Home visits
"Uncle, are you okay? If you feel unwell, let's go out and have a look." Qin Wenli came over and asked.
Perhaps out of consideration for his nephew's face, Hu Deyang finally let out an "ah..." and came back to his senses.
Qin Wenli quickly asked: "Uncle, are you okay? Are you feeling unwell anywhere..."
"It's okay... why are you here?"
Qin Wenli was preparing his words when his old mother said sarcastically, "I heard that you were chased away and you are making a scene... Do you think I would be willing to come to your house..."
Yang Xiu quickly pulled her mother-in-law's sleeve, and Hu Yufeng reluctantly shut her mouth.
Hu Deyang seemed not to care, waved his hand and said: "I'm fine, you are busy at home, go back quickly..."
Seeing that her mother-in-law was about to get angry again, Yang Xiu quickly stepped forward and said in a gentle voice: "Uncle, what do you want to eat? I'll make something for you to fill your stomach."
Hu Deyang didn't think there were only two of them, but when he saw Yang Xiu was there too, and recalled the full basin of urine on the floor, he suddenly felt so ashamed that he wanted to crawl into the quilt. He can still ignore his face in front of his sister and nephew, but his nephew's wife is another matter. He is not shameless enough to that extent.
At this moment, he dodged and said, "Wenli's wife is here too... It's okay, don't worry, I'm not hungry..."
"Come on, why are you pretending? Yufang said you haven't eaten for a few meals and you're not hungry. Xiu'er, you and Xizi should go make some porridge for me. My stomach can't stand not eating for a few meals..."
The two of them agreed crisply and walked out. Hu Deyang quickly struggled to stand up and stopped them, saying, “Stop, stop working…” There was no rice at home! ! !
Sure enough, the two of them searched for a while but came back empty-handed. Xizi asked loudly, "Uncle, where is the rice?"
Seeing Hu Yufeng also looking over, Hu Deyang closed his eyes and simply gave up: "No more, all gone, all sold out..."
Even though Hu Yufeng was mentally prepared, she couldn't help but get furious at this moment. She sneered, "No wonder they don't want you anymore. They've squeezed every last drop of oil out of you... Hu Deyang, Hu Deyang, how come you've been living like a pig for over sixty years? How come you don't have any brains at all? I told you in the first month of the year to get rid of it quickly, but you, you think I'm annoying and rush to invest all your belongings in it... What do you think they want? You? Bah, why don't you look at yourself in the urinal..."
Hu Deyang closed his eyes and refused to listen. The three juniors looked at each other.
Hu Yufeng vented her anger, and Yang Xiu thought for a moment and said, "Mom, Xizi and I will go back to her house and cook some food for my uncle?"
Without waiting for Hu Yufeng to nod, the two of them hurried out of the house and moved a little further away. Xizi could no longer hold back her laughter: "Aunt is really awesome. She trains uncle like a grandson..."
Yang Xiu: ...
"If you ask me, my uncle deserves it. I can see that they are trying to cheat him out of his money, but he foolishly thought that they were attracted to him..."
Yang Xiu sighed in his heart and advised: "Okay, just say this in front of me, but don't say it to your aunt or auntie..."
"I can save myself from that. After all, they are siblings. Didn't my uncle get a beating this morning?"
Talking about Xizi made Yang Xiu laugh again, and he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.
*
While she was cooking porridge, Qin Wenli came over and said he was going to get the washing powder. Hu Yufeng was already angry and had scolded him enough, so she prepared to clean up the house for her elder brother.
"We need to clean it up. The house is so dirty that it's easy to get sick if you live in it... Wait a minute, Mom can't finish cleaning it alone, let's go together..." Yang Xiu called Qin Wenli, and then gave Xizi some instructions, and the two of them walked back together.
On the way, Yang Xiu saw that there was no one around, so he whispered, "Why don't we ask mom to bring some rice or noodles for uncle? The food is gone, and we can't get it back no matter how angry we are. We can't let him starve, can we?"
Qin Wenli nodded: "I thought so too. Mom might not be able to bring it up, so I'll tell her later..."
At Hu Deyang's house, Hu Yufeng was boiling water and was getting very angry.
"How long have you not had a fire at home? Look at the chimney, it's blocked and the smoke can't get up..."
Hu Deyang muttered when he heard this: "I don't need such a big pot by myself, why should I burn it..."
Hu Yufeng held back her anger and said, "What do you usually eat? Don't tell me you only eat cold food."
"Here..." Hu Deyang pointed at the kang door, "Just put two bricks at the entrance of the kang hole and put a teacup..."
Hu Yufeng was furious when she saw the blackened kang door. After a long while, she cursed, "Why don't you just be lazy to death..."
*
When Qin Wenli and his wife arrived, they saw the old mother, who was as angry as a puffer fish, jumping and poking the chimney with a long pole.
Qin Wenli stuffed the washing powder into his wife's hand, stepped forward to take the pole and asked, "Mom, what's wrong? Let me take a look."
Hu Yufeng breathed a sigh of relief, patted the ashes in her hands, pointed at the tall chimney and said, "It hasn't been lit for a long time, and the top board is blocked. You are tall and see if you can poke it open..."
Qin Wenli tried it, but it was a little low, so he went to get a stool. However, one leg of the stool was unstable. Yang Xiu came over to support it. If he used too much force, he was afraid that the crumbling chimney would collapse, but if he used too little force, the wooden board would not move at all, which made Qin Wenli sweat all over his forehead. Fortunately, hard work pays off. Xizi brought all the porridge over and the chimney was finally unblocked.
Yang Xiu and Qin Wenli smiled at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.
Hu Deyang was hesitant at first, but after being scolded by Hu Yufeng, he obediently picked up the bowl and drank it all.
Yang Xiu took over the job of making fire and prepared to light a fire to boil water. But the problem came again: Hu Deyang's family had no firewood...
Logically speaking, Hu Deyang grows corn and wheat, so there should be crop straw. However, the two of them searched around the house but couldn't find any! The two looked at each other: No need to ask, he must have been taken to his lover's home. After all, only people like Hu Deyang who don't have any livestock use straw as firewood, while other families use it to feed livestock.
There was no firewood, so the two could only look for dead branches everywhere. Fortunately, Hu Deyang's home was at the foot of the mountain, and he was not a very diligent person, so there were still quite a lot of dead branches left.
The two of them quickly picked up a large bundle and gathered some dead grass from last winter as fire starter, and successfully lit the stove fire. Yang Xiu couldn't help but feel lucky that it hadn't rained recently, otherwise the house would be full of smoke if the firewood and grass were wet, and Hu Deyang would inevitably be scolded by Hu Yufeng.
Yang Xiu was making a fire, Qin Wenli was collecting firewood, Hu Yufeng was sweeping the house with a broken broom, and Hu Deyang, who had drunk two bowls of porridge, was also pulled out by her to sit at the door to bask in the sun. In Hu Yufeng's words, "Let him see the light soon, so that he won't have to worry about all these stupid things..."
Yang Xiuli rolled up her sleeves, poured half a basin of warm water into Xizi's laundry basin, sprinkled Xizi's laundry detergent on it, and began to scrub the clothes. In other words, Yang Xiuna had never washed such dirty clothes since she was born, and it was a big challenge for her. Yang Xiu loved challenges, so she scrubbed harder and harder, which made Hu Yufeng's eyes twitch. She couldn't help but say, "Xiu'er, just scrub it casually. If it really can't be washed off, forget it..." At this rate, the clothes might get torn before they were washed clean...
Yang Xiu breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this: Emma, this old stain is really stubborn, she has to admit defeat, with her mother-in-law's words she can get away with it.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law each said their own things, but both breathed a sigh of relief and started a new round of washing, scrubbing and sweeping.
After Qin Wenli finished collecting firewood, he went to clear the grass. I have to say that Uncle Hu is a talented person. In the yard, which is not big to begin with, only the path where he walks every day can still show traces of soil. Everywhere else is occupied by layers of dense weeds, including under the eaves! ! !
It would be fine if it was all short grass, and we could have thought it was a lawn. But the problem is that there are also Chinese jujube seedlings mixed in, and they are covered with small thorns and they cry when they are pricked. I don't know if Uncle Hu is used to being pricked, or if the dead skin on his feet is too thick, so he has to bow to the Chinese jujube thorns.
Since he had nothing to do anyway, Qin Wenli started from under the eaves, shoveling up the ground as well. Soon he had cleared out a piece of open space, which would allow Hu Yufeng to hang a rope to hang out clothes.
*
This took four hours. Several people cleaned Hu Deyang's house inside and out, replaced the bedding with clean ones, and put new paper on the windows. Hu Yufeng even pressed Hu Deyang down to wash his head and feet, and then she collapsed on the stool that Qin Wenli had repaired.
"I've cleaned up everything here and there for you. I've said everything I need to say. Just consider it as a lesson learned. You didn't suffer any loss anyway, so stop pestering me. Also, don't keep thinking about that. You're already in your sixties, why do you want an old woman? She's eager to serve you. Her son can only give you a half-father, but you still want him to see you to the end of your life? Be more diligent in the future. If the day comes when you can't move anymore, you still have me and Yufang. Don't worry about the future without even realizing it..."
Hu Yufeng reminded him again, and seeing her elder brother with his head almost hanging down in his pants, she softened her heart again and whispered, "Okay, I'll go back first and come to see you another day..."
Hu Deyang didn't look up and waved at her.
Before leaving, Hu Yufeng was worried and reminded him: "When you have time, empty your urine pot. If I do the same thing next time, don't blame me for being angry..."
Qin Wenli and his companions also said goodbye to Hu Deyang before leaving.
…
The footsteps outside the house gradually faded away until they could no longer be heard. Hu Deyang slowly raised his head, looked around the brand new house, and couldn't help wiping his face. Just as I was about to stand up, my stomach growled twice. He couldn't help but freeze: It's over, all the food has been sold, and there is nothing to eat at home. When he thought again about his supply channels, his face became even more stiff: It's not even May yet, and there's no one offering sacrifices to the temple. He doesn't want to starve to death! You forgot to leave any food for his dear sister! ! !
Hu Yufeng didn't forget, but how could she bring it up? Should she say, "Your uncle has nothing to eat, so bring some from our house?" or "Give some rice from our home to your uncle?" She would have been hesitant about it before, but the problem was that she was Hu Yufeng and had to save face, so she couldn't open her mouth!
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