Winter had arrived, and it snowed heavily for several days. The weather was very cold, and the snow did not melt. The second scene was on top of it. The entire Xia Manor was covered in snow. Even the branches of the trees were covered in snow. The two banks of the Reverse River were a world of ice and snow.
It was a world of ice and snow, and the people who were already in cat winter had nothing to do. The women hid in their houses, sitting on the kang, spinning or sewing. The men gathered together to play cards and push Pai Gow. In the middle of the manor, Xia Zongming's two small houses facing the street were also crowded with people. Lying on the kang, sitting, standing under the house, facing south and north, talking nonsense. The children were happy. They built snowmen and had snowball fights. They had no free time. The birds suffered the most. The ground was covered by snow, and the birds had nowhere to land. They could not find food and were so hungry that they flew around and cried. Why are there so many of them? Redneck, Landin, Oriole, Hua Mei... all sorts of people flew to the village to ask for food from the humans. He randomly picked a place and exposed the soil. After a while, Que 'er flew off and landed to look for something to eat. Hence, people began to hunt birds.
Children and adults locked the ears of grain with sparrow heads. He swept open some places in the snow and put down the pincer. After a while, the sparrow flew over and stopped eating. A few of them were killed every day and strung together with a rope. Sparrow hunting had become a side job of every family.
At Ah Hui's house, it was her brother Ah Wuda. In less than two days, there was also a large string hanging on the corner of the wall. He was prepared to stew a pot of sparrow meat someday. His parents praised his brother for his ability.
"Can't I fight?" Feng Zai, Jun Ji, Zhang Ruizhi, Chang Ren, and Zhang Ruiyu were all fighting. Ah Hui asked her father to get her a bird's head trap, and Ah Hui also went to hit it.
At the edge of Zhuangdong Avenue, Ah Hui swept across a large area of the garden table and placed the bird's head clip that was not even locked on the small grain ear on the flat ground. There was no disguise at all. Ah Hui ran away... but just as she was about ten meters away, the two little sparrows fell from the sky and rushed towards the trap together. It was as if they were afraid that the food would be snatched away by whoever was one step ahead. The two little sparrows stretched their necks out at the same time to the place where the food was locked. In the end, the trap "broke" and the two little sparrows "fell" at the same time. There was nothing in the two little birds 'crops. It was unknown how many days they had not eaten. These were the only two sparrows that Ah Hui had stopped in her life. He never stopped after that. And since then, Ah Hui had stopped hitting Little Que 'er.
Quails were a type of aggressive sparrow. Some of the more playful people raised quails, trained them, and fought quails for fun. Xia Zongfang carried the quail bag and fought all over the west side. No one could beat him. Zhang Fengyi's quail was considered the champion in the east. One day, Zhang Fengyi bumped into Xia Zongfang and said,""Let's see who's better. Do you dare?”
Xia Zongfang said,"Little one, I'm afraid of you. Let's compete."”After breakfast, Xia Zongfang went to Zhang Fengyi's house with a quail bag. The two of them released the quails and started the battle on the kang. The two quails were like chickens fighting each other. The long hair on their necks stood up as they jumped and bit. The battle went on for several rounds. Xia Zongfang saw that the battle wouldn't end soon. She was afraid that if it dragged on, she would be at a disadvantage in the away game. She reached out to block and pulled away the quail battle.
"Hey, hey, what kind of decisive battle is this? "Let go and continue, continue…" Zhang Fengyi said.
"My quail fought a battle yesterday. Today is considered a continuous battle. I'll fight again in two days and take you down in three rounds.”" Just you wait," he said as he stuffed quails into his pocket.
In fact, Zhang Fengyi's quail was also good for quick battles. After a few rounds without a winner, he had no confidence in his heart. He knew that Xia Zongfang's quail was also a strong player. So he said,"Just wait, I won't lose to you even if I fight again."”Sitting on the brick bed and watching the sparrows fight was also a form of enjoyment.
This winter, his father was in the business of changing oil.
Zhang Xi and Zhang Liang opened an oil house in the village to get cottonseed oil. His father loaded three to four hundred catties of oil from his oil house and drove the calf cart to the nearby village to sell it. They could either sell it for money or exchange it for cottonseed.
Mother fed the animals early. Before dawn, his father drove the ox cart out. As soon as he entered another village, the oil mask in his father's hand began to shake. The clanking sound of the iron oil signboard spread far and wide in the peaceful plain village.
When people heard this sound, they knew that the oil changer from Xia Manor had arrived. They all walked out of their homes to buy or exchange. His father had to go through several villages to sell the oil, so he sometimes came home late. The business was doing well. Every day after he came back from changing the oil, his father would drive the car to Zhang Xi's oil room and give him the cottonseed that he had changed for the day. At the same time, he packed the oil that he needed to change the next day. Before going to bed at night, his father and mother counted the money they had sold on the brick bed. Ah Hui would often gather under the oil lamp and watch her parents count the money. There were piles of money, and her parents had smiles on their faces. Ah Hui knew that money could buy things. However, only adults could hold the money. Children could only look at it and not touch it. His parents happily calculated," If this goes on, how much money can we earn in the three months of winter until the new year? He bought new clothes for Ah Wu and Ah Hui for the new year. He also prepared to buy some things for the old lady and give her some pocket money. The atmosphere at home was very good, and his father was very enthusiastic about his business.
However, one day, his father came back very unhappy. After unloading the car, the smile on his face was completely gone. Without saying a word, she fell onto the brick bed. She covered her head with the blanket.
"What's wrong?" his mother asked, puzzled.
His father remained silent. His mother knew that something must have happened. Lost money? Or did he sell the gas and forget to collect the money? These things had happened in the past. However, his father was not as angry as he was today. "What's going on? What's the matter? He could only think of a way if he said it. What was the use of getting angry?”her mother said anxiously.
Only then did his father lift the blanket over his head. With a red face and tears in his eyes, he told her what had just happened.
"Today, I'll hand over the cottonseeds and load the truck. Zhang Xi said," Don't fill up the oil first. You owe too much cottonseed." I say, say what? Why did he owe too much? Didn't I hand it over every day? Did I save too much? He said that he had saved too much. Since the 15th of October, you've been filling up the oil every day. When have you handed over the cottonseeds? I say, Third Brother, you can't lose your conscience! I come back here every day to fill up the oil and hand over the cotton seeds. Why didn't he hand it in once? There was only an oil account, not a cottonseed account. How do you keep this account? Zhang Xi said," Who do you think is obsessed with conscience? This is how accounts are recorded." If you fill the oil, then remember to fill the oil. If you hand over the cottonseed, then remember to hand over the cottonseed. There was no difference. Zhang Lan also chimed in,'accounts, accounts' was based on the accounts. You didn't pay the bill for the cottonseeds, and this place clearly remembers it. You're not the only one who has to change the oil in such a big oil room. I can't win against them no matter what."
His mother's face turned green with anger. He said,"Let's go and find them. How can they be so unreasonable?" Her mother pulled Awu, who was standing beside her, with one hand and her father with the other. His father sat up on the brick bed and pondered for a while before saying,"There's no need to go. They're a bunch of dogs. They can do anything that's not human. The mistake is that we shouldn't have dealt with them. Working with them, one would be bitten sooner or later. It's all my fault for being muddle-headed. I just wanted to earn some money and forgot their nature.”
"We still have to reason with them. If we admit it like this, we're too cowardly!”His mother insisted on going.
His father was thinking of a troublesome matter that he would have to bear alone. He didn't want his family to participate. He said," What kind of world is it now? Even Yang Sanjie was not as good as she was back then." Third Sister Yang also met Yang Qingtian. Now that the Japanese had left, who was in charge? The villagers knew that he was in the wrong. Who would step on dog shit with new shoes? I really wanted to fight him to the death, but on second thought, he doesn't even have a girl. We have two sons. "I'm afraid we have no choice but to suffer this loss. It's time for us to eat each other. As the saying goes,"A bachelor doesn't eat the loss in front of him." For the sake of the children and the future, we won't fight them head-on.
His father's words really suppressed his mother's anger. She thought, If you don't admit defeat, there will be a big battle. There were old and young people in the family. Who could fight? Zhang Xi and his gang of vicious dogs, there were not many tigers that could not bite him. If he really fought with them, he wouldn't be able to beat him. Instead, he would be bitten by him. That would be a greater loss. Her mother calmed down and said to her father,""In that case, we still need his money, right?”The father thought for a moment and said,"If they don't pay for the cotton tents, we don't owe them anything." And give us some change. Now that he had reneged on the cotton seed account, he owed him the money. As his father spoke, he lowered his head. The veins on his jaw bulged and throbbed. Finally, he said in a low voice,"I worked for nothing all winter. I worked so hard for others. I woke up early and went to bed late."”He let out a long sigh.
"So be it! Anyway, there was food to eat, so he rushed forward. We're not afraid if there's someone. No one in this world cares. The heavens still have eyes. Let's watch them." Her mother's words gave her father great comfort.
A few days later, the oil house was settled. In the end, his father had to give him change for the winter oil. It was the cottonseed money that Zhang Xi had been lying about.
Although his father had suppressed his anger, he had been lying on the brick bed for six or seven days without speaking. He had also eaten very little, and he had become thinner. After six or seven days, it swayed up like a frost.
However, he learned from his mistakes. His father began to wake up from his thoughts. Why did Gan Yidong fall for this big trick? The problem was that he was too honest. He asked others to keep track of the accounts and didn't even have a point. He wasn't even wary of people like Zhang Xi? Wasn't this too silly? His father kept hitting his head with his hands. It was too late for regrets and unbearable pain. " Sigh, it's all our fault for being illiterate. If we could read, I would go to the village to change the oil. You can also remember it at home," his father said.
"If he knew how to remember, what else would he say? This time, he told the children to study hard and learn to read. If you do anything else, I'll get Ah Hui to keep track of the accounts for you." his mother said.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]