Counting nine cold days, the air turned into frost, the cold wind swished in the mountain col, and in the lively village in the past, there were only a few chickens and dogs barking. People who should have chopped wood for winter or were busy doing needlework on the kang at home gathered together in groups to gossip.

It's probably almost the Chinese New Year, and the men who are working outdoors have also returned, so even the children are not happy to run outside.

However, what is different from the bustle of other people's homes is the family at the foot of the mountain in Taoxi Village. In the windy courtyard, the thin girl was sitting under the dilapidated fence, her red hands scrubbing the coarse cloth clothes in the basin vigorously, and the red little hands were already beginning to emit heat.

Just looking at the dilapidated yard and the ventilated house, she knows that her family is poor at the moment, and she can't even dig out a penny of copper plates, let alone be willing to boil hot water, and even more delusional about heating.

Lin Baoru has been here for more than ten days, and she has already recognized the reality that she can't go back, and she has also figured out the situation at home.

In fact, the family is not separated, and she also has uncles and grandparents, although the life of each family is not rich, but it is by no means too poor.

And the reason why her home is surrounded by four walls, and she can't eat and don't shelter from the wind, is really because she has been missing her father for many years, and her mother's soft bun temperament is very related.

Originally, when her father was still alive, he was also a person who could earn money, and he also had a courtyard at home. If you talk about the only regret, I'm afraid that her mother only gave birth to a son with a somewhat unclear brain, and a series of daughters who didn't bring a handle.

This is also why her mother is a bun character, in fact, she always feels that her father is missing nine times out of ten, but she has not been able to give birth to a son who can pass on the ancestors to the Lin family, and she always feels ashamed of the man and the in-law.

So a few years ago, when the uncle's family built a house and occupied her yard, her mother begged to go to her grandparents, and after being humiliated and threatened, she actually moved out of the courtyard by herself, and then lived in the most dilapidated thatched house by the mountain in the village.

It is said that it is a thatched house, but in fact, it is better to say that it is a straw shed that no one wants. Throughout the courtyard, there are only two barely inhabitable adobe houses, plus a dilapidated firewood house, all of which have no windows, and only some firewood branches are fixed to barely block the wind.

The room was already short and dark, and the kang inside was even bigger than a palm. And they are a family of five, and one of them is already twenty years old and is said to be a stupid eldest brother, so naturally it is impossible for them all to live in the same house. Therefore, there are only a few thin quilts, which can hardly fit into one person and one bed.

However, her mother is undeniably a loving mother, no matter how hard it is, she never thought of abandoning her child and walking away, let alone selling her daughter to change her life.

You know, there are many people in the village who will sell their daughters when they can't get by, and on the surface, they say that they are looking for a good place for their daughters, but in fact, who doesn't know that most of the girls are being abused.

It's not that no one came before, but no matter who said it, her mother Wang just didn't let go.

As for her grandmother and aunt, she has to come and jump someday, especially in recent days.

It's not to help, but to urge the silver, who made her mother Wang reluctant to give up the name of her father and daughter-in-law? Therefore, until death, you have to give a tael of silver to the old mansion like a dog skin plaster every year.

Lin Baoru sighed, gritted her teeth and lifted another piece of clothing to continue to wash on the washboard. When she thought that her family was about to starve to death, her mother actually tried to make up money, and she was angry.

She is an outsider, and she doesn't understand a woman's three obedience and four virtues from one to the end, but she can't figure it out, no matter how strong her feelings are, is it more important than the lives of several children?

One tael of silver, that's enough to buy a lot of food. Not to mention eating coarse noodles and brown rice, even rice can be eaten for many days. I don't know which tendon her mother is wrong, but she can really grit her teeth and watch the family starve......

It's just that she complains in her heart, she still can't see her mother shedding tears at every turn, and she looks sad all day long. I can't see a group of small radish heads at the bottom who are bitter every day, and they save drinking hot water, for fear of wasting more firewood......

Lin Baoru threw the washed clothes on the two sticks set up on the side, and then continued to resign herself to her fate. The clothes in the basin at the moment did not belong to her family, but to some lonely old people and widowers in the neighborhood. It's not that she is kind-hearted, but because her family is too poor, her mother can only help those who can't wash their own clothes in addition to the farm.

After scrubbing for a long time, Lin Baoru only felt that her fingers were completely stiff, so she threw her try-on clothes on the washboard in frustration, and muttered angrily with an expression on her face: "It's really unlucky that people are stuffed between their teeth when they drink saliva, and this poor and remote territory is just trying to find some ways to make money, but there is no chance." ”

As soon as the words fell, I saw a girl who was not much taller than a shovel carrying another small radish head, and one person carried a few coarse firewood into the yard.

The Chai He is actually not too heavy, but the two girls are too small and their bodies are too thin, so Rao is not a heavy branch, which can also make the two of them gasp.

Both of them are yellow and thin, the bones are very obvious, and there is no flesh on the top and bottom of the body, let alone any blood and essence, and they are completely malnourished.

Lin Baoru looked at the two younger sisters who came back with some complicated expressions, and didn't know what to say for a while.

In fact, even she herself is now confused, and she has been moldy for eight lifetimes, not to mention the crossing, but also to a place where birds don't, not to mention the four walls of the family, and when the ghost bared his teeth in the middle of winter, the whole family didn't even have a cotton coat that could avoid the body......

"Sister, you haven't recovered yet, why did you come out? Beware of your mother talking about you again. "The girl who just entered the door is Lin Baoru's second sister Lin Cairu, looking at this second sister, she is not very old, but she is capable.

It's just a temperament, like her mother's prince's family. Since the fight came over, Lin Baoru pretended to be dead for a few days, she took care of it. And behind her is the young third sister Lin Caihe.

Lin Baoru saw that the third sister's small body was about to be pressed to the ground, so she hurriedly dropped the work in her hand and got up and took the handle, and then said: "The sun will go down again after a while, and the sky is only cold. I was also in pain when I was lying around, so I washed some while the water was still freezing. ”

As she explained, she stacked the firewood that the two of them had brought back according to the way the Wang family had sorted it out before. If there is too much firewood to wait, the Wang family will pick some coarse burn-resistant ones and bundle them, and then take them to the town to sell them, and a bundle can be exchanged for three or five yuan.

As soon as the firewood was packed up here, Lin Baoru sent the two of them into the house to see the little brother who had been sleeping, and then went to cook by himself. But when she saw the cooking belongings in the straw shed, she couldn't help but sigh again.

It is said that it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, even if she has the heart to make up for the stomach of the next family, but in the face of an empty stove, she really can't cook any decent meals. It's not that the environment is bad, it's really ...... Even if you eat pickles at home, you have to think about eating them, but if you eat too much at one meal, you won't have a meal at the next meal.

She wiped it in the oil urn for a long time, and finally even washed it with water, but she didn't see a few points of oil floating out. Finally, I wanted to mix some black gnocchi, only to find that there was only half a bowl of black noodles left at home.

Lin Baoru sighed, and simply twisted a handful of dry radish tassels and threw them into the pot, I heard that this radish tassel was also picked up by her two younger sisters from the ground and dried.

Only after the radish was boiled for a while did she cut a small piece of pickled pickles into thin strips and boiled them. When the black noodles in the pot were a little more fragrant, Lin Baoru breathed a sigh of relief.

Who would have thought that she, who was born in a well-off society, would one day be reduced to the point of saving saliva for a bowl of tasteless black flour porridge?

It's really that this family is too poor, and the poor will not be able to live, if they don't want to find a way to make money, I'm afraid that they won't die of grievance, so they will starve to death first.

At this time of year, I can't even find wild vegetables, which is really sad.

Lin Baoru was thinking about something here, when she heard a kind voice coming from outside, "Baoru Niang, are you there?" ”

Lin Baoru's heart and liver that he had just mentioned were instantly put down when he heard the voice of the comer.

It's not that she's cowardly and afraid, but she's really troubled by the best in the old mansion every day.

Originally, there was a shortage of food and clothing at home, and she hated to save some strength to have food leftovers, where would she have the leisure to work hard to fight with those best people.

Seeing that Aunt Lu's voice was getting closer and closer, she hurriedly put down the lid in her hand and covered the only two bud rice flour cakes in the pot, and then hurriedly turned around and went to the door.

"Aunt Lu, why are you here, hurry up and come in and sit for a while." If it is said that seeing the meanness of the best relatives made Lin Baoru feel sad, then Aunt Lu made Lin Baoru feel the simplicity and purity that she had not seen for a long time.

To tell the truth, according to the Wang family's temperament and the situation of the family, if it weren't for Aunt Lu's kind-hearted women to help pull them, I'm afraid their family would have starved to death. Not to mention alive, even the northwest wind may not have anything to eat.

"Baoru, are you feeling better? I came over a few days ago and saw that you were groggy all day, but it didn't scare your mother to death. Aunt Lu followed Lin Baoru's words into the courtyard and asked with concern.

"Auntie, I'm much better."

As he was talking, he saw that the Wang family and the eldest brother Lin Mancang each came back with a large bundle of firewood that could overwhelm people.