Taoshui Village, which was somewhat deserted in the past, is now more popular.

People who work and earn money all over the country are rushing back to their hometowns.

On weekdays, there are very few cars passing by on the main road ahead, but during this period, there are more cars.

Xu Qingzhi sat under the bare persimmon tree, doing nothing, and sketching with a pencil.

She is not very good at drawing. The last time she remembers drawing was in high school. She had planned to learn painting and become an art student because art students would have lower passing scores in the college entrance examination.

When she was in the first year of high school, the art teacher asked everyone to give it a try and sign up if they were interested. It only cost 300 yuan. She told her mother and signed up and studied for one semester.

She still remembers the 45 minutes of the first class, just standing there practicing how to draw lines.

The reason I didn’t learn it later was that the painting specialty was too expensive. The teacher said in advance that I would have to go to the provincial capital to participate in intensive training before the exam, which would cost 30,000 yuan each time.

She never told her family about this and gave up on her own. In her second year of high school, the classes were divided into science, liberal arts, and art classes, and she chose science.

Xu Qingzhi was quite efficient in drawing and finished the sketch of the crow in just half an hour.

The crow stood on the branch of the persimmon tree, pecking at its own feathers with its beak, combing them neatly one by one.

"Look." Xu Qingzhi shouted at the crow while holding up the drawing board.

The crow heard the sound, flew down and looked at the picture on the drawing board.

"Haha~" Master, what is this? Why does it look so ugly?

Xu Qingzhi: "You."

The crow's round eyes turned around, its feathers stood up, and it shouted angrily: "Cack~" This is not my crow, I am not that ugly! Xu Qingzhi held up the painting, looked at it, then looked at the painting, and admired himself: "Well, the painting is really vivid."

The crow was so angry that it flew away to the roof and didn't even want to stay under the persimmon tree.

Xu Qingzhi patted the bamboo chair next to him and shouted, "Big Cat, come here and lie down here. I will draw a picture for you too."

The big cat walked over with its four paws and twisted its butt, then jumped up and lay down obediently on the bamboo chair next to its owner.

This bamboo chair is cool to sit on in the summer, but very cold in the winter. Wang Yanmei stuffed some cotton into some old clothes at home and turned it into a butt pad so that her butt would not be cold when she sat on it.

The big cat lay comfortably on the butt cushion.

Xu Qingzhi touched its head and began to draw and lay out the framework.

Inside the room, Wang Yanmei answered a phone call and shouted loudly, "Qingzhi, go to your aunt's house for lunch today."

Xu Qingzhi asked as he was painting: "Are my aunt and the others back?"

"Yeah, I came back last night." Wang Yanmei walked out of the room and frowned, "I was obviously going to see a doctor, but I stayed at Xiao Huo's place for several months. Sigh."

Xu Qingzhi said calmly: "My aunt only lives in one of the houses under his name, not with him. Mom, Xiao Huo doesn't mind, so don't think too much about it."

Wang Yanmei wanted to say something, but finally gave up and said, "Forget it, you don't understand."

Xu Qingzhi: “…”

She choked up, already used to her mother's speaking style, and didn't ask what she originally wanted to say.

after all……

Wang Yanmei spoke up again, "But it's not your aunt's fault. Your sister Pingping's marriage was to be settled this year. The man is from the north, far from here. It just so happened that your aunt went to Kyoto for medical treatment, so she wanted to have the parents of both sides meet to settle the matter. But the man kept making trouble. He agreed on a betrothal gift of 180,000 yuan, but then changed his mind and said he would only give 120,000 yuan."

Xu Qingzhi concentrated on painting and followed her mother's words and asked, "How did you know?"

"Your aunt told your dad, and your dad told me."

Xu Qingzhi had never been married, so he had no idea about dowry. He only remembered that in the early 2000s, if someone in the village gave a dowry of tens of thousands of yuan, it was considered very generous. Now, if someone tells others that the dowry is less than 100 or 200,000 yuan, it seems like the marriage is not good.

Wang Yanmei sat over with a handful of melon seeds in her hand. She didn't care that Xu Qingzhi was painting, and started chatting: "The betrothal gift will be discussed later. The man said that he has bought a house in his hometown county, but it is not renovated yet, and he wants the woman to pay for the renovation. Then your aunt and uncle said that they had to add their names to the house, but the man disagreed. Anyway, these things kept going back and forth, and your aunt and uncle didn't want to agree to it. This is marrying far away, but your sister Pingping insisted on marrying."

Wang Yanmei sighed.

"When you and Xiao Huo get married, the betrothal gift is up to you two, just discuss it." Wang Yanmei said, "But if you go to Kyoto, you must have a suite in Kyoto. Your parents are far away from you, and they won't know if you are bullied or wronged. At least you have your own land, otherwise if you get angry and run away, you won't know where you are going."

Xu Qingzhi put down his paintbrush and asked, "Mom, what time does my aunt-in-law have dinner?"

"What's wrong? Are you hungry? Didn't you eat enough in the morning?" Wang Yanmei asked.

Xu Qingzhi nodded and responded: "Well, I ate a little less this morning."

"It's only half past ten now. Even if we have lunch earlier, we have to go at least at twelve o'clock. Mom will boil two eggs for you." After Wang Yanmei said this, she got up and went to boil eggs.

The big cat quickly shouted "Meow meow meow~".

Wang Yanmei touched its little head and said, "Okay, I'll cook one for you, little guy."

The crow also flew down quickly and landed on Wang Yanmei's shoulder.

"Haha~" I want it too.

Wang Yanmei was frightened by it. "You black bird, you are always so jumpy. Who are you trying to scare to death? Go away."

Crow was pushed away by her mother.

The crow was so angry that its feathers stood on end. It paced and followed Wang Yanmei, chattering tirelessly. "Cack!" I want to eat eggs, too! "Cack!" I want to eat eggs, too.

It also pecked at her trouser legs.

Wang Yanmei knew what it meant. She thought it was clingy and said, "I know, I know. You little tail-chaser, I'll cook it for you."

By the time Xu Qingzhi finished painting, the eggs were ready. Even after being rinsed with cold water, the freshly boiled eggs were still hot to the touch.

The eggs laid by the free-range chickens we raise at home are delicious even when boiled in water. They have no fishy smell at all and are a normal light yellow in color, not orange.

It is best eaten while hot. One bite will fill your mouth with the aroma of egg.

At half past eleven, Xu Fuqiang came back from the back mountain and changed into a pair of clean shoes.

"Let's go, let's go. Your aunt just called and asked us to have dinner. Let's take a detour and take your grandpa with us so he doesn't have to walk."

During lunch time, there is no need to close the door of the house, just leave it open.

Anyway, there are still two little ones left at home to look after the house.

Xu Fuqiang drove from home to the small courtyard. Her father honked the horn twice, opened the car window, and shouted inside twice: "Dad, Dad..."

No one answered.

Xu Qingzhi got out of the car and looked inside, but there was no one.

Xu Fuqiang seemed to have expected this, "Okay, we will definitely run into your grandpa on the way. We told him to wait for us in the house, but he didn't listen and insisted on walking there."

The car drove towards my aunt's house. Sure enough, after driving for two or three minutes, I saw a thin old man in a green Zhongshan suit walking forward on the side of the road ahead.

Although it was just a silhouette from behind, Xu Qingzhi could tell at a glance that it was her grandfather.

She opened the window and called out to the outside: "Grandpa."

The thin old man stopped and looked back.

The car stopped right next to him in a few seconds.

Xu Fuqiang frowned: "I told you to wait in the house, you..."

Wang Yanmei glanced at him and Xu Fuqiang said nothing.

Xu Qingzhi opened the car door and said, "Grandpa, get in the car."

The thin old man wiped his frozen snot with a handkerchief, dusted off his body, and then got on the bus. (End of this chapter)