"What's wrong?"
Du Xiaoying shook her head and said nonchalantly, "I just saw that newcomer, He Zhiqing, looking around the cowshed. He's probably young and curious."
After that, she noticed the clothes in the man's hands and hurriedly took them. "Let me wash them. You've been working all day."
Song Guoliang leaned slightly to the side and shook his head. "I'm not tired. You've been busy in the fields all day, go take a rest."
Looking at the tall man, sitting on a short stool with his legs bent, his slender knuckles that once held a gun rubbing his clothes, there was a sense of disharmony and weirdness no matter how you looked at it.
Du Xiaoying pursed her lips, brought over the dishes she had exchanged from another house, sat down next to the man, and carefully cleaned the dishes.
"Is it your turn to work the night shift tomorrow?"
"Hmm." Song Guoliang paused in scrubbing the clothes and hummed softly.
Du Xiaoying pondered for a moment and said, "I'll go to the county with you tomorrow morning."
"Mom and Dad, we're back."
"We are in the backyard~" Du Xiaoying responded with a smile.
There was a clattering sound of footsteps, and several children with red and sweaty faces ran in. They skillfully divided the work and arranged the firewood according to dryness, wetness, thickness and fineness.
"Look at you, you're sweating all over. Let's go back and have some sweet mung bean soup." Du Xiaoying took her daughters back to the house.
Song Guoliang had finished washing the clothes and was carrying a large basin to the front yard to hang them out to dry when two brightly dressed figures appeared at the gate. They raised their hands and gently knocked on the wide-open gate.
"Hello, is anyone here?"
"What's up?"
The two looked in the direction of the sound and noticed a man hanging clothes on a clothesline on the left side of the yard. They were both stunned.
I didn't expect that an ordinary country man would have such a fierce and terrifying aura. I was afraid to look at him directly.
"Excuse me, is Mrs. Du here?"
Hearing the noise outside, Du Xiaoying leaned half of her body out of the main room, saw the two female educated youth at the door, and greeted them with a smile.
"Zhang Zhiqing and Su Zhiqing, come in and sit down."
Song Guoliang just nodded and said hello to the two of them, then went to the backyard. Two little girls came to talk to his wife, and it was not appropriate for a grown man like him to stay there.
"Sister-in-law, this is our Suzhou specialty, Zongzi candy. It's not sold here, so I brought it here for you to try."
"That's impossible." Du Xiaoying hurriedly evaded the question. "It's not easy for you to come to such a far place at such a young age. If you have any problems, just tell me directly. I will definitely help you if I can."
Du Xiaoying was a little alert, thinking that if someone was being too attentive without any reason, he was either a traitor or a thief!
These two educated youth are cousins, both from Suzhou City. They speak with a soft and gentle Wu dialect, unlike the women in the village who all have loud voices and rough speech.
Zhang Xian quickly nudged her cousin with her arm and signaled with her eyes.
Su Yueyue bit her lip a little embarrassedly, glanced at her cousin, and slowly said: "Sister-in-law Du, it's like this. Because there are many people in our educated youth camp, everyone lives on a big kang.
It's inevitable that it's a bit noisy when there are so many people. We're not used to it yet. And Sister Zhang Yun said that besides the educated youth center, we can also stay with local villagers."
"Yes, sister-in-law, we really can't adapt to it. We snore and grind our teeth at night. We don't sleep well. Look at my dark circles." Zhang Xian pointed at her eye circles and acted pitifully.
Su Yueyue's voice was soft. "Sister-in-law Du, we just wanted to ask you if we could stay in your house. We don't trust other people in the village."
"Don't worry, sister-in-law. We don't live here for free. We pay rent, five dollars a year." Zhang Xian counted with five fingers, raised her chin, and looked superior.
Seeing this, Du Xiaoying smiled. Although five dollars could buy a lot of things, she didn't want to cause trouble for herself because of the five dollars.
Now their family lives in a place far away from people, and they don't have to worry about being watched what they eat and drink. Otherwise, if they live under the same roof, they won't be able to hide anything.
What's more, she didn't want anyone to find out about her private reselling.
"I'm so sorry, it's not convenient at our house. You might as well ask somewhere else." Du Xiaoying refused without hesitation.
"No, your house is made of bricks and tiles, and we won't do that to other people's mud houses—"
Su Yueyue hurriedly pulled her cousin who was a little excited, "Cousin, don't be excited, just speak slowly if you have anything to say."
Du Xiaoying reached out to interrupt the two of them and clearly refused again: "I'm sorry, our family is not used to getting along with outsiders."
Zhang Xian was feeling depressed. She turned around and saw Daya. Her eyes moved and she immediately untied the two red hairbands on her braids and tied them to Daya's yellow pigtails.
"Sister, please help me persuade your mother. We will move in and promise not to disturb your life."
Daya was at a loss as to what to do. She hurriedly tried to remove the hair tie from her braid and gave it back to her. "Sister, I can't take it."
"Zhang Zhiqing and Su Zhiqing, I welcome you to our home, but if you force us, we won't welcome you."
Du Xiaoying frowned, protected Daya behind her, and her face looked a little unhappy. She ordered them to leave.
"I'm sorry, sister-in-law, we didn't mean that." Su Yueyue's face flushed, and she hurriedly pulled her cousin away who was unwilling to give in.
"Wait a moment!"
Zhang Xian raised her chin proudly, knowing that this family was making fun of her, but was slapped in the face the next second.
Du Xiaoying stuffed the two hair ties in Daya's hand and a bag of candy on the stool back to her. "These are your things."
Erya angrily closed the courtyard door and said, "Who are you? You think you can live in our house just because you are from the city."
Song Guoliang also heard it in the backyard and glanced at the gate. "Wife, next time you don't have to waste time arguing with her, just kick her out."
Du Xiaoying burst out laughing and nodded in agreement with the man's simple and rough words.
"Okay, let's not talk about that disappointing thing."
Song Guoliang nodded, his dark eyes looking at the bare braids of his wife and daughter. His heart moved, and he frowned and racked his brains but couldn't remember what kind of hairbands the two little girls had tied on their braids.
....
Su Yueyue took her cousin's arm and said, "Cousin, don't be too angry. We were just trying it out, so it's normal for others to disagree."
"How abominable~" Zhang Xian said with a sullen face.
"It's not like we don't want to pay. Five dollars a year is a lot for those country folk. If it weren't for the fact that his house is the only one in the village with a blue brick and tile house, I wouldn't bother going there."
Old Mrs. Song, who had been picking up cow dung all day, suddenly became energetic and ran over with a passionate look on her face.
"Comrade educated youth, you need a place to stay? Come to our house. We have a spare room."
Looking at the old lady with shining eyes who suddenly appeared, Zhang Xian frowned in disgust, covered her nose, and leaned back.
"What's that smell? It stinks~"
"Where did you come from, old lady?"
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