When he got home, Liu Hongjube rolled up his sleeves to make longevity peaches, Liu Huahua carried a dung basket to East Lake to hunt pigweed, Liu Guiyuan took back the lotus seeds, played with her for a while, and went to Liu Jindi's house to ask the eldest aunt Gu to help take care of the pigs and chickens, and then borrowed her cows and carts by the way.

Grandma Luo's home is in Shuangya Village, about fifteen miles away from Huashi Village, and the sisters must catch a car if they want to go over, not because they are too far away, but because they have to take lotus seeds and those birthday gifts on the road, they must not go on foot.

Originally, I told my eldest aunt that I would go to the cow early the next morning, but when my sisters opened the door of the hall, they saw the second aunt Li standing outside with the cow, with a smile on her face and said: "I heard that you want to use the cow, why don't you go to my family, my cow is idle at home, you take it to use, we are all a family, what are you polite?" ”

It's here, it's here again, the second aunt is so gentle and enthusiastic, the third sister, you look at me, I look at you, all kinds of confusion, Li Shi finished speaking, saw that no one moved, he was anxious, and hurriedly asked: "What's wrong, but you still hold a grudge against the fact that the wheat was not lent to you?" It's all the second aunt's fault, don't take it to heart, won't it? ”

Seeing that the two sisters didn't speak, Liu Guiyuan could only clear his throat and said: "Second aunt, we didn't take it to heart, it's all a trivial matter, if you don't say it, we will forget it, but this cow ......"

"You can take the cow with you, as long as you don't get angry with me, you can do whatever you want with the cow, as long as you don't forget to feed some grass." The second aunt Li was afraid that Liu Guiyuan would not use her cattle, so she hurriedly grabbed the conversation, and then thought that her pigs were unattended, so she clapped her hands and said: "Oh, I forgot to see that your pigs have no one to feed them, that's not possible, the pig will have to lose the meat if you don't eat it, rest assured that it will be handed over to me, and it will be kept for you to feed strong, okay, let's go quickly, it's too late to get dark." ”

In this way, the four sisters of the Liu family, at the strong invitation of the second aunt, got on the ox cart she sent and rushed to Shuangya Village. Said to be an ox cart, in fact, it is a cow pulling an open-air firewood cart, the eldest sister sits in front with lotus seeds, the second sister looks at things and sits in the back, Liu Guiyuan thinks that the ox cart is bumpy, and rushes to catch the car in front, and when he is tired, he changes with the two sisters.

On this day, the three sisters of the Liu family went out from more than eight o'clock and walked until twelve o'clock at noon before arriving at Shuangya Village.

There are two rivers not far in front of Luo's house, one in the north-south direction on the east side of the house, and the other in the east-west direction on the north side of the house.

From south to north, cross the road of several households, cross the bamboo bridge and walk ten meters to the west, and then walk twenty meters to the north, look to the west, you will see an adobe house with a yard, there are two spacious vegetable gardens outside the yard, the north is a flat open land, there are two jujube trees on both sides, and then in the distance are bamboo forests and other people's houses.

"Grandma's house is so big, there are four rooms." When Liu Guiyuan first came to Luo's mother's house, he only saw a low bamboo shed outside the courtyard, with a gray brick house to the south and an adobe mud house to the north

There is also a slightly smaller adobe house on the west side, which is a kitchen at first glance.

"Well, my grandmother lives with my uncle's family, and my uncle collected timber with people in his early years, and he made a lot of money at that time."

Liu Hongzao remembers that there was a time when her uncle's family was very rich, and her mother took her and Peanut to live at her uncle's house, when she was seven years old, Peanut was only four years old, and Guiyuan was not born at that time, even if her mother had given birth to two daughters, she had a smile on her face wherever she went, and her father was also very gentle to her mother.

Just when Liu Hongzao was in a daze, Liu Guiyuan couldn't wait to open the door and successfully searched for the figure of Grandma Luo, who was mending a gown in the shade of the tree at this time, and heard someone calling her, and looked up, isn't this a few girls in Guiyuan?

"Red dates, peanuts, longan, why are you here? Your father brought you all the way here, right? Is your mother here, yo, the lotus seeds are also here? When Grandma Luo saw her three granddaughters, her eyes lit up, and then she saw the lotus seeds in the arms of the red dates, and hurriedly asked them if their father and mother were behind.

"Grandma, my father and mother are going out to beg for ...... I went to earn money, and I have nothing to do at home, so I'll come and see you. ”

Liu Hongzao knew that her father and mother were out to ask for food, and she didn't have time to inform this person, so she quickly explained it to Grandma Luo, but she was embarrassed to say that her father and mother went out to beg for food, after all, it was a bit embarrassing to say this kind of thing, so she could only vaguely say that she was going out to make money.

"You went out to earn money, why didn't you say a word to me, and your mother also went with you, leaving behind two or three-month-old lotus seeds? Xiangxue, this girl, why should you be a mother, alas, don't talk about it, you go into the house to rest. ”

Of course, Grandma Luo didn't know about her daughter and son-in-law going out, and she didn't know that when the two of them left, the lotus seed had just been a full moon for a few days, otherwise she would definitely have to be angry.

"Grandma, don't be angry, the eldest sister said that the day after tomorrow is your birthday, and we specially bought birthday gifts to celebrate your birthday."

Liu Guiyuan kindly held Grandma Luo's hand and was about to go to the house, Liu Huahua carried a few things and Liu Hongjube followed behind, following in the same direction.

"Give me a birthday? My wife has never had a birthday after living for so long, but this time it is stained with the light of a few of your sisters, and when the time comes, ask your aunt to make a bowl of thin white noodles, and then beat a few poached eggs, and our mother will eat them. ”

Grandma Luo thought that the birthday that a few granddaughters said was to come over and be lively, and eat a bowl of longevity noodles on her birthday, and when she entered the house, she saw the birthday gifts taken out by the three sisters: longevity peach, loquat, blue skirt, and longevity, and couldn't help but widen her eyes and asked: "These are all bought by you, you really want to give me a birthday, this costs a lot of money, right?" ”

Don't blame Grandma Luo for thinking about it, in the countryside, few people are serious about the birthday of the old people in the family, generally on the day of their birthday, the children make a new dress for the elderly, stretch a bowl of longevity noodles, and say a few auspicious words, this is excellent, how can anyone be willing to spend money to live so grandly?

"Grandma, these birthday gifts were bought by a few of us to earn money, but the idea of making money was thought up by Gui Yuan alone, and I don't know why she is such a ghost and elf, and her ingenuity is ...... one after another."

Liu Hongjube roughly talked about the use of wild loquat to make ice powder for longan, and the happy Grandma Luo hugged Liu Guiyuan and began to kiss, Liu Guiyuan is such a big person, how embarrassed to ask people to kiss so much, only to break free, shouting: "Grandma don't kiss me, we bought you a new dress, you quickly try to fit it?" ”

Liu Huaansheng smiled and handed Grandma Luo a brand-new dress, Grandma Luo put down Liu Guiyuan and tried it on the spot, not to mention that Liu Guiyuan's vision is really good, Grandma Luo almost just put on her body, she was so satisfied that she couldn't close her mouth, and said that this blue is positive for a while, and she said that the embroidered lace with the word longevity is good.

"Mother, who's here at home?"

A few people were commenting lively, and at this time, a middle-aged woman walked in from outside, and when she saw a guest at home, she was slightly stunned and asked uncertainly: "These are the daughters of my sister-in-law's family?" ”

Grandma Luo hurriedly introduced, the three sisters shouted in unison when they heard it, it turned out that this was the daughter-in-law of Uncle Zhang Chengdong, Fang's (Fang Cuizhen) determined who these girls were, and hurriedly greeted them with a smile, and when they saw the new skirt on Grandma Luo's body, they couldn't help but light up, and boasted: "Mother, this dress on your body is really beautiful, such a good material must be worth a lot of money, right?" ”

"But no, one piece costs 500 yuan, and the three girls are filial, so they specially bought it for my birthday." Grandma Luo's face was full of pride.

"What, five hundred Wen, this is enough to buy thirty catties of rice, tsk, you are really willing to spend money." Fang's eyes looked at the new dress that his mother-in-law was wearing, the color and fabric were good at a glance, and then he turned his head to see that there was still a carved vertical screen with the word Shou on the table, his eyes flashed, and he lowered his head and stopped talking.

"Auntie, aren't your uncle and cousin at home, let's pick some wild loquats, and plan to make a refreshing ice powder for you to taste."

Liu Guiyuan saw that his aunt Fang's face was wrong, and hurriedly talked to her, they went out this time, and specially carried more than three catties of wild loquats, ready to be made into ice powder here, which is a dessert.

"Wandering around in the bamboo garden outside, didn't I say, you little girls, finally came to visit relatives, bought a bunch of food and clothing, and really know filial piety." The eldest aunt Fang reluctantly smiled and said a few words, and then said: "However, you few filial piety should also be, in the past few years, my sister-in-law has not come here, and we are not all in charge of my mother's food and drink. ”

Zhang's since Guiyuan was born, it is true that he has not walked through his mother's house for six or seven years, one is that there are many children in the distance, Guiyuan's brain is not good, she has no mood and energy to go to her mother's house to see, and the other is that she can't go to her mother's house empty-handed, Liu Chongshan cherishes money, and does not ask Zhang to go to her mother's house at all, in his words: You go to your mother's house, adults and children have to buy food, how much money do you have to spend?

"It's not easy for Xiangxue in the past few years, Guiyuan's brain is not clear in the front, and a girl was born in the back, how can I have time to come here?" When Grandma Luo heard Fang's words unpleasant, she couldn't help but defend her daughter.

"It's not easy, the girl can't marry a man and forget her mother, my family peony and hibiscus have been married for two years, which time do you not know how to send New Year's gifts during the New Year? Sister-in-law is like this, last time you also sent it with a silver lock, and asked me to say, my mother shouldn't have beaten it, and it was a waste of money. The more the eldest aunt Fang said, the more reasonable she became, but she didn't know whether she was really upset for her mother-in-law, or she was distressed about the money that hit the silver lock.

The eldest aunt Fang has a total of three children, the eldest daughter Zhang Shaoyao is 22 years old, the second daughter Zhang Furong is 19 years old, both daughters have been married to each other, and now she has only one youngest son who is discussing marriage, the big name is Zhang Jichao, the little name is Tiezhu, and he is 17 years old this year.

Seeing that the eldest daughter-in-law was talking vigorously in front of several granddaughters, and the words were getting more and more ugly, the expression on Grandma Luo's face was not very good, and she glared at Fang's slightly and said: "A silver lock is worth saying for such a long time, which of my grandchildren has not been added?" ”

Fang's didn't dare to talk back, but she was not convinced, when her three children were born, there was almost no shortage of silver money in the family, who couldn't afford a small silver lock, but now her husband has long stopped buying and selling timber, and the family can't see a few pennies all year round, where is there spare money to play silverware?

Fang's walked around the house, walked to the table and touched the carved longevity screen, and whispered in his mouth: "In the past few years, the family has been short of money and food, and has never had a birthday. ”

The three sisters couldn't sit still when they heard the words of the eldest aunt Fang's words, and Liu Guiyuan was even more remorseful, she just wanted to celebrate her grandmother's birthday to make her old man happy, but she forgot that this kind of thing should be notified to the eldest uncle, second uncle and even aunt's family in advance.

Generally, such a major event as a birthday, you must be notified in advance, and everyone agrees to show filial piety together, otherwise your family will come to give gifts without saying a word, and others will not express it, which is not to make other people's faces ugly?