In the early winter of the first year, when this year was just destined to come, the long-term workers in Bailu Village who had worked in Weibei and the local neighboring villages returned to their houses one after another, and even the unkind and righteous masters paid them the annual wages in advance, so that they could go home from work more than two months before the end of the year, at least saving one person's rations. Lu San thought of himself when he saw these brothers and brothers who returned from work early in the streets and alleys. After the wheat was determined that the seedlings could not emerge, Bai Jiaxuan resolutely sold the green mule and the bullock, leaving only a red horse. This is not a clever move, and anyone can figure it out, and the peas and bran that a cow or a mule eats in a year may be exchanged for five cows and five mules. In addition to the rising price of grain collections, the prices of other livestock, cotton, wood, cloth, groceries, and land fell every day, and the bride price of a woman's betrothal also fell by more than half. At the time when the terrible famine was just showing the harbingers of tyranny, all kinds of grain were suddenly pushed to a position of supreme authority, and everything, including man himself, had to bow down and fall in price. There are no wheat seedlings, so there is no need for manure in winter; The cotton is dying, and the ginning machine is trying to attract customers; The livestock was sold, and there was only one horse left to float and be fed alone; The whole winter and spring will be idle and workless, how can you be embarrassed to eat and sit quietly in someone's house? He was convinced that Bai Jiaxuan would never send him to leave work early like the master of the long-term workers in the village, and he had to say goodbye by himself instead of waiting for the master to come and drive him out. After dinner, Lu San wiped his mouth and lit the dry tobacco pouch, and said in a hearty voice: "Jiaxuan, I'll go back tonight." Bai Jiaxuan said calmly: "Go back to you!" You can do whatever you want. There's nothing to do this winter!" Lu San decided that the master's family had misunderstood his original intention, so he made it clear and said, "I won't come tomorrow!" Bai Jiaxuan still said calmly: "I just said it! What about tomorrow? Three days, five days, you go. Lu San said more thoroughly: "From tomorrow onwards, I won't come again, I'll get off work!" Bai Jiaxuan leaned from the back of the chair at this time: "What's wrong then?" You can't get there halfway? It's still a long way from the Chinese New Year!" When Xian Cao heard this, she also came to the table and asked, "Third brother, who is the heart of my house?" How can you walk a mile?" Lu San hurriedly explained: "There is no work in the field, and there is no work in the house, I am uncomfortable sitting in vain!" Bai Jiaxuan said: "You are comfortable leaving, but you are uncomfortable to me!" Lu San was stunned for a moment. Bai Jiaxuan continued: "In order to save a ration and drive you out, what will people say about me?" Can I still feel at ease?" Lu San hurriedly said: "That's not it! It's idle when you don't have any work, this is something that anyone can see, and you won't talk nonsense. If it rains in the spring next year, I won't need you to call me to come. Bai Jiaxuan lowered his face and said, "Third brother, listen, from now on, you will mention this again!" If I eat it, you eat it, I eat thick and you eat it, and if I eat thin, you will eat thin; In case one day we can't open the pot when we stop and can't open it, let's go out and ask for food and make a partner—" Lu San swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and the thick throat slid violently twice, and there was nothing more to say. Bai Jiaxuan then said lightly: "If you don't have any work to do, you can rest and fall asleep, and when you get tired of sleeping, you will go shopping!" When I go to a crowded place when I go to the market, I play the wolf to eat the baby and the daughter-in-law to jump into the well...... You're glaring! Brother, I'm not giving you a cool tone, I'm talking seriously: Heaven kills people, and people can't commit suicide. The heart of the young man will be magnified. When you are young and have a small heart, you will suffer even more. Lu San felt that his eyes were about to burst into tears, so he turned around and walked out of the yard and entered the horse without speaking. It wasn't until the festival day before the New Year's and Spring Festival that he made up his mind again that he would not come again next year after work, and he really couldn't go into Bai's house to eat and sit in vain.

The night before Lu San left the Bai family, Xiaowen stubbornly asked his father to borrow food, but Bai Jiaxuan refused. This incident stimulated Lu San even more. After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Lu San was not seen to come to work, Bai Jiaxuan walked into Lu San's low and messy two houses: "Follow me, third brother." Sensei said I, since you left the New Year, the red horse called day and night, asking you to feed it! Others add grass and mixing, and it doesn't like to eat it!" Lu San's throat tower slid violently twice more, and followed Bai Jiaxuan back to the horse.

Xiaowen walked into the landlord's house and told his grandmother Bai Zhao that the grain given to him by his father when the family was separated could be connected to the autumn harvest, but the autumn harvest was gone, and there was no hope for the wheat in the coming year...... He told his grandmother to tell his father, "Borrow some food." Bai Zhao is trying to take the opportunity to teach his grandson a lesson, look at what you have done? Bai Jiaxuan had already heard it from the West House opposite, and said loudly: "You just open this mouth!" Bai Xiaowen didn't say anything more, and withdrew from his grandmother's house and returned to the front gatehouse. Bai Zhao said to the West House: "Your heart is not flesh, it is a stone in the water river!" Bai Jiaxuan walked in the door: "Mom, you will lead those two broken cubs to the back tomorrow." ”

After Xiaowen borrowed grain from his father and hurt his face, he sold two acres of waterland. Bai Jiaxuan was so angry that he couldn't eat when he heard the news, and instructed Xiaowu to call Xiaowen to the main hall of the backyard. Xiaowu walked into the landlord's house at the front yard gate and said, "Brother! Our dad called you. Xiaowen lay on his back on the kang and only twisted his head: "I'm not going." Xiaowu stood upright: "You won't go when our father calls you?" Xiaowen said: "I won't go to the backyard hall, and I won't go again." Xiaowu threatened: "Then let the old man beg for your door?" Xiaowen suddenly got up from the kang and jumped under the kang: "You are playing prestige with me!" I'm not uncommon for anyone to love to come! I didn't take anything from you, I didn't borrow anything from you, I didn't owe you anything!" Xiaowu said quietly: "Brother, what do you think you have become?" Don't you talk like a brother?" Xiaowen is trying to say something more spicy, venting his anger that he didn't use food, and also killing his younger brother. Unexpectedly, his father scolded in the yard: "Xiaowen, come out!" Xiao Wenzhuo pulled up the cotton nest and walked to the courtyard, and saw his father's rickety figure standing in the dark courtyard. Bai Jiaxuan split his head and asked, "You sold the water land?"

"Sold."

"Sold to whom?"

"Whoever gives more money sells to whomever he wants."

"I heard that it was sold to Lu Zilin?"

"Uncle Zilin has money and food. Others can't afford it. ”

"This land was placed in the hands of your master, you can't sell it!"

"Now that this land is mine, I have to exchange it for a handful of food if I want to live."

"How much did you sell these two acres of waterland?"

"Talking about it! The price officer hasn't said that he will be down!"

"You said, you sell this land to me, and I will give you double price."

"That's not going to work. The eldest husband said that it was difficult to chase the horse. No amount of money you give me will take back my words. ”

There was a howl in the darkness, and Bai Xiaowen stumbled to the ground, and the cane in his father's hand slammed into his face, and then smashed into his thigh. Bai Xiaowen felt a sense of revenge, slowly got up from the ground and walked into the house, plugged in the latch of the door, and hung his father and Xiaowu in the yard. Xiaowu comforted his father and walked back to the backyard hall. Hyo-moon continued to sleep on his back on the kang, with one leg resting on the other, and said to the woman, "Good, good! No one will care about me from now on!"

This year's Spring Festival and New Year is the most bleak and boring New Year that Xiaowen can remember, the big villages and small villages near and far on the Bailu Plain, you can't hear the gongs and drums, you can't hear the noise, you can only hear a few cannons. At noon on the first day of the first month, Xiaowen went to the steamed bun shop in Bailu Town to buy five white cans of steamed buns, squatted on the steps of the steamed bun shop to eat, and asked the shopkeeper for a pot of tea to drink, which was regarded as a New Year for himself. After eating, Xiaowen picked five more into his arms, and walked around the back alley of Bailu Village towards the east end of the village. In the village alleys, men and women dragged their children to the ancestral hall, and in the year of famine, they could not miss a stick of incense to their ancestors and knock three times. Xiaowen walked into Xiao'e's kiln door and said angrily: "Happy year sister, brother has a New Year's greeting for you!" Xiao'e was kneading the dough on the board and turned around and said, "You think about the girl in your heart, and you can say that you are greeting the girl for the New Year!" What kind of gift did you get for the New Year?" You have wronged my brother's kindness!" Xiaowen took out one after another jars of steamed buns lit with red flowers from his arms, put them on the board and said, "People go to the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors!" The whole village is left with the two of us who don't care about the baby, let's worship me, I worship you for a reunion year!" So, brother, you sit on the kang and wait—" Xiao'e smiled, "The girl will roll out alkali noodles and pour the seeds on you." "It's fragrant, and I'll wait a while." Hyowen said, "I'm full. You also have a bun to suppress your hunger. Let's get it first, my brother wants to kill you!" If it doesn't work, I have noodles on my hands!" Xiao'e shook her head. "Don't ...... with your hands" Xiaowen carried Xiao'e away from the board and walked towards the ondol......

Xiaowen has a hard memory of the first time he was able to do something handy with Xiao'e. It was a month and a half after he had been beaten with a thorn brush, and the first time he walked out of the street door walked straight into Tian Xiao'e's cave. Xiao'e was stunned: "You come to me in broad daylight and are you not afraid that people will see you?" Bai Xiaowen said: "In the past, I was afraid of people seeing it, but now I am not afraid, whoever likes to watch it." Xiao'e came back to her senses at this time and asked him if his injury was healed, rolled up her sleeves to see his arms unbuckled and looked at his chest. Xiaowen grabbed her waist and volleyed her up and put her on the kang, and unbuttoned her partially: "Brother has been lying on the kang for half a month and I don't think about anything, just thinking about your pair of white pigeons." Xiao'e hugged Xiaowen tightly like a snake, and muttered with tears: "Good brother, how are you hurt...... I am not allowed to see or ask...... My sister feels sorry for you, you're about to go crazy...... Xiao'e said, suddenly turned over, held Xiaowen's cheeks with both hands, and asked in surprise: "Brother, are you going today...... Okay?" Xiaowen proudly wiped the fine sweat on his neck: "Now you won't laugh at me anymore for being a spear made of wax!" The two of them were inspired by this strange change to the peak of joy. From the beginning of the broken brick kiln to the time when he was tied to the locust tree in the ancestral hall to show the public, he couldn't overcome the strange chronic disease of not being able to untie his trouser belt and pulling on his pants again, and today only showed his strength and strength in front of Xiao'e for the first time. Xiao'e still can't solve her curiosity: "What was that weird look in the past?" Why don't you just do it today?" Xiaowen sneered and said: "In the past, it was that weird look when you wanted to be faced, but now it's like this when you're shameless, and it's like a man when you're shameless!" The sunlight moved from the kiln to the treetops until the kiln was completely dark, and neither of them left the ondol, but walked to the peak of pleasure again and again, and fell from the peak to the bottom of the valley again and again...... At that time, Bai Jiaxuan was leading the villagers who were fetching water into Yukou and marching towards Longtan for a tragic march......

Xiao'e got down from the kang and tightened her cotton pants, washed her hands in the clay basin, looked back at Xiaowen lying on the kang and said, "Brother is celebrating the New Year today, you haven't forgotten your sister, your sister hasn't forgotten you, you gave your sister five cans of buns, what do you think my sister left for you?" Xiaowen said indifferently: "Meat buns, meatballs, noodles, aren't they?" Not uncommon! I'll catch your pair of white pigeons!" Xiao'e said: "Keep you rare! I don't give it to you normally, and today is the New Year's Eve to let you enjoy a blessing...... You wait, wait for me to roll out the noodles, and we'll give you the longevity noodles after we eat them. Xiaowen jumped down from the kang with a bone, hugged Xiao'e naked, and shivered with cold: "You said that I can't lie down, take it out and let me see what kind of fun it is?" Xiao'e reluctantly climbed onto the kang again, took out a smoking gun from the kiln nest and said, "You can taste it today and have a good year." Xiaowen couldn't help but be stunned when he saw the shiny smoking gun, and felt cold on his fingertips when he took the slippery purple-black pipe, and his mind suddenly appeared with the face of his uncle Mr. Zhu's generous speech when he was teaching, and Mr. Zhu, who always maintained a peaceful and dignified appearance, lost his normalcy when he talked about the ban on smoking. Xiao'e lay half-leaning in front of him, tore open a layer of oiled paper, picked up a piece of paste-like opium with a fine iron chisel, rubbed it between her three fingers, and then pressed it to the eye of the cigarette gun and said, "Wait, I'll light the lamp for you." Sister, I will serve you today for a good year. After letting Xiaowen suck three bubbles in a row, Xiao'e patted Xiaowen's shoulder like a child: "Sleep well." The girl will roll out the dough for you. ”

Xiaowen lay down, and gradually began to transform, his arms stretched his legs and feet were as light as swallows, and there seemed to be an endless wisp of soft wind in his heart that swept over and then blew over, and his mind removed all the burdens of life, as if there were countless flowers and green leaves and dew drops rolling. The sound of the rolling pin on the board was rhythmic, and Xiao'e stretched out her arm to push the rolling pin forward, and then bent her arm to pull the rolling pin back to the side of the table, like a dance. He sat up lightly, put on his clothes and pants, volunteered to sit on the woody pier under the stove, pulled up the bellows, and said happily: "Sister, you roll the dough and I will burn the pot, and we will have a husband and wife today." Xiao'e happily played with the rolling stick on the board, the huge face leaf rolled up to the rolling stick for a while, and then spread out from the rolling stick to the board like waving a flag, her waist with an apron was not bloated even if she was wearing cotton pants, her plump chest trembled slightly with the action of rolling dough, and her round buttocks trembled slightly. Xiaowen couldn't help but grin and said, "Oh, sister, I'm thinking about it again......" Xiao'e said, "What trick did you get from Gua Wazi?" Don't look at my facet!" As he spoke, he put the cut noodles on a wooden plate and put them on the pot, and when he saw that the gas in the pot was rising, he pushed out the lid of the pot, sprinkled the noodles into the boiling water with a bang, and stretched out his arm to pull the lid on. At this moment, her graceful and capable movements made Xiaowen can't help but laugh, pulling the bellows rod with one hand, grabbing the trouser leg from below with her left hand and pulling it down violently, the cotton pants fell over her knees, and she reached out to hug her and press her down on the wheat straw under the stove. Xiao'e was anxious: "Oh, the noodles are stuffy in the pot!" Hyowen said, "Let it go!" Xiao'e said: "Now the grain dares to be bad?" Xiaowen said: "A bowl of noodles is nothing!" Xiao'e had no intention of damaging Xiaowen's interest, lying on her back on the wheat straw between the stoves, caressing Xiaowen's face with one hand and pulling the bellows pole with the other......