"Oh, you don't have to borrow from other people's houses anymore, we have some here too."
Father Zhou held up the peaches and asked, "Where did you get them in the middle of winter?"
"Here you go, just eat it! It's very expensive anyway." Zhou didn't want to answer.
Father Zhou put down the peach, thinking what delicious fruit there was. He held the cigarettes, melon seeds and peanuts in his hands and prepared to leave. This time his daughter bought a lot of things for him.
Zhou wanted to take off his down jacket, remove the watch from his arm, and then quickly put it back on.
"Hey! These two watches are for you."
When Zhou's father saw the watches, he immediately put down everything in his hands, picked up the watch that was obviously a men's watch and put it on. The strap was just right. Then he saw the women's watch and had something to say.
"My dear, this is obviously biased! My Shanghai watch is only over a hundred yuan, and your mother's Plum watch is over three hundred yuan!"
Zhou's mother glared at him and said, "Look how extravagant you are! It's only a little over a hundred yuan. Take it out and show it to me. Your daughter wanted to buy you a watch, but now you're complaining. Don't bring anything for your dad next time."
Father Zhou quickly tried to smooth things over, "Dad didn't mean that. I just feel a little disappointed. My daughter, don't be angry with Dad. I'll be happy to accept whatever you bring next time."
"Dad, aren't watches in Shanghai all big-faced? Plum blossom watches have small dials, which are more suitable for women. Next time, I'll switch them over and buy you the more expensive one and Mom the cheaper one."
After hearing this, Zhou's father smiled so hard that his teeth were visible and his eyes were not. "Okay, okay, my daughter is really thoughtful."
Then she turned her attention to her watch. Zhou wanted to wink at her mother, and her mother pointed at her with her finger, then also carefully looked at the watch on her wrist.
After playing with the watch for a while, Zhou's father finally remembered to ask, "Think about it, these things are almost five hundred yuan. What on earth did you do to earn so much money?"
Zhou Xiang pondered for a moment and said, "I'm working with someone to make New Year's goods for sale at work. This matter can't be told to anyone else, so Dad, don't ask and don't tell anyone else. Just say that the watch was bought for you by my mom."
"You want to put such a tall hat on your mother? Okay, my daughter, you have the final say." Although she wanted to grab the tall hat and put it on her own head, everyone knew that she was a smoker and drinker, and she couldn't wear it steadily.
Zhou's father put on the watch and was reluctant to take it off. Zhou's mother wore it for a while, took it off, and was reluctant to wear it anymore.
"Mom, wear it when you go to work tomorrow and take it off when you're home doing things."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother hesitated.
"Mom, if you don't wear it, it will break easily if you leave it for a long time. It's like a kitchen knife. If you don't use it for a long time, it will rust. This watch is also made of metal."
Zhou's mother softened. "Okay, I wear it to work every day. This strap is quite suitable."
Haha, I tried it on someone of similar height, weight and size, and adjusted the strap, and of course they all fit.
Zhou's father and mother happily took the watches back to the house. Zhou Xiang looked at the small gifts that were neglected on the table and shrugged helplessly. Who told you that you are not precious enough!
The next day, when Zhou's father came back humming a little tune and carrying pork with a rosy face, he was stopped by Zhou Xiang.
Zhou wanted to take out a ton of coal tickets and asked his father to accompany him to buy coal.
"Buy a ton? Where to put it?" Zhou's father asked his daughter.
"Then buy half a ton." Zhou wanted to get back half of the coal tickets.
"What kind of coal?"
"Buy both large lumps of coal and honeycomb briquettes. We don't have much honeycomb briquettes left at home. Mom is busy at work and doesn't have time, so we'll go."
"You just feel sorry for your mom. Don't I go to work?"
"If there were no market today, you would have finished your work this morning. Chinese New Year is almost here, and it would take a few days to count on my mother. Let's buy the coal today, and then there's the market tomorrow. We can buy the New Year's goods there, and then we can wait for the New Year peacefully, right?"
"Will your mother agree to let us buy New Year's goods?"
"That was in previous years. We didn't plan carefully and didn't have enough money to spend. But this year, I'm the one making the money, right? I'll take care of the New Year's shopping. Dad, you can buy whatever you want."
When Zhou's father heard his daughter say this, he was happy and said, "Let's go buy some coal and borrow a cart."
The father and daughter locked the door and went out to buy coal. There were few people buying coal at the coal yard in the town because everyone was reluctant to spend money and relied on chopping and collecting firewood.
Since there were few people, the machine would only be turned on to pound coal when someone bought it. Zhou Xiang paid the money and ticket, determined the quantity of honeycomb coal, and the coal yard started to pound coal.
Zhou wanted to catch the coal on the conveyor belt, stack three or four pieces, and then turn around and hand them to her father. At the beginning, it was okay, but gradually the father and daughter could no longer catch the coal.
When the people in the coal yard saw the honeycomb coal dropped on the ground, they hurried over to help, and the three of them worked faster to pick up the coal.
The father and daughter labored to bring the honeycomb coal home, moving it from the cart to the kitchen, making dozens of trips back and forth.
He went to the coal yard to pull out large coal blocks and saw a pile of honeycomb coal blocks piled next to it. Zhou wanted to ask if they wanted to sell them.
The coal yard worker nodded and said, "Sell it. Two dollars and sixty cents for one hundred catties. I'll take half of the receipt."
"Okay, I'll take all of this."
Father Zhou grabbed his daughter and asked, "Why did you buy this?"
"Hey, light up the kang!"
After hearing this, Zhou's father no longer objected. When the two of them were pulling back the big lump of coal, they met Ling Ran who came to find Zhou Xiang.
Ling Ran hesitated for the whole morning, but couldn't help but come over.
When Zhou Xiang saw Ling Ran, he thought of what he had done yesterday. He wanted to ignore him, but when he saw the apologetic and guilty expression on his face, he gave up.
"You're here, just in time to help. We already bought 500 kilograms of honeycomb coal. I'm exhausted."
Hearing Zhou Xiang asking him to do something, Ling Ran happily picked up the shovel and prepared to shovel coal.
Zhou's father glared at his daughter and asked, "How could you ask other people's children to work for your family?"
"Of course, that's not necessary. Uncle can handle it himself. If she gets tired, just tell her to rest."
Ling Ran shook his head, "It's okay, I have the strength, I'll help, it's faster."
Zhou wanted to go inside to wash the black coal off his hands and sit down to rest. He was really tired. Those 500 kilograms of honeycomb briquettes cost more than 300 yuan! He and his father had gone in and out to carry them dozens of times.
Looking at the two people unloading coal outside, Zhou Xiang took out some brown sugar, brewed a cup of brown sugar water and drank it, only then did he feel a little stronger.
After the two men unloaded the large lumps of coal, Zhou wanted to go out and buy the broken honeycomb coal.
When Ling Ran heard that there was still some work to be done, he told Zhou Xiang not to go and that he would go with Uncle Zhou.
Zhou wanted to give the ticket to his father and let him go alone.
I went back to the house and looked at yesterday's fruits. They were a little frozen, so I put them back into the space and replaced them with some more.
He found a cloth bag, put the six apples at the bottom and the six peaches on top, and asked Ling Ran to take it back later.
The broken honeycomb coal that was brought back was piled against the north wall of the new stove, just behind the door and out of the way.
Zhou Xiang poured hot water from the thermos and asked Ling Ran and Zhou's father to wash their hands. Then he changed the water twice before washing them clean. He took out a Pechoin and asked the two to wipe their hands.
Father Zhou waved his hand and refused to wipe it. Ling Ran took the woman's stuff, dug out some, and wiped his hands. His hands were chapped last time and they healed. If he didn't wipe it, he was afraid that they would crack again and it would be very itchy.
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