smiled bitterly and said, "I can't bear the salt." ”

The woman froze.

She looked at Gu Tianya's eyebrows in a daze, and suddenly remembered another worry for a long time, and couldn't help asking: "Although this basket of fish and shrimp looks like a lot, in fact, it is only forty or fifty catties when it is full, but there are enough months in winter, how can these fish and shrimp survive the winter?" Four people, you can eat it all in a few days......"

"What do you want? These are reluctant to eat. ”

Gu Tianya glanced at her again and sighed softly: "I'll tell you the truth, these dried fish are kept for emergency relief, and they are not allowed to eat them at ordinary times, they can only be stored. ”

The woman became more and more stunned, and asked in a daze, "Then you... What do I usually eat in our family? ”

Gu Tianya looked up at the sky, looked at the fluttering snow, and said softly: "I'll go to help people and earn back food to survive." ”

"Helper?" The woman hesitated to repeat the word.

"A helper is all about doing the work!"

Suddenly, someone at the door of the house spoke weakly, it was the girl A-Yao.

At this time, she trembled and squatted at the door, and explained to Gu Tianya in a low voice: "That is the work of the Sun family, every winter to fertilize the fields, dig silt, and make soil fertilizer, that work is tiring, only strong men can hold it up, but Brother Gu went to participate three years ago, he was only fifteen years old that year, and he worked hard for a day, and he could give half a catty of food." ”

She thought for a while, and then said: "The steward of the Sun family is very unreasonable, he always says that Brother Gu is not an adult, so he only gives half a catty of food a day, in fact, Brother Gu is no worse than others in his work." ”

She wanted to say more, but Gu Tianya had already waved his hand at her, and pretended to be displeased and scolded: "What do you little hairy girl know? Sit in the house and don't come out. If you are sick and lying down from the cold, be careful that Brother Gu throws you out. ”

Ah Yao hurriedly said 'oh' and shrunk back to the house, but before she returned, she couldn't help but open her mouth again, and added to the woman weakly: "The housekeeper of the Sun family is terrible, and he has been bullying Brother Gu several times." Really, I'm not lying to anyone......"

seemed to see that Gu Tianya was going to be angry with her, so he hurriedly shut up and hid back in the house.

Gu Tianya watched Ah Yao hide in the house, then turned his head and shook his head at the woman, and said with a wry smile: "Since this girl has already intervened on her own, then I don't have to tell you about the helper anymore." ”

He didn't want to say any more, but the woman didn't let go, and suddenly asked, "Helper, is it to go to the fertilizer field for that Sun family?" The so-called fertile field is to dig up the silt to make fertilizer, right? ”

Gu Tianya did not answer.

The woman's voice seemed to be a little cold, vaguely with an unpredictable taste, and suddenly said: "If you want to dig up the silt, it is estimated that you have to stand in the cold water, and you will only be given half a catty of food a day to do this kind of work on a cold day...... This Sun family...... This Sun family ......"

Gu Tianya waved his hand at her, and sighed softly: "Which family in the world is not like this, there is a thing of drinking human blood marrow everywhere, there is no way, if the poor want to live, they have to be squeezed, although the work is a little harder, but we can earn half a catty of food every day, as long as we save food and drink, we can survive this winter." ”

When he said this, he stopped suddenly, remembering that his so-called aunt seemed to be from a wealthy family, so he lost interest in talking for a while, and turned back to the house with a wry smile.

He returned to the house in a depressed mood, but he didn't notice the woman's expression, in the cold wind and snow, the woman silently looked at his back, and suddenly a sharp color flashed in her eyes, and two cold words appeared in her heart......

"Sun family!"

She looked up at the wind and snow, her handsome face was like frost, she seemed to remember the words 'Sun family' deeply in her heart, and she had half a cup of tea before she lifted her feet back to the house.

……

Gu Tianya was in the house for a short time before her, and at this time she was holding a firewood knife and trying to chop firewood, and that A-Yao followed to the side to help, and the little girl struggled to pile the firewood neatly.

There was a brazier burning in the house, but the woman couldn't help but shiver when she couldn't resist the cold wind that squeezed in through the crack in the door, and vaguely understood what an extremely difficult night was.

She subconsciously looked at Gu Tianya, but saw that there was no trace of decadence on the young man's face, and he was even comforting the little girl Ah Yao, as if he was discussing the aftermath of Ah Yao's mother.

An indescribable sourness suddenly appeared in the woman's heart.

Chopping wood, baking fire, striving, struggling.

These are the days of the poor.

Boring, poor, difficult, I don't know where to find tomorrow's food and drink.

However, he still tried to live.

Gu Tianya's house was originally small, and there were two extra people at this time, so there was an illusion of crowding for a while, but this crowding faintly added three points of warmth to the house......

……

The 'improvised patchwork' of the family finally sat around the brazier.

Four bowls!

A family of four!

A crackling brazier, around which the 'whole family' happens to be seated.

At this time, the old lady had already cooked dinner, and each person's bowl was filled with thick white fish soup, and in the center of the bowl there was a big fish weighing more than half a catty, and there were more than a dozen red prawns piled around the fish.

"Eating ......"

Gu Tianya was the first to pick up the bowl, as if he was giving an order, he took a sip of fish soup as he spoke, and slowly exhaled a breath of white air.

After he drank the first bite of fish soup, the old lady slowly picked up the bowl, and the girl Ayao also picked up the bowl and carefully lowered her head to drink the fish soup first.

The woman was obviously a little confused.

At this time, Gu Tianya's old lady smiled gently, as if explaining and muttering to herself, and said softly: "Although it is a poor family, there must be a rule, Gu Er is the only man in the family, then he is the pillar of our family, on weekdays, he listens to everything, but this meal, he has to speak first, this is the rule of the family, but also the rules of the village, or should it be said, it is the rule of our Han family group that has been passed down for thousands of years......"

The pillar of the family, eat the first bite first!

The woman looked thoughtful, and said softly: "Although I also have a heart for the people, but I have not been in person, I grew up in a large family, and when I eat, I eat separately, one table for men and one table for women, I thought that was the rule, and I didn't think that the people had another set of etiquette." ”

The old lady was still smiling gently, as if she had something else to say: "If you eat separately, it won't be lively, it's obviously a family, how good it is to be together." Meals have to be separated, which is like brothers and sisters. Oh people, sometimes you get yourself away......"

The woman's eyes flashed, obviously surprised, she observed the old lady in a daze, and always felt that there was something in these words, but the old lady just smiled, and there was no extra nagging.

On the contrary, Gu Tianya suddenly spoke, pointed to the woman's dishes and chopsticks and said, "Do you want to eat?" What do you want to ask with your eyes twinkling? If you don't want to eat, then give it to A-Yao, she's very hungry ......"

The woman suddenly smiled brightly and said loudly, "Of course I want to eat it, this is my sister's own cooked fish." ”

She deliberately bit the word 'sister' very hard.

Gu Tianya snorted angrily, as if he didn't want to deal with this faceless woman.

The old lady came to her senses, and suddenly raised her head and asked, "I gritted my teeth angrily after I heard Gu'er come back, saying that you became his aunt by messing around?" ”

The woman smiled, and Zhenge began to mess around, and shouted sweetly: "Sister, isn't this what we have made an appointment?" ”

The old lady was obviously stunned for a moment, and for some reason suddenly laughed, and said: "It's good, it's good, it's really an appointment, you can call me an old sister in the future." ”

Suddenly seeing the little girl Ah Yao raised her head, she said weakly: "I thought, I thought it was Brother Gu's female ......."

After brushing it, Youdao's eyes all glanced at her, and the little girl was startled, lowered her little head in a panic, and said cowardly: "Brother Gu, I won't say it, don't be angry, I'll guess." ”

Gu Tianya suddenly pulled a few mouthfuls of food, abruptly put down the dishes and chopsticks and stood up, and said in a deep voice: "I won't eat, go to the village and call someone for help." ”

I didn't say anything to help, I left the next sentence and went out.

The woman's eyes flickered a few times, and she suddenly put down the dishes and chopsticks and stood up, and hurriedly chased out and said, "I'll go too, I want to see." ”

It's a pity that Gu Tianya seems to be deliberately avoiding her, and the footsteps are called fast, so between the wind and snow, I only heard a crisp female voice shouting constantly, and said with a smile: "Good nephew, go slowly, my aunt is a woman, you have to let me." ”

In the hut, Ah Yao and the old lady looked at each other, and after a long time, the little girl said weakly: "Aunt Gu, she is really not Brother Gu's woman?" I think she's about the same age as Brother Gu, and we don't have such a good-looking woman in our village......"

The old lady reached out and stroked the girl's little head, and suddenly said meaningfully: "The difference in identity is too big, it's not a good thing for your eldest brother." ”

Ah Yao didn't seem to understand, and whispered: "That's why you took the opportunity to agree and let her be Brother Gu's elder?" ”

The old lady turned her head, looked out of the house with her eyes like water, and said leisurely: "Whoever my son marries is qualified?" My son can marry anyone. The key is to look at the emotional ......"

Ah Yao suddenly felt that what Aunt Gu said was so powerful.

No one in the village could say such an imposing word.