Wang Hao forced a smile and explained, "There weren't many chestnuts stored at her parents' house, only fifty or sixty catties. How could she do any business? She was just pregnant and craving chestnuts. She saw that roasted chestnuts were delicious and wanted to learn how to roast some for herself."
Chen Chunli is from the neighboring town of Qingshui. Everyone knows what the streets and houses are like there, whether they have front or back yards, because they often go from street to street when collecting debts.
Whether it was stored by her family or bought from someone else after much effort is self-evident.
Everyone in the neighborhood knows what kind of person Chen Chunli is, not to mention Luo Shiliu and others who are close to Wang Hao.
We're brothers, I'm too lazy to expose him.
...
Bai Lu vaguely felt someone touching her forehead. She slowly opened her eyes, and in her hazy vision, she saw a magnified version of the man's handsome face and wrist, very close to her.
She blinked, looking confused. "Why did you touch my forehead?"
Xiao Cheng calmly withdrew his hand, his palm at normal temperature, and his tone remained indifferent: "It's nothing."
The morning sun shone through the glass window, casting a faint ray of light on the dark circles under his eyes, making him look as if he hadn't slept all night.
Bai Lu asked in confusion, "Didn't you sleep last night?"
"She's asleep."
Xiao Cheng slowly lifted the covers, got up, got out of bed, put on his clothes and shoes, and glanced back.
Seeing that Bailu had also sat up, rubbed her eyes, yawned sleepily, and lazily moved her body to get out of bed, I couldn't help but say, "You can sleep a little longer."
Bai Lu patted her flat belly and said seriously, "I'm hungry. I need to get up and make breakfast."
Xiao Cheng wanted to tell her to call him when she was done, but she had already shaken off her lazy movements and quickly folded the blankets and got out of bed.
He put on his shoes, stretched in front of the mirror, picked up the cotton coat draped over the back of the chair, put it on, and walked out with small, quick steps while buttoning it up.
It felt like walking on clouds, light and slow.
Xiao Wei squatted by the well, brushing his teeth.
Bai Lu, holding a toothbrush with toothpaste already squeezed on, a water cup, and an enamel washbasin, came over to fill it with water: "Xiao Wei, tomorrow is Qingming Festival, you guys should be on holiday, right?"
She filled the water bottle and started brushing her teeth. She doesn't usually squat down, and even when she does squat down to pick something up, her posture is particular.
Unlike Wang Cuihua next door, who squats in a wide-open squat anytime, anywhere, without any regard for her image.
However, when she brushed her teeth standing up, the foam was very thick, and Xiao Wei was afraid of getting a white patch on his head, so he moved away a little.
"Today is Friday." So, regardless of whether tomorrow is Qingming Festival or not, the weekend is a holiday.
"Oh..." Bai Lu nodded in understanding.
Xiao Wei didn't understand why she didn't move closer to her older brother, but instead moved closer to him, causing him to be constantly subjected to glances that swept over him, making him feel like he was being crawled on by ants.
After quickly brushing his teeth and washing his face, he ran back to the kitchen to rinse the rice and put it in the pot. He would cook the porridge again today.
Bailu and her older brother have been cooking noodles with eggs these past few days. They're delicious, but you have to get up very early in the morning.
Breakfast here is simple: congee with side dishes, just some diced dried radish.
Bai Lu cut two bowls, one with a few chopped chili peppers and soy sauce, to be marinated and eaten immediately.
A bowl without chili peppers, just diced radish.
Xiao Wei, who couldn't get used to eating raw chili peppers, would always pick up food from that side with his chopsticks, and occasionally he would also pick up food from the bowl with chili peppers, just like Xiao Cheng.
Her little mouth turned bright red from the spiciness, so she drank a few big mouthfuls of porridge and then continued her battle with the chili and diced carrots.
After breakfast
Xiao Wei went to school, Xiao Cheng went to build a house next door, and Bai Lu went to the vegetable garden in the backyard. She took a long-handled wooden ladle to the riverbank, scooped water to water the vegetables, and sprinkled it into the air.
If you pour water directly into the vegetable garden, it will bend the young seedlings, and they won't recover for a long time.
The old hen squatted in the coop, quietly laying her eggs, occasionally glancing up at the little figure getting rained on in the vegetable garden.
A few days ago, Bailu went to Zhang Sao's house and bought a batch of eggs that had just been laid. She picked out twelve eggs with fluffy embryos and gave them to the old hen to hatch into chicks.
Xiao Wei was overjoyed. Although he didn't show any joy on his face, he ran to the chicken coop every day after school.
Halfway through rinsing the vegetables, there was a knock on the door. Bai Lu put down her long wooden ladle and went to open it.
The person knocking on the door was an elderly, unfamiliar woman.
She was wearing a dark old cotton coat and army green liberation shoes. Her trouser legs were stained with yellow mud. She was not fat but slightly thin, with a round face and thick lips. Her skin was yellowish and slightly dark. When she smiled, there were obvious crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. She was about fifty years old and was holding a notebook and a pen in her hand.
He spoke in a friendly tone: "Is this the home of Xiao Zhigang's son, Xiao Cheng?"
“It’s Xiao Cheng’s family.” Bai Lu nodded slightly.
After confirming that she had found the right family, the elder woman explained her purpose: "It's like this, tomorrow is Qingming Festival, and Xiao Family Village is going to the mountain to worship the ancestors of the Xiao family. I am Li Hongying, the wife of Xiao Guofu, the village chief of Xiao Family Village. We came to the town today to inform the Xiao family and to collect money for incense and candles. It's 1.5 yuan per person. Just give the money to the number of people in your family who are going."
The Xiao family's ancestral home is on the mountain across the river from the old rural area. In recent years, many people have moved to the town.
Every year during the Qingming Festival, clansmen would come to town to inform them to return home to pay respects to their ancestors. Xiao Zhigang would return home before he passed away.
After Xiao Zhigang's death, the Xiao clan did not inform Xiao Cheng, partly because they were concerned about Xiao Cheng's reputation as a tyrant.
Secondly, they felt that Xiao Cheng's line of work was a disgrace to the Xiao family ancestors, and they did not want him to go back to worship them.
Li Hongying came to inform Xiao Cheng today because she heard from villagers who came to town to buy things that Xiao Cheng seems to have changed recently. They haven't seen him leading people through the streets and alleys for a while, and they heard that he is building a house for the neighbor next door.
Also, there's a small favor I'd like him to help me with.
When she was notifying the others, she deliberately went around the neighbor's house and saw Xiao Cheng laying bricks from afar. Only then did Li Hongying and Xiao Guofu feel relieved and separated, and she went to Xiao Cheng's house to inform him.
According to the Xiao family, who are neighbors, Xiao Cheng's young wife, Bai Lu, has a cheerful and easy-going personality.
Li Hongying only confirmed that the rumors she had heard were true after receiving four and a half yuan for incense and candles from Bailu.
She spoke again, her tone much more friendly: "Bai Lu, your aunt would like to ask you for a small favor."
Bai Lu also had things to do when she returned to the Xiao family's ancestral land. It would be best to help each other out. With a smile, she said, "Xiao Cheng is also a member of the Xiao family. We are all clansmen. Just say what you need. I will definitely help if I can."
Seeing the smile on her face, Li Hongying felt much less nervous: "As of now, we have counted 138 members of the Xiao family in the town who have returned to their hometown to pay respects to their ancestors."
“The journey back to the countryside is long, and it takes three or four hours to walk around the river. I heard that Xiao Cheng knows the brick factory owner, and I was thinking of asking him to borrow a few brick trucks from the brick factory owner to take the Xiao family back to the countryside to pay respects to their ancestors. Those military green six-wheeled brick trucks can carry a lot of people at a time.”
Li Hongying specifically pointed out that it was a military green brick truck, not a hand-cranked six-wheeled tractor.
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