Zhang Donggua responded honestly without saying much.
It was still quite a while before lunch, and we couldn't sit still. Old Deng took the stone egg from Zhang Hugua, who was impatient to hold the child. Zhang Hugua took the hatchet and shouted, pulling Zhang Donggua up the mountain.
Gathering firewood.
While pulling Zhang Donggua up the mountain, he also said: "Ever since Lihua helped the Song family with work, the firewood has made my whole body sore and backache. As you know, second brother, I haven't done much work since I was a child."
These.”
It was only when Zhang Donggua came back that he found out that Aqiu had built a tea shed and hired Lihua to work for him. The wages were twenty cents a day and the wages were given to the family, but he didn't have to do much of the work at home.
He was naturally very happy.
Now that Zhang Hugua was complaining about being tired, he didn't say anything more. He just said, "I'm at home today and I'm going to get a few more bundles of firewood back."
Zhang Donggua, who is used to working, has layers of calluses on his hands. He is also used to it, and he can work very neatly.
He just worked hard, and as he said, he went home at noon and dragged several large bundles of firewood home.
Fortunately, Zhang Hugua was free and could just follow behind with a hatchet.
Old Mrs. Deng was holding Shi Dan'er and watching in the upper room, with inexplicable emotions in his eyes.
Zhang Laodou, who was on the side, naturally saw it, but he smiled and said: "This second child has been like this since he was a child. He just can't stay idle. If you let him come back to rest, you will have to find a job yourself."
Old Deng said coldly: "He was born to work hard. If he doesn't do it, who will?"
After hearing this, Zhang Laodou said: "Ju Niang, I know you don't like the second son and his wife, but today, you can't give anyone face by swearing. We are still waiting for him to go back and talk to the manager to borrow money."
Old Mr. Deng continued to snort coldly, "Who knows, what if I can't borrow it!"
Zhang Laodou was silent for a while, and then he said leisurely: "If you can't borrow it, you can only think of other ways."
Old Mrs. Deng's heart tightened when he heard this, and he quickly glanced at Mr. Zhang who was thoughtfully out of the corner of his eye.
Zhang Laodou said that the second son was rarely back, so he cooked a few more dishes at noon. Mrs. Miao and her daughter worked hard, and there was really no room for the dishes on the table.
Each person has a large bowl of clear soup porridge, a bowl of boiled long beans, a plate of pepper-boiled eggplant, a bowl of pumpkin dumplings, a plate of roasted pepper skins, and a plate of boiled loofah.
There are so many samples.
Zhang Laodou kept telling Zhang Donggua to eat more, eat more, but he had to be full. Working as a long-term worker in the Cheng family was so hard.
Zhang Donggua looked at the porridge that was so clear that there were only a few grains of rice, and there was no greenery on the table. He muttered to himself, working in the Cheng family is not hard, there is white rice for every meal, and a grown man can eat two big bowls.
, there is also a meat dish in every meal, which is indispensable.
But he didn't say anything, he still drank heavily while holding the bowl in his hands.
After dinner, even though the sun was scorching hot and the insects refused to move, Zhang Donggua still had to rush to Chengjiazhuang. Today's leave was for nothing, but he had to rush back early, otherwise he would be ridiculous.
Before going out, Mr. Zhang inevitably had to pull Zhang Donggua into his ears to talk about his fatherly and filial piety, and told him to ask him when he got back tomorrow to ask Zhang Hugua to hear the news. The family was looking forward to it, so he was so grateful.
Zhang Donggua responded one by one, walked out of the door, and went down the gentle slope. However, he did not go back to the path he took when he came back. Instead, he left the village and took the official road, along the long river.
At a glance, I saw the tea shed on the edge of the river beach.
It was very hot in this room, and there were no guests inside. Song Qiu and the other three were sitting at the table having a rest.
Zhang Donggua strode in with a heartfelt smile on his face, "Auntie! Lihua! Aqiu!"
The three people in the tea shed heard the sound, turned around and saw Zhang Donggua, and they were also very happy.
"Winter melon, it's so hot, come in and sit down!"
"Dad, have you eaten?"
"Uncle Winter Melon, sit down quickly!"
Song Qiu hurriedly cut a piece of iced watermelon and scooped out a bowl of iced shrimp.
But Zhang Donggua knew that this was for money, and refused to eat anything. He only said that he ate the cold shrimps that Lihua sent back just now, and that was fine. He would keep these and sell them for money.
It was Old Yuan who had to force him to take the watermelon and eat it to relieve the fever, but he couldn't resist Old Yuan, so he took it.
Zhang Donggua spoke to old Yuan for a long time, then turned around and asked Song Qiu a few words first, and then Lihua.
He was always honest and could not say anything nice. He was extremely simple and just asked some simple questions about how he was doing, whether he was eating well and sleeping well.
But when people listen to it, they can feel full of deep concern.
This kind of unspoken father's love has always been the heaviest and most heart-wrenching.
Zhang Lihua also kept chattering and asking about her parents' current situation.
Song Qiu looked at this tanned man who looked like he was forty even though he was only in his early thirties, but his eyes were extraordinarily bright and his face was full of smiles. He felt sour in his heart.
It turns out that Aqiu's father passed away early. She had eaten Mr. Chen's milk, and in her heart she regarded this man who was kind to him as her father.
After finishing a piece of iced watermelon, Zhang Donggua felt comfortable all over. He looked at Song Qiu with a smile on his face, "Ah Qiu is still capable, and your aunt and I can rest assured that Lihua will follow you. If we are not at home, Lihua will trouble you and your aunt to watch."
Already."
Song Qiu waved his hands repeatedly and said it was no trouble, as it should be.
With that said, Zhang Donggua carefully took out an oil paper bag from his arms, "This is from the Cheng family. Every long-term worker has one. Lihua Niang and I don't like to eat it, so we kept it. Come on, Aqiu, Lihua
You take it and eat it, I heard this thing is very rare."
The oil paper package was opened, revealing the balls covered with white frost inside. I don’t know what they are, but they should be sugar. Because of the weather and the wrapping, the white frost has melted a little and stuck to the oil paper.
superior.
Zhang Donggua seemed to have just seen this, and smiled naively, "It turns out that's not the case. It looks pretty good, like glutinous rice balls. I didn't put it away properly, and it all melted, but it should still be edible.
, Ah Qiu, please try it quickly."
Song Qiu nodded and took the lead in reaching out to take one and put it into his mouth. Sure enough, it melted and his hand was a little sticky, but it was so sweet.
Zhang Lihua also ate one, and the two little girls smiled and nodded at Zhang Donggua, "It's so delicious! It's so sweet!"
Zhang Donggua burst into laughter and said, "As long as it tastes good, just take it and eat it slowly."
Having said that, he couldn't stay for long, so he looked at Old Yuan and said, "Auntie, I have to leave now. You should pay attention to Auntie. I'll come back to see you when I'm free."
Old Yuan nodded, suddenly looked at Song Qiu and said, "Ah Qiu, take Lihua and Xiao Hei to the grassy slope opposite to eat some grass. The land is also shady."
Okay, at this point tell them to take the mules to feed the grass.
Song Qiu knew as soon as she heard this that her grandma was deliberately trying to keep them away.
She wondered if there was anything she and Lihua couldn't hear, but she didn't ask any more questions. She took the oil paper candy and called Zhang Lihua to go with her.
It wasn't until the two of them led the mules out of the tea shed and headed to the opposite side that Old Yuan looked at Zhang Donggua and said, "Your mother knew that you would definitely come here before going back today, so she came with me last night."
We have spoken, please listen to me as I speak to you slowly."