With the end of the last autumn rains, winter arrives unexpectedly. The dirty water in the stinky ditch froze early, and a thick layer of frost was attached to the wild reed knots that grew haphazardly, and the snow was as white as the refined salt sold in the Dongcheng Square Market.

How cold it was in winter, and a gust of wind blew that even the wild dog had to howl a few times.

The howling dog barked along the cold wind of the early morning, swirling and drifting into the city of Yuchuan, so that the lone traveler who walked in a hurry shivered deeply, the wind and naughtily turned around and floated into the air, the drum at the head of the city seemed to attract it, curiously touched the dark yellow cowhide drum surface, dong ~ a soft sound, the originally silent Yuchuan City instantly opened the prelude to the sunrise, all kinds of noisy sounds converged one after another, the frightened wind deer ran around like a fuss, and finally blocked the way by a residual leaf on the big willow tree.

The dog under the tree looked up and watched as the only dead leaf floated down in circles and landed in the empty bucket under the root of the tree. A wave of anger suddenly surged into his heart, and he reached out and grabbed the dead leaves, kneaded them, and threw them into the sky.

"Price increase! Prices! The price has risen, and a cabbage actually costs eight dollars, and my firewood will also increase tomorrow! After kicking the mud ball on the ground, the dog was relieved, bent down to fetch a bucket of water, and carried it back to the house.

Since the beginning of this month, the three of them have come back from Chai Mountain every day, one trip in the morning and one trip in the evening, one trip in the morning to save up, one trip in the afternoon to sell in the Dongchengfang market to exchange some copper coins, and buy some Japanese goods and miscellaneous goods along the way. The weather has been cold these days, but just wait for the weather to warm up around noon, and go for a trip.

Today's old house of the Ba family has changed its appearance, and along the four corners of the old wall foundation of the main house, a wooden stake with a thigh thickness and a height of more than one person is buried in each corner. In the middle, there were fist-thick branches, one after the other as a fence, leaving only the gap at the corner of the south gate to enter and exit.

Carrying a bucket into the courtyard gate, the dog was squinting and staring at the fire to cook, Dasha was chopping wood with an axe in front of the West House door, he had been working these days, and his body was still thin, but these arms had grown a lot of strength, and his appetite had increased a lot.

Turning his head and seeing the dog enter the courtyard, the dog rubbed his eyes and said, "Brother Lang, are we still going to chop wood today?" ”

In winter, there is water in the water tank, which is the most likely to freeze and crack in the morning and evening, and now it is stored in wooden barrels, and if there is any leftover at night, it will be poured at the root of the wall in order to prevent freezing, so it is a tedious task to do every day to draw water in winter.

The dog put the bucket on the stone platform before turning around and said: "Let's not go today, I see that the weather has not been very good recently, I want to find two plasterers to repair the house, and then go to Qi Village Qi Lao's house, some time ago I saw that he collected a lot of cabbage in his vegetable garden, let's go together today to ask a price, if appropriate, I will keep some for winter food." ”

"Dasha, why are you chopping so much firewood, go and put away the two rabbit skins that you peeled the day before yesterday, and send them to Sister-in-law Liu's house in a while, and ask her to sew three pairs of gloves for us, the skin of this blow is cracked!" After speaking, he squatted in front of the stove and stretched out his hand to roast the flames in the hearth to heat it.

Dasha heard the words and threw away his axe, walked to the east house, and came out with two rabbits that had been skinned and disemboweled, and washed, and said, "Brother Lang, do you want to eat rabbit meat?" ”

The dog turned his head and saw him looking at himself with big white teeth, and shook his head helplessly: "Put it back, I let you take the rabbit skin, and I didn't let you eat rabbit meat!" ”

The dog on the side covered his stomach and laughed, Dasha turned around and entered the house embarrassedly, and walked out with two gray-yellow rabbit skins about a foot long for a while, and said with a smile: "I heard the errand, I thought I was going to stew rabbit meat to eat!" ”

"Eat, eat, eat, you know to eat, you have eaten more than half of the rice in the urn!" Gou Yu rolled his eyes and said angrily.

The dog also sighed and said: "Dasha, this rabbit meat can't be eaten for a while, I look at the next few days, and find a mason to come over to break the half of the atrium and build a shack out, so that when it is cold, it will also block some cool breeze, and the things in the yard can also be placed inside, which is much warmer than in this open air."

Also, thanks to Liu Ye for taking care of us these days, I invited him to come over and sit down when the time came, and the food always had to be a little fishy. If you want to eat, let's go to Chai Mountain another day to have more sets and eat again. ”

Dasha just didn't have a bright head, but he nodded obediently and sensibly, got up and walked out of the courtyard with two pairs of long legs. The dog looked at it and said, "Why are you going?" ”

Dasha replied with a puzzled face: "I'll go to Sister-in-law Liu's house to send rabbit skins to make gloves!" ”

Uh, that's a fool! sighed and didn't bother to speak, looking at the sky with both hands, the dog on the side saw it and said: "Dasha is back, it's about to eat, how bad it is for you to go at this time, I'll go later!" ”

The big fool was stunned for a long time and said: "This is in front, I will run and come back after a while, what's not good, don't worry that I can come back in time to eat!" After speaking, he didn't say anything, and ran out of the courtyard gate, and the choked dog had a sauce-colored face.

Sister-in-law Liu, in her thirties, her husband died in the military disaster, and now she is pulling a six-year-old daughter. On weekdays, I take some sewing and washing pulp embroidery work, I have lived here for a long time, and the dog has played with her daughter a few times and is familiar, and usually some torn clothes are taken by Sister-in-law Liu to sew and repair, and I don't ask for money from the dog.

The three of them often go to the mountains to chop firewood, and their clothes are inevitably torn, and it is okay not to collect money once or twice, and the dogs are not happy to go too many times, and they picked up two loads of firewood a few days ago and sent them over.

I saw a few pairs of leather gloves drying in the yard, and when I asked, I realized that her dead husband was originally a leatherman, and Sister-in-law Liu had been watching it for a long time, and she had learned a little, but the appearance of nitrate was a little ugly, and she couldn't sell it, so she usually made some at will and kept it for her own family.

said that this stupid person ran away from the door, and soon arrived in front of Sister-in-law Liu's house, where Sister-in-law Liu's daughter was squatting at the door crying with a smile. Dasha, who was originally striding forward, instantly closed his feet like a kitten, bent over and hunched over and slowly moved to him, smiled and looked up to see a big face looking at himself with two eyes open, originally humming and chirping, as if crying but not crying, the tone of the voice instantly rose a few points. The panicked Dasha hurriedly stretched out his hand to cover his face, and a stupid move actually amused the laughter.

"Brother Dasha, are you here to have fun?" Tilting his head and blinking his big teardrop eyes, he looked at Dasha cutely and asked.

Dasha hurriedly waved his hand and said, "I don't, I'm not..."

Smile: "Woo woo..."

Seeing that she was about to cry again, the panicked Dasha hurriedly nodded and said, "I'll give you this rabbit skin!" After saying that, he held up the rabbit skin in his hand and shook it to her.

Xiaoxiao reached out and touched the soft rabbit fur on the rabbit skin, and instantly turned into a laugh: "Brother Dasha, is this a gift for Xiaoxiao?" ”

Dasha smiled and nodded, and was about to speak again when he heard the shouts of Sister-in-law Liu from the courtyard, so he got up with his calves and entered the hospital with one in one hand, and did not forget to turn around and tell Dasha that when he was not busy, remember to come and laugh.

Dasha also got up and nodded hurriedly, and said that he would come to play with her when he was not busy in a few days, and when he saw her enter the hospital, he turned his head and rushed home. When I returned to the small courtyard of Ba's house, I saw that the porridge in the pot was cooked, and my stomach was snoring and screaming, so I hurriedly took a bowl of chopsticks and filled the porridge, squatting aside and snoring and drinking.

The dog on the side saw it and asked, "The skin was sent?" ”

Dasha nodded and didn't answer, and the dog continued to ask, "Didn't you say how long it would take to do it?" ”

Dasha was stunned, then shook his head again.

Well, I guess I won't be able to do it well for a while, let's talk about it another day, the dog said in his heart.

After eating the porridge, washing the pots and bowls, calling out to Gou Yu and Dasha, he pulled the cart and went to the south gate. Liu Ye didn't do an errand today, so he casually said hello to the other soldiers, and slowly walked towards Qi Village in the wind.

Qi Village, out of the city to the southeast direction of seven or eight miles, there are more than 70 households in the village, most of the people in the village are surnamed Qi, because it is close to Youchuan City, the households have a variety of melons, fruits and vegetables to sell in Youchuan City. As a result, the village looks a little richer than some of the surrounding villages.

Mr. Qi's family lives in the west entrance of the village, he is in his fifties, with a square face and a round forehead, and a long white beard on his chin, and he is very modest. The last time the dog passed by, he was really thirsty, so he went into the courtyard and borrowed a bowl of water from Uncle Qi to drink, and it was at that time that he saw that his family had planted a lot of Chinese cabbage.

Half an hour, the three of them arrived at Mr. Qi's house, and saw Mr. Qi playing in circles with his little grandson on his back in the courtyard, shouting from afar 'Mr. Qi' and making another salute, not waiting for Mr. Qi to return the gift and hurriedly explained his intentions, Mr. Qi was really happy, and explained the price twice, two cents per catty, and one was only five or six cents. I ordered more than 30 at the moment, and after weighing, I paid nearly 170 yuan, and Uncle Qi sent a small bundle of radishes, chatted for a while, and then had to go to other things.

He waved goodbye, and the three of them dragged the cart towards the city. When entering the city gate, he took out five or six cabbages and sent them to the soldiers of the gate, where did he get accommodating without friendship, this group of soldiers, although they can't help you, but it's very simple to make a little problem for you.

Entered the courtyard, sat on the wooden pier and took a breath, then kicked up the two people who were lying on the ground, this thief day after a burst of cold wind, and the ground was as cold as ice, not to pay attention, cold and ran up, but there was no spare money for the two of them to treat.

Turning his head to the two of them, he shouted, "This cabbage has to be put in the cellar, so as not to be frozen outside." ”

Gou Yu shook his head and said, "Brother Lang, we don't have a cellar in this courtyard?" Dasha on the side suddenly raised his head and said, "Is the dog hole okay?" ”

The dog sighed and said, "The dog hole is not good, it is too shallow, and it is still easy to freeze." At present, it is not possible to find a cellar, and it costs a lot of money to hire someone to dig it, and we don't have much money. Today, let's move to the sleeping house, find a straw mat to cover, and in a few days, let's dig a deep hole ourselves. ”

After speaking, he clapped his hands and said, "Hurry up and move, I will have to find a craftsman to repair this collapsed house in a while." ”

The two of them responded with their mouths full, and said in their hearts, what is the biggest headache to pay attention to, let Brother Da Lang think for himself!

One in one hand, two at a time, Dasha brute force, five stacked together, swayed into the house, and after a while, he walked out with a big white tooth, ran to the front of the dog to show off, and looked at the dog with envy on his face, and the dog shook his head with disdain.

Move more and walk slowly, although he is less, but he moves more times than him! It's not as good as moving it yourself!

There weren't many in total, and the three of them finished moving it in a short time, so they put the radish in it casually, and found a broken grass mat to cover it, and this winter's vegetables are gone.