As soon as Bai Shaojie entered the yard, Mrs. Bai came out and saw the girl crying with a sob, so she hurriedly took it over, stretched out her hand and poked her son's forehead: "You will cry after a while when you take it out."

Bai Ershao was simply wronged: "Mother, I didn't make me cry, I suddenly cried on the street, so I gave her a candy ball and cried." ”

Mrs. Bai didn't believe him: "Nonsense, how can you cry for no reason, and cry when you eat a candy ball......" scolded her son and coaxed the girl, and took her to wash her face, leaving Bai Ershao standing in the courtyard with a face that wanted to cry without tears.

After a while, Mrs. Bai came out with the girl in her arms, and she had stopped crying, and Mrs. Bai went to the main hall with her arms, fed some water, and asked someone to bring pastries to coax the girl to eat. Bai Ershao followed in, came to Mrs. Bai's side, and said to Mrs. Bai: "Mother, she is three years old." ”

Mrs. Bai raised her eyes to look at him: "How do you know?" ”

"She said it herself!"

Mrs. Bai didn't believe it even more: "No one has said anything for so many days, why did she tell you?" ”

Bai Ershao told him what happened on the street, Mrs. Bai didn't believe it, but the youngest son didn't need to tell such a lie, I didn't expect this girl to be so smart.

Today's Chinese New Year's Eve, after breakfast, people are busy, cleaning the yard, cleaning up the ingredients, preparing things for sacrifice, the whole Bai Mansion is lively, Mrs. Bai takes the female baby to the backyard to play, there is a small wooden horse under the eaves of the backyard, which was added to the female baby a few days ago, hold her and sit on it, she will shake and play by herself, watching a little person swing the wooden horse obediently there, not lively, but good nature, Mrs. Bai really likes this female baby.

Mrs. Bai called Bai Shaojie to play with her, got up and went to the study to find Bai Rong.

Bai Rong was writing, and when he saw Mrs. Bai come in, he put down the pen in his hand: "What's the matter, madam?" "Normally, his family will not come to the study to look for him.

Mrs. Bai looked at Bai Rong's unfinished words on the table...

"Master, otherwise, let's take that girl as a daughter, you see that you met her, no one has come to look for her these days, I have inquired everywhere, I don't know, no one in the yamen has come to ask, we don't have a daughter, I can't give birth in this life..."

Bai Rong knew what Madame thought, but this was already a child who could remember at the age of three or four, could she be willing?

"Madam, I know all this, this girl is very well-behaved, I like it too, but she can probably remember, I'm worried, you are used to it, someone will come to find him in the future, you must be reluctant, and we can't force it to stay."

When Mrs. Bai thought of this, she was sad: "But this is not a way, there is no name, if no one has come to look for it, will you just call the girl to drag it on?" ”

Bai Rong was silent for a long time: "If Madame asks her tentatively, she should be able to understand something." ”

As soon as Mrs. Bai left, she also told Bai Shaojie to play with the girl, and Bai Ershao didn't know where to run at this time. The girl shook on the small wooden horse alone for a while, to see if there was no one around her, crawled down crookedly, grabbed a piece of chestnut cake and walked to the side yard, and somehow walked to the firewood room, there is a bamboo cage on the side of the firewood courtyard wall, and there is a big stone pressed on it! When I walked over, there was a gray mass moving inside, and two swarthy and shiny beads were spinning!

The small courtyard outside the firewood room is the kitchen, and it happened that a boy of six or seven years old walked in, who was the son of the housekeeper of Baifu, and now he has helped to do things.

Seeing her leaning over the basket to look at it, she walked over and said in a childish voice, "Do you like rabbits?" You can eat bunny meat in a while! ”

Before the girl could figure it out, he had already moved away from the stone, lifted a corner of the frame, reached in and pulled the rabbit's ears and lifted it out, the rabbit was so frightened that its four short legs fluttered desperately, and the frightened girl opened her mouth and shouted: "Ah! After taking several steps back, the chestnut cake fell to the ground.

The female baby stood motionless and stared at the rabbit, the housekeeper's son didn't care, and walked to the kitchen yard with it, and the girl chased after her and shouted: "Rabbit, Daddy, Rabbit, Daddy", the housekeeper's son heard her chasing and shouting, so he stopped and turned around, grabbed the rabbit's ears with one hand and squatted down to let the rabbit land on the ground.

When she came to her, she took her hand and touched the rabbit's head and said, "Silly doll, this is a rabbit, not Daddy!" ”

The girl nodded the rabbit's head with her fingers, glared at him with very serious eyes, and said, "Rabbit... Daddy's... Bunny! ”

The boy was a little helpless, probably he couldn't explain to the little doll, so he just said: "This is not your father's, this is bought in the grass market and eaten as a vegetable!" ”

But the girl is stubborn: "Just... Daddy Bunny..."Talking about grievances, he was about to cry!

The boy held his forehead, and could only follow the girl and say, "... Okay, okay, it's your daddy's bunny. ”

After saying that, he grabbed the rabbit and stood up and said to himself as he walked towards the kitchen yard: "It's a pity that I will be eaten soon!" ”

The girl followed behind, but there were many people in the kitchen yard, there was a fire and a pot, and there were knives on the temporary board.

Just as she was about to continue walking inside, Bai Ershao finally chased after her.

"I've been looking for you for a long time, why did you come here alone?"

As he spoke, he picked up the girl, and the girl put one hand around his neck and leaned steadily, and pointed to the direction of the kitchen where the boy took the rabbit into the kitchen, and complained: "Daddy... Bunny"

Bai Shaojie didn't know what was going on at all, thinking that the girl couldn't tell the difference: "... What daddy bunny? Daddy is Daddy, Bunny is Bunny! ”

Saying that, holding the female baby and walking back, the female baby watched the kitchen get farther and farther away from her, she never knew that the fat rabbit had become a dish on the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, and she also ate a small piece of rabbit meat torn by Mrs. Bai for her!

When Bai Shaojie came with the girl baby, Bai Rong had already begun to prepare for the sacrifice in the front yard, his face was usually rare and solemn, Mrs. Bai Shaozheng and Lin Xiangjun were standing aside, and the people were behind, Bai Shaojie stood beside Mrs. Bai with the girl in his arms!

The sky is gray, and the crackling firecrackers can be heard from the town in the far distance in the manor, and everything is ready in the Bai Mansion, waiting for the lord to sacrifice, today is thirty, the sacrifice is very important, and even the people have changed into new clothes.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Bai Rong washed his hands in a copper basin filled with clean water, and began to carry out the tedious items of the year-end sacrifice, offering rice, incense, burning paper, making a bow, kowtowing, praying for blessings... Methodically, after about a pillar of incense, the sacrifice was finally completed, and it was completely dark.

Bai Rong walked ahead, and the family entered the main hall and sat down, and there were charcoal basins lit on both sides of the main hall, and the room was very warm. Today's meal is the most sumptuous of the year, chicken, duck and fish, delicacies from the mountains and seas, dry and fresh, cooking and stewing are set up on a large table, a family of five, this year has added a white porcelain-like doll, the family is harmonious, the town is ringing firecrackers one after another, Bai Rong and Bai Shaojie are drinking wine and eating vegetables in the house, Bai Shaojie is also allowed to drink two small cups, blushing.

The Bai family official is a civil servant, and he has been strict with discipline since he was a child, and he doesn't drink alcohol if he doesn't get married, at least he can't drink too much!

Lin Xiangjun gave Bai Shaozheng vegetables, Mrs. Bai gave Bai Lao Ye vegetables, and she was busy picking vegetables for the female baby, put half a bowl of chicken soup at hand, skimmed the oil, and fed the girl with a spoon and a small spoon, and watched her drink it in one gulp, and her heart was full.

Carefully pick the fish bones, remove the bones, and open the stewed mountain chestnuts to dry for her...

After eating a meal for nearly half an hour, the dishes were cold, and Bai Rongbai Shaozheng's father and son were still drinking and chatting. Bai Rong is an official, but he is an idle job, he has nothing to do and not much money, let alone oil and water, and he has a name.

Bai Shaozheng is planning to open a shop in Chongning City next year, he is willing to engage in business, and Bai Rong also supports it.

There are four brothers in his generation, and the eldest Bai Cong is a small official in the court; The second Bai army was in the army, but unfortunately it was stationed in the farthest city defense in the far southwest; The third Baiguang, who is also his brother, is just gone when he was a child!

He himself is an official, but he can't be considered famous, and if his son is in business, it's not a bad thing, at least he doesn't have to be as successful as himself.

Mrs. Bai held the girl in her arms, wiped her mouth clean, and asked someone to take a warm damp cloth to wipe her hands, and the meals on the table were all withdrawn, and a few side dishes were changed.

Mrs. Bai hugged the girl and Lin Xiangjun to sit on the chair on the side of the hall, took the peach cake that she had just brought at hand, fed a little to the girl, looked at the cute doll in her arms, and asked her: "Good girl, do you want your mother and father?"

The girl held her mouth and said in a glutinous voice: "I want to..."

"But my father and mother are very busy, and it will take a long time to pick you up, so is it okay for my aunt to be your mother now?"

She is only three years old, although her father loves her at home, but she doesn't know who her mother's father should be, but she knows that she has her mother's father; After getting along these days, she was ignorant, knowing that in another place, there was a small yard under the mountain, and grandpa would see a lot of big trees in the yard, and grandma always held her to her forehead, which made her giggle, and her father would go to the mountain, bring a lot of rabbits and big flying back, her mother cooked at home, and there was an elder brother, who always took her to the small forest and the river outside the yard to catch fish, and there was a little sister at home, and her mother carried her on her back every day.

Yes, she knows, but the three-year-old doll, she can't express it, and she doesn't even know what these are, these days, this big yard has added new memories to her little head that doesn't remember much, this aunt who is very good to her, she eats a lot of delicious meals and pastries, and the little brother who takes her to play, buys her fish.

Looking at the gentle woman in front of her, the girl looked at her with wide eyes, and asked in a milky voice: "Auntie, mother?!"

It's just that the child is ignorant of a question, but the child's tone can't be distinguished, Mrs. Bai only thinks that the girl is calling her, and she was stunned for a moment before she reacted, and she was so happy, she hugged the girl and kissed her forehead: "It's so good, my mother likes you the most."

The girl didn't understand why the woman was smiling, but she just bent her eyes and the corners of her mouth when she saw her aunt laughing.

The next day is the first day of the Lunar New Year, get up in the morning, after Mrs. Bai washed, looked at the small bed on the side of the bed, the girl had woken up, sat up by herself, put her hands into pink little fists in front of her, and turned her round little head to look left and right.