In the early hours of the morning, Ping An woke up on time, Zhang Guoqing soaked the milk powder, held his son to feed skillfully, and changed the diaper prepared last night after drinking. I looked at the dim light, my son drank milk with his eyes closed, fell asleep after changing his diaper, he looked funny, and kissed the top of his son's head. After listening to the inner room, there was no movement. I guess I was tired a few days ago, and the addition of red wine helps me sleep. Zhang Guoqing gently held his son on the kang, slowly lay down beside him, and tucked it away with a quilt.

In the morning, before dawn, the rooster crows. Zhang Guoqing looked at his son and saw that the time was almost five o'clock, and when his father and mother got up, his mother-in-law had to get up and take the train today. He gently moved away from his son's side, pulled the small quilt down his neck, afraid that his son's face would be covered, and surrounded it with his big quilt to block the wind from the outside. I put on my clothes, took towels and toiletries, carefully opened the door, squeezed out, and then closed the door quickly.

The closer the weather gets to the end of the year, the colder it gets, and there is no difference between the winter in the southern Jiangnan region, and I don't know if the winter will be like in previous years. It came out in one breath, and it was all fog. The wind in the morning blew the cold wind to the bone, and it was hard to shake the spirit.

Zhang Guoqing immediately entered the kitchen in the dark, skillfully turned on the kerosene lighter brought back from the provincial capital and lit the kerosene lamp. Ran to the well to draw a large bucket of water, this well is warm in winter and cool in summer, which is the most satisfying for him, and it is quickly washed.

The kerosene lamp had been lit in the east wing of the main house, and he went under the window and whispered hello inside. He quickly ran to the outside of the west wing with his things, and only when his whole body was warm did he dare to approach the kang and look at his son. I looked at the briquette stove and it didn't work well, and the indoor temperature would not freeze my son before he was relieved.

Then go out, take off the two hares on the eaves and return to the kitchen, take down the iron pot on the stove, support the hare with an iron shelf, and put it on it to roast slowly, no way, it is inconvenient to roast outside. From time to time, I would turn the iron frame around, and then run back to see my son. Fortunately, the family used firewood, so there was no need to stare there, and after half an hour, the aroma of the braised meat slowly covered the aroma of the braised meat, and I took out one of the woods and put it in another stove. Roasted it slowly, and in the burst of aroma, he made a few thin cuts with a knife, and ran back to see his son, he felt that he was very busy, and if he had an oven, he would buy it no matter how much it was. I was tired to death, I was busy for an hour, and it was finally cooked, so I loaded it directly on a plate, put it on the iron pot, added water to the pot, and returned to the room with the plate, the fragrance immediately filled my nose, and the room was full of the smell of barbecue.

Zhou Jiao slept in a daze, and just bit the chicken leg in her dream, when suddenly bursts of fragrance came, like a dream, and a spirit woke up. After staring at her mother for a long time, she remembered where she was, and looked at the outside door ajar, Zhang Guoqing was poking the briquette stove there, afraid of waking her mother, so she hurriedly shook it with her hand.

Zhang Guoqing felt that someone was staring at him behind him, so he hurriedly turned around to look, and was suddenly happy, watching her shake her hand vigorously, glaring at her, rolling her eyes again, and shouting silently.

He returned to the kang and hugged his son with a small quilt, returned to Zhou Jiao, and Shi Shi asked her to move in a little. He put his son directly and gently outside, and lightly put his quilt into a fence outside the meeting, and put it outside his son's body. It's over, relieved, and the two of them smile silently.

Zhang Guoqing was afraid that she was hungry, so he pointed to his stomach and mouth, and then pointed to the soup action, looked at Zhou Jiao and shook his head, so he compared to sleeping with them, and pointed to his son, telling her to be careful. Seeing her nod, she pointed to herself going out.

Zhou Jiao wanted to ask him, what is fragrant? But after thinking about it, forget it. Seeing him pointing fingers, he couldn't hold back his joy, and shook his hand to let him out.

Zhang Guoqing breathed a sigh of relief, this is tired. I went out of the room and walked towards the kitchen, but I didn't see his mother, it was almost six o'clock, and I usually had to get up. I came out and looked at the landlord's wing, which was a little lit. Worried and anxious, I entered the room, only to see that they were about to get up.

"Daddy, isn't there anything uncomfortable?" Zhang Guoqing looked at his father worriedly, and then at his mother.

Zhang's mother smiled and said strangely: "What do you think, I didn't go to work today, there was meat stewed in the pot, and I was not in a hurry to make breakfast." I'll let your dad lie down and rest, he can't lie down, and we're just about to get up. ”

"Usually you all get up at five o'clock, I see you lighting the lamp, what do you think? Dad, I'll go to the backyard and see what work I have to do. With that, he left first.

There is no more vegetables in the backyard now, and he has not been at home for the past few days to see that the potatoes and sweet potatoes have been dug up, and even the Chinese cabbage has been harvested. Zhang Guoqing thought about it, what he was doing at this time in previous years, looked around, walked to the firewood room, picked up a hoe and wanted to turn over the ground. This body is a good hand at farm work, can farm work, can hunt, has great strength, and one person can work more than three others. Fortunately, he traveled over with memories, otherwise, he wouldn't have known how to farm or hunt.

Zhang Guoqing followed his memory, relied on his own eyesight, and started hoeing from the sweet potato field, great strength is a benefit, and when his father came, he turned over the sweet potato field. It was also dawn, and he didn't talk to his father, he did more work, the family had less, and the family was not free to build a house. When the snow is freezing, the hoe can't hoe the ground, and it's too late to cry at that time. Then he went to the cabbage field, and he had to be careful, because the cabbage root was wanted, so he slowed down and didn't pick up the cabbage root. Later, the second sister-in-law will come up to help after feeding the pigs.

By the time his father had taken a hoe and started working from that end, he had quickly reached the potato field, and the two of them occasionally said a few words, and they were busy working. Wait for his second sister-in-law to come out, cook the pig food, and feed the pigs. When the cabbage field was filled with cabbage roots in bamboo baskets, the father and son had already hoeed the ground in the backyard. Just waiting for the night to fatten, he refused, and Zhang Guoqing didn't like to fertilize before.

"Dad, it's all done, and then I have to fertilize at night, so I won't interfere. Do you see what else you have to do? I didn't have to say anything, I went up the mountain to fetch firewood, and there will definitely not be enough firewood this year. ”

"Go ahead, come back before breakfast, don't go too far inside. Your brother and I will go to our own land, and we will hoe the land over there, and the three of me will have enough, and we will do half of it. Father Zhang looked at the ground in the backyard, sighed, and looked at his youngest son enviously. It's really good that this strength is great, one person tops three. Yesterday, the three of them worked until half of the time they went to work, and the backyard was so big, so I saw that he got up early in the morning and felt that it was now, and I didn't see him take a breath, and he finished it easily.

Zhang Guoqing put down his hoe, took a machete, a rope and a flat pole and went to the back door. Many women in the village like to go to the north mountain to collect firewood, so there is no dry firewood in the periphery. He walked along the mountain road, found a place, put down the pole and the rope, did not use a machete, went directly forward, and used his hands and feet in the dead trees, crackling sounded, and after a while he moved to another place.

After a while, he estimated that it was about the same, looked at his watch, and the time was also for dinner, and he had to go back to see Jiaojiao's confinement meal. Quickly gather the firewood in a pile, trim it with a machete, and tie it with a rope. I tied five large bundles, hung four bundles at both ends of the flat pole, took them up, carried one bundle in my hand, and easily went to the back door of the house.

Zhang's mother stood at the back door and watched him come back, shouting at him from afar, and when he unloaded the firewood and put it in the firewood room, the firewood room was full all of a sudden.

"Xiao Wu, you have already hoeed the backyard, why are you still going to fetch firewood, don't stop, go back to the hall to drink saliva, it's time to eat." You kid is really, work slowly, you see that you carry so much at once, you won't get tired. Don't be stupid next time, you still have two older brothers. Mother Zhang hated that iron could not be steel, so she pointed at him with her finger.

Zhang Guoqing smiled and didn't say anything, he knew that his mother felt sorry for him, and he was reluctant to let him do heavy work, and he always forgot that he had a lot of strength.

After breakfast, Zhang Guoqing looked at the wild boar meat outside the kitchen, which had been drained, took the package skin and packed it directly, he directly made it into a bag, plus yesterday's three, there were four packages, all of which weighed nearly 400 pounds, and he cried for his mother-in-law. You have to send a telegram early in the afternoon, or you won't be able to take it home. When the time came, he directly asked the conductor to ask him to help deliver these four packages out of the station. Wolf fur and ginseng are valuable and packed with clothes and carry-on. Afraid that there would be too many people to build a house, and there would be a lot of people, so he directly put all four packages on the car and locked them, thought about it, and then went to get two hares and put them next to him.

Look at the time now it's 6:30, he changed his clothes, asked his mother to pack up, almost left, arrived in the provincial capital to buy a ticket, ate first and then got on the train, and the time was also very rushed.

Zhang Guoqing came to the West Wing and saw that his mother-in-law was already packing her luggage, and the soldiers were indeed not bad. He cut the roast rabbit with a knife, removed the rabbit's head, left the thighs and meat, wrapped it in oiled paper, added the pastries brought back from the provincial capital, and wrapped a few apples from Jiaojiao into small packets, which he took with him to eat. "Mom, this is food, you can summarize it. It will be almost 7:00 a.m. ”

Lin Lishan took it easily, she hadn't found the package in the car yet, and she would say goodbye to Zhou Jiao. The two mothers and daughters spoke reluctantly with teary eyes. waited for Zhang's mother to find them before they separated. Zhou Jiao watched her mother leave, and she couldn't hold back her tears. Lin Lishan walked out of the door of the West Wing, wiped her tears, looked back, listened, and left ruthlessly.

Zhang Guoqing carried her luggage and packages, and comforted her as he walked: "Mom, you will come back to see her in a few days, and when you are safe, you can go to the capital to find you." You see that we will meet soon, and in a few years, when you are not busy with work, Jiaojiao and Ping An will go to the capital, and you can see it every day. ”

Zhang's mother also wiped her tears while comforting her.

Zhang Guoqing drove the car with the car keys, and when they all got in the car, they waved goodbye to everyone, Lin Lishan repeatedly expressed her gratitude, and also asked them to take care of Jiaojiao as sisters-in-law. Everyone reluctantly said goodbye, and waited for the car to drive out and couldn't see it, before they dispersed to do their own work. Huang Cuilan and Lin Juhua entered the inner room of the West Wing together, looked at Zhou Jiao, and comforted her.