"Li Jianghu, what time is it, and you haven't gotten up yet? Is your skin itching again? The Hedong lion outside the door roared again.

I sat up suddenly, squinting through the window screen, and the eastern horizon was just white, and I guess it was not yet time.

Hey, when I came back last night, I happened to run into Cheng Lao Liu, who was on the watch, and said that it was three minutes old, so I slept for less than two hours!

"Did you hear that, why don't you come and help me grind the beans?" The slamming of the door shook the door and the door was about to fall apart.

"Oh, I got it, A-Niang." I answered and quickly got out of bed.

In the yard, the middle-aged woman who was fishing for beans from the basin was surnamed Song, the eldest in the ranks, and everyone loved to call her Aunt Song, of course, some people nicknamed her "Tofu West Lion".

My family sells tofu, so I can't finish grinding beans every day. In my memory, Ah Niang always soaked the soybeans before going to bed on the first day, and got up before dawn the next day to grind, except for a few days off for the New Year, it seems that she has never rested.

Ah Niang just turned 40 last month, except for Wang Fatzi, father and daughter, who brought two bags of pastries over for a meal together, no one else came.

I wonder, don't I have any relatives in my family? Whenever asked, A-Niang always crossed her waist and shouted: "What relatives? They're all dead! ”

How can it be? As the saying goes, no one asks about the poor in the downtown area, and the rich have distant relatives in the mountains. There are always seven aunts and eight aunts, but my family is poor, who wants to stick to mildew? Of course, A-Niang's temper is not good, I'm afraid that someone wants to come over and hang out, and I'm afraid of being scolded by her.

In fact, A-Niang should still be very good-looking when she was young, but now although she doesn't use powder, she wears a linen dress all day long, but she still has the charm, hehe, otherwise how could she give birth to such a handsome son as me!

"Are you stupid? What are you laughing at? A-Niang scolded and raised the spoon in her hand, but she couldn't help but didn't hit me.

This is strange again, A-Niang doesn't seem to have beaten me in some days! Could it be that her brain is broken, or is her arm hurting again? I turned the mill, and for a moment I was puzzled.

A-Niang added a small spoonful of beans to the middle of the grinding plate, poured a little water, and sighed softly: "I know that you only came back at the fourth watch last night, help me finish grinding this pot, you go to sleep for another hour, and then remember to buy wine and longevity peaches." Did you hear that? ”

I yawned, "Don't you need me to take you to the street today?" ”

"No, there are few goods today, I can pick it. Wang Fatzi is born today, we have to go to his house, he is also a neighbor, and he is your master. ”

"Auntie, do you really want me to do the work?"

A-Niang added another spoonful of beans: "You have this talent, how can you waste it in vain?" Besides, he is also a member of the government, if you mix well, you have made friends with the catchers inside, and if you encounter something on weekdays, you can be more or less accommodating. Look at Wang Fatzi, although it is just a job, there are still four taels of silver every year, and some taxes can be exempted. ”

I felt that there was something I had to say: "But the law says that once I become a 'pariah,' my children and grandchildren will not be allowed to enter the profession." I'm afraid that there is no way out of my life. ”

"Your dead ghost father hasn't made a career, and you're twenty years old now, so you're idle all day long, it's hard to say whether you can marry a daughter-in-law or not, do you still expect your children and grandchildren to become officials?" A-Niang said, glanced at the bean juice that flowed into the basin, and smiled slightly: "Hey, what do you think of Jiajia?" ”

"Wang Jiajia?" I was taken aback: "Auntie, can you not mention her when you are working, I am afraid that I will vomit in the basin and stain the bean juice." ”

"You stinky boy, it's really the opposite!" A-Niang was still angry, and grabbed my left ear: "Why does Jiajia make you disgusting like this?" I can tell you, if you dare to say this in front of her, see that I don't break your legs! ”

"I know, I know, Auntie, let go, it hurts, I'm not joking." I pleaded.

"Grind!" A-Niang glared at me and said no more.

Wang Jiajia, hum, in fact, this person is really annoying, not to mention the mother who killed her own when she was born, she grabbed milk with me when she was born. Every time I say a "mother" to my mother, she is more affectionate than me, and those who don't know think she is biological. A-Niang is afraid that she is also confused by her, otherwise why do you talk to her every time?

I peeked and saw that A-Niang had lost her temper, and her brows finally relaxed, so I was relieved.

In fact, A-Niang is quite pitiful, my Aya is just a coachman, A-Niang has not enjoyed any happiness when she marries him, and she also relies on her skills in her mother's house to make tofu to subsidize the family.

When I was five years old, Aya delivered goods to others, coinciding with a torrential rain, a thunderbolt, the horse was frightened, and fell under the cliff with the car and people, and when the rain stopped the next day, A-Niang found him, and he was already helpless.

Since then, A-Niang's temper has become bigger and bigger, and others used to call her "Tofu Shih", beautiful and gentle, but then she slowly became "Tofu Xishi", and she felt uncomfortable if she didn't practice the lion's roar every few days.

As the saying goes, there are many rights and wrongs in front of the widow's door, not to mention a woman like A-Niang who is still a little beautiful. However, over the years, no one dares to be presumptuous in front of A-Niang, let alone speak ill of her.

In fact, when I was eight or ten years old, there were still a lot of matchmakers who proposed to A-Niang, and A-Niang's tofu sold very well.

Ah Niang holds a rolling pin in her hand every day, and when she encounters some soft-spoken ones, she hits them out without saying anything. Slowly, I don't know if A-Niang didn't like it, or if others disliked A-Niang's fierceness, or disliked me as a drag oil bottle, the remarriage gradually faded.

I was quite happy at the time, and I felt that my mother didn't want to remarry, so she could stay with me all the time. But slowly growing up, watching A-Niang work so hard, I hope that she can find someone who loves her and share the burden on her shoulders for her.

But the men in Xiangzhou City are not stupid, seeing that A-Niang is getting older and older, and there is a son like me waiting to marry a daughter-in-law, who wants to come and send money to my family?

Hey, after all, I still tired Ah Niang, so Ah Niang is angry, I can let her scold and beat a few times, she vents her joy, and I am also happy. Hehe, anyway, I'm also rough and thick-skinned, so I'm not afraid of pain. But she likes to pluck my ears, which makes people unbearable. It's also a matter of face, how ugly it is to pinch your ears into one big and one small.

"Alright, alright, you go to sleep again. I'll clean it up here. A-Niang waved at me, her face was full of disgust, I don't know if she really thinks I'm in the way, or if she feels sorry for me.

"Oh, then I'll go buy a gift for Master when I'm asleep. A jar of wine can be kept and eaten slowly. Are you sure you want to buy 50 longevity peaches? Can the fat man eat it? I got up and walked towards the bedroom, suddenly with some questions.

A-Niang stopped the broom in her hand: "Peach, have you seen it?" How big? Is it more than fifty? The four of us can't finish two meals? ”

Two meals for four people? I nodded, and suddenly realized, dare to love A-Niang has planned, today I prepared this little goods, sold until noon and closed the stall, I went to Wang Fatzi's house to celebrate his birthday for lunch, and then he will definitely stay for dinner, so a few polite words, and our mother and son's meal for a day are solved.

Ginger is still old and spicy! Fat Wang, you can buy more vegetables. Although that Wang Jiajia looks a little scary, it is undeniable that the food is still delicious.

Glutinous rice balls, red date cake, stewed chicken with mountain mushrooms, braised pork...... Fragrant, really fragrant! One sip down, one sip of oil, the mouth is so full, so satisfying......

Fragrant, so fragrant! It seems to be the fragrance of gardenias.

Gardenias? I opened my eyes suddenly, and sure enough, a large bouquet of gardenias was right next to my face, and there was a smiling face like a flower.

"Brother Jianghu, you've finally woken up! Are you dreaming of something delicious? Hehe, I see that your mouth has been chewing something, and you only praise 'it is so fragrant'. ”

"Oh, Jiajia, why are you in my room?" I swallowed and quickly wiped the saliva from my lips with my sleeve.

"Mother said let me wake you up in an hour. I saw that you were sleeping soundly, so I didn't call you. Wang Jiajia put the gardenia in the bottle on the table, followed me out of the house, and went to the well very casually to help me get half a basin of water.

I ignored her, first went to the toilet behind the house to pee, and when I came out and saw that she was still there, I knew that this girl was afraid that she was going to pester me for another day.

I came to the stone table by the well, looked at the handsome face on the water, and couldn't help but feel a little sorry, such a beautiful man who looks like Pan An, is he only worthy of dealing with corpses in this life? And then marry this ugly girl who has grown from small to big as a daughter-in-law, and have a few more "small rivers and lakes" and "little Jiajia"?

No, no, no, if people live like this for the rest of their lives, it would be too scary!

I shuddered and plunged headlong into the water. If I were a fish now, and this basin was a river that allowed me to swim to my heart's content......

"Brother Jianghu, Brother Jianghu!" Wang Jiajia suddenly shouted.

This girl is always so startled that it disturbs me to dream! Hum!

"Brother Jianghu!"

A hand grabbed me by the hair and pulled me out of the water.

I angrily spat out the water in my mouth and wiped my face: "What are you doing? ”

Wang Jiajia's frightened face instantly turned into a smile: "Hehehe, brother Jianghu, you scared me to death, I saw you buried your head in the water, and you didn't change your breath for a long time, I ...... I thought it was ...... Thought it was ......"

"Think I'm drowning in this basin? You...... Your brain ......"

I glared at her with disdain, and tried to scold her a few more words, but the words came to my lips and swallowed again. I'm a man anyway, how can I be like a little woman? What's more, this girl was stupid in the first place, she must have had a difficult birth at the time, she had been stuffy in her mother's stomach for a long time, or she was stabbed stupidly by Wang Fatzi's knife.