Chapter 542: The Needle
Just as the three members of the Sun family were leaving, a mother and daughter were walking towards them from the fields of Zhoujia Village. When the woman saw the three people's backs, she froze in place.
The little girl looked up and asked her mother: "Mom, what are you looking at?"
"It's nothing. I guess my eyes are dazzled." Liu Xiang'er thought she was seeing things. Her daughter-in-law had run away with a strange man a long time ago, so how could she suddenly appear in Zhoujia Village?
"Mom, I'm hungry. I want to eat egg custard for lunch." Jiaojiao shook Liu Xianger's clothes and said coquettishly.
"Okay, Jiaojiao, if you want to eat, mom will make it for you. Let's go home quickly. Your dad should be back soon." Liu Xiang'er retracted her gaze and stopped looking. She held her daughter's hand and walked home.
In the years since she married Zhou Changgu, the couple has lived a colorful life with their daughter.
Zhou Changgu was hardworking and took care of several acres of land by himself. Liu Xiang'er also took good care of the family. From time to time, she went to the mountains with the women in the village to pick mushrooms, and used the money from selling them after drying them to supplement the family income.
The Zhou family raised chickens, and the eggs they laid could be sold for a lot of money a year. When Zhou Changgu came back from the fields, he would also weave bamboo baskets to put the eggs in and sell them, so the family of three never had to worry about food and drink on weekdays.
Six-year-old Zhou Jiaojiao is chubby and always has a smile on her face.
Is a happy child.
"Jiaojiao, go to the backyard and see if the chickens have laid eggs. If they have, pick up two and I'll make you some egg custard. If they haven't, I'll get some from the cupboard."
After returning home and helping her daughter wash her hands, Liu Xianger patted her butt and told her to go to the backyard to pick eggs.
The chicken didn't lay any eggs this morning, but I guess it should lay eggs by noon.
"I know, Mom." Jiaojiao jumped and ran to the backyard, and her two braids moved up and down.
"Mom, the chickens laid eggs. There are three eggs in total. Do you want to pick them all up?" A delicate voice came from the chicken coop in the backyard.
Liu Xianger raised her voice and replied: "Pick them all up——"
"Okay, mother—"
The humming sound was elongated by the wind, making it even more adorable.
Liu Xiang'er curled the corners of her mouth and squatted on the ground washing wild vegetables.
At noon, I would just cook some rice, stir-fry some wild vegetables with lard, and steam some egg custard for my daughter.
"Mom, look, three eggs." After washing the wild vegetables, Zhou Jiaojiao also came back from the backyard.
She held the hem of her skirt with both hands. Liu Xiang'er looked down and saw three eggs inside.
"Okay, Jiaojiao, go and play. Mom will go cook." Liu Xianger took out the eggs, put one in the cupboard, and put the other two in a bowl.
"No, Jiaojiao wants to help mother." Zhou Jiaojiao sat beside the stove, grabbed a piece of firewood with her little hand and stuffed it into the stove.
The flame in the stove suddenly grew bigger.
"Be careful, don't hurt yourself." Although Liu Xiang'er was used to her daughter, she didn't raise her to be incompetent.
At the age of six, Zhou Jiaojiao can already light the stove, wash vegetables and pick mushrooms.
The mother and daughter were busy in the small kitchen.
Zhou Changgu in the field was sweating profusely.
Every time he swung the hoe, his frown relaxed a little.
"Huh, after finishing these I can go home. I don't know what my wife did today." He said to himself.
"Hase, why aren't you leaving yet? Go back and have dinner." A man passing by shouted at him.
"It will be done soon, Brother Datian, you go back first." Zhou Changgu responded with a silly smile.
"You kid, you've been so hardworking since you got married and had a baby a few years ago. Okay, I won't wait for you. I'm leaving first." The man joked.
"Yeah, okay." Zhou Changgu responded and continued swinging the hoe.
After finishing the work in the fields, there was no one left except him.
When he got home, the aroma of rice filled his nose.
Zhou Changgu sniffed hard and his stomach growled with hunger.
"Are you back? Go wash your hands and come to eat quickly. If you come back later, Jiaojiao will call you."
Liu Xianger came out of the kitchen carrying a rice bowl.
I happened to see him standing at the door, so I hurried over.
"Okay, I'll go right away. Thanks to me for coming back, you don't want to bother us Jiaojiao to go and call me."
Zhou Changgu put the hoe in the utility room, went to the tub to wash his hands, and wiped his face with a linen cloth. The weather was still cool, and the water was bone-chillingly cold, and the heat on Zhou Changgu's body disappeared instantly.
"Look at you, you fool! How can you wash your face like this? You might catch a cold. If anything happens to you, what will happen to us mothers and daughters?" Liu Xiang'er was so angry when she saw him washing his face with cold water.
"Hehe, I'm very hot, but it's okay. I'm strong, you know that." Zhou Changgu raised his eyebrows and threw a coquettish glance at Liu Xianger.
"It's broad daylight, and you're not embarrassed at all. Come on, go into the main room and have your meal." Liu Xiang'er glared at him.
But then, she suddenly remembered something and said, "I seemed to have seen my daughter-in-law just now. I don't know if it was my eyes that saw her wrongly, but I was always very nervous in my heart."
Liu Xiang'er covered her chest with her hands, her brows furrowed.
"What? Are you talking about Xiao Tao? She's back? This little whore, she ran away, how come she's back? I tell you, don't dare let her go back, divorce her as soon as she comes back."
Zhou Changgu became serious.
The smile on his lips disappeared.
"That's right. No, I have to go back to Jiangjia Village tomorrow and tell my son. No matter if it's Xiaotao or not, I have to tell my son and ask him what he means. I can't keep this kind of person even if I come back." Liu Xianger patted her thigh and said.
"Okay, I'll go back with you. The work in the fields is almost finished. I'll go there in the afternoon. It just so happens that Jiaojiao has been saying recently that she wants to play with Kang'er Ning'er. We'll leave early tomorrow morning and come back after dinner in the evening. By the way, take the pot of eggs in the cupboard with you. These brothers and sisters are having a hard time, so we need to help them more."
Zhou Changgu's words touched Liu Xianger's heart.
Seeing how good he is to his two children.
Liu Xiang'er was deeply moved.
Tears welled up in my eyes.
"Silly boy, we are a family, your child is my child, let's go, don't let Jiaojiao wait too long, I would be heartbroken if she cried because of hunger." Zhou Changgu wiped the tears from her eyes, took her hand and walked to the main room.
The aroma of rice wafts from every house.
Jiang Fubao from the town was also having lunch.
For lunch, we had two dried meats and two vegetable dishes, plus a yam and tofu soup made by my second sister.
The portion was not much, and Jiang Fubao was just full after finishing it.
"Shitou, after dinner, go to the jewelry shop and get something for me." After drinking the stomach-clearing tea, Jiang Fubao said to Shitou who was eating next to him.
"Well, okay, what would you like to take, miss?" Shitou swallowed the rice in his mouth and asked her.
"I'm looking for a needle specially made by a jewelry shop." Jiang Fubao put down the cup, picked up the brush and drew on the paper.
"Miss, what do you mean by reckless needle?" Pan Erya stared with confused eyes.
"You can think of it as the largest, longest, and thickest silver needle."
Jiang Fubao was afraid that she didn't understand, so he simply opened the silver needle bag, took out the longest one, and gave it to her as a reference.