The morning light showed slightly, and Huo Xi woke up from her dream again.
In the dream, she kept running and running, unable to breathe, as if someone was pinching her throat tightly, and she was about to suffocate.
Huo Xi opened her eyes, stared straight at the top of the boat, opened her mouth, and gasped for air. In the dream, her mother looked at her in horror, shook her head at her, and then her mother disappeared.
Huo Xi clenched her fists tightly and lay quietly on the board of the boat, biting her lips and crying silently.
After a long while, he sat up, wiped his face, moved to the wall of the ship, gently rolled up the straw curtain on the window, and lay his head on his stomach to look out.
The surrounding fields were quiet, and there was no sound of water waves. Morning dew was dripping on the tips of the reeds on the bank, which was green and green. A burst of water vapor came over, with a faint smell of water. Huo Xi smelled it for so long, and from the initial discomfort to now, he still feels
It smells pretty good.
Huo Xi put down the straw curtain, rolled up her bedding, put it together with the pillow, used her fingers as a comb to make a bun on her head, got dressed, and came to the bow of the boat.
She scooped water from the wooden bucket at the bow of the boat to wash herself, wet the washcloth and wiped it on her face. She woke up at the bottom. The remaining half of the water was poured back into the bucket. Her father went to pick up a load.
Water is not easy either.
Huo Xi hung the washcloth on the clothesline and reached out to touch the clothes she washed last night. Well, it was already half dry. When the sun rose, she could dry it for a while before putting it into the cabin.
There was movement on the ship not far away, so Huo Xi sat down on the bow and looked around.
There were seven or eight awning boats parked not far away from her family's boat. Like her family, they were all fishermen who made boats their home or briefly made boats their home.
This shelter was where her father often parked his boat at night. The river was gentle and waveless, and it was sheltered from the wind.
It stands to reason that everyone lives on a boat, makes a living on a river, and relies on fishing to support the family's livelihood. The more people there are, the less fish they will catch. Furthermore, if there are too many fish and shrimps on the market, they cannot be sold at a high price.
But after observing the world for so many days, Huo Xi found that although they were obviously in a competitive relationship, they secretly relied on each other.
If something happens during the day, just stand on the bow and yell twice, and nearby boatmen will row their boats over to help. When the boat stops at night, everyone will do the same, spontaneously docking in twos and threes, taking care of each other.
Her father said that it is not easy to make a living on the water. When it is windy and rainy, capsizing often happens. There are no boats nearby, and no one can help if you fall into the water.
Huo Xi stared at the boats docked near her home with interest.
"Boy from the Huo family, why do you wake up so early?"
Huo Xi came back to her senses and greeted him with a smile: "Good morning, Uncle Qian."
Qian Sanduo scooped up a half-full gourd of water, took a big sip, raised his head and grunted a few times, spit it out, and joked to Huo Xi: "Children should sleep more, otherwise they won't grow taller.
Like a short winter melon, it depends on whether you are in a hurry or not."
After that, he poured some more water, wiped it on his face and neck a few times, shook the water drops in his hand, and shook his head from side to side twice, and it was clean.
Baring her teeth at Huo Xi, she cat-likely entered the cabin.
Huo Xi smiled at his back, turned around and poured water into the casserole on the bow of the boat, preparing to cook some rice porridge for the family as breakfast. Just as she was about to draw a few firewood into the bamboo basket, someone held her hand down.
"Xi'er, why do you get up so early? Children who don't sleep much will lose their height. Let mother come."
He took the firewood from Huo Xi's hand, stuffed it into the small stove, and started a fire.
"Mom, I'm going to watch the fire. You go and wash up."
"Wait for my mother to scoop up some broken rice..."
Before she finished speaking, Huo Xi pushed her: "Mom, go wash up. I can do this."
Yang glanced at her and followed her.
While washing, Yang watched Huo Xi scooping and washing rice, pouring broken rice into the pot, and adding firewood. His movements were skillful and quick, and he felt that there was no discomfort anywhere in his body.
She also has a little cotton-padded jacket. The corners of her mouth are raised high.
Then he saw that Huo Xi was still dressed as a boy, with a boy's bun tied on his head. Looking at his body again, he was wearing Yang Fu's clothes, and he frowned.
"Xi'er, Mom made you two dresses, why don't you wear them?"
Huo Xi took a look at herself, smiled at Yang and said, "Mom, a short brown skirt is not as convenient as it is."
"Then I'll change your skirt into a girl's blouse and tie your girl's hair into a bun."
"Mom, no need, this is good. Boys are more convenient than girls." After saying that, he turned around and squatted on the small stove and went inside to fan the fire.
Yang didn't know what she was thinking of. She looked at Huo Xi's delicate profile and sighed.
While the mother and daughter were talking, Huo Erhuai and Yang Fu also got up.
When Huo Xi entered the cabin again, he found that the sleeping bedding had been received by Huo Erhuai and Yang Fu in the cabin. Even the straw curtain in the middle had been put away.
Huo Xi knelt down and wiped the cabin carefully with a rag. She put away the rag, cleaned her hands, and sat next to Huo Nian to look at him. She stretched out her finger and poked his chubby face. Huo Nian shook his little hand.
He waved, without opening his eyes, tilted his head and continued to sleep.
Huo Xi smiled and tucked him in.
He lifted the small square table stuck on the inner wall of the cabin to the bow and propped it up. He entered the cabin again, lifted up the bottom board, found the bowls and chopsticks, took some salt and pickles, and grabbed half a plate of dried fish. After thinking about it, he
He took two salted duck eggs and held them in his arms. Then he gently lowered the bottom board of the boat and walked to the bow.
After a while, breakfast will be ready.
A pot of broken rice porridge, a plate of pickles, a plate of dried fish, and four salted eggs.
Mrs. Yang heated up the pig's trotter soup that she was reluctant to finish last night and drank it.
Yang Fu ate and chatted with Huo Xi. In the past, he only followed his sister and brother-in-law to cast nets in rivers and sell fish, and rarely had the opportunity to understand the outside world.
During this time, Huo Xi took him around the city to have fun, and also took him around to look for opportunities to earn copper coins.
Yang Fu's heart became wild and grass grew.
"Eat well! Your brother-in-law and I have to worry about making money. Do you need to worry about it?" Yang tapped Yang Fu's bowl twice with her chopsticks and glared at him.
Yang Fu smiled at his sister twice, but didn't listen.
Although he stopped talking, he refused to sit still and looked around, "Brother Qian, what do you want to eat?"
"Brother Yu, are you just getting up?"
Qian Sanduo, who had greeted Huo Xi early in the morning, was now squatting on the bow of the boat holding a shiny wooden bowl, taking porridge into his mouth, and responded: "Like you, it's also broken rice porridge."
."
And two boys, Qian Sanduo, squatted behind him, one on the left and one on the right, also looking at Huo Xi's house.
Qian Xiaoxia looked envious.
He had told his parents so many times to buy a folding square table like that from Huo Xi’s family. Look at Huo’s family, the whole family was sitting around the table, with this and that dish on the table. Tian Qing moved it to the bow of the boat.
, when it’s windy or rainy, we move into the cabin, which is like eating.
But his mother was reluctant to part with the money, and even scolded him for carrying the food and putting it on the board of the boat to eat, because he was not full or something!
Made him angry.
Qian Xiaoxia raised his upper body and raised his voice to Yang Fu: "Yang Fu, will you and Huo Xi enter the city again later?"
He wants to go too.
I wonder if I can follow them secretly. I heard Yang Fu boast that these days, his uncle and nephew have earned almost half a tael of silver in the city!
He also wanted to make money. After making money, he could buy maltose, meat, roast chicken, salted duck, and sauced duck... just thinking about it made him drool.
Yang Fu didn't answer him and turned to Huo Xi: "Xi'er, are we going to the city today?"