Chapter 15 15 Knock
The four of them got off the tractor road, walked across the field, and arrived at the door of their home. Several children squatting at the door waved their hands and ran over.
Zhou Jiaming, who was running in front, came up and held Zhou Huairong's hand, looking up at Zhou's father, "Grandpa, you're back!"
"Grandpa, did you buy anything delicious?"
Father Zhou rubbed his grandson's head, smiled and nodded, "Go home, I bought some candy for you."
"Oh, there are candies." Several children turned around and ran home.
Mother Zhou heard the children's cheers and came out holding Zhou Xiaolin. When she saw the four of them, her smile instantly spread, "You're back!"
"I'm back." Zhou's father responded cheerfully.
When Zhou's mother saw her husband's expression, she knew that the bezoar had been exchanged for money.
Zhou Huairong, who was walking behind, turned around and was about to close the door when he saw the second and third couples, carrying a load of grass and rushing over in a hurry.
Zhou Huaishan said with a smile: "We saw you coming back from afar, so we hurried back too."
Zhou Huairong smiled and nodded, "We just arrived."
When the people behind heard this, their eyes immediately lit up, and they walked into the yard eagerly, closed the gate, put down their burdens, and quickly walked towards the main room.
Father Zhou took out the candies from his pocket and gave two to each of the children. "Jia Ming, take your brothers and sisters to play at the gate of the courtyard. Grandpa and grandma have something to say to your father and the others."
"Yeah!" Zhou Jiaming knew that the adults had something to say, so he obediently took Zhou Xiaolin's hand and took his younger siblings to the yard to play.
Yang Chunyan entered the main room and went to the room where her parents-in-law lived. She took off her purse and the cotton cloth under her body was already soaked with sweat.
She came out of the house carrying her purse and saw her family crowded around the eight-immortal table, with more than ten pairs of eyes looking at her.
Yang Chunyan put the money bag on the eight-immortal table, "Here is eight thousand yuan."
"Ah~" Several people in the family covered their mouths in surprise, watching Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian pull bundles of big unity out of the bag.
Several pairs of eyes looked at the great unity on the Eight Immortals Table without blinking, and smelled the banknotes with a faint smell of ink.
Father Zhou untied the pin and put the two hundred and sixty-eight yuan in his pocket on the table. "These are the money I got for that thing."
Mother Zhou looked at the money and wanted to speak, but for some reason her lips trembled violently. She covered her mouth, tears suddenly fell, and after calming down, she said:
"No wonder people often say that a man cannot be rich without external wealth, and a horse cannot grow fat without night grass. An old farmer has been digging for food in the soil all his life, and his family can hardly even have enough food and clothing. Our whole family has worked very hard for so many years, and we have only saved 500 yuan..."
Zhou Huaian looked at Zhou's mother and felt as if his heart was pricked by a needle.
Yang Chunyan hung her head in sadness, and everyone lost their excitement.
Father Zhou patted his wife's hand sadly and said, "Guilan, you should be happy."
Zhou Huairong consoled her, "Mom, with this money we can build a new house, you should be happy."
Mother Zhou nodded, looking at the few people crying and laughing, "Mom is happy, how can I not be happy!"
Father Zhou looked at his son and daughter-in-law and said, "We are lucky to have the baby, but we ran into Ma Changgui when we went out this morning. I am afraid that within two days, the news that we have the baby will spread."
He paused, looking at his sons and daughters-in-law sternly, "Remember this, no matter who asks, you must deny it. Huifang, when you return to your parents' home, keep your mouths shut. Once the news leaks out, not only will the Xiong family come to trouble us, but most of our relatives will also be offended."
When Yang Chunyan heard this, she immediately understood what he meant. Everyone was poor these days, and once relatives and friends learned that the Zhou family had sold their treasures, many of them would probably come to borrow money.
In the countryside, half of the village are relatives and friends. When one asks to borrow some money for his grown-up son to get married, and another asks to borrow some money for medical treatment, will you lend the money or not?
If you don't lend, people will think you are cruel. If your relatives are in trouble, you won't help them even if you are rich.
Lend it to them. They will think that the money is extra money and will not be grateful. Instead, they will be jealous of your good luck.
If you borrow money from one family, you will offend another family. In the end, you may not only fail to build the house, but also offend all your relatives.
As it concerns their own interests, Zhao Huifang and the others said in unison: "Don't worry, old man, we won't tell anyone, not even your family members."
Father Zhou nodded with relief: "Don't worry, your mother and I will hide the money tightly, and we won't lend it to anyone."
"Old man, we know." Several people responded in unison.
Father Zhou waved his hand and said, "Okay, all of you go back to work."
Yang Chunyan walked a few steps, turned back and said, "Old man, put some charcoal in to prevent moisture when hiding."
Father Zhou nodded and asked Mother Zhou to carry the money into the room. He went to the kitchen and found a clay pot. Then he thought about it and grabbed a few handfuls of charcoal from the pot in front of the stove. He smashed them and put them into the pot.
He returned to the room holding the jar in one hand and the hoe in the other.
Seeing Zhou's mother holding a stack of money, her fingers dipped in saliva, the corners of her mouth raised, counting seriously, he felt sad and funny, "She is so happy counting money!"
Zhou's mother raised her head and glanced at him. "I've lived to an age where the dirt is buried under my chin, and I've only just seen so much money. Can't I just satisfy my desire to spend it?"
"Okay, no one will deny you a taste." Father Zhou sat next to her and said gently, "When you have had enough, we will hide it again."
"Oh!" Zhou's mother sighed and handed the money to Zhou's father, "Hide it!"
Father Zhou nodded and pulled aside the oilcloth.
The couple wrapped the money in oilcloth and put it in a jar. They tied the jar tightly with the oilcloth and covered it with a lid. They lifted the cabinet placed beside the bed, dug a deep hole, buried the jar in the soil, tamped the soil, and lifted the cabinet back and put it away.
The old couple cleared out the excess soil and poured it into the manure pile in the backyard. They also scooped some manure water and poured it on it, sprinkled some wood ash, then clapped their hands and went back to the room. They looked at each other, sat on the edge of the bed, and smiled at each other comfortably.
With this money, the old couple felt more confident, and the heavy burden on their hearts was no longer there.
"Secretary Xu has agreed to help us buy wood. When he comes back and marks out the foundation, we can start digging the yellow mud."
Secretary Xu is considered to be a secretary with a good reputation among several nearby brigades. A few years ago, everyone was hungry and had nothing to eat, so they came to him for help. He asked everyone to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes in the woods and secretly distributed them to everyone.
Now the number of acres of paddy fields that the Funiusiu Brigade has to pay as public grain is real, but the mountain land it has been allocated has been converted, so it only needs to pay a small half of the public grain for sweet potatoes, potatoes and sorghum.
The Fangtian Brigade in the next village is not in such a good situation. It has to pay more than half of its income.
"Oh! They will be able to live in a brick house next year." Zhou's mother looked at the cabinet with a smile, "If the youngest can change, we two old guys can rest in peace when we die."
Father Zhou's face darkened, "I think it's difficult!"
After hearing this, Zhou's mother also fell silent.
Zhou Huairong opened the gate and saw several children sitting in a row at the door. "What are you doing here? Why don't you go out and play?"
Zhou Xiaoqian looked at him and said, "We want to eat plums."
Zhao Huifang smiled and nodded, "Let my brother pick them for you. Be careful not to fall."
"Oh." Zhou Jiaming walked towards the backyard with a group of children.
As soon as Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian followed his brother and sister-in-law out, they saw several of Zhou Huaian's friends standing at the intersection, looking at him with smiles.
Zhou Huaian immediately shook off a few people and ran towards them.
Zhou Huairong looked at them with disdain, shook his head and left.
Li Qiuyue curled her lips and said, "The bones and flesh you grow at birth are not changed unless you are reborn in your next life."
Yang Chunyan glanced at a few people indifferently and walked straight over.
Zhao Huifang stopped and looked at her, "Chunyan, why don't you call Huai'an to come along? If those four get together, nothing good will happen!"
Yang Chunyan shook her head. It was useless to shout at the top of her lungs in her previous life. This time, she was too lazy to shout. Let’s see how long he can go crazy.
(End of this chapter)
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