Chapter 52 The Fourth Brother Has Caused Trouble
Because she was going to school tomorrow, Sanwa was overjoyed when she woke up in the morning.
He could hardly suppress the smile on his lips, even though he was trying his best to control it.
He knew this would hurt the fourth brother, but he couldn't control himself.
Nine years have passed, and he has regretted more than once returning home to become a shepherd boy.
He's really going to school! It's such a wonderful surprise.
His mother prepared a book bag for him, and placed the pens, ink and books that his second brother had used by him by the bedside.
The books he used to secretly read are now all in his room, and he feels as happy as if his heart has blossomed.
The feeling of being bathed in the spring breeze, of anything being possible, made him feel dizzy.
After drinking the soup, he planned to take his fourth son to herd sheep, but he didn't dare to knock on the door.
"Don't worry about it. He has to go herding sheep today even if he doesn't want to. If he doesn't want to go with you, he can go alone. You can stay home and rest for the day and do nothing."
Song Chunxue noticed his hesitation, got up and walked out of the north room, "I'll go call him, you guys have your soup first."
Jiang Hongying lowered her voice and said to Sanwa, "Fourth brother definitely doesn't want you to teach him how to herd sheep, so you don't need to go later. You haven't had much rest in all these years, not even during the New Year. Take a break today."
Sanwa nodded, biting into his dry steamed bun, and then gulped down the egg drop soup.
Before long, Song Chunxue returned to the north room.
"Fourth brother said he's going to herd sheep alone and won't let you come with him. You stay home and rest today. Think about what else you need to prepare." Song Chunxue looked at Sanwa and took out a hundred coins from her bosom. "Take these for now. Ask me for more when you run out."
Jiang Hongying was a little surprised, but thinking back to when her eldest son was in school, her mother had also given him money in the same way, so she didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
She looked at Sanwa with some relief; her mother had taken notice of her younger brother.
very nice.
"Here, this is for you, don't think it's too little." Song Chunxue placed thirty coins in front of Jiang Hongying. "Your in-laws probably didn't give you much money. Take this and use it. If it's not enough, we can sell lambs. It's faster money than me digging up wormwood."
Jiang Hongying stared wide-eyed, looking at Song Chunxue and then at Sanwa, before looking down at the copper coins on the table.
"For me?"
Since she got married, her mother has never given her a single penny.
My mother said that once a daughter is married, she belongs to another family, and her husband's family will take care of her food and drink. She cannot ask her own family for money, but she can ask for help.
"Take it. Xiujuan can eat candy now. If you want to go to the market, you can't go empty-handed."
Jiang Hongying stared blankly, without taking it.
“Mom, the child’s father gave me the money. You don’t earn money easily either; you dig it up little by little with a shovel. I can’t take it.” She raised her hand and pushed the money away, her eyes red. “I’m already very grateful that you’re willing to give it to me.”
"If you don't want it, I'll give it to Sanwa." Song Chunxue glanced at Sanwa and winked at him.
"Sister, just take it. If Mother is willing to give it to you, why refuse? If you don't want it, I will." With that, Sanwa reached out to take it.
Jiang Hongying quickly smiled and put the money in her pocket, saying, "I'll take it, thank you, Mother."
It was only thirty coins, yet she was so happy. Song Chunxue's feelings were complicated.
Thinking about what she had done in her past life, countless feelings of guilt and regret welled up in her heart.
After finishing her soup, she got up and walked towards the kitchen. "I'm going to shovel hay for the donkey. You guys watch the house. I want to eat lazy dumplings for lunch, and make them a bit sour."
"Okay, I want to eat lazy dumplings too. Mom, you go ahead and do your work, I'll take care of the house."
After receiving the money, Jiang Hongying smiled broadly, her eyes crinkling, and her words becoming sweet and silly.
The third child was overjoyed. He took his money to the west room and quietly locked it in his little wooden box.
These are all his treasures. He felt that although his mother hadn't given him much money over the years, he knew that none of the other families had saved as much as he had.
Over the past nine years, he has spent less than ten coins in total.
He happily hugged his money box and rolled around on the kang (a heated brick bed).
The fourth son in the east wing, though reluctant to go herd sheep so early, dared not refuse, thinking of his elder brother's injuries.
Seeing his mother walk out of the yard, he quickly ran to the kitchen, ladled out a bowl of soup, hurriedly drank it, and then returned to the east room to change into his old shoes.
Thinking that herding sheep in the mountains would be boring, he secretly slipped a book of unofficial history into his pocket, put some water in a cowhide bag, and took his sheep shovel to the sheepfold.
But when they arrived at the sheepfold and saw the lambs mixed among the ewes, Lao Si was at a loss.
Lambs that are only one or two months old certainly can't go grazing in the mountains with their mothers; if they can't walk anymore, they have to be carried back.
But he didn't know how to separate them.
"I'll do it. You wait outside. I'll divide the sheep."
The third child arrived at some unknown time, opened the gate, and went inside.
He stood by the door, which was only slightly ajar, enough for a sheep to pass through.
He bent down and used both hands to intercept the lambs that were trying to rush out together, grabbing one and throwing it behind him.
And so, all the lambs were kept inside the pen.
The fourth brother glared at him and walked ahead with the sheep shovel in hand.
When they reached the fork in the road, some sheep followed the path down the mountain, while the fourth brother planned to go up the mountain to graze the sheep on the barren hills behind it, where he would have less to worry about than down the mountain.
He raised his shovel to try to stop the unruly sheep, but the flock behind him thought he was going down the mountain and all turned around and ran down the path.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going!"
The fourth son ran around the edge of the field to the path below, blocking the sheep and angrily cracking his whip.
"Go up, hurry up!"
He wasn't very good at cracking a whip; he could only use a shovel to hit the leader's head.
The leader, feeling the pain, turned back.
The fourth brother followed behind them, only to see the flock of sheep heading south along another path.
Fortunately, the third brother had already poured out the hay for the lambs and blocked their way.
“Stand there and don’t move. Watch them go up before you leave,” Sanwa couldn’t help but instruct. “They’re very smart. If you call them, they won’t run around.”
The fourth brother rolled his eyes at him, showing no appreciation.
Sanwa knew he was angry, so she didn't argue with him.
He followed behind the flock of sheep, and when he saw that the fourth sheep couldn't control them, he would shout in a low voice, and the sheep would obediently come down from the edge of the grain field.
He stood on the road, watching as the fourth brother herded the sheep around the hill before heading back.
"Sister, I'm not at ease with the fourth brother because he doesn't know how to herd sheep. If he eats someone else's grain, getting scolded is a minor matter, but if it delays the harvest, we'll have to pay compensation."
Jiang Hongying didn't think there was anything wrong with it. "Don't worry, he's only a year younger than you. As long as you take good care of him, how could he possibly eat other people's food?"
That's true. The slopes behind the mountain are quite steep. When he lets his sheep graze freely, they are very well-behaved and never eat anything indiscriminately.
At noon, the fourth brother came back crying.
He was accompanied by a middle-aged man surnamed Niu from the neighboring village.
Where is your mother?
"Sanwa, is this your fourth son? You don't know how to herd sheep, yet you let him herd them all by himself. Aren't you deliberately trying to cause trouble for others?"
"Your sheep ran into my wheat field and ate a lot of the wheat ears. You have to compensate me!"
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