In the evening of the same day, Ye Yuming returned home and saw his mother Li Rongcai roasting the soles of his shoes by the stove, and his grandmother was using tongs to pluck firewood. ”

Ye Yuqian, who was doing winter vacation homework in the house, heard her eldest brother's joyful tone and said loudly: "You are so happy to see Sister Yuanyuan?" Did Sister Yuanyuan get a good score in the exam? ”

Li Rongcai didn't bother to pay attention to him, and continued to hold the soles of his shoes without raising his eyelids, but his grandmother raised her head, looked at him, wiped the tears from the corners of her smoked eyes with her thin fingers, and asked, "Ming Yanzi, what's the good news?" ”

"Good news for money."

"With money? Or is it good news? Grandma asked.

"Grandma, Yuanyuan and I are going to get engaged, and the date is set on the tenth day of the lunar month."

Li Rongcai listened, grinned, and asked, "Where is this spring breeze?" I don't believe it. ”

Ye Yuming said unhappily: "Mom, you always don't believe in the matter between me and Yuanyuan, I discussed it with Uncle Fang, and then decided, Uncle Fang also said that this day is good, perfect, you look at Uncle Fang's behavior and speech, but you always suspect that Yuanyuan is not sincere, doubt your son, can't it be done?" ”

Li Rongcai stopped what he was doing and said with a smile: "Okay! I believe you, say, what kind of gift did she ask for? We have to prepare. ”

Ye Yuming said with a smile: "Yuanyuan is really different from other girls, she said, she doesn't want any gifts, there is only one request, the engagement ceremony should be held in their home......"

Without waiting for Ye Yuming to finish speaking, Li Rongcai hurriedly asked, "Alas, what does she mean by this?" Their family shouldn't be looking for a son-in-law, right? ”

Ye Yuming frowned and said: "They didn't mean that, it was because Yuanyuan's grandmother was sick, very sick, she was very sad, and wanted grandma to attend our engagement ceremony, so that grandma could witness that she had grown up." How to say it, I want to make my grandmother happy and hope that her illness will get better. ”

"What? Grandma Fang is very sick, didn't you say it was asthma before? Li Rongcai asked in surprise, in her heart, asthma was a little problem, just cough a few times.

"No matter what kind of illness it is, it depends on the extent of the medical records, I look at Grandma Fang...... Alas, it's so hard, today, Yuanyuan cried so sadly. Ye Yuming said this, he didn't want to say any more, his chest was blocked, as if a cranial nerve was tight, making him feel deep pain, and he didn't know where the pain was.

Li Rongcai stopped what he was doing and said with a fixed mind: "Now the engaged people are taking 500 yuan, giving a watch, and buying two sets of clothes and materials, and we will also follow the trend and do these things well, and send them over when the time comes, do you think you think about it?" ”

Grandma interjected and said: "The children's good things, try to make the round girl satisfied, but also to satisfy her grandmother and father, it is not easy to raise a baby, we must be considerate of others." ”

"Mom, this is just an engagement, not a marriage, it's not easy to get a general, Qianqian is still in school, and Liang Lingzi will also spend money in the future." Li Rongcai said to her mother-in-law with some embarrassment, and she also wanted Ye Yuming to hear it.

Ye Yuming was thinking in her heart, how could she scrape together a thousand yuan to Yuanyuan, her grandmother was sick and had to spend money, and she needed tuition and living expenses for school, how could I make her embarrassed? Thinking of this, he stood up and walked towards his uncle's house in the east of the village.

He calculated in his heart that if he borrowed 300 yuan from his uncle's house, he would be able to make up enough 1,000 yuan to give Yuanyuan, and it would be better if he could borrow more, he wanted Yuanyuan to live more comfortably and not worry.

The uncle's house is at the intersection in the north of the village, thinking that the uncle is running a car in the transportation team, and the family is living a very nourishing life, Ye Yuming feels that the victory is in hand. When he entered the door, he said that he had borrowed money. The uncle who was smoking dropped the cigarette butt and said: "Ming Yanzi, I have heard everything about you, I didn't expect that you, a person who is a teacher, are so ignorant of things, and take money to fill a poor pit, and I don't know what the result will be when the time comes?" ”

These words are colder than the weather in this cold winter month. Ye Yuming got up from his chair without saying a word and walked out. It's really a person who walks to tea and cool, I think back then, the uncle ran out for transportation all the year round, because the fields were divided into households, and his father Ye Hanhua helped their family to make cattle and rake them, and how much farm work they had done, and they didn't eat a mouthful of food from his family.

He walked to his house angrily, and at the turn of the road, he saw the second man from the same village carrying straw to the cowshed to feed the cows, he said hello and said, "Brother Hanzi, why didn't you feed the cattle earlier when it was cold?" Still in the dark? ”

Erhanzi laughed twice and said, "Yuming, what are you busy with so late?" ”

"Alas, I'm borrowing money, I'm annoying." Ye Yuming said casually, and the uncle's words made him very upset.

"Didn't borrow?"

"Hmm."

"How much do you want, I have a little in my hand." Erhanzi said that when he got married in the autumn of the year before last, the bride price was twenty yuan short, and he was not as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, borrowing everywhere in the village, and finally borrowed it in the hands of Li Rongcai, and now her son borrowed money, and he just sold the fat pig, and he had a few hundred yuan in his hand. He was very generous.

Erhanzi's words surprised Ye Yuming. He stretched out three fingers and said, "Brother Hanzi, I want to borrow a lot, I want three hundred yuan, is there any?" ”

"Yes. I'll go back and bring it to you. Erhanzi put down the straw in his hand, rubbed his hands and ran home. When he handed the stack of banknotes to Ye Yuming, he said, "You check the number." ”

Ye Yuming said: "Brother Hanzi, you have checked, it will not be wrong, thank you!" He rolled up the money and put it in his pocket, tears welling up in his eyes, but fortunately, no one could see his tears that night. This embarrassed appearance made him reflect on whether his choice was right or not, whether he would have a better life when he went to the south? He thought of his original intention of coming back to teach, the beautiful starting point, and the scene of solving doubts and defending with the students, how satisfying and worthy it was! Also, meeting his beloved Yuanyuan, which made him feel that he was a happy person, he couldn't help but whistle, and the tune was a Northwest folk song: In that distant place, there is a good girl......

The fruit business in winter is not easy to do, the weather is cold and the fruits are cold, there are few people who buy them, Yu Xiumei's brother has come back with a lot of dried fruits, candies, and melon seeds to sell, because it has entered the wax moon, and the business is not bad, Yu Xiumei has not talked to her well since she saw Yuanyuan at Yang Daming's house that day? I haven't seen each other for half a year, and they seem to be estranged from each other a lot, and the topic is a little out of touch, I heard that her grandmother is sick, and I'm going to go back early today anyway.

When the twilight fog rose, Yu Xiumei carried two packets of shortbread and came to Yuanyuan's house.

Fang Guangzhuo was stretching out his hand to bake the fire on the edge of the stove, Yuanyuan was scrubbing her grandmother's body with hot water in the house, because it was cold, seeing Yu Xiumei coming in, Yuanyuan said enthusiastically: "Xiumei, you move the chair to sit on by yourself, I have to quickly scrub it while the water is hot." ”

Yu Xiumei nodded and responded, "I'll help." With that, she walked over to help the old man get his clothes right, so that Yuanyuan could scrub them, and a tacit understanding suddenly appeared, and Yuanyuan said in a loud voice: "Good, good." The two of them worked well together, and after a while, they helped the old man finish the bath.

Yuanyuan went out and poured water in, pulled out the fire in the stove in front of grandma's bed, hesitated for a moment, and said to Xiumei: "Xiumei, on the tenth day of this month, I am going to get engaged to Ye Yuming......"

"What?" Yu Xiumei stood up from the chair she was sitting in surprise.

"I'm going to get engaged to Ye Yuming! You probably won't believe it, but I'm a little bit of a disbeliever myself. ”

Yu Xiumei sat down slowly again and said, "I bless you: love each other for a lifetime." ”

Yuan Yuan looked at Yu Xiumei's face with a few acne marks and said, "Thank you!" ”

Looking at Yuanyuan's dark and smart eyes, Yu Xiumei asked, "Yuanyuan, are you really good enough to get engaged?" ”

Yuan Yuan said: "I think I fell in love with someone, and I think he is my spiritual partner in this life, then use the engagement ceremony to confirm each other's love for each other, so there is nothing wrong, in fact, I also want to wait until I graduate from college to hold these things that are recognized by the world, but I don't think there is anything wrong with this worldly thing now, I want my grandmother to witness the love between me and Ye Yuming, and see that I have grown up." ”

The old man lying on the bed quietly listened to Yuanyuan's conversation, and when he heard Yuanyuan say this, he said, "Okay! ”