Huo Xi and Yang Fu stood beside Yang, who pulled her uncle and nephew to look up and down. Seeing that they were intact, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as he put a smile on his face, he frowned again when he saw a huge oil stain on Yang Fu's chest.
"Yang Fu!"
Yang Fu was frightened.
He smiled flatteringly at his sister and took out the pig's trotters from his arms that made the dog chase him greedily: "Sister, look, Xi'er and I bought pig's trotters for you. Xi'er said I would give them to you.
Milk."
Yang just raised his hand and paused after hearing this.
"This pig's trotters costs at least thirty or forty cents. How much did you earn today?"
Huo Xi took her hand and raised her head: "Mom, we only earned twenty-six cents today, and these pig's trotters cost more than that. If dad catches a lot of fish and shrimp tomorrow, I will give them to the butcher Gao.
go."
"You should, you should, send more."
Mrs. Yang took the pig's trotter from Yang Fu's hand, held it high and looked at it again and again, feeling comforted by the filial piety of the two children.
But when he saw that Yang Fu's chest was stained by oil, he couldn't help but feel distressed: "Can this meat be put on the chest? It's stained by such a big piece that I can't even wash it off! I don't have enough clothes for you to change."
!" He yelled a few words at Yang Fu.
Yang Fu was used to being yelled at by his sister, so he tilted his head indifferently.
Seeing Huo Xi looking at him with a smile, but not wanting to lose the dignity of being an elder, she frowned and argued: "Sister, you don't know how miserable we were chased by dogs while carrying this pig's trotters!
I hate my parents for giving me two fewer legs. If I hadn’t been smart enough to hide them in my arms, not to mention the pig’s trotters, there would be no flesh and skin!”
Yang slapped him hard and gave him two extra legs? Or is he no longer a human?
With another nervous look on her face, Huo Xi looked up and down: "Did you get bitten?"
"Nothing. Mom, you see we are all fine. My uncle and I ran very fast."
Mrs. Yang breathed a sigh of relief: "You are not allowed to go tomorrow. You are not yet seven years old, and your uncle Dongyue is only ten years old. It is up to your parents to make money. Although our family is poor, we are diligent and thrifty.
It will make you hungry."
Huo Xi was silent.
We only have this awning boat at home. We collect fish and shrimps from the rivers and sell them. We get ten or twenty coppers a day. When we are lucky, we get one or two cents. We trade fish and shrimps for vegetables and fish with the villagers along the river every day, and we eat and drink.
Although I didn't spend much money, I didn't dare to buy meat. There were very few oily stars in the vegetables.
Although I can save a few pennies a day, I still have to buy some household items at the end of each month, such as grain, oil, rice and noodles. Although my clothes are patched, I still have to buy some linen and coarse cloth throughout the year.
In this way, the bottom hits the bottom every year and no money is saved.
Now that she and her younger brother have been added to the family, the expenses have increased. She bought fine cotton cloth for her younger brother and pig's trotters for mother's milk, but she was not willing to spend the money.
Huo Xi concentrated her mind and didn't respond. She just smiled and looked at Yang: "Mom, where is my brother?"
Yang stretched out her clothes: "Your brother is asleep in the cabin."
"Let me take a look." Huo Xi said and walked into the cabin.
Yang Fu was talking to Ms. Yang at the stern of the boat about what happened that day. Ms. Yang took the pig's trotters in her hand and looked at them again and again, feeling warm and comforted in her heart.
The two children were still young, so she told her several times that they didn't need to worry about making money, but the two children just didn't listen.
At this time, I saw that they were both intact, and I was relieved.
In the cabin, Huo Nian was sleeping soundly, with two little fists clenched on both sides of his head, his face was red, which made him lovable. Huo Xi looked at him dotingly, and then looked at his belly wrapped in a wrap.
The bulge rose and fell as he breathed, and he couldn't help but reach out and poke his belly.
After poking, he quickly put away his fingers and carefully looked at his face. Seeing that he was not disturbed in the slightest and was still sleeping soundly, he smiled.
The small awning boat swayed gently with the swaying of the water, just like a baby's crib. Huo Nian slept soundly in this rocking.
Huo Xi looked straight at it, but couldn't help but reach out and touch his tender face, scraping it with her fingertips. She leaned over and put her face close to his little face gently.
I couldn't help but feel excited, it was so good.
It's great, Nian'er, that you are still alive.
Yang carried the pig's trotters into the cabin and saw Huo Xi squatting next to Huo Nian, staring at Huo Nian. Suddenly, she felt a pang of distress in her heart, as if someone had stabbed her with a needle.
She calmed her expression and whispered: "Xi'er, let your brother sleep, don't wake him up."
Huo Xi blinked her eyes, turned around, smiled and nodded at Mrs. Yang, then looked at the pig's trotters in her hand, and stood up by holding on to the bottom of the boat: "Mom, let me wash the pig's trotters for you. You can wash them later."
If you drink pig's trotter soup, you won't be short of milk."
"Okay, Mom will drink it soon. Mom will take it to wash."
"I'll wash it." Yang Fu rushed over and took the pig's trotters over.
"Okay, then you wash up and mom goes to cook. It's getting late, and it's time for your dad to come back."
Huo Xi and Yang Fu carried the pig's trotters to the stern of the boat. They plucked the hair from the pig's trotters and washed them with river water. Then they wanted to wash them again with food and drink water. Huo Erhuai returned.
"Brother-in-law, are you back?"
"father."
"Hey, I'm back." Huo Erhuai raised the corners of his mouth and smiled at the two children.
Yang Fu stepped forward to take the fishing burden from his shoulders, and Huo Xi also stepped forward to help support it.
"Father, come, father, come." Huo Erhuai stepped onto the boat while steadying the empty load on his shoulders.
"Are you buying pig trotters again?"
"Well, it's only twenty-six cents." Yang Fu said eagerly.
"You earned twenty-six cents today?"
Huo Erhuai was surprised at first, but couldn't help but feel distressed: "You are still young, and the goods on the dock are very heavy. Tomorrow, dad will move the fish after selling them. That's not what you can do, and you won't be able to grow taller if you are pressed.
.”
After saying that, he looked at Huo Xi, who was dressed as a boy, with a look of distress on his face.
Huo Xi stacked two empty fishing baskets together, fixed them at the stern of the boat, and pushed the pole along the edge of the boat into the cabin, and then said: "Don't worry, dad, we don't move heavy things, only light ones."
And they don’t work continuously. They all have a good rest.”
Huo Erhuai stared at her and looked at her. In just a short time, the skin on the child's face had become rough. The clothes on his body were also made from Yang Fu's clothes, with patches piled on top of each other.
Huo Erhuai felt heartbroken.
Just as he was about to speak, Yang Fu jumped in and said, "Yes, brother-in-law, don't worry, we know what's going on. Xi'er is so smart. He also knows which company and which merchant ship are easy to talk to. We have a smooth day today.
"
Huo Xi also knew what Huo Erhuai wanted to say, so she went over to pick up the interesting things today and said, pushing him: "Dad, please go in and have a rest. I will have to rock the boat later, and it will take a lot of effort."
Huo Erhuai was pushed into the cabin by two children. Seeing that his son was sleeping soundly, he stopped talking.
Dinner was cooked on the bow of the boat, and the family finished today's dinner before nightfall. The pig's trotter soup cooked in the casserole was so delicious that Huo Xi and Yang Fu couldn't resist it, so they followed Yang's lead.
I drank several sips.
After dinner, Huo Xi and Yang Fu sat in the stern of the boat and counted the stars, discussing in a low voice the arrangements for tomorrow. After being bitten by several large mosquitoes, they went into the cabin to sleep.
The night was dark, and the sky was dotted with stars.
The small awning boat was docked in a tributary of the Qinhuai River. There were no waves on the water, and there was not much night wind. Only the stars and the moon shone coldly, and there were the occasional chirping of insects.
After Huo Erhuai checked everywhere, he lifted the windproof mast lantern on the bow of the ship into the cabin. Seeing that Huo Xi and Yang Fu were sleeping soundly, he carefully opened the straw curtain between them and sat down in the cabin for him and Yang Fu.
The place where he sleeps.
Seeing that Yang was breastfeeding her son, she also leaned over to take a look. She saw Huo Nian without opening her eyes, lying in Yang's arms and sucking her son sweetly, clenching her little fists tightly, and couldn't help but feel
Smiled.
"This kid is quite edible." He raised his hand to touch his little face.
Yang slapped her away, "Your hands are so thick, don't scratch Nian'er."
Huo Erhuai looked at his palms. They were quite thick, calloused and cracked, like rough bark. He couldn't help but look grim.
Sighed again.
I had saved some money and planned to go back to the village before winter this year to buy a homestead and build a straw hut to live ashore. They have been floating on the water for ten years, although there are many people like them who make boats their home.
But they didn't keep any of the children, so he and his mother wanted to go ashore.
But don't want to...
Mrs. Yang saw him staring blankly at her son, not knowing what he was thinking.
He put the satiated Huo Nian on the board of the boat, covered him with a quilt, and patted him a few times. Seeing that he was sleeping deeply, he pulled Huo Erhuai to lie down and whispered, "Don't think so much about the days."
They were born from human beings. I don’t know how lucky I am to have picked them up. Xi’er is sensible and considerate, and Nian’er and Sanlang look alike. I even thought about waiting for a few days to be free and go to the temple to pay my respects to the Bodhisattva.
, bring them to me."
Huo Erhuai thought to himself, how fat and fat Nian'er is, how does he look like Sanlang?
However, when I think of the Nian'er I saw just now, it seems that her face has shrunk several times, and has been blown a lot darker by the river wind. I anxiously want to push myself up to see if I have lost weight.
He was pulled by Yang and glared at him: "You sleep in your bed, don't make trouble with him."
Then he said in Huo Erhuai's ear: "If we can get as many copper coins as we do today every day, we will be able to live ashore in a short time."
Thinking of Saburo, who died young not long ago, I felt a dull pain in my heart, and made up my mind: "We will save more money then, and before the snow sets in winter, we can rent a shack in the outer city. But we can't suffer Nian'er."
Huo Erhuai, like her, felt pain in his heart when he thought of the children he couldn't keep, and he responded with a buzzing voice: "Yeah."
After a while, when Huo Erhuai thought Yang was asleep, he heard her ask again: "My father, do you think Nian'er will grow up healthy?"
Huo Erhuai's heart ached when he thought of Sanlang, whom the couple had sent away not long ago.
He pursed his lips and said comfortingly: "Yes. We will be careful this time. I will catch more fish and exchange more coppers for you to eat. Nian'er will grow up healthily."
"Yes." Yang was comforted and chatted with him some more, and then the couple fell asleep with Huo Nian sleeping sweetly in their arms.