Just as Zhou Chong's family was eating lively, the little girl named Qingqing also ran from the backyard of the Zhou Mansion to a courtyard on the left side of the front yard, which was originally empty, but now it was inhabited by the Bai sisters.

I saw Qingqing holding the clay doll given to him by Zhou Chong, quickly ran into the bedroom and put it away, and then took out a paper bag, which contained the snacks that Aunt Wang grabbed for her, but she was never willing to eat it, so she wrapped it all in paper and put it in her arms and took it back.

I saw Qingqing take the snacks and run to the wing room on the west side of the yard, which has been changed into a simple kitchen, a girl in a blue cloth skirt is lighting the fire, but because of her inexperience, there is too much firewood stuffed in the stove, and the fire can't get up all of a sudden, but there is a thick smoke, which makes her choke and cough again and again, and her face is gray and black and looks extremely embarrassed.

In addition to the girl who burned the fire, in front of the board on the side, there was also a woman in a blue cloth skirt who was chopping vegetables, just looking at her jerky appearance when chopping vegetables, the cabbage cut out was also large and small, and it was estimated that she had never been in the kitchen before.

"Auntie~, give you a snack!" I saw Qingqing take out a piece of pastry and happily run to the girl who was burning the fire, wanting to deliver the pastry to the girl's mouth.

"Cough~cough~, Qingqing is good, my aunt doesn't eat, it's too choking here, you hurry up and get out, don't be choked by the smoke!" The girl who burned the fire coughed while letting Qingqing go out to play, and then her choked tears flowed out, and as a result, the black ash on her face washed into the ravines, which looked very interesting.

Qingqing was also choked with eye pain at this time, so she didn't step forward again, turned around and ran to the woman who was chopping vegetables, held up the pastry in her hand and said, "Mother, taste it quickly, this is the pastry that my aunt gave me, it's delicious!" ”

I saw the woman who was chopping vegetables hearing Qingqing's words, squatted down and looked at Qingqing and smiled softly: "Since it was given to Qingqing by Aunt Wang, then Qingqing can't live up to Aunt Wang's wishes, and she must eat the snacks in good condition, okay?" ”

After listening to this, Qingqing nodded as if she didn't understand, "Okay, Qingqing knows the way!" ”

"Well, that's good, go to the room and wait for a while, my mother and aunt will make dinner soon!" I saw this woman gently caressing Qingqing's head and saying, and a doting smile appeared on her beautiful face. The sensible Qingqing also saw that her mother and aunt were busy, so she nodded obediently again, turned around and ran back to the room to play by herself.

The two women in the kitchen are naturally the Bai sisters who have just moved into the Zhou Mansion, among which the young woman who chops vegetables is Qingqing's mother Bai Junwan, and the girl who lit the fire is Bai Junwan's sister Bai Mengwan. These two sisters used to be the eldest daughter of the family, and they usually spent their time on their hobbies, and their father was also very open-minded, so the two sisters had never learned to cook at all, and now they are naturally in a hurry to cook.

Finally waited until Bai Mengwan lit the fire, and the smoke in the kitchen was a little smaller, and soon after the water in the pot was boiling, I saw Bai Junwan holding a small bowl and digging out half a bowl of rice from the rice bowl, but she hesitated for a moment, and poured the rice in the bowl back into the small half, and then washed it with water and poured it into the pot.

The white rice grains tumbled up and down in the boiling water, and soon a pot of rice porridge was boiled, or rice soup to be exact, because there were so few rice grains in the porridge, and it was all bright soup on top.

After making the rice soup, Bai Mengwan boiled the cabbage in the pot just now, their kitchen is very simple, except for some pots and pans and other necessary cooking tools, the others only have a rice jar and a few cabbages, as for the seasoning for cooking, there is only coarse salt, oil, vinegar and other seasonings at all, so the cabbage can only be cooked in the pot with salt and eaten.

"Sister, we've been eating cabbage for many days, can you change the taste?" At this time, Bai Mengwan complained to her sister while putting the cooked cabbage in a bowl.

Bai Mengwan is the same age as Zhou Chong, with a melon seed face, thin eyebrows and sideburns, eyes like water, although it is a jinghai cloth skirt, and there are still a few pieces of soot on her face, but it can't hide her natural beauty at all. And if you compare her with her sister Bai Junwan, you will find that the appearance of the two sisters is almost eight or nine points similar, but Bai Mengwan is younger, full of the innocence and purity of a girl, while Bai Junwan, who is a young woman, is a little more mature and intellectual.

Hearing her sister's complaint, Bai Junwan smiled helplessly and said: "Mengwan, we were in too much of a hurry when we escaped from Nanjing, and we didn't have too much property on us, and now we don't have much left, so we have to be frugal in everything, but the embroidery in my hand is almost finished, and when it is sold after completion, it should be able to exchange for some silver, and then we will buy some delicious food to celebrate." ”

Bai Mengwan actually knew the situation at Lu Dao's family, just now she just complained casually, and had no other meaning, but now hearing her sister's words, it made her feel a little embarrassed, and showing a smile to her sister at the moment is considered to be an apology, but Bai Junwan saw her sister's face full of ashes, but she couldn't help but "giggle" out loud, and then picked up the towel next to her and wiped her face.

The two sisters returned to the main hall with the food and called Qingqing, who was playing, to eat together, but when Qingqing, who was jumping and running, saw the rice soup and boiled cabbage on the table, her little face couldn't help but show a disappointed look, looked up at her mother and aunt, and then whispered: "Mother, when can we eat meat?" ”

No matter how sensible Qingqing is, after all, she is just a little girl who has just turned five years old, and she used to be a fine dress and jade food at home, but since the family suffered a catastrophe some time ago, she followed her mother and aunt to endure all the hardships, it can be said that she fell from heaven to hell all of a sudden, and now she finally settles down, but she can only drink rice soup and eat cabbage every day, and even Bai Mengwan, who is already an adult, can't help complaining, let alone a little girl like Qingqing.

For her sister's complaint just now, Bai Junwan was already quite uncomfortable in her heart, and now she heard that her daughter, who was dependent on each other, just wanted to eat meat, but she couldn't meet this simple request, which made Bai Junwan's nose sour, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, almost falling down.

However, although Bai Junwan felt uncomfortable, she still held back her tears and comforted her daughter: "Qingqing, the New Year is coming soon, and when the New Year comes, will I make meat for you to eat?" ”

Qingqing also knew at this time that her words had embarrassed her mother, so she immediately nodded sensibly and said, "Okay, Qingqing is very well-behaved, mother, don't be sad, Qingqing will never eat meat again!" ”

Hearing her daughter's sensible words, Bai Junwan felt her eyes heat again, and tears flowed down her beautiful face at once, but she immediately lowered her head and wiped it with her sleeve, and then stood up with a strong smile and served rice to Qingqing, all the few rice grains in the rice soup were put into the bowl of Qingqing and her sister Bai Mengwan, but she only drank the clear soup on it.

Bai Mengwan had been watching her sister and Qingqing from the side, and when she heard Qingqing say that she wanted to eat meat, she felt as if she had been pricked by a needle in her heart, her eyes were also red, and tears almost fell. Then she seemed to remember something, and her face showed a little hesitation, but soon her face straightened, and her eyes showed determination, as if she had made a decision.

During this meal, the Bai sisters did not speak again, and even the lively Qingqing also only lowered her head to eat. After the three of them had finished eating, Bai Junwan packed up her things and returned to the bedroom, then picked up an embroidery on the table and embroidered it. Speaking of which, although she can't cook, but the female worker is very good, since she lived in the Zhou Mansion, she has considered how to support her family, but after thinking about it, the most difficult thing is that she can only earn some money by embroidery.

Bai Mengwan disturbed her sister for a lot of Qingqing, so she hugged her and sat on the bed, and then told Qingqing a story to coax her to sleep, but when Bai Mengwan's eyes swept over her sister's thin shoulders under the light, she couldn't help but feel sour in her heart, regretting that she didn't learn more about female workers for what she didn't do, otherwise she would have been able to help her sister relieve some pressure today.

At the same time, Bang'er was mysteriously telling Zhou Zhong about the haunting of the back garden, only to see her little face pale and said: "I couldn't sleep that night, it happened that the moon outside was very big, so I stood in front of the window to admire the moon, but I heard a 'bang' sound from the direction of the back garden, as if someone was knocking on something, it was really scary!" ”

However, Zhou Zhong didn't believe it at all, only to see him smile and pat the bracelet's little head and said: "There are only a few of us living in the backyard of the house, and I was not at home at that time, you and your aunt live together, and there is no one else in the backyard, how can someone knock on something?" ”

Seeing that Zhou Zhong didn't believe it, Bang'er also said a little anxiously: "Really, I really heard a noise in the garden, but it was too dark, and you were not there, brother, so I didn't dare to look at it myself." ”

Seeing Bang'er's sworn appearance, Zhou Zhong finally believed that Bang'er really heard something strange in the garden, but he still didn't believe that there was any ghost, it was estimated that it was the sound of an animal, and it happened that Bang'er was timid, so he thought it was a ghost.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhong couldn't help pinching the cute little nose of the bracelet again, and then comforted with a smile: "Okay, no matter what is in the garden, now that my brother is back, all the demons and monsters will be scared, and nothing can hurt my little bracelet!" ”

Hearing Zhou Chong's intimate words, Bang'er also felt very relieved, in her heart, her brother is the protector of the whole family, just like her father before, no matter what difficulties she encounters, as long as her brother is there, it can all be solved.

After comforting Bang'er, Zhou Zhong returned to his yard separated from the back garden by a wall, although he was away from home for many days, Bang'er kept helping him clean, Steward Xu even lit the fire for him, and the room was very warm. Zhou Chong was indeed a little tired from taking the boat, so after washing his feet, he took off his clothes and fell asleep, but when he was asleep, he was suddenly awakened by a sound of "呒呒~".