"Mom, haven't you already knitted several pairs? Why are you still knitting?"
"This is still not enough. The kids and their dad's shoes are made by their mother, and I made shoes for the three of us. Didn't you say to prepare a few more pairs of shoes for the spring? Your dad hurt his feet while working, so you should prepare a few more pairs so that they will be convenient to use when the time comes."
"Mom, how old were you when you started making shoes?"
"Back when our family was poor, we only made one new pair of shoes every few years. We didn't need anyone to teach us. We just watched and paid attention, and we learned it. I don't even remember how I learned it myself." Zhou looked at her and said, "Your mother taught you specifically before, but now you're just being lazy and not doing it."
"Making shoes is too troublesome. It's better to buy a pair. A pair costs only 80 cents." In her opinion, 80 cents is not expensive.
"You are so arrogant! You don't care about money now that you have it. When you have no money, you have to spend every penny carefully. Every penny you can save is a penny you can save."
"Mom, I told you I would give you a good life, you have to believe me."
"Of course I believe you. Now is the best day."
When they woke up the next day, they vaguely felt they had slept a little late, but they hadn't heard any noise from Tian and the others. When they got up, they realized it was already white outside, the ground covered in a thick blanket of snow, even heavier than before the Lunar New Year. It looked like the heavy snow had been falling all night and was still coming.
"Why is it snowing so heavily? The road to the kitchen is blocked." Zhou took the tools and began to clear the road from the door to the kitchen. "No wonder I didn't hear any noise this morning. It turns out they couldn't get through."
Chunxiao went to the backyard, which was also covered in white. Even the shed was covered with thick snow, so the charcoal could not be burned.
"I don't even need to fetch water. The water tank is full of snow. We can just use the snow water in the tank to boil water later."
"Mom, our cows are still in the cowshed. What should we do if we can't get through now?"
Zhou used her tools to clear some snow, then set up a stool by the fence and peered out the back. "It's okay, the shed isn't collapsing. Your father and the others already put out enough hay for a few days yesterday, so they were worried about a heavy snowfall. I also made enough hay on the sides, so it won't freeze. We'll take a closer look when we can move around again. I can still hear it calling from here."
"It's okay, my father really values this cow."
The two of them lit a fire in the main room, and Zhou started to sew shoe soles in front of the fire. Chunxiao was bored, so she took some paper from the house and started to design a blueprint on the table. She wanted to draw a courtyard structure, and when she had saved enough money, she would build a brick and tile courtyard. Naturally, she would build more houses to avoid the trouble of not having enough space for things.
The mother and daughter were busy with their own things without interfering with each other.
The snow stopped on the twelfth day of the first lunar month, and it had been falling for three days. It was a heavy snowfall, and it took several days to melt. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Yan Bingfa arrived and first went to check on his cattle. Fortunately, Zhou had cleared the road to check on the cattle as soon as the snow had stopped, fearing they might get hurt, so she had taken good care of them. Yan Bingfa finally felt relieved when he found out the cattle were fine.
"Originally, I was going to pick you up to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival today, but the road here is really difficult to walk on. I almost fell on the way just now. Since you are all okay, that's good. It's the same no matter where you celebrate it."
"Dad, the well digger originally said he would come on the 16th, but now it's definitely not going to be tomorrow. It will probably take a few days."
"They are always punctual. As long as the road is passable, they will definitely come. Don't worry."
"Some of the firewood back there is wet. I'll clean it out later. I need to burn some charcoal today. I didn't expect the snow to be so severe after the New Year."
"It's a good thing it's snowing. It's a sign of a good harvest. We're sure to have a good harvest this year."
On the 18th day, the road was finally not so difficult to walk on. The well diggers came early in the morning. It was time to set off early. There were six of them in total, each with their own tools. There was no need for them to lead the way. They started working as soon as they arrived.
Yan Bangfa took his two sons to the next village to find a butcher in the morning. It had been snowing for so many days and he didn't know if there was anything there. Anyway, he had to go there. Having two more people would provide support on the way.
Chunxiao began composting in the pit at the back. The large amount of manure she'd collected earlier had already been put in there, and now she was adding soybean meal and gypsum powder in the correct proportions. After they reacted for a while, it would become base fertilizer, which she could then add to the back fields for seedling cultivation. The manure from the front could be composted later.
After mixing the fertilizer, she went to the house to get a quilt to dry in the sun. It was a sunny day today. Although it was a day of melting snow, the weather did not seem that cold. It was just that the ground was wet and it was uncomfortable to look at. Fortunately, the front yard was paved with stones, but the backyard was muddy. She had to wear straw sandals. It was not that she was being pretentious, but she really did not want to get her shoes dirty.
At noon, Zhou cooked multi-grain porridge for the chefs and put some cabbage and diced meat in the porridge. Even so, the chefs were very satisfied with the meal.
Chunxiao pulled Zhou aside and said, "Mom, don't be so stingy. The master has to eat to have the strength to work."
"What do you know? This is already very good. I made this porridge thick and thick, and I even put meat in it. They can't eat like this anywhere else. If I cooked rice for them, they would guess what this family does. They can eat so well even if they dig two wells. It wouldn't be good for our family if they told others. I just need to be gentle and not be too harsh. Believe me, they will think the food we provide is good."
Chunxiao felt that what her mother said made some sense, so she didn't say anything more.
In the afternoon, Yan Bangfa and his sons returned. As expected, they hadn't received much, only about 50 to 60 kilograms per backpack. The butcher said he couldn't leave the house for the next few days, so the butchering business wouldn't be possible, so he told them to come back in a couple of days.
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