The next day, when Dad Xu and Uncle Lu came to take a bath, they praised Xu Ning's wooden barrel. They said it made them feel comfortable to soak in it in the winter. In order for everyone to have a free bath in the winter, Xu Ning went up the mountain to chop firewood every day. He had to go back and forth several times a day and had little food to eat. He chopped firewood for several days in a row. Xu Ning felt it should be enough for the winter.
It has been getting colder and colder these past two days, and the sky is gloomy. Xu Ning plans to go to the county town today. After breakfast, he pushes out his bicycle, puts on a hat, a scarf, and gloves, and rides to the county town.
Xu Ning first went to the county scrap yard to see if she could find some children's storybooks or something. The old man at the scrap yard was sitting in the house warming himself by the fire. When he heard Xu Ning said she wanted to find some storybooks, he let her go in and read by herself. Xu Ning searched for a long time and found a dozen comic books and several high school textbooks. Thinking that they would be needed in the future and she could read them when she had nothing to do, she took them all. She also went to find a few stacks of old newspapers, intending to take them back and stick them on the wall so that dust would not fall on them and the room would look cleaner.
Putting these aside, Xu Ning decided to look around to see if he could find treasures as described in the book. He searched everywhere and made himself dirty, but didn't see anything valuable. He sighed and thought, this is not the heroine's fate!
She took the books and old newspapers next to her and went to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper looked at the books in her hands, then looked at her dusty face, and asked, "Did you search the entire scrapyard?"
Xu Ning smiled awkwardly and said, "Hey, sir, I saw that there were a few missing comic books, so I looked around to see if I could find them."
The gatekeeper weighed it for her and it was a total of 15 cents. After Xu Ning gave her the money, she rode her bicycle to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Arriving at the supply and marketing cooperative, Xu Ning found that Su Hongying was not there. He saw several bundles of kelp on the counter and four woven bags of dried shrimps next to them. They might have just been shipped from the south to the supply and marketing cooperative. Xu Ning remembered that he still had a few non-staple food coupons, so he bought three pounds of kelp and two pounds of dried shrimps. He walked around the supply and marketing cooperative again, but there was nothing to buy. The sky was getting more and more gloomy, so he prepared to go back.
He was too short, so he had to push the bike for a long way before he could get on it, and he had to twist left and right to reach the pedals, which made the people around him laugh. Xu Ning had a blank expression on his face, but he was crying in his heart, "Shame on you, shame on you, so shameful! When will I be able to ride a bike without having to push it?"
When they were almost home, they took out a pig's head from the space, intending to go back and clean it up so that they could stew it tomorrow. They also took out a bag of apples and two thermos, intending to put the two thermos in the cowshed for them to use.
He went out late in the morning and got home at 12 o'clock. Xu An and Xu Mo were preparing to cook in the kitchen. Xu Ning put down his things and saw that Xu Mo had already lit the fire, so he sat next to him to warm his hands. It was really cold.
Xu An learned to cook another dish from Xu Ning a few days ago, dumpling soup. He planned to make dumpling soup today. Xu Ning gave him instructions while they were roasting the fire. It turned out quite good. The young man has a talent for cooking. He can be trained so that he can eat ready-made dumpling soup in the future!
After dinner, Xu Ning took out the pig's head and prepared to clean it. He cut it in half with a machete and then burned off the remaining hair with fire. It took two hours to clean it.
Looking inside, Xu An was telling a story to Xu Mo with a picture book. Xu Ning took a half-knitted sweater and sat on the kang to listen to the two people telling stories.
Xu Ning put down his sweater and stretched his shoulders. Seeing that the two were still lying on the kang and watching, Xu Ning was afraid that it would be bad for their eyes if they watched for too long, so he took a cloth bag and filled two bowls of beans with it and asked them to go to Aunt Cuihua's house in the village to exchange them for tofu. Aunt Cuihua's family would grind several boards of tofu every day, and anyone in the village who wanted to eat it would grab some beans and go to exchange them. Her family and Uncle Dashuan's family were neighbors, and Xu An had to pass by his house whenever he went to see Jianmin.
Xu An put the beans in his small backpack, took Xu Mo's hand and went to the village.
Xu Ning waited at home for a long time, but the two did not come back. Thinking that everyone in the village knew that Xu Mo lived in the cowshed, maybe something happened, he put down his sweater and walked towards the village. Xu Ning first went to Aunt Cuihua's house and asked if Xu An had come to exchange tofu? Aunt Cuihua said he changed the tofu and left.
Xu Ning heard the sound of children talking in Uncle Dashuan's house next door, so he went to Uncle Dashuan's house. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Xu An and Xu Mo sitting in the middle. Xu An was telling a story from the comic book he read in the afternoon. Next to him were Jianmin Erdan and Dalin, the youngest son of the village chief's uncle. Aunt Dashuan was making shoes next to them and listening with great interest. Xu Ning was speechless for a long time. How many pages had this kid only read? He just came here to brag, and she didn't go in. She just stood by the door listening to him to see how long he could finish.
It was Erdan who saw her first and said, "Xu Zhiqing, we want to go to your house tomorrow to read the comic book, is that okay?" As soon as he finished speaking, Jianmin and Dalin also said that they wanted to go, too.
Aunt Dashuan saw her and quickly stood up and said, "Xu Zhiqing, come in and sit down."
Xu Ning said, "Aunt, I won't sit down. It's getting late. I'll come talk to you another day." He then said to Jianmin, Dalin and Erdan, "Whenever you want to come and play with Xu An, just come. But you must tell the adults before you go, okay?" The three of them happily agreed.
On the way back, Xu An secretly glanced at his sister. Xu Ning couldn't help laughing when she saw him like this. She looked at him and said, "Boy, you've only read a few pages of the book, and you already know how to brag everywhere." Seeing that his sister was not angry, Xu An laughed and said, "I was going to go home after exchanging tofu. Just as I left Aunt Cuihua's house, I ran into Erdan and Dalin. They said they were going to play at Jianmin's house. I thought it was still early, so I took Xiaomo with me. When we got there, I told them that you bought me a comic book, and they chased me and asked if it was good. So I told them about it."
Xu Ning said, "I can't stop talking, I even forgot to go home, I don't know if I am worried about you at home."
Xu An hurriedly said, "Sister, I was wrong. I will never do this again."
Xu Ning touched his head and comforted him, "Okay, I forgive you! You must tell me where you are going next time, okay?" He then said to Xu Mo next to him, "Xiao Mo, you too, must tell your brothers and sisters wherever you are going next time, okay?"
Xu Mo nodded obediently and said, "I understand, sister."
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