The sky was grey and it rained for three days, which stopped only after the old tailor was buried.
Ruan Xi wore a hat, a linen coat and a raincoat, and walked back to the tailor shop in the mud. Ruan Cuizhi walked beside her and held her hand, subconsciously rubbing it from time to time to comfort her.
She and the old tailor had only been together for half a year, and they rarely talked to each other, and there was almost no emotional interaction. She felt very sad just to help him, let alone Ruan Xi.
Ruan Xi's eyes were red, and she kept walking without talking.
The old tailor's family had been the only son for three generations, and he had not married or had children, so he had no relatives.
His funeral was held by Ruan Cuizhi, Ruan Changsheng and Ruan Xi. The mourners who came to the funeral were all from several nearby villages. Not many people were really sad, after all, the old tailor was already very old.
Ruan Changsheng caught up from behind and followed Ruan Cuizhi and Ruan Xi and asked, "Do you want to go to the tailor shop or go home?"
Ruan Cuizhi turned to look at Ruan Changsheng and said, "Xiaoxi and I will go back to the tailor shop to clean up first, and then go home."
Ruan Changsheng nodded, "Okay, then I will go back first."
The three of them walked a short distance and then went their separate ways. Ruan Xi and Ruan Cuizhi went back to the tailor shop.
Ruan Xi planned to clean up the house inside and out and close the business for the next month.
All the personal belongings of the old tailor had been packed up and buried with him. When I returned to the shop and opened the door, I felt a sense of coldness and emptiness.
Ruan Cuizhi and Ruan Xi took off their hats and linen clothes and cleaned up the house.
The house was in a mess during the funeral, so it was necessary to clean up.
Ruan Cuizhi cleaned up for a while and said to Ruan Xi, "I don't know where Da Mi went. I haven't seen her back for a few days."
Then, as soon as Ruan Cuizhi finished speaking, Ruan Xi's hand, which was sweeping under the bed, was startled.
She pulled out Da Mi, who was lying under the bed, and found that Da Mi's whole body was completely stiff.
Ruan Cuizhi came over and saw Da Mi, her eyes dimmed, and she took a deep breath.
After a long moment, she whispered, "It went with Master Song."
There was no injury on Da Mi's body, and it was most likely that it starved itself to death.
Ruan Xi said nothing and put Da Mi away carefully.
After cleaning the house, she put Da Mi in a bamboo basket, took the shovel and went to the old tailor's grave again.
She dug a small hole next to it, put Da Mi in, and then buried it shovel by shovel, piling up a small mound of earth.
The tailor shop was closed for a month, and the gate was closed.
Ruan Cuizhi had not been to the tailor shop this month and had been working in the production team. Ruan Xi occasionally went to sit alone in the yard for a while, and she spent most of the rest of her time with Ling Yao, accompanying him to herd pigs and reading with him.
She planned to let her mind empty for a while before continuing her own life.
Because she felt most comfortable with Ling Yao, she came to see him every day.
The two of them sat on the hillside watching the pigs graze.
Ling Yao's schoolbag usually contained things, and today it contained two rare milk candies. Holding
the milk candies in the mouth, the sweet milk taste slid down the throat, and the two of them lay on the hillside looking at the sky above their heads.
The clear summer sky was as blue as a mirror, and the floating clouds were as soft as cotton candy.
If you tear it off and take a bite, it might also taste like milk.
Ruan Xi thought so.
Before the taste of milk in her mouth completely faded away, she suddenly heard a burst of urgent calls.
Ruan Xi sat up and looked over, only to see that it was Ruan Jie who came to look for her.
Ruan Jie ran up to her and panted and begged, "Sister, someone came to your house to look for you, saying that they are relatives of the old tailor."
Hearing this, Ruan Xi was slightly stunned, and hurriedly got up to say hello to Ling Yao, and followed Ruan Jie home.
Ling Yao saw that she and Ruan Jie had left, so she hurriedly took the pig home, locked the pig, and went back to Ruan's house.
When Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie returned home, they saw a white-haired old lady and two middle-aged men sitting in his house.
The faces of the three people were very unfamiliar, all of whom she had never seen before.
Ruan Xi didn't know how to greet them, so she asked, "You guys are here to see me?"
Before the three people could answer, Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng came back, followed by Ruan Cuizhi and Sun Xiaohui. Sun Xiaohui went straight to the stove room opposite, and Ruan Zhigao and the other two stood beside Ruan Xi.
Liu Xinghua came out of the room and said, "They said it was the old tailor's relative who came to see Xiaoxi."
Seeing the excitement, Sun Xiaohui stuck her head out of the stove room, her ears standing up longer than a rabbit's.
The attitudes of the three people opposite were very arrogant. The old lady looked at Ruan Xi and said, "You are the little tailor?"
Ruan Xi looked at her and replied, "I am the little tailor."
The old lady did not beat around the bush. She spoke slowly but in a hard tone, "Then I'll have to trouble you to take out the key to the old tailor's house and return it to us. Although the old tailor has no children or descendants, he is still a relative of ours. The property should not fall into the hands of an outsider like you. What do you think, girl?"
Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng looked at Ruan Xi, both of them with doubts in their eyes.
Ruan Cuizhi was an insider, and she did not show any doubts on her face. She asked, "What kind of relative are you to his family?"
She asked sincerely, but the moment she asked, she found that this sounded a bit like a sneer.
The old lady was indeed unhappy and said in a harsh voice: "My grandmother is the old tailor's great aunt. How can I be his relative? We are blood relatives after all, so the property is naturally ours."
Ruan Cuizhi concentrated and calculated. The old tailor's great aunt was far away. In other words, his great aunt and his grandfather were cousins. If the old tailor had children, his grandchildren would be five generations away.
After the calculation, Ruan Cuizhi smiled dryly
and said, "Cousin? This can't be considered a relative, right? If it is really considered a relative, I haven't seen you come to serve the old tailor for a day, and no one was even seen at the funeral..." The middle-aged man next to the old lady suddenly stood up and said, "It's a bit distant, but our ancestors are related by blood after all, and no matter how distant it is, it's much closer than you. This girl has no blood relationship with the old tailor, so the family property should not be hers!"
Ruan Zhigao had been silent the whole time. When he heard this, he looked at Ruan Xi and asked, "You have been talking for a long time. From what I heard, what you meant was that the old tailor gave you everything in the house?"
Ruan Xi looked at Ruan Zhigao and nodded, "Yeah."
Ruan Zhigao looked at Ruan Changsheng and then at Liu Xinghua, and both said they didn't know.
Sun Xiaohui was in the stove room opposite when she heard these words. Her eyes almost popped out - the old tailor had so much property, not to mention the pots and pans, but also the house, yard, sewing machine and various tools. All of them were given to Ruan Xi? !
The people in the countryside are poor. Compared with other families, the old tailor's family is already rich!
Oh my God! Such a big family, the old man actually gave it all to Ruan Xi? !
She always thought that he gave it to the production team!
This apprenticeship is too easy!
Suddenly thinking of Ruan Yuejin, who was also the old tailor's apprentice before. If he had not given up before the New Year and had persisted for another half a year, he would have been able to get a share of the pie now. Sun Xiaohui suddenly felt a lump in her heart and almost suffocated.
She held her chest for a long time to steady her breathing, and continued to listen to the people opposite.
The middle-aged man on the right of the old lady stood up again, looked at Ruan Xi and said, "We don't want to make any more trouble. It's not easy for my mother to come here at her age. You take out the key and give it to us, and the matter will be settled."
Ruan Xi took a deep breath and looked at the mother and her two children in front of her. It can be said that the mother and her two children are innocent.
The old tailor left the shop to her because she inherited his craftsmanship and could continue his business to solve the problem of making clothes for the people in the mountains. If the shop was given to these people, they would have nothing.
She had no greed for the old tailor's property. After all, she would not stay in this mountain forever. She had only one thought in her mind - since the old tailor gave her the things, she had to protect them well and not let others ruin them.
So she said bluntly: "The family property belongs to my master, and he gives it to whoever he wants. How dare you, such distant relatives, come here to ask for the family property? My master has been ill for more than half a year, and which of you has come to take care of him for a single day? Did you pay a penny for the funeral? Did you buy the coffin board or make the shroud?!"
Ruan Xi's voice became louder and louder, and in the end she almost scolded him.
No one thought that a little girl like her could say such words. The old lady and her two sons were so angry at Ruan Xi's scolding that they widened their eyes and said, "What nonsense are you talking about?! Family property has always been given to blood relatives. Outsiders can't and shouldn't take it! If you don't take the key, we will have to break the lock!"
Ruan Xi stared at the damn old woman, "You try to break it! Now that's my home! If you dare to break it, I will let Secretary Wang bring people to take you to the Office of Mass Dictatorship! Master handed me the key in front of all the cadres in the village! I don't believe that there is no law in this world, and you can do whatever you want!"
The two middle-aged men were so depressed by what she said that they looked at the white-haired old lady.
The old lady was not vain. She snorted and said, "Family property should be inherited according to blood relationship! Even if the king of heaven comes, it is still the same! You are an outsider, and a girl, how can you have the face to take other people's property!"
Ruan Cuizhi stood next to Ruan Xi and said, "If you don't agree, go find Secretary Wang!"
The old lady was choked. If it would be useful for her to find Secretary Wang, why would she come here by herself. It was because it was useless to find Secretary Wang first, so they came to the door by themselves, wanting Ruan Xi to hand over the key directly.
Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng also reacted at this time, but Ruan Zhigao said nothing. He threw away the hoe in his hand, turned around and left, and came back a moment later with a rifle in his hand.
He pointed the gun at the old lady and her two sons, and said one word: "Crawl!"
The old lady was a little scared when she saw him holding a rifle, but she still said with a breath: "Who are you trying to scare?"
Ruan Zhigao fired a shot at the ground without saying a word.
The old lady was almost frightened by the shot, and her two sons were even more frightened. Even Sun Xiaohui, who was opposite, was frightened and almost jumped out of her heart.
She had always said that her two old people and Ruan Changsheng were bandits, and it turned out to be true!
Ruan Zhigao held the gun and asked again: "Are you going to get out or not?"
The old lady was still frightened, and her two sons were also frightened.
Seeing that the three of them were silent, Ruan Zhigao raised his gun and suddenly roared: "I ask you, are you going to get out or not?!"
The two middle-aged men were startled, and seeing him raise his gun again, they hurried to help the old lady and said in unison: "Don't worry, sir, let's get out, we'll get out now."
Then they took the old lady and ran away, crawling.
After the three men left, Ruan Zhigao went into the house and hung up his rifle, then came out and sat down at the table and said, "A bunch of idiots dare to follow others to fight for the family property. They think we, the Ruan family, are easy to bully, and they act like old ladies."
Liu Xinghua sat down at the table, "Will they really break the lock?"
Ruan Zhigao said, "I think they are just bluffing. They probably won't dare. They will be scared if you act a little bit aggressive. They didn't even come to the old tailor's funeral, so what kind of relative are they? They just coveted the family property and came to try their luck."
What if they really got it by relying on that little blood relationship, wouldn't they make a fortune?
Ruan Changsheng stood beside Ruan Xi and asked, "Did you really give it all to me?"
Ruan Xi looked at him and nodded again, "Yes."
Ruan Changsheng took a deep breath and said, "I didn't expect this old man to be so loyal."
Ruan Zhigao said again, "The old tailor gave it to you, so he must trust you. You must treat him well."
Ruan Xi replied, "Grandpa, I will."
When Ling Yao ran to Ruan's house, some people had already gathered around to watch the excitement.
Seeing that Ruan Zhigao went to the militia captain's house to get a rifle and solved the problem simply and roughly without saying a word, he did not go up to Ruan Xi again and went home with the other people who were watching the excitement.
Not long after the crowd dispersed, Ruan Changgui, Ruan Yuejin and Ruan Yuehua came home one after another to have lunch.
While sitting at the table eating, Sun Xiaohui told Ruan Changgui what she had heard before cooking with a very rich expression. After she finished speaking, she stared at Ruan Yuejin, her face was ashen with regret, and she gritted her teeth and said: "You said you could hold on for another half a year!"
Ruan Yuejin was very clear about himself and said directly: "I don't know how to flatter and serve others."
Serving people is not such an easy thing. You have to worry about eating, drinking, defecating and urinating, and it takes half a year. Wouldn't it drive people crazy? Especially the old tailor is mean and speaks harshly, which makes him more difficult to serve than ordinary old people!
Sun Xiaohui still gritted her teeth: "You are useless!"
Ruan Yuejin: "I'm doing pretty well in mining now."
Ruan Changgui: "..."
This idiot is really useless!
Ruan Xi didn't want so many people to know that the old tailor gave her his property, but because the old tailor, a distant relative, came to make a fuss, everyone in the village knew about it.
These people were jealous and envious of her, and some said that she was very scheming at a young age - she fooled the old tailor around, not only learned the craft from him, but also got all his property in the end.
If this happened to someone else, they wouldn't even dare to do this in their dreams.
But Ruan Xi doesn't dream, she only works.
After being driven away by Ruan Zhigao at gunpoint, the old tailor's distant relatives did not dare to break the lock of the tailor shop, and never came to Jinguan Village and Fengming Village again. They lived far away, and it was not easy for them to walk such a long mountain road to come.
After a month of vacancy, Ruan Xi and Ruan Cuizhi returned to the tailor shop again and opened the door to take on jobs.
Because it was closed for a long time, many people came when it was just opened.
Ruan Xi and Ruan Cuizhi took jobs in the shop during the day, and still went back to their own homes to eat and sleep at night, and did not sleep directly in the shop. They always felt that the old tailor was still there, and this place had to be kept for him.
After a day of work at the tailor shop, when Ruan Xi got home for dinner, he handed Ruan Changsheng a note, asking him for a favor, "There's something missing in the shop, fifth uncle, can you help me get some in town? I'll pay you."
Ruan Changsheng was willing to do the job of running errands for money, and took the note and said readily, "Leave it to me."
So he got up early the next day and went to town with the money Ruan Xi gave him. He
was a fast runner, and he could walk a distance that ordinary people took two days to walk in about a day and a half.
But he was not made of iron, and when he was very tired at night, he would find a place to close his eyes and rest for a while.
He found a straw stack to rest that night, and he pulled a pile of straw and spread it on the ground, which made him sleep softly.
But when he had just pulled the straw and was ready to go to bed, he suddenly heard a throat clearing sound, and then a whistle.
So he didn't lie down, but turned his head to look in the direction of the sound, and saw a man sitting next to a pile of cornstalks not far away. In the moonlight, it could be seen that it was a young man wearing a tattered military uniform and an old military cap.
Ruan Changsheng ignored him and continued to lie down.
After lying for a while, he became curious again, so he leaned over and looked at the young man.
The young man held a paper cigarette in his hand, put it under his nose and smelled it, looking very enjoyable.
He seemed to know that Ruan Changsheng was looking at him, and after smelling it, he asked, "Would you like one?"
Paper cigarettes are rarely seen on the mountain. Whenever someone smokes, they smoke from a smoke pot.
Ruan Changsheng looked at him, "You give cigarettes to everyone you meet? You are so generous."
The young man chuckled, "One cent a stick."
Ruan Changsheng looked at him and thought for a while, "Are you... selling?"
The young man whispered, "Would you like one?"
Ruan Changsheng glanced and saw a sack next to him. The sack seemed to be filled with a lot of things. If he guessed correctly, most of the things in it were things he brought to the mountain to sell secretly.
After the sweep, Ruan Changsheng asked, "What else do you have in your sack?"
The young man asked back, "What do you want?"
Ruan Changsheng sat up and cleared his throat, "Do you have any matches? Or give me a cigarette first."
Hearing this, the young man took out a box of matches from the pocket of his military uniform, shook it in his hand and said, "One cent."
Ruan Changsheng lowered his head and took out a cent from his pocket and handed it to him.
Then when the young man reached out to take the cent in his hand, Ruan Changsheng quickly grabbed the young man's wrist, pulled him to the ground, and then went up and pressed him to the ground.
Ruan Changsheng held him down and said with a smile, "You are so brave!
You are engaging in speculation and profiteering!" The young man pushed him twice but failed to move him. He became angry and said, "It's none of your business! If you want to buy, buy it. If you don't want to buy, forget it!"
Ruan Changsheng still smiled and said, "If I take you to the Office of Mass Dictatorship, I can still get a reward."
The young man was not panicked. He said very firmly, "What evidence do you have to accuse me of speculation and profiteering? As long as the people with red armbands haven't caught me, you have no evidence, so it doesn't count!"
Reporting was just a way to scare him. Ruan Changsheng never did such things. He grabbed the young man's military collar and pulled him up, and said, "Let me see what's in your sack."
The young man was unhappily: "What the hell am I going to show you!"
Ruan Changsheng snorted and reached out to grab the sack from the corn stalks.
The young man pulled his hand away and tried to snatch it, but Ruan Changsheng quickly grabbed his wrist with his backhand and pushed him to the ground again. The feeling of being pressed down this time was different from before. He was stunned for a moment and immediately let go of the young man.
After a moment's reaction, Ruan Changsheng said, "Woman?"
The young man took the opportunity to grab the sack and ran away.
She thought to herself, if I had known this man was so troublesome, I would not have said that to him. She often came to the mountains in disguise to sell things, secretly selling some scattered groceries for a penny or two, and she had never met such a troublesome person.
The supplies in the mountains were too scarce, and what she did was also for the benefit of the people in the mountains, so they were all very polite to her. If you want to satisfy your hunger or have a need, just spend a penny or two to buy something from her, and if you don't want to buy, she won't say anything.
After all, it is not easy for everyone to go out of the mountains on weekdays. She brought things to the mountains and sold them secretly, so that everyone can solve their daily needs without walking so many mountain roads. It can be regarded as a good deed.
But tonight this guy is good. He cheated and pushed her to the ground, and wanted to take her to the Office of Mass Dictatorship to report her!
Bad seed!
Seeing her running away with the sack, Ruan Changsheng did not rest, but got up and patted his butt to chase after her.
When he caught up to the young man, he reached out and grabbed her shoulder, and asked again: "Are you a woman?"
The young man failed to shake off his hand, and slapped his hand a few times and said: "If you don't want the things, let go!"
Ruan Changsheng looked at her face in the moonlight, "It doesn't look like it, how can a woman look like this..."
It was pitch dark, and her face almost merged into the night.
The young man rolled his eyes at him, "What's it to you!"
Ruan Changsheng laughed, "I don't smoke. Let me see what's in your sack, and I'll definitely buy one."
The young man looked at him warily for a while, "You're not going to arrest me and take me to the Mass Dictatorship Office?"
Ruan Changsheng said, "I'm just kidding you."
The young man looked at him for a while and felt that he was trustworthy, so he squatted on the ground and opened the sack.
Seeing her like this, Ruan Changsheng also squatted down, took out a flashlight from his schoolbag, turned it on and shone the light into the sack.
The young man's sack was indeed a grocery bag. There was almost everything in it, including a half-opened box of cigarettes, fruit candies wrapped in colorful candy wrappers, buttons, rubber bands, hemp ropes, matches, thimbles, needles, snaps, zippers, and all kinds of snacks, even socks and rat poison!
Ruan Changsheng was also enlightened. He rummaged through the sack with his hands while using a flashlight, clicking his tongue.
The young man was a little impatient after seeing him rummaging for so long, so he asked, "What do you want?"
Ruan Changsheng didn't answer, but asked, "Where did you get these things?"
The young man looked at him and pulled the sack directly, "Why do you care where I got them? Do you want them or not? If not, I'm leaving."
Ruan Changsheng grabbed the sack, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes."
After saying that, he took out two fruit candies of different colors from the sack, "How much is one?"
The young man stretched out a finger, "One cent for two."
So Ruan Changsheng took out the one cent he had just taken out and put it in her hand.
The young man put the money in the sack, put it away, and didn't waste time talking to him. He threw the sack over his shoulder, hung it on his back, and left.
Ruan Changsheng did not rest either. He continued to follow her, walking beside her and talking to her: "Knowing each other is fate. What's your name? Which brigade are you from? Let's be friends."
The young man said without even turning his head: "I don't want to be friends with you."
Ruan Changsheng said: "Actually, I'm a nice person. I was just teasing you just now."
The young man turned his head to look at him. Seeing that he was good-looking, he asked: "Then which brigade are you from?"
Ruan Changsheng said truthfully: "I'm from Fengyan Brigade, which is far from here."
After all, he walked for a whole day to get here, and it was already late at night.
Seeing that the young man didn't say anything, he asked again, "What about you?"
The young man shook his head and continued to walk forward, "I won't tell you!"
Ruan Changsheng: "..."
If she didn't tell him, then he would follow her. When she walked, he followed her. When she stopped to rest, he also stopped to rest.
The young man thought that Ruan Changsheng was planning to take her sack, so when she couldn't hold on any longer and had to rest, she would dig a hole in the haystack, crawl in, hold the sack in her arms, and hide in the haystack.
And Ruan Changsheng would sleep directly next to the hole she dug.
The next morning, as soon as there was any movement in the cave, he woke up immediately.
He watched the young man crawl out of the cave, her face was dirty and covered with dust, and she didn't look like a girl at all. And she didn't have a braid, all her hair was hidden under her military cap, and her military uniform was men's, so she looked like a man!
The two looked at each other for a moment, and Ruan Changsheng came back to his senses, drooping his eyelids and letting out a long breath, "Are you awake?"
The young man ignored him, continued to climb out of the cave, threw the sack on his shoulder and walked away.
Ruan Changsheng got up and followed her.
After walking a few steps, the young man suddenly stopped and asked him, "What do you want to do?"
Ruan Changsheng still said, "Make friends."
The young man looked at his face and thought for a moment, then said, "How about this, I'm tired and don't want to walk anymore. If you can carry me to the town, I will be friends with you. What do you think?" Upon hearing this,
Ruan Changsheng immediately bent down in front of her, patted his butt and said, "Get on!"
The young man was not polite and treated him like a horse, jumping on him like a monkey, "Go!"
Ruan Changsheng straightened up and walked forward, and asked again, "Are you a man or a woman?" You really can't tell that she is a woman!
The young man put the sack on his back, and rode him like a horse instead of lying on him, saying, "Why do you care if I am a man or a woman? You want to make friends with me, but you just want to know where I got these things. Do you also want to speculate?"
Ruan Changsheng said, "Hey!" "Not stupid!"
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