Early the next morning, when the sky was bright, there was a knock on the big iron door at the entrance of the hall.

He Tu had already gotten up, and Cheng Yan was awakened by his mother's movements, sitting on the bed and playing with himself. Hearing a knock on the door, she hurried to open it. Standing outside were five men who didn't know each other, all with smiling smiles on their faces, and when they saw Hedi, they asked with a big grin: "Sister-in-law, where is the eldest brother?" ”

He Tu knew who they were, and hurriedly turned around and shouted a few times into the house, and only after hearing Cheng Jiahua's sleepy vague answer, she turned back with a smile and said, "He's still asleep, you guys come in first and find a place to sit, I'll urge him to get up now!" ”

As soon as Cheng Jiahua heard that the brothers were coming, he hurriedly jumped off the bed, he washed his face so-so, and walked out in good spirits, standing with them, walking back and forth around the whole house, constantly looking, and constantly discussing how to cultivate. After the Sun Father-in-law climbed from the eastern hill to mid-air, they began to walk outside one after another, and the two of them went straight onto the main road to the outside, and the other three people walked around the courtyard with Cheng Jiahua, as if they were discussing how the yard should be tidyed up to be beautiful and practical. He Tu didn't understand what they were saying, she smiled and fetched water in the well, and prepared to make breakfast on the pot that Cheng Jiahua and a man had temporarily set up for her. Cheng Yan ran around behind her buttocks, very interested in this open-air pot, either fiddling with this or checking that. He Tu scolded twice, and she didn't care about the children, she had to cook for eight people, which was a big job, and she had to run back to the house from time to time to see what Cheng Lin was doing. Although she had tied him to the cot with a rope, and she didn't have to worry about him falling off, she was still worried about the fact that she had run into the house seven or eight times during the meal, and she was tired and panting. Finally, when breakfast was ready, she looked at the neatly arranged eight bowls of noodles on the table and smiled with satisfaction.

"Daddy, kid! Time to eat! She straightened up and shouted at them in the distance. Cheng Jiahua heard it, waved his hand at her, turned his head and said a few words to the three people, and several people turned around and walked towards her. He smiled and hugged Cheng Lin out of the back room, sat down at the table, coaxed Cheng Yan to eat with a small bowl, and she fed Cheng Lin one bite at a time.

Cheng Jiahua sat down at the table with the three people, and one of the two people deliberately made an exaggerated expression and said to Hedi: "The noodles made by my sister-in-law smell so good!" ”

Cheng Jiahua smiled embarrassedly and said, "You smell fragrant, you eat more fragrant, you eat two bites and taste it!" ”

The man picked up the bowl and took two bites, and sure enough, he nodded and gave a thumbs up. He Tu was amused by his exaggerated expression and said, "Hurry up and eat, by the way, what about the other two?" ”

Cheng Jiahua said: "They are going to pull cement, and we will move some bricks later, and I plan to build two walls on both sides to separate the yard from the house." ”

He Tu smiled and nodded, she was obviously very relieved that these tasks would be left to them to do. Her heart was filled with a sense of joy as a host, and she kept looking at the faces of the three people, and she smiled when she saw them laughing, and she was happy from the bottom of her heart when she saw them happy. After a few years of marriage, she finally has the feeling that she is the host to entertain guests, this feeling is very novel and satisfying for her, catalyzed by this feeling, she wants to say more decent and warm words to express her welcome and gratitude to them, but she is not good at dealing with people, so the words are always like a child who is eager to express her love for candy, which makes people feel a little green and rusty.

While they were eating, the two men also returned, leading a mule with a wooden cart full of bags of cement behind the mule's buttocks. Smelling the smell of the food, they laughed and reproached and said, "You have fallen here to eat and drink, let us do the hard work." He walked over and sat down on the other side of the empty table.

"Eat, eat, let's do the hard work together after eating." Cheng Jiahua said with a smile, he beckoned them, and seeing that a person's bowl was empty, he glanced at Hetu and asked her to serve another bowl, Hetu just got up and was about to take the bowl, and the man smiled embarrassedly: "Trouble sister-in-law." ”

"It's fine." He smiled, took the bowl and refilled the bowl with him, and placed it in front of him. It wasn't until they had finished eating and got up to get busy that she picked up the bowl of noodles in front of her and ate it in a hurry. In addition to these logistical tasks, after she was done, there was nothing more to do, so she hugged Cheng Lin and stood on the steps to watch them work. I saw that they first erected a ladder and climbed up to the roof to repair the roof, so that they could sleep and eat peacefully in the house when it was windy and rainy. They were busy until noon, and when he had made lunch, the roof was only half repaired, and everyone climbed down in disgrace, crying out that they were hungry, and devoured the noodles with their bowls in their hands. After lunch, they all followed their own way home to go home for a lunch break, the sun was hot overhead, and they couldn't do any work, and when the afternoon was not so hot, they came again, and the work was not so boring.

He Tu hugged Cheng Lin, shaking and coaxing him to sleep. Cheng Yan was already asleep on the bed, making a thin and steady breathing sound. Cheng Jiahua washed his face and feet, and also lay down on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, not knowing what he was thinking. His expression was tired and excited, as if he was doing a tiring but inspiring job.

"They give us work, do they ask for money?" He Tu asked, what she was most concerned about was this problem, they didn't have much money now, every cent had to be broken and spent, and the expenditure account had to be remembered clearly, so that they could plan to spend money and prepare for the rest of their lives. After asking this sentence, she then coaxed Cheng Lin in her arms and looked at Cheng Jiahua's face expectantly.

"The money is definitely going to be given." Cheng Jiahua turned over and covered Cheng Yan with a quilt, "Although they are brothers, people's time and energy are not in vain." ”

"Have you negotiated with someone how much money you will give?" He Tu roughly calculated, "What about five people, it will take ......"

"You don't care." Cheng Jiahua said impatiently, "How much money do you have on you now?" ”

He Di glanced at him, hesitating to say the actual amount, but she hesitated for a long time, and still said: "I don't have much money, I still have to pay Xiao Yan's tuition in the future." ”

"Forget it, I'll figure it out." Cheng Jiahua closed his eyes, as if he was very annoyed by this sudden question. He Tu didn't speak anymore, since he was all on himself, it was just a waste of her tongue to ask too much. After coaxing Cheng Lin to sleep, she bent over the edge of the bed and took a slight nap to deal with this noon. In the afternoon, the five people came happily again, as if repairing Cheng Jiahua's house was like repairing their own house, even if it was just a small detail, they had to do their best very intimately. And unexpectedly, they are all very good to Cheng Jiahua, as if he is their brother-in-law, even closer than a real brother. Based on Hedi's impression of Cheng Jiahua in the past, she always felt that people like him would not have good friends, but after seeing him, she realized that he had many friends who were so good and willing to pay for him. Her impression of Cheng Jiahua became confused for a while, and she didn't know what the real him was like. What he showed in front of those people and what he showed in front of her were two completely different people. However, it's no wonder that Hetu thinks so, in her heart, Cheng Jiahua is probably a prodigal son who is ungrateful and loves to gamble, but in front of his friends, he is a person who values love and righteousness and is willing to stick a knife in his friends. And they all have a similarity, that is, they all love to gamble, and they shout at every turn, "Put the mahjong table up, play two plates!" words. It's just that they are much more temperate than him, and they never say that they gamble to the point of selflessness, owe a lot of debts, and are chased by creditors every day.

After two months of busy work, this dilapidated house was finally cleaned up and returned to its normal appearance. The hall was divided into two rooms, and the one that came out was walled and divided into two, one of which was used as a kitchen, and the remaining one, Cheng Jiahua planned to wait for Cheng Yan to grow up in the future and make Cheng Yan's room, after all, a girl can't sleep with her parents when she is old, and she can't sleep with her brother, it's best to have a room of her own. As for Cheng Lin, where can't a boy sleep? Besides, he is still young, and when he grows up, it is unknown how many more houses he will build in his yard, so let him sleep with him now, and take care of him. With this made up his mind, Cheng Jiahua was even more free to do it, he was busy with his work, painting white paint on the wall, building a stove in the kitchen, and finding a carpenter to make two beds, and worked hard to move into the house that had not yet had time to install the door. After preparing all the hardware and equipment, he began to think about some decorations that were not very necessary, such as installing floors, buying furniture, painting ceilings, but at this time, a very serious problem suddenly appeared, that is, his pockets were empty. If his wallet is deflated, he can't do anything, not only can't he buy floors, he can't buy furniture, but he can't even pay his brother's work expenses. In desperation, his ambition to decorate the house and yard had to end here, and after inviting his brothers to a good meal, and after sending them out, he stood in the yard in a daze with one hand on his waist and his chin with the other, and kept looking here and there, as if he was planning something.

After cleaning the whole house, Hetu was cleaning up the garbage outside, he was so tired that he couldn't straighten his waist, and suddenly saw Cheng Jiahua standing in the yard in a daze, he couldn't help but be a little angry, and shouted: "You come to help me carry down these garbage, I can't lift it!" ”

Cheng Jiahua seemed to wake up, hurriedly walked over, lifted the garbage, and threw it next to the cart, intending to fill the cart and transport it to the garbage heap in the distance to dump it. He Tu patted the dust on his hands, returned to the living room, and looked around, although the floor has not been installed, only a layer of cement has been brushed, and the walls have been simply coated with a layer of lime, and even the furniture is old furniture moved from the yard of his parents-in-law, but there is always a trace of home. Although it was only a concrete floor, it was cleaned and cleaned by her, and although it was only old furniture, it was wiped very bright by her, and standing in front of her, it could even reflect the figure of a person. Even the newly built stove was neatly cleaned up by her, and there was no trace of dust to be found in the corners of the whole room, as if it had not just been repaired, but it had always been like this. Hetu was so pleased with the scene in front of her that she pounded her waist and looked around, smiling and nodding silently.

At that time, Cheng Jiahua was busy in the yard alone. He kept saying that he would build two walls to separate the small open space at the main entrance from the grassy yard next to it, and he wanted to follow the example of his family and open up an orchard and vegetable garden, so that he could not only be self-sufficient in food, but maybe he could also transport vegetables to the market and sell them like his mother did, so that he could earn some pocket money. Although there were no helpers, he was still busy with his work, coating the bricks with a layer of gray cement, and building them up layer by layer. He was busy until the evening, when the wall was only half-built at dusk, when he called for him to come in and eat, and he wiped the sweat from his head, washed his hands in the basin on the steps, and went into the house to eat.

The wires in the room hadn't been pulled, and except for a small space lit by flickering candlelight, the rest of the room was still black. He Tu fed Cheng Lin, while checking the extent of Cheng Yan's eating, and said: "There is electricity in the house, and candles are always lit, and I can't see anything clearly, which is very inconvenient." ”

Cheng Jiahua was silent and didn't speak, just nodded, his mind was still on the two walls, and he didn't listen to Hedi's words at all. When his mind returned, his eyes widened and he asked, "What did you just say?" ”

"I said, there's going to be electricity in the house." He Tu said it again impatiently, and Cheng Jiahua understood what she meant. In fact, the wires in the house have already been laid, just waiting for the electricity to be turned on after paying the electricity bill, but he has no penny on him now, where did he get the money to pay the electricity bill, in order to decorate this yard, he even quit his job, and there was no income for two months, all by borrowing a little from this brother and borrowing a little from that brother, and gradually repairing this yard. Now that he suddenly said that he wanted electricity, he stretched out his hand and said, "Then give me the money, and I will pay the electricity bill tomorrow." ”

Her eyes gleamed indifferently in the blurred light, and she glared at him and said, "How can I have any money." ”

"Didn't you save some money?"

"The money is for Xiao Yan and Xiao Lin to go to school in the future."

"Xiao Yan Xiaolin is still early to go to school, so there is still money to pay the electricity bill, right?"

"Nope!" She slapped the chopsticks in her hand on the table with a snap, and said with a calm face, "You are a big man, do you even have to ask your family for this little money to pay the electricity bill?" ”

"I really don't have any money." Cheng Jiahua said with a bitter face, "You don't know how much money was spent on home decoration, and I still borrowed that money from my brothers, and I will have to pay it back in the future, where do I still have money now." ”

"If you hadn't gambled and lost so much money before, you wouldn't have reached this point now." He Tu said unrelentingly, anyway, he just refused to take out a dime.

"Talking about the things in front of you, why did you mention the past again." Cheng Jiahua put down his chopsticks, "You take out some first, I paid the electricity bill, our family lives well, every day with a candle lit, it's black and mushy, and nothing can be done." ”

"I don't have any money." He Tu still said categorically, and after finishing speaking, he seemed to lose his temper, and shouted at Cheng Yan, who was concentrating on eating, "It's delicious!" You see you're eating everywhere! Aren't you wasting food! You think we have a lot of money, and you can waste food! ”

Cheng Yan looked at his mother blankly, then at his father, and sent noodles to his mouth in confusion.

"Forget it, I'll figure it out myself." Cheng Jiahua hurriedly finished picking up the noodles, stood up and walked towards the living room. He took a candle from the cupboard, and was shouted again: "Candles also cost money!" You order two, what a waste! ”

Cheng Jiahua was annoyed by Hetu's sudden stinginess, he threw the candle back on the cupboard with a snap, and walked outside with a mutter, and soon disappeared into the darkness. He Tu pursed his lips, continued to feed Cheng Lin, and whispered: "I didn't know what it was like when I didn't have money before, but now I know." She complained, but with a sense of schadenfreude. After supervising the two children to finish eating, she picked up the bowl and ate her share, and halfway through eating, she suddenly heard a loud "bang" from the next room, which frightened her and her heart jumped quickly.