It's still early.
There is a unique sense of life in the countryside in the early morning. Smoke rises from the chimneys, birds sing happily on the branches, women come back from the river with wooden basins carrying clothes for washing, half-grown boys walk briskly carrying water, and old men who smoke dry tobacco knock on the doorstep with their pipes, the sound of knocking is accompanied by rough coughs from their smoke-induced throats.
Su Erhe stood at the door of his house carrying meat, which was out of place in this lively morning.
"Sister, what are you daydreaming about? Hey, did you really buy some meat?" Su Xiatian wanted to show some concern for her sister, but her attention was drawn to the meat. "Did Brother He Zheng buy this for you?"
It would have been fine if He Zheng wasn't mentioned, but when this person was mentioned, Su Erhe looked at him with angry eyes.
Su Xiatian took a big step back in fear, scratching his hair. "I really don't know the slaughterhouse, so I asked He Zheng, and he said it's far away and takes more than an hour to walk, so..."
Under Su Erhe's calm gaze, Su Xiatian's voice became lower and lower, "Sister,"
"What are you two siblings doing standing at the door?" Su's mother came back with a large wooden basin. Originally, Su Erhe was responsible for washing clothes at home, but she couldn't find anyone this morning, so Su's mother took it to the river to wash the clothes herself.
"Mom," Su Xiatian called out.
"Erhe, I haven't seen you since early this morning. Where did you get the meat?"
Su Erhe was about to answer.
"Did He Zheng bring it?" Mother Su remembered seeing He Zheng riding a bicycle home when she returned home, and her face suddenly changed. "Su Xiatian, go hang up the clothes. Su Erhe, come with me."
Su Erhe had only been in this house for two days and had no idea of the family members' personalities, so he followed them into the house without saying a word.
Mother Su walked back and forth in the main hall with her hands on her hips. "Erhe, are you craving meat? No wonder, you used to live in the Du family, and the Du family is well-off... But let me put it this way, although we are poor, we can't lose our ambition. Your marriage with He Zheng... It's quite awkward right now. Mom is not saying you are not good, it's just that you lived in the city before, and the city is different from our country. And the one who married into the He family is that Su Erhe before... She is not as pretty as you, but she is good at housework and outside the house. I am your mother, and of course mothers want to find a good marriage for their daughters, and the He family is the best choice."
"Alas, I've said too much again. Let's put it this way, our family's conditions are not as good as the He family's, but your father and I still sincerely hope that you can live a good life. It's not that just because you married into the He family and the He family has better conditions, we can cling to the He family for this and that. Your father and I are not the kind of people who rely on marrying off our daughters to enjoy the good life. We don't want the elders of the He family to look down on you just because of a piece of meat. Do you understand what I mean?"
How could Su Erhe not understand?
She used to think that Su's mother was too calculating in her life, but now she feels that although Su's mother looks simple, she is actually very wise and a good parent who truly cares about her daughter.
"Mom, I understand. I'll return the meat to the He family later."
"That's not the way it should be said. It's not good to just return the meat. Well, I have some eggs saved in my room. You can take them to the He family later."
When the two families interact, they have to maintain a decent appearance. If they take the meat back intact, it would be a direct insult to the He family. They have to be more tactful so as not to damage their dignity while maintaining the friendly relationship between the two families.
After living in the village for a long time, Su's mother has her own set of survival rules.
Just go to the He family. Su Erhe is not a shy person. After getting the egg, she can make a copy first. To be honest, she also feels that she is crazy now. She wants to copy everything she sees.
There is no way, it’s all because of poverty.
I don’t feel at ease without any money, tickets, food or stock!
Su's mother had secretly exchanged the eggs she had saved for money. Now she couldn't help feeling sad and frowning as she gave them away.
Father Su came in from the backyard and said, "If you ask me, you are wrong about this. I know Erhe is not used to this family now, so you have to cut off some meat to make some money."
"Yes, yes, it's all my fault. I have to be your head of the house!"
Every time Su's mother said this, Su's father would turn off the engine, walk to the backyard, and secretly wink at Su Erhe.
Su Erhe took advantage of Su's mother's inattention to go to the backyard. Su's father was leaning against the corner of the kitchen wall. When she walked over, he stuffed a roll of banknotes into her palm and said, "Use this to buy some food. Don't tell your mother."
Without saying anything else, he rubbed his hands and went forward.
The banknotes were all in denominations of one cent at a time, most of which were saved by Su's father through daily scrimping and saving. The total was two yuan and thirty cents, and the face value of the banknotes still had warmth.
Su Erhe concentrated and said, "Hmm."
The banknotes were put into the space, but no extra ones appeared.
Too.
Banknotes are all numbered. Even if you can copy them, you wouldn't dare spend them because they would be mistaken for counterfeit money.
Then you will end up in jail for the rest of your life.
Suerhe accepted the money for the time being. There is still a long way to go, and he will pay it back slowly in the future.
The family sat around the table to eat breakfast. Breakfast was made by rolling cornmeal into lumps and then boiling them in water. There was a big bowl of soup and a few lumps. They said they were filling up with food, but in fact they were just filling up their stomachs with the soup.
"Just make do with it in the morning, and we'll have meat for lunch. Erhe, stew the potatoes and pork together. Don't put all the meat in, just cut one-third into pieces. Save some and you can still eat it the next day or two. If it's not too hot, you can rub some salt on it and let it air dry. It won't go bad."
"knew."
Su Erhe agreed verbally, but as for how much to put in, she had half a pig in her space, so she could figure it out.
After dinner, the four people in the family had to go out to work again. Before leaving, Su's mother deliberately used her key to open the door, went into the house with an enamel basin as big as her face, and filled it with ten eggs.
"These..." Su's mother was really reluctant to part with them. She closed her eyes, deceiving herself that she could not see them and pretended not to know. She hardened her heart and stuffed the enamel basin to her daughter. "You can take it to the He family later."
The more I looked at it, the more reluctant I became, so I simply stopped looking and went out with my tools.
When Su Erhe got the egg, she copied the egg into the space calmly as usual, then closed the door and went to the He family at the end of the village. She planned to go and come back quickly, give the egg to the He family and then come back, close the door and deal with the half piece of meat in the space.
"Sulhe!"
Helplessly encountering a troublemaker as soon as he went out, Su Erhe looked at Zhu Xing who was blocking his way and asked, "Is your scalp itchy again? You want to soak in a bucket of water?"
Mentioning the incident of being pressed into the bucket yesterday, Zhu Xing felt embarrassed and scared, so she wanted to retaliate even more. "I just let you win yesterday. If you have the guts, come with me to the river and we can fight again."
When they arrived at the river, her elder brother was waiting there. She and her elder brother had an agreement that as soon as Suerhe appeared at the river, she would push Suerhe into the river, and then her elder brother would jump into the river to rescue Suerhe. After the two of them had physical contact, Suerhe would have no choice but to marry her elder brother. Her elder brother was 25 years old this year, and because he was too short, he had never been able to get married. If Suerhe married her brother, it would be a win-win situation for her.
Zhu Xing was immersed in fantasy, as if she had already seen the scene of Suerhe being forced to marry her brother. Without Suerhe as an obstacle, she would be able to marry He Zheng.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com