Li Qiuxia wiped away her tears and said, "Third sister, let me tell you, after Dalin's leg became lame, our family had no money, no food, and we had two children to feed.
I secretly took the rope and went out several times. Xiaobin seemed to know that I was going to commit suicide. He followed me eagerly and kept calling for mom to come home. My second sister was crying at home..."
Li Qiuyue's throat seemed to be blocked by something, and after a while she said, "In fact, Third Sister's family didn't have an easy life before, but their life after the division of households has been better than yours.
Since the year before last, the youngest child brought Chunyan home. Her husband is a doctor and knows herbs. She took us to the mountains to dig herbs to sell, and then helped people collect mushrooms and truffles. Only then did the family gradually get better. "
After hearing this, Li Qiuxia said enviously, "Third sister, your youngest brother and his wife are so nice. If it were my family, they would not only take us with them to make money, but would even want us to go out and beg for food. That would make them happy!"
When Li Qiuyue heard her words and thought of the past, her face couldn't help but get hot. "Yes, we in the third house are all thanks to them. Without them helping us, we can only build three mud-walled houses at most."
"Third sister, among the four of us, you have always been the most opinionated. You have worked hard for yourself. Now, your third brother-in-law treats you well, and even the people in my mother-in-law's family treat you well. Secretary Zhang's eldest sister has a harder life than you."
"Yeah, in the past, my second sister, you and I envied Secretary Zhang's eldest sister the most. Her mother, husband and brothers treated her well, and her partner was a retired soldier."
Li Qiuyue's eyes flashed with the bright red wedding quilt and the boxes and baskets. "The Zhang family bought her so much dowry. She married in a grand ceremony in the village at the foot of the mountain. The bright red corduroy clothes and Dacron pants looked very foreign."
Li Qiuxia recalled the past and smiled bitterly, "Third sister, I often wondered at that time, why did the Zhang family treat me so well? Why didn't my family treat me as human beings? Why was I not born into the Zhang family, but into the Li family?"
"It will get better in the future." Li Qiuyue saw that the rocks on the roadside were covered with Drynaria, "Look, that's called Drynaria, it's also a herb, and it can be sold for money."
After seeing it, Li Qiuxia said happily: "We call this monkey ginger here. There are a lot of them in the mountains. After Dalin fell, the local doctor mashed it up and applied it to him."
Li Qiuyue: "There are other herbs, such as Millettia reticulata, Artemisia selengensis, Viola yedoensis, and dandelion. They are everywhere in the mountains. You can pick them, wash them, and dry them. You can send them to Baicaoping to sell to the youngest brother, or you can take a ride to Ning'an to sell them."
"When Dalin is well, I will go dig them up and sell them for money." Li Qiuxia looked at the winding and rugged mountain road. "It's too far for us to go out of the mountain. It would be great if your youngest brother could come to our side to collect herbs."
"Unless there are good herbs for sale in Jianshanzi, these alone wouldn't even be enough to pay for the tractor's gas!"
"We usually find some fungus and mushrooms and go to the town supply and marketing cooperative to exchange for money. No one digs herbs to sell. The local doctor does have herbs for sale, but he himself has a limp in one leg, so I'm afraid he doesn't have any good medicine."
"That's useless. The youngest one collected the best herbs. The country doctor couldn't even fix a bone properly, and it seems he can't recognize a few herbs." Li Qiuyue took a sip of water and looked down the mountain. She saw a house vaguely in the valley. "Are we almost there?"
"Yes, we'll be there when we get down." Li Qiuxia looked down the mountain. "When I left, I fried some pancakes for Xiaobin and put them in the pot. I asked Aunt Xie next door to help look after Xiaobin. She's a good person, but her family is as poor as ours. I wonder how the child is doing now?"
"You've been out for two or three days. A five-year-old child is left alone at home, and his grandparents don't help take care of him. I'm afraid he's crying to death."
"Da Lin's legs make it difficult for him to walk, so I can't carry him at all. I have to carry my second sister, so I have to leave him at home. Xiao Bin is very sensible. He knows how to help us with work when he is just a little bit older."
Li Qiuyue thought that no matter where she went, her parents-in-law would take good care of her children at home, so she was glad that she had such a good pair of parents-in-law.
After the sun went down, the forest looked eerie. The two sisters stopped talking and just kept on walking. Finally, they arrived at Jianshanzi Brigade before dark.
The village is located in a mountain valley. When you enter the village, you can see that some of the villages have stone walls and thatched roofs, while others have earthen walls and thatched roofs.
It was dinner time. Some people were squatting at the door with bowls in their hands. They were eating potatoes, porridge and pickled chili peppers with relish.
Most of the villagers were wearing clothes with patches on top of patches. When they saw the two sisters entering the village, they looked at them curiously.
Several women looked at the two sisters and gathered together to discuss in a low voice, "Whose relatives in the city are they? Why do they look familiar?"
"It looks like Qiuxia from Gao Dalin's family."
"Impossible! Those two are like beggars. How can they afford such nice clothes?"
"That's right, they're dressed like those city people in the movies. I wish I had a dress like that."
Li Qiuxia seemed not to hear the discussions of these people, nor did she greet the villagers who were looking at her curiously. She just kept walking forward with her head down, carrying her basket on her back.
Li Qiuyue poked Li Qiuxia and whispered, "Who are these people?"
Li Qiuxia shook her head. "A few gossipy women, just like my sister-in-law, love to gossip about my family outside. We moved out and had no place to live, so kind people in the village helped us fix up our shack. But they laughed at me outside and said that I was living in a cowshed."
Li Qiuyue looked back and saw that these people lived in thatched houses, which looked even worse than her own old house. If they looked down on Qiuxia's cowshed, how bad must her house be?
Li Qiuxia led her and strode forward. Behind the two sisters were a group of children and a few nosy women.
Li Qiuyue followed her all the way to a thatched hut covered with yellow mud at the foot of the mountain at the end of the village. She saw a big-headed baby with sparse and dry hair squatting alone in front of a wooden door nailed with wooden boards. He was holding a stick in his hand and poking the ground.
Li Qiuxia stepped forward and shouted happily: "Xiaobin, mom is back, and your third aunt is here to see you too."
Gao Xiaobin looked up at her, tears streaming down his face, he cried, "Mom, they said you don't want me anymore, that I'm a little beggar that no one wants, but I'm not a beggar."
The weather in Jianshanzi is much colder than in Funiu. Li Qiuyue saw that Gao Xiaobin's face and nose were frozen red, his clothes and pants were all patched, and some of them were big. The chicken-shaped shoes on his feet also had several patches on them.
Li Qiuxia hugged him distressedly and patted his back gently, "They are talking nonsense, our Xiaobin is not a beggar." Then she pulled him happily, "Xiaobin, call Third Aunt quickly."
"Third Aunt." Gao Xiaobin looked at Li Qiuyue and called out shyly.
"Hey!" Li Qiuyue grabbed a handful of candy from her pocket and handed it to him, "Xiaobin, be good and eat the candy."
She heard the sound of swallowing saliva behind her, turned her head and saw five children, some of whom had snot hanging down their mouths.
Li Qiuyue took out five candies from her bag and handed them over, "One for each of you. Play nicely with Xiaobin from now on, and don't fight!"
"Oh oh!" An older child reached out and grabbed the candy, turned around and ran away. The others also happily took it, as if they were afraid that Li Qiuyue would go back on her word, so they took it and ran away.
"Sister, let's go in!" Li Qiuxia glanced at the women who were watching them not far away, and pulled her and the child into the shack.
When I went in, I found that the shack was made of wooden boards and a layer of yellow mud was pasted on the outside to keep it warm.
There was a single-burner stove inside, a small square table made of wooden boards, and a few small benches, separated by bamboo strips. There was a small door at the entrance, and it seemed that was where people lived.
It really is a shack! It is not as good as the shacks that people used to live in by the fish pond in the village. At least those shacks have mud brick walls.
No wonder Qiuxia didn't allow us to bring anything else back and only gave Xiaobin some inner and outer clothes, a jacket, and cotton pants. It's really that this house is only for protection against good people, not bad people!
Gao Xiaobin looked at the candy in his hand and raised his head to look at Li Qiuxia, "Mom, this is the candy my third aunt gave me."
"Aunt bought this especially for you." Li Qiuxia smiled and picked up a candy, peeled off the candy wrapper, and fed it to him, "Hurry up and thank your aunt!"
Gao Xiaobin felt so sweet that his heart was filled with joy. He puffed out his cheeks and squinted his eyes happily, "Thank you, auntie!"
"You're welcome!" Li Qiuyue put down the basket and took out a piece of the rice candy she brought with her. "If you're hungry, eat this first. Wait for your mom to heat up some buns for you."
The child is over five years old, not much taller than Xiaolin, with a big head and a thin neck, and you might be afraid that the neck will break.
"Dumplings!" Gao Xiaobin looked at Li Qiuxia, "Are they the dumplings my grandma made for Xiaojun? Grandma made dumplings for Xiaojun but didn't give them to me and my sister. She even said they were debt collectors."
"My Xiaobin is not a debt collector!" Li Qiuxia's nose was sore after hearing this and she rubbed his head. "It tastes better than his, it's made of white flour and has meat inside!"
"Really?" Gao Xiaobin smiled happily, "The meat is delicious!" He then happily brought a small stool to Li Qiuyue, "Third aunt, please sit down!"
Li Qiuyue found that Li Qiuxia had taught him very well, so she took the bench and rubbed his dry and yellow hair, "Xiaobin is so good!"
"I said it was Qiuxia!" A thin and petite woman walked in. "Qiuxia, which one is this? Look at what you're wearing, I can't recognize you."
"Thank you, Auntie. This is my third sister." Li Qiuxia grabbed a few pieces of candy and a few pieces of rice candy and handed them over. "Thank you for troubling you these two days."
"No trouble, no trouble." Aunt Xie smiled so hard that she couldn't close her mouth. She quickly put the candy and rice candy into her trouser pockets, looked outside again, and whispered, "Your mother-in-law came yesterday and asked you to help dig the ground. She said she wanted to plant potatoes."
Li Qiuxia's eyes darkened, "I understand, thank you very much, Auntie."
"It's okay, just be careful." Aunt Xie smiled at Li Qiuyue before leaving, "Her third sister, sit down!"
Li Qiuyue smiled and nodded, "Yes, come and play, Auntie!"
"That's right, that's right!" Aunt Xie left happily. (End of this chapter)
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