There are dogs barking in the deep alleys, every house is full of smoke, the sun is setting, and the red glow is circulating. From time to time, there were a few trivial quarrels between women and their own men, most of whom were scolding and scolding, and most of the men did not dare to refute. There was also the sound of the woman quarreling with the woman, most of them on a certain side of the town, and the women of several families, down to thirty or forty years old, up to fifty or sixty years old, were scolding and fighting, and the woman of the Wang family, who had been reasonable before, was angry, and she didn't care about whether it was reasonable or not. As long as you don't scratch a few strands of meat on other people, you won't bury your head in the crotch of these unreasonable miscellaneous bullies in the future. "You said that you are all old, what are you arguing about, your little cubs are about to take a bath in the river!"

The sound came from under the old willow tree, which had few leaves left and was yellow. The young man's white gray shirt was rolled up with sleeves, his trouser legs were rolled up to his knees, revealing his wheat-colored skin, and a piece of hay was in his mouth. Before the women could scold the "little bastard," the young man's ears were firmly grasped between his white thumb and index finger by a girl in the same clothes, and he twisted it vigorously, no matter how the young man felt, he grabbed his ears and left. The young man grinned in pain and kept shouting: "Sister, sister, didn't you say that you don't pinch your ears!" A few women scolded the little rabbit cub, and the west scolded the little bastard, and quickly turned around and went to the tube river, but he couldn't let the little bastard who didn't have a brain go to fish in vain again, and in the past few years, the cunning little bastard of the Zhao family has deceived the town's own family with more or less fish, and it adds up to seven or eight earthen baskets to fit it.

The key is that when she thinks of her son, the daughter-in-law of the Xu family is a little melancholy, she is deceived and not to mention, every time she goes home, she gets drunk, takes some strange-shaped stones and bones, and is also happy, saying that this is a stone that has been lit by immortals, and absorbing the essence of heaven and earth can pop out of talking little insects.

The woman has a big head, and her own man is a wreck, this old man's son relies on the old lady alone, no wonder the family and outside the family always suffer, and the water grabbing from the ground is discharged to the back, and the can't catch up with the heat. I was also a small flower in ten miles and eight towns back then, how did I insert it into the cow dung of the Wang family, it was really the old Wang family's ancestral tomb with green smoke, the more the woman thought about it, the more depressed she felt, and felt that she still had to clean up the two elm lumps when she returned home. Or quickly take his son home, and take the fish to exchange a few sips of wine with Zhao Jiu's little bastard, that's it, silently chattering, and a few women didn't care about quarreling, and went to the tube river together. It's a big deal to continue arguing at another time.

The girl who grabbed the boy's ear did not pause, and slowly talked to the boy about the 'truth'.

"Didn't you say that beautiful women have always said that few words can be counted, I can be regarded as letting you see the sinister ways of the world. A very clear voice rang out. Ignoring the young man's arguments, he grabbed the young man's ears and walked straight in the direction of his pastry shop.

Passing by the tavern diagonally opposite his pastry shop, a swarthy boy of fifteen or sixteen years old waved his hand to say hello, and said with a hippie smile: "Oh, I said Brother Xiaojiu, and he was beaten again!" Before the dark-skinned boy could say anything more, he snatched the words of the girl named Jinyi, "Xiao Zhengqing, don't arch the fire, don't fire in your house at night, bring some small vegetables to the shop for a while, your little brother Jiu'er just 'changed' two little carps, and come over to eat for a while, and there are many people." ”

Zhao Jiu always interjected at the most appropriate time, "It's just that you can't leave those small dishes, and someone can't do without them." The girl suddenly let go of Zhao Jiu's ears, and before Zhao Jiu could rub his ears, she was knocked on the skull by a chestnut. Then two voices sounded, one was Zhao Jiu's scream, and the other was Jin Yi's voice, "Xiao Zhengqing, see you later." Before Zhou Zhengqing could react, the girl grabbed Zhao Jiu's other ear again, and she couldn't always use one ear to cause trouble!

"Sister, it hurts, it hurts, you don't know when I went to the pit ,,, cough, and when I went to change fish? Why do you come over to clean up your good brother after the fact?" Jin Yi ignored it, and it was natural for my sister to beat my younger brother. The word sister is a kind of truth. Zhao Jiu wanted to cry without tears, this day passed, a handful of snot, a handful of sadness.

Zhou Zhengqing looked at the sisters and brothers who were playing and leaving, and scratched his head, since he was a child, these two sisters and brothers have been like this, but they don't get tired of seeing it, after all, as long as they are tired of watching, they come out to say hello one less time, and they are the ones who have a handful of snot and a sad heart.

Zhao Jiu is the grandson of the old lady of the Zhao family in the shop diagonally opposite, the name Zhao Jiu has no other meaning, it is the old lady's hope that such a simple life can last for a long time. The prosperous Jinyi girl's surname is Yan, she was originally the child of the neighbor of the Zhao family, the Yan family and his wife went out to run errands, and they never came back, and there was no news, and the old lady of the Zhao family has always been raised as her own granddaughter, a pastry shop, eating with three mouths, it is not too difficult, simple, ordinary.

But for Zhou Zhengqing, in his saddest days, this small pastry shop is his biggest reliance. Coming back to his senses, Xiao Zhengqing returned to the tavern, picked up a few dishes, and sandwiched the side dishes in the same way, which were all pickled by Zhou Zhengqing himself, and then set aside some fried peanuts in salt water, three or five things were placed on the table at the door of the tavern and covered with a layer of dishes, the summer heat has completely subsided, late autumn mixed with wind and sand, Zhou Zhengqing's tavern pastry shop obliquely opposite, standing at the door, you can see the pastry shop over there, the small table in the door has been supported, Zhou Zhengqing began to pick up the dishes that had been prepared a long time ago, and happily ran over twice to serve the food, Zhao Jiu, Jinyi sisters and brothers also served the two"Exchanged" carp, a stew, a sweet and sour one.

The old woman in her fifties, like a sister and brother, wore a gray and white coarse cloth robe, her hair was gray, her face was kind, and there were large and small wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and on her entire face, the old lady of the Zhao family had a son under her knees, and since Zhao Jiu was born, no one had seen the old lady's son and daughter-in-law. Mrs. Zhao's eyes narrowed slightly, and the corners of her mouth couldn't stop rising, she still likes Zhou Zhengqing and Mrs. Zhao very much, this sensible child, never cries or makes trouble, and is very likable when she talks and acts, "Xiao Zhengqing, eat more, I deliberately put more rice, it's not okay to have leftover, look at you thin." The expression and tone were doting.

Zhou Zhengqing scratched his head: "Okay, grandma, I have to eat this belly even if it bursts." Jin Yi served fish soup to Grandma Zhao and Xiao Zhengqing, and didn't look at Zhao Jiu's resentful gaze, buried his head in eating, Zhao Jiu was depressed and served soup, gobbling it up, and he didn't know who was his grandmother's own grandson. The old lady had dinner, chattered about her homely routine, and looked at her family, Xiao Jiu'er, who was fooling around all day: "It's your turn today, after eating, you will go to Zhengqing in a while, don't fall behind in your homework." "The stomach must be able to eat, and it must also be filled with ink" The last sentence is said to Xiao Zhengqing. The old lady turned around and went back to the house as she instructed, and began to prepare the pastries that the old lady of Zhangfu had ordered for her seventieth birthday tomorrow.

"Zhengqing, let me tell you, Mr. Han got out of school very early today, and his speech was quite interesting.

......

In Zhou Zhengqing's tavern, candles were lit, Zhao Jiu's upper body was lying on a table, his fingers were on the meticulous book on the table, standing behind Zhou Zhengqing, Xiao Zhengqing sat on the case, his eyes were firmly fixed on every word that Zhao Jiu's fingers scribbled, as if he had suffered a big loss in vain if he didn't look at it at a glance. Candles are since two years ago, when the two sisters and brothers came to the tavern every day to teach calligraphy, Zhou Zhengqing reluctantly bought some, and he was reluctant to light the candles in normal times, these candles are much more expensive than oil lamps, and they shine brighter, so that large families can afford to use them. It's not a big deal to suffer a little bit by yourself, but you can't lose your little brother and sister Jinyi!

On weekday evenings, there are not many people in the town who come to drink, the farmers in the town, most of them sleep with their mother-in-law after dark, the rich family is not very worthy of this kind of homemade cheap wine and food, a few people rush to the moonlight to play some wine, and most of them are gamblers who have just won money, of course, in the past two years, there are also some gamblers who may have lost money or small ruffians who came to pay on credit, but without exception, they were chased by a little fart boy who rarely talked about the rules with a kitchen knife and chased three streets.

Later, there were three or five together, the frustrated fellow people in the casino drank on credit, and the unruly little fart asked Zhou Zhengqing to respectfully invite a few gamblers in, and then closed the door, I don't know what means were used, a quarter of an hour of effort, a few frustrated people who came to drink on credit climbed out of the door, and shouted again and again: "Ninth master, we admit it, let's go, don't go to your heart." ”

As for two years ago, in this tavern, where were there any ruffians and gamblers willing to come, who could say two or two words on credit in front of that 'gentle' Jiangnan woman, then in the hearts of men and women in this town, it was really more majestic than the hero who killed the big insect. That woman is the most gentle in her life, and only Zhou Zhengqing has seen it. In the memory of Zhao Jiujinyi's sisters, the woman in red who sold wine and drank at the same time was really black. specializes in three ways for people to go down, and the scolding in his mouth is even more powerful, even tying up Mrs. Xu and Mrs. Wang, who are the best at unforgiving people, is almost meaningless. Zhao Jiu couldn't combine the gentle and generous mother in Xiao Zhengqing's mouth, who never beat and scolded him, with his own memory.

Zhao Jiu looked down at Zhou Zhengqing's eyes: "Mr. Han said that you can read this book slowly, learn it slowly, understand it slowly, and give it to you." Zhou Zhengqing straightened, got up, looked in the direction of the school to the east, clenched his right hand into a fist, held his left hand on top of his right hand, bowed deeply, and then straightened his waist. Zhengsedao, "Mr. Negative Teachings". Zhao Jiu pursed his lips and was quite disdainful: "What is the burden, there is no food in the stomach, and a few pieces of paper can't be full." Zhou Zhengqing nodded: "Brother Xiaojiu, this truth is not small, there is a weight of three or five catties." This little brother who is only one year older than himself, but he looks much stronger than himself, and is a head taller, how can he feel that today's words are much less! Zhao Jiu looked at the book on the table, as if his soft gaze was shining through the paper, and two big characters "Tianwen" were written on the dark cover.

The moon slanted on the branches, Zhou Zhengqing sent his little brother away, then plugged the door latch of the tavern from the inside, carefully extinguished the candle, picked up the oil lamp, and went back to the house in the backyard. There was nothing in the room, just a bed, a dresser, a table, and two chairs. Zhou Zhengqing put the oil lamp on the table, and took out a small box from under the bed, which was heavy, and shook it twice in his ears, and the sound of copper coins still made Zhou Zhengqing feel very at ease.

Tomorrow you should go to a few families in the west of the town to buy some cabbage and peanuts, and add some oil, salt, etc., otherwise the tavern will only be able to sell wine in winter. The copper coins are divided into four parts, the least of which is put back in the box, the slightly more one is kept for tomorrow's goods, and the more one is bought at that time, and in the winter, a bowl of noodles comes in the morning and evening, and then a plate of pickles, with a few taels of their own soju, which is very comfortable for those croppers or pedestrians who occasionally go out. The last one, and the one with the most, is to keep some coal for heating in winter, and in addition, these days you have to go to the back mountain to chop some firewood and save it, after all, you can't just burn coal in winter, that's really a big deal that only big families can afford.

Ordinary people only burn some at night, but they can save during the day. If it weren't for the fact that he started brewing wine as early as September, Zhou Zhengqing would have been able to save even less, and the melancholy that life brought to the teenager was like the crescent moon hanging in the sky in November, shining brightly through the window and shining on the boy's body, cool, the boy was lying on his back on the bed, looking at the roof by the moonlight, tightening the quilt, widening his eyes, waiting for something.

Zhao Jiu on the other side just returned to the shop, and Jin Yi kicked him in the ass, "Grandma is sleeping, you move a little, the water is still hot, wash and sleep." Jin Yi's face was a little speechless, but he didn't say much, just went straight back to his room, turned off the lights and went to sleep. Zhao Jiu didn't seem to see it, and muttered in a low voice: "It's so fierce, it's hard to marry in the future." Without waiting for Jin Yi to come back and ravage his ears, Zhao Jiu returned to his room, brought the latch of the door, and the water was still steaming in the large wooden barrel. Zhao Jiu took off his clothes and got into the bucket.