"Whew-"

"Whew-"

Turning out of the alley in the village, the wind whistling in her ears has never been heard, and the cold wind is biting, blowing into her flesh through her thin clothes.

Hua Shi turned out of the path, and from a distance, he saw a figure standing under the banyan tree where he was on that day.

She didn't expect He Jiang to wait there so soon, so she couldn't help but speed up her pace, "He Jiang ......!" ”

As soon as Hua Shi's voice was shouted, the words behind him suddenly blocked in his throat and stopped abruptly.

Under the banyan tree, the figure who was standing, after hearing the sound, turned his head to look over.

Hua Shi came closer, and after seeing the man's face clearly, the words behind him suddenly paused, and he slowed down with a hesitant expression.

It's Xie Mingchi......

"Xie Mingchi......?"

Hua Shi looked at it and hadn't seen him for nearly a month, the weather was cold, but the clothes on his body were less than hers, a thin layer of fabric, tall and straight, standing like a green pine, with slender eyebrows and eyes, but somehow, a large beard on his chin, and his eyes that looked quietly seemed to be tired.

Xie Mingchi seemed to be accustomed to silence, and when he saw her coming, his expression didn't change much.

He handed the sack he was holding in his hand towards Hua Shi, and said in a somewhat hoarse voice, "There is something delayed over there in He Jiang, and I can't come back today, let me bring something to you." ”

Without waiting for Hua Shi to ask, he took the initiative to explain first.

Hua Shi took the thing, opened it curiously, looked at the contents a few times, and reached in to touch it.

"Ahh She was puzzled, tilted her head slightly, and looked at Xie Mingchi, "This doesn't seem to be what I want... Sugar, right? ”

Inside the sack were two bulging cloth bags, which seemed to contain what seemed to be ...... Rice and flour?

As soon as you touch it, you know that something is wrong, and it is inevitably too much......

Xie Mingchi strained his face, his dark eyes, looked at her for a moment, and when he saw her look up, he looked away again, and said in a low voice, "... At the bottom, it is. ”

Hua Shi carried this heavy thing and asked, "Have I sold my basket of winter dates?" ”

Xie Mingchi looked back and replied in a low voice, "Uh." ”

Under the questioning eyes of Hua Shi, he patiently explained, "He Jiang said that it happened to be a young lady from a family in the town, and she happened to see it, and she liked the new things in the mountains, so she bought them all, a total of five hundred yuan." ”

"Five hundred?" Flower was shocked by this number.

She lowered her head and rummaged through the contents of the bag again, and at the bottom of the two cloth bags, she turned out the gray-red sugar wrapped in oily yellow paper, and she lifted the oily yellow paper, and there were five small pieces of sugar the size of a palm in it.

"How much does this sugar cost?"

Hua Shi pinched the heavy butter wrapping paper, looked at Xie Mingchi and asked.

"A hundred dollars a piece."

Flower time: "! ”

So expensive!

Such a slap of sugar costs a hundred dollars?! It's all on par with the price of a hare.

She had thought that in ancient times, when materials were scarce, sugar, a rare and precious thing, would be very expensive, but she didn't expect it to be so expensive, and the production of this sugar was also very rough, it should be made from sugar cane......

If she could figure out the process of making candy cubes and sell candy, wouldn't she be able to make a fortune with this......?

Hua Shi eased his mind and looked at Xie Mingchi, who was a little taciturn, "Then the remaining two bags of things...?" ”

Xie Mingchi met her gaze, his eyes drooped a little, as if he was deliberately avoiding looking at her, pursed his lips, and was silent for a while.

Hua Shi looked at Xie Mingchi, who didn't want to say much, and then looked at the things in his hand.

She pondered for a moment, pursed her lips, took out all the butter-wrapped sugar cubes inside, grabbed the sack in her hand again, and handed it to him.

"Alright, thank you."

Xie Mingchi lowered his eyelids, looked at the bag that was handed back again, frowned slightly imperceptibly, and did not reach out to take it.

Hua Shi handed back the things, and when he saw that he was delayed, he was stunned.

Yes?

Could it be that she misunderstood? Isn't this Xie Mingchi's ......?

Xie Mingchi's eyebrows moved slightly, her eyes fell on Hua Shi's face, her eyes were confused, and she didn't seem to feel anything wrong at all.

He slowly sighed in his heart, and said in a somewhat hard voice, "For you." ”

She doesn't want it? Or is it too abrupt for him to give......

Hua Shi blinked and was stunned for half a second.

Yes?

Even if she was sluggish, she vaguely sensed that something was wrong with Xie Mingchi.

For her? Why give it to her?

All the five hundred dollars were used to buy these pieces of candy, and when I spent it, I was feeling distressed, and my thoughts were a little complicated.

At this moment, he suddenly heard Xie Mingchi's words, and his head couldn't turn all of a sudden.

"What for me?" She asked in a daze.

Xie Mingchi stood firmly in place, only to feel that today's wind and snow seemed to be extraordinarily dry, and his throat was a little dry when he blew the ground.

He pinched the cold sweat that came out of his palm at some point, and looked at the flower with serious eyes, "Give it to you." ”

He has been working as a helper in the town all this time, and he hasn't come back for a while, and it happened that he met He Jiang in the town a few days ago, and He Jiang told him about her......

Knowing that she was selling winter dates in the village on a snowy day, I guessed that she was in an embarrassing situation...... Previously, he listened to the gossip in the village, and had always ignored her, and met and observed several times, knowing that she was not what was rumored, and he was also a little ashamed in his heart.

Now he has a marriage contract with her again, and after the spring blossoms, he will get married...... Isn't it right to love your daughter-in-law?

Xie Mingchi didn't have so many twists and turns in his heart, and his thoughts were very simple.

It's just that before that, he had no experience with a little girl at all, he spoke hard, and his face was as stiff as a piece of wood, so how could he know what he wanted to express when he spent it.

"I don't want it, you can take it back, thank you for your kindness." When the flower is spent, he directly shakes his head and refuses.

There is no merit, and the few times they met before, Xie Mingchi's attitude towards her was very indifferent and ruthless.

She didn't do anything, and she didn't help Xie Mingchi anything, he suddenly wanted to give her something, no matter how he thought about it, it was a little strange......

At this time, Hua Shi, who had been starving and freezing for half a month, had a hard time, and had to fight wits and courage with his younger brothers and sisters from time to time, and he had long since remembered his marriage contract with Xie Mingchi.

Xie Mingchi's tense expression seemed to stiffen.

He didn't seem to think that he would refuse when he spent it......

"It's not anything, you take it." His voice was a little hard.

It was cold, and she was still wearing coarse linen clothes, a thin layer, her face and hands were frozen red, and the end of her eyes was also red......

Xie Mingchi lowered his eyes, a little annoyed in his heart.

Why didn't you think of it...... She should be bought a thick coat and thick cotton shoes......

The pants on his body no longer fit, revealing a large section of his frozen white ankles, and he was still wearing shoes that he only wore in summer, only wrapped in a thin layer of cloth, which was not warm at all......

Seeing that he insisted on refusing to take it, Hua Shi frowned slightly, and his heart was so strange that he couldn't do it, and he was thinking about what was wrong.

With a flash of light, I suddenly remembered what she had left behind, and the marriage contract between the two was ......

She immediately reacted that Xie Mingchi's sudden change of attitude was because of the family affair and the change of identity.

After thinking clearly, Hua Shi weighed the bag in his hand, thought for a moment, and asked, "How much is the contents of this bag?" ”

The rice and noodles are added up, and the amount of cushions should be more than fifty catties, which is heavy.

Rice is twenty dollars per bucket, white flour is twice the price of rice, and a bucket costs forty dollars, and if it is twenty-five catties each, it is seventy-five dollars.

When the flower looked at the bamboo basket he carried between his arms, there were two pheasants hidden in it, and the cloth covered with them was bulging.

A pheasant should be ninety cents, more than enough for a bag of things......

Xie Mingchi was thinking about the meaning of Hua Shi's question, and before he could speak, Hua Shi's clear voice rang out again.

"How about I trade this for you for these?"

When the flowers are over, the cloth covering the top of the basket is lifted, revealing the pheasant that is tied up next to each other with five flowers.

Xie Mingchi's gaze drooped for a moment, he raised his eyes to look at Hua Shi's serious face, pursed his lips, and said in a low voice, "It's too much." ”

After he spoke, he suddenly reached out and touched his belt, took out the bag hidden inside, and handed the whole bag over.

"There are one hundred and thirty dollars in it, and you give me these two pheasants, and the money for this one is also deducted."

As he spoke, he pointed to the sack that he was holding in his other hand.

Hua Shi breathed a sigh of relief, and after handing the entire basket to Xie Mingchi, he took the money bag in his hand.

Suddenly paused, and said, "Isn't one hundred and thirty dollars too much?" ”

One pheasant is only 90 yuan at most, and two are 180 yuan, minus the money for rice and noodles in the sack, there is only 100 yuan at most, how can there be an extra 30 yuan......

Xie Mingchi's voice was a little muffled, "Not much, just right." ”

He could see at once that he didn't want to take his things when he spent time, and he had to settle a little bit with him......

Xie Mingchi was a little depressed in his heart.

He remembered Zhang Qingsheng and his daughter-in-law, so he wouldn't be so clear, Zhang Qingsheng would often buy things for his daughter-in-law, and his daughter-in-law seemed to be happy when she saw it......

Could it be that they haven't married yet? That's why she doesn't want his things, and she wants to share them so clearly with him?

When Hua Shi saw this, she didn't say anything more, after this matter was clarified, she was still thinking about this one thing in her heart.

"Xie Mingchi, I have something I want to ask you."

Hua Shi was brewing words in his heart, tilting his head and looking at Xie Mingchi's face.

Xie Mingchi paused for a moment, his face was silent, and his hand holding the bamboo basket rubbed unconsciously, "What?" ”

Hua Shi pondered his words, and said slowly, "Last time you told me not to go into the mountain, saying that the mountain spirit came out to forage, how did you know?" Have you seen that mountain spirit? ”

Xie Mingchi paused, as if he didn't expect her to ask about this, looking at her curious gaze.

"Well, yes."

He didn't want to lie, and he also had a black cat from the mountains by his side, which was something he had never done before......

He still doesn't know why this is, after all, there are very few people in the village who can still get in touch with Lin Haishan......

Hanatoki's expression changed for a moment, and he asked, "What does that look like?" ”

Xie Mingchi saw that she was curious, and he didn't want to hide it, "Three hands and three legs, covered with long black hair, short body, and a small head, but the eyes are big and ......."

He described it in great detail, and he also said it in a vivid way, and he measured her with his hand.

When he spent it, he retracted his gaze and knew it.

The appearance described was not much different from what she had seen last time......

Hua Shi still had some doubts in his heart, "What is that mountain spirit?" ”

She had never seen it before, could it be that in addition to the mountain spirit, there was something else hidden in the mountain, an unknown spirit?

"It's a kind of spirit, weird-looking, very intelligent, but they don't usually come out of the mountains, except for the necessary foraging season, but they have a short temperament, and generally come out in groups, if you run into them, it's better to run away, don't provoke."

Xie Mingchi pondered for a moment and admonished.

Purse your lips when you flower.

Grumpy? She didn't see that the crowds were indeed real......

Hua Shi rubbed the corners of his forehead, raised his eyes to look at Xie Mingchi, and asked curiously, "How do you know?" ”

Xie Mingchi paused and did not answer immediately.

Hua Shi saw that he seemed to have some password hidden in his heart, and he didn't want to say it.

"If you don't want to say it, it's okay, I just want to know, are there many more spirits like this in the mountain?"

Lin Haishan seems to have a lot of secrets hidden in it, it seems that the animals that live in the mountains are extraordinarily spiritual, very human, and some can even understand her......

Like the fox and the deer......

At present, it seems that the birds of prey she encountered are all enlightened and can understand her words very smoothly......

Xie Mingchi's expression didn't seem to change, but when he talked about the spirits in the mountains, he seemed to have a lot of worries in his heart, "I haven't seen many spirits, and I don't know exactly how many there are in the mountains." ”

Hua Shi asked so much, and after knowing what happened to the mountain spirit, he didn't show a surprised look, Xie Mingchi also reacted,

"Did you go into the mountains again? Have you seen the mountain spirits I said about too? ”

Xie Mingchi's brows furrowed, and his voice tightened a little.

Hua Shi nodded and said, "It's just that they didn't attack me, and they do look weird......"

Xie Mingchi suddenly stepped forward, and his voice became a little urgent, "Any spirit you see in the mountains, don't talk to others in the village, you know?" ”

Hua Shi also knows the seriousness of this matter, so naturally he won't talk about it everywhere, and besides, there are rumored spirits living in the mountains, and if she says it, others will only look at her as a madman.

"I'm not going to talk nonsense." Hua Shi followed his words and obediently responded.

Xie Mingchi breathed a sigh of relief, his frowning brows still didn't let go, he seemed to be hesitating about something, and when he looked at the flowers, he stopped talking,

"You...... Forget it, next time you want to go into the mountains, you can call me, I'm quite familiar with the situation in the mountains. ”

He had wanted to tell her not to go back to the mountains in the future, but when he said that...... It's so unflattering.

Although Hanati knew his kindness, she also hid the secret of the spring, and she had already made up her mind to keep this secret.

There were some spiritual animals in the mountain, and many of them kept sniffing at her as if they had seen a mouse when they saw her......

After a few experiences, I had palpitations when I spent it.

The effect of the spring makes the small animals in the mountains attracted to her, just like a cat sees catnip and sticks it to her tightly.

Hua Shi didn't dare to guarantee that if Xie Mingchi went into the mountain with her and saw this scene, would he discover the secret she was hiding......

…

After saying goodbye to Xie Mingchi, facing the sight behind Xie Mingchi, Hua Shi walked away quickly from under the banyan tree, leaving Xie Mingchi who was a little puzzled.

When he spent it, he pinched the burlap bag and covered the money bag hidden in his sleeve, and he was in a happy mood.

One hundred and thirty yuan was recorded at once, and these two bags of rice and noodles also solved the problem of temporary eating in front of them.

In the past two days, she can make all the remaining winter dates into sweet and glutinous snacks, and Xie Mingchi also told her that He Jiang will return to the village in these two days.

When the time comes, she will talk to He Jiang again to see if she can take the sweet glutinous dates to the town and sell them, she is still confident in her cooking skills, if she can sell them, she can save some money.

It's one step closer to the freedom to eat and cloth......

After the two separated, Hua Shi did not go back to Hua's house directly, but took a long detour and ran to the abandoned and ruined temple in the forest at the foot of the mountain.

There was no one in the ruined temple, there was silence, and the flowers stepped on the broken snow and walked into the abandoned temple.

Last night, the corner where the white fox stayed obediently was empty, and in a small pit she dug next to her, the burned firewood turned into ashes and had no temperature.

What about the white fox?

Hua Shi looked around the ruined temple again, but he didn't find the white fox.

In the surrounding snow, except for her footprints, there was no other trace, and if the white fox left by himself the next day, then there would be more or less its paw prints left in the vicinity.

There is no trace at all now, and it is estimated that the white fox left by himself last night......

If it can leave on its own, then it means that the injuries on its body are no longer serious.

Hua Shi once again confirmed that he did not find the figure of the white fox, so he left the broken temple with his things and walked back in the direction of Hua's house.

She was also worried about the white fox's injuries, so she ran over to take a look, thinking that if the wounds on its body had not healed, she would feed it some spring water, so that it could get better quickly and go back to the mountains.

Now it has returned to the mountains early, and it has relieved her hanging heart......

Hua Shi carried the rice and noodles in the sack, was in a good mood, and walked leisurely towards the flower house.

Suddenly, before he got close to the courtyard of the Hua family, he heard the sound of children crying from the courtyard of the Hua family......

"Woo woo woo ......"

The cry was not loud, but it was very clear in the quiet alley below.

This cry doesn't look like a small shadow, but like a flower......