Chapter 1 I picked up a little girl
The wind was strong and fierce, sweeping through the dilapidated village at the foot of the barren mountain.
This famine will completely cut off people’s livelihood!
In the midst of the wind and sand, Old Man Yu's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wei, with something rolled up in a torn mat under her arm, struggled to break open the door of her house from the outside.
Old man Yu quickly used his shoulder to prop up the wooden door that was creaking in the wind, and finally bolted it with all his might. He turned around and saw his wife shaking out something from the tattered mat on the kang - it turned out to be a dirty little girl.
The little girl was a little shy. She rolled over and sat up, not knowing where to put her hands and feet.
Old Man Yu took a deep breath and said, "Where did this little girl come from?"
Mrs. Wei sat on the edge of the kang, feeling a little irritated and confused: "It was picked up from the rocky beach at the bottom of the mountain. The world is in a difficult situation right now, and I don't know whose child was lost. The child must have drifted down from the upper reaches of the Mao River. His clothes were torn by the rocks, and he was lying pitifully on the waterless rocky beach. What a sin!"
The wind was howling outside, causing the dim candlelight in the house to flicker violently.
Old man Yu looked carefully at the little child on the kang in the flickering candlelight.
The little girl looked no more than three or four years old, and was skinny. Although her face was covered with scratches from rocks, it could not hide her cute features. Add to that the tattered clothes she wore and the fact that she didn't know where to put her hands and feet, and one could not help but feel pity for her.
Old Man Yu couldn't help asking, "Son, what's your name? How old are you? Where are you from?"
Tears quickly welled up in the little girl's round almond-shaped eyes.
She couldn't remember anything. She had a headache. She only vaguely remembered that someone pushed her off the boat and into the water...
The little girl sniffed, trying hard to hold back her sobs, and whispered, "Grandpa, I only remember that my name is Xingxing, and I'm three years old..."
The little girl couldn't help but knocked her head.
What should I do? I still can’t remember.
She cried, "Grandpa, I can't remember Xingxing anymore. It seems like someone pushed Xingxing off the boat and into the water..."
Although the little girl was very young, she spoke clearly and fluently. Her voice was soft and tender, and she looked even more pitiful because she was trying hard to hold back her tears.
Mrs. Wei's brows furrowed even deeper.
Old man Yu couldn't help but sigh: "I can't remember anything. This child must have hit something in the water and hurt his head!...Alas, what kind of world is this? I heard that Lao Zheng saw a dead child in the wild forest on the mountainside last month. Half of the body was eaten by jackals...This year is not good, and many families throw their children away. But throwing them away is equivalent to sending the child to die, isn't it?"
Xingxing sobbed and tried hard not to cry.
So, Xingxing is a child that no one wants.
Xingxing thought that she couldn't cry. Someone seemed to have told her before that crying was annoying.
She couldn't cry, couldn't cry...wuwuwu.
Mrs. Wei stared at the dirty doll on the kang, trying hard to hold back her sobs. She didn't know where to put her hands and feet, and her brows were furrowed.
Suddenly, the dirty doll's stomach growled very loudly.
Even though there was a strong wind outside, it could not drown out the sound.
All three of them heard it clearly.
The little girl's dirty face turned red!
She held her bulging belly and her head was almost lowered to her belly!
Mrs. Wei frowned, suddenly turned around and opened the cupboard, took out the last half of the doll from the cupboard, and although it was painful, she still stuffed it into the dirty doll with a cold face and said in a not very friendly tone: "Eat!"
The little girl looked at Grandma Wei with tears in her eyes, blushing and whispering, "Thank you, grandma."
Mrs. Wei turned her face away and said nothing.
Old man Yu chuckled twice, sat on the edge of the kang, and looked at the little girl with some curiosity as she held the steamed buns and ate them in small bites.
"Compared to those brats in our family, this little girl's eating manners are really elegant!" Old man Yu couldn't help but praise her. After praising her, he couldn't help but worry, "...It's this little girl, she has no relatives or friends, she has forgotten everything, what should I do in the future?"
If such a young child were left outside, he would probably end up like the dead kid that Lao Zheng met, and would most likely fall into the mouth of a wolves.
Old man Yu kept sighing. He wanted to raise his family, but his family was in great difficulty during this famine. The little bit of food that they had saved with great difficulty in previous years was almost gone. In addition, the crops in the fields were dry and dry, and after such a stormy night, he didn't know how many of them could survive.
I’m afraid it will be difficult to get food in the second half of the year!
Mrs. Wei didn't respond, but stared at the little girl who was eating the steamed buns with small sips.
After a while, she slowly took out a cloth bag from her arms and put it on the table.
But it was a somewhat thin vine.
Old Man Yu often went into the mountains and was also knowledgeable. He widened his eyes and raised his voice: "Hey, old woman, isn't this the Burning Heart Grass?! Where did you get it from?"
This burning heart grass is the lead for many kinds of healing medicines, and it is very effective in promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis for injuries, but because it is very rare, it is very expensive. Although the one that Mrs. Wei took out was a little thin, it could be sold for at least four silver coins in the county drugstore after drying!
Four taels of silver can buy ten bushels of brown rice!
If you add some wild vegetables or something, it will be enough for the whole family to eat for a month!
Old man Yu was overjoyed!
Mrs. Wei then said slowly, "When I went to pick up the little girl, she was lying on two rocks in a daze. When I picked her up, I saw this burning heart grass growing in the cracks of the rocks. I guess this might be God's will - this little girl is blessed."
Old Man Yu vaguely guessed what Mrs. Wei meant. He pondered and said nothing.
After a while, Mrs. Wei finally made up her mind and said coldly to the dirty little girl, "Since your family doesn't want you anymore, you should live with me from now on! Whatever I eat, you will eat!"
"Ah?" The little girl raised her head in confusion, with some crumbs of Wowotou on the corners of her mouth, looking a little silly.
It took her a long time to react.
Is this grandmother who saved her saying she wants to raise her?
Old Man Yu was both happy and a little worried. He sighed and said, "I hope he can survive."
Mrs. Wei looked a little impatient: "How much food can a skinny little girl eat? I can keep her alive by eating less!"
Old Man Yu thought so too, nodded repeatedly, and muttered: "You are absolutely right, I will eat less too. We can't just drive such a tiny child away and let her die..."
The little girl still had tears in her eyes. She looked at Old Man Yu timidly, then looked at Old Lady Wei, who looked impatient but poured her half a bowl of water. The latter said to her with a stern face: "Water is scarce in this disaster year. Drink it sparingly... Don't choke!"
She couldn't hold back her tears!
Although she is young, she knows right from wrong.
The little girl swallowed the last of her food, slid down from the kang, kowtowed three times to Old Man Yu and Old Woman Wei with tears in her eyes, knelt there and tried hard to hold back her tears, and cried out in a sobbing voice: "Grandpa, Grandma!"
Old Man Yu cried out "Ouch!" and hurriedly helped the little girl up: "My dear! The ground is very cold, and you are so thin. What if you get hurt while kneeling?"
Although Mrs. Wei didn't say anything, her expression was somewhat gentle.
At this moment, a flash of lightning suddenly flashed outside the house, illuminating half of the sky.
The roar of thunder resounded throughout heaven and earth.
Both Old Man Yu and Mrs. Wei were stunned.
The heavy rain came quickly and urgently, and it fell down in an instant, hitting the tiles on the roof densely. The rain was frightening.
Old man Yu was so overjoyed that he didn't care about anything else. He grabbed a basin from the house and rushed out, shouting to the people in other houses in the yard: "It's raining! Come out and get some water!"
In the heavy rain, not only Old Man Yu's family, but almost all the villagers rushed out of their houses, frantically taking all kinds of water-holding tools and placing them in the yard to collect the rain water.
Although the sound of rain was heavy, the villagers' ecstatic cheers coming from all directions actually drowned out the sound of rain!
"It's raining! It's raining!"
Mrs. Wei's frowning brows were completely relaxed. She stood under the eaves, watching Old Man Yu and his family collecting rainwater in the yard using anything that could hold water, and she couldn't stop smiling.
Suddenly, a pair of small hands stretched out from her side to catch the rain falling from the eaves.
The little hand scooped up the rain water, shrank back, and then wiped the water on the face, obviously trying to use the rain water to wash its face.
The little girl wiped her face with the rain with great effort, and her front was wet.
Mrs. Wei looked at it for a while, then turned back to get a handkerchief, wet it with the rain, pulled the little girl over, and rubbed it vigorously on her face several times.
The little girl was well-behaved. She didn't dodge or evade, and let Grandma Wei do everything.
After wiping, the dirty little face disappeared, and a clean, rosy and well-behaved little face appeared behind the handkerchief.
Round almond eyes, straight nose, and chubby little face.
The sloppy little girl suddenly turned into a pink and scarred little ball.
The little dumpling tilted his head and called softly, "Grandma?"
Mrs. Wei's heart shuddered, and an inexplicable thought flashed through her mind - just when she and the old man decided to adopt Xingxing, God suddenly sent down heavy rain, alleviating the drought in the land. Could it be that this was the blessing brought by Xingxing?
Little girl, is she actually a lucky star?