Chapter 23 (1/2)

When she entered the room, she saw the man leaning on the bed. Xue Qingbai had been working in the farm field all morning. He was really tired.

Seeing his wife coming in, Xue Qingbai said, “You must feel tired. Come and have a rest.”

“No, have been used to everything.” As Mrs. Zhou said this, she took off her shoes and was on the bed. She sat with the crossing knee beside Xue Qingbai and pressed his calf like stone. She felt bad and said: “Just take care of yourself. If you can’t do it, you can have a rest and nobody is pushing you to do it. By the way, what’s going on about asking for help with farm work? Dad didn’t mention it”

Xue’s family has 30 acres of land, which is a huge load for the men of Xue’s family. Even when Xue Qingsong was still alive, they also needed to hire several helpers in the village every year during the busy farming.

All of them are neighbors in the village. They can’t help them all the time. Helping ones in urgent need, rather than the poor. This principle makes sense everywhere. So the Xue family has always paid for the workers. It’s an old tradition. It’s supposed to happen a long time ago, but this year it’s strange. It’s going to sow soon, but Mr. Xue hasn’t said about this.

When he mentioned this, Xue Qingbai was worried.

He hesitated for a moment and said, “I guess father won’t hire others this time.”

“He won’t? Then how to handle this?” Mrs. Zhou’s face looked worried, “exhaust us?”

Xue Qingbai thought for a while and said, “I think it’s because the family can’t afford the money.”

Hearing this, Mrs. Zhou’s face became more complex.

Xue Tao’er was in the inner room. She had heard from her father and mother for a long time. She couldn’t help coming out of the room and said, “Dad, how can we not afford the money? A worker who needs 30 pennies a day and no meals, and if we hire five workers at a time, then doing five or six days is less than one or two silver. Is money more important than people? Maybe it’s because the eldest aunt made trouble before and grandpa wants to send Xue Juncai to school.”

“Thirty acres of land, and three people do planting. All of this is because Dad wants you to work all the time until you are dead!” Zhou’s voice was filled with tears.

Although Xue Qinghuai, the fourth son, also helps with farming, he has a peddler’s job. It’s easier to be a peddler than to earn money from farming. How can the shrewd couple stop this business.

However, Mr. Xue’s body is not as strong as it used to be. That is to say, Xue Qingbai is the one who plants the most of the 30 acres’ land.

“You are talking nonsense. Dad also plants. Maybe it’s all my imagination. Dad is going to do it. ”

Mrs. Zhou’s mouth was filled with a sneer and she didn’t speak.

Xue Tao’er’s face was full of anger.

Xue Qingbai toughed his head uneasily, “OK, don’t worry. I’ll talk to dad about it later.”

“Anyway, you’re so tired of doing it yourself. If you are dead, leaving us lonely, how it will be? Think about after second brother and the second sister-in-law have gone, and what’s the life of the Gou’er! Don’t forget, Xue Qingbai, you also have a son! ”

With that, Mrs. Zhou took his daughter into the inner room

This is the first time for virtuous Mrs. Zhou to say such cruel words in front of Xue Qingbai. At that time, he couldn’t react immediately. It took a long time for his face to show some bitterness.

*

On the way back from the field in the afternoon, Xue Qingbai asked Mr. Xue to hire a short-term worker.

Xue Qingbai is used to being reticent in his family. He always works but doesn’t talk. For the first time, he said this kind of offensive words in front of him. He was quite aware of his ideas, but he is especially uncomfortable.

Mr. Xue looked at his third son.

Compared with the eldest son and the fourth son, the third son is much older from the appearance. Although he was born tall and upright, he has many wrinkles on his face that don’t match his age.

This is the result of long exposure to the sun in the farm land. The skin has been dried one layer after another. Only the lack of water all the year round can produce this kind of wrinkle, as long as it is the people who farm in the land all the year round.

His whole body is black and thin, because he had just come back from the farm land, his clothes are wet, and his face also has oil. Obviously, it’s not march the season now, it’s March, and ordinary people need to wear lined clothes.

Mr. Xue’s eyes are dark, and his back is bent down. He smiled bitterly, “I am so naive. I always think that our family is not well-off, and I can do some things by myself, but I forgot that people are not machine. I will ask if there are any people have time to hire.”

Hearing Mr. Xue’s words, Xue Qingbai was even more embarrassed. He put on his sandals, stepped on the ground and rubbed his hands, “Dad, if it doesn’t work, we’ll do it first, and if we can’t handle, then we can hire others at that time.”

Mr. Xue straightened up and said in a loud voice, “Hire. You take the cattle back. I will ask in the village immediately.”

When the sun was about to set, Xue Qinghuai came back from the outside with a shoulder pole.

As soon as He entered the gate, he ran into a few men in the village and said to Mr. Xue that they would come in the morning and come at the same time. After greeting each other, he put the shoulder pole in the warehouse and went back to the room.

When Mrs. Sun saw him coming back, he went to fetch water for him to wash body.

During Xue Qinghuai’s washing, she pressed her voice and said, “Father came back from the land in the afternoon, and he went to the village to hire people. I guess it’s the third daughter-in-law that can’t help talking to him about this.”

Xue Qinghuai rubbed his body and said, “We should have hired someone, if the third brother didn’t say anything about it I would say, or we will be exhausted.”

Mrs. Sun spat and said, “Don’t have a hand in this matter. Just wait for it to be done. The third sister-in-law doesn’t have some comments on something at ordinary times. But she has an idea in her mind. I have expected that she could not hold her thought to take the lead. Sure it is! ”

“Look at what you said. Don’t you love your man? Don’t I have to work in the field?”

Mrs. Sun immediately stopped talking.

Xue Qinghuai glanced at her and said, “It’s not that I am mean to you, but you should put your mind on the real things. The whole family should respect and love each other. Aren’t you tired?”

Mrs. Sun was angry immediately and said, “I want to be so tired? I don’t want to offend your elder brother. I’m going to wait for Maodan to be two years older and beg him to teach him. Maybe Maodan has the ability to be a Tong Sheng or something. Naturally, I don’t want to offend him

Xue Qinghuai didn’t think so. “As for Maodan’s study, you don’t need to beg. When he is old enough, he can naturally go to the elder brother’s private school.”

Sun gave him a supercilious look and said, “Are you stupid or something? Is it the same with teaching with heart and not with heart?

Look at Juncai, and then look at Gouzi. They are also taught by the elder brother. Why does Gouzi learn less than Juncai?

Every teacher does not teach everything to common students. Is he not afraid to teach Gouzi to win Jncai?”

“But this time, Gouzi is the winner.”

Mrs. Sun sneered, “Who knows what kind of luck he has gotten? He has been unlucky for many years, and he won that day with good luck. Besides, even if Gouzi, if it’s not the second brother and the second sister-in-law are not alive, the eldest brother will teach him seriously? And Shuanzi, who is the son of the third couple is enough old. Your elder brother always says he’s stupid. In my opinion, in a few years, Shuanzi will also come back to help the family to farm. I don’t want to see that Maodan comes back to work early and sell labor to others all his life. What’s more, others will also hate his stink of sweat.”

Hearing this, Xue Qinghuai’s face darkened immediately.

Mrs. Sun’s words hit his mind. In fact, several brothers of the Xue family, except for the third brother Xue Qingbai, who is a little more dull, are all clever.

Xue Qinghuai is more than ten years younger than Xue Qingshan. When he knew the ways of people, his eldest brother was his father and mother’s favorite son. He only read books in the house everyday and did no housework.

No one knows that Xue Qinghuai once wanted to go to school. When he was a child, he helped his family herd cattle. He took the opportunity to go to the private school in the neighboring village to overhear the teacher giving lectures to the schoolchildren more than once, but he knew that he could not be a student in the private school. His family had already provided one student, and could not afford another.

The second elder brother learned the craftsmanship of a carpenter early. The third elder brother concentrated on the farm land. But he didn’t want to farm, so he chose to be a pick-and-go man. In fact, it’s also good to own a skill, and it’s a skill to live.

Many years have gone soon, he has a family. Will he let his son set foot on his own?

“I didn’t mean to say that the eldest brother and sister-in-law are too crafty. That day, with the help of the Mr. Yang that he made trouble in the family and Juncai’s illness. Maybe your father might want to send Juncai to school, too. Otherwise, he would hire several workers. ”

Xue Qinghuai suddenly came to her and said with a smile, “We don’t have so much money.”

Xue’s family is in the hands of the old couple, but as for food they get every year, rest food they can get after paying taxes, and the salary of his job, Xue Qinghuai knows in details.

In fact, if it’s only to spend money for two children to study, it’s enough for the Xue family, but there’s also Xue Qingshan. Xue Qingshan went to Qinghe school for five years. After that, he always asked for some money from home, saying that he was going out to socialize. Every rich family could not keep the good condition because of his behavior.

“Without any spare money? Why can’t we sel the land. Land is also money! ” Mrs. Sun replied at once.

Xue Qinghuai scolded her, “Don’t talk nonsense, my father can’t sell the land.”

For farmers, the land is the dependence of the old generations. No one will not sell the land until someone is starving.

Sun sneered, “It is hard to say. I’ve known your sister-in-law and brother clearly in recent years. They are so sly. Do you think Mr. Yang made trouble for nothing? Just wait to see the big play. There are other tricks in the future.”

Xue Qinghuai was a little fidgety, and he could not bear to say, “You are so annoying, and you can tell me something about the unseen.”

Mrs. Sun glared at him with her eyes and said, “It’s your family have so many thoughts and tricks. Do you think I’m willing to be so tired?!

What am I doing for? Not for you, but for our son! When can we be separated from this family? I am free, and you are free.

However, according to the present situation, I still have to endure. Since I am suffering, why am I not allowed to say it. I talk, and you listen. Whether you like it or not.”

Outside, Mrs. Zhou called everyone to have meals, Mrs. Sun glanced sideways at her husband and went out, then Xue Qinghuai sighed.

Although Mrs. Sun has some defects, she is also a sensible woman. If she is also sly and petty, it’s estimated that the family will be out of shape for a long time.

When eating, the atmosphere on the table is very dull. They just eat with their heads buried and don’t talk.

Mrs. Zhao took a few bites, and suddenly put down her chopsticks and stood up.

“What are you doing? No more food? ” asked Mr. Xue.

“I’ll go to see Juncai. He’s strong when he’s small. This time, he’s so ill that he can’t eat in a few days. I’ll cook him a bowl of egg noodles. You don’t care about this grandson, I do!”

In the end, Zhao’s voice could not hide her indignation. She felt the key at her waist and went to the inner room to get the flour.

Flour is the rare food in Xue’s family. Mrs. Zhao usually locks it in the cabinet in the inner room.

“You…”

Mrs. Yang hurriedly stood up and said, “Mom, please don’t bother. What kind of egg noodles do you want to cook for him. This white flour is fine food. We haven’t eaten it yet, so we don’t have a reason to cook for him.” She said to Mrs. Zhao in the inner room, looking at the others in embarrassment.

“I’ll do it. Juncai is so ill. Eating a bowl of noodles with eggs makes sense. Who is disagree with it? Just tell me!”

Soon, Mrs. Zhao came out with a bowl in her hands. Mrs. Yang smiled awkwardly and hurriedly followed.

Dinner was soon over. Mrs. Zhou took Xue Tao’er to clean up the table. The others went back to their rooms.

In the kitchen, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law made a bowl of egg noodles, and Mrs. Zhao took it to the east room.

In the east room, Xue Juncai lives alone in the West of the room.

This was Xue Qingshan’s study. Later, when Xue Juncai grew up, he set up a place for bed.

There is a room with a big bed beside the window. Next to the wall, there are bookcases, a writing desk and two chairs.

There are some calligraphy and paintings on the wall which were bought from the outside for hanging on to the lips of men of letters

On the bed, Xue Juncai was lying there with a pale face, and his lips dried up. Seeing Mrs. Zhao’s coming, he hurriedly sat up on the bed and called “grandma”.

The cry of “grandma” made Mra. Zhao’s tears come out immediately, stroking his head and saying, “Get up and eat the noodles. If you don’t want to eat, you still have to eat some. Only when you are healthy can you have the strength to study.”

Xue Juncai’s face showed a trace of pain and whispered, “Even if I keep fit, I can’t go to school any more.”

Mrs. Zhao clapped him and said, “Nonsense, what are you talking about? And you have your father, how can you not go to school in the future? Hurry up and eat noodles. This is made by myself. It’s very delicious with eggs inside. ”

“Grandma, I am not filial piety, because I can’t eat anything. As soon as I think about that I could have studied hard for a year, and then I’ll become a scholar. And at that time, you, grandpa and father can be proud of me, but… ”

Mrs. Yang stood aside and sobbed. Mrs. Zhao’s was stabbed to the heart by this.

Xue Juncai is her first grandson and the grandson she brought up with her own hands from baby. She loves Xue Juncai so much all the time. The whole Xue family all know that Xue Juncai is Mrs. Zhao’s sweetheart and treasure. Anyone will get in trouble if he or she makes trouble with Xue Juncai. If it has not happened the big trouble that she can’t take apart as a woman this time, no one knows the ending.

“You don’t have to worry. There’s always a way, and you should eat noodles first.”

……

When Mrs. Zhao came back, Mr. Xue was sitting cross legged on the bed, smoking dry cigarettes. There was a water basin on the bed table, in which a bowl of rice is heated.

“Eat fast. What have you been doing for such a long time?”

Mrs. Zhao went to the edge of the bed and sat down, without any words. Seeing that she was still, Mr. Xue said, “What’s wrong with you? Don’t eat any food??”

“What is wrong with me? You don’t even care about Juncai. He’s not your grandson, isn’t he?”

She roared twice. Mrs. Zhao raised her corner and wiped her eyes. She cried and said, “You are so cruel. You even prevent me to talk with Gouzi. But you think about Juncai. How filial he is. He is so sick that he still has a wish to be the home pride. You just live for your face. We can’t decide who to spend our own money?

Juncai is good at learning. Everyone praises his success. The eldest son said that he has been studying in the school for about one year. It’s no problem to be a scholar next time. Now it’s all ruined by the little boy! I think that the two scholars are deliberately suppressing Juncai. The old scholar was invited by chieftain Zheng. Who knows who they’re looking for… ”

This made Mr. Xue worry.

He also talked with the patriarch about it, but the patriarch told him not to think much about it. But compared with Xue Tingxiang, who seems to have his ideas straightened out suddenly, Mr. Xue must prefers Xue Juncai.

This is a deep-rooted thought for many years. It is also because Xue Juncai is the eldest grandson and the person who will carry forward Xue family. Is it true that he will not go to school if he loses this time?

But it costs money to go to school. How does money come from?

Mrs. Zhao cried and complained, but Mr. Xue didn’t speak, just smoked dry cigarettes more and more fiercely.

When he finished smoking a bag of tobacco leaves, he suddenly came to his senses. He threw the bag of tobacco at the foot of the bed, took off his shoes, and leaned sideways on the bed, “Go to bed!”

Mrs. Zhao was shocked by his actions, and she did not dare to speak again.

*

Dongliju bookstore, Mr. Chen turned over the stack of rice paper in his hand, feeling like a treasure.

“It’s good. The words are better than before.”

“Xue Tingxiang said modestly, “It’s also because of too much writing. ”

Mr. Chen told a Cai to go to the counter and take one silver for him.

“In a few days, the school will open. Don’t forget the time. Don’t forget six rites of worship. As for remuneration to teachers, if you don’t have enough money, you can make up later.”

Xue Tingxiang hasn’t spoken yet. Zhao’er spoke already on the side, “Uncle Chen, don’t worry. Qingyuan School is not Qinghe School that only wants money. We have enough money for remuneration to teachers.”

Mr. Chen nodded and said to Xue Tingxiang, “As for me, there are many books copying jobs, and the price is good to you. You can take books back and copy it, or copy it in the shop. Of course, if you have free time, you can read the books here. ”

“Thank you, uncle Chen.”

“It’s no a big deal. I have to hire someone to copy anyway. Your writing is good. I’ve taken advantage of you.”

Mr. Chen is a sensible person. Only when he knows that all knowledgeable people have their own pride can he say that.

However, Xue Tingxiang actually remembered the kindness in his heart.

After that, he took a job of copying from Mr. Chen, and then stepped out Dongliju bookstore with a move.

As they walked along and out of the southward bazaar, he suddenly changed his way.

“What’s the matter? Where are we going? ”

Xue Tingxiang didn’t speak either, just pulling Zhao’er away, until he got to the noodle stand where they had noodles last time, then Zhao’er understood.

“Boss, I’ll take two bowls of Jiupian and more soup.”

He chose a clean and empty table to sit down, seeing Zhao’er still standing, and pulled her to sit down.

“What else do you want to eat? I’ll take you to eat. ”

His expression is very serious, and Zhao’er was moved. She smiled and said, “You are a rich man now? So generous for me.”

Xue Tingxiang’s eyes darkened, but Zhao’er still said to him that he should save the money for studying to buy something.

After saying this for a long time, She didn’t see any reactions from the little man, so Zhao’er just looked up to see him. As expected, she saw the little man was angry.