Chapter 62 The Apricot Tree in the Nunnery
Fubao excitedly ran to the apricot tree, happily touched the leaves and then the trunk. It looked like he wanted to hug the apricot tree in his arms, but he regretted that his arms were too short and the apricot tree was too big.
Xiao Dingkun smiled, walked over, and squatted with her under the apricot tree: "What's wrong with this tree?"
At this time, Fubao had already forgotten the thought "I was too young at that time and I shouldn't know these things". She told Xiao Dingkun the origin of the apricot tree.
"This is the tree the abbot planted when he found me. He said he planted it for me, saying that by the time I grow up and run around, the apricot tree will have borne fruit."
Peaches take three years to ripen, apricots take four years, and pears take five years. The jujube tree pays back in the same year, and the apricot tree bears fruit for four years. I planted it that year and thought I could eat apricots when I was four years old.
Who would have thought that by now the apricot trees should be bearing fruit, the nunnery has changed beyond recognition.
Xiao Dingkun looked at the apricot tree, which belonged to Fubao, and said with a smile: "If this apricot tree wants to bear fruit, the extra branches and leaves must be pruned away."
Xiao Dingkun was not familiar with farming, but he had been in the countryside for some time and knew a little bit. If the branches and leaves of this kind of fruit tree were not pruned, the tree would grow branches and leaves crazily, and the nutrients would not be able to be supplied to the fruit, so the fruit would not bear good quality fruit.
Fubao was immediately worried when he heard this: "What should we do? Brother Dingkun, can you fix it?"
Xiao Dingkun walked around the fruit tree and said, "It's hard to prune without scissors, but we can try to remove some of the branches."
Fubao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
So the two of them, one squatted there with his rosy little cheek in his hand and watched, while the other went over and began to remove the extra branches and forks.
After working for a while, the apricot tree looked much cleaner and neater.
"This way, the apricot tree can focus on providing nutrients and bearing fruit. This tree was delayed this year, so it's expected to bear fruit later. However, if all goes well, it should bear fruit in July."
Fubao counted on his fingers and said, "It's just after the Dragon Boat Festival, so it's May. Isn't July two months away?"
Xiao Dingkun nodded: "Yes, wait for another two months, then we will go up the mountain to see the apricot tree and eat some apricots."
This sounded like a wonderful thing. Fubao looked at the apricot tree with anticipation: "The host said that apricot means luck. If I eat the apricots from this tree, I will surely have a happy and lucky life."
She remembered the host's kind face and suddenly smiled.
When Xiao Dingkun heard this, he felt something in his heart and looked down at Fubao who was full of expectations.
A feeling of dizziness passed through my eyes.
From the first moment he saw the little girl, he knew it was his duty to protect and take good care of Fubao.
But when Fubao talked about his happy life, he felt a strong sense of loss in his heart, as if he had failed in his duty and failed to do what he should have done.
He closed his eyes, trying hard to get rid of the feeling, and spoke in a low voice.
"Of course we can. By July, we can all eat apricots."
And Fubao who eats apricots will surely have a happy and lucky life.
While Fubao was on the mountain, imagining with great interest the golden apricots on the trees in July, the daughters-in-law of the Gu family were each thinking about their own things.
Shen Hongying was worried and conflicted.
It's not that she hadn't thought about dividing the family before, but it was just an idea. She knew it was difficult, almost impossible, to realize this idea. Her family was poor and they simply didn't have the conditions to buy a set of household items for each of them to live on, so it was just a thought.
But now, Miao Xiujiu actually brought it up in front of everyone and brought the matter out into the open.
Once it is brought to the surface, it is no longer something you can just think about. You have to consider how to actually do it and the impact that the separation will have on you.
Splitting up the family business is, of course, good for me. My two sons are already grown up, having been supported through so many years of education in vain. Now that the family has split up, I don't have to help my brothers support their children. After the split up, they can go to school if they want, and they can work if they don't want to, directly earning half a salary. Splitting up the family business is definitely a sure win.
As for the household items and the house that bothered him, since Miao Xiuju had already thought about this issue, she would definitely find a way to solve it, right? How could she have the nerve to bring up the idea of splitting up the family if she didn't?
Thinking this way, it seems that dividing the family property would be most beneficial to the eldest wife.
But Shen Hongying's worry was something else.
What she couldn't figure out the most was whether Fubao was lucky or not. She could see that since Fubao came to the Gu family, the Gu family had indeed encountered a few good things. Everything was going smoothly for the fourth branch, and Gu Weidong even went to the city. Nothing was bad.
As for his mother, she loves Fubao to the core, even more than her own grandchildren.
What kind of person is my mother? She will not do anything without profit. She loves a girl she picked up from outside so much for no reason. There must be something fishy going on.
Logically, Fubao should be a blessed person, right? But Shen Hongying remembered her previous struggle. She had wanted to test Fubao, but as soon as she got close to him, she was hit by a sandbag out of nowhere and then fell into a pile of manure!
Doesn't this mean that whoever meets her will be unlucky?
Besides, the Nie family raised Fubao for four years, but what happened to him? No wonder the Nie family said Fubao was a jinx!
Shen Hongying thought about it over and over again, but she couldn't figure it out. Was this a lucky star or a disaster star? If it was a lucky star, then she had made a huge mistake by giving the "Fu" character to the fourth room. It was the biggest mistake of her life, and she regretted it to death.
But now that the family is divided, it is of course absolutely impossible, and the fourth branch must be favored to take advantage.
But if Fubao is a disaster star, then of course you should avoid him, avoid him quickly, and never stick with the fourth room, so as to avoid being dragged down by the fourth room when he is in trouble in the future!
Compared with Chen Hongying, Liu Zhaodi was full of confusion.
Divide the family? What would she do in the future? She had three daughters and no sons. If the family really divided, she would have to talk to her mother about it. She had to make it clear which of her brothers would adopt a son to her family. Otherwise, she would not be willing to divide the family.
However... her three children were all girls, and their appetites couldn't compare to the other children. If she split up, she could save a lot of food, so it seemed like a good idea. If she ever needed to do any heavy work after the split, they would all be brothers. If she went to ask, would Yuejin, Yuehua, and Niudan help?
If you think about it this way, it's really a win-win situation. Is it okay to split up the family?
………………………………………………
Miao Xiuju's stone thrown into the lake stirred up a ripple in the Gu family. The Gu family's sons and daughters-in-law, whether they were cunning or not, began to calculate the matter of dividing the family, wondering whether it would be good for them or not. The sons had thought about it and felt a little uncomfortable about the idea of dividing the family, but the daughters-in-law were only concerned with the benefits. After all, sisters-in-law were not sisters, and uncles-in-law were not related to them by blood. Of course, they only cared about their own family matters.
Gu Weidong didn't think about anything. He just worked when he had to. When he had nothing to do, he thought about adobe bricks and building a house. The family had to be divided and the house had to be built. He had to plan all these things out and give his wife and children a house that could shelter them from the wind and rain.
Liu Guizhi knew that other families were thinking about this matter, but she had no time to think about it.
The man was determined to separate from the family, and no amount of persuasion was going to work, and she wouldn't try to persuade him either.
Rain or shine over the years, she has always listened to him. Since he has made up his mind and will not change, what's the point of persuading him?
Besides, she doesn’t understand and doesn’t know what to do.
That day, she packed her things and took out one dollar and fifty cents from her three dollars, some food coupons she had saved up, and planned to take Fubao and Shengtian to visit her mother's home.
The family business was about to be divided, and she felt very upset. She wanted to talk to her family about it. Besides, she could already speak more than ten words recently, so she wanted to tell her family about it and surprise them.
So that day, Fubao and Gu Shengtian followed Liu Guizhi to her mother's home in the Hongqi Production Brigade. They even bought two bags of brown sugar and a pound of fried cakes at the market. Liu Guizhi's mother was naturally happy to see her daughter with her grandchildren, but when she saw Liu Guizhi carrying three bags of things, her face suddenly turned sour: "Come on, come on. I'm happy that you're bringing your children back to your mother's home. What else do you need to bring? Life is already difficult, why buy such useless things?"
Liu Guizhi knew that her mother loved her, but as a girl, she had always taken things from her parents' home to her husband's home. Now that her life was finally getting better, she felt good to be able to bring some things back to her parents' home.
Besides, there are not only my parents, but also three sisters-in-law.
The three sisters-in-law are all open-minded people and will not bother with their sister-in-law about these things. However, it is always not good to tell others that the sister-in-law does not bring anything home. She is also afraid that the three sisters-in-law will feel uncomfortable after a long time.
Sometimes the relationship between relatives is developed slowly through interaction. Nowadays, with material shortages, we cannot just rely on others to support us. After a long time, even our own parents will not be able to bear it.
After Liu Guizhi was welcomed into the main hall by her mother, several sisters-in-law also came from the kitchen. She placed the two kilograms of brown sugar and one kilogram of fried fruits on the table in the main hall.
She didn't say anything, but she was proud in her heart and her face was glowing.
Especially when her three sisters-in-law looked at the things on the table and her nephews and nieces looked at them with envy, she felt the breath in her heart completely relaxed.
The eldest sister-in-law looked at the thing and was the first to say, "Guizhi is really something. We are all family, so why should we be so polite? Buying such expensive things, farmers don't care about these things!"
The second and third sisters-in-law also agreed: "What the eldest sister-in-law said is right. Guizhi treats us as outsiders. Besides, you brought us quite a few fish last time!"
Liu Guizhi smiled and pointed at things, gestured to her parents, and gestured to her nephews and nieces, meaning that they should all eat to replenish their bodies.
The sisters-in-law were naturally touched. Knowing that their sister-in-law was not doing well and was thinking of bringing something back from her parents' home, they decided to treat her family well. They took out the delicious food they had hidden away and were reluctant to eat, cut two pounds of meat, took out the best corn flour to steamed dumplings, and even cracked two eggs to make steamed egg custard.
Liu Guizhi's mother asked Gu Shengtian and Fubao to sit next to her, one for each. She smiled from ear to ear: "Life is getting better and better, and the child is getting more pleasing to the eye. I think Fubao seems to be more handsome than the last time he came."
Several sisters-in-law also said: "Yes, it's whiter, and the little face looks fleshy and chubby. I want to pinch that little face!"
When they said this, everyone laughed.
Liu Guizhi's mother personally placed a large spoonful of steamed egg custard in Fubao's bowl and said, "Fubao, you're home when you come to grandma's house. Don't be polite. Eat as much as you want. Grandma's house has so many good things. You'll be full!"
The egg custard is golden yellow, delicate, smooth and soft, and is topped with soy sauce and vinegar. Sesame oil is scattered in the soy sauce and vinegar, which makes people's appetite increase at the sight and they can't wait to swallow it in one bite.
Fubao couldn't help but pursed his lips and smiled sweetly: "Thank you, grandma!"
When Fubao smiled, it seemed as if many little stars were twinkling in his eyes.
Seeing this, Liu Guizhi, who was standing next to him, smiled and said, "...Bao...egg...eat..."
Her voice was not loud and was a little hoarse.
But as soon as these syllables came out, everyone in the Liu family was stunned.
Everyone looked up in disbelief and looked at Liu Guizhi.
What did they hear just now? Did they hear it wrong? Liu Guizhi could actually speak?
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