A continuous rainstorm affected most of the rural areas in the south. In the small village of Tianshui, changes were also happening silently, but the changes were so slow and subtle that the people in it had not yet noticed.

The weather finally cleared up, and the people of Tianshui Village went back to work. The dead crops were dug up and new ones were planted. The rice that had been harvested was damp and had to be spread out to dry. The cowshed of the commune and the warehouse of the production team were destroyed by the rain and needed to be repaired.

It was less than five in the morning, and the sky was a deep and light dark blue. Water droplets rolled on the leaves in the yard, and the crabapple blossoms fell all over the ground. The morning breeze was moist and cool, blowing on my face with a hint of autumn.

Xie Zhao filled the water tank with water and watered the vegetable garden. Several pumpkins of various shapes were already as big as bowls, and their skins had turned yellow. Xie Zhao carefully picked off several insects on the pumpkin leaves. These were Cheng Yaoyao's treasures, and he would come to see them every day. He threw the insects into the chicken coop, and the hens immediately rushed to eat them. Xie Zhao also added chicken food and water.

After finishing these tasks, Xie Zhao fetched a bucket of water to wash himself. The cold well water poured over his head, and Xie Zhao wiped his face happily. The water droplets flowed over his smooth and firm muscles. The bright water seemed to have coated his tan skin with a layer of olive oil, which shone in the morning light.

Suddenly, a small paw touched the back of his foot silently. If it were someone else, they would jump in fright. Xie Zhao lowered his head, and the orange and white fat cat raised its head and cried "嘤嘤" to him.

Before it could bark for the third time, Xie Zhao bent over and picked it up. "Huh."

Grandma said that the kitten was stubborn because of him. Xie Zhao felt that the kitten was obviously born with a bad temper like Cheng Yaoyao. If you ignore it within three times, it will scream until the whole family comes out. It's not that it's noisy, but the kitten's voice is so childish that it's unbearable. And it's stubborn and starts to cry for milk before dawn every day. If Xie Zhao ignores it, it will go to bother Cheng Yaoyao.

He heated up the fresh goat milk from the well, added a spoonful of minced fish and stirred. Before he was done, the kitten jumped up anxiously, dived into the plate and ate it with a smacking sound. Xie Zhao also took out the hot steamed buns and two boiled eggs from the pot, and ate them with pickled vegetables. As soon as the egg cracked the shell, the orange little head popped out from his knees again. "Bing, ing"

Xie Zhao ignored him and stubbornly stretched out his little paw to touch the egg, looking pitiful. Xie Zhao broke off a little egg yolk and gave it to it to eat. It ate it up and wanted more. Xie Zhao put the whole egg into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it. "It's gone."

"Hmm" the little kitten's pitiful expression disappeared, it twisted its butt, and ran back to its own plate to drink milk. Xie Zhao touched its ears, washed his hands, and went to Cheng Yaoyao's room.

The weather was getting colder, and the mosquito net in Cheng Yaoyao's room had not been put away. Through the mosquito net, he could vaguely see a slender figure, with long legs pressed on the quilt. Xie Zhao lifted the mosquito net and looked at her sweet and peaceful sleeping face, with warmth surging in his chest.

Xie Zhao gently pulled out the quilt that was pressing on her. Cheng Yaoyao said "hmm" and opened her sleepy eyes. "Xie Zhao"

"It's me." Xie Zhao pushed Cheng Yaoyao's long legs away and lifted the quilt to cover her belly.

Cheng Yaoyao closed his eyes again, stretched out his snow-white arms to hold his neck, and said in a vague voice, "You are leaving again?"

"Yeah." Xie Zhao's heart softened, and he gently rubbed Cheng Yaoyao's head, "Be good, go back to sleep."

Recently, he went out before dawn every day, and when he came home in the evening, Cheng Yaoyao was still sitting in the yard waiting for him. Seeing that Xie Zhao was so tired, Cheng Yaoyao was unwilling to talk to him and went to bed after taking a shower.

Cheng Yaoyao whined and was unwilling, wanting to be held for a while longer, but she fell asleep soon. Xie Zhao gently pulled her arm down and stuffed it back into the quilt, then left with a hard heart.

Today was another fine day. Grandma Xie took Cheng Yaoyao and Xie Fei to dry things in the yard. They took out the winter quilts and clothes and hung them on bamboo poles to dry them in the sun to get rid of the dampness and moldy smell of the rainy season.

Grandma Xie kept saying, "This Zhao Ge'er has done the work secretly again. He works so hard every day and doesn't even know how to take a break."

"He was very happy." Cheng Yaoyao said with a smile, "Didn't you see that he put the enamel cup in the room?"

Cheng Yaoyao was talking about the enamel cup awarded at the commendation ceremony. In that era, every household had an enamel cup with the words "Labor Glory" printed on it. Xie Zhao didn't care, but he used the cup immediately. This was not only a prize, but also represented the respect and acceptance of the public.

Xie Zhao has been so busy lately that he has lost weight, but he is full of energy. Not only Xie Zhao, but also Grandma Xie and Xie Fei are very happy. Only they themselves know how they have survived these years with the heavy hat on their shoulders and the discrimination and exclusion from others.

Grandma Xie smiled, then sighed, "This is just the beginning."

Cheng Yaoyao smiled and said, "It's a good start, isn't it?" She really wanted to tell Grandma Xie that good days would soon be here.

Grandma Xie was happy and said, "Yes, Yaoyao is right. Life will definitely get better and better."

Cheng Yaoyao took the opportunity to say, "Grandma, the quilt is too thin, and the cotton padded jacket is torn. Do you want to make a few cotton padded jackets and quilts for the winter?"

The Xie family was poor in the past. The surface of their quilts and cotton jackets had turned pale after washing, with patches on top of patches, and the cotton inside was thin. The family had only three cotton jackets, and Xie Zhao's was particularly thin, with the coarse cloth almost falling apart after washing. I don't know how they survived the winter.

Grandma Xie looked at the shabby cotton-padded jackets and said, "This year, Zhao Ge'er will drive a tractor and pay off the centimeters he owes to the team, so there will be some left. I'll use it to fill Xiao Fei and Zhao Ge'er's cotton-padded jackets with new cotton. I won't need mine anymore."

"How can that be possible?" Cheng Yaoyao said, "I heard from Auntie Yingui that the winter in Tianshui Village is very cold."

Grandma Xie sighed, "Cotton is very expensive. Let's see how the harvest is this year."

Cheng Yaoyao and Xie Fei ran back to the room and started looking through the clothes. Last time, Cheng's father sent a lot of clothes, and she took them all out and spread them on the bed. There were several thick cotton jackets and coats in them.

Xie Fei exclaimed as she picked up a long cotton shirt with a waistline. “This material is so light. How can a cotton shirt be so light?”

Cheng Yaoyao smiled and said, "It's not stuffed with cotton, but down."

Cheng Yaoyao picked up two cotton jackets and put them on Xie Fei. "These two jackets were worn when I was sixteen or seventeen years old. They are too small for me, so they are perfect for you."

Xie Fei was so excited that her face turned red. Cheng Yaoyao's clothes were beautiful and fashionable, and the material was so soft that she couldn't bear to touch them. "Give them to me?"

Cheng Yaoyao smiled and said, "Of course. It's just a little big. I'll ask a tailor to modify it."

"I can do it," Xie Fei said happily, "Sister Yaoyao, you forgot, I can sew clothes."

Cheng Yaoyao was deliberately trying to make her happy, and said with a smile, "That saves a lot of money."

Cheng Yaoyao called Grandma Xie to come over again. Grandma Xie already treated Cheng Yaoyao as her own family member, so she was not being polite and said, "Such a nice dress, all made of new cotton, please tighten the sleeves and hem a little bit, and wait until Xiaopi grows taller before loosening it up, so that she can wear it for many years."

Grandma Xie was an expert in needlework and had lived a wealthy life in the past. She looked through all the clothes that Cheng Yaoyao had spread out on his bed. They were made of either cashmere or cashmere, but there was also a lot of silk and synthetic fabrics which were very expensive at the time.

When I looked at it carefully, I gasped with heartache. "How could such fine cashmere material be eaten by moths? Some of these pieces are even a little moldy."

Cheng Yaoyao had not taken a close look at these thick clothes as he could not wear them. Upon hearing this, he quickly looked through them and found that there were indeed flaws in places where he had not paid attention. Only a few conspicuous high-end coats were intact.

It must be the stepmother's doing. Cheng Yaoyao remembered that the original owner had a lot of clothes from childhood to adulthood, and her closet was full. They were all good clothes that Cheng's father bought for her from all over the country, and some of them were imported. Last time, Cheng's father sent her so few clothes, she felt strange. Now looking at the flaws on these clothes, she was even more furious.

Cheng Yaoyao angrily threw his clothes on the bed and sulked with his hands folded.

Grandma Xie was old, and she knew that Cheng Yaoyao had a stepmother. She understood the situation immediately and said with a smile, "It's okay, it's not seriously damaged, it's all in places you can't see. Grandma will fix it, and I guarantee it will be as good as new for you."

"Really?" Cheng Yaoyao looked at Grandma Xie doubtfully.

Grandma Xie said cheerfully, "I also repaired the clothes that Zhao Ge'er's father brought back from the West. These can't really stump you, grandma."

Xie Fei also hurriedly pulled Cheng Yaoyao and said, "Sister Yaoyao, grandma is really amazing. She can even clean the stains on this dress."

Only then did Cheng Yaoyao gradually calm down.

The three of them sorted the clothes according to the degree of damage.

"This one is such a pity." Grandma Xie said, holding a long cashmere dress. The light camel-colored cashmere dress was simple in style and would definitely look classy even in later generations. However, there were a few obvious holes on the sleeves and back. "See if you have similar yarn, and I'll mend it for you."

Cheng Yaoyao had an idea and took out the skirt. "I'll keep this one for future use."

Most of the other clothes either had a few spots of mold, were eaten by insects, or had loose threads and flossing. A dark-colored cotton shirt was completely covered in mold upon closer inspection, so I had to take out the cotton and use it to stuff a new shirt.

In this way, Xie Fei and Grandma Xie had a place to go for cotton-padded jackets. All they had to do was buy a few thick quilts and Xie Zhao's cotton-padded jacket, which saved a lot of money.

Grandma Xie took a pile of clothes from Cheng Yaoyao, which aroused her passion for sewing. She left the cooking to Cheng Yaoyao, who would thread the needle every day, thinking about how to mend the clothes. The kitten lay beside Grandma Xie and played with the ball of yarn.

With the help of Grandma Xie, each piece of clothing was repaired and restored. The kitten that could not even walk steadily became a round-headed and round-brained kitten, jumping up and down to explore the mansion every day, and even dug up Xie Zhao's room several times.

The autumn wind in Tianshui Village was getting colder, and the mosquito nets could be taken down. Xie Zhao had a rare break that day, so he accompanied Cheng Yaoyao to the river to wash the mosquito nets. Cheng Yaoyao held the taken-down mosquito nets, and Xie Zhao carried a long bench and walked to the river. There were already many people washing mosquito nets in the river.

Seeing Cheng Yaoyao and Xie Zhao coming together, the woman who loves to joke joked, "Hey, Cheng Zhiqing and Xie San are here together. Come on, I'll make room for you."

Cheng Yaoyao greeted them generously, but did not go over. He and Xie Zhao found a place farther away. The mosquito net, which had been used for a summer, was covered with thick dust. It turned black after being soaked in the river water and was soaked with soap.

Xie Zhao rolled up his trousers and waded into the river, placing a long bench in the river and arranging it steadily. “The water is not cold.”

Today was a nice day, and the stream water was warm. Cheng Yaoyao rolled up his trousers and stepped into the water with his white feet. The slippery pebbles on the bottom of the water hurt his feet and made them itch. Cheng Yaoyao smiled and stepped on the bench and began to step on the mosquito net with his feet.

The water just overflowed the bench, and the dirty black and gray water in the mosquito net was stepped out and happily washed away by the stream, revealing the snow-white background of the mosquito net. Xie Zhao stood beside her, with his hands open to protect her.

On the other side of the river, women were pushing and shoving each other, looking at the Western scene over here. "Tsk, look at Xie Saner, he's silent, so kind."

"Of course not. The work has been so exhausting lately. Cheng Zhiqing hasn't worked a single day. I heard from the other Zhiqing that it was Xie San who helped her do the work."

"Hey, my stinky man, he never took care of me like this even when I was in confinement after childbirth"

"Such a beautiful girl, even if I were a man I would feel sorry for her" the women laughed together, their tone full of teasing and unconcealed jealousy.

There are not many men in the village who can help their wives bear all the weight, not to mention that Cheng Zhiqing has not married him yet.

Now Xie Zhao was driving a tractor and was in charge of renovating the granary, so his life seemed to be getting better. The matchmaker in the village suddenly set his sights on the famous Yue Yun. But before he could explain the woman's situation clearly, he was politely asked to leave.

In the eyes of the villagers, Cheng Yaoyao would have gone back to the city a long time ago, and Xie Zhao was just confused. He was happy to work for others for free.

Villagers could often see Cheng Yaoyao carrying a small basket to bring meals to Xie Zhao, or Cheng Yaoyao riding on Xie Zhao's tractor and happily going into the city.

It's strange to say that the more you fear what others say, the more serious the rumors will be. Cheng Yaoyao and Xie Zhao were so open and frank, so the villagers had nothing to gossip about.

Cheng Yaoyao is an educated youth from the city, and she always gives people a sense of superiority and alienation. Even the worst gossipers in the village don't care about talking too much in front of her. What's more, there are so many eyes watching, and they can't find any fault with her. How can you still stop people from delivering food?

The mosquito net was quickly washed clean, but Cheng Yaoyao was still standing on it and refused to get down. Xie Zhao said, "Sister, come down. You feel dizzy after standing for so long."

Cheng Yaoyao smiled and used the tip of his feet to splash water on Xie Zhao. "It's fun. Do you want to come up and stand?"

Xie Zhao smiled helplessly and was about to speak when a man popped up beside him and said, "Third Brother Xie."

As soon as Xie Zhao heard the resentful tone, he felt something was wrong. Sure enough, Cheng Yaoyao got furious in an instant and glared at the newcomer with a sword drawn.

The person who came was Lin Lulu. She was on holiday today, and she stood on the shore holding a basin of washed mosquito nets and looked at Xie Zhao. "Third brother Xie, I have something to tell you."

Xie Zhao glanced at Cheng Yaoyao before asking, "What's the matter?"

Lin Lulu asked, "Can we go over and talk?"

Cheng Yaoyao raised the corners of his rosy lips, almost laughing out loud, "What little secrets do you two have that you can't tell in front of me?"

Lin Lulu said angrily, "I'm talking to Brother Xie San, what does it have to do with you?"

Cheng Yaoyao jumped up and was about to argue with her, but his feet slipped and he fell backwards.

"Sister, be careful"