Chapter 160
"Jiaojiao, what are you doing?" Qin Mianmian, who had finished her homework, approached Jiaojiao, who was lying by the window staring at her hands for a long time, and asked.
Qin Mianmian set his own homework.
Although Qin Mianmian was the apple of his eye, the Qin family had strict upbringing. He began his education at the age of four and had been attending private school for a year and a half by the time he was abducted. Initially, he feared his studies would be wasted, but upon arriving at Jiaojiao's house, he discovered they had all the necessary supplies, including brushes, inkstones, and various educational books. He began to read, even assigning himself daily homework.
"Mianmian, look." Jiaojiao showed her left hand to Qin Mianmian: "There's a new red mole here."
Ever since she discovered a red mole on the palm of her hand, Jiaojiao has been staring at it often.
Qin Mianmian stared at the mole on his hand for a while: "It's rare to see a red mole!"
"Yeah." Jiaojiao nodded: "There was nothing like that before."
"It's normal." Qin Mianmian pointed to the corner of her eyebrow. "I also have a mole here. It wasn't there before I was three years old. I don't know when it grew, but it's not red."
Jiaojiao came closer to take a look and found that there really was a mole!
After knowing that she was not the only one who would suddenly develop a mole, Jiaojiao no longer cared much about the mole on her hand.
“It’s snowing!”
When Jiaojiao was holding the pen and preparing to outline, fine snow began to fall from the sky.
Jiaojiao put down her pen and leaned against the window to look out. She saw her father coming down from the distant mountain carrying a ferret. Jiaojiao's eyes curved and she waved to him, "Dad!"
There was some snow on Yin Zheng's head when he came back from the mountain. He squatted down and pressed Jiaojiao, who ran to the door to pick him up, into his arms. His uneasy heart finally calmed down. He left Jiaojiao at home. He was very uneasy after spending the whole night in the mountains.
The time Jiaojiao was stolen left a deep shadow in his heart.
Jiaojiao stood on tiptoe to brush off the snow that had already melted into water on her father's head, and then reached out to cover her father's cold ears.
Yin Zheng didn't let him hold it for long. He reached out and picked him up and walked into the house.
"Dad, it's cold, let's not go out." Jiaojiao said with a wrinkled nose while covering her father's ears.
"Okay." Yin Zheng responded in a low voice.
Since the weather turned cold, Yin Zheng stopped taking Jiaojiao to the mountains. However, he was always worried about leaving Jiaojiao at home. This time, he took extra effort and crossed the foggy mountain overnight to find the coniferous forest in the mountains further north. It took him some time to hunt this white sable. He did not plan to go to the mountains again before spring.
Seeing that winter was approaching, he planned to buy two sets of cotton clothes for Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian, and prepare some New Year's goods. Yin Zheng, who had never prepared New Year's goods before, didn't know how much money the goods would cost.
I only remember that every year before preparing New Year's goods, Old Mrs. Wu would urge him to go into the mountains to hunt more prey when the mountains were blocked by heavy snow, saying that New Year's goods were very expensive.
Every time Yin Zheng went into the mountains, he would bring some dry food with him and stay there for nearly a month.
During the New Year period, the aunties in the village always complained that New Year's goods were too expensive and that all their money for the whole year was spent on them. This gave Yin Zheng the impression that New Year's goods were very expensive.
Yin Zheng took his first New Year's Eve with Jiaojiao very seriously and didn't want to skimp on it, so he started saving money half a month ago. Due to the famine, game was not selling well, and few people in the town could afford to buy it. Even the town's taverns and restaurants were closed because almost no one ate, and even if they did, no one could afford to order meat.
After suffering several losses, Yin Zheng took his prey and knocked on the corner door of the town's squire, asking the servants if they wanted fresh prey.
Famines afflicted the common people and the farmers who worked the land for food, but for the gentry and landlords, aside from reduced production and reduced income, famines were not a major threat. They even presented a rare opportunity to make money.
Every time a famine ended, there would be a large number of additional fields under the names of local gentry and landlords. Most of these fields were sold at low prices by disaster victims who could not survive and had no other choice. Of course, some of them were deliberately set up by the gentry and landlords to trick the disaster victims who could not read and write into signing land sale contracts.
Of course they could accept Yin Zheng's prey, and they even felt it was not enough, so they asked Yin Zheng to send more, and they would take as much as he could.
The ferret in Yin Zheng's hand is of very good quality, with a snow-white body without a trace of other colors. He does not plan to sell it in the town, but to sell it to the daughter of the former master as a pet in the county. The daughters of wealthy families in the county love to raise these rare animals, and they can be sold for a good price.
After putting Jiaojiao on the kang and taking off her shoes, Yin Zheng covered his little feet, which had become cold not long after going out, with his hands. He thought that when he went to the city, he would take the remaining rabbit skins with him, take them to the clothing store and spend some money to ask someone to help make a few pairs of rabbit fur shoes. However, he was not good at needlework, so he could only sew some hats and collars at most. He could not make shoes and clothes, so he could only take them to the town and pay someone to make them.
In reality, Yin Zheng could have asked the villagers to help him with the cooking, but firstly, he wasn't familiar with the villagers and wasn't used to the social interactions. Secondly, he was more accustomed to the shop's principle of clearing payment for goods, which avoided a series of potential troubles later on.
"Dad, it's snowing, Jiaojiao wants to go out and play." Jiaojiao moved the little chubby girl held by her father, and her pair of dark and bright eyes contained a little expectation.
Yin Zheng has always been unable to refuse Jiaojiao's expectant eyes. He took out cotton socks with added cotton and put them on Jiaojiao, and put a hat and collar made of rabbit fur on Jiaojiao. He wrapped Jiaojiao tightly in every way before he put Jiaojiao down with peace of mind.
"Bright, bright."
Tiedan's cautious voice came from outside the door. All the children in the village were afraid of Yin Zheng, and Tiedan was no exception. But because he played well with Jiaojiao, he was not as scared as before. But every time he came to play with Jiaojiao, he couldn't avoid being sneaky.
Jiaojiao, who was wrapped up like a ball, heard the cry of her little friend, took the pebbles given by her father and held them in her arms, then staggered out with Qin Mianmian, who was also wrapped tightly.
They didn't go far, just squatted under a tree outside the yard and played.
There is nothing fun to do in such cold weather, but the children don’t think so.
Qin Mianmian took a branch and wrote a word on the ground. Jiaojiao pointed at the word and said, "This is iron, the iron of Tiedan."
Qin Mianmian wrote another word, and Jiaojiao pointed at it and said, "This is Dan, and together it means your name, Tiedan."
Tiedan, who was carrying a basket of wild vegetables, looked at the two words on the ground with curiosity. He picked up a branch and tried to write the two words on the ground, but he couldn't write them correctly no matter how hard he tried. The words he wrote were so crooked that it was impossible to tell what they were.
"It's okay." Jiaojiao comforted seriously: "You are still young and your wrists are weak, so it's normal that you can't write well."
"Really?" Tiedan, who had been lowering his head with a look of loss, raised his head expectantly and asked.
"Really." Jiaojiao nodded seriously: "Jiaojiao is just like that."
It's true that Jiaojiao is small and her wrists are soft, so it's not suitable for her to practice calligraphy. However, this is Tiedan's first time learning calligraphy, so it's normal that he can't write well. Qin Mianmian thought and nodded to Tiedan: "It's true, but you are two years older than Jiaojiao. You can write well with more practice."
Tiedan's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately picked up a branch and started practicing seriously.
Being able to read and write was considered a remarkable achievement by the farmers. Although they secretly mocked the Yin family's lack of understanding, when they met the scholar Yin Youcai on the road, they still greeted him with a reserved and respectful attitude. Influenced by the adults, the children in the village also sincerely believed that people who could read and write were very impressive.
When they learned that Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian could read, their friends looked at them with undisguised admiration.
Tiedan also wanted to learn to read. Uncle Yuanzhi from the Yin family could read, so he found a job as a waiter in the town. He also wanted to be a waiter, as it was not as tiring as working in the fields and he could earn money.
That's why he asked Jiaojiao hesitantly if she could teach him to read. Unexpectedly, Jiaojiao agreed immediately. Tiedan was very grateful for this. You know, going to school to learn to read requires paying tuition, and their family can't afford it at all.
Old Mrs. Wu, who was walking back after digging wild vegetables, saw Jiaojiao from a distance. After all, there were few children in the village who were so fair and tender, so Jiaojiao stood out among them.
Old Mrs. Wu's eyes fell on Jiaojiao's chubby face and the rabbit fur hat on her head. A gleam of jealousy flashed in her eyes. It was this little bastard who made Yin Zheng, the ungrateful bastard, pretend to be lame and be separated from the family.
She didn't believe the story of a wandering alchemist who cured Yin Zheng's leg. If lameness was so easy to cure, there would be no lame people in the world. So it must be because of this little bastard that Yin Zheng deliberately wanted to separate.
As expected, the third brother was right when he said not to let Yin Zheng get married, so that he would not forget his mother after getting a wife. After having a child, he might not want to hand over the money to the public and would want to save it for himself.
She was a little hesitant at first, but now she sees that the second brother is indeed an ungrateful person who can never be tamed.
Old Mrs. Wu pretended to walk over and talk to Tiedan with a smile, "Hey, Tiedan, are you and your mother out picking wild vegetables today?"
"Yes, Grandma Wu." Tiedan looked confused. He didn't understand why Grandma Wu greeted him today. In the past, when she met him and greeted him, Grandma Wu always ignored him.
"It's so cold, it's really a torture to go out and dig wild vegetables." Old Mrs. Wu said, suddenly reaching out to pull off the rabbit fur hats on Jiaojiao and Qin Mianmian's heads, and then pushed Jiaojiao away and turned around and ran away.
Jiaojiao was pushed to the ground and almost fell over. She was dazed. After struggling to get up, she touched her cold head and realized that her hat had been snatched away. Jiaojiao's eyes turned red. She ran back, shaking her hands and complaining in a small voice: "Dad! The bad grandma snatched Jiaojiao's hat and pushed Jiaojiao!"
Yin Zheng, who came out after hearing the noise, saw Jiaojiao's red eyes and the mud on her body that was obviously from falling, and his face instantly turned dark.
He first carried Jiaojiao back and changed her clothes. When changing clothes, he carefully checked her and found that because Jiaojiao was wearing thick clothes, only her buttocks were slightly red, and there were no injuries elsewhere.
After changing Jiaojiao's clothes, Yin Zheng carried Jiaojiao to Yin's house with a gloomy face. There was no reason for the little kid not to get revenge after being offended, not to mention that Jiaojiao's rabbit fur hat was stolen.
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