Ruixue walked all the way to the south of the village, said hello to a few acquaintances of the little daughter-in-law halfway, said a few jokes, one of them lost a chicken at home, and angrily pulled Ruixue to complain a few words, Ruixue originally only thought it was funny, but after thinking about it twice, she came up with a good idea to clean up the Wu family.

Qian Heitan's family lived in the southeast corner of the village, a quiet and quiet courtyard, three adobe houses, a fence with wooden planks, and a large pile of sacks in the corner of the yard, which were packed with bulging bags and covered with thatched curtains to keep out the snow.

A woman with a slightly bulging belly was holding a small gourd scoop, and stood in front of the chicken coop on the west side, sprinkling a bag of grains, her hair wrapped in a blue cloth cloth, and a brown coarse cloth dress, the material was not good, but it was very clean.

Rui Xue stood outside the courtyard gate and shouted softly, "May I ask if it's the Qian family?" ”

The woman turned her head when she heard the voice, her faint eyebrows, straight nose, and small mouth were very gentle. She didn't seem to expect someone to visit, so she was slightly stunned and replied, "Yes, may I ask if you are..."

Rui Xue no matter in her previous life or this life, she believed in a word, born from her heart, she only looked at the young woman's eyebrows, she knew that this must be a gentle and kind, but not weak woman, she liked it in her heart, so she smiled and said, "Sister-in-law of the Qian family, I am from Mr. Zhao's family in the back of the village." ”

"Oh, it's Zhao Niangzi." The woman immediately put down the gourd scoop in her hand and greeted her, Rui Xue watched her walk, holding her stomach with one hand, and hurriedly opened the wooden door by herself, and walked in, for fear of tiring her.

The two entered the hall hand in hand, and the woman asked Zhang Luo to boil water, but was stopped by Rui Xue, and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law Qian has also heard from the people in the village about me, I am not the one who likes to pick, my sister-in-law is pregnant, so don't work more." ”

Sister-in-law Qian thought about it, and sat down with her waist up, "Since I was pregnant, I rarely went out and walked around, and I have always heard the neighbors talk about how powerful Mrs. Zhao is, but I haven't had a chance to meet her." I didn't eat less tofu you made a few days ago, and I didn't go to thank you. ”

"Sister-in-law is polite, it's just a few pieces of tofu, made by yourself, it's not worth much, everyone takes care of our husband and wife on weekdays, so I will give some to the villagers to taste."

Sister-in-law Qian shook her head, "No food falls from the sky, no matter how hard you have to make efforts, Zhao Niangzi should not be too modest." I also heard Sister-in-law Li next door talk about the story told by Mrs. Zhao the day before yesterday, which is really reasonable and novel, and I thought that when I gave birth to the child, I would be able to sit on the ground and listen to you tell it in person during the autumn harvest next year. I never thought that you would come to the door today. ”

Rui Xue listened to her speak softly, but she was very cheerful and unpretentious, and she liked it even more, and she wanted to say a few more words, and she was worried about a mess of trivial things at home, so she didn't say much, and said directly, "Sister-in-law, I am short of some charcoal at home, and I came today to exchange for some charcoal, I don't know if there is still stock at home?" ”

Sister-in-law Qian also guessed something, and when she asked, she smiled and said, "My child's father is a charcoal burner, how can there be no charcoal?" In previous years, it was not enough, but this year the village has built a kang, and there is more charcoal left. ”

Rui Xue's face turned red, she only thought of the kang, and everyone suffered less in winter, but she didn't expect to inadvertently ruin other people's business.

Sister-in-law Qian also felt speechless, seeing that she was embarrassed, she hurriedly remedied, "It's okay, Mrs. Zhao don't be careful, my family also has a kang, and I enjoy more happiness than in previous winters. ”

Rui Xue's face improved when she heard her say this, but she also firmly remembered in her heart, after all, if the family has less income, and if you need to hire someone to help in the future, or if you have a good way to make money, you must be the first to compensate the Qian family.

The two laughed a few more words, Ruixue sent japonica rice, but Sister-in-law Qian refused, so she said that when Qian Heitan came back, she would let him send the charcoal. Ruixue thanked her, then said goodbye and left.

Looking up at the sun, just now, Zhao Fengnian may not have gone home yet, it is rare to go out once, Ruixue bypassed the Qian family, stepped on the thick snow, and went to the ancestral hall under the hill in the east of the village.

The ancestral hall is a courtyard with left and right wings, the three main rooms are placed in the ancestral spirit cards of the villagers with various surnames in the village, and the west chamber is stored with tables, chairs, incense burners and other sacrificial objects, and the east chamber is packed out to make a school.

Ruixue quietly walked into the courtyard, lying on the window of the east wing, looking in through a small window that was half-open and breathable, and there were fourteen children sitting in front of three rows of seven mahogany square tables, all holding pens on the paper in front of them, some frowning, some struggling to write, some with happy faces, and so on.

Da Zhuang and Heizi sat in the second row, Wu Yu sat in the last row, there was no brazier in the house, there was no pankang, it was very cold, and the breath exhaled by the children was clearly visible.

Zhao Fengnian was still wearing a scarf and a big jacket, sitting behind the big bookcase at the front, staring at the corner of the room without knowing what he was thinking, occasionally covering his mouth and coughing, his face was pale and blue, which seemed to be much worse than at home. Rui Xue felt a pain in her heart, and wanted to ask out loud, but she was afraid of disturbing the children's exams, and finally had to turn around and go home.

Zhao Fengnian faintly heard a sound in the yard, got up and walked to the window, he didn't see a shadow, but when he looked down, he saw a pair of footprints under the wall, and his heart moved for no reason, and then he felt that he was thinking too much.

At lunchtime, Ruixue turned out a large casserole that she had bought back from the last time she went to the city, cut the tofu and stewed it for half an hour, and threw in a pound of thin mutton slices and a little salt, and the aroma of the meat filled the room, and finally picked the greenest part of the green onion that had been shriveled and chopped it, and sprinkled it on it, which was eye-catching and fragrant.

The square table originally used for writing was also requisitioned as a dining table, and as soon as Zhao Fengnian and the three children came back, they were immediately pushed to the kang, the lid of the casserole was lifted, and the broth inside was still bubbling, just looking at it felt very warm.

After a few bowls of broth were put into the stomach, the faces of the master and apprentice who had been frozen and pale immediately eased, and even began to reddened with faint heat.

Ruixue was very satisfied, so she sat down, drank two bowls of her, and ate half a steamed bun.

In the afternoon, Zhao Fengnian sat on the kang to correct the test papers, Rui Xue made hot tea for him, and then ran to the stove and divided the remaining plate of tofu, his own family and Zhang's Gao family, each family had twelve yuan, enough to eat in the past few days of the New Year. Then together with Zhang's sister-in-law who came over, all the wooden utensils for making tofu were cleaned, put them away, and prepared to continue to use them during the New Year.

The two were busy, and someone in the yard shouted, "Is Mrs. Zhao at home?" ”

Rui Xue wiped two hands on her apron, and when she went out to look, she saw a thin man about thirty years old standing at the gate of the courtyard, with a bulging sack at his feet, and from the dilapidated hole, the black thing inside could be faintly seen. Rui Xue immediately guessed that this person was Qian Heitan, so she greeted him with a smile and thanked her, "I'm tired of Brother Qian, it's such a cold day, and I'm so tired that you personally sent the charcoal." ”

Qian Heitan smiled and waved his hand, "I'm not tired, I'm not tired, my sister-in-law is worried that you will be in a hurry, so she just sent me after eating." ”

Rui Xue was grateful, and wanted to let him into the house to drink tea, but Qian Heitan refused, the peasants were born with a sense of awe for scholars, even if the Zhao family's yard was more dilapidated than his own, he didn't dare to enter the house to sit, after all, there was a gentleman who taught and educated people, and the whole village respected it, how could he be disturbed by a charcoal black word?

Rui Xue had no choice but to ask him to wait, ran back to the kitchen, picked up more than 20 pieces of dried tofu cooked in bone broth, wrapped it in a piece of fine gauze, took it out and handed it to him, and said with a smile, "Aunt Yun's daughter-in-law Lei Zi is also pregnant, and she loves to eat the dried tofu I made, and it just so happens that your sister-in-law is also pregnant, so let's try my craftsmanship together. ”

Qian Heitan heard that he could make his daughter-in-law eat more, and he wanted it very much, but he felt blushing, so he just sent a trip to charcoal and turned a bowl of delicious food upside down.

Rui Xue saw that he was hesitating, so she forced it into his hand, "Brother Qian, take it, it's not a valuable thing, it's just home-cooked food, if your sister-in-law likes to eat, you can just come and get it again." ”

Qian Heitan took it, said more than a dozen words of thanks, and then went home happily.

Rui Xue looked at his distant figure, and suddenly remembered that one day when she was pregnant, would Zhao Fengnian be so happy because she found good food for her?

Thinking like this, her face turned red, and she whispered to herself, "What do you think, it's really a leisurely life, and you have free to think nonsense." ”

On the second day, Da Zhuang and Wu Yu each carried a brazier to the school, Zhao Fengnian put one at his feet, and one among the schoolchildren, Zhao Fengnian corrected the exam papers, and the children shook their heads and recited the Analects.

Zhao Fengnian is well aware of the world's enthusiasm for fame and fortune, as well as the desire of his parents to hope for their son Jackie Chan, and discussed with Rui Xue last night, after approving the papers, he wanted to write a praise to each schoolchild, Rui Xue was the icing on the cake, and gave him a few more pieces of ink, a knife of paper and two brushes, as a prize for the top three children.

As a result, the children who got the reward almost didn't jump, and the children who didn't get the reward were envious and tearful.

The number of sunspots is good, and the endorsement of the study of words is slightly worse, and he got the fourth, but he also smiled and grinned, and he didn't care, Wu Yu was not counted in the exam ranking because he had studied for many years, and Da Zhuang was a veritable top spot.

When the children returned home, the whole village was boiling, and there were children at home, and the old man who walked with a puffed chest was high, but whenever he met an acquaintance, he had to tell his children what praise they had received from their husband, and even how much paper and pen they had gotten. If there are no children at home or the children are older, it is a pity why the husband did not come a few years earlier. The old people who received the good news from their grandsons were also smiling, and they all felt that the day when their grandson was admitted to show his talents and raise people was just around the corner.

Several clan elders and Li Zheng in the village were deeply moved when they heard that Rui Xue had bought pen and ink with silver money.

When they got together to discuss the sacrifice, Li Zheng said, "Mr. Zhao and his wife are of noble character, and it is really a blessing that our Yunjia Village can happen to save the two of them." In the future, if anything involves them, you still have to be careful, don't chill people's hearts. ”

Yun Sanye's face was slightly red, he drank tea, and pretended not to hear, and the rest of the clan elders nodded silently.