Chunni's maiden home is in Lijia Village, seven miles away, and the small village is not big, because most of the people are named after Li, there are many relatives and branches, and there are many trivial gossip.

When Pucao was about the same age as Shanzi, she was transported from the south by Renyazi, suffered from a cold, and almost died, and the Zhang family was greedy for cheap, so she bought her back with only one hundred yuan, and she could work with many laborers, and she could also be a daughter-in-law for her son in the future.

Pucao starved and suffered every day, and when he was ten years old, he went out to dig wild vegetables, and he wanted to jump into the river and died, but he happened to be met by Chunni, who also came out to dig wild vegetables, and the two little girls became acquainted.

After that, every ten days and a half moon, I made an appointment to go to the hillside between the two villages to meet, talk, and play for a while. Chunni is kind, and often brings a piece of cake to Pucao to fill her stomach, and later, Chunni married to Nangou Village, and the relationship between the two is getting better and better.

Pu Cao has always been grateful to Chunni's family, so when Chunni proposed to let Pu Cao go to her house to borrow it, Pu Cao refused to agree, because she was worried that if the word spread back to Lijia Village, Chunni's mother's family would be innocently implicated.

Chunni was not that hypocritical, hesitated slightly, then took the fine noodles and cotton, and said with a smile, "Okay, I will also take it back to pretend to be a face for my parents, so that my aunts will count my mother all day long and marry me wrong." ”

Pu Cao wrapped a thin noodle steamed bun left over from last night and stuffed it into her arms, "The matter of giving your parents a long face is still to come, you keep this steamed bun on the road to pad your stomach." ”

"Then I'll go back, send off the child in a while, and I'll go back to my parents' house, and you can take care of my yard for me."

"Alright, don't worry."

Pu Cao sent Chunni, found a clean cloth to wrap Shanzi's arm, fed him a bowl of pimple soup, and then let Peach Blossom take him to play and occupy his mind, so that he would always think about the wound and feel more and more pain.

Zhang Guier took the book, sat on the threshold and read it selflessly, which made Pu Cao angry, even if Shanzi is not his own brother, but he lives in a courtyard to eat a pot of rice, no matter how he says it, he should care about it, he is good, and he refuses to take a second look.

Pucao went to the corner of the courtyard and took a rake and a rattan basket, threw them to him, and said, "If you want to take off the blank today, you go and pick up some broken thatch and come back." ”

Zhang Guier was angry and put down the book and was about to get angry, but saw Pucao pick up the soil basket and shovel, and threw over another sentence, "If you don't want to pick up the grass, it's okay, you will dig the soil instead!" ”

Zhang Guier gritted her teeth, got up and went into the house to put the books, and left with the rake and rattan basket.

Pucao pursed her lips and turned to the garden behind her.

In the past few days, she has nothing to do to come and walk, and has already chosen a place, which is the junction of her own back garden and the hillside, not far from both sides of the poplar forest to shield from the wind and snow, the gentle slope is conducive to digging and building greenhouses, and the sun is abundant, there is no place like here.

Pucao first dug a shallow ditch around the four sides to mark it, and then began to dig the soil and threw it aside and piled it up in one place.

At noon, half a pot of pimple soup left over from the morning was heated, the family ate hastily, and continued to be busy in the afternoon, although Zhang Guier was not a good hand at doing work, but he barely came back with more than a dozen baskets of thatch, of course, it was inevitable that there were blisters on his hands, and he frowned in pain.

Pu Cao saw it in his eyes, but he still didn't let go and let him go back to rest.

You must know that the peasant children, at the age of eleven or twelve, are already more than half of the laborers, that is, the Shengzi of the Lizheng family, although they are also studying, when they come back from the school at night, they have to collect firewood, feed the cattle, and help the family do some chores.

Now, he is just a scholar, not even a child, he is already so self-sustaining and selfish, if he really has a reputation in the future, he can't say that their family is even worse than ants in his eyes.

Pu Cao made up his mind, if there is work these days, he must be pulled to do it together.

In this way, he was busy until the sun was about to set, and the peach blossoms boiled a pot of bud porridge, so he led Shanzi to the back garden and shouted to help, Shanzi dragged the basket to fill the soil, and the grass was exhausted by the warmth of the heart, so he quickly stopped, kissed them on the face twice, and said with a smile, "You are still young, these jobs can't be done, and besides, your second brother is here, he has made more than a dozen baskets of thatch today, and he has helped a lot." ”

When Shanzi and Peach Blossom heard this, they clapped their hands and praised, "The second brother is so powerful, the second brother is so capable!" ”

Zhang Gui'er watched the two children laugh so happily, her eyes were full of admiration, and her heart was bittersweet and bitter for a while, so she reluctantly nodded and went back to the front yard.

Pucao shrugged, packed up her tools and went back with the children.

The best way to reward hard work is to sleep beautifully after eating enough. Pucao patted off the dust on his body, washed his hands, and was ruthless, he cut off a pound of pork belly bought back yesterday, cut it into small pieces and put it in a large pot to fry, after frying it was oily, he poured a spoonful of soy sauce, a few pieces of green onion and ginger, and then added water to burn it on a high fire, and after the water boiled, he directly put down the cabbage slices and potato pieces, and the stew was full of meat aroma.

Peach Blossom and Shanzi smiled as usual and gathered aside, obediently waiting with their fingers in their mouths, Pucao was distressed and funny, opened the pot and saw that it was almost ripe, and sprinkled a handful of green onions, first picked up a small half bowl of meat, and drove this pair of little gluttonous cats to the side to satisfy their hunger, and then sent a big bowl to the west courtyard as usual.

In the morning, although the Chen family did not do it too obviously, they also helped her a few words, how can they get a child's affection, and the distant relatives are not as good as the close neighbors, Zhang Er's relatives are definitely not able to count on it, and the neighbors must get along better.

Sure enough, seeing that Pucao brought food again, Aunt Chen was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth.

Old Chen's youngest daughter, Fu'er, and Chen's second family's fat dun'er, even sniffed the fragrance and greeted them, and Aunt Chen said angrily, "These two children ate the good dishes you sent last time, even if they were hungry, they didn't eat seriously for several days." ”

Pu Cao replied, "What's there, I'll send more in the future." After speaking, he patted the little heads of the two children, and said with a smile, "My Shanzi and Peach Blossom are bored at home all day, so you can go over and play with them more in the future." ”

Fu girl was shy, hiding behind her grandmother and refusing to speak, but Fat Dun'er said, "Don't go, don't go, you have a ghost in your house." ”

Aunt Chen was afraid that Pucao would be too careful, so she hurriedly slapped her little grandson on the back and scolded, "This child, what did you say, don't go into the house yet." After speaking, he explained with a somewhat embarrassed face, "Child, I don't know where I listened to other people's gossip..."

Pu Cao smiled and waved her hand, "Auntie, don't blame the child, it's not like I haven't heard people say this." Speaking of which, my aunt may not believe it, but I was instructed by my mother-in-law in a dream that day, so I sold the bud valley to redeem this yard. As soon as I moved in a few days ago, my mother-in-law came to me again and said in my dream that she would go to the old house with peace of mind. No, there has been no strange sound in the house these nights, and the crows on the roof have also flown away. ”

After her reminder, Aunt Chen really remembered that she hadn't heard the crows crow for several days, so she nodded again and again, "I said that what is different from before these days, it turns out that the crows have stopped crowing." ”

After speaking, he said, "If you want to say that your mother-in-law is not good-tempered, Jiuquan knows that you treat a few children so wholeheartedly now, I am afraid that I will regret treating you so badly at the beginning..."

The second daughter-in-law of the Chen family is a shrewd and sensible person, as soon as she came out of the stove, she heard her mother-in-law speak like this, and hurriedly stepped forward and smiled, "Sister Pucao has sent food again?" How is this good, eating your good food every day, we haven't been back to the last time. ”

Pu Cao smiled, "Don't say that, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, and it is good to have good food to send each other." After speaking, as if she suddenly remembered, she turned to Aunt Chen and said, "Oh, I forgot about talking about it." Auntie, our family has a lot of potatoes and cabbage this year, and it just so happens that my family has a large population and no preparations, and there is no food to eat in winter.

If the eldest lady is willing, sell me some of the excess. I pay three pounds for potatoes and five pounds for cabbage, how about it? ”

Aunt Chen was stunned for a moment, his family did plant a lot of potatoes and cabbage this year, and she wanted to sell them to the people in the village, but she was afraid that people would say that their family had lost money, and some tattered vegetables would also make copper money. If you don't sell it, you are reluctant to give it away for nothing.

At this time, when she heard Pu Cao say this, she naturally liked it in her heart, but she said, "It's just some cabbage and potatoes, if you don't have any money, if you have free days, I will let the two daughters-in-law send them to you." ”

Pu Cao hurriedly said, "That's not good, it's all planted with effort, and it's not blown by the wind, so I can't ask for it in vain." The price is so decided, there are a few families in the village that lack winter vegetables, if you know that the eldest mother's family has a lot of savings, but I robbed it first, I'm afraid it's going to annoy me, so the eldest mother has to keep it secret for me. ”

These words hit the nail on the head, Aunt Chen and Chen's second daughter-in-law were all smiling, and they responded with half a push.

When Pucao said goodbye and went back, Chen's second daughter-in-law said, "Mother, this Pucao girl is much more shrewd, where could she think so well before?" ”

Aunt Chen also nodded, "As the old saying goes, if you don't die in a disaster, you will have a blessing, maybe God opened his eyes, but I can't say for sure." The Zhang family has her in charge, which must be much better than when Mrs. Zhang was alive before, and it is also a good thing for us as neighbors. ”

Pu Cao had just put the dining table on the table, and was about to go to the door to see why Chunni hadn't come back, when she saw that she was holding a small clay pot in her hand and carrying a blanket on her shoulder, and opened the door and came in. Then he called out to Huanxi, "I thought you were going to stay at your mother's house at night." ”

Chunni put down her things, wiped the beads of sweat from her head, and said with a smile, "Shanzi is still injured, how can I be so out of tune." My mother's family hadn't seen me for a long time, so they left me to talk for a while. ”

"Eat first, and we'll talk about it after eating." For a while, several people, large and small, ate and wiped the oil flowers on their mouths, and Zhang Gui went back to his room to study.

Pu Cao and Chunni lit the oil lamp, sat on the hot kang with their two children, carefully washed the sauce from Shanzi's arms, and then smeared badger oil.