Shi Rushuang sensed something from Zhang Dahong's expression, poked Zhang Yuqing gently with her arm, and said with a smile: "We haven't talked about the boys in our family yet. Sister Dahong, you know a lot of people. If you find someone suitable, you have to think about your nephews."
"Okay, okay." Zhang Dahong was so pleased with her words that she smiled happily.
Shi Rushuang's mother's home was nearby, so she said hello to Zhang Yuqing and got off the car. Gu Weiguo helped his eldest brother carry the food on his shoulders before getting back on the car: "Aunt, please say hello to my great grandparents and uncles for me. We'll be back tomorrow. See you tomorrow."
"Okay." Shi Rushuang waved her hand: "See you tomorrow, defending the country."
"See you tomorrow, brother." Gu Qingqing waved her little hand at the car window with a playful smile.
"Let's go." Shi Rushuang took her daughter's hand and walked beside Gu Yuanchao. She looked up at the blazing sun in the sky and said, "It's noon. Let's walk faster and go back to eat."
The harvest production team where the Shi family worked was surrounded by mountains on three sides. The land was barren and poor. Apart from the wild fruit trees on the mountains, almost nothing grew.
As they walked along, they saw piles of straw in the scattered terraces. The sun had been good recently, and the straw could be dried and fed to cows or thrown into the pig farm for the pigs to survive the winter.
Looking at the sparsely packed haystacks, Shi Rushuang suddenly tightened her grip on her daughter's hand, then loosened it, and sighed, "Although our family is not very wealthy, we can still have enough food and clothing. The grain production here in your grandpa's house is too low, and the most common food we eat all year round is sweet potatoes and potatoes..."
Speaking of this, Shi Rushuang felt so upset that she couldn't continue.
"Did mother also eat sweet potatoes and potatoes every day when she was a child?" Gu Qingqing asked softly, holding her arm.
"When my mother was little, she had to eat potatoes every other meal. How could she eat them every day?" Shi Rushuang rubbed the little girl's head and looked at her nephew who was walking slowly beside her: "Yuan Chao, can you still carry it?"
Gu Yuanchao grabbed the gray linen belt on his shoulder with his right hand, raised his left hand to wipe the sweat off his face, and showed his small white teeth: "It's nothing, just take it easy, don't worry about me."
Shi Rushuang burst out laughing.
They arrived just in time, just in time for dinner. Gu Qingqing's grandmother heard the courtyard door creak open and said to her eldest daughter-in-law next to her, "Is Rushuang back? Go and see her."
"Okay, Mom, please take a look at the sorghum rice in the pot, make sure it doesn't get burnt." He Qiu Shui wiped his hands on his clothes and went to the gate of the courtyard.
"Sister-in-law." Shi Rushuang was the first to speak with a smile, "It's been more than half a year since we last met."
"Yeah, you said you, you come back just now, but you always carry so many things." He Qiushui took the cloth bag and called out, "Qingzhou, come out and help Yuanchao move the things. This kid has walked so far carrying such a big bag by himself, it must be hard work."
"Here I come." Shi Qingzhou is the eldest grandson of the Shi family, the son of Gu Qingqing's uncle Shi Lianyun and He Qiu Shui. He is tall and thin. Gu Qingqing can't help comparing him with her cousin Gu Xiong every time.
Of course, my cousin was completely defeated.
Shi Qingzhou helped Gu Yuanchao carry the grain to the granary. "I'll count to three, and then we can throw it together?"
"Okay." Gu Yuanchao let go of the bag along with him, and the sack fell to the ground with a bang, splashing a cloud of dust.
Shi Qingzhou put his arm around Gu Yuanchao's shoulders and walked over. The two of them were already very familiar with each other and there was no need to be shy: "Let's go and have dinner."
"Okay."
"Qingqing, eat more. Look at your thin face. There is no meat at all." Zhou Man handed a cornmeal steamed bun to her granddaughter and only ate the steamed sweet potato cubes in the bowl.
"Yes, our Qingqing looks thinner than she did during the Chinese New Year, and even darker." Shi Ji agreed with his wife and pushed the bowl of cornmeal steamed buns toward Gu Yuanchao: "You are busy at the moment. Your production team has a lot of land, so you must be working around the clock."
"Great Grandpa, the autumn ploughing is almost done." Gu Yuanchao had a good appetite and was tired from carrying the millet all the way. He chatted with them incoherently while biting a cornmeal bun.
Shi Rushuang smiled and served him a bowl of sorghum rice mixed with cabbage and red beans. "Eat slowly, don't choke."
"Rushuang, stay at home for one night and go back tomorrow. Qingqing hasn't been home for a long time. Ask your sister-in-law to make the quilt before you and mother go to sleep in your room. Yuanchao and Qingzhou can squeeze in." Zhou Man said this to her daughter, and her kind eyes fell on her granddaughter.
The Gu family is good-looking. Her eldest grandson, Canyang, combines the advantages of a lady and an aunt, and is very handsome. The younger grandson and granddaughter are still a little inferior to their eldest brother, but they are not bad either.
Gu Qingqing had willow-shaped eyebrows and large almond-shaped eyes. Her originally round oval face had become more contoured now that she had lost some weight due to the busy farming season.
"Grandpa and grandma, I'm full." Gu Qingqing put down her bowl and chopsticks and kicked Gu Yuanchao who was still eating: "Brother, are you full?"
"I'm full." Gu Yuanchao finished the last piece of cabbage leaf in the bowl and wiped his mouth: "Grandpa and grandma, I'll take Qingqing to the back mountain for a stroll."
"Okay, go ahead." Shi Ji knew that his little monkey was thinking about the green plums on the mountain. "Don't climb up. There are snakes on the treetops. Just stand below with a bamboo pole and beat them."
"Oh, okay."
"Qingqing," Gao Haiyue, with her big belly, took a bamboo basket from behind the door and handed it to her, "Come back early, or the wild boars will go down the mountain to dig for food in the fields if you're late."
"I know, little aunt, go back to your room and lie down."
Shi Qingzhou had some friends to play with, so he quickly ate a few mouthfuls of rice, picked up a bamboo pole from the corner and followed them.
He Qiushui couldn't help laughing: "We still have to go to work in the afternoon. I'm afraid Qingzhou is going crazy from playing."
"As for the children, let them go. The next time we will see each other will be during the New Year. Haiyue, your sister-in-law will come over in the afternoon?" Shi Rushuang chatted with her eldest sister-in-law for a while and then asked her younger sister-in-law.
"Yes, we should be there soon. My parents' home is nearby and it will only take an hour or so to get there." Gao Haiyue touched her belly and sat down on the table. Shi Liancai kept his eyes on his wife and quickly handed her a steamed bun.
"I almost forgot." Shi Rushuang stood up and took out two bottles of malted milk from the gray cloth bag. "This is what my third brother's wife brought back from the city for me to eat. Mom said Haiyue was about to give birth, and she insisted that I bring it to her for her confinement."
"Thank you, my mother-in-law, for your hard work. She is really kind to the family, from the old men and women to the younger generations. When Canyang Qinglie is not at home, Xiongwa Yuanchao and his brothers take turns to come and deliver food every year." The proudest thing in Zhou Man's life is that her daughter married into a good family and gave birth to a pair of promising grandsons and a mischievous granddaughter.
Shi Ji often whispered in her ear that her granddaughter was no worse than her two grandsons and was the smartest child in the Gu family.
"Like frost."
Thinking of this, Zhou Man couldn't help but ask, "Have you received any letters from Canyang and Qinglie?" Qingqing is not young in the village, but her two grandsons had already told her before they went to the army that they would take care of Qingqing's affairs.
"I'm here." Shi Rushuang smiled and pursed her lips: "Qingqing just came here to pick some green plums for her second brother, and to see how the boy is doing."
Although she said so, Shi Rushuang knew that the girl had already been bewitched.
I was already so obsessed after seeing the photo, how much more would I be obsessed with seeing the real person?
Shi Ji and Zhou Man looked at each other, their eyes full of relaxed smiles: "Qing Lie picked it, it's accurate."
Here everyone is living in harmony and joy. On the hillside, Gu Yuanchao is carrying a bamboo basket and looking up at the girl on the tree with a somewhat melancholy look.
"Qingqing, that's enough. Don't climb up the tip. If you fall, your brother will get beaten when he returns."
"It's okay. I know what I'm doing. Brother, go pick some in the bushes." Gu Qingqing held onto the branch and shook it vigorously. Shi Qingzhou held onto the bamboo pole and hit the tree next to him hard, causing the leaves of green plums to fall to the ground.
Gu Yuanchao was hit on the head by green plums many times, and a head of tender green leaves fell off.
He looked at the people on the tree, and then at the boy who was fighting hard next to him. He simply found a tree trunk to sit on, scratching the rough bark with his fingers, waiting for them to finish fighting before picking up the fruits together.
Gu Qingqing sat on a tree branch, her feet swaying. She picked a green plum, rubbed it on her clothes, and brought it to her mouth.
As soon as she took a bite, the sour juice filled her mouth. Her facial features wrinkled into a ball, she squinted her eyes, stuck out her tongue, and threw the remaining half of the green plum away.
"Why does my second brother like to eat something so sour?" Gu Qingqing took a long time to recover. "No amount of sugar can cover it up."
"Qingqing, are you ready? Come down and stop picking them." Half an hour later, the sun was getting brighter and brighter, and Gu Yuanchao bent over and began to pick green plums.
"Wait a little longer, brother." Gu Qingqing was not satisfied yet.
"You'll be dark if you keep sunbathing," Gu Yuanchao said, using his trump card: "You'll be going to the military corps in two days. I heard that the girls in the art troupe are all fair..."
Before he finished speaking, Gu Qingqing had already slid down the tree trunk, patted the dust off her hands, pointed at her face, and asked in confusion: "Am I very dark now?"
Gu Yuanchao poked Shi Qingzhou's arm. Shi Qingzhou didn't respond and said honestly, "He's just a little whiter than us."
After hearing this, Gu Qingqing burst into tears.
“……”Gu Yuanchao had a headache.
Why is this kid from the Shi family so stupid?
After the two brothers had filled a bamboo basket, Gu Qingqing was still crying. Shi Qingzhou was a little overwhelmed and asked in a low voice, "Did I say something wrong?"
Gu Yuanchao put the bamboo basket on his back and glanced at him: "Of course."
Shi Qingzhou grabbed the backpack strap and looked blankly at his cousin who was sniffling and crying.
I couldn't help but shook my head.
What should I do?
"Qingqing, the brothers are just joking. Our Qingqing is whiter than the educated youth in the city..." Gu Yuanchao walked up to her and raised his sleeves to wipe her tears.
"No, brother, my legs hurt." Gu Qingqing rolled up his trouser legs pitifully, and two red marks on his calves were clearly visible.
"What? Did you get it?" Gu Yuanchao squatted down quickly, took a look, and sighed: "Sister, listen to me, don't climb next time."
"Okay." Gu Qingqing nodded and looked at him eagerly.
Gu Yuanchao squatted down in front of her, feeling distressed and a little helpless: "Come up."
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