Mei Xiaoba was startled, and hurriedly looked at Gui Chongyang's hand, but there was no trace, and said with relief: "It's weird and scary, it's not fun to be scratched by a cat." ”

Gui Chongyang said: "The Lantern Festival is playing with me. When he said this, he wondered in his heart, what happened to this Lantern Festival uncle? Well, how do you get started?

Gui Chongyang went to see Lantern Festival, and saw Lantern Festival look at him contemptuously, and then jumped down from Gui Chongyang's gang, fell on the edge of the kang, and walked majestically to lie down under the kang table.

Gui Chongyang was not angry, leaned over, and said, "I didn't recruit you again!" ”

Lantern Xiao still ignored the people, and changed to lie on the other side of the table.

In Gui Chongyang's heart, he was a relative of the Lantern Festival, and seeing that it was so inexplicably sad, he tempted: "Little Eighth Brother will catch fish, Ming'er, I will go over with Little Eighth Brother and catch fish for you to eat." ”

Lantern Xiao lowered her head and sniffed her paws, but turned her head with a look of disgust.

Gui Chongyang was stunned, is this disgusted with himself and disgusted like this? Even the claws that hit themselves are disgusted.

Mei Xiaoba reacted first, pointed to Gui Chongyang's hand and said, "Brother Chongyang, have you ever touched a wild boar just now?" ”

Gui Chongyang looked at his hand: "I touched it, but I also washed my hands." ”

Mei Xiaoba smiled: "The cat's nose must be smarter than ours." ”

Even if Gui Chongyang doesn't have a habit of cleanliness, he is disgusted when he thinks about the smell of wild boars on his body, and says, "You sit, I'll rush it!" With that, he walked out.

Mei Xiaoba stayed in the room, and immediately added restraint, standing on the edge of the kang, not daring to do it while sitting, looking at the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the kang table, his face showed envy.

Mei Duo came in with a fruit bowl, looked at it, and couldn't help frowning.

Mei Xiaoba turned around when she heard the movement, and hurriedly looked away: "Ninth sister." ”

"This is a melon in the backyard, there are a few ripe ones today, Xiaoba tastes whether it is sweet or not." Mei Duo put the fruit plate on the edge of the kang and beckoned Xiaoba to eat the melon.

The melons are all seeded, a melon is cut in half and pulled, and the fruit plate is a total of six melons.

Countrymen, melons, fruits, pears and peaches are all owned by themselves, and they are not valuable, Mei Xiaoba is not polite, she took a piece directly, nodded while eating: "Sweet, crispy, my family grows noodle melons, I can also eat them, Ming'er picks a few over, the ninth sister and aunt also taste it, and Brother Chongyang." ”

The little boy was satisfied, and there was no sadness on his face, as if it was not him who looked at the book with envy on his face just now.

Mei Duo also took half a piece of melon, took two bites, and asked, "You are also ten years old this year, and your father hasn't said when he will send you to the village school?" No matter what, you must always know a few words, and you can't be blind. ”

In fact, since Mei Tongsheng's two brothers have become children, the children of the Mei family have to study for more or less two years. After two more talented men came out, the children of the Mei family were even more virtuous, and every family had children studying.

After all, the village has its own private school, so you don't have to go to the town to study, because it is a private school run by the village, and it is not expensive, and each primary school student has 300 yuan a year, which is much cheaper than in the town. If you study in the town, it is a cheap museum, and it costs one or two hundred wen every month.

The children in the city are enlightened at the age of five, and the country boys don't expect the real imperial examination, just reading and reading, and they are all seven. At the age of eight, he was sent to the village school.

Mei Xiaoba is ten years old this year, but she hasn't seen her in school for a day.

Hearing Mei Duo mention going to school, Mei Xiaoba immediately looked like a frosted eggplant, lost her spirit, drooped her head, and whispered: "My father said that the adults in the family are busy, let me watch my younger brother at home." ”

Mei Duo frowned and said, "Your stepmother let you see it?" ”

If you really leave Mei Xiaoba to watch the child, how can this child still have the kung fu to run around the village, it's just an excuse.

Mei Xiaoba shook her head: "My mother said that my brother is still young, and I can only take him to play in a few years." ”

Mei Duo frowned: "Your younger brother is four years younger than you, and he is six years old this year, so he won't go to school next year?" ”

Although Mei Xiaoba is real, she is not a fool, and she has a little grievance on her face: "I heard my mother tell my father, saying that my younger brother has spirituality, and like the fourth brother when he was a child, he should give him praise and money, and there will be many talented men in the family in the future." ”

This "fourth brother" is none other than Mei Sheng, who is already a talented showman, ranking fourth in the clan.

really has a stepmother and a stepfather, Mei Duo is annoyed.

The stepmother Geng is a very good at doing kung fu on the face, and she can't say that she treats Xiaoba as if she were her own, but she hasn't been beaten or scolded, she is well fed and clothed, and she can't see anything wrong. But when the entire Mei family let their children and grandchildren study to gain fame, the Geng family stopped Xiaoba from studying, and his heart was crooked.

Why is it difficult to produce a noble son from a poor family, this enlightenment and literacy does not cost much, but if you keep reading, this burden is not ordinarily heavy. This Geng obviously wants to stay at Xiaoba to be a cow and horse at home, and provide for her own son to study in the future.

Mei Duo watched from the sidelines, and they all saw this, but they didn't believe that Mei Xiaoba's Lao Tzu couldn't see this, but he was biased.

"Come over when you have time in the future, and my sister will teach you to read." Meadow Road.

When Mei Xiaoba heard this, her eyes lit up, and then she dimmed again: "I can still be idle for a month, my father said that I am not young, and I will follow him to learn to serve the crops in the future." ”

Mei Xiao was eight years old before, and Geng's family loved fame, so he naturally didn't want to bear the reputation of a vicious stepmother, but now that he is ten years old, he will follow him to the ground in other people's houses, so he naturally has peace of mind to arrange it like this.

Mei Duo was depressed in her heart, in the eyes of outsiders, Geng's mother was kind, not to mention feeding and dressing Xiaoba, and not to mention that she did not instruct him to work, let him touch the loaches by the river every day, go up the mountain to hunt birds, and became a famous naughty boy in the village.

In fact, Geng's family asked her brother to come over, and secretly taught Xiaoba to touch loaches and hunt birds, and then urged him to come out every day, but whenever there was a harvest, he either satisfied his own cravings or took them as gifts, and praised Xiaoba outside, so that Xiaoba had to take the matter of fishing and birds as a living.

In the eyes of the villagers, Mei Xiaoba, the child, couldn't be quiet, he was too naughty. Even if Mei Xiaoba didn't enter the village school, no one would believe that the Mei family deliberately didn't send him to study, just because he was naughty and couldn't sit still, and refused to study.

My aunt and nephew ate a lot of loaches from this child, except for the second room of the Gui family, the other villagers gave their aunt and nephew cold eyes, and this little warmth came from this child.

Mei Duo inexplicably became a little arrogant and said, "Do you want to study?" Is it okay for my sister to send you to the village school? ”

Mei Xiaoba was stunned when she heard this, and it took a while to react, and she quickly shook her head and said, "No, no, I'm stupid, it's not a material for reading, so I don't need to be blind to the money of the ninth sister." ”

Mei Duo frowned and said, "You haven't been there, how do you know that you are stupid?" What did your stepmother say again? ”

Mei Xiaoba's expression was gloomy, and she said in a muffled voice: "What my father said, a few years ago, my father asked my cousin to take the "Three Character Classic" to teach me, but I didn't remember it, so my father won't let me learn it." ”

After trying it once, you were relieved to let your child out of school? But is it normal for a seven- or eight-year-old child to learn for the first time and not be able to remember?

Gui Chongyang stood at the door and listened to the conversation between the two sisters and brothers, but he was more and more optimistic about Mei Xiaoba.

This Mei Xiaoba is pure and good-natured, and her father and stepmother are so foolish, and she doesn't complain, she is really not clever enough. But with such a kind and simple temperament, when he succeeds to Mei Qingzhu's name, he will really treat Mei and Mei Duo's aunt and nephew as relatives, rather than only caring about his relatives.

Seeing that Mei Duo couldn't help but have a seizure, Gui Chongyang picked the curtain and came in, and kissed each other, Mei Duo had already said too much before. Mei Xiaoba is not a scheming person, but whenever one or two sentences are passed out, it becomes Mei Duo's uneasiness and kindness to provoke Mei Xiaoba's disobedience.

Gui Chongyang said with a smile: "Xiaoba, I'm going to go to the village school in a few days, and I'm worried that I don't know anyone, so I don't dare to go, so you can go, we just happen to be companions." ”

Going to the village school to study, instead of going directly to the town, was an opportunity that Gui Chongyang begged for a long time in front of Gui Wu before he got it.

It's not that Gui Chongyang looks down on people, it's just that when he was in Nanjing, the gentlemen who read with him were all old Jinshi and old Hanlin of Zhishi, and the Four Books and Five Classics had already been read through, so I really didn't think that a gentleman in the town could teach him anything new.

On the contrary, it is the village school, which has the younger generation in the village, and Gui Chongyang wants to be based in Mujia Village and run the Gui family, but he must break the cold relationship between the villagers and "Xigui".

Now that there is Gui Wu, the villagers no longer dare to despise and bully "Xigui" because of "fear", but there are few households that are close. Those who can be sent to the village school to study are all the children of each family, and it is impossible to say that they can be used as a breakthrough to completely ease the relationship between "Xigui" and the villagers.

Mei Xiaoba still shook his head and said: "I don't go, three hundred Wen, my father won't give me money." ”

Mei Duo said: "Didn't I say it just now, my sister will give you a bundle!" ”

Mei Xiaoba hurriedly shook her head and said: "The ninth sister's silver can't be moved, that is the ...... for dowry" said the latter sentence, but couldn't help but look at Gui Chongyang.

This future "Ninth Brother-in-law" is too small, it would be better if it was bigger, and the Ninth Sister would be able to marry as soon as possible.

Gui Chongyang was inexplicable, but when Mei Xiaoba was worried about Mei Duo's future, he immediately said arrogantly: "My cousin's dowry, I have prepared, my cousin's money is self-conscious, you can spend it however you want!" ”

The two little ghosts in front of him, one ten years old and the other twelve, actually talked about their dowry? Mei Duo couldn't cry or laugh, glared at the two of them, and said, "Grind your teeth less, it's time for food, go out to eat quickly!" ”