Xiao Qian walked softly to the door of the school kitchen with a basket on her back, took her sister-in-law out of the basket and put her on the threshold. She whispered: "Manbao, just sit here while my sister-in-law goes to cook."
I’ll take you home again.”
Man Bao nodded obediently, and when her sister-in-law turned around and entered the kitchen, she ran towards the classroom next to her on her short legs.
The children inside were reading "The Thousand-Character Classic" under the guidance of their husband. Manbao dragged a stone under the window with a familiarity, then stepped on the stone and poked his head in, staring at it with a pair of shining eyes like a star.
Look inside.
Bai Erlang, who was sitting not far from the window, shook his head and noticed Man Bao's gaze, so he secretly turned his head and glared at her fiercely.
Not to be outdone, Man Bao stared back and made a face at him.
Bai Erlang's eyes widened angrily. The gentleman happened to walk by, patted his head gently with his hand, and scolded: "Be more serious."
Man Bao couldn't help but feel happy when he saw it. He was so happy that when his husband looked over, he even winked at him mischievously.
The gray-bearded gentleman couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, and ignored her, letting her lie by the window and listen to them reading.
Teacher: "Today we are going to study the last paragraph of "The Thousand-Character Essay". Mao Shi is graceful, Gong has a beautiful smile, every time the year passes, the sun shines brightly,... Ignorance, ignorance, etc. are criticized, and it is said to help people, how can it be so?
."
The students recited sentence after sentence. Manbao stood outside the window and shouted in a small voice. The voice was quite loud. The students in the classroom were used to it, shaking their heads and reciting after the teacher.
Man Bao has been reciting "The Thousand Character Essay" since he was able to speak. He has already memorized this article. When Mr. Jian put down the book and let the primary school students read it over and over again, he walked to the other side of the older children to teach them something else. Man Bao
So he jumped off the stone and ran to his husband's residence.
When the husband announced that school was over and walked back to the apartment next door, he saw that Man Bao had already dragged the broom and cleaned the door, and was sitting on the ground to sort out the manuscripts he had thrown away.
Seeing his husband come back, Man Bao happily showed him the compiled manuscript, "Sir, look, the backs of these are still usable."
"This is something I wrote when I was writing it. If you want it, take it back."
Man Bao shook his head, "The back can be used to practice calligraphy. Sir, you can use it to practice calligraphy first. I will take it back when the back is full."
The husband couldn't resist her, so he could only take the manuscript and put it on the table. He pointed to another stack of manuscripts filled with words and said, "Take these back. If there are any words you don't understand, ask me."
Man Bao happily agreed, folded the stack of papers and stuffed them into her arms, and happily went to the kitchen to find her sister-in-law.
Xiao Qian has already prepared all the meals and is preparing meals for the children.
Man Bao slipped into the kitchen, greeted his sister-in-law, and brought his husband's food to him.
The gentleman pointed to the mat opposite and said, "You can sit down together and use it."
Man Bao shook his head, "I'll go to the kitchen to eat later. This is sir's, please eat it."
The husband didn't force himself, so he took a piece of meat and put it to her mouth. Manbao happily ate it, but couldn't sit still and ran out after playing for a while.
The husband laughed and shook his head, but did not call her.
Man Bao ran to the kitchen. When Xiao Qian saw her, he scraped off the remaining rice from the bottom of the pot and put it in a bowl for her to eat.
Man Bao obediently grabbed the rice cake and stuffed it into his mouth. He also broke off a piece and stuffed it into his sister-in-law's mouth. Xiao Qian was smiling as he ate and pushed, "You can eat it, you can eat it, it's not much."
It's just a pot of rice and only a little rice crust. If she cooks too many rice crusts and the students don't have enough to eat, she might be fired from her job.
Xiao Qian has worked as a cook in the school for three years, and is very good at this point.
Mr. Zhuang was a teacher invited by Mr. Bai, the landowner at the head of the village. This school was also built with money donated by the Bai family and various families in the village.
When Mr. Zhuang started teaching here, he brought his wife and children with him. Because there were children from two nearby villages coming here to study, they couldn't go home for lunch. Mr. Zhuang pitied them for their hungry stomachs, and gave each student only one month per month.
After collecting six kilograms of rice and paying thirty cents, you can have lunch in the school.
The kitchen of the school was initially managed by Mr. Zhuang's old wife. She and the villagers bought some vegetables, rice brought by the students, and occasionally bought some meat, minced it and cooked it for everyone to eat. She only had two leftovers every month.
Thirty cents is your own fortune.
The parents have their own accounts in mind, and they also know that Mr. Zhuang does not make any money from them. He just cares about the students. The children also need to eat when they go home, so they are very happy to give this ration, even to the students who live in the village.
Milai.
Later, Mr. Zhuang's old wife died of a serious illness, and his grandchildren were brought to live in the city by his son and daughter-in-law. He was left to teach here alone. No one did this job, so Mr. Zhuang spent one hundred yuan himself.
Xiao Qian was hired to be the cook.
When Landlord Bai found out, he asked Mr. Xiao Qian to return the money to Mr. Zhuang. He also spent money to hire Mr. Xiao Qian, and took over all the money and rice handed over by the students, so that Mr. Zhuang could teach with peace of mind.
At that time, Manbao was only eight months old and could not even walk. Xiao Qian's main task was to take care of Manbao and his youngest son Santou, so he often carried the two children in baskets to the school kitchen, and occasionally took them from the pot.
Make out a rice ball for two people to eat, and they will be well fed.
It's just that San Tou is now four years old and doesn't like to come to school. He prefers to play with his brothers and sisters, so now only Man Bao is with Xiao Qian.
Although he only had a little rice cake every day, he raised Manbao to be fat and healthy. He didn't look like a child from a farmer's family at all, let alone from the Zhou family.
Manbao and his sister-in-law finished dividing the rice, washed the pots and bowls, and then skipped home.
Xiao Qian wanted to put her in the basket, but Man Bao was not happy and ran to the side and said, "I can walk by myself. I can walk by myself."
Xiao Qian didn't force her, "Okay, just walk by yourself and don't fall."
"I'm already a big kid, I won't fall." Manbao yelled and ran forward. From a distance, she saw a group of people surrounding the door of her house. She was about to rush over happily when she heard someone coming from inside.
A scream made her jump with fright.
Xiao Qian realized something was wrong earlier than she did, hugged her and rushed forward.
When the crowd of onlookers saw Xiao Qian, they immediately got out of the way and said, "Sister-in-law of the Zhou family is back. Make way quickly. Make way quickly."
"Sister-in-law Zhou, your fourth uncle lost money in gambling, and someone came to see you."
There are informants, and there are also those who are gloating about the misfortune, "It's not the young or the old who owes money. It seems that Old Zhou is going to beat the child to death. Sister Zhou, please give me some advice. You can make money if you lose it, but it will be really bad if you lose the person."
It’s gone.”
Xiao Qian's heart was trembling. He pushed through the crowd and went home. He saw his fourth uncle being pushed to the ground by his second and third sons, and his father-in-law was holding a pole to greet him.
There were about a dozen strangers standing in the yard. The leader of the group had a bad look on his face. He interrupted Old Man Zhou and shouted angrily: "Mr. Zhou, even if you beat your son to death, you still have to pay me back the money today, otherwise
Isn’t it a waste of time for us brothers to come all the way over the mountains and ridges?”
Man Bao immediately broke away from Xiao Qian's arms and ran to her father. She looked at her unsatisfactory fourth brother and the people around her. She frowned and asked, "Dad, how much did fourth brother gamble?"
money?"
The leading young man looked at Man Bao in surprise and said "Hey": "Mr. Zhou, your daughter looks pretty good. If the family has no money, then it is okay to use the child to offset the debt. Although she is a bit small,
But we don't mind."
Old man Zhou was so angry that he pushed his daughter behind him and said angrily: "If you want someone, drag this beast away and pay the money he owes himself."
Zhou Lang howled and shouted: "Dad, dad, please save me, dad, I really don't dare anymore, I don't dare anymore, if you let them drag me away, they will beat me to death."
It will really kill me."
The leading young man glanced at Old Man Zhou, sneered, stepped on Zhou Lang's hand and crushed him, causing Zhou Lang to scream.
Seeing that Old Zhou's face was getting more and more livid and pale, he smiled with satisfaction, "Isn't it just fifteen taels of silver? Look at your new house, it doesn't look like you have no money. Even if it's not good, there are so many girls.
, you can just sell me two of them, but I said in advance that the girl's film is not valuable now, it must be your little daughter in it, otherwise, the other three or five taels, not four of them, can't be sold.
."
As soon as these words came out, Xiao Qian and Feng were so frightened that they pulled their daughters back. They were the only two girls in the family.
Old man Zhou was so angry that his hands and feet were trembling. Zhou Lang was also shocked and frightened. He almost wet his pants. He could only use the other hand that was not stepped on to grab the corner of his father's clothes and begged: "Dad."
,Dad, please save me, please save me, I really don’t dare to do it anymore, I don’t do it anymore..."
Zhou Erlang, who was holding him captive, couldn't help but stretch out his hand to beat him. The family's life was not getting better for a while, but it was all ruined by him.
And he has two daughters. If he really wants to sell his children...
Zhou Erlang thought of this and beat him harder, "I told you to be disobedient, I told you to be disobedient."
Zhou Lang held his head and begged for mercy.
Man Bao looked at it, pursed her lips tightly, turned to look at her three nieces, turned around and ran towards the house.
Her mother Qian Shi was leaning on the bed and stroking her chest, and her sixth brother was supporting her worriedly.
Her mother has been in poor health, and she is probably frightened now.
Manbao ran over and asked, "Mom, how much money does our family have?"
Qian opened her eyes and looked at the little girl and couldn't help wiping her tears, "Why do you ask this?"
"Is there enough money to pay off the debt?"
Mrs. Qian cried: "Thousand-Knife Killer, your fourth brother should have been drowned when he was born. Even if the family is full, there is still only four or five taels left."
Man Bao asked: "Then let them drag the fourth brother away?"
"They came all the way over the mountains. If they don't give you a penny, they can beat your fourth brother to death before leaving the village. Do we still have the heart to watch him die?"
Mr. Qian understands this, and it is even more unlikely that Old Zhou will not understand it. He just can't bear it now.
Man Bao emphasized with a serious face: "You can't sell your niece."
Qian touched her head and said, "If I don't sell it, even if I sell your fourth brother, I won't sell them, that evil beast."