Chapter 13 Pulling the Cloth
After the six little chicks came to the Gu family, Old Man Gu really did not let them occupy his own chicken coop. Instead, he fenced off a separate area for them and raised them carefully.
They didn't ask anyone else for help in feeding them. It was all the responsibility of the two of them, digging wild vegetables and catching insects, without asking anyone else for help.
"Grandpa, this little chick can't compete with other chickens for food, so it always eats less." Niu Niu said, pointing at a little chick.
Old Man Gu looked at the six chicks in the basket. He couldn't actually tell any difference because the chicks were moving all the time. In a blink of an eye, he couldn't tell which one was the chick that Niu Niu was talking about.
"Which one?" asked Old Man Gu.
However, Niu Niu was able to accurately distinguish the little yellow chicken from a pile of little yellow chickens and grabbed it with her hand.
The little chick wanted to struggle, but as if it felt Niu Niu's breath, it gradually calmed down and stood obediently in Niu Niu's hand.
"Then arrange a small feeding trough for it." Father Gu said with a smile.
He grabbed a handful of dry reeds, and after a few tries, a palm-sized trough was ready.
Niuniu reached out and touched the little chicken, and whispered, "You will be able to eat alone in the future. You must grow up obediently, understand?"
Strangely enough, these selected chicks, under normal circumstances, nine out of ten will not survive, and it is considered a miracle if one out of six can survive.
But the six cubs of the Gu family all survived safely, and even looked more lively day by day.
It was just that the weather became cold after winter, so Old Man Gu moved the chicks into the house at night. Their chirping inevitably disturbed the Gu family.
However, with the precedent of Old Man Gu going crazy, even Chen Chunhua had stopped making trouble, and no one else in the Gu family would be the first to take action.
We didn’t get a good night’s sleep because of the chickens’ crowing, and everyone was in a bad mood the next day.
It is said that Chen Chunhua was very jealous when she saw this situation. She ran to the family in the village who was hatching chicks in the rain and bought a few sick chicks.
"These chicks are so cheap. You can buy five for the price of just one!" Chen Chunhua said proudly.
Old Mrs. Gu scolded with a sullen face: "I'm not stopping you from saving your own money, but who doesn't know how to live like you? What if I can't support you!"
Chen Chunhua originally wanted to refute that Old Man Gu did the same thing, but she suddenly remembered that the chickens raised by her father-in-law were given to her by others and they were free.
But when she thought that even a confused old man and a little girl could raise sick chicks, there was no reason why Chen Chunhua couldn't do the same, so she said, "Let's make a deal, the chicks raised by my father don't count as public ones, so the ones I raise don't count either!"
As soon as these words came out, Boss Gu hurriedly tugged at the sleeve of her clothes.
Hearing this, Old Lady Gu sneered and said, "You're already dreaming when they haven't even been raised yet! If you really want to raise them all, I don't care what you do with them!"
With great expectations, Chen Chunhua also followed Old Man Gu's example and stuffed the chickens into the house to keep them warm.
But the chicks she raised didn't even make it to the next day. After one night, they all fell stiff in the straw basket.
"Impossible! I raised them this way too! Why are they all dead?"
Early in the morning, the entire Gu family listened to Chen Chunhua's desperate cries.
Although the second branch of the Gu family heard the eldest sister-in-law crying, they had no intention of comforting her because they were planning to go out.
Originally, Gu Mingda was going to take his wife and daughter to the county to buy cloth several days ago, but because it rained for several days in a row, there was no good weather for going out.
Finally, I saw that the weather was good early in the morning, so I hurried out with my three children.
Gu Zhao was very excited. He grabbed Niuniu's hand and ran forward: "We are going to the county! We are going to the county!"
The thirteen-year-old Gu Yan usually acts like a little adult, and when he encountered this, he also showed a smile on his face.
Gu Mingda and his wife watched their three children running and jumping, and reminded them from behind: "Slow down, don't fall!"
The family first took a ox cart to the town, and then transferred to another ox cart to the county.
The county town was not very close and it took a full hour to get there by ox cart, so a whole day would pass every time I made a round trip.
Niu Niu had never been to a city before, and when she saw the stone walls, her eyes widened.
After entering the city, the family went straight to the cloth shop. The dazzling array of cloth made Niu Niu, a little country bumpkin, stare in amazement.
"Husband, this piece of cloth is good and stain-resistant. One foot of it is enough to make a set of clothes for Niu Niu." Zhang Yunniang said, pointing to a piece of gray cloth.
Gu Mingda frowned slightly and said, "It's not good for a little girl to wear such a gray color. Niuniu doesn't have many clothes, so making only one set is not enough. Not only she needs to make clothes, you guys have to make some too."
Zhang Yunniang looked embarrassed and said, "My husband, if you really want to buy so much cloth, you won't have enough money for the exam."
Gu Mingda was very open-minded and said, "It's not like I don't make money. You haven't bought new clothes for a long time. Cut a new set and buy some more cloth to make a set for your parents."
Zhang Yunniang was calculating how much fabric she would need to buy for her family of five plus two sets of clothes for the old couple.
"Or don't do mine, just focus on yours first." Zhang Yunniang said.
Gu Mingda immediately replied: "If you don't do it, then I won't do it either!"
Zhang Yunniang was anxious: "How can this be possible? You will have to socialize with others when you go back to take the exam, and you will need a decent set of clothes."
"When socializing with people, what matters is the heart, not the clothes. Don't worry. They all know what kind of person I am." Gu Mingda said with a smile.
Having said that, Zhang Yunniang could not bear to see her husband being laughed at, but she was also afraid that her husband would not have enough money to go to the provincial capital to take the exam.
Gu Mingda seemed to be able to read his wife's mind. He knew her dilemma and said, "Let's do it! Mr. Wang still has a debt that he hasn't collected yet. I'll go ask him for it later!"
Zhang Yunniang finally breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and became angry with the owner of the cloth shop, and bought a lot of cloth in one breath.
"Buy a pink outfit for Niu Niu!" Gu Mingda reminded.
The brighter the color of the fabric, the more expensive it is, with pink fabric costing almost twice as much as grey.
Niuniu, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly said, "Dad, I don't want pink. I still have to roll on the ground, pick up chicken shit, and sweep the chicken coop. It's not convenient to wear pink!"
Niu Niu's words instantly shattered Gu Mingda's fantasy about a cute and innocent daughter.
When the family came out of the cloth shop and were about to go out for dinner, they happened to see someone setting up a stall on the roadside selling his own miscellaneous items.
Many passers-by gathered around the stall, pointing and talking.
"Zheng Datou is selling things again. The Zheng family is so unlucky to have met such a gambling loser. He has sold all the family property!"
Someone said: "Zheng's ancestors were rich, maybe there are some treasures among these things."
Someone immediately responded, "Pawnshops won't even accept these odds and ends. What treasures can they be?"
Niu Niu, who was carried forward by Gu Mingda, glanced at the stall casually, and suddenly reached out to tug at her father's clothes.
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