"Sister!"

The man was a boy of eleven or twelve years old, thin in stature, wearing a silver-white half-worn jacket, which was slightly wide on his body, and he looked timid, holding on to the door frame and not daring to come in. When he saw Zhuang Meiyan, the child flattened his mouth, and his eyes immediately filled with tears, and he blurted out.

Zhuang Meiyan's heart exploded, hugged the child who threw herself into her arms, and screamed.

"Rong Xi. ”

Zhuang Meiyan choked suddenly, her heart was sad and happy, and two lines of hot tears welled up on her cheeks.

"Sister, sister. The seventh brother Zhuang Rongxi couldn't cry, as if he wanted to vent all the grievances accumulated over the past few days, and looked at Zhuang Meiyan with a pair of hazy eyes and asked: "How did my sister leave Rong Xi alone, Rong Xi misses my sister so much." ”

's mother is crazy, and Zhuang Rongxi has been taken care of by his sister Zhuang Meiyan since he was a child, so in his heart, the eldest sister is like a mother and is very affectionate.

Listening to his questioning, Zhuang Meiyan's heart was like a knife, and she couldn't answer a word.

Jiang Yutang originally followed Zhuang Rongxi with a smile, but looking at the scene of their sister and brother reuniting, his eyelids were slightly moist, and he hurriedly persuaded: "Good boy, don't say such things, how can you know your sister's difficulties, it's good to be reunited now." ”

Although Zhuang Rongxi was young, he was very sensible, so he immediately stopped crying, and raised his sleeves to help Zhuang Meiyan wipe his tears. Zhuang Meiyan hurriedly thanked Jiang Yutang.

Jiang Yutang waved his hand again and again: "I'm just entrusted by someone -- it's not good to blame me, I originally wanted to give you a surprise -- when Sister Fubai was leaving yesterday, she specially instructed me to say goodbye to you, and sent someone to send Zhuang Xiaogongzi over." This is a letter from Sister Fubai. ”

From Jiang Fubai's letter, Zhuang Meiyan learned about Zhuang Ruoxi's situation in the mansion, and within a few days of their departure from Zhuang's mansion, Erniang Liu used the excuse that Ruoxi was sick, so he didn't let him go to the school again, nominally to recuperate, but in fact he didn't want the child to study. Thanks to Jiang Fubai's secret care, Zhuang Ruoxi is still worry-free in the house.

Later, his father was reinstated, and the whole family happily wanted to follow back to the capital, but Erniang insisted that the seventh brother Zhuang Ruoxi was infected with cold and did not let him go back to the capital with him, and asked him to stay in the old house, and called an old slave who was blind and deaf to take care of his diet and daily life.

Jiang Fubai knew that this matter was inappropriate, but it was inconvenient for her to speak as an outsider after all, so she had to do her best to inform Jiang Yutang and entrust him to take care of it on her behalf.

Zhuang Meiyan carefully read the letter twice from beginning to end, Jiang Fubai was born in a scholarly family, the handwriting is beautiful and neat, the rhyme is elegant, and the words reveal a trace of true feelings, Zhuang Meiyan saw the letter like a face, and couldn't help but think of the short relationship with the sister with a different surname, and the love in her heart, her eyes were slightly red again.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhuang Meiyan and Zhuang Ruoxi took Han Niu'er's carriage and had to rush back to the "Phoenix Nest", the young beggar had been following her, Zhuang Meiyan was grateful to him for sacrificing his life to save him, so he begged Jiang Yutang to take him in.

The young beggar was reluctant to part with her, and clinged to the chariot with both hands, his eyes full of anticipation.

The car walked far away, Zhuang Meiyan opened the curtain, and saw that the sun was setting, his figure dragged to an oblique length, still stubbornly following behind, and the figure finally became smaller and smaller, and disappeared from view with Qiyang Town.

Back in the "Phoenix Nest", it was completely dark, and when the mother and Chunju saw Zhuang Ruoxi, the family reunited, and naturally there were many joys, and everyone was happy.

Zhuang Ruoxi saw the earthen house in the countryside for the first time, and he was full of curiosity.

The three earthen houses are simple, and there is naturally no way to compare them with the high-level mansions of Zhuangfu, with low eaves and narrow space. There was a small brazier in the main hall, a rattan chair was placed next to it, and there were a few clumsy wooden benches.

A pot of soup was warmed on the brazier, a kind of game pot that people in the mountains eat in winter, stewed with fiery red peppers, tender hare meat, emerald green Chinese cabbage, white and fat vermicelli, and spices such as mushrooms. The fire is hot, the pot is bubbling with bubbles, and the aroma of rabbit meat, the freshness of mushrooms, and the spicy pepper are mixed into an attractive taste that rushes into the nose, and the house is full of heat.

After dinner, Chunju cleaned up a room for Zhuang Ruoxi and burned the brazier. While serving her mother to wash her feet, Mei Yan commanded:

"Chunju, add an extra quilt to Rong Xi, the night in the mountains is cold, I'm afraid he won't be able to stand it. ”

"yes, I see. ”

Chunju agreed, and shook the flower-colored futon neatly.

The night is getting deeper, the moonlight covers the quiet farmhouse courtyard, the people in the mountains go to bed early, every household closes the door, every house turns off the lights, only a farmer near the stream still has the lights on, and the person sitting in the house is not someone else, it is Zhuang Meiyan who has been busy all day. Zhuang Meiyan was lying on the small wooden table with the faint light of the oil lamp calculating the accounts, and a few pieces of broken silver were piled up on the table, which was her last belongings.

The mother's monthly medicine money is at least two taels of silver, and the condition must be stable, which is used for ordinary medicine maintenance; the monthly daily expenses, firewood, rice, oil and salt, also need about one tael; if the seventh brother is sent to study in the school, this is a lot of expenses, and other bits and pieces, without five taels of silver a month, it will not be able to get down at all.

Zhuang Meiyan calculated, she worked hard with Chunju for a month, and she could barely cope with it.

Chunju quietly picked up the jacket piled up on the side of the kang and draped it on Zhuang Meiyan's body, leaned over to the oil lamp, and drew a thread by the light of the fire, planning to do needlework for a while. Zhuang Meiyan looked up at her and said softly: "That's it, let's rest, it's also a tired day." ”

Chunju's hands were not idle, and she said: "What are the slaves and maids doing idle? I used to stay up all night in the house, and I couldn't get tired of this work." Miss, you've been doing it for a long time, isn't there enough money? Otherwise, let's ask Han Niu'er to help us bring more cloth back tomorrow, and the slave and maid will make more. ”

Zhuang Meiyan glared at her with half anger and half resentment, and said: "You think you are a fairy, you don't need to rest, just do your work all day long, and look at how thin you have become." Chunju, follow me, you suffer, if you ...... in the house"

Before she finished speaking, she was interrupted by Chunju, who looked at her in a daze, and said: "Miss, what are you talking about, how can the slave and maid be worth......y? Miss, don't be a slave!"

Zhuang Meiyan couldn't help laughing when she saw that Chunju's eyes were red and she lowered her head to wipe away her tears.

"Okay, I'm just saying it in vain, you're still arranging mine. Turn off the lights and go to sleep. ”

Chunju got up and latched the door, turned around and suddenly remembered something, so she smiled and said to Zhuang Meiyan: "Miss, there is a thing that Han Niu'er left when she left today, it is a rare object, and the slave maid will take it for you to see." ”

Zhuang Meiyan had already changed into her bedclothes and was about to lie down, listening to what she said, she couldn't help but be curious: "You bring it to me to see, what rare things can be in this place?"

Chunju turned around and took out a small package in the corner of the house, and opened the earthy yellow wrapping cloth on the outside, revealing a round object, slightly yellow in color and rough on the surface. Zhuang Meiyan was stunned at first, and then couldn't help but laugh, she snorted and said with a smile: "This is also called a rare thing? This is a piece of koji, an introduction for winemaking, when Chang's mother was alive, she made her own koji every year to make wine for the house--don't you remember?"

Chunju smiled a little embarrassedly.

Zhuang Meiyan looked at this piece of music thoughtfully, thought about it, and said: "Han Niu'er must have bought this thing for the sake of making wine at home, we have been troublesome to Aunt Li and the village chief these days, why don't we brew a few jars of wine and send them over, it can be regarded as a little heart." ”

Speaking of winemaking, Zhuang Meiyan is no stranger, when she was a child, she often watched Chang's mother make wine in the house, and the wine made by Chang's mother was particularly mellow, and when Chang's mother was alive, the daily wine in the house was brewed by herself. Zhuang Meiyan has been with Chang's mother since she was a child, watching her busy and busy, so she still knows a little bit about the number of ways to make wine, and ordinary home brewing can still do it.

The more Zhuang Meiyan spoke, the more excited she became, she simply didn't even sleep, and worked in the kitchen with Chunju overnight, shopping for grain and wine.

After working for most of the night, I finally put the wine into the jar.

Zhuang Meiyan was so tired that her hands and feet were sore, guarding the brazier, sitting on a rattan chair and squinting her eyes, just to get a good night's sleep before dawn. Chunju glanced at the sky outside through the crack in the door, and exclaimed, "The sky is white, we have been busy all night, miss, you--ah!"

Chunju suddenly let out a scream, with a frightened expression on her face, and took two steps back.

Zhuang Meiyan was startled, turned over and sat up, and said in a low voice:

"What's wrong?

Chunju's face turned pale, her body trembled, and a moan came out of her throat.

"Miss!