Chapter 4 (1/2)

Many people’s chimneys were filled with smoke, and several villagers walked on the path between the villages, or carried hoes and pulled cattle. They were going to the ground.

At the time of spring cultivation, the best time of a year is spring. If you are lazy at this time, you will cry and regret when you harvest food in autumn.

Zhao’er woke up at this point on time and opened her eyes to find that the little man was still asleep.

She didn’t sleep very long yesterday. The little man had a fever again and she stayed busy for most of the night. Fortunately, the fever went away in the middle of the night. She sat up and raised her hand to touch the forehead of the little man. She was sure that it would not burn her hands. Then she put on her clothes and got off the bed.

The first thing to do is to open the door. Heizi who has been anxious for a long time has gone out with a swish. Zhao’er also followed him out of the room. Seeing Heizi running out of the house to pee, she shook his head with a smile.

At this time, there were already some people who got up in the courtyard. They were the third wife Zhou and her eldest daughter Xue Tao’er.

Today it is the turn of the third wife to cook. The rule of the Xue family is that apart from the housework of each room, the work in the public school is divided equally. Every day in each room, it takes turns.

The room responsible for cooking is not only responsible for eating and drinking for the whole family, but also for the livestock at home. The Xue family raises two big fat pigs, and serving these two pigs every day is not an easy job. Not to mention to feed chickens, pick water, and cut wood, so the housewife who does housework this day does not have to go to work in the fields.

It seems fair and just, but in fact, everyone knows how it is.

Aunt Yang self-proclaimed that her man is Tong Sheng, and he is particularly superior at home. Since Xue Qingshan passed in the examination of Tong Sheng, he has no longer engaged in housework. The point is that Zhao is also agree with her so that others can not disagree.

At first it was done by Xue Gouzi’s mother Qiu, and finally the third wife Zhou entered the family, and the two women finally shared the burden. After that, Qiu followed the dead husband and died, leaving Zhou alone. Until the fourth wife Sun entered the family, she would be able to have a break again.

It’s a pity that the Sun is a slacker. In fact, most of the work is still done by the Zhou.

In the past, Zhao’er helped Qiu when she was still alive. Later, Qiu died. Zhao’er was busy with the housework of the second wife and had to work for the whole family. In addition, at that time, Zhao’er was still young. The grandfather Xue told her to take good care of Xue Gouzi, regardless of his work.

So Zhao’er has free time to do some business and get some money. However, she is a person who does things according to her conscience. She will help other wife in her spare time. As for some sarky people like Sun, her sharp mouth also won’t just bear.

Seeing Xue Tao’er struggling to fetch water from the well, she rubbed her face and went up to help her.

Xue Tao’er, a 13-year-old girl, is like a small flower in bud. Although she is not very beautiful, she is also very delicate and pretty. Seeing Zhao’er coming to help herself, she couldn’t help but smile and said, “Sister Zhao’er, is the second brother better?” Xue Gouzi is the second kid in the family of Xue’s grandsons, so Xue Tao’er will call him the second brother.

“He had a fever last night, and went away after midnight.” Zhao’er looked around and asked curiously, “Why isn’t the third uncle here?”

Although Xue Qingbai is honest and reticent, he always loves his wife and daughter. When his wife cooks, he will get up early and fill up the water tank.

Xue family has its own well, but the well is too deep. In addition, there is no windlass on the well. It’s really tiring to draw water with the strength for women. That is to say, Zhao’er is naturally as powerful as an ox, and her strength is not inferior to an ordinary man, so that she can easily pull the bucket out of the deep well.

“My father went to the farm land and said that he would work first for a while, and then he would return when when had breakfast.”

Xue Qingbai is an honest farmer. Unlike other brothers in his family, he only knows how to farm, so he focuses on the farm land. Xue family has a total area of more than 30 mu. Now, all of these lands are farmed oly by grandpa Xue and the fourth son Xue Qinghuai.

Although the women of the Xue family also go to the ground, they work just when the season is very busy. Besides, women have little strength and can do nothing for them. Fortunately, the three men of the Xue family are all good helpers in the farm land, and if they are really too busy then they can spend money for hiring short-term workers to help them do it for a few days.

As they were talking, the door of the fourth wife’s room opened, and Xue Qinghuai came out from inside.

The men of the Xue family are large, so Xue Qinghuai also inherited a tall body.

He was born with a strong eyebrow and a high nose bridge, wearing a dark blue coarse cloth and short brown, which looking very heroic. In fact, the men of the Xue family are not bad in appearance, but the women of the Xue family are mediocre. However, all of the grandchildren are well-proportioned and are outstanding in the village.

“Zhao’er, Tao’er, you are both so early.” Xue Qinghuai strode over, took the bucket in Zhao’er’s hand, went to the water tank and poured the water into it.

“You two little girls can’t do this kind of rough work. You can do something else. I am gonna to fetch water.”

Zhao’er and Tao’er didn’t refuse either. One went to cook for her mother in the kitchen, and the other took a basin of water to wash.

As time went on, the rest of the Xue family got up, and there were more and more people in the courtyard. On the other side of the kitchen, Zhou called everyone to eat breakfast. Generally, people in the countryside don’t pay much attention to setting up tables for breakfast. They use bowls to fill a bowl and eat it wherever they like.

Breakfast is two rice porridge, which is cooked by two kinds of rice porridge. Yuqing village does not produce rice, only wheat, sorghum, millet, corn and other crops. Although all the farmers sow wheat, they seldom use it to make their own food. They sell it for other food.

Even the rich family like Xue, which has surplus food, doesn’t eat flour and rice every meal, but coarse food and fine food mixed together. Like today’s breakfast, two ricer porridge is porridge with millet, that is, yellow rice, and sorghum rice.

Because it’s the time of busy farming, but the porridge is also thick. Although it’s not stuck with chopsticks, it’s also much better than the ordinary time.

No way. It seems that Xue family is not poor in the village, but there are three students in the family. Not to mention Xue Gouzi, just the eldest son and Xue Juncai spend a lot of money every month. It’s no wonder that Zhao is so stinky.

Zhao’er filled two bowls of porridge, and put some corn pancakes in a thick porcelain plate, and picked up some pickles, then she took them back to the room.

As soon as she entered the door, she saw Xue Gouzi sitting up from the bed. She hurriedly put the wooden tray on the square table and came to see him. She said, “Do you feel better? Are you hungry? I will give you some porridge to eat.”

Xue Gouzi looked at her with some complicated feelings.

After experiencing that dream, he does not know how to face Zaho’er now. As soon as he saw her, he couldn’t help thinking of himself in his dreams. The words he was scolded before he died. He also tried to find the cause of Zhao’er’s death in his memory, but it seemed that the memory was Xue Tingxiang’s most unbearable one, but he had no memory at all.

In fact, he had a fever was dizzy last night. Xue Gouzi thought for a long time. He couldn’t figure out whether he is Xue Gouzi or Xue Tingxiang now. Is that dream true or false? Is it because he thought of something day and night and dreamed such an absurd dream.

But he also has an idea in his heart. If everything in that dream is true, several things should happen next. If these things happen, it means that his dreams are true.

Thinking about something in his mind, he reached for the bowl, but to find that he didn’t even have the strength to hold the bowl. Fortunately, Zhao’er was very agile and quickly caught the bowl, before it spilled him.

Xue Gouzi was embarrassed and anxious. It’s strange, obviously he didn’t have this kind of reaction in front of Zhao’er before, but he didn’t know whether because he had a dream or not. His mentality had actually changed strangely.

Zhao’er laughed at him, “Don’t be so polite with me. You forgot that when you were a child, you made the bed wet, and it was me to wash it for you.”