The howling north wind blew in through the cracks in the windows. It was only the end of October, but the weather was already extremely cold.
When Qiu Yuling came back from school at noon, she brought a roll of plastic paper and started knocking on the windows inside and outside with a small hammer, sealing them with plastic paper.
"Grandma, it's getting cold. Light up the charcoal fire and fill the hot water bottle. We'll move to another room later and let my dad build a kang for your room."
Grandma thought that there was no need to destroy the layout of the three upper rooms. It would be better to clean up the side room where the miscellaneous items were stored, put up a kang, and set up a stove. The two of them could live in one room, which would be warm and economical.
Sure, why not? This way it would be easier for the grandparents and grandchildren to hide something.
It was enough for her to go back and call her father and elder brother. It happened that Wanjin's cubs were old enough to see the wind, so she sent one back home.
By the way, more than a month ago, Wanjin gave birth to four cubs in total. Zhou Xiaonan took away the one that looked most like Wanjin, leaving three.
Qiu Yuling named them Duojin, Meiyin, and Haijin respectively!
Meiyin was a little princess, so Qiu Yuling was reluctant to give her away and decided to keep hers for herself. She only gave one Duojin and one Haijin to her family and her uncle's family.
After school on Saturday afternoon, Qiu Yuling went to Zhou Xiaonan's house carrying her grandmother's brand red bean buns.
"Auntie, it's getting cold. I didn't think carefully before and didn't build a kang in advance. I'm afraid I won't be able to endure it in the middle of winter. Do you know where I can buy some red bricks?"
"You've asked the right person. Xiaonan's uncle's brother-in-law works at the brick factory. How much do you think your family needs? Actually, it would be even better if you could install a firewall. That would warm up the whole house."
Wang Cuifeng has been dealing with the Qiu family a lot in the past few months, and she is always very enthusiastic about helping the Qiu family with any matters.
"Let's not rush the fire wall yet. Just add a few more furnace tubes and that'll be enough. But we need a kang. If we build one, it'll cost about three hundred bricks."
"Auntie, do you know the approximate price of this brick? My grandma asked me to prepare two dollars and bring it over. I wonder if that's enough?"
"Ten bricks for a penny, all slightly flawed, but usable. How can such bricks cost so much, you kid?"
Qiu Yuling counted out fifty cents and said, "Auntie, I'll have to trouble him to deliver it home. Please don't refuse. This isn't a job for you, so I can't refuse."
When the matter came up, she saw that Wang Cuifeng wanted Zhou Xiaonan to study, so she also made an excuse to go back to review her lessons and returned home without staying long.
"Have you asked? Is it expensive?" Grandma filled two hot water bottles and was covering her with the quilt.
"Not bad, three hundred yuan for thirty cents. It's such a long way, so my dad and the others won't have to haul adobe bricks, and one more will make it more durable."
"The milk powder on the table is warm now. Drink it and go to sleep soon. The more sleep you get, the bigger and smarter you'll be."
"Grandma, have you drank it? Even at your age, you should drink it seriously. As we age, our bones become brittle, and drinking it will strengthen our bodies."
Then he winked at the old lady mischievously and said, "You can drink as much as you want, and you can afford it!"
"You, grandma has drunk it, you should drink it quickly, rinse the bowl, the hot water bottle will not be warm soon."
The grandfather and grandson chatted casually for a few minutes, then turned off the kerosene lamp and went to bed without saying anything else.
The clucking sound in the early morning woke Qiu Yuling from her sleep.
As soon as she went out, Wanjin and the three little ones were running around happily in the yard.
She picked up a big broom, swept the leaves on the ground into a pile, and used a dustpan to collect them and put them at the back to dry, so that when she returned home, she could take them back to the city to feed the livestock.
"Yuling, don't sweep anymore. The porridge is ready." Grandma scooped out the hot water from the steamed buns and added it to Wanjin and the others' dog bowl, and called Qiu Yuling by the way.
Breakfast was simple yet "sumptuous", consisting of golden millet porridge, two large steamed buns, a small dish of spicy sauce, and two boiled eggs.
The grandparents ate slowly. "Grandma, please wait at home for a while. I don't know when Xiaonan's uncle and his family will come to deliver the bricks. I'm going out to buy some things. Please give them to my mother when she comes back."
Although she was away from home, she was usually the one who prepared the malted milk, white sugar, brown sugar and some commonly used items that required tickets. Although Mother Qiu did not give her money every time, she kept a record of it in a small notebook.
She once jokingly advised them not to do such unnecessary things, but Mother Qiu said to her righteously, "There are more children in the family than just mine. There will be other people coming into the family in the future. Others may not count how much you have done, but we as their parents and they as their brothers must know the answer.
Don't let it become a habit after a long time, and then make a fuss about it when something is missing."
She understood the principle: a little kindness will be rewarded with a little resentment! Qiu's mother's understanding of the natural law was a slightly pessimistic one.
The type of person who tries to do things as well as possible, but always thinks of the worst.
Qiu Yuling didn't think it was bad. On the contrary, she admired them very much. People like them would never feel disappointed by sudden changes in their lives because they had practiced the worst possible situation countless times in their minds.
This is also the reason why she is so willing to do so many things for the family. With such a head of household, the probability of children turning against each other and becoming enemies is low.
Finally, he scooped out a bowl of rice porridge with a small basin and placed it on the stove. Sure enough, not long after he finished cleaning up, he heard the sound of a donkey.
Grandma Yuling took advantage of the hot pot and slipped four big meat buns into it, which heated up in a few minutes.
"Mom, my sister-in-law is here too, please walk slowly." The threshold was a bit high, and her sister-in-law's belly was so big that she couldn't even see where she was standing.
"Mom has said many times how nice our courtyard is, but seeing it today, I realize that she was being too modest." Huang Duoer really thinks this courtyard is beautiful, but she still prefers places with big mountains.
The rice porridge became a little sticky after being left for a while, so the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law ate it with buns and cleaned the whole bowl and plate.
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