"Wow, this bamboo forest is huge! Are all the bamboo we use at home cut from here? That's amazing!"
Although I've seen bamboo before, I've never had the chance to see such a large bamboo forest.
After all, they were confined to an orphanage when they were young, and now they are struggling to make ends meet and pay for their school fees. Where would they find the leisure to indulge in such things?
Now that he sees the bamboo forest, he gets excited and starts chattering away.
"New bamboo shoots grow taller than old branches, entirely relying on the support of the old trunk. Next year, when new shoots emerge again, they will be ten-foot-tall dragon offspring encircling the phoenix pond..."
At first, he would look at the bamboo back, but later he would just say whatever came to mind, and his mouth never stopped.
Although August and September are the best time to harvest bamboo shoots, the later the harvest, the more fibrous the bamboo shoots become.
Based on my memory, I dug out some bamboo shoots, peeled them open to take a look, and found that they were still edible, but it wasn't the best time to harvest them.
He managed to gather some food into his basket, then hummed a tune and swayed as he continued his journey into the mountains.
The moment she was inspired to write poetry was witnessed and heard by one of the village's two former scholars.
He had dug a trap below the bamboo grove and just caught a rabbit. He was busy repairing the trap when he heard Zhao Qingyan's voice, which was sometimes loud and sometimes soft.
At first it was quite funny, but the more I listened, the more amazed I became. "Whose daughter is this, with such excellent writing skills?"
Driven by curiosity, I carefully took a few steps up and saw Zhao Qingyan's figure.
"Do not look at what is improper, do not listen to what is improper, and do not be offended by what is improper..."
Zhao Qingyan was completely unaware of all of this.
Walking through the bamboo forest, she couldn't alert the snakes, but she didn't really like soft things.
Out of habit, as I walked, I would throw the pebbles I picked up at the bamboo stalks in front of me or to the side.
If you use a little too much force, a hole might appear in the bamboo that gets hit.
I don't know if it was just good luck, but while I was playing, I actually heard a "click" sound.
Looking around, I thought, "My God, what is that? A snake? It's green, a bamboo viper? Oh my god, this is deadly, it's highly poisonous."
What's that dark thing? She's not looking at a bamboo forest at all, it's clearly a snake forest. Forget it, I'm not leaving, I have to pull away."
The evacuation was quick, though of course, they didn't forget to keep throwing stones. Soon they reached the edge of the bamboo forest.
As luck would have it, the person under the bamboo grove was about to climb up when a stone flew towards them and nearly killed them. Luckily, they were skilled.
"Everyone says that Miss Zhao has superhuman strength, and there's no smoke without fire; some of the rumors are actually true!"
I don't know if intellectuals have abnormal thought processes, but this guy was almost beaten to death and was still making sarcastic remarks.
Zhao Qingyan was very fast, almost like she was being chased by a dog.
After leaving the bamboo forest, I intended to wander off to another place, but thinking about the snakes she had unintentionally killed earlier, I got goosebumps.
"It's safer to go home." This was the first time she hadn't brought any prey home.
"Grandma, I'm back!" she called out before even entering the yard.
Huang's voice did not come out as usual.
Two sisters-in-law came out to greet them.
"Third Sister is back, but Grandma isn't home. It's said that Third Uncle's wife, Wheat Sister, has had a miscarriage, so Qiu Tong came to borrow a mule cart to take her to the pharmacy in the county."
Grandma was worried and went to check on things.
"Oh, how could she have miscarriage when she was perfectly fine? I saw her just two days ago, and she was perfectly healthy."
Zhang Cuicui sighed.
"Sigh, this woman suffers because she was born into the wrong family, and it's all because of her family."
They came to Grandma Guihua's house to beg for money before, but she scolded them and drove them away. And here they are again today.
I don't know what happened, but they said her mother pushed her down.
I wonder what sins Sister Xiaomai committed in her past life to be reborn into that mother's womb.
Zhao Qingyan was a little confused. "Her mother wasn't her biological daughter, was she? She knew her daughter was pregnant and still did it."
Liu Xiaohua also pursed her lips.
"Third sister, you are blessed to be born into our Zhao family. At home, you not only have enough to eat and wear, but you are also pampered."
Many girls are not treated like human beings in their parents' homes.
Let's take myself, your sister-in-law, as an example, instead of talking about distant places.
I'm the second child in my family, with an older brother. Compared to other girls, my life was relatively easy; at least I didn't get beaten.
But she started helping with chores around the house when she was only three or four years old.
If you can't do heavy work, you still have to feed the chickens and dig for earthworms.
When they reach 5 or 6 years old, they should start learning to cook. If they can't reach the stove, they should stand on a stool.
I almost fell into the pot several times. Look at my sister-in-law's hands, those scars are from when she was a child and got burned while cooking.
I had to start learning needlework at the age of 7 or 8. Once I learned, I sewed most of the clothes in the house.
There's always work to be done every day.
Even so, I am one of the luckiest girls in our village.
When I was little, I had a sister who was the eldest child in her family.
She was beaten and scolded as a child, and she took care of her younger siblings. When she was thirteen or fourteen, she was as thin as a ten-year-old bean sprout.
She was sold by her father when she was fifteen. At first, her father wanted to sell her to those dirty places, saying that he could get more money for her.
But the matchmaker disliked her because she wasn't good-looking.
Later, I went to town with my father and saw her once. She had been bought by a wealthy family to work as a maid.
She's grown taller and heavier. I asked her if she missed home, and she said no.
Only after becoming a servant to someone else did I realize what it truly meant to be well-fed and clothed.
Zhao Qingyan remained silent for a moment, unable to offer any response.
As for whether one should be grateful that although they were an orphan in their past life, they were not abused.
Zhang Cuicui's eyes were a little red.
"Sigh, I don't know what sins women have committed to deserve such treatment. My family was supposed to have a younger sister."
My younger sister was drowned by my grandmother at birth.
My mother was so angry that she had a severe hemorrhage and almost didn't survive.
My maternal grandmother's family came and beat my grandmother up. My mother said that if we didn't separate the family, we would get a divorce.
My grandmother said that there was no way to separate from the family; if you wanted to separate, you either had to be removed from the clan or leave with nothing.
My dad was heartbroken. No matter which option he chose, he got nothing, and they didn't treat him like a son.
My father chose to sever ties with his family, and he endured the days one by one.
In the dead of winter, the family slept in a dilapidated shed used by someone to look after the land, without even a cotton quilt. They spread thick layers of straw on the ground and slept in the straw pile.
Mice might come and sleep with us in the middle of the night.
My maternal grandparents brought us quilts and food, and our family's life gradually improved.
My grandmother originally wanted our family to move to their village, but my father objected.
They said they absolutely had to make a living in our village, so that my grandma and the others could only dream of what they could have, making them incredibly envious.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com